What are the most important things you've learned about playing KSP to pass on?

[eddiew]

Spaceplanes can save you a lot of money in career mode, if you learn to fly them home properly.

However, the design, launch and recovery time is so much longer, you can often make more money by doing multiple rocket missions in the time of one spaceplane run.

Not that I won't still build and fly spaceplanes; it's a great feeling when you get something out to Minmus and back and land it on the runway for 100% cost refund, but the only point of them is because you want to make one, not because of logical reasoning.

[RainDreamer]

Preflight check.

Nothing is worst than halfway to your destination when you realized you forgot to include solar panels, or your rocket failed as you try to do orbit burn just because you forgot to put in some batteries, or parts failed to activate in unison in a crucial moment because you forgot to check action groups and send your craft to a fiery death.

Always, always do preflight check. It will save your day.

[Slam_Jones]

Regarding OP: Not to nit-pick (okay, well, maybe a bit) but how is using MechJeb a lesson? Seems more like a crutch to me :S

Wouldn't you learn more by not using it?

[TheAnimePug]

lace the center of mass infront of your wings is something i learned

[Red Iron Crown]

Regarding OP: Not to nit-pick (okay, well, maybe a bit) but how is using MechJeb a lesson? Seems more like a crutch to me :S

Wouldn't you learn more by not using it?

It depends how you like to learn, I suppose. Mechjeb is pretty good about describing what it's doing, using it can be similar to watching a tutorial video except with your own ship.

[Slam_Jones]

It depends how you like to learn, I suppose. Mechjeb is pretty good about describing what it's doing, using it can be similar to watching a tutorial video except with your own ship.

Well, when you put it that way, it does seem rather reasonable

[hellblazer]

Sr. docking ports with rototrons = perfectly aligned RCS thrusters and game esthetics

[Prof. Endwalker]

I would have to suggest that you should always apply your own creativity to the game. If you want to do something, think about it first and of the implications of the action. Want to build a space station? Construct all of the pieces and modules before the start of construction; It would be difficult to try to add parts after you have the idea in your head.

I would also suggest that when doing an interplanetary missions, study up on the celestial body. Do research on the ∆V required so you can build your rocket correctly. Also use online calculators for what time to burn, at what angle, planetary alignment, and use aerobraking calculators. I have done dozens of interplanetary missions and plan to do hundreds more, and I can say that they are incredibly difficult and inefficient if you don't use these resources. I did not make these, but I will leave a link to the planetary alignment calculator and aerobraking calculator that I use.

Aerobraking Calculator:

http://alterbaron.github.io/ksp_aerocalc/

Planetary Alignment Calculator:

http://ksp.olex.biz

Enjoy!

[Kesa]

Nosecones are cool. They have no positve aerodynamic effect, because their two purposes are to make cool looking and to cool your straped SRBs.

[morscience]

While I may have never used mechjeb before, I feel that some people are overestimating the difficulty of the game and just going to it. I have read some past threads that say thinks like " getting into an orbit, lifting off, landing, docking, etc is to hard" but the thing is in stock ksp, it really isn't. Also those are essentially core gameplay elements your taking away from your self. I guess if your a scot Manley and have the biggest space program ever and done it a million times, go ahead and use mechjeb. But if you arnt doing orbital manuevers in the game because they were "hard" doesn't mean you can learn from your mistakes. Aldo we have tutorials( hopefully more soon) and community videos. Anyway, just my two cents

[minmuslooksdelicious]

There is no such thing as a five minute design session. And my wife is a "KSP widow" too.

Its true, today I was trying to spend 5 minutes on just correcting a ship that I saved in orbit. It turned into me spending an hour trying (and succeeding for the first time) to land on eeloo.

[Alchemist]

Never perform jump-testing of a heavy rover/lander on the launch pad. It just had cost me both

[xub313]

It is possible to focus on maneuver nodes in the tracking station(and the map view).

Say you have a node set up several orbits in the future for a Duna transfer. If you're ship is at a low altitude then time warp will be limited, and you'll have to wait a while to orbit.

You can go to the tracking station and there will be no warp barrier. You can select your craft to see it's time until maneuver. But as you warp your camera will shake as it follows the orbiting craft. Hit the Tab key to cycle through the planets. Once you get to Eeloo, pres Tab one more and you'll be focused on your maneuver node. You can just hover your mouse on the node and it'll tell you how long you have. This makes it easy to use high time warps without overshooting your node.

[NASAHireMe]

Hey all,

I love this sticky. I've learned a lot of great tips for construction, flight, and mission planning. But I was frustrated by reading through over a dozen pages of replies, debates about MechJeb, and a lot of repeats, so I compiled all the tips and advice into one summarized list [LINK]

Thanks for contributing, and keep 'em coming!

[cantab]

To add from that:

"Don’t inadvertently place things on capsule hatches"

Watch out for your symmetry. Meaning to place one part but having symmetry left on can easily blocked hatches. Meaning to place parts in symmetry but having it at 1x can imbalance the ship, especially if you're placing a fuel line.

"Switch to different view modes by pressing “V†during orbit or EVA. Really helps during EVAs."

If you intend to jetpack to orbit (possible on Minmus and other small moons), set the view in "Free" to avoid a camera switch that causes the kerbal to waste fuel.

"Play w/ Ferram Aerospace Research (FAR) for spaceplanes"

If you want an easier aerodynamics mod, consider using FAR but turning off aerodynamic failures rather than using NEAR. NEAR has some odd behaviour.

"Install Kethane for off-Kerbin refueling"

Or Karbonite.

"Don’t worry too much about a perfect gravity-turn launch profile"

Too flat is worse than too steep. Too steep and you'll use a bit of extra fuel, but too flat and you can fail to make orbit at all.

[Coga19000]

1. When in doubt, organise. Even though making a dedicated launcher for each payload with strictly calculated Delta-V may cut down on funds, but is time consuming and prone to human factor mistakes. Create a lifter stage that can reliably, cheaply and efficiently lift up to a certain ton threshold, then make it a subassembly. If you now use the save files for the payload only, you can mix and match, but this means you cannot directly access craft from the launch pad. Also, remember to upgrade your lifters as you unlock new tech nodes for increased performance.

2.Reusability is key to a successful space program. Solid rocket boosters are dirt-cheap and therefore more expendable than liquid ones. This is also a reason to be simple and cheap to your lifter stages, as the debris despawning distance makes any recovery attempt futile, so don't even try getting parachutes on those (however, this can be averted with the StageRecovery mod) Now, if you're somehow blessed with the talent to easily make anything close to SSTO rockets or even spaceplanes with a respectable payload capacity, you have won half the game (you of course can't use SSTOs to lift everything, but the average mass of most versatile enough modules is around 8 to 10 tons)

3. If you want maximum efficiency, always have a TWR of just over 1 while ascending via throttling down. It will ensure you don't get any drag losses from the atmosphere. However, this can take a while, if you don't have my patience, either check out a spreadsheet with terminal velocities at each height, or at least always keep the TWR to less than 1.5.

4. Be conservative in your parts tests.On landings, make sure you are firmly attached to the launchpad with Stabilisers which you must not detach for 100% recovery rate. On flights, forget role 1: everything must be customly calculated to make sure the part gets at minimum altitude x with minimum speed y. On the other hand, orbital tests only specify the altitude, not the velocity, so it's easier to calculate how to get them up there efficiently -you might even want to incorporate them with something else you want to do, like using a Poodle test to go to the Mun.

[fahmiy123]

i learn more in KSP , something like

1.how to forget GF that we've been having an affair with another man

hehee ,

i learn how to build a rocket with aerodynamic body when i install FAR mods.

i learn how to orbit my own rocket in kerbin without fuel cheat (I honestly do not know that time)

i learn how to creat rendezvous node . Before i know mechJeb mods , i need a day for do that and my closest distance from my vassel and other vassel is 50km that really bad.

i learn lot from KSP about HOW TO BUILD , HOW TO DOCK , HOW TO FORGET MY GF .

my english is so bad , I actually wanted to say more but maybe this enough , ,

NB : PLEASE TELL ME IF I DO WRONG

[Alchemist]

Heavy rover on Minmus has the maneuverability of a cow on ice... well, Minmus is supposed to be made of ice...

Speaking of rovers:

* remap rove controls to IJKL or something - having them on rotation may result in reaction wheels turning the rover over on the bodies with low gravity

* better don't just switch reaction wheels off - they may be usefull if the rover starts tiping over (in fact, sometimes it's better to drive with SAS on)

* use structural parts to position the wheels as widely as you think fit. And don't make the rover top-heavy. Or it will have problems with stability

* landing on wheels directly is risky - you can add landing legs that extend past the wheels a bit

* if you add your engine section on the top of the rover, the skycrane may double as the return vehicle (ensure adequate delta v for the selected celestial body! Also watch out for top heaviness)

* on some places a nucler povered lander is still much more efficient mean of exploration than a manned rover...

Edited January 2, 2015 by Alchemist

[bwarren109]

*If you have trouble building useful rockets, trying building a replica of a real-world rocket. It will help you get a feel for what works and what doesn't.

*As much as the forum makes it seem true, building a rocket with MOAR BOOSTERS isn't always useful. Build what you need to accomplish the mission. Bigger isn't always better.

* use structural parts to position the wheels as widely as you think fit. And don't make the rover top-heavy. Or it will have problems with stability

*This also goes for landers. Place the landing legs far enough out so that you don't flip over if you land with too much horizontal velocity.

[Alchemist]

Speaking of lander stability and real-world examples:

* Nesting engines. Just a few separaratrons with nozzles facing up can help greatly if you have problems with bouncy landers, horizontal velocity and slopes. Alternatively, you can use RCS to push the craft to the ground for couple seconds.

[Wabbit]

Mashing the space bar will not save you, have an escape system bound to ABORT, or backspace.

[Slam_Jones]

Always use more struts than you think you need.

Always use more chutes than you think you need.

[inigma]

Most important thing to pass on:

Don't save backup copies of your precious craft files in the saves folder. Save them away from the KSP folder entirely. And backup. Backblaze is one such service I can think of.

[G-rom]

Things I`ve Learned:

1. Take an emergency "Boat" (Made out of Wheels) to Laythe.

2. Kerbals survive a Fall when you activate the Jetpack and thrust Forward and up

3. I`ve learned how to build Proper Rovers with an emergency flipper

4. You can do a quick stop on Duna to refuel

5. The Kraken is real!!

[Venusgate]

Lessons I've taught myself:

1. Parachutes dont work on Mun.

2. think of landing a rocket tail first like balancing a pencil with an uneven eraser. get creative! fly backwards, turn that totem into an alligator

3. monopropellant is more efficient than liquid fuel for small crafts. dont let ker lie to you. You can go from 75km orbit to keosync on rcs thrusters.

4. if using tacls, always pack a lunch (extra ls part) to mun. it takes 2 days to mun and back...with zero mistakes....

5. test your reentry configuration by slapping the final stage over a srb and drop from 5km over ksc

6. make your kerbin landing velocity lower than your weakest part, in case waterlanding is unavoidable.

7. if you must land a tripod on a hill, possition a leg downhill and lock suspension before touchdown.

8. this is a squad tip, but ive used it more than a dozen times, if out of fuel and oh so close to a reentry trajectory, get out and push!

9. you think half your eva tank is your kerbals range. you are forgetting the lowgrav tank monsters.

10. keep you "flights with trajectory passing through atmo/rock" down to three or four