Eva

[Lar-E]

I'm having horrendous trouble getting zero-G EVA under control. Poor Jeb pops out of his ship for a brief look around, and maneuvering him back proves well nigh impossible; he overshoots, he undershoots, he loses track of his spacecraft, he goes spinning off into space. Is this just a steep learning curve thing, or is there a trick to it?

[TheIncredibleDalek]

I'm having horrendous trouble getting zero-G EVA under control. Poor Jeb pops out of his ship for a brief look around, and maneuvering him back proves well nigh impossible; he overshoots, he undershoots, he loses track of his spacecraft, he goes spinning off into space. Is this just a steep learning curve thing, or is there a trick to it?

I also find EVA a rather harrowing experience for my kerbonauts. I find that using their jetpack in short bursts, as opposed to long burns, helps me to not fly wildly off course. If you are losing the rocket, target it either by the map screen or by double-clicking it's main control center.

[KerbMav]

Dont push it. Take your time. Be gentle.

[Scarecrow88]

Just use small dabs on the control buttons so that his speed doesn't get out of hand, and be prepared to give a dab on the opposite button to keep things steady.

[Johnno]

Learning curve is all there is to it. Short pulses are easier to control, single pulse in one direction gets cancelled out by a single pulse in the opposite direction.

[blizzy78]

The trick is to just tap the keys really shortly - it's the same with docking. Remember that in space there is no atmosphere to slow you down, so the longer you press a key, the faster you will go. Let go of the key, and you will keep going. To actually come to a "stop" (in relative terms), you have to press keys to push you in the opposite direction. So to keep things under control, try to go slowly (in relative terms.)

Admitted, this is all common sense, but I think it's well worth repeating anyway.

[KerbMav]

Admitted, this is all common sense, but I think it's well worth repeating anyway.

Blame it on Hollywood ...

[Tiron]

Remember, there's no friction. If you're moving in a direction, no matter how slowly, you will not stop or slow down unless you either: Hit something; Use your thrusters again.

As a result you need to do two things to fly around on EVA effectively:

1.) Be patient. Going faster makes it harder to be precise and uses more fuel.

2.) Think ahead. It takes just as much thrust, and therefore just as much time, to stop as it did to gain the speed in the first place. This means you need to be counter-thrusting to kill your velocity BEFORE you get to your target. How much before depends on how fast you're going, but it's exactly equal to the time spent accelerating up to that speed in the first place.

[Dispatcher]

Good advice above. Those little thrusters are powerful in space. I don't know what the EVA pack delivers in terms of thrust, but the RCS7 can scoot a small monopropellant tank about 200 meters on the surface of Kerbin. If the EVA pack delivers half of that, its still plenty. As noted above, for each thrust, you'll need to thrust in the opposite direction before you can stop where you want to be positioned.

[Geschosskopf]

Also, try hard to only move in 1 direction at a time, so you can remember how many times to tap which key to stop going that way. Moving in 2 or more directions at once really complicates things. Also, never give more than a tap or 2 in any direction or you'll go so fast you'll knock the other ship spinning when you get there .

Finally, be VERY careful moving the camera while on EVA. All the EVA controls are relative to the direction the camera's facing (towards, away, left, right), just like they are when walking on the ground, so moving the camera also changes the direction the Kerbal will move when you press a key. The difference is that on the ground, the Kerbal will stop between key presses but in space he keeps going with the vector he had before you moved the camera. Thus, if you get the Kerbal moving then reposition the camera and give the Kerbal another movement command (even using the same key), you end up moving in 2 directions at once, the original one before you moved the camera and the new one you just entered. This can cause all kinds of problems.

So, think ahead. Before letting go of the ladder to start flying, line the camera up so you can see your destination and won't have to move the camera during flight. That really helps keep the Kerbal under control.

[Boffinbox]

SLOW DOWN

is the essence of it. newton himself says that an object remains in motion until you apply a force to it. what i guess you're doing is holding down W for too long.

set your target, and look at the distance to it. note that distance. hold W until you're nearly halfway, and then hold S. you'll find yourself stopped, very close to where you want to be.

[cantorobriar]

All of this is good advice. I too experienced this when I was first using EVA, but if you want to EVA down to Gilly and back up, keep practicing! FYI: Never try to EVA down to Eve. Death (and a REALLY strong atmosphere) awaits you there!

[thereaverofdarkness]

You gotta think of it in terms of three simple movement dimensions. If you want to make him stop moving, think not what direction he is moving in but rather how fast left or right, how fast up or down, and how fast forward or backward he is moving, and cancel each one out individually.

[Spyritdragon]

Get a small ship out into space i suggest, and learn to fly with short bursts as mentioned before. Learn to counter your momentum using your ship as a reference point, and start by moving in one dimension at a time. I.e, start by getting off of your ladder and slowly moving up and down with your EVA pack, looking down at your engine, then back up to your command pod, and back to the engine, etc.

[Jacob01]

Just perform short little bursts of the jet packs thrusters. Also, the Kerbal attachment system mod might help. You could put one of the winches on your ship, and attach it to your Kerbal when in space. This way, they will always be attached to the ship, so you won't float too far away from it.

Kerbal attachment system- http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/25563-0-20-KAS-v0-3-Kerbal-

Edited August 31, 2013 by Jacob01
Wrong spellings

[Geschosskopf]

Kerbal attachment system- http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/25563-0-20-KAS-v0-3-Kerbal-

Just be sure to read the instructions and take the various precautions mentioned in the thread. KAS is a wonderful thing--I never go to space without it--but it's also full of traps for the unwary that can lead to all sorts of spectacular disasters, especially when using it during EVA .

However, distance really isn't much of a constraint with EVA. You just get moving in the right direction and coast the whole way to the target, just like with a rocket. I mean, you can fly home on EVA from Minmus and even Gilly. So if you find yourself like 10km from your ship, don't panic and hold down thrust in that direction. Just get headed SLOWLY toward it and you'll get there eventually.

Another good way to learn how to do EVA is to practice on Mun or Minmus. Mun is a bit safer because you're unlikely to achieve escape velocity even if you try, whereas on Minmus you can do it accidentally if you're not careful. On Mun, you have to keep blipping up every few seconds which limits your horizontal range to about 6-8km (so 1/2 that for a round trip back to thelander), or less if you fly up a tall mountainside. On Minmus, you don't need much up thrust to stay flying so can cover huge tracts of land (or, if you're feeling confident, use orbits and sub-orbits to go anywhere). But as mentioned, if you're not careful you'll find yourself on escape trajectory while still below the surrounding mountaintops .

In either case, start out by getting a few feet off the ground, then moving in the desired direction, using blips of up as needed to maintain altitude without getting very high. Then pick an object some distance away and fly to it, stop there, circle all around it without touching the ground. Eventually, head back towards a point a short distance left or right of your lander (do NOT aim directly at the lander) and blip forward until you're going as fast as you dare. Then, try to stop even with your lander while holding yourself up as needed, then come down gently and try to stick the landing. The reason for not aiming directly at the lander is that if you screw up your flying, you might fly into the lander and tip it over, or hit the ground short, slide under it, and then tip it over when you stand back up. But if the capsule survives and you're on Minmus, you can at least go back inside, refuel your jetpack, and fly yourself back to Kerbin .

[Mesons]

The trick is to just tap the keys really shortly - it's the same with docking.

I had troubles with EVAs as well until I started trying to dock my ships together. I found pebble_garden's tutorial for rendezvous to be extremely helpful; it's towards the top (maybe at the top?) of the list of tutorials.

Once I had got plenty of practice with docking, EVA became a piece of cake. My experiences lead me to suggest the same for you.