Tips and tricks you found out yourself

[RW-1]

This is epic, I'm going to try this immediately. Well, as soon as I get home from work.

Seconded! I have to try this as well.

I usually setup the burn so that I pass low over the spot I want, then burn retro to vertical, then drop down.

this seems better, less waste, and more exciting.

[ExplodingRocketShips]

Jet engines require air intakes and are not very useful for launch pad spacecraft.

(That's how my first rocket ever failed.)

[RW-1]

That on occasion if you need a large part and only have fuel tanks, use it and remove the fuel in the VAB. It's now structural, though IMO heavier than a comparable actual structural piece might be.

[RW-1]

The big SAS units are perfect for hiding away ugly rcs tanks, batteries, and rtg's.

http://i.imgur.com/r1LrK2F.png

would certainly cut down the drag on liftoff eh?

[cantab]

It won't with the stock aerodynamics. With FAR I think it only will if FAR recognises the large ASAS unit as a fairing.

[Rus-Evo]

The big SAS units are perfect for hiding away ugly rcs tanks, batteries, and rtg's.

Thank you, my craft looks better now!

[Tidus Klein]

Using the trim function (ALT+W,A,S,or D) and setting pitch down trim(W)[transition forward trim in docking mode] will let you set up something like cruse control on rovers

[Tinyboss]

When you're docking, and maneuvering both ships, you'll want to pick the same pair of ports for "control from here" and "set as target". If one of the ships has lots of docking ports (e.g. a big fuel tank with many radial ports) it can be easy to get this wrong. My method is to switch to the station (the one with lots of ports), right-click one and choose "control from here", then leave the right-click menu up as I hit [ or ] to switch to the incoming ship. The menu will still be there, but now it says "set as target", and I know that's the right port.

[katateochi]

When you're docking, and maneuvering both ships, you'll want to pick the same pair of ports for "control from here" and "set as target". If one of the ships has lots of docking ports (e.g. a big fuel tank with many radial ports) it can be easy to get this wrong. My method is to switch to the station (the one with lots of ports), right-click one and choose "control from here", then leave the right-click menu up as I hit [ or ] to switch to the incoming ship. The menu will still be there, but now it says "set as target", and I know that's the right port.

nice, that's a neat trick.

[mellojoe]

When you're docking, and maneuvering both ships, you'll want to pick the same pair of ports for "control from here" and "set as target". If one of the ships has lots of docking ports (e.g. a big fuel tank with many radial ports) it can be easy to get this wrong. My method is to switch to the station (the one with lots of ports), right-click one and choose "control from here", then leave the right-click menu up as I hit [ or ] to switch to the incoming ship. The menu will still be there, but now it says "set as target", and I know that's the right port.

I did not know that. SUPER HELPFUL!

[MysticPing]

I remember when i simply thought getting into the same orbit as duna and time warping enough would give me an encounter. Spent hours doing that

I found it out by guestimating burns. (Before manuever nodes was). So eventually i stranded a poor kerbal at duna

[Superfluous J]

You can reliably "Jump to" any ship in map mode (that is by itself and not in some crowd of ships, at least) by rapidly alternating left and right clicking it.

[FREEFALL1984]

Its more precise to push a maneuver node than it is to pull them.

[Tinyboss]

Always, always, always hit F5 on the launchpad, before doing anything else. It's extremely jarring to have something go wrong, hold F9, and find yourself switched to another ship, getting ready to aerocapture into Kerbin, because you never used F5 during the current mission.

[problemecium]

Ph34r my l33t necro powers! Anyway, since apparently this really is an unknown trick: you can easily rapid-fire a single experiment by right-clicking it to get the menu, transmitting/resetting, and then using the "," key or Phys-warp; this ends up "resetting" the menu state so you can click the "Log [insert experiment here] data" button again. It sounds complicated but it can be a lot faster, especially when searching for a small biome like the Badlands or Highland Craters.

[joekidd1992]

-To rendezvous with a planet (or anything else), you don't have to match planes with it; You just have to get either the ascending or descending node in the right place.

I really think this sounds exactly the problem I'm having. I have no idea how to get those nodes in the right place, exactly what they are, how to even get them to where I see them.

All I know is my orbit many times is like an elliptical and the orbit of the Mun is another elliptical and they never meet. And I'm sometimes lucky enough that they come close enough that I can get an Mun proximity event. Doing that, I have orbited the Mun about 3 times. Once I crashed escaping the orbit and I reverted, so really only two Mun orbits.

[Duna]

When in orbit around Duna it requires less Delta-V to get to Eeloo (1580 m/s) than it does to get to moho (2100 m/s)

You can also time warp when your engines are on by using the normal warp keys while holding down Alt

[MarvinKitFox]

Always, always, always hit F5 on the launchpad, before doing anything else. It's extremely jarring to have something go wrong, hold F9, and find yourself switched to another ship, getting ready to aerocapture into Kerbin, because you never used F5 during the current mission.

GOLDEN WORDS

It only took me 3 months to learn that habit.

I once reverted to my first Mun Landing in a career game, from a failed Laythe launch.. (i.e. about 4 missions *gone*)

[michaelhester07]

I have a few but i'll post my best one here:

Science probes

When you unlock all those science parts it can be a real pain to fly a ship with them to Mun or Minmus to use them to cover all of the biomes. This is where your probe making skills will come in really handy!

Make one way landing science probes! Small probes using that tiny rocomax thruster can be used to carry all the science modules down to a surface. Attach them to a mothership which handles flying out to the target system, drop em off, and land them in each of the possible biomes. Then send a kerbal to go pick up the science. Since they can remove the data from the modules you don't have to return the science stations home. Your kerbal's lander gets more efficient that way. Don't forget to grab a surface sample, eva report, and crew report. And don't forget to transmit the crew report so you can grab another later on.

This is the best way to farm Minmus for science in my opinion.

Low altitude biome farming

If you lack the science for landing on the mun safely and returning from it you can still orbit it to grab some biome data. For Mun, Minmus, and even Kerbin you can setup a low altitude orbit. As you pass what looks like a biome, do an EVA and grab an EVA report. If your altitude is low enough you get "Eva report while flying over [biome name]". If you have access to solar panels you can transmit a crew report for the same biomes.

[joekidd1992]

I have a few but i'll post my best one here:

Science probes

When you unlock all those science parts it can be a real pain to fly a ship with them to Mun or Minmus to use them to cover all of the biomes. This is where your probe making skills will come in really handy!

Make one way landing science probes! Small probes using that tiny rocomax thruster can be used to carry all the science modules down to a surface. Attach them to a mothership which handles flying out to the target system, drop em off, and land them in each of the possible biomes. Then send a kerbal to go pick up the science. Since they can remove the data from the modules you don't have to return the science stations home. Your kerbal's lander gets more efficient that way. Don't forget to grab a surface sample, eva report, and crew report. And don't forget to transmit the crew report so you can grab another later on.

This is the best way to farm Minmus for science in my opinion.

Low altitude biome farming

If you lack the science for landing on the mun safely and returning from it you can still orbit it to grab some biome data. For Mun, Minmus, and even Kerbin you can setup a low altitude orbit. As you pass what looks like a biome, do an EVA and grab an EVA report. If your altitude is low enough you get "Eva report while flying over [biome name]". If you have access to solar panels you can transmit a crew report for the same biomes.

Thanks for that!!! I have been doing a little science farming.

[LtHeckard]

I found out how to create wing airfoils for when my airplanes have an attitude and refuse to lift off.

[GoatRider]

Thanks for that!!! I have been doing a little science farming.

It works even better in a polar orbit. Over the course of half a munth, you'll pass over every Biome on the Mun. You don't need solar panels to store the crew reports.

[pauldbk99]

Burning in munar orbit prograde but retrograde with respect to kerbin brings your pe down very quickly

[tutrakan4e]

Watch a lot of KSP videos to get good at KSP. Literally.

[michaelhester07]

It works even better in a polar orbit. Over the course of half a munth, you'll pass over every Biome on the Mun. You don't need solar panels to store the crew reports.

You do need them if you want to transmit the crew reports to gather more. Otherwise you run out of electricity to transmit with. That is unless you know how to store more than 1 crew report on a ship at a time. That would be useful info.