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

[Aubri]

12 hours ago, Red Iron Crown said:

This one doesn't work anymore, once the probe core goes dead you can't turn on a reserve battery.

So it does. I just learned this to my chagrin this evening.

Hey guys, I found a bug fix...

[V7 Aerospace]

Learn to love the manuever editor, it's a mighty fine tool.

also if you have a while between you and your next manuever, play around with it, you might find a better burn to get you where you are going, and save precious Delta V!

[NINTHTJ]

I used to swear by MechJeb - But found that the new SAS options (Prograde, Retrograde etc) were the only ones I was using on MechJeb anyway, so quickly stopped.

The idea of "Less is More" is definitely the best thing I've discovered about rocket building, the majority of my failed ideas in KSP have been down to over-complication and excessively large first stages. Be happy with a effective, simple design.

The only other piece of advice I think I could pass on, is sub-assemblies. I find I save myself a lot of time, effort and stress if I take a first stage that I have proven works, roughly guess the maximum payload weight it could carry into orbit/sub-orbit, and then re-apply it to any of my craft that need a first-stage and are within the approximate weight limit. Saves a hell of a lot of time.

[V7 Aerospace]

22 minutes ago, NINTHTJ said:

The only other piece of advice I think I could pass on, is sub-assemblies. I find I save myself a lot of time, effort and stress if I take a first stage that I have proven works, roughly guess the maximum payload weight it could carry into orbit/sub-orbit, and then re-apply it to any of my craft that need a first-stage and are within the approximate weight limit. Saves a hell of a lot of time.

The new "Merge" tool does a similar thing. I have saved my booster as a separate craft, and then add the payload later.

[RX2000]

On 1/26/2014 at 4:44 AM, ShadowDragon8685 said:

1: MechJeb. I find KSP to be just about unplayable without it. I know that there are surely some purists who will disagree, but without an autopilot and MechJeb's VAB calculations, I'd likely still be considering myself lucky to so much as make Kerbin orbit, let alone be gearing up for my second shot at a Munar landing. I'd also likely have no idea of what to do without having seen MechJeb do things, but I've watched MechJeb in action enough to have an idea what on Kerbin it's doing and how to do it myself.

I just recently started playing KSP & actually havent tried any mods yet.

I really dont see the point of MechJeb though? Isnt the whole point of the game to figure things out for yourself & fly your planes & rockets? Why would I want a mod to do all the planning for me & fly it?

[winged]

38 minutes ago, RX2000 said:

 Why would I want a mod to do all the planning for me & fly it?

People use it for testing their build's launch profile under repeat conditions. They use it SCIENTIFICALLY.

[Aubri]

On 5/19/2016 at 4:33 PM, RX2000 said:

I just recently started playing KSP & actually havent tried any mods yet.

I really dont see the point of MechJeb though? Isnt the whole point of the game to figure things out for yourself & fly your planes & rockets? Why would I want a mod to do all the planning for me & fly it?

Well, for my money, once I've launched 50 or 60 rockets from the smallest flea to the biggest heavy lifter, under all kinds of conditions and approximating a gravity turn, I'm happy to let MechJeb handle the ascent guidance. I also like using the maneuver planner's porkchop plot rather than scrolling a maneuver node around, trying to find a decent departure window. It's also handy to execute maneuver nodes when you have a long burn time, like NERV-powered heavy vessels or anything with an ion drive. And I use the dV meter all the time, though I know that's also available in other mods.

There are a few handy tools, like the RCS balancer and the CoM visualizer, but those are just conveniences.

[RX2000]

11 hours ago, Aubri said:

Well, for my money, once I've launched 50 or 60 rockets from the smallest flea to the biggest heavy lifter, under all kinds of conditions and approximating a gravity turn, I'm happy to let MechJeb handle the ascent guidance. I also like using the maneuver planner's porkchop plot rather than scrolling a maneuver node around, trying to find a decent departure window. It's also handy to execute maneuver nodes when you have a long burn time, like NERV-powered heavy vessels or anything with an ion drive. And I use the dV meter all the time, though I know that's also available in other mods.

Hmm ok. Yea I guess after you've launched a billion rockets it gets kind of old just guiding them up to space. Maybe I'll look into MechJeb when I get bored with it.

[The Game Colonel]

Don't forget all of the science that you can get just by EVA's and performing experiments around the different buildings of the KSP complex.  Create a simple ground vehicle to drive to each area of KSP and within 30 minutes you will get approx. 200 exp, boosting your development significantly early on.

 

The Game Colonel

[kBob]

Wow I learned that getting what you wish for can be challenging. 

Two years ago when I last played, reentry heat was just a desired idea that wasn't being greated very well by the makers.  Now I just finally managed a sub-orbital polar landing with my science jr. without buringing up, but I had to resort to adding a small fuel tank and engine to slow my decent, great fun and a little frustrating at first.  So getting that decent slowed down is lot more imporatant that it used to be (I'd be embarrassed to say how many Kerbals fried before I got it right).

[Omegagoldfish]

1: Start simple.

I had a lot of trouble with this one, and my first fifty or so launches ended in explosions. Then I made something small, and it worked.

 

2: Payload size.

Keep your payloads small, and dock for bigger things. This way, your launchers don't need to be massive.

 

3: Rage management.

Always learn to channel your inevitable fury into something productive, otherwise you'll get nothing done.

[Der Anfang]

On 1/27/2014 at 8:30 AM, Raven. said:

1. Learn to dock without the aid of MechJeb.

2. Modularize everything. It cuts down on the design time behind building a station, base, or multipart ship.

3. Build the rocket/plane and hit the launch button. If it handles like the old farm truck, make some adjustments. A crashing rocket/plane is part of the game and enjoyment .

4. Never send up a manned flight without a way of getting the poor Kerbal back down to Kerbin's ground, safely. Have rescue craft handy.

5. Perfect the Hofman Transfer orbit. Get to know this concept very intimately.

6. Smaller is always bigger. Avoid a large payload and avoid large stages unless you absolutely need them. With docking ports in the game, send your large contraptions up in pieces and assemble them in LKO.

1) I agree with learning everything without mechjeb. As others have mentioned, I am definitely one of those "purists" who have used mechjeb either very little or none at all. However, once you really begin to learn everything and you have to repeatedly do the same things you have already mastered, well, can you blame one for using mechjeb autopilot, then? After a while, I have caved in and installed mechjeb today. However, there are still plenty of moment that I'd rather do something myself without the help of mehjeb auto.

2)Yup, agreed agreed. Sometimes though, you can't help but to build big. But definitely worth the while building things modularly.

4) It's not surprising how many people don't care about their kerbals at all. I am one of the people who refuses to let their kerbals die. Generally speaking, if I know I can't do it without bringing them back, I don't do it. Well... says the person who accepted the contract to plant a flag on eve, lol. Oh boy, that's gonna be fun.

6) And why not smaller, anyway? I just love launching cute little satellites, lol. It's so fun to watch some of the smaller spacecraft just scoot along in space.

[Kerbinchaser]

1. Save subassemblies.

(I mean, you can save a satellite in a few simple steps, you can make base modules that are always the same height...)

 

2. Watch youtube.

(I watched a lot of Scott Manely's videos before playing, and I really learned quite a bit from them.)

 

3. Make a checklist!

(I hang a few different checklists by the side of my computer all the time, and I use them for everything, from construction, to flying, to landing. Very useful.)

 

And Jeb's advice? 

"Don't die." 

 

Edited June 11, 2016 by Lo Var Lachland

[Corona688]

Be very careful controlling your space station.  If you've docked anything, the engines on it will be available to use, even by accident.

[wumpus]

On 5/19/2016 at 5:33 PM, RX2000 said:

I just recently started playing KSP & actually havent tried any mods yet.

I really dont see the point of MechJeb though? Isnt the whole point of the game to figure things out for yourself & fly your planes & rockets? Why would I want a mod to do all the planning for me & fly it?

MechJeb gives you the delta-V of your rocket as you make it.  I think it predates Kerbal Engineer and a lot of people still use it just for that.  It also might give launch windows for other planets.  I'd recommend Kerbal Engineer as one of your first mods.  Kerbal Alarm Clock is basically needed the moment you want to perform more than one mission simultaneously (flying local missions during the slow voyage out to Duna and beyond).  Chatterer and Scatterer are great non-gameplay mods that improve audio and video respectively (no idea if they are ready for 1.1, K.E whines about my 1.1.2).

Some bits are too difficult or too tedious.  You can learn a bit about some procedures by watching MechJeb do it.  I know I was leaning on MechJeb for docking for some time (doing the career rescue missions on my own taught me enough to dock).  Watching MechJeb do a suicide burn teaches a few things about safe landing (and even more things *not* to do).

I've been on more than a few "recover as much a possible" kicks (and got tired of KSP for awhile because of it).  Using MechJeb to de-orbit and land my boosters would make a lot of sense (athough I expect MechJeb wants a bit more delta-v than they had).  WARNING: this is yet another case where MechJeb is overpowered.  If you tell MechJeb to land on the landing pad, you land on the landing pad and have 100% of your rocket returned.  If you consider this cheating consider giving a (flat) location far enough away for a reasonable return.

[Tyko]

On 11/19/2015 at 4:43 PM, WildBill said:

My recent discoveries (apologies if this is old news):
1. When setting up maneuver nodes, you can click on your target (say Jool), and select Focus View. Now you can zoom in and see the details of exactly how you're going to approach your target. And when you actually execute the maneuver, I do the same thing. Except this time you can make tiny little burns (with RCS) to fine-tune your approach way before you even get close. Saves lots of fuel!
.

...This is amazing...completely refined the way I do maneuver planning. Thanks!

[WildBill]

On ‎6‎/‎21‎/‎2016 at 11:01 AM, tjt said:

...This is amazing...completely refined the way I do maneuver planning. Thanks!

You are very welcome. Always happy to help...

[sdrevik]

MechJeb:  I find it useful to resolve the drudgery of docking and rendezvous.  I played KSP for a year before I installed MJ, and I got pretty good at all the above, and I would DEFINITELY recommend that any newcomer do the same.   The feeling of accomplishment from pulling off a rendezvous and dock manually is well worth it.  Once you get 5 under your belt, feel free to subordinate that headache to MJ so you can enjoy using docking for what it's for.

I don't use it for anything else other than dV calculations when building ships.  I might use the Descent if I need to land near another base or craft already on the ground, just so I don't have to drive/walk for an hour.

 

Other advice:  once your boost stages get big enough, quit using SRBs, liquid boost stages are much better.

Edited July 7, 2016 by sdrevik

[wumpus]

On 5/27/2016 at 8:29 PM, kBob said:

Wow I learned that getting what you wish for can be challenging. 

Two years ago when I last played, reentry heat was just a desired idea that wasn't being greated very well by the makers.  Now I just finally managed a sub-orbital polar landing with my science jr. without buringing up, but I had to resort to adding a small fuel tank and engine to slow my decent, great fun and a little frustrating at first.  So getting that decent slowed down is lot more imporatant that it used to be (I'd be embarrassed to say how many Kerbals fried before I got it right).

Remember, any kerbalnaut (not tourists, but pilots and engineers as well as scientists) can EVA and "take data" from the science jr. (typically you want a scientist so you can run the experiment in the upper atmosphere, take the data, reset the experiment, run it, take the data again).  After this you can let the science jr. burn up.  Of course, if you have a scientist on board and you reset the experiment, you can run it again in the lower atmosphere for all the science (and reset it and run it again if you haven't recorded the landing biome).

[kBob]

25 minutes ago, wumpus said:

Remember, any kerbalnaut (not tourists, but pilots and engineers as well as scientists) can EVA and "take data" from the science jr. snip

I don't like leaving trash behind  .  Not that I don't sometimes, I have one way probes going to Duna and Eloo maybe when I get warp drive I'll go visit them and establish them has historical landmarks.

[H3N7Y]

Kerbal Space Program is a really fun game! It is incredibly challenging but highly rewarding when you complete missions. Some of the main things to do to make KSP even more fun are:

1; Start with sandbox... Sandbox practically teaches you KSP! You have to mess around and kind of learn the lingo before you do anything else. Fly the stock ships to get used to it and make mini checkpoints like getting off the ground or getting on the Mun. And when you are ready, start to design your own ships! 

2; Don't start with Mods... Once you feel like you are getting left out on something after a long time of trial and error, get a mod to help. MechJeb is nice when somedays you get board of manually rendezvousing. Or get part mods to increase your experience. This whole game is about Trial and Error so don't be getting mods to make it easy to start, challenge yourself!

3; Have fun... If your not having fun, your not doing the game right!  Enjoy the small stuff, laugh at your mistakes, and be happy when you do something cool!

[Gamax19]

1. To accept help from others in engineering technology even waigh balance piloting and then to pass it on.

[Diche Bach]

On 1/29/2014 at 8:07 PM, match said:

There are no straight lines in space.

Except the one that leads to fiery destruction.

[MDZhB]

Nowhere in the Mun is ever flat, and don't bother trying to land on the non flat parts of Minmus.

[Aragosnat]

Don't ever give up or think it is impossable. Unless trying to land on the sun or Jool. This game does require a lot of trial and error. And many design reiterations of crafts.