What's the funniest thing you've seen/heard a new player do in KSP?

[FishInferno]

when I first played the demo, my thinking was "well ill just build the biggest rocket i can that should get the job done!" LOL nope.

oh yeah I also stacked rcs tanks onto solid boosters because I thought that the RCS tanks were solid fuel tanks.

The first time I made an orbit, I didn't kno how to use the navball, but I just started pitching er at 10 kilometers anyway and i got a perfect orbit.

[cantab]

On my first Mun rocket, instead of throttling down to terminal velocity, my solution for low altitude drag was to just power through it with moar boosters. I was getting reentry effects during vertical ascent.

My first rocket to orbit did that. I kept getting close but not quite enough so I kept adding boosters, think it took about 18 on the first stage to get a 1-man capsule up there.

Also, I knew that it was best to launch with the rotation of the planet, but I got mixed up and pitched over west.

[T.P.H.Paskins]

when I first played the demo, my thinking was "well ill just build the biggest rocket i can that should get the job done!" LOL nope.

oh yeah I also stacked rcs tanks onto solid boosters because I thought that the RCS tanks were solid fuel tanks.

The first time I made an orbit, I didn't kno how to use the navball, but I just started pitching er at 10 kilometers anyway and i got a perfect orbit.

I also thought RCS fule was SR fule aswel first time but the funnyest thing was mistaking the SAS for a decopler and went to the moon, I got there but I had 2 un-used boosters. It was the first time I ever landed on Mun ever.

[Rainbow-Dashie]

I saw some noob make a Lunar Lander, and put parachutes on it! HA HA HA HA! The thing crashed and blew up and that noob felt so stupid because that should be common knowledge that the moon has no atmosphere! HA HA...Ha..ha...

Ok fine... I'm the noob who did this

[Lhathron the Elf]

I saw some noob make a Lunar Lander, and put parachutes on it! HA HA HA HA! The thing crashed and blew up and that noob felt so stupid because that should be common knowledge that the moon has no atmosphere! HA HA...Ha..ha...

Ok fine... I'm the noob who did this

Don't feel bad. I was a huge space nerd even before I started playing this, and I once put some parachutes onto a Munar lander... When I launched I was like, "Wait... What? Are you stupid?"

So yeah, you're not alone.

[Cooly568]

My friend, yeah, I'm about that good too.

[RizzoTheRat]

As one of those noobs I'm glad I don't seem have made as many mistakes as some, but so far...

• Reached orbit with craft I intended to send out to Minimus before realising I hadn't fitted solar panels.
  
• Took off in my vertical launch atmospheric test aircraft (no landing gear researched yet hence the vertical takeoff) before realised I'd forgotten to fit parachutes to get it back down again.
  
• Failed to uncover the mystery of the [ and ] required for a rescue mission and asking the question on here.
  
• Wondered why my jet powered aircraft went in to an uncontrolled spin at about 20km and spent ages trying to fine tune the centre of mass/lift before realising the wings were stalling.
  

The last one is probably the most embarrassing so far on the grounds that I have a degree in Aeronautical Engineering and several hours solo in gliders

I came across KSP via a thread on another forum (Pistonheads) where there seemed to be a several people who just thought if they just went straight up fast enough they should stay there and hadn't figured out how orbiting worked.

[mythic_fci]

My friend tried out KSP. At first, he refused all my advice, and put a liquid engine under an RCS tank... Once he got it right (he figured out he was using the wrong type of fuel on his own), he just shot the rocket straight up and asked why he fell back down. He claimed KSP wasn't even realistic. Of course, knowing his nature, he finally accepted help after a month or so. After some lessons in rocket science, he was a natural.

Edited September 29, 2014 by FCISuperGuy

[JebNeedsHelp]

The first time I tried to rendezvous I wasn't paying attention to my Periapsis and accidentally de-orbited myself.

I did this, too, but after two successful rendezvouses. The third time I couldn't figure out what was going wrong at first, and then it hit me. Duurrrrrr.

[TimberWolffe]

The last one is probably the most embarrassing so far on the grounds that I have a degree in Aeronautical Engineering and several hours solo in gliders

I came across KSP via a thread on another forum (Pistonheads) where there seemed to be a several people who just thought if they just went straight up fast enough they should stay there and hadn't figured out how orbiting worked.

First of all:

HAHAHAHAHAHA oh wow c':

Secondly: technically speaking that's true, if you can get to a geosynchronous altitude then it should technically grab your craft and pull it around with it. Of course gravity defies all laws of physics and just kinda goes "no" but on paper it works

[Whovian]

Firstly, Markiplier.

Secondly, a friend of mine was building his first rocket; if I remember correctly it consisted of a capsule, two of KW Rocketry's biggest 3.75m tanks, and a Griffin XX. And then he put 6 humongous B9 wings on. For no reason. Wings. No flaps.

First of all:

HAHAHAHAHAHA oh wow c':

Secondly: technically speaking that's true, if you can get to a geosynchronous altitude then it should technically grab your craft and pull it around with it. Of course gravity defies all laws of physics and just kinda goes "no" but on paper it works

I suppose if you can do that in a way which preserves your horizontal velocity at ap. You'd probably need to burn upwards very slowly as otherwise your orbit would go through your launch point.

Edited September 29, 2014 by Whovian

[Endersmens]

SpeirsTheAmazingHD. It was painful to watch at first. He's getting better though! (mostly he just screws with firespitter planes. More turboprops!)

[Deadpangod3]

http://i.imgur.com/qZviWyE.png

My friend, yeah, I'm about that good too.

...wha? TREES!?

How?

[cantab]

Either he somehow managed to uproot the ground scatter, or There's A Mod For That^TM.

[Joonatan1998]

Using nose cones/trying to build aerodynamic craft.

Experienced players can do that for role playing, but if you do that without realizing that it doesn't do anything it is pretty funny.

[Cuky]

First time I went to Minmus I was in quite low orbit (don't remember exact height but it was between 5 and 8 thousand meters; didn't try to land that time around) and I was just executing my maneuver node to return my brave Kerbal back home. Burn was done flawlessly but when I time-accelerated I saw, to my shock, that craft was going straight to the Minmus surface with not enough fuel to save spacecraft or poor Kerbal. From that mission on I start from higher orbits, especially when I am around the body that has smaller size and lower gravity. I also check and double-check that my maneuver won't take me on a one-way trip to the surface.

[RizzoTheRat]

Secondly: technically speaking that's true, if you can get to a geosynchronous altitude then it should technically grab your craft and pull it around with it. Of course gravity defies all laws of physics and just kinda goes "no" but on paper it works

Not convinced. If you go straight up you've got a "horizontal" component of velocity of whatever the surface rotation speed is, assuming an equatorial launch that's about 1000 mph on earth, no idea on Kerbal. To get a geosynchronous orbit above earth you're going round the world in the same time, but 35M km higher up, so need to be doing about 7000mph

[Melfice]

The standard: "I flew up into space and then I fell down again. Why didn't it work?"

[apemanzilla]

...wha? TREES!?

How?

I'd like to know this too...

Anyways. I was introducing my brother to KSP and he was going to go land on the Mün. I told him it would probably have easier to land on Minmus, so he changed his mind and finished the rocket. The final rocket was HUGE - the type of rocket that could make it to Tylo and land - maybe not return, but at least get most of the way there. So, I leave him alone as he gets to Minmus and starts to get the hang of the game as he prepares to land and when I come back he's extremely frustrated and still in a (very elliptical) orbit around Minmus. Turns out he had extra fuel in the stages before the lander, so he was trying to land with a Mainsail at full throttle. After dropping the leftover transfer stage, so we have just the lander left, he does considerably better (he had figured out how prograde and retrograde worked at this point) and he was about 3km from the surface when he deploys the landing legs. He had used the large landing legs, the ones that fold down, and had placed them upside down - to be fair, it looked like it would work in the VAB. So, now we had a lander with upside down landing legs. I told him not to worry about it, as the gravity on Minmus is so low he could probably prop himself upright with SAS. After about twelve minutes, three quick saves and a lot of explosions, he manages to land on his side on Minmus, and proceeds to get out, plant a flag, jump around a bit, the usual celebratory stuff. Then he gets back in, and after fiddling with SAS and the landing legs manages to get the ship pointed (mostly) upright, and then presses space. *Foomp* - the parachutes deploy. Of course, he couldn't know this as they don't fully deploy in a vacuum, so he proceeds to throttle up and get into a suborbital trajectory and finally escape Minmus. The descent back to Kerbin goes fairly well, despite the fact that he was burning radially to lower his periapsis instead of retrograde, and he makes it back to the atmosphere, where the parachutes open at 5km (these are the orange drogue ones) and we are forced to wait several minutes at 4x physwarp for touchdown.

tl;dr: Over-engineered rocket, trying to land with a Mainsail, inverted landing legs, early parachute deployment and a lot of quicksaves.

[Mitchz95]

http://i.imgur.com/qZviWyE.png

My friend, yeah, I'm about that good too.

...

I have questions.

[worir4]

When i first played, i didn't read the controls so i didn't know how to use liquid engines. Instead i did full SRB to orbit. I tried to SRB land on the Mun but i never could.

[EladDv]

well i managed to get an entire stock missile inside a stock ship by ramming into the side of the bridge....the ship was still intact...that was yesterday

[Luiaard]

Well...I guess it would have been hilarious to watch my first steps into space...^^

- go up until in space (100km because thats where space is... on earth...), turn 90°, burn

- turned randomly retro or prograde...is there a difference?

- tried to get somewhere near the moon orbit and wait for encounter.....

- once there was a encounter, burn retro as soon as encounter begins....

- ohh, and I traveld FIRST in interplanetary space (to duna) and learned THAN how to open those fu*** solar panels....and maneuver nodes...always went with small panels and looots of batteries....

I have come a looong way...^^

[xtoro]

My friend trying to get his rocket into space by just adding more and more boosters. I swear there were 50, and he kept trying to stage them in different orders until he got frustrated and quit playing lol

[r_rolo1]

My first hours playing the game would most likely be hilarious for a viewer if there had been one, because it took me 2-3 h to discover than there was a symmetry tool The rest is left as a exercise to the reader