HELP! getting this into orbit.

[billybobsatan]

THAT'S A ****ING MONSTROSITY THAT'S WHATS WRONG!

(lowercase text for capslock spam)

[Dewm]

THAT'S A ****ING MONSTROSITY THAT'S WHATS WRONG!

(lowercase text for capslock spam)

Teach me XD

whats wrong with it?!

[Respawn]

Teach me XD

whats wrong with it?!

The mainsail engins overheat when placed under orange tanks,

simply place flat grey tanks inbetween the orange tanks and the mainsails and you should be ok.

[Specialist290]

Hmm... Generally, what does the final orbit tend to look like? Do you have a periapsis that's above zero? If so, you might want to think about wedging a tiny "insertion stage" between your payload and the lifter you have now.

[allmhuran]

In my signature is a link to a 750 (20 full jumbo tanks) tons to LKO video. The following video is a quick tutorial for the construction technique (which I've called a "thrust plate").

[ZenithRising]

So what am I doing wrong?

Can't get this thing to work worth anything

So I burn everything at 100% until the outer tanks start to over heat. then I dial it back to about 90%. I run at 90% until I hit 10-13k meters, then I begin my gravity turn, (turn around 30-40 degrees) and I burn (dropping tanks) until around 75-80k meters. then I drift until the apoapsis then I burn until I am out of fuel (following a course I set) and its still not enough to get a full stable orbit. Not to mention having any fuel left for maneuvers etc...

Why am I so bad at this game?!?!

Not enough specific impulse!

Mainsails are going to burn through your fuel in a hurry, and you really don't need that kind of thrust once you are out of atmo, you need delta-v. What engine has the best delta-v? The ion drive.

Of course, it would take you AGES to get that delta-v out of your ion drive, and you'll have crashed long before then, so you still need a certain amount of thrust, but a lot less then mainsails provide. Remember, mainsails are fuel-hungry beasts, and more fuel means more mass, and more mass means you need more delta-v. You are caught in a self-defeating cycle.

Add more solid boosters in your initial stage, and use skipper(s) or even L30(s) for your final apoapsis burn. So long as there is enough thrust to keep from falling back into atmo, you have plenty. Go green! Get better fuel efficiency!

P.S. As others have mentioned, jam a small grey tank in between the orange ones and the mainsails to prevent overheating. You can also add a winglet or two next to the engine, which will not only help control the craft while in atmo, but also act as a heat sink.

[LostElement]

I suggest taking the short tanks to fit under those orange tanks. That will help with overheating. I rarely use asparagus staging, it never stops spinning :/

[Dewm]

So I put small silver tanks under the big orange ones.. indeed it helped the over heating..

And I replaced the very middle engine with a "poodle" engine.. which didn't give me enough thrust to circularize the orbit.... So if the skipper uses to much fuel... and the poodle doesn't give me enough thrust.. wtf am I supposed to use?

:/

[annallia]

Have you tried the skipper in stead of poodle? And how is it failing? Are you trying to circularize and it falls back to kerbin? If that is the case you either need to head for a higher orbit (to give you more time) or as I said before try the skipper instead of the poodle.

Edit-re-read what you said, who says skippers take too much fuel? They are actually quite the efficient little buggers. That is compared to the mainsail....

Edit 2.0 : Try putting a tri coupler (go for quad if you want) instead of the skipper/poodle engine on your core stage and add in 3 (or 4 for quad) LV-T30 engines. Almost the same thrust (more if you go for quad) and a higher ISP than the skipper.

Edited August 14, 2013 by annallia

[Johnno]

So what am I doing wrong?

Can't get this thing to work worth anything

You didn't asparagus stage the outer boosters.

Why am I so bad at this game?

Because you're either impatient or incapable of learning. You've been shown several different capable designs, I spent a good while working out one that worked flawlessly and sent your payload to orbit with fuel to spare, it was the simplest design that built on your own design, so why aren't you using it?

You've taken another design and haven't recreated it properly, so either pay attention or learn from your mistakes. You've also been told several times over about overheating engines, yet you go and redo them anyway.

Unless you can start learning what you're doing wrong and why things that other people show you work the way they do, I would suggest you go back to basics. Dial down your payload and build a launcher capable of lifting it, then increase the mass of your payload and build another launcher. Keep at it until you learn.

[capi3101]

So if the skipper uses to much fuel... and the poodle doesn't give me enough thrust.. wtf am I supposed to use?

Try SCE to AUX...

Skipper's probably your best bet, but if you want a compromise solution, I'd suggest using a bi-adapter and two LV-T45s. That'll give you 400 kN thrust, better atmo Isp than either the Skipper or Poodle and an average between the two in vacuum, and save you about nine-tenths of a tonne over the mass of the Skipper (only 0.6 tonnes over the mass of the Poodle). Only other thing I can think to suggest.

[ZenithRising]

Just keep experimenting.

EDIT: Deleted snarky post based on misremembering which engine the Poodle was. Whoops!

Edited August 14, 2013 by ZenithRising