REF value for Laythe?

[spikeyhat09]

hey, i want to test out a Laythe lander to see if it can reach orbit FROM laythe, but i dont know what the REF value for laythe is so i can edit the persistence file. anyone know what it is? thanks

[Cashen]

If you can calculate your lander's delta-v, you should be able to tell. It takes 2800m/s of dV to launch into orbit from Laythe's surface. So 3000m/s is a good number with a reasonable safety margin. This assumes a thrust-to-weight of above 1 in Laythe's gravity.

[spikeyhat09]

If you can calculate your lander's delta-v, you should be able to tell. It takes 2800m/s of dV to launch into orbit from Laythe's surface. So 3000m/s is a good number with a reasonable safety margin. This assumes a thrust-to-weight of above 1 in Laythe's gravity.

while i may be able to calculate on paper whether the lander technically has enough delta V to reach orbit, id like to know if i can do it in practice (efficiency of engines in atmosphere, TWR, when is the optimal time to gravity turn, also my piloting skills are all factors that will influence the lander's success independent of delta V). i will take your advice though, thanks.

Edited July 17, 2013 by spikeyhat09

[Dasemay]

umm i think it should tell you on the wiki i think kebol is either 1 or 0 kerbin is either 1 or 2 and mun might be 2 or 3 etc.. im not sure the rest though. my advise just plug in 1 through like the number of bodys until you get the right one

Edited July 17, 2013 by Dasemay

[astropapi1]

You may want to use the Kerbal Engineer for that. It gives you numbers, like the TWR on other planets, total/stage deltaV, the craft's mass, etc. And a lot of useful info in-flight too. It's a pretty good IMO, even stock designers should use it.

[spikeyhat09]

umm i think it should tell you on the wiki i think kebol is either 1 or 0 kerbin is either 1 or 2 and mun might be 2 or 3 etc.. im not sure the rest though. my advise just plug in 1 through like the number of bodys until you get the right one

thanks, i checked there already, and i could not find it.

update: turns out there is a whole wiki page dedicated to the save file parameters: http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Orbit

[Cashen]

while i may be able to calculate on paper whether the lander technically has enough delta V to reach orbit, id like to know if i can do it in practice (efficiency of engines in atmosphere, TWR, when is the optimal time to gravity turn, also my piloting skills are all factors that will influence the lander's success independent of delta V). i will take your advice though, thanks.

Kerbal Engineer would help a lot with this, but some of it you can ballpark on your own. Engines in Laythe's atmosphere will perform similarly to in Kerbin's. You can calculate the TWR if you know the acceleration due to gravity (Anything slightly above 1 on Kerbin would be excellent on Laythe). The gravity turn I would ballpark at around 7km based on the height of Laythe's atmosphere relative to Kerbin's. Plus a safety margin on the dV.

[tomf]

I have sometimes used the hyperedit mod to put my craft on a different body. When I am done with "simulations" I launch the craft for real.

[Pulstar]

hey, i want to test out a Laythe lander to see if it can reach orbit FROM laythe, but i dont know what the REF value for laythe is so i can edit the persistence file. anyone know what it is? thanks

I suggest editing the quicksave instead since reloading that after making changes is faster in my experience than the persistance file (they're both the same format). REF is 8 or 9 I believe, it's the lowest out of Jool's moons.

[strongest_2hu]

Just use hyperedit, as one of the major components of testing is testing again. Do you really want to keep editing your save file until you get a lander design that works, when you could just hyperedit it there in 3 mouse clicks?