Noob Problems....

[Biker Joe]

So I started paying this yesterday and I'm hooked! spent ages last night just trying to get a satellite into orbit around Kerbin, my next mission is to go to the Mun!

So I got a spacecraft into orbit but do I need to change it's orbital axis to match that of the Mun before I do a burn to go there?

Also how is it that people do a screen capture of their craft? I tried doing one lst night but I have to paste it into MS Word first? is there an easier way?

Thanks in advance for helping me!

[KSK]

So I started paying this yesterday and I'm hooked! spent ages last night just trying to get a satellite into orbit around Kerbin, my next mission is to go to the Mun!

So I got a spacecraft into orbit but do I need to change it's orbital axis to match that of the Mun before I do a burn to go there?

Also how is it that people do a screen capture of their craft? I tried doing one lst night but I have to paste it into MS Word first? is there an easier way?

Thanks in advance for helping me!

F1 and F2. One toggles the user interface on and off, the other takes screenshots. Can't remember which way round that works off the top of my head. Screenshots are saved into their own folder in your KSP folder - I forget the file format but any decent image viewer should work fine.

Not quite sure what you mean by orbital axis but the Mun is in an equatorial orbit around Kerbin, so if your craft is also in an equatorial orbit you should be good to go. It doesn't need to be perfect either, a couple of degrees either side should work, although you may end up in quite an inclined orbit around the Mun.

Edited October 11, 2013 by KSK

[lammatt]

F12 for steam screen cap

F1 for the KSP client screen cap

client captures as .png, while steam captures as jpg

and png is way larger than jpg

so,... it's your choice

[KSK]

Also, for posting pictures on the forums, you might want to upload them to an image sharing site first (Imgur works for me) and then link to the shared image from your forum post.

[Kasuha]

So I got a spacecraft into orbit but do I need to change it's orbital axis to match that of the Mun before I do a burn to go there?

I assume you mean aligning orbital planes. It is not necessary but it makes things way easier so if you just started you probably should do it.

There's a lot of KSP videos with all kinds of advice on YouTube, you should give them a try.

Just one link for starters:

[Biker Joe]

Thanks everyone for the help! sorry for the stupidly basic questions, also sorry mods for posting this in the wrong place:blush:

If I have any more questions I'll keep them to this thread!

[Silverchain]

The simplest way to get to the Mun is to wait in low Kerbin orbit until the Mun first appears over the horizon, then burn prograde (pointed in the direction of the velocity vector on the navball) and watch in map view until you get an intercept.

[capi3101]

The only stupid question is the one left unasked; don't worry about asking them.

F2 to shut off the interface before you take a picture (totally unnecessary).

F1 to take a screenshot in-game.

Looking forward to the next set of questions - taking a guess, it'll be something along the lines of "how do you land on Mun"...

[BostLabs]

Thanks everyone for the help! sorry for the stupidly basic questions,<snip>

Unlike other places, there are no stupid questions here. Well, there is, but you have to work really, really, really hard to come up with one.

[RoboRay]

sorry for the stupidly basic questions

Basic? This ain't "basic"... this is rocket science!

Ask all the questions you want.

[Morokth]

Simple steps to arriving at the Mun based on my experiences thus far -

1.) circularize your ship at whatever altitude parking orbit. I suppose this isn't entirely necessary but I find boosting to a parking orbit makes whatever else I'm going to do much easier. For me and what I do in game, 100km parking orbit is the standard around Kerbin.

2.) Select Mun as target. At the descending or ascending node burn normal or anti-normal to get the inclination difference to 0.0 degrees. In some cases having the inclination difference "close enough" may not cause much worries but I find this just makes everything else easier.

3.) In map view, zoom out far enough to see Mun's or ital path. Swing the view so that you're looking at Kerbins polar cap, and so that Mun is in about the 2 o'clock position. Now zoom back in and place a maneuver node at about the six o'clock position and set your burn for an intercep with Mun. Some fine tuning may be needed with the exact placemen of the node, but you should end up with a delta-v of between 820 and 850 generating you an encounter with the Mun, with a Mun periapsis of anywhere between 300km and a couple thousand kilometers.

4.). Once you are in the Mun's SOI, place a node at your munar periapsis and use the retrograde arm to place yourself into orbit around the Mun.

5.) lastly, if desired, circularize your burn at your desired altitude.

This is the process I go through in getting to the Mun or Minmus. I hope I wrote this out succinctly and clearly enough for any who wander by looking for answers.

[Vanamonde]

Here are instructions on how to get to the moons: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/25029-A-moon-rocket-and-moon-trip-walkthrough-for-newbies-(21-1) That includes an example ship you can download if you want, but you can follow most of the instructions with your own ship if you prefer.

[Biker Joe]

Ask all the questions you want.

You'll be sorry you said that!

I'm not really very literate when is comes to computer games/programs...

I downloaded the Kethane mod, it's as a zip file, how/what do I do to add it to the game?

[CorruptDB]

You'll be sorry you said that!

I'm not really very literate when is comes to computer games/programs...

I downloaded the Kethane mod, it's as a zip file, how/what do I do to add it to the game?

Just unzip the file in your KSP directory. The actual location may vary depending on if it was installed from Steam or from the Website and which platform you are on. Usually mods will be zipped up with a directory structure inside, if they just have the mod directory then unzip it in $KSP_ROOT/GameData/, but most mods will include the GameData directory in their structure so you just unzip them in your KSP folder.

[Biker Joe]

Just unzip the file in your KSP directory. The actual location may vary depending on if it was installed from Steam or from the Website and which platform you are on. Usually mods will be zipped up with a directory structure inside, if they just have the mod directory then unzip it in $KSP_ROOT/GameData/, but most mods will include the GameData directory in their structure so you just unzip them in your KSP folder.

Thanks! unzipped the file and took the Kethane GameData file and put it with the original GameData file that came with the game, I downloaded it off the site, don't use steam