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[SJRB]

Does anyone actually do the tutorials? You should have been able to do this within an hour of getting the game if you followed the tutorials up to getting into orbit, then going and building your own rocket.

But, I feel your pain. I was overbuilding my rockets, eventually had to lighten them up, and amazingly, I can pretty much go anywhere in the solar system I want with my "Go to" design.

Of course I did the tutorials, but they are pretty barebones. They don't really explain fuel conservation and whatnot. Also, since they are tiered you do the seperate things [building, liftoff, changing orbits, flying to the Mun] but you never do them in one go.

But yeah, I've got things under control now. Even got a lander in the Mun's orbit just now. Too scared to actually land it though, afraid it might crash and kill Bill.


This is easily the best purchase I did during the Steam summer sale, the sense of accomplisment when you finally reach the Mun is amazing. For all its simplicity there are some spectacular moments. There's something magical to float around the dark side of the Mun and suddenly see the sun emerge from the other side. Can't wait for .21's texture and height mapping upgrade.

 

[NetMapel]

Been keeping an eye for this game and watched some Youtube videos about it. My roommate downloaded it and it looked extremely fun ! Time for me to buy the game on Steam as well

Really hope they can keep developing this game and expand upon it.

 

[Slacker]

I had a depressing/hilarious night in the game last night. I had previously stranded three Kerbals in a command module which was now orbiting Kerbin around 200km above the planet. I constructed a simple rescue ship with crossfeed fuel distribution and an extra "hitchhiker" can to hold the three additional passengers on board. Launch and orbit were successful and I made it to stable orbit with a full middle-size tank of fuel.

Plan A was to dock with the stranded command module and slow them down enough to send them hurtling back to Kerbin. Plan B was to take the Kerbals on board and land all together.

I had never successfully synched up orbits before so it was a major challenge. After watching the Scott Manley video a few times, I finally managed to get the vessels on a stable could next to one another, but try as I might, I couldn't get the docking ports to connect (this is all manual btw - no mechjeb or anything). After nearly an hour I gave up and had the astronauts EVA between the ships until everyone was on board the rescue ship. From there I burned retro long enough to change the ship's trajectory toward the planet.

Finally, the depressing part. I had three parachutes attached to the command module of the rescue ship, but apparently that wasn't quite enough for the weight of the command module, the hitchhiker can, and six kerbalnauts. The hitchhiker can was crushed upon impact with the ground, and the three rescued Kerbals were killed. Their deaths taught me a valuable lesson, though, and my next rescue ship will be better for it. I can't wait to try it again. I think I'll be intentionally stranding a few Kerbals in space tonight to give it another go.

The Rescue X1: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=162627184

 

[plc268]

I finally bit the bullet and installed Mechjeb. A lot of my rockets in the past have just been too unstable at initial launch, and I'm always fighting the rocket until I expend my first stage.

I've also dabbled in some of the other features on Mechjeb, and I was finally able to make it to other planets and bodies besides the Mun.

I also finally did a geostationary orbit, and it's absolutely mesmerising to see the night/day cycles and kerbin move through it's solar system while warped up in speed. I should upload a video of it some time.

 

[gutterboy44]

Spaceplane docking with my space station! My space station was at 380Km above Kerbin so I had to cheat my original SSTO to include two extra engines that I dropped in upper atmosphere. I still made a usable SSTO but I couldn't make it to the space station with enough fuel left.

A quick EVA to meet up with the guys and play some poker before heading home

Bill flew it up but Jebediah took it down. No one has attempted landing a space plane back on the runway before so they drew straws up in the space station. Before the could find any straws, Jebediah was EVA'n his way to the plane. Rentry was seamless but the flying part...um yeah, not quite the right lift ratio for a low speed landing. RIP Jebediah. Gonna have to practice landing the planes before sending them into orbit.

 

[AbundantChoice]

Oh man, I picked this up in the Steam Sale and can't stop playing it. I've been trying to avoid the how-tos for the first week or to see if I can figure out things like orbit and mun landings myself.

So yeah... my first attempt at Kerbal orbit... resulted in a nice stable orbit around the sun right outside of Kerbal's orbit, with my ship steadily falling behind of Kerbal. Whoops!

I debated doing a rescue mission, but they're already pretty darned far away. Well outside the Mun orbit. So... best of luck, guys!

 

[Slacker]

I debated doing a rescue mission, but they're already pretty darned far away. Well outside the Mun orbit. So... best of luck, guys!

They might come near Kerbin again a few years down the road. Plan the rescue then.

 

[Orgun]

The Mun landing was fake!

 

[NetMapel]

I landed a small lander ship on the Mun today :O Then I tried to click Shift + Tab to open up Steam in-game. Somehow, it must have just registered the Shift key and proceeded to made my ship fly and then crashed my ship on the Mun and destroyed it lol. Feels good to land though ! Next stop... a Kerbal on the Mun

 

[SJRB]

If you EVA in orbit, does the astronaut just drift away or does it stay close to the craft [provided you don't use boosters or something].

 

[Alien Bob]

If you EVA in orbit, does the astronaut just drift away or does it stay close to the craft [provided you don't use boosters or something].

Tiny deviations in velocity will eventually make anything that isn't connected drift away over long distances. But that's what ladders are for.

Edit:

Just saw these on the KSP reddit. New hangars for the island runway. Probably not in .21 though.

 

[gutterboy44]

I landed a small lander ship on the Mun today :O Then I tried to click Shift + Tab to open up Steam in-game. Somehow, it must have just registered the Shift key and proceeded to made my ship fly and then crashed my ship on the Mun and destroyed it lol. Feels good to land though ! Next stop... a Kerbal on the Mun

I cannot recommend enough setting an action group to shutdown engines, especially the engines you will be using for a lander or while docking. After about my fifth time of accidentally hitting shift and rolling a lander or destroying a space station I was docking with, I always have a shutdown action group or at the very least, right click on the engine before going full RCS and shutting that shit down!

After a while I just kind of have default numbers I pick for action groups. 1 is always gimbal lock, 3 always shuts something down, 7 is always lights and solar panels. etc.

 

[ThreePiMatt]

I'm going to have to read up on fuel conservation because I can get to the Mun no prob but I never have enough fuel to do anything but crash into it. I assume its just that I'm taking a very inefficient route, I kinda just get out of Kerbin's atmosphere, set a manuver and just brute force my way to the Mun.

On a different note, I built a solar-powered plane which was fun. Goes slow as hell but it works. Just having a hard time figuring out how to pull more ion engines on it.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

I'm going to have to read up on fuel conservation because I can get to the Mun no prob but I never have enough fuel to do anything but crash into it. I assume its just that I'm taking a very inefficient route, I kinda just get out of Kerbin's atmosphere, set a manuver and just brute force my way to the Mun.

There's a trick to it but I have a hard time explaining it in words. But yeah the trick is to take advantage of the respective orbits of the mun and kerbin. If you cut off your drive just as your orbital path takes you through the mun's, the mun will move through it's orbit by about 45 degrees by the time you get there. So, you have to plan your burn to make you pass through about 45 degrees in front of where the Mun is currently. Get into a roughly circular orbit around Kerbin, following along the equator. Find the point in Mun's orbit that's 45 degrees in front of where it is currently, then find the corresponding point in your orbit around Kerbin. Set your maneuver node to be the OPPOSITE point to the one you just identified, and burn retrograde. As you play with the maneuver node you'll see whether or not you're going to get a munar interaction as you add delta V to the maneuver, so this will show you if you've chosen the right point or not.

Once you get the maneuver in place, execute it. Then drift until you start interacting with the mun's gravity. That's when you start to burn retrograde so you can slow down enough to get captured by it.

 

[gutterboy44]

Live stream of .21 is currently going. Man the new VAB looks so much better.

http://www.twitch.tv/ksptv#/w/6261420736

 

[Woorloog]

I gathered that 0.21 will require a new game but i assume old ship designs still work (perhaps needing an upgrade, perhaps not)?

Is there a mod that allows saving payload without saving the whole ship? Something that allows me to design parts and then slap them together without having to rebuild them every time.
...
I think i've asked that before...

Got an idea for something big...

 

[gutterboy44]

I gathered that 0.21 will require a new game but i assume old ship designs still work (perhaps needing an upgrade, perhaps not)?

Is there a mod that allows saving payload without saving the whole ship? Something that allows me to design parts and then slap them together without having to rebuild them every time.
...
I think i've asked that before...

Got an idea for something big...

Sub Assembly Loader mod. The only mod I use.

http://kerbalspaceport.com/subassembly-manager/

 

[Woorloog]

Sub Assembly Loader mod. The only mod I use.

http://kerbalspaceport.com/subassembly-manager/

Thank you, this will make constructing my spacecraft easier...
Well, sort of easier anyway, first i will need to design SSTO shuttle...

 

[Mindlog]

The video is two weeks old, but it's quite lovely. End-game spoilers ;]
KSP - Constellation Mission
Brings a tear of joy to the Kerbal eye. All the coordination and redundancy for imagined emergencies is really impressive.

 

[Woorloog]

Oh. I think 0.21 was released...
From the readme:

ChangeLog:

==================================== v0.21.0 =========================================================

New:

* Space Center Scene:
- The Space Center scene now uses the same terrain as in flight.
- Time now passes in the Space Center scene, and day/night is consistent with in-flight.
- The game terrain persists across scene transitions, making loading scenes much faster.

* Construction:
- Completely overhauled the interior models for the VAB and SPH buildings, complete with animated trucks and cargo lifts.
- All-new exterior models for the VAB, SPH and Tracking Station.
- New Astronaut Complex building.
- Added a description field where you can write up a few lines to describe your space-faring contraptions.

* Crew Management:
- It is now possible to assign crew manually to missions before launch, both from the Construction Facilities and from Launch Sites.
- Added completely new Launch Dialogs on the Runway and Launchpad at the Space center.
- The new Astronaut Complex dialog allows you to hire crews from a list of Applicants, and view the status of all your crewmembers.
- Revised the crew handling game logic, for a much more reliable and robust system.

* SAS Modules:
- Rewrote the SAS control logic from the ground up.
- SAS is now enabled for the entire vessel, and requires actuators like winglets, RCS or others to actually have an effect.
- Repurposed the old SAS modules are now Reaction Wheel Modules, that apply torque while consuming electricity.
- The new SAS logic allows applying manual input while SAS is on, letting you set the ship's attitude without having to constantly toggle it.

* Procedural Terrain:
- Added a new module to generate craters procedurally on the Mun.
- Largely revised Kerbin's terrain to produce much more interesting mountains, hills, valleys and coastlines.

* Flight Re-Flow:
- Removed the physically-impossible "End Flight" button.
- Added new options to "Revert" a mission back to launch or to construction.
- Added new 'Recover' button on the Tracking Station, to allow recovering a vessel (as opposed to Terminating it) when possible.
- Recovering vessels makes its crew available again, while Terminating kills them.
- The 'Space Center' button now allows you to leave flight at any time, warning when necessary about saving restrictions.

* Progress Tracking:
- The game now tracks your progress as you play, providing essential data for the upcoming Career Mode features.
- Progress data is (optionally) uploaded to our servers,

* Misc:
- Improved the in-game shadowing to enable shadows at much larger distances.
- Added several new parts from the KSPX pack as stock content.


Bug Fixes and Tweaks:
- Scenario Modules now properly save and load when the rest of the game saves and loads.
- Scenario Modules can now have multiple target scenes set.
- Improved the internal logic for switching to nearby vessels, it shouldn't refuse to switch with valid vessels nearby anymore.
- Added a system to attempt upgrading incompatible save files if/when possible.
- Tweaked PQS on other planets and moons to not initialize until approached. Improved performance a bit.
- Added a new system on PQS to clamp terrain subdivision while moving very fast. Orbiting low near the surface is a lot smoother now.
- Many more small tweaks and improvements.

 

[TheExodu5]

Any changelog for 0.21? I haven't played in a while...are atmospherics in play yet?

edit: thanks Woorloog!

 

[Megasoum]

Hahaha

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlbHmsHOe-U

 

[gutterboy44]

.21 is out!!! FUCK YES!

 

[Alien Bob]

Those new buildings are glorious. Hiring B9 was such a no-brainer decision.

 

[GK86]

Updated and ready to play. I'm going to aim for the Mun.

 

[bmdubya]

Can't wait to get home and play around with the new update. I can't wait to take my rover to the Mun and drive it around the new terrain. That and the new SAS system sounds great. I've never been able to fly planes that well, but I think I will be able to now with the new SAS.

 

[Woorloog]

So, kerbonauts have two attributes: courage and stupidity. Don't seem to be doing anything at the moment...

 

[Walshicus]

Bought this at the weekend and haven't been able to put it down. What's the typical cadence between releases?

 

[bmdubya]

Bought this at the weekend and haven't been able to put it down. What's the typical cadence between releases?

There is a new update every two months or so.

So, kerbonauts have two attributes: courage and stupidity. Don't seem to be doing anything at the moment...

Not at the moment, no. They are just getting the game set up for career mode which will be added over the next few updates. I do like the ability to assign astronauts to specific modules now, that will be nice.

 

[ElFly]

Maaaan the Mun landing on the stream just now was spectacular.

Lander modulebounced with the landing gear and did a flip.

 

[NetMapel]

0.21 !!!

 

[Woorloog]

My next project (These pics are from Bungie's Destiny):
This colony-ship. Not the ones on the left but tall spacecraft with shuttles.
The ship's top, the spheres are presumably propellant tanks.
Basically a giant single-stage to orbit spacecraft, with shuttles for landing to other places. I presume they're SSTO spacecraft as well.

Dubbed the current space program "Fate" after Destiny.

Of course, building and launching the spaceship is not that easy.
Considering how massive the ship is, i probably have to leave it in orbit and refuel it before sendind it to other planets. Or perhaps i'll make a fuel-station first, refuel there.
I need to make the shuttles to work, too, though i think i'll make them just landers if making them SSTOs is too difficult. OTOH, they need to be SSTOs only for the other planets, not Kerbal itself, which probably makes designing them easier, less-to-no air resistance and lower gravity.

Now common sense would suggest i should assemble such interplanetary colony-ship in orbit but where's the fun in that (without orbital dry-dock, which i won't be assembling anytime soon...)?

 

[JoseJX]

0.21 !!!

It's here and it's awesome! The new SAS definitely helps with planes. They're much more managable now. The new terrain is spectacular too. There are a bunch of new useful parts, but nothing really flashy that I've noticed yet. I can't wait to play more!

 

[gutterboy44]

OMG, dat new SAS. Built a new plane, landed that shit with no problem, no chutes, no damage, just a nice clean landing. Wow, planes are so much better to fly now.

I also love the persistent kerbals. I took their lives for granted and never bothered to assign abort procedures on my ships, now I make sure to assign the abort sequence to save their precious oblong green heads.

 

[Walshicus]

Hmm, seems .21 has made building ships funny for me. I get a few parts in and then I can't un-select a component. Might have to see which add-ins I need to remove. I know people are saying that MechJeb 2 doesn't work, but it'll be difficult to play much without it!

 

[TheExodu5]

Has anyone actually manage to have a single module rocket make it to and back from the Mun? I can do Minmus, but I never have enough fuel to make the return trip back from the Mun no matter how large I make my rocket. I may have to do a lunar lander if I can't figure it out. Using stock parts.

 

[NetMapel]

Has anyone actually manage to have a single module rocket make it to and back from the Mun? I can do Minmus, but I never have enough fuel to make the return trip back from the Mun no matter how large I make my rocket. I may have to do a lunar lander if I can't figure it out. Using stock parts.

I find the atomic rocket to be very fuel-efficient in space. That's the one I use once I'm in space to make flight adjustment for the Mun and eventually orbit the Mun. Then, I have a small rocket for the Mun landing and it can get me back home as well.

 

[Slacker]

So last night I launched what was to become the Thompbur Kerman Memorial Space Station (Thomp was killed in a tragic rescue mission last week). The first piece was just the crew area, solar panels, etc, with connectors on each side to add on to it. Today I launched another piece into orbit and attempted to dock it to the station (my first launch+dock). I actually managed to line the ports up perfectly but they just... wouldn't... snap... on. Suddenly I made the horrible realization that this...

... doesn't actually have docking ports on it! >___<

Of course, then the .21 solar flare came and wiped everything out anyway, so I will start anew tonight.

 

[Orbis]

So last night I launched what was to become the Thompbur Kerman Memorial Space Station (Thomp was killed in a tragic rescue mission last week). The first piece was just the crew area, solar panels, etc, with connectors on each side to add on to it. Today I launched another piece into orbit and attempted to dock it to the station (my first launch+dock). I actually managed to line the ports up perfectly but they just... wouldn't... snap... on. Suddenly I made the horrible realization that this...

... doesn't actually have docking ports on it! >___<

Of course, then the .21 solar flare came and wiped everything out anyway, so I will start anew tonight.

I launched a large central section of a space station once with two of these. Made the same mistake as you and had to de-orbit the whole thing and replace it with one with docking ports attached.

 

[ElFly]

0.21 added a few more stock parts, wish there was a list of them.

 

[gutterboy44]

Looks like Sub-Assembly Loader has a memory leak with .21. It seems fine at first but after building a while in the VAB I can't add any parts. Last update broke SAL as well, I sure it will get a fix soon.

 

[Woorloog]

Built 8 Fate-X series prototype rockets for figuring out how to make a single-stage to orbit rocket. Result: "Mainsail" engine is very good but considering how massive rocket i'm going to make, and due to its cargo, one is not enough and i cannot slap boosters around it anyway.
I need four of those Mainsails, probably. Unfortunately there ain't no part for combining four, so i have to make a complex system to get four of them side-by-side.
At least that's one approach i'm going to try, have ideas for alternative approaches.
EDIT Frankly, now that i think of this, four Mainsails sounds like an overkill... They have 1500 kilonewtons of thrust each, so 4 of them would be 6000 kilonewtons... along with other rockets the actual ship is going to have... the entire ship will have probably some 10000 kilonewtons of thrust. EDIT for comparison, the real Space Shuttle main engine had some 2200 kilonewtons of thrust...
EDIT Another note regarding my main Fate colony-ship: While it must be able to get to orbit in one stage, it doesn't land. Instead, it will carry landers with it.

Should also try to make a rocket for delivering various payloads, most for the refueling station i'm planning.
Need a name for them though, Fate is the main-series, need something as support systems. Either something beginning with an F, or words related to Fate (that are not Destiny).
EDIT perhaps "Temptation"... as in "Tempting Fate"

Also, a question: How do you approach a mission? I've noticed i'm methodical, building a series of systems, first to test parts, then to figure out the "final" model, then using those for other tasks.

 

[ThreePiMatt]

Methodical? Naw. Slap something together and shoot it off. Doesn't make it? MOAR ROCKETS.

 

[Woorloog]

Methodical? Naw. Slap something together and shoot it off. Doesn't make it? MOAR ROCKETS.

Methodical means doing this but each one has small upgrades... No radically different designs until it is clear the current rocket won't work no matter what you do.
Remote controlled rockets of course, can't spare kerbals for testing... Not until the rocket is near finished and payload testing starts.

 

[pheonix991]

Also, a question: How do you approach a mission? I've noticed i'm methodical, building a series of systems, first to test parts, then to figure out the "final" model, then using those for other tasks.

I have developed a "go to" rocket. Similar design to NASA's Titan Heavy.

Throw the payload on top, good to go. As long as the payload is balanced on top, I have had very little issue getting everything to 300km orbit. Once in orbit, it'll still have fuel left to get going in the right direction. I'm sure if I thought about my flight paths, I could actually get it to the Mun. Maybe not using it for the orbit, but, at least to the moon.

 

[ThreePiMatt]

Methodical means doing this but each one has small upgrades... No radically different designs until it is clear the current rocket won't work no matter what you do.
Remote controlled rockets of course, can't spare kerbals for testing... Not until the rocket is near finished and payload testing starts.

Well, right now I'm having fun just slapping shit together and shooting it off. But if the eventual career mode requires maintaining a budget and trying to complete contracts without losing dudes or wasting money on superfluous spaceship parts I'd be very interested.

I would like it if the game surfaced some stats/specs better. Something that shows a per stage/overall weight and thrust. Maybe some sort of wind tunnel feature to optimize drag and lift (though, I'm of the understanding that those are not really modeled to any realism and just kind of faked). Speaking of drag, there's nothing yet about cowling/fairings in the game are there? Kinda one of my bigger annoyances just having that ugly bare lander stage on top of my rockets.

 

[Woorloog]

I have developed a "go to" rocket. Similar design to NASA's Titan Heavy.

Throw the payload on top, good to go. As long as the payload is balanced on top, I have had very little issue getting everything to 300km orbit. Once in orbit, it'll still have fuel left to get going in the right direction. I'm sure if I thought about my flight paths, I could actually get it to the Mun. Maybe not using it for the orbit, but, at least to the moon.

Still getting there... One of my goals is to develop a good jack-of-all-trades rocket for getting stuff to orbit.
I think i had one but its gone since i reinstalled the game from Steam when it became an option. Don't remember how i did the rocket, so i have to make it again. No matter, it is fun.

Ideally i'd make a Space Shuttle-like lifter but unfortunately attaching payloads to them is hellish-to-nigh-impossible at the moment. OTOH, crew-transfer vehicle could be done relatively easily...

 

[TheExodu5]

I find the atomic rocket to be very fuel-efficient in space. That's the one I use once I'm in space to make flight adjustment for the Mun and eventually orbit the Mun. Then, I have a small rocket for the Mun landing and it can get me back home as well.

What does your rocket look like for the moon landing?

 

[DrSlek]

I performed my first Mun landing yesterday. Technically a landing....more of a crash landing. Ran out of fuel a few metres above the surface. Landing gear broke off and the lander fell over.

STILL COUNTS!

Edit: I also just learned of asparagus staging, which I love.

 

[ReadingRambo]

There's a trick to it but I have a hard time explaining it in words. But yeah the trick is to take advantage of the respective orbits of the mun and kerbin. If you cut off your drive just as your orbital path takes you through the mun's, the mun will move through it's orbit by about 45 degrees by the time you get there. So, you have to plan your burn to make you pass through about 45 degrees in front of where the Mun is currently. Get into a roughly circular orbit around Kerbin, following along the equator. Find the point in Mun's orbit that's 45 degrees in front of where it is currently, then find the corresponding point in your orbit around Kerbin. Set your maneuver node to be the OPPOSITE point to the one you just identified, and burn retrograde. As you play with the maneuver node you'll see whether or not you're going to get a munar interaction as you add delta V to the maneuver, so this will show you if you've chosen the right point or not.

Once you get the maneuver in place, execute it. Then drift until you start interacting with the mun's gravity. That's when you start to burn retrograde so you can slow down enough to get captured by it.

Prograde. Burning retrograde while in Kerbin orbit will have the opposite effect of landing on the Mun.