Superstitious launch schedules, witchcraft and good luck charms?

[Rainbow-Dashie]

For that matter, it sounds like something NASA would come up with: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Escape_Systems

That is pretty much the idea Except mine is much more... useless. I'm pretty sure it can't reach orbit from the Mun, and it definately can't be controlled after the boosters are fired The idea was pretty much "Monster! Shoot up really fast, worry about monster when you land :P"

It also can't really land safely either... it has a parachute on it, because when I first made it the whole "No Air on the Moon" thing didn't occur to me It's pretty much a fighter jet ejection seat... Though now I think I;ll update the design to be actually useful!

[cantab]

Oh yeah, one other thing. I almost always either turn the rocket on the pad or roll it during the ascent so that I can pitch down to east to make my gravity turn, rather than leaving it in the regular orientation and yawing. For virtually all rockets it makes no difference, but it just feels right for the turn to be a pitch down.

[katateochi]

My launch superstition is that I never hit launch while in the action groups editor or crew selector panels. I always go back to the parts panels before hitting launch. Has absolutely no basis except that when I first started playing KSP those other tabs didn't exist.

Another superstition (actually its more of a brain glitch) is that when launching aircraft I continue to hold down shift long after I've reached full throttle, quite often till I'm several 100m into the air. Its usually error messages from my little finger that remind me to let go!

edit

For some reason, I always feel like I won't go to space today if the engines are pointed toward space.

99.9% of the time I'd agree with you, but there was this one launch I did (way back) that had most of the engines and boosters facing up.

Here's the vid of the launch (jump to 56 seconds in if it doesn't take you there automatically)

Edited April 6, 2014 by katateochi

[leopardenthusiast]

Another superstition (actually its more of a brain glitch) is that when launching aircraft I continue to hold down shift long after I've reached full throttle, quite often till I'm several 100m into the air. Its usually error messages from my little finger that remind me to let go!

I do that all the time. Not just in KSP either - I did it in Mechwarrior back when I played it.

[SDIR]

My superstition is to always put launch clamps onto the upper stages of my rocket because in the previous versions my rockets would always fall over if there was a large payload. I do it now even though the rockets are able to stand on their own.

[HazelPine]

I always launch at daytime, because i just can't fly up at night.

I also now put the 3 primary colors on lights to light my rocket on launch for good luck.

[SpaceSphereOfDeath]

My only one is that Minmus is a brings good luck,

First 3 asteroid captures went fine because Minmus was visible at all times.

The forth, it failed because Minmus dipped behind kerbin, rose a little, was eclipsed by the mun, and since I was a highly elliptical orbit, the whole process happend again but in reverse.

The asteroid never made it to orbit

[magnemoe]

Be careful to launch towards a full Mun, this has other reasons than werewolves, it can put you in the shadow of Kerbin most of the transfer, if you are unlucky it will be the final part.

Also why having an impact trajectory is dangerous

Yes an rtg solves the problem but is not standard on small mun landers

[Red Iron Crown]

Oh yeah, one other thing. I almost always either turn the rocket on the pad or roll it during the ascent so that I can pitch down to east to make my gravity turn, rather than leaving it in the regular orientation and yawing. For virtually all rockets it makes no difference, but it just feels right for the turn to be a pitch down.

I do this, too. Last step in the VAB before launch is to rotate the whole craft 90 degrees.

[alacrity]

My little bit of voodoo hoodoo is that I pitch my launch to 5 degrees towards my accent direction (Usually due east) as soon as I clear the launch gantries (usually in the first 100 m). Not sure if it is true but building lateral speed from the very beginning gets me to orbital speeds with my smaller two stage builds.

For rovers I always use six wheels with the center pair set a little our or in form the front and back sets. Also I use an linear RCS pack of four in the corners to push down on the rover always. This seems to make my rovers much more stable and recovering from out of control jumps possible.

For weird habits I have my total aversion to RTG nuclear power supplies. I use them never. Never ever. Never never ever.

a) because they don't look as good as Solar panels

When i have the tech and really need a lot of power I use Kethane power supplies

c) Jeb would be in charge of maintenance and NUCLEAR

It probably makes my rovers a pain to build but I am comfortable with that.

Alacrity

[NeoMorph]

Superstition has nothing to do with space travel... Look at Apollo 13... it launched at 13:13 and nothing happened to them... much.

[magnemoe]

Superstition has nothing to do with space travel... Look at Apollo 13... it launched at 13:13 and nothing happened to them... much.

Fun side note, superstition is doing something who has no effect as you believe it helps. Kind of stamping your foot hard in the ground to scare away snakes, it works as you never see any.

As the inner working of computers and even more computer games are very hard to figure out, superstition is very common here, probably as much as in healthy food.

[cantab]

Indeed. I'm sure we all pressed Up+B^* back in the day.

*Other key combinations are available.

[ScallopPotato]

Bill is sure to mess up a mission at some point (ie forget to lower the landing gear), while Jebidiah is the one that makes everyone survive the crash.

[NeoMorph]

Bill is sure to mess up a mission at some point (ie forget to lower the landing gear), while Jebidiah is the one that makes everyone survive the crash.

Don't you mean Bob is the one to mess up the mission while Bill is the one to make everyone survive the crash... and Jeb... Jeb is the one that caused the crash in the first place.

[oversoul]

I always launch retrograde...cause YOLO

[Armchair Rocket Scientist]

My little bit of voodoo hoodoo is that I pitch my launch to 5 degrees towards my accent direction (Usually due east) as soon as I clear the launch gantries (usually in the first 100 m). Not sure if it is true but building lateral speed from the very beginning gets me to orbital speeds with my smaller two stage builds.

If you're using FAR, that's not superstition, that's how to fly rockets. This goes double if you're using RSS. It also has a side benefit of shortening the time after launch during which debris can land on the space center if the rocket fails.

[LaydeeDem]

My launch superstition is that I never hit launch while in the action groups editor or crew selector panels. I always go back to the parts panels before hitting launch. Has absolutely no basis except that when I first started playing KSP those other tabs didn't exist.

Another superstition (actually its more of a brain glitch) is that when launching aircraft I continue to hold down shift long after I've reached full throttle, quite often till I'm several 100m into the air. Its usually error messages from my little finger that remind me to let go!

edit

99.9% of the time I'd agree with you, but there was this one launch I did (way back) that had most of the engines and boosters facing up.

http://i.imgur.com/tNvQhKdl.jpg

Here's the vid of the launch (jump to 56 seconds in if it doesn't take you there automatically)

The moment upside down engines was brought up I was hoping you'd show up.

[Hans Dorn]

I:

1- turn on SAS. ALWAYS.

2- hold shift until max thrust

3- space

Didn't know how to SAS when I started playing. I got my rockets to fly straight-ish by spinning them, lol

[FaceDeer]

Whenever I have a land mission to a planet or Moon, I bring what I call a "G.H.O.O.D Pack" (Silent H, "Good Pack" ) which stands for "Get the Hell Out Of Dodge Pack"

You might like the real-life MOOSE system that NASA designed ("Man Out Of Space Easiest"), but sadly has never actually built and tested.

[cantab]

Didn't know how to SAS when I started playing. I got my rockets to fly straight-ish by spinning them, lol

Spin-stabilisation is a valid technique, and does indeed work reasonably well, though I'd only recommend it for smaller rockets.

[Poryy]

Vall is evil. The last 4 probes I've sent I it (completely reliable design that has landed on Duna, Laythe, Eeloo, and Eve) exploded in the middle of their transfer burn.

[Legendary Emu]

I always stick the most courageous and least stupid Kerbals on all my complicated missions*

*missions that are any level above sending Kerbs to stations or bases. Average Kerbals can go on those.

Edited April 7, 2014 by Legendary Emu

[OrtwinS]

I don't think I have any superstitions while rocket building (just a lack of creativity).

I do tap the < a few times more than strictly needed to drop out of time warp. Though that is just redundancy. Just like my first 0.23.5 career Mun-probe had enough dV to reach Jool (Less=more, my rocket design is improving, when I reduced the fuel in my top stage, it's dv increased). However, I don't shrink my overall designs (I'll probably will when we get to work on a budget). I just like dv redundancy. My returning Duna team went on a holiday on Minmus before returning to Kerbin...

edit: I do favour less-stupid kerbals for important and complicated missions. Again I think this is redundancy. When Kerbal intelligence and courage will matter I don't want any mission to fail because I put a potato at the wheel.

Edited April 7, 2014 by OrtwinS