Confuse the Newbs

[Helix935]

use 64-bit effectively only use plugins and never parts packs otherwise it will crash

[dbmorpher]

Does the game take a long time to load?

Go into the GameData folder and delete the folder labeled "Squad"

This will greatly decrease your load time.

[MrWalrus123]

If you go to the north pole, there will be walrusus that will have a portal leading to any location.

[GreeningGalaxy]

You can use time warp to make a long transfer maneuver go faster, but all the good players consider time warp to be cheating. If you want to play like a real Kerbal Space Programmer, fly all of your missions in real time without ever touching time warp.

The Oscar B fuel tank has the best mass ratio of any fuel tank. Build your ships entirely and exclusively out of Oscar Bs.

[Overfloater]

When building cargo space-planes, concentrate hard on aesthetics. Ignore all logic & common sense, and don't worry - the better it looks the better it flies! Trust me, I'm a doctor*! 8-]

* not really a doctor.

[GreeningGalaxy]

In order to dock two ships in orbit, wait until the target ship is almost straight over KSC, then burn straight up until your paths intersect. If your intersect is reduced to exactly zero distance, the ships will dock automatically when they meet.

Before you even think of opening up the game, make sure you have at least two high-end graphing calculators handy. You will need all the functions of a TI-89 Titanium Edition in order to calculate orbits, and you'll need to use them fast, so be prepared to punch buttons quickly!

[dbmorpher]

Part contracts are automatically completed once all the parameters are fulfilled.

[goldenpeach]

When you are in orbit you are going fast. very fast. extremely fast.

this mean that the centrifugal force is huge: alway have an engine firing toward the body you're orbiting or else you will flung out of the orbit due to the centrifugal force.

[LABHOUSE]

to rendezvous properlly... you have to burn toward the target mark on the navball...

Wait that's what I do and it works...

[GreeningGalaxy]

In order to get between planets, the most fuel-efficient possible trajectory is the torchship maneuver: simply aim at the target planet, start burning your engine, and flip over and burn the other way once you get halfway there. If you run out of fuel before completing this, then you are obviously terrible at the game and shouldn't even bother whining to us on the forums because we'll never help.

[Red Iron Crown]

It is cheating to use mods, ask on the forums, watch tutorial videos, or read any external sources such as the Wiki or an orbital mechanics textbook. The game gives you all the information and explains all the concepts well enough so that if you're not doing interplanetary missions after the first week in bone stock KSP, the game is probably too complicated for you.

[dbmorpher]

When in career mode it is best to research spaceplane specific parts. Anything launched out of the SPH has a large science multiplier.

[Joshwoo70]

In the cheat menu there is a part cliping cheat.

It is sometimes considered not a cheat.

Wait! One more!

Using hyperedit is not considered cheating

(Trololool)

[dbmorpher]

Part clipping can do really cool things. Some of the best creations made in this game use part clipping, anyways...

If you accept a contract the next mission must fulfill it or the contract will fail.

[Joshwoo70]

If you see a magical boulder on ike, touch it!

[TheFlyingPigs]

The launch button is the off button for your computer

[Red Iron Crown]

When doing an interplanetary transfer, exit Kerbin's SoI and drop your periapsis to about 1000km from the sun. This will allow you to go very fast at periapsis, giving greater benefit from the Oberth effect.

[TonyC]

If you want to effectively perform a circularization, throttle up when pointing prograde. And don't forget that the LV-1R is 10x more poweful than the Rockomax Mainsail engine (and it weights much more!)

[Starman4308]

When landing on Duna, parachutes work great thanks to the presence of atmosphere. Just remember: if you're using Deadly Reentry, be sure to pop your chutes late: do it too early, and reentry will burn your parachutes off, just like on Kerbin. Test things out home at Kerbin, where it is quick, cheap, and easy.

[Kulebron]

Beginner: make sure you have enough fuel to get to orbit. If not enough, add more tanks.

Jool surface samples give most science.

When you land a ship with a rover, put a kerbal into his seat. He'll control the ship better from there, making landing just perfect.

Landing probes are easy: wrap a cube with scientific parts, transmitters and radial batteries, decouple it from the main ship, switch to it to get science. Then switch back.

As I understand, lying on massless parts makes the ship oscillate and doesn't let you switch.

Edited October 17, 2014 by Kulebron

[JebNeedsHelp]

Ignore the navball. It doesn't really help you anyway and just gets in the way.

[Cooly568]

Don't actually go on EVA, your kerbals can't handle space, they get space-sick.

Jool surface samples give most science.

How much data would you get from a Jool surface sample? Someone must go science.

[Joshwoo70]

Pressing q or e will make you kerbal stop spinning.

[Red Iron Crown]

Don't use SAS, it's really a sort of autopilot. You should learn how to keep your ship pointed manually before earning the right to have your ship pointed for you.

[Dman979]

only aerodynamically shaped ships will fly- the stock air matters.

Also, if you keep a stable surface speed until your Apoapsis, you'll have more fuel to circularize with. So don't start your gravity turn until above the atmosphere.