Tips and tricks you found out yourself

[SpaceSphereOfDeath]

Press backspace to focus on your craft.

I like how in KSP, keybindings are their own Easter eggs!

[M5000]

This is going to sound really stupid but basically a cocktail of things about horizontal velocity.

-If you decrease your horizontal velocity to zero, you're not moving forward anymore so just drop down for the final landing.

-If you zero out your horizontal velocity, you'll fall straight down.

-If you're on a low gravity world and enter orbit going the wrong way, burn retrograde until it becomes prograde and your orbital velocity is the same as it was before, guess what? You just did a cartoon-esque switcharoo and are going the right way! (Most crafts I design for missions have plenty of excess fuel to make this type of maneuver trivial in comparison to consumption.)

[radonek]

1) For six-wheel rovers, steering lock on center wheel pair helps a lot.

2) Rovers are easier to build in SPH. Just remember to pick some other small part as root so you can tear it off and save as prefab.

3) Improvised generaly usefull part: girder segment + radioisotope generator. Turn generator 180° around attachment point so it is inside the girder. Voila – you have girder segment with four attachment nodes.

[Don Quixote]

Isn't X (instant cut of throttle) same as shutting down engine?

... it is? Well there's proof that this thread is great, because I didn't know about that. Thanks!

[Robescaillou]

1. When building a craft holding right click allows you to rotate your camera, holding shift and right click allows you to translate the camera.

2. When trying to select an assembly where the 1st part is invisible, use 1. to go into the parts to be able to select the one you want.

[Galileo Kerbonaut]

you aren't saving anything then... you in fact expended more Dv than you otherwise would have spent just to get into minmus orbit.

I disagree. A refuel mission in Minmus orbit to explore deeper into space isn't a waste of fuel: it helps you to get further than your satellite or lander would normally go; around 850Dv as stated. Of course it is more efficient to do it in one go, but what if you can't because of the limitations of the tech tree? It helped me out quite a bit to send crafts to Duna, Dress or Jool.

[koshelenkovv]

When landing on bodies with no atmosphere, whack a maneuver node at ground level and adjust it fully retrograde until the resultant is zero at ground level. Then you can suicide burn every time, and not have to worry about fuel wastage.

Very useful tip!

(I made spreadsheets and solved multistage equations to do suicide burns)

Now it is so simple

[miketheveeg]

suicide burns?

currently searching the forums.... what is a suicide burn?.

bet i do it but don't know the name

answer: Set a descent orbit, burn retrograde at full power at the last possible moment before impact becomes inevitable. You wind up only burning vertically for seconds.

Edited November 15, 2013 by miketheveeg
found answer

[magnemoe]

If you have the KAS mod you can use the small science modules as handheld devices, this is most practical for the gravity and acceleration meters as they use a lot of power to transmit.

Grab it, do an messurement and store result in pod together with eva reports and soil samples. if you do the measurement of the gravity meter on a ladder you get data from space close over target, store this too.

[Dweller_Benthos]

Press backspace to focus on your craft.

I like how in KSP, keybindings are their own Easter eggs!

I thought backspace was the default abort button? Whatever you set in your abort control group, that is.

[CalculusWarrior]

I thought backspace was the default abort button? Whatever you set in your abort control group, that is.

It might focus on your ship while in map view. I'll definitely test this.

[Jarin]

Press backspace to focus on your craft.!

I love you.

[Jarin]

... you people are mean. ;_;

[Majic]

There have been a few comments on key bindings, so I thought I should mention this:

KSP Wiki: Key Bindings

Very handy (as is the wiki in general), and it also has links to spreadsheet or PDF versions.

[TriggerAu]

There have been a few comments on key bindings, so I thought I should mention this:

KSP Wiki: Key Bindings

Very handy (as is the wiki in general), and it also has links to spreadsheet or PDF versions.

Also on Keys I compiled this a while ago as I found it easier to visualise (updated regularly) - KSP Keyboard Map (Goin' Old School Gaming)

[Dante80]

A couple of tips that came in handy for me.

1. If you use space tugs and/or have modular ships, remember to assign an action group to the different engine blocks, so that you can shut them down if needed. Also, be sure to select the proper control point when you dock two or more ships together, there is nothing more frustrating than aligning for a maneuver and realize you are facing the opposite way when you burn..XD

2. If you use universal docking ports (made by clipping a regular or jr docking port inside a sr) and dock two together, you will not be able to decouple unless you have assigned an action group for both ports. universal docking ports are very handy, more strong, and also very risky if you don't pay attention.

3. Using a couple of lights near your docking port to illuminate the port you are docking to is very handy when you are rendezvousing in the dark side of planets/moons. Don't skimp on a couple of extra parts, they will help you a lot visually.

4. If you are using space tugs to transport modules to a station or assemble big ships in orbit, a very handy mod to use that adds no parts to the stock game is the RCS Build Aid addon. By designing your module in the vab and attaching your space tug to it, you can simulate how it is going to behave when you translate with RCS in actual space. A little tweaking of module or RCS block positions will give you the opportunity to translate with 0 rotation, thus making orbital assembly and station building a pleasure instead of a chore.

Hope that helps, cheers..C:

[Geschosskopf]

A couple of tips for airplanes:

• When landed on sloped ground, don't rely on the parking brake to hold your plane still while you wander around on the surface. Instead, retract some or all of the landing gear. This firmly anchors the plane in place and also might reduce the need for ladders to get back into it. Which leads to the 2nd tip.
  
• When using the Mk1 Cockpit, put a single Pegasus I Mobility Enhancer on top of the very tip of the nosecone, angled down just slightly more than the slope of the nosecone itself. This makes it a lot easier to get back into the cockpit, especially if your wings overlap the built-in ladder area on the side of the cockpit. When you land, you retract the nosewheel as a parking brake, which also brings the tip of the nosecone down to ground level. Jump down from the cockpit, do your EVA stuff, and return to the plane. You should now be able to grab the ladder on top of the nosecone without having even to jump. Climb this to the top and let go. Now you can walk along the top of the nose until you're standing on the canopy, from which point you can reboard.
  

If you ever plan on using parachutes more than once (such as landing on Duna, then landing back at Kerbin), BE SURE to make an action group for "deploy chutes". For some reason, once you repack a chute, the previous staging won't ever work again. While this is no big deal if you only have 1 chute, it will save your life if you have multiple chutes,

[SunJumper]

I found out how to get a 'flyby of the Sun' (the message when recovering will tell this). Just go from Kerbin's SOI into a solar escape orbit, and then while keeping your eccentricity above one, return to Kerbin, somehow, and then land and recover. Not a significant science amount (as you only get 24 Science), but good for bragging rights.

[FuzzyLlama]

On starting an interplanetary voyage from Minmus: Yeah, works great! You could refuel from an orbital space station and drop in toward Kerbin when Minmus is positioned either pro- or retrograde along Kerbin's Kerbolar orbit. If Minmus is retrograde, burn at your Kerbin periapsis and be slingshot toward the outer Kerbolar system. You are stealing some of Kerbin's orbital energy, but that's ok, it can always find more!

Also, if you enter a very low Kerbol orbit and slingshot around it retrograde, you can time warp backwards to save the humpbacks.

[Spyritdragon]

Press backspace to focus on your craft.

I like how in KSP, keybindings are their own Easter eggs!

Oh my god this is so useful. I was always like 'maneuver node at Mun periapsis... dangit i don't want to focus the Mun. - double click craft - "focus Kerbin". No i don't want to focus Kerbin gimme my rocket back!'

[el_coyoto]

On building asparagus staging easily :

1. Install Editor Extensions (only mod I can NOT live without)
   
2. Build all your stalks in 2x symmetry, using the above plugin to toggle vertical snap (can be done modless, but requires a KSP restart) and soothe your "everything must be aligned" OCD.
   
3. ???
   
4. Profit!
   

So, if I have 6 boosters asparagus setup to build, I'll in fact build 3 pairs of boosters...

Why?

This makes it much easier than if I had started building in 6x symmetry, letting me tweak each pair of booster in 2x symmetry without too much hassle. I use the EE mod and the vertical snapping of parts to make sure that everything lines up and that all the engines are at exactly the same height.

Before discovering Editor Extensions, I used to edit .craft files directly to start with 3 pairs of decoupler and tanks at the same height, then started building...

Building asparagus setups with Editor Extensions is much less frustrating, and lets you spend some quality time with your booster pair, finely tweaking your TWR and other parameters without having to resort to 1x symmetry every time you want to tweak a given pair.

Maybe I should put all the above in pictures to make sure I am clear... lol

Edited November 18, 2013 by el_coyoto

[Starwhip]

I figured out that the TAB key switches views between planets and moons. I would often try to focus on Mun and click debris or a rocket instead.

[SourMonkey]

With "Part Clipping" not activated, it can be be bothersome to build neat looking clusters of engines if trying to put them onto the tank, cubic strut, or upside down tail cone directly. However, if you put 1 cone and 1 engine, then select them and drag them to the side of the tank and activate symmetry mode they will turn green. You can then put as many as you want beneath the tank freely. Also, with the recent updates no fuel line is needed to connect to the engines.

[TYRT]

If you want more stable lift-off, you should attach more aerofoil, more, more and more!

[magnemoe]

A couple of tips that came in handy for me.

1. If you use space tugs and/or have modular ships, remember to assign an action group to the different engine blocks, so that you can shut them down if needed. Also, be sure to select the proper control point when you dock two or more ships together, there is nothing more frustrating than aligning for a maneuver and realize you are facing the opposite way when you burn..XD

2. If you use universal docking ports (made by clipping a regular or jr docking port inside a sr) and dock two together, you will not be able to decouple unless you have assigned an action group for both ports. universal docking ports are very handy, more strong, and also very risky if you don't pay attention.

3. Using a couple of lights near your docking port to illuminate the port you are docking to is very handy when you are rendezvousing in the dark side of planets/moons. Don't skimp on a couple of extra parts, they will help you a lot visually.

4. If you are using space tugs to transport modules to a station or assemble big ships in orbit, a very handy mod to use that adds no parts to the stock game is the RCS Build Aid addon. By designing your module in the vab and attaching your space tug to it, you can simulate how it is going to behave when you translate with RCS in actual space. A little tweaking of module or RCS block positions will give you the opportunity to translate with 0 rotation, thus making orbital assembly and station building a pleasure instead of a chore.

Hope that helps, cheers..C:

Never thought of clipping docking ports in each other. I have however used docking adapters, senior docking port, probe and standard one, add two batteries as you will move this from a side to forward port if you need to move something heavy with a standard port. This can also be done for normal to junior ports.

You can use the light on batteries as docking indicator lights. Three on top or one below and above an side placed port.