FAR gravity turns

[KvickFlygarn87]

I can't seem to wrap my head around them. How do you pull them off? Not running RSS.

[Taki117]

I usually start mine about 200m up, and then SLOWLY pitch over until my apoapsis is about 1min away, then I try and keep it there until it reaches the desired altitude.

EDIT: Be warned that if you get too far from your Prograde vector your rocket will flip, also if it's not very aerodynamic it may still flip.

[KvickFlygarn87]

Alright, thanks for that. That's about what I'm doing, but I start burning a lot, even though I'm nowhere near terminal velocity. Any tips?

[Raven.]

Start your turn early while your airspeed is still rather low. By the time you hit mach 1, you will not be able to pitch very much past a couple of degrees. Turn with tender loving care.

[theonegalen]

The other important thing to know with FAR is that your TWR should be between 1.05 and 1.5 at launch. A high TWR will accelerate you too fast and prevent steering.

[KvickFlygarn87]

Ah, that should help! My TWR was around 1.7. I'll tone it down a bit and see what happens

[Amaroq]

^^ I usually start my gravity turn as soon as I'm clear of my launch clamps, to get at least the first ten-twenty degrees. I also throttle down to maintain a TWR between 1.6 and 2.0 until I'm above the re-entry point (say, 30,000m); I use KER to keep track of my exact current throttle setting.

And yeah, gentle, steady turns; I try to keep my nose within the circle shown by my "surface" prograde vector until about 40km.

[lextacy]

The trick to that is to make sure your "chasing" the apoapsis constatly while tipping over slightly after you have past a comfortable atmospheric height. Remember the heavier the rocket, the later your gravity turn has to be. Make sure you do not go past the blue AP marker or your now kerbin-bound to the ground. Once your predicted AP is 100+KM only then you can think about chasing the prograde marker. Go prograde untill the blue arch is more circular . THen cut off engines ad make a orbital manevure node.

I found in my experiments if your potential AP is below 100km and you have a large rocket and you go prograde too early, youll find yourself falling to rapidly to kerbin below the 70km mark , and when that happens you can no longer progade your way to an orbital velocity.

[KvickFlygarn87]

Oh, alright. My rocket is very large and tall, so that should help. Should my gravity turn be shallow (as in, I almost get a periapsis marker before cutting out) or steep?

[FenrirWolf]

You want your apoapsis height to be increasing as you ascend, while also having your time to apoapsis increasing, or at least holding constant. That all depends on your TWR during.your various stages, but ideally your rocket should be heading at or close to 90° by the time you are at 40-50km

[KvickFlygarn87]

I got it now! Mods can close!

[lextacy]

You want your apoapsis height to be increasing as you ascend, while also having your time to apoapsis increasing, or at least holding constant. That all depends on your TWR during.your various stages, but ideally your rocket should be heading at or close to 90° by the time you are at 40-50km

this...you said it in a more compact way Not all rockets are the same so that means different orbital turn altitudes for diff sizes,shapes,weight. As long as you follow FenrirWolf's rule you will be in orbit!