Random New Player Questions!

[AwesumnisRawr188]

Hey guys!

I'm kinda new to Kerbal, but man, it is AWESOME!

I've built a couple of rockets that go "far" by my standards(Not even out of orbit... LOL), along with a couple space planes, but I have some questions.

When someone(ANYONE!) answers a question, I'll post the answer in this post!

Thanks!

When you make a "tall" rocket, why does it wiggle and how can I prevent that?

How far down the science tech tree do you unlock landing gear for space planes? At the moment I'm using a girder and 4 landing struts for landers.

How do I get ailerons to work correctly, and where's the best place to place them on the swept wings?

How do I go about landing on the landing strip island with only landing struts and not breaking them off? I can perform a vertical landing with parachutes then repack them to take off, but the struts break off from uneven ground when I landing in the Kerbin Plains.

How can I get a fuel tank to said island, and how can you even refuel, if that does work? I thought I saw someone with a picture of a fuel tanker in one of the hangers.

This last one has nothing to do with the game really, but I just thought of it:

How are the air cooled, jet fuel engines more fuel efficient than rocket engines? I understand there seems to be a lot more thrust, but still, the jet engine SIPS fuel at one "point" per thirty seconds or longer, meaning it can get VERY far, at least compared to my rocket engine planes which made it about half way to the landing strip island.

THANKS A LOT FELLOW KERBAL ROCKETEERS!

[Yorkie]

Hey guys!

I'm kinda new to Kerbal, but man, it is AWESOME!

I've built a couple of rockets that go "far" by my standards(Not even out of orbit... LOL), along with a couple space planes, but I have some questions.

When someone(ANYONE!) answers a question, I'll post the answer in this post!

Thanks!

When you make a "tall" rocket, why does it wiggle and how can I prevent that?

Press T to enable SAS, it will help steady the craft for you. Works with planes also.

How far down the science tech tree do you unlock landing gear for space planes? At the moment I'm using a girder and 4 landing struts for landers.

The Tech tree can be found on the wiki. http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Technology_tree

The quick answer is tech level 5

How do I get ailerons to work correctly, and where's the best place to place them on the swept wings?

In the hanger, [when your building that is ]if you left click on the wing you can control the flight surface. Pitch, Roll and Yaw.

How do I go about landing on the landing strip island with only landing struts and not breaking them off? I can perform a vertical landing with parachutes then repack them to take off, but the struts break off from uneven ground when I landing in the Kerbin Plains.

The same are you would with proper landing gear, come in slow and shallow should do the trick.

How can I get a fuel tank to said island, and how can you even refuel, if that does work? I thought I saw someone with a picture of a fuel tanker in one of the hangers.

Lost me :/

This last one has nothing to do with the game really, but I just thought of it:

How are the air cooled, jet fuel engines more fuel efficient than rocket engines? I understand there seems to be a lot more thrust, but still, the jet engine SIPS fuel at one "point" per thirty seconds or longer, meaning it can get VERY far, at least compared to my rocket engine planes which made it about half way to the landing strip island.

I am not articulated enough to give you the science behind it, but it comes down to the way the engine burns the fuel and the thrust gain from said engine.

THANKS A LOT FELLOW KERBAL ROCKETEERS!

I sure other people will fill in the blanks in my knowledge

[Vanamonde]

Tall rockets have few points of cross-connection, leaving them liable to flex. The "asparagus" stating you hear people talk about makes ships more fuel-efficient, but also provides points for cross connection. By building additional stages around the previous ones instead of under them, your rocket will be more stable, more fuel-efficient, and easier to steer. An example:

The side tanks are arranged in opposing pairs, so that there are 3 stages on the lowermost level of that rocket. Also, you can see I've used struts from those side stages to help stabilize the connection to the upper stage.

This is where to find aircraft wheels:

This is one way to place ailerons,

and this is another.

Landing planes without landing gear is quite a trick, but this guy pulled it off. Of course, he's crazy.

Flying a tanker to the island would be quite a trick. It might be easier (though much slower) to send it as a boat. But there's actually not a lot of advantage to doing it, because the tanker will run out before long and itself need to be re-fuelled.

Rockets can't rely on acquiring oxygen from air, and therefore must carry both fuel and oxidizer in heavy tanks. Jets carry the fuel, but skip the weight of oxidizer by drawing it from the air. Thus, the same weight of carried substances will propel a jet much farther. But also, KSP jet engines are simply over-powered when compared to their real-world counterparts. The game is still in development, so there are some odd aspects to it like that.

Edited January 12, 2014 by Vanamonde

[SkyHook]

Sending a fuel tank to the island will be tricky. I would send it by boat. The only way to transfer fuel with stock components is to dock your ship with the fuel tank. Several mods make that more simple, though. I can think of the KAS mod and Romfarer's Robotic arms from the LAZOR mod.

[AwesumnisRawr188]

Thank you guys so much! Both of you answered them perfectly, and quickly!

Thank you Yorkie for the wiki link and SAS button! Thanks Vanamonde for the pictures of the ailerons and tanker theory! Do you have any links to the "asparagus" thing that explains how it works? It appears to me that that rocket would have a lot of drag and not be as stable, as in flipping everywhere since it isn't smooth, but eh, I don't know much, besides the first Mun training level and such.

By the way, are there more training levels on the forum or mod website?

I won't paste your posts in cause they are kinda long, sorry.

THANKS A LOT GUYS!

Oh and one more, how do you dock things?

[likke_A_boss]

Hey guys!

I'm kinda new to Kerbal, but man, it is AWESOME!

I've built a couple of rockets that go "far" by my standards(Not even out of orbit... LOL), along with a couple space planes, but I have some questions.

When someone(ANYONE!) answers a question, I'll post the answer in this post!

Thanks!

When you make a "tall" rocket, why does it wiggle and how can I prevent that?

There's a mod for that! (As there usually is in this community) http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/55657-0-23-Kerbal-Joint-Reinforcement-v1-6-Properly-Rigid-Part-Connections-12-29

How far down the science tech tree do you unlock landing gear for space planes? At the moment I'm using a girder and 4 landing struts for landers.

Same section as the rest of the plane parts (level 5)

How do I get ailerons to work correctly, and where's the best place to place them on the swept wings?

Using tweakables in the SPH (left click on control surface) Also: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/52080-Basic-Aircraft-Design-Explained-Simply-With-Pictures

How do I go about landing on the landing strip island with only landing struts and not breaking them off? I can perform a vertical landing with parachutes then repack them to take off, but the struts break off from uneven ground when I landing in the Kerbin Plains.

Yeaaaahhhh..... Get landing gear.

How can I get a fuel tank to said island, and how can you even refuel, if that does work? I thought I saw someone with a picture of a fuel tanker in one of the hangers.

Refueling needs the two crafts to be A. Docked, or B. KAS: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/53134-Kerbal-Attachment-System-%28KAS%29-0-4-5-Struts-pipes-part-containers-and-more-%280-23%29

This last one has nothing to do with the game really, but I just thought of it:

How are the air cooled, jet fuel engines more fuel efficient than rocket engines? I understand there seems to be a lot more thrust, but still, the jet engine SIPS fuel at one "point" per thirty seconds or longer, meaning it can get VERY far, at least compared to my rocket engine planes which made it about half way to the landing strip island.

Because....ummmmmm.....,... Jeb wanted it to be like that

THANKS A LOT FELLOW KERBAL ROCKETEERS!

Yeah...... My answer is pretty much: Just find a mod!

[AwesumnisRawr188]

Thanks! That helps with docking, I'm reading it now!

I do need landing gear, fairly bad since I like spaceplanes a bit more than rockets at the moment. I wish there were more ways to get science from spaceplanes...

Anyone know the easiest way for me at the moment to get science? I only have the Goo at the moment, but I'm going to try and explore Kerbin with my new space plane and get surface samples and stuff. Any other way to rack up a lot?

Thanks!

[Streetwind]

Jet engines are more efficient than rocket engines because of the way they work.

A jet engine burns fuel to spin a turbine, which sucks in air and shoots it out the back. It is very cheap to spin the turbine. The downside is that it only works where there is air. Without air to use, the engine cannot produce thrust because there is nothing for it to suck in and shoot out.

A rocket engine creates thrust by essentially taking the fuel itself and throwing it out the back. Any thrust it generates is a direct result of the amount of mass (and the energy of said mass, which is why the fuel is burned at the moment of ejection) it throws out the back. This is why rocket fuel is often called "reaction mass". Ever been on a boat in a lake, and jumped off the edge? Instead of pushing yourself forward, you probably pushed the boat backwards - you put the boat into motion by throwing yourself out. That is what a rocket engine does. It's horribly inefficient, but it works in places where there is no air or anything else to use instead. Like, for example, the vacuum of space.

[Zwer.ch]

Anyone know the easiest way for me at the moment to get science?

You'd need to go orbital and in best case to Mun or Minmus to rake up your science score. The farther away from KSC you perform science experiments, the greater the multiplicator is.

The wiki has a list of celectial body modifyers: http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Science

To gain more science per trip, shoot for the other science experiments first in the tech tree

[Tank Buddy]

To answer your last question, jet engines are just inherently more efficient. They don't have to carry oxidizer with them, and turbojets accelerate the air that they take in by combusting a spritz of fuel. The reaction from this is much more efficient than that of rocket engines.

[Taki117]

Hey guys!

I'm kinda new to Kerbal, but man, it is AWESOME!

I've built a couple of rockets that go "far" by my standards(Not even out of orbit... LOL), along with a couple space planes, but I have some questions.

When someone(ANYONE!) answers a question, I'll post the answer in this post!

Thanks!

When you make a "tall" rocket, why does it wiggle and how can I prevent that?

It wiggles and Wobbles because the Connections between joint's aren't very strong. I suggest getting Kerbal Joint Reinforcement to help with this (As well as hitting 'T' before launch to activate SAS)

How far down the science tech tree do you unlock landing gear for space planes? At the moment I'm using a girder and 4 landing struts for landers.

Not very, It's on the node that looks like the landing gear.

How do I get ailerons to work correctly, and where's the best place to place them on the swept wings?

Good luck with this, I have no idea as I don't generally build Space Planes.

How do I go about landing on the landing strip island with only landing struts and not breaking them off? I can perform a vertical landing with parachutes then repack them to take off, but the struts break off from uneven ground when I landing in the Kerbin Plains.

Your best bet is probably to just accept the fact that they are going to break and simply recover the vessel afterwards.

How can I get a fuel tank to said island, and how can you even refuel, if that does work? I thought I saw someone with a picture of a fuel tanker in one of the hangers.

To get a fuel tank to said island you are going to have to fly it. However, you can't refuel in the stock game, you will need Kerbal Attachment System which has connectors that allow you to connect two ships and transfer resources between them.

This last one has nothing to do with the game really, but I just thought of it:

How are the air cooled, jet fuel engines more fuel efficient than rocket engines? I understand there seems to be a lot more thrust, but still, the jet engine SIPS fuel at one "point" per thirty seconds or longer, meaning it can get VERY far, at least compared to my rocket engine planes which made it about half way to the landing strip island.

Jet engines are more efficient because they are designed to work in atmosphere and only have liquid fuel to use (As well as intake air) Also, Jet planes tend to be lighter than Rocket planes.

THANKS A LOT FELLOW KERBAL ROCKETEERS!

Answers are in blue, and Links are provided to the mods mentioned (Though you might have to take a look at the forums for the most updated versions.)

[AwesumnisRawr188]

Alrighty then! Lots of answers!

One final question I promise, and this one is for people who have fiddled with the graphics settings:

I have all my settings pretty low at the moment and the terrain looks awful, but if not, my PC with lag.

My problem is if I walk around on an EVA with a Kerbal, occasionally the Kerbal will either fall through the terrain to the ocean underneath, or he'll just explode, ruining my mission and forcing me to send another plane out. Happens everywhere that's "blurry". Also, whenever I land in any of these places, whether it be with a spaceplane or a returned mission from a rocket, the vessel will shake on the ground and spazz about due to it wanting to drop through the terrain.

What do I need to adjust to keep this from happening? Terrain quality?

[Vanamonde]

It appears to me that that rocket would have a lot of drag and not be as stable, as in flipping everywhere since it isn't smooth

Real ships would, but KSP's aerodynamic system is just a rough first-draft that will be replaced later. Right now, parts have the same drag whether they're in the airflow or not, so there's no penalty for making a wide ship.

Anyone know the easiest way for me at the moment to get science?

Flybys of the moons are pretty easy and get decent science, without having to land. It's also quite a simple matter to send a probe out of Kerbin's SOI and transmit results back from the 'biome' (so to speak) of "space high above the sun," though you don't get as many points if you don't bring the ship back.

[Clockwork13]

Hey guys!

I'm kinda new to Kerbal, but man, it is AWESOME!

I've built a couple of rockets that go "far" by my standards(Not even out of orbit... LOL), along with a couple space planes, but I have some questions.

When someone(ANYONE!) answers a question, I'll post the answer in this post!

Thanks!

When you make a "tall" rocket, why does it wiggle and how can I prevent that?

How far down the science tech tree do you unlock landing gear for space planes? At the moment I'm using a girder and 4 landing struts for landers.

How do I get ailerons to work correctly, and where's the best place to place them on the swept wings?

How do I go about landing on the landing strip island with only landing struts and not breaking them off? I can perform a vertical landing with parachutes then repack them to take off, but the struts break off from uneven ground when I landing in the Kerbin Plains.

How can I get a fuel tank to said island, and how can you even refuel, if that does work? I thought I saw someone with a picture of a fuel tanker in one of the hangers.

This last one has nothing to do with the game really, but I just thought of it:

How are the air cooled, jet fuel engines more fuel efficient than rocket engines? I understand there seems to be a lot more thrust, but still, the jet engine SIPS fuel at one "point" per thirty seconds or longer, meaning it can get VERY far, at least compared to my rocket engine planes which made it about half way to the landing strip island.

THANKS A LOT FELLOW KERBAL ROCKETEERS!

-When you make a tall rocket, its generally less stable, causing it to wiggle n' jiggle.

-It depends on the type of lander you want, and the techs for landers are scattered all around the tech tree.

-What are ailerons?

-I'm pretty sure the struts break off if you scretch them too far. I've tried landing at the old runway too, but my planes always crash when I try to land.

-You need docking ports and some fuel tanks in a space station to be able to refuel.

[Zwer.ch]

-What are ailerons?

control surfaces for planes

[relin]

control surfaces for planes

Specifically, surfaces that control roll.

[Taki117]

Alrighty then! Lots of answers!

One final question I promise, and this one is for people who have fiddled with the graphics settings:

I have all my settings pretty low at the moment and the terrain looks awful, but if not, my PC with lag.

My problem is if I walk around on an EVA with a Kerbal, occasionally the Kerbal will either fall through the terrain to the ocean underneath, or he'll just explode, ruining my mission and forcing me to send another plane out. Happens everywhere that's "blurry". Also, whenever I land in any of these places, whether it be with a spaceplane or a returned mission from a rocket, the vessel will shake on the ground and spazz about due to it wanting to drop through the terrain.

What do I need to adjust to keep this from happening? Terrain quality?

ok, if you open up your settings.cfg and do a search for "ocean" the first one you come across will be the low settings, copy these and replace them under each heading for each planet with "ocean" as a biome. (if you just continue to search you will find them all) this should help greatly.

[Vanamonde]

AwesumnisRawr188, I made made an explanation of asparagus staging. You can find it here.