A long overdue hello and a few questions

[JebNeedsHelp]

Greetings!

I've been playing KSP for a few months now, and though I wouldn't say I'm still a complete noob, I have a lot left to learn, and certain destinations still kick my butt. Plus nothing I build comes close to the monstrosities I've seen here in the forums. I've enjoyed reading the forums so far, and I love seeing what people have come up with.

I first started with .23 and now am playing .23.5, but I'm waiting on .24 until I get better at the game. Plus I have some questions for you guys. And some pictures of some of my highlights and failures, just so you can see where I'm at so far. I should mention that I'm playing without mods at all, although I refer to that online transfer window calculator. I'm sure I'll get around to mods sometime, but I'm not the most computer-savvy person - I wouldn't want to screw everything up.

I'm still launching everything I build in one piece. I haven't really tried docking yet but I'm sure there's a tutorial to help me when I'm ready to tackle it. And even though I have the ARM patch I haven't tried to get to any asteroids yet, either. Right now I've been focusing on landing Kerbals everywhere I can reach, whether it's a one-way trip or not. Right now my Mun and Minmus have almost 100 Kerbals each on them, dropped five, then 10 at a time. I got really brave and tried landing a 22-Kerbal colony on the Mun. It didn't quite go as planned....

However, Moho has been driving me nuts for a while now. I finally landed one Kerbal repeatedly, but every time I tried more than one, I kept running out of fuel during the landing, always because I had to use lander fuel to finish establishing Moho orbit. After maybe a dozen total failures, this 10-Kerbal colony survived the landing, sort of....

Jool's moons are next on my list - I have sent probes and put some Kerbals in orbit, but haven't made a successful landing there yet - I've been focusing on Moho for the moment, because the window is right and my Jool is way out of position right now.

So here are those questions I mentioned:

I'd like to warp time fast enough to get to a transfer window while sitting in a 100-km orbit, but I don't know how. I always have to fly to a 600-km orbit and then warp. Is there a way to do it from 100km?

If I can land on Moho (finally) have I got enough delta-vee to land on any of Jool's moons? I know some are pretty big so I know my landers will need more fuel, for sure. Which leads to this question.

Is it possible to keep launching all these interplanetary missions straight from the ground, or am I going to have to start docking them in orbit at some point? I would guess it's easier to build in orbit - but I'd like to see if I can do it. I've seen some tremendous builds here on the forums, so I would guess I've got more than a little wiggle room yet.

Right now my Jeb and Bill are hanging around on Eve, waiting for a lift home, and Bill is on Dres, in the same boat. So two-way trips are also soon on the agenda. Are landers with enough fuel to get home possible, or will I have to learn docking and go the CM/LM route?

Thanks in advance!

JNH

[LongbowEOD]

Howdy and welcome aboard! Those are some great colonization efforts you've got there.

As for your questions, I'm no expert, but maybe I can help a bit.

If you can't time warp fast enough from a 100-km orbit, try controlling a vessel that's landed on the same body. You should be able to use maximum time-warp.

Moho is one of the hardest bodies to land on, so if your ship can set kerbals down there, it can probably set them down anywhere. Tylo will still be another difficult landing. So big and so airless. Maybe find a Delta-V map you like. I use this one: http://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/1iw30a/a_more_accurate_deltav_map/

If your computer can handle a tremendous launch vehicle, go for it. It's not strictly necessary to rendezvous and dock in space, but doing so does open many doors in terms of specializing craft for certain missions, which will get you further in the long run.

All-in-one vehicles are a handful, and I think it would be a bit of a master class in KSP to manage a kerballed Eve return with one ship. Having said that, I'm sure somebody's done it, probably over in the Challenges Forum. I'd say you're best bet is 2 or more vehicles.

[Pecan]

Having said that, I'm sure somebody's done it

Kasuha did Kerbin-Eve-Land-Orbit-Kerbin-Land-Orbit-Eve-Land-Orbit-Kerbin-Land in a single launch ^^. Not something the rest of us are up for though, I think.

@Jeb - in addition to Longbow's comments:

You can time-warp in the tracking centre or KSC scene as well.

Landing on and re-orbiting from Moho isn't too bad - easier than Duna - of Jool's moons only Tylo (highest gravity with no atmosphere for braking/parachutes) and Laythe (only oxygen atmosphere outside Kerbin - makes jets, and therefore spaceplanes, useful) require more deltaV. Getting TO Moho, and particularly stopping once you do get there is the hard part. The deltaV map Longbow linked to is your best tool, along with the transfer window planner you say you're already using.

Building in orbit gives you much greater flexibility and reusability but, as noted above, there isn't anything in KSP you can't do in a single launch - it just requires very big, complex and well-designed vehicles. Apart from that docking and assembling in orbit is pretty good fun on its own :-)

A lander capable of getting back into Eve orbit is quite a challenge - one that can go back to Kerbin and land afterwards is asking a lot, but can be done. In general it's all possible depending on how you want to play things. There are a lot of people who almost only ever do single-mission, single-launch ships whereas I prefer reusable launch vehicles, space-stations, transfer vehicles and lander/re-orbiters.