Kerbal Space Program

[stitch626]

Ok... where is a decent guide on how to do all this stuff. I'm still having trouble with non-polar orbits (those I can get quite regularly, and I'm able now to regulate orbit height decently enough), and my rockets are either simple straight staging or really psychotic (45 SRBs as a base for one of them...).

Edit: also could you put up a list of the mods you use. There are sooooo many its hard to find anything that is decent and works well with other ones.

[Lt. Staplic]

http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Tutorials

That will give you some basics.

[Tyyr]

Back up thread I posted step by step instructions for getting into orbit. You can also search YouTube for Scott Manley's videos or Verner Von Kerman's stuff. Both have really good tutorials that will take you through the basics.

I'll see about working up an explanation for staging more efficently here in a minute. I need some visual aids and don't have any good pictures of my main booster. I'll try to remember to take pictures of assembly for it.

Mods:
MechJeb, get version 2.0.7 I think is the latest. This will automate a lot of flight functions. If it feels like cheating, get over it. First off doing anything big is going to take multiple launches and intercepts in orbit. Unless you can lift the whole spacecraft on one rocket all you're doing is adding to your pain trying to man mode it.

ISA Mapsat, this is what gives me the parts and ability to make maps of planets and moons. It adds a part and then gives you a plugin that will map out planetary surfaces for you. Mind you it behaves like a real satellite so it only maps what it flies over. You get the most complete map with an orbital inclination of about 80 to 85 degrees. Just remember, it's going to take a while. Also I like to map from a different orbit than I usually use for parking and construction. I shoot for 250km circular.

Kerbal Stock Parts Expansion, this is a popular mod that adds lots of new parts. They are balanced and the guy did such a good job with him that Squad hired him.

Home, parts for orbital bases and surface bases.

B9 Aerospace, mostly parts for spaceplanes but fantastic.

Roster Manager, I may be getting that wrong but it lets you manage who is on your ships. So you can put your favorite Kerbals where they need to be. This is also SO helpful on the big rockets as you don't have to build buses to move more Kerbals to rockets, you can just add them in.

Inflatable Hab Module, I used this on my station. Space for several Kerbals and it's just fun. No real function.

Chatterer, One of my favorites. Just put a part on your ships and then you get random mission control chatter. It's in Kerbese so you don't understand any of it but on my manned missions it's one of my favorite things.

I'm sure there's more, I'd have to check my mods folder.

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Ok this is your basic rocket:



This is one stage. We have a central core that is your main stack and four boosters around it. You set it up so they all fire at the same time. When they're done firing you'll dump them all at the same time. This is a quick and dirty way to increase your delta V at launch. It works but it's also incredibly inefficent. Why? The entire launch you're carrying the entire weight of all five tanks, all five decouplers, all five engines, all five struts, and all the drag of those parts through the dense lower atmosphere. So lets make it a bit more efficent.



What have we done? We've added fuel ducts to the rocket. Now the outer tanks feed inward. (Make sure the first point you attach a duct to is the booster as the fuel flows from where you start it to where you end it). What happens is all five engines start at the same time giving you the same initial thrust but they are only depleting the outer booster tanks. The central tank stays full. Now, that does mean that you don't get the boost for as long but you're doing something important. You're getting all the boost the boosters would give you quicker, then you can dump them ridding yourself of all that weight and drag and your central core tank is still full. You'll see an immediate improvement in your delta V with this modification. But can we do better?



What in the hell is this. This is what people call Asparasus staging. No, I do not know why. We're taking the idea from the crossfeed plan above and amping it up. Now when you launch all five engines are only pulling from the two tanks at the end of the line. They'll go dry quick and you can dump them. You get rid of their dead weight and drag very fast. Then you just burn on the remaining two and dump them quickly and then just like in the last example you've still got a full core tank to help you go. This method is the most efficent staging method in the game. It's not used in real life more often because of the difficulty in moving that much fuel that fast between tanks, shifting center of gravity issues, and so on. You can do this with as many tanks as you can string together.

[stitch626]

That's what I've been doing wrong!!! I had the hoses connected wrong...

Thank you both, now I'll try something a little less hideous than my usual...

[Tsukiyumi]

Yeah, thanks Tyyr. I just restarted my game (thought I had to reinstall; was mistaken); those are good tips.

[Tyyr]

That rocket right there will get you into LKO easily. You can actually do it with a much smaller rocket if you just take the capsule and RCS or extras. It's not asparagus staged, but fuel does feed inward from the outer boosters.

[stitch626]

So, I got my first semi polar mapping satellite in high orbit (~250k all around) after 3 tries. This was manual flying though as I'm still learning the auto mod thing.

Not the best rocket (nowhere near as small as yours Tyyr), but it worked.

My next goal is to do a low orbit (100kish) with a manned pod.
Also, I want to send a pod into the sun...

[Tsukiyumi]

I'm developing an interceptor payload/delivery system to destroy debris that makes it into orbit. I'll let you know how well that goes.

[stitch626]

I'm developing an interceptor payload/delivery system to destroy debris that makes it into orbit. I'll let you know how well that goes.

I need one of those... had to abandon my first game because it was getting crouded in the common polar orbit...

[Tsukiyumi]

I'm thinking a launch stage, an orbital maneuvering stage, and then a final stage of sepetrons once the target is lined up. Obviously, I'd need a mechjeb to match or intercept the orbit.

[Tyyr]

Or you can go into the options menu and reduce persistent debris to zero. Load the game, all debris is gone. Then you can go back and set it higher if you like having some trash around or leave it at zero and the game will delete debris automatically once it's more than 2km from your ship.

I landed a rover on the mun last night. It took me a few quickloads but I managed to drop it and it survived totally intact. What I didn't realize is I had set down right on the lip of a huge fuck off canyon that I didn't have the horsepower to climb up the side of. My rover started rolling backwards down the slope and I managed to make it most of the way down intact until... the bottom had a nearly vertical section more than 100 meters high, my rover went over the edge, slammed into the bottom, and exploded. I pull out and the canyon only looks to be about a kilometer and a half wide and five long and I randomly managed to land in it because fuck me for trying.

[Tsukiyumi]

Or you can go into the options menu and reduce persistent debris to zero. Load the game, all debris is gone.

Where's the fun in that?

[Tyyr]

Well unless you made sure to put docking ports on all the stuff you left in orbit more than you're gonna have trying to bump it all to the ground.

I made my first mun landing two nights ago. It was unmanned and the lander and rover weighed a combined 62 tons. Originally it was just going to be a lander to get the rover to the ground. Then I figured if I was landing something this size may as well turn it into something useful, so I added some habitation and control modules to turn the lander into the Mun Science Laboratory. Now when my first manned mission goes there, hopefully tonight, they'll have space to do some high quality science. And I can leave one of them behind to make it my first mun base.

Touchdown:


Rover Deployed and Underway:

[Tsukiyumi]

Pretty impressive work, there.

[stitch626]

Man your stuff looks so awesome...

Also congrats on the effective touchdown.

Quick question, about how many parts was the initial rocket that took this thing to the moon?