I need a mentor

[Bassna]

I have been playing about a week, really love the game. But im looking for somebody that i can just ask a question too, here or there, on some messenger or something. If anybody would like to help me with this, i would appreciate it

[Whackjob]

Feel free to ask us here. We're here for ya. I got all my best advice just from threads like these.

[hawkinator]

What is a forum for, if noobs cannot get answers to their noob questions so they can cease to be noobs? The same questions get answered over and over again, and that is fine. There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers. And remember, How hard can Rocket Science be, anyway?

[Caelib]

Scot Manley is a good mentor:

[Gobbles Gusto]

If you want you can send me private messages if you have a question, I usually check the forums several times a day, so my responses should be quick. I've been playing the game about a year now, and think I could answer most questions in a pretty straight forward way.

GG

EDIT: As Caelib stated Scott Manley's videos should answer most questions you might have, but if you don't want to go through an hour of video to answer one quick question or if you have a specific question that remains unanswered please feel free to message me!

Edited July 7, 2013 by Gobbles Gusto

[Bassna]

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/24775-0-19-1-MOLAB-Heavy-Manned-Munar-Rover?highlight=MOLAB

For example this is what I am trying to get to the moon. But for some reason this one starts off on the nav ball in a different spot, and is slightly hard to steer at first, and not exactly sure where to put it on the nav ball now because of that. (Mind you I have only landed on the moon successfully, well, the people lived, the landed was not as lucky =P) . I almost had it to orbit once, but it was not horizontal, was more trying to orbit diagonal. Love this game, want to learn it all =P but it is a ton to learn I will say. Also, what is the point of flying around to a different spot on the planet, in a plane lets say. Set up a base or something?

[Ralathon]

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/24775-0-19-1-MOLAB-Heavy-Manned-Munar-Rover?highlight=MOLAB

For example this is what I am trying to get to the moon. But for some reason this one starts off on the nav ball in a different spot, and is slightly hard to steer at first, and not exactly sure where to put it on the nav ball now because of that. (Mind you I have only landed on the moon successfully, well, the people lived, the landed was not as lucky =P) . I almost had it to orbit once, but it was not horizontal, was more trying to orbit diagonal. Love this game, want to learn it all =P but it is a ton to learn I will say. Also, what is the point of flying around to a different spot on the planet, in a plane lets say. Set up a base or something?

The reason the Navball has a different orientation in the start is because the probe body is tilted. If it bothers you to fly with a different orientation you can add/find a docking port that is facing up and right click it. Select the option "control from here" and the navball will act as if that docking port is the controlling part.

As to why you would want to go to a different spot: Well there are lots of reasons. A lot of people use the Kethane mod which adds a resource to the game that can be turned into fuel. In this case you might want to move to a different spot on the planet because your kethane field dried up and you need to move for greener pastures. Another reason would be sightseeing. The universe is littered with easter eggs and interesting terrain, some people like to find them all. Or maybe you just want to shoot that perfect picture of an kerbinrise or something. Everyone has their own reasons.

[Whackjob]

Doh! The question has already been adequately answered, so there is no need for me, now. But I just want to add: Welcome! You're in for an interesting time.

I was brand new two weeks ago (about?) and was cranking out stuff like this:

And now I'm building things like this:

So my advice to you would be, "Don't let reason and functionality cloud your designs. Shoot for the Mun, but shoot it with what you please."

[Bassna]

Thanks Ral I will check that out. And WOW nice whackjob, I have not even attempted to build anything of my own yet, it looks far complicated lol. I give you props for that though, very nice. Should I be using mods? I have not had any yet. Another problem I have been having is some things I fly to moons orbit fine, and get there, and when I press spacebar its like it seperates the wrong thing it seems, and screws up everything. I guess I'm not sure if i should be pressing a number button or something to change to a different spacebar action or something?

[Lazro]

Staging is important! Mouse over the different icons to highlight the part described. If something seems off, drag the icon or the stage to a place where it will be more useful.

[Ralathon]

Thanks Ral I will check that out. And WOW nice whackjob, I have not even attempted to build anything of my own yet, it looks far complicated lol. I give you props for that though, very nice. Should I be using mods? I have not had any yet. Another problem I have been having is some things I fly to moons orbit fine, and get there, and when I press spacebar its like it seperates the wrong thing it seems, and screws up everything. I guess I'm not sure if i should be pressing a number button or something to change to a different spacebar action or something?

You don't have to use mods of course. And I wouldn't recommend using them right away. There are absolutely great mods out there, but if you immediately download Ferrum Aerospace Research, Ioncross Crew Support, Deadly Reentry and Remotetech the game becomes a bit inaccessible. You'll have a very bad time trying to reach the Joolian system since the Kerbals will die without oxygen and burn to a crisp without heat shields. You can also use mods to get extra parts, but again, watch out with this. Not every mod has the engines and fuel tanks fairly balanced, so you run the risk of finding a game breaking part that makes everything an exercise in maneuvering and removes the engineering part of the game.

So yea, mods are in general great, but don't be too hasty to grab for the mods in my opinion.

As for spacebar causing the wrong parts to separate (this is called Staging). If you look to the left side of your screen you can see your stages. If you press stage the game will activate everything in the next tab (it goes from bottom to top). If you look at Whackjob's second picture you can see that he has all those engines in his stage 1 and a parachute in his stage 0. If he presses space now he'll deploy his chutes. If you are unhappy with the order in which your rocket stages you can shuffle things around by dragging them between tabs, or dragging entire tabs around. You can adjust this both while flying the craft and while building it (then it is on the right side instead).

[Whackjob]

When you build the actual space ship, the right lower side of the screen will show the different stages. Spacebar will go through that list from the bottom up. So as a sample, say stage 3 releases the docking clamps and ignites the main and side engines. Stage 2, you'd want the docking clamps for the side motors, and you'd spacebar when those run out. So then you'd drop the boosters when they ran out of fuel. Stage one would maybe drop the capsule, and stage 0 would be the parachute.

Does that make sense?

#EDIT: I would suggest forgoing the mods until you've got a good grasp of the main game.

[Bassna]

The reason the Navball has a different orientation in the start is because the probe body is tilted. If it bothers you to fly with a different orientation you can add/find a docking port that is facing up and right click it. Select the option "control from here" and the navball will act as if that docking port is the controlling part.

Where exactly do I find this? Is that in the assembly building?

[Ralathon]

Where exactly do I find this? Is that in the assembly building?

The "right click and select control from here" must be done while launching/flying the thing. If there isn't a port available and you want to add one you'll have to do so in the assembly building. Docking ports are under the "utility" menu near the bottom (If I'm not mistaken). There are 4 versions. Small, medium, medium with a hatch to protect it (mostly cosmetic for now) and large. Any one of these will do.

[Bassna]

Ok, I added one, dunno my nav ball is still in the wrong place from the start and so on it seems.

When i launch, i turn on SAS to try to keep it steady going up, but it just constantly spins. Its in the middle of the blue/brown on nav ball

[CCKinnison]

Add a probe core to the non-rover portion of the ship, and control from THERE. (as high as possible. ideally, just below the decoupler for the landing stage) Your landing stage orientation will still be odd, but your flight will be "normal".

[Bassna]

The "right click and select control from here" must be done while launching/flying the thing. If there isn't a port available and you want to add one you'll have to do so in the assembly building. Docking ports are under the "utility" menu near the bottom (If I'm not mistaken). There are 4 versions. Small, medium, medium with a hatch to protect it (mostly cosmetic for now) and large. Any one of these will do.

You sir, rock. Thanks I got it. Now to hopefully get this thing to the moon without crashing. That will be a task all in itself =D Another question, how do you know if you need to switch a action group for a rocket then? Just learn what each and every part does?

Alright, well, I got it to the moon! But, again I crashed while trying to land lol. I seem to be losing altitude slow enough, but I'm coming in sideways so fast, and it hits the ground and crashes it all Any idea why?

Edited July 8, 2013 by Bassna

[NeoMorph]

Check out my sig links for significant help for new players. The info was collected together by a couple of good Kerbonauts.

If you want to pm, go ahed too. I'm on several time a day.

[EmissionGeneration]

Personally, I think you need to take things 1 Step at a time. It sounds as if you have not yet landed on the Moon since started playing, and probably a wrong choice to try and land a Large Rover as your first time. In my opinion it might be best to start with this Tutorial A Moon Rocket and Moon Trip Walkthrough for Newbies, until you get a better feel of how it all works, and then move onto something bit more harder. Even for some experienced Players, landing on the Moon might be simple, but taking larger contraptions can be a challenge.

[NeoMorph]

My first journey to Duna was with a huge habitat with 5 Kerbals on the ground and two further at the big station in orbit. So you CAN go big... but you need to practice the individual parts first. If you can't dock and will need to on your mission then you are going to kill Kerbals.

Ground Habitat for 5 Kerbals.

Orbiting station around Duna. These are also the main engines for the Duna mission. For the return, the lander has filled up with Kethane generated fuel and tops off the main drive section with fuel. The lander is then sent back down to the planet on parachutes while the main engine and station returns to Kerbol.

Note: You can actually just see the lander at the bottom of the stack which shows the scale of the main drive.

[Ralathon]

You sir, rock. Thanks I got it. Now to hopefully get this thing to the moon without crashing. That will be a task all in itself =D Another question, how do you know if you need to switch a action group for a rocket then? Just learn what each and every part does?

Alright, well, I got it to the moon! But, again I crashed while trying to land lol. I seem to be losing altitude slow enough, but I'm coming in sideways so fast, and it hits the ground and crashes it all Any idea why?

I don't really know what you mean with your action group comment. Parts that can do certain things (extending solar panels, igniting lights, deploying antenna etc) can be assigned to action groups in the assembly building. That way you only have to press the assigned button to control them all. But this isn't really needed, you can also just right click and deploy them while in flight.

The reason you're coming in sideways with a lot of speed is because you'll be moving at orbital velocities. The mun has no atmosphere so it'll do nothing to slow you down, that's your job.

If you look at your navball you'll notice there are some markers on it. Specifically a yellow circle with a cross through it and a yellow circle with lines moving out in a triangle formation. If you point in the direction of the former it means you'll be pointing the spacecraft against your current direction. This is very useful for landing. All you have to do is point your spacecraft towards the circle with a cross in it and keep firing until your relative velocity is very low. Landing is pretty hard so expect a lot of crashes (F5 and F9 are your friend here). If you do it correctly the last few 100s of meters you should have the retrograde marker( circle with cross) aiming straight for the middle of the blue part of the navball. When this happens slowly go down and look for the shadow or the light from your engines, make sure you touch the ground at a reasonable velocity (aim for touching down at less than 1 m/s, else you'll either break stuff or bounce and end up on your back).

[Bassna]

/

WOOOHOOOO!!! Awesome. How do people take screenshots without the HUD showing? And....what now? Lol. Guess I should try to get a fuel base set up there also eh

[Whackjob]

Congratulations!

[OopsThatNotWork]

/

WOOOHOOOO!!! Awesome. How do people take screenshots without the HUD showing? And....what now? Lol. Guess I should try to get a fuel base set up there also eh

Thats up to you what you do next. I hit the mun, then minimus, then Duna, then I started modding. I have since founded the "Kerbal Mining Corporation" on minimus and have plans to build a somewhat functioning city. Until they add in career-mode, and even after, sandbox mode is whatever you want to make it. Be creative is all I can say. Ive seen pictures where people built floating cities more or less on the moon Laythe.

Edit: If you want a real challenge, try getting to Moho, still unachieved on my part. I always run out of fuel while trying to obtain orbit within Moho's area of influence.

[Bassna]

Thanks =D. One question im not sure anyone would know cause i guess its prolly just this ship, but i cant get it to stop rolling and stay in place. and the landing gears dont seem to be long enough to touch the ground. So...idk. I crashed once and reloaded quicksave. Is there a way to save once im on the moon, so if something happens, i dont have to re-land?