Most important lesson you've learned in KSP?

[El_Kikko]

Never map a booster activation to the same command as a decoupling. The lower stages will explode. A lot.

[Superfluous J]

Never map a booster activation to the same command as a decoupling. The lower stages will explode. A lot.

I do this all the time. Once I'm not using the lower stage I don't care if it explodes. In fact, I prefer it

[Gailardia]

Ruggedized rover wheels make great landing gear.

[El_Kikko]

I do this all the time. Once I'm not using the lower stage I don't care if it explodes. In fact, I prefer it

well the issue i was refer to exactly is where the lower stage doesn't clear in time, so the exhaust from the boosters pushes the spent stacks into the rest of the rocket before you can clear it. Jeb's lost a lot of his 9 lives to that one....

[hobbsyoyo]

Why are you dumping a lit booster?

[Spyritdragon]

Strut your pancake tanks together, else they'll wobble your ship clean apart.

[KrisM]

My rockets aren't overbuilt and I'm not a terrible pilot. The ability to dump a stage early and save a tumbling rocket, and still make orbit, is just a safety feature.

>.>

[LameLefty]

With struts, all things are possible.

(But don't forget some emergency "stay alive" flat solar panels in case you forget to deploy your solar arrays)

[SpaceSphereOfDeath]

when in doubt, don't try to jump down a 500m slope on the mun going 40m/s horizontaly with 2 crew on board and delivring 1000 fuel to a nearby base with a very delicate power genration and those tiny fragile probe wheels.

And then be sad it didn't blow up and try it again

[Col_Jessep]

Do not let your cat jump on your desk during launch. It's probably gonna be okay once you are in a stable orbit and have locked the staging... >(´O.O)<

[Commander Zoom]

Failure to reinforce your parachutes (and/or whatever they're directly attached to) with struts can result in them ripping clean off when they open.

This tends to be bad for the rest of the craft.

[jwilhite]

It feels like cheating, but...briefly turning time warp on and off again will immediately stop your craft from rotating. This makes it easy (even for large, sluggish craft) to hit the target on your navball without overshooting it and without having to slow your rotation before you get to the target.

[Tassyr]

Here's one I remembered. Delta V is important. So is Thrust-to-Weight ratio.

All the Delta V in the world won't help if you can't get off the ground...

[EtherDragon]

The most important thing I learned is this:

Assign a Job (or jobs) to each stage.

If the stage is not able to complete it's assigned jobs - go back and rework the stage.

Don't let later stages cover for the failures of early stages; it will just lead to you running out of propellant for your mission.

[JebIsMyHero]

The most complex design is not always the best when trying to get to a distant location. Sometimes, a smaller, stripped-down, more efficient version can get you there without the headache of making sure all the staging is correct!

[kelmv]

Something I learned that is terribly important: When creating an ejection system, remember to use a decoupler. While the two sepratrons and radial 'chute will remove the front of the ship at ~175m/s, they won't remain long enough to keep the pilot alive.

[Roman_legion]

Always always ALWAYS put the RCS blocks DIRECTLY ontop of the center of mass. Four blocks at the front and four at the back WILL NOT HELP YOU DOCK.

[kelmv]

Attempting to land in a field with a jet powered by 3 turbojets while descending at roughly 10m/s does not end well for anything except the center 2/3rds of the fuselage.

[Rickenbacker]

Always always ALWAYS put the RCS blocks DIRECTLY ontop of the center of mass. Four blocks at the front and four at the back WILL NOT HELP YOU DOCK.

They will if they're equidistant from the CoM...

[Rickenbacker]

When you can walk away from, then I call it a landing

There's the old pilot saying: If you can walk away from it, it's a good landing. If they can use the plane again, it's a GREAT landing!

[lewille]

Never EVER forget to put landing legs on a lander (especially if you are not a pro lander that can land a craft at less than 1m/s)

[Starwhip]

Sepatron motors on massive asparagus rockets are VITAL. Otherwise, you can kiss your main engines goodbye.

[hobbsyoyo]

They will if they're equidistant from the CoM...

Your CoM shifts as you use fuel. It's a problem for single, over-the-CoM thruster sets and an even worse problem for 'equidistant' thruster sets.

[Kialar]

As stated yesterday in IRC:

Lesson 1: Do not, under all circumstances, try to establish orbit while reading a chat.

[MightyLampshade]

Moar struts!

And also the fact that saving Jeb, Bob and Bill is worth any amount of other Kerbal lives. Even swapping seats.