SSTO orbits now very easy?

[L0rdDaniel]

I am not an idiot by any means but I do not have an easy time with SSTOs. In fact, I have gotten exactly one barely to orbit and circularized but only at 90km altitude. Might have had enough to come back down but it ran out of power and so the wheels were useless for getting it to point anywhere.

Once I added more power generation, it was too heavy and didn't get it to orbit anymore.

I do not want to have to "cheat" by stacking parts in the same space as you once had to do. I came fairly close with adding the new conformal air intakes so that my jet engines would take me to ~35k and then use the rockets. Close was the same as not doing it, but it was closer.

I am sure there is something fundamental I am missing out on.

My aha moment came when I realized that my troubles were not from designing, but from piloting. It takes a while to get these up to speed and speed is the key. Stay just at the top of your operating range (could be as little as 14k or as much as 37k depending on craft design... higher is better) until you are reasonably close to 2k m/s, then switch to rocket power to push your apoapsis into space... Sometimes this takes just very short burn of a few seconds. Keep your apo up until you're clear of the atmosphere, then circularize.

[GoSlash27]

Wow nice plane. It doesn't look like it has much power. What's the TWR on full tanks on the rocket engine ?

Not sure if you're referring to me, but if so thanks!

Not sure what the total mass is, since I don't use MechJeb. It pushes 1G acceleration on the turbojets and about 1/4G on the rocket. The rocket doesn't need much t/w to do it's job.

Best,

-Slashy

[Corw]

Not sure if you're referring to me, but if so thanks!

Not sure what the total mass is, since I don't use MechJeb. It pushes 1G acceleration on the turbojets and about 1/4G on the rocket. The rocket doesn't need much t/w to do it's job.

Best,

-Slashy

You can get mass info on map view.

[magnemoe]

Really? I was under the impression from before this last patch and with experiments that the sabre wasn't that great. It ate LFO like a kid sucks down candy once I was out of the atmosphere.

ISP of 360, this makes it better than the 47-7S, but worse than the T45, main benefit is that you can dual use it, so you don't have to haul an heavy rocket engine, the other option is 48-7S who is worse. Don't know how to read jet ISP but its comparable in practice.

[Sky_walker]

Not sure if you're referring to me, but if so thanks!

Not sure what the total mass is, since I don't use MechJeb.

Other than a map view - you can use Kerbal Engineer for stuff like that (and much more).

IMHO it's better for what it does than MechJeb.

[Jas1126]

I just have to resign to the fact that I'm beyond this game's challenges.. I honestly wish I weren't. I hate relying on mods as they tend to break my long term games when an update occurs.. With that said...

Would anyone have a list of part mods that are worthwhile? Just a whole load of parts. I'll worry about other aspects once I have this taken care of. Thanks.

[Oafman]

As has been said, if something is too easy, you have plenty of options for making it harder.

For example; build a 5m diameter spaceplane which can insert 3.75m station components into LKO

[KerikBalm]

"I just have to resign to the fact that I'm beyond this game's challenges.. "

If making an SSTO was the limit you were previously at, and you've only passed it now, you are nowhere near beyond the game's challenges.

Make a single stage to Duna and back.

Make a single stage to Laythe and back.

Visiti Moho (bonus points for single staging to Moho orbit before deploying your lander), visit Eeloo.

Land and return from Eve.

Visit all of Jools moons in a single mission.

Making an SSTO is easy in KSP, and it doesn't mean there are no challenges left.

[Jas1126]

800 hours of this game. lol I've done just about everything there is (including sending a ship to a point in which the solar system is a speck). XD Thanks for the ideas though.

[GoSlash27]

You can get mass info on map view.

Ah, thanks. Didn't know that! Total mass is 13.1 tonnes and thrust from that engine is 30 KN, so 23.3% t/w ratio.

Best,

-Slashy

[KerikBalm]

800 hours of this game. lol I've done just about everything there is (including sending a ship to a point in which the solar system is a speck). XD Thanks for the ideas though.

Reaching escape velocity for the sun is easy. Did you do it properly and do a bi-ecleptic transfer? if you really want to get out of the system fast, first drop your PE down to just above the sun's surface, then burn at perapsis for one heck of an Oberth effect... you'll shoot out of the solar system so ridiculously fast....

Have you visited Dres? most people overlook it (so far I have)

Did you do the jool 5 challenge?

[cantab]

For challenge in KSP the limit really is your imagination. Landed an E-class asteroid on a large airless body? Done a Voyager-style multi-body flyby with only a miniscule amount of delta-V for your course corrections? Done an IVA-only mission? Etc etc

[KerikBalm]

Haven't landed any asteroids, but so far I've added 2 moons to Kerbin... 1 C class and 1 E class, I want MOAR MOONS

[Pecan]

800 hours of this game. lol I've done just about everything there is (including sending a ship to a point in which the solar system is a speck). XD Thanks for the ideas though.

Once you understand orbital mechanics most things are easy to do if you throw together a huge, expensive, high-tech, laggy machine. The ultimate challenge is in how efficiently - low mass, cost, tech and part-count - you can do it ;-0

[Jas1126]

So very odd how the question "Would anyone have a list of part mods that are worthwhile?" seems to look like "Tell me about ways to play". lol

[arrowhen]

So very odd how the question "Would anyone have a list of part mods that are worthwhile?" seems to look like "Tell me about ways to play". lol

I think it's more that people are responding to your "I just have to resign to the fact that I'm beyond this game's challenges" with helpful suggestions as to how you can continue to find fun challenges to overcome.

As far as part mods go, I think it's kind of hard to give recommendations because installing mods is all about customizing the game to your own individual needs. I can tell you what mods *I* use but that doesn't mean they'll be the right ones for *you*. However, if you're concerned that you've run out of things in the game to do, just installing more parts might not be the answer -- you seem motivated by challenge, and just flying to places you've already visited in different-looking spacecraft might not be enough to keep your interest for long. You might be better served by gameplay-altering mods that add complexity and require more careful planning (things like TAC Life Support or RemoteTech), give you a long-term goal to work towards (like getting a completely self-sufficient colony running in MKS/OKS), or just straight-up increase the difficulty (Better Than Starting Manned).

[DrMonte]

For example I'm playing stock only game. My usual goal is optimization. I tried adding mods earlier but it seems it is a greater challenge to build with more limited resources.

[rosenkranz]

It probably bears mentioning, before any parts get nerfed or buffed, that Squad intends to implement a proper aerodynamics model. While it probably won't be as extensive as FAR or even NEAR, SSTO's will likely be more difficult if we're flying through something other than an atmosphere with the consistency more like a liquid rather than a gas.

If you want more of a challenge go with FAR or NEAR. Starwaster (sp?) also and a simple aerodynamics fix that at least accounts for mass more appropriately. Try one of these before calling too easy.

[herbal space program]

FWIW, I also felt like building a successful SSTO in the latest version was substantially easier than it was back in 0.21 or so.