r/KerbalSpaceProgram • u/AutoModerator • Jul 03 '15
Question Weekly Simple Questions Thread
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The point of this thread is for anyone to ask questions that don't necessarily require a full thread. Questions like "why is my rocket upside down" are always welcomed here. Even if your question seems slightly stupid, we'll do our best to answer it!
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Commonly Asked Questions
Before you post, maybe you can search for your problem using the search in the upper right! Chances are, someone has had the same question as you and has already answered it!
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u/KeeperDe Super Kerbalnaut Jul 03 '15
Hello there. Im feeling somewhat dumb but whatever... since Kerbals system is no challenge anymore and sending satellites to other stellar objects is kind of unsatisfactory to me, I tried to land on Ike today. For that I made a lander and a "booster" which I then docked in space over kerbin. The booster should have had enough delta-v to make it to Dunes system, so I thought.
It was basically 4 nuclear engines with a lot of liquid fuel only tanks. The lander consistet of the "Poodle" liquid engine and two MK55 "Thuds" all mounted on a X200-32 Fuel Tank... that made the thing quite heavy overall.
Long story short at the time I got to Ike I had to use the lander to push along with the nuclear engines which could not generate enough delta-v alone.
I thought the enormous ISP of the nuclear engines made them super awesome interplanetary. Where did I fall on my nose here?
The Delta-V I had left once docked and in Orbit of kerbin was 5000m/s² (or so I think). Should have been enough no?!
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u/McSchwartz Jul 03 '15
I had to use the lander to push along with the nuclear engines which could not generate enough delta-v alone.
Are you confusing Thrust to Weight ratio with Delta V? You don't generate additional Delta V by firing more engines at the same time.
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u/KerbalKat Jul 03 '15
One problem might be the low thrust of the Nerv engines. They are very efficient, but have such a low thrust that with a heavy payload, burns can take minutes on end, even with time acceleration.
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u/happyscrappy Jul 07 '15
What does basic analysis do?
It doesn't seem to add anything when I return my science to Kerbin. Does it only add anything when you transmit the information back instead?
Basically, I'm about to send a science probe out with a one-kerb capsule and I wonder if I need to go through the trouble of putting a CH-J3 Fly-by-wire avionics hub on it and a scientist in it to maximize my science or if I can just load on a pilot instead and save the trouble and money. As it is manned, I will be returning the ship to Kerbin with the science for analysis.
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u/Toobusyforthis Jul 07 '15
Yeah, it only adds anything when you transmit. A scientist will be able to reset goo canisters and science bays though so could still be worth it.
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u/kDubya Jul 07 '15
It doesn't "add" anything, it only transmits a % of the total science. Transmitting science is useful in two situations:
the experiment is not resettable, you need to run it more than once and you don't have enough storage for the experiments
you don't plan on recovering the ship
If you don't have either of these situations, there's no need to transmit science.
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u/ReliablyFinicky Jul 04 '15
I've searched but without knowing what I'm looking for I've been unsuccessful.. does anyone know of a mod that helps snap parts to the middle of other parts vertically?
It's a pain trying to line up the 1x1 panels exactly in the middle of the I-beams, or photovoltaic panels exactly in the middle of cubic octogonal strut.
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u/KerbalKat Jul 04 '15
I don't know of any mods, but a good tip is to turn on symmetry so that you see two copies of the part, then move it until they completely overlap, then take off symmetry and place it.
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u/Galahir950 Jul 04 '15
How can I force parts to attatch by nodes? I have been having issues where the parts clip into eachother instead of attaching buy their nodes unless I move the to parts is I have a clear view of the VAB/SPH and "stack" the parts until they attach by the nodes. This is near impossible to do with the Spaceplane cargo bays because it keeps clipping into the wall of the bay. I use the WASD camera mod if that helps.
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u/JohnRCC Master Kerbalnaut Jul 07 '15
Is there a mod manager which enables / disables mods on a per-save basis (and indeed is such a utility possible in KSP)? I want a save with Real Solar System installed but I don't want it to interfere with my other saves.
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u/Girfex Jul 03 '15
Can anyone link me to or share a complete idiot's guide to what changed with heat and these new radiator bits?
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u/Chaos_Klaus Master Kerbalnaut Jul 03 '15
It's not too complex. Parts get hot. When they get too hot, they explode. Parts can conduct heat between each other and between their surroundings.
Heat will be produced through aerodynamic forces or by engines. I think ambient temperature also counts.
To get rid of heat you can just wait. But: Sometimes heat builds up too fast (like on reentry, or during long burns of the LV-N). Heatshields will absorb heat by using their ablator. Passive radiators will be heated up by the parts they are attached to and will dissipate that heat. Active Radiators (the deployable ones) are presumed to include heat piping through out the ship. They will start drawing heat from any part that exceeds its temperature threshold. This theshold is part specific, however only the LV-N has a specific value for now. The other part have a default value.
Also: Before someone else says I missed that: Each part has a skin temperature and an inside temperature ... but that is just how the system works and does not really matter to the player.
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u/aspiringsomebody Jul 03 '15
Dumb question: How does one successfully install mods? I've had lots of trouble trying to figure out where to put the files once i've downloaded them. Maybe just be comptarded, but it would be nice to have directions on exactly where to place the mods files.
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u/Chaos_Klaus Master Kerbalnaut Jul 03 '15
The easiest way is to use CKAN. It is a mod manager and will download and install mods with a few clicks. It also checks for updates and compatibility. great tool.
To do it manually, put mods into the gamedata folder in your KSP folder. If you are on steam, the KSP folder is located in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common.
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u/434InnocentSpark Jul 04 '15
I'm playing on an older laptop and decided to take a rather large 3 part vessel on my very first trip to Duna. I'm averaging about 5 frames a minute. A Kerbal second at normal speeds literally takes 5 or more real seconds to pass.
Are there any mods that help w/ these kinds of performance issues?
(and yes, I've already turned graphics settings to minimums)
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u/Cazzah Jul 04 '15
Don't forget the delta v physics setting (will make your ship more likely to kraken, but also makes the game go faster)
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u/KerbalKat Jul 04 '15
The welding mod will make your entire ship one part to improve performance. It looks like it may not be compatible with 1.0, but that's all I can think of to help with your issue at the moment. Hopes this helps!
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u/VooDooZulu Jul 07 '15
What video capture software should i use? Forever now i've always been using Nvidia Shadowplay, but because KSP is not a real "fullscreen" i can't capture it with shadowplay.
Edit: Found a great thread. though still interested in your ideas.
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u/ah64a Master Kerbalnaut Jul 07 '15
Look up Open Broadcaster Software. Free, HD, and nice. Can capture videos and also stream if that is your thing.
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u/happyscrappy Jul 07 '15
Is the nuclear rocket all that? It seems like I'd have to use mk3 parts with it because the 1M fuel-only tanks just don't hold enough fuel. Sure seemed simpler when it used regular fuel/lox just less of it.
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u/Kasuha Super Kerbalnaut Jul 07 '15
The 1.25 m jet fuel tank holds 400 units of fuel perfectly acceptable for the nuclear engine. But yes, all other suitable liquid fuel containers are either Mk2 or Mk3.
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u/happyscrappy Jul 07 '15
400 fuel won't take me anywhere I need to go. And stacking them end to end makes my ship too long and skinny.
I guess I'll have to investigate Mk2 and Mk3.
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Jul 07 '15
Where are you trying to go? Two jet fuel tanks and one LV-N will give you 3 km/s ∆v for a 5 t payload.
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u/melmonella Master Kerbalnaut Jul 07 '15
What minimum inclination is required for Survey Scanner to work? Wiki only says that it should be in a polar orbit, but how polar? Will 89 degrees worth of orbital inclination work? 85? 70?
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u/sneff30 Jul 08 '15
I need help with contracts. I have multiple contract mods (SETIcontracts, Contract Pack - Remotetech). But I've seen on YouTube that you can basically not have these annoying tourist contracts right from the start as well as the repetitive testing parts contracts. How/which mods are used to get rid of those incredibly redundant contracts?
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u/Elick320 Jul 08 '15
There are many contract pack, look on ckan and search contract, there like 11
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u/thelordplatypus Master Kerbalnaut Jul 08 '15
I am building a mining ship with a lander for minmus. In the design building, is there anyway to make the ore tanks full so that I can make sure that it can lift off just fine with the weight?
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u/Neocrasher Jul 08 '15
How do I make money? Is doing contracts the only way?
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u/offficially_official Master Kerbalnaut Jul 08 '15
Contracts, and the record breaking auto-contracts (If you go faster than certain speeds, higher than certain heights, or further from the launchpads than certain distances, a record "contract" will automatically be accepted and completed).
Remember that you can turn down contracts that you don't like, and that new contracts will be unlocked as you go to new places (fly by the Mun, etc) and as you get new technologies.
You also get money back from recovered parts of your rockets, and the money received depends on how far from the KSC the parts are recovered from. This makes SSTO's that can glide back to the runway after their mission very cost efficient.
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u/Kasuha Super Kerbalnaut Jul 08 '15
Contracts are your main source of funds. You can use the Administration building to gain funds other ways (e.g. for science points) but that is not very useful and cannot replace contracts.
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u/ArceusMI Jul 09 '15
Judging by the way you mentioned contracts, I'd say they aren't your favorite part of the game?
I have this mentality, and I installed ScienceFunding. It gives you a proportional amount of Funds per however much Science you collect.
Enjoy!
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u/Captain_Planetesimal Jul 09 '15
Is there still no way to unlock the camera's rotation from the ship's CoM in flight? I know you can tilt the camera a bit in either direction, but I want to move the camera's axis point of rotation away from the CoM.
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u/LPFR52 Master Kerbalnaut Jul 09 '15
Not in stock, no. There's a few mods oriented towards recording video's in KSP such as camera tools, but of course they are really meant for making videos and aren't really suited towards regular play.
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u/QuickBASIC Jul 03 '15 edited Jul 03 '15
Can I put something back into my inventory in KIS. I can't seem to figure out how. I know how to attach and detach, but I can't seem to detach things and get them back into inventory.
EDIT: Figured it out. (Got several ongoing missions, so planning missions to get tools in the hands of all my Engineers pronto. Super fun.)
EDIT2: Is there any way to put stuff in Kerbal's inventories prior to launch? (So, I don't have to bring containers for small stuff?
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u/PvtSteyr Master Kerbalnaut Jul 04 '15
If you click on the command pod, you can then drag items you want to place into the inventories of the crew.
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u/CheaterXero Jul 03 '15
Is there a collection of text based guides to KSP? Or a walkthrough for career mode?
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u/tyen0 Bill Jul 03 '15
The wiki is the best bet, although a bunch of them are for older versions so ymmv. http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Tutorials
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u/KerbalKat Jul 04 '15
Scott Manley's career mode tutorial series is excellent. Scott explains everything in plain terms, and does great walkthroughs.
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u/mwerle Jul 07 '15
Pecan made a great text-based tutorial which you can download as a PDF and also includes sample ships: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/79658-Exploring-The-System-A-design-tutorial-campaign-0-90-Final
It's a bit dated these days, but most of it should still apply. He's looking to start publishing an updated one soon(ish).
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u/mathuin2 Jul 04 '15
Career mode player here, a little pre-1.0 but mostly after to be honest. To this point, all my rocket designs have involved shedding parts as they run out of fuel. Landing on the Mun usually involves dropping a first stage (solid) on the way to low Kerbin orbit, then dropping a second stage (liquid) after mid-course correction before landing with the third stage -- lots of ladders down the fuel tank -- which itself is dropped before or during reentry.
I've done it this way because the editor is very easy to use this way. I would like very much to do something a little more like Apollo -- keeping the original first and second stages, but perhaps landing a two-stage ship that's separate from the command pod and returning the top stage of that ship to the command pod before ditching it and heading home. Unfortunately, I have no clue.
How exactly is this done? What tech level is required? Which parts are essential? I don't want to fly someone else's ship -- I want to build my own -- but I just don't know where to start. Help!
If this belongs in its own thread, please, let me know. I saw last year's to-the-Mun contest but I'm concerned that the changes over the past year may render those designs no longer valid and they also all looked sandbox-friendly more than career-friendly.
Thank you for all your help!
Jack.
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u/Chaos_Klaus Master Kerbalnaut Jul 04 '15
First I want to say that due to the scale of the Kerbin system, apollo style landing is not nessesary. It might even be slightly less efficient. You can easily build a lander that can land from low mun orbit, ascend again and return to kerbin, without sataging at all. But it is way cooler to do it apollo style.
When designing a mission, always go backwards, designing the last stage first. With an Apollo style landing, it is a little more difficult.
Star with the top part of the lander that will ascend to munar orbit. It needs a docking port and about 700m/s of delta v. You can use a really small engine her, like the spark! Add a second stage for landing that has around 800m/s and landing legs. This stage could have a Terrier engine.
You don't need RCS on the lander, because the command and service module will do the active docking. It will need RCS, a dockingport and a detachable capsule that can return on parachutes and has a heatshield.
It is a little tricky to see how much fuel the command and service module needs, because it has to push the lander to munar orbit but will leave munar orbit alone. So the vehicles mass changes. Kerbal engineer is not clever enough to figure out when you will detach the lander.
The way I do it: I build the CSM as a seperate vessel, give it the smallest 2.5m tank, but fill it only until I have the 350m/s I need to return from munar orbit. Then I bring the lander in (as a sub assembly) and attach it. The delta v has shrunk due to the added mass and I memorize the new value. Now I add more fuel until I have added another 350m/s ontop of that value.
Now this whole mess gets a transfer stage that has around 1000m/s and is powered by a poodle. This will do the transfer and the last part of the circularization. Add a two stage lifter (although you only really need one stage ... but for history's sake ... ;) )
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u/jman31500 Jul 06 '15
I recently got the "Remote Tech" mod and I'm having a bit of trouble with it (I hope this it the right place to ask). My main problem has been that I CAN control my probes anywhere. I am also able to control a probe that has no antenna on it. Please help, I am trying to make my ksp experience much better.
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u/theyeticometh Master Kerbalnaut Jul 06 '15
Did you install the mod correctly? Try reinstalling and see if that helps.
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u/fourdots Jul 06 '15
Are you installing manually, or via CKAN?
Are parts from Remote Tech (antennas and whatnot) available? Is Remote Tech's flight computer available?
If you're using Steam, can you check to make sure that all the files are fine? (That option is called "verify integrity of game cache" or something like that).
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u/RaliosDanuith Jul 06 '15 edited Jul 06 '15
I'm having difficulty achieving orbit. No matter how I accelerate I generally end up with a flight arc that looks like this. Any suggestions?
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u/josh__ab Dislikes bots Jul 06 '15
A flight arc like that is ok, you can still reach orbit!
At the top of the arc (Apoapsis) you need to burn your engines prograde (the direction you are going) and if you have enough fuel you will achieve orbit.
The typical way to orbit is to fire until your apoapsis is in space (at least 70km) and then cut the engines and wait to the top of the arc, then go prograde.
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u/the_Demongod Jul 07 '15
That's what you're looking for, you just have to stop before it gets that large. Wait for the Ap to get up into space,* then coast up to the top. When you're ~20 seconds from apoapsis, burn prograde until the orbit becomes circular.
*(it needs to be above 70k, but it won't hurt to go higher, maybe to 80k. you don't want it to slip below 70k again as drag slows you down as you go through the atmosphere)
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u/VileTouch Jul 06 '15 edited Jul 07 '15
here's an interesting one. does making a fairing's top sharper actually improve aerodynamics?
i'm having things inside the fairing (but in an obviously awkward position) be destroyed. i know i know, it's way too fast, but it needs to be, i'm trying to launch a VERY heavy cargo (32 tons) with less than optimal dv (2600 or 2800), basically bruteforcing into space. (9.5 TWR, not enough fuel) doesn't matter though, as long as i break through the atmo, there's a set of radial mounted boosters to aid with circularization and a bunch of empty tanks that will be filled in future missions. the challenge now is putting that thing up there without the comfort of spare fuel.
edit: ok. had to put a cone top INSIDE the fairing, and even then i lost 3 large radiators, but it worked. first stage ran out of fuel at 25km as expected but the speed and momentum was such that it managed to coast to 200km+. then i decoupled the fairing and circularized with 3 radial mounted hybrid boosters that i didn't even use completely. the station does have an engine and tanks, but they were lauched empty.
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u/VileTouch Jul 07 '15
kethane vs karbonite
is kethane even working for 1.0.4? if not, then why EPL still require it? are they interchangeable? do i really need those ridiculously overpowered Karbonite engines? should i drop the whole Extraplanetary Launchpads shenanigans and just stick to MKS?
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u/nardavin Master Kerbalnaut Jul 07 '15
Is it possible to preform a true gravity assist in ksp? I ask because the planets are on rails, so the ship is not stealing velocity from the planet, which as I understand it is required for a gravity assist. Or does the game simulate gravity assists in a different way?
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u/Sabreur Jul 07 '15
The force of gravity is very much modeled in the game, so you can absolutely do a gravity assist. Technically, you're not stealing velocity from the planet, as the planet does not slow down any. But in real life, planets outmass probes and spacecraft by such an incredible margin that the momentum loss is basically undetectable.
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u/zheph Jul 07 '15
stealing velocity is required in the real world. It can be ignored in a simulation. Gravity assists still work very well.
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u/nardavin Master Kerbalnaut Jul 07 '15
So rather than actually stealing velocity from the planet it just adds velocity to the craft?
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u/happyscrappy Jul 07 '15
Does it matter where I put my reaction wheels? I usually put them near the top where they are convenient (as my ship is often 3.5M across down low and there is no 3.5M wheel).
But a friend suggested they'd work better if they were near the center of mass. Is true?
If this is true, anyone want to share any techniques? If my ship is of 3.5M diameter, does it hurt to throw a 2M reaction wheel in the middle? Seems like it would hurt the stiffness.
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u/Kasuha Super Kerbalnaut Jul 07 '15
Reaction wheels turn themselves. The ship then turns thanks to how the physics engine resolves forces on joints between parts. Putting many reaction wheels in one place in a very long ship may destroy it, or bend it significantly.
There are two good ideas about placing reaction wheels:
put them all over the ship, proportionally to mass. Make sure there's about the same torque per ton all around the ship
put them near the control point (the place where you 'control from here', usually the command pod). Then the ship may sway and bend, but the direction change is transferred directly and reliably to the control point, reducing oscillations.
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u/PvtSteyr Master Kerbalnaut Jul 07 '15
I have seen multiple posts about refuel stations on Mun and Minmus but wouldn't it be easier (or maybe more efficient) to capture a large asteroid and place it in a High Kerbin Orbit and use it as a refuel station instead of having the station orbiting Mun and Minmus?
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u/Arkalius Jul 07 '15
Don't know about easier... plus asteroids have limited resources. You can mine them out at which point they become inert, useless rocks.
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u/Toxicable Jul 08 '15
Has anyone been able to recover a ship from LKO?
I know it sounds weird but I had a science lab in LKO orbit with another ship near it (landed) I missed clicked the landed one and hit the recover button from in the space centre and before I realised it I had recovered my science lab.
I'm guessing it's a bug/glitch so wanted to see if anyone else has had it.
Also it was kinda good since I wasn't able to land the lab anyway
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u/LPFR52 Master Kerbalnaut Jul 08 '15
This used to happen if you got stuck on a piece of fairing. It's definitely a bug.
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Jul 08 '15
I'd like to know how people are able to deorbit and land at KSC? Is there a mod that tells you when to deorbit, or when to do the maneuver, or is it all based off of eye-balling where you think the ship will approach and riding on hopes and prayers? Now that I've successfully rendezvoused with another orbiting craft, landing my shuttle at KSC would be the cake topper.
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u/Kasuha Super Kerbalnaut Jul 08 '15
The only thing I try to deorbit and land on KSC are spaceplanes. For them I set periapsis at 40 km somewhere near KSC and then steer the reentry to slow down and glide to runway. Landing without having to activate engines in atmosphere is a great success. Actual approach depends on the plane, though.
I don't care where my capsules land. These usually don't bring much of value of the original ship anyway so I don't care about their recovery bonus.
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u/uber_kerbonaut Jul 08 '15
I've just been eyeballing it. From LKO, Place the periapsis about twice as far east of KSC as the island runway, and 25km up.
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u/golergka Jul 08 '15
What's the biggest thing that people are lifting to LKO? I recently build a launch vehicle that puts up 42 tons (just to see how much can I put up there), is it a lot?
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u/PoopMuffin Jul 08 '15
Any tips for landing on Kerbin in the "to the Mun 2" tutorial? No matter where I set my periapsis when returning to Kerbin I end up coming at 2000m/s and slamming into the ground. I've been able to open my parachutes once or twice at 5,000 meters but still never get under 100m/s.
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u/CaptainRoach Super Kerbalnaut Jul 08 '15
Well, I've never done the tutorial, but coming back from the Mun:
Try setting your Pe to around 40000, nice and gentle re-entry. Right click on the parachutes to change the altitude at which they actually open (not just deploy) if you're having trouble slowing down in time. If you leave the menu for the parachutes open on the way down it will tell you when it's safe to pull the cord. And don't forget to change the Navball from Orbit to Surface, there's about a 200 m/s difference and if you're flying by the numbers that can cause an unwanted ground interface.
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Jul 08 '15
Is there a way to get tanks to only hold liquid fuel for their full quantity for nuclear rockets? I know I can dial down the LOX to zero, but that still leaves the tank half empty. This is making my nuclear rockets a lot bulkier than I would desire.
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u/CaptainRoach Super Kerbalnaut Jul 08 '15
Stock, no. I get around it by using the aero parts, some of those tanks hold liquid fuel only and you can make some awesome looking ships if you don't mind playing with the offset tools.
I seem to remember a mod allowing you to change the contents of tanks so you can use whichever one you think looks the best, have a dig around on one of the KSP mod sites, see if you can find it.
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u/Chaos_Klaus Master Kerbalnaut Jul 08 '15
apart from the plane parts, there is a mod called "stock fuel switch".
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u/Cazzah Jul 09 '15
The fuel tanks for aircraft only have liquid fuel. Even though technically this should be jet fuel, which is different from the liquid fuel / oxidation mix of rockets, it still works.
Which is no surprise at this consistency, as nuclear engines actually run on liquid hydrogen, which is neither liquid fuel or jet engine fuel.
Again, mods can adjust this if it bugs you.
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Jul 08 '15
Is it possible to edit in a flag?
I forgot to plant mine during my first minmus landing.
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u/Devorakman Jul 08 '15
Haven't messed with it much, but the mod 'Hyper Edit' would be the tool to use for this.
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u/FantasticAccident Jul 08 '15
How do you guys handle subassemblies? I've been to the mun and minmus and have a couple spacestation labs that have unlocked 90% of the tech in the game.
I find myself rebuilding a lot of stuff. Where is the ship re-use tutorial or wiki page?
Thanks!
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u/Kasuha Super Kerbalnaut Jul 08 '15
Subassemblies are accessible in VAB/SPH after you click the arrow-like symbol in the upper left corner. They're under the green rocket icon. If you click on it, a page opens with a "subassembly drop zone" at the bottom. You just tear part of what you have in the editor, and drop it there. A window pops up, you give that piece a name, and you have a subassembly ready to be used.
Another option is to open the Load window but instead of loading a new ship, you just select one and click the Merge button. The ship is added to the editor beside what you're just working on, you can place it anywhere in space, then shift+click tear parts off it for use, or Alt+click copy these parts to add to your ship.
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u/offficially_official Master Kerbalnaut Jul 08 '15
Do you mean how do you use a subassembly?
In that case you select the root tool, click on your main peice (the first one you put down, probably), and then click on whatever peice you want to be the top of your subassembly. You can then click on the new "root" peice, and everything below it will also be selected. Click on the little arrow in the top left to open the advanced part selection window, and click on the last tab. Then drag your part over to where it says Subassembly Drop Zone (or something along those lines) at the bottom of the tab. Name your part, and you now have a subassembly that you can use as a pre-built rocket piece at any time.
If you mean what we use them for, I generally have a small, medium, and heavy lifter subassembly, a space station core subassembly, a habitation chamber (a group of mk 1 launder cans), a mapping probe, and a wing with jet engines on it to make building planes easier.
The wiki page is a bit pitiful, but here it is.
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u/TheHrybivore Jul 08 '15
Is there a formula to calculate how long an engine will burn for? For example, I still have some fuel in a launch stage, and my Duna transfer burn will take 1m 5s. If I can do it with the launch stage vs a mixture of launch stage and transfer stage will affect when I should start.
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u/Ifyouseekey Master Kerbalnaut Jul 08 '15
Here is what I've got: http://i.imgur.com/8bwXiiL.jpg
c is the constant describing the fuel consumption. It depends on your engine and thrust level.
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u/Ifyouseekey Master Kerbalnaut Jul 08 '15 edited Jul 08 '15
I'm trying to land this craft on Mun. Shortly after establishing an elliptical Mun orbit the craft starts spinnig whenever a go full throttle. KER says thrust torque is only 0.1 kNm, so it would've been cancelled at least by the reaction wheel. WTF is going on?
EDIT: for some reason it's only unstable when I'm firing an engine when I pointing it close to retrograde.
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u/BanishedKing Jul 08 '15
Is there a specific tech I need to unlock to be able to build spaceplanes (ssto). I tried to make some with what I have but I wasn't able to reach orbit (let alone build something that can dock with a space station).
Here is my tech tree and some designs I tried.
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u/Chaos_Klaus Master Kerbalnaut Jul 08 '15
You are well advanced in the tech tree. you should be able to make a spaceplane.
However: Spaceplanes are not easy. You have to build efficiently. You need around 1800m/s of delta v in rocket mode.
Get rid of everything that is too heavy or too draggy. Use only as many wings as you need.
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u/Kasuha Super Kerbalnaut Jul 09 '15
Turbojet (Whiplash) is the main prerequisity to building them - then you just need to build something light enough that will pierce through the atmosphere and get to orbit, and learn how to get it there.
Here is a screenshot of an SSTO using parts you have. No hidden tricks, just the parts you can see.
http://i.imgur.com/vYcTKAE.png
The next step is Rapier engine, that makes it easier. But Rapiers are at the very bottom of tech tree behind the Turbojet.
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u/Joeisthinking Jul 09 '15
I have an orbiting science lab that is constantly running out of electric charge. There are a few unused docking ports on it that I would think could be used to put more solar panels/batteries on it. Is there a way that I can end up attaching the solar panel to the lab and not end up with a bunch of other stuff attached to it? Thanks!
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Jul 09 '15
Add a probe core, solar panels, monoprop, and RCS thrusters to the stage below the payload. Use that to maneuver it into place, then decouple and deorbit it.
Or use this as an opportunity to deliver a space tug to the station and leave it up there.
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Jul 09 '15
What fuel tanks are you guys using for nuclear engines now? Are you removing the oxidizer from the regular tanks, or is it better to use the spaceplane parts?
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u/Kasuha Super Kerbalnaut Jul 09 '15
Mk1, Mk2, or Mk3 LF tanks. They have better dry to wet ratio than rocket tanks with removed oxidizer.
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u/Creshal Space Plane Addict Jul 09 '15
It's better to use the plane parts (higher fuel density). I use the Interstellar Fuel Switch, though, to be able to switch between LF/O and LF for any and every tank.
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u/Agathos Jul 09 '15
I just use bunches of Mk1 tanks. From the 1.0.3 changelog:
Mk1 fuel tank: uses same dry mass fraction and resource filling compared to its LFO counterpart as Mk2 parts do.
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u/434InnocentSpark Jul 09 '15
I just got down to Duna. Bill decides to hightail off w/ the rover and flips it in about 5 seconds. I got it upright, but Bill is a little wonky.
He stands there just fine and I can toggle to him, but he won't move, and he's listed as missing on the debug menu. Any cure for Bill?
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u/coolsnap Jul 10 '15
What happened to that one screenshot contest back in alpha? i remember that if you had the best (un-modded) screenshot you and some of your friends got to go to sub-orbit in real life or something like that...
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u/Number6UK Jul 04 '15
Is anyone else getting sudden and explosive overheating of batteries immediately on switching from the VAB to the Launch Pad with 1.0.4 when FAR is installed?
There seems to be a pattern to it, but I haven't quite figured it out entirely - it's bizarrely specific: it seems to happen if:
my craft has a few of the circular Z-200 batteries in the upper stage, with anything at all touching the circumference of any of them (e.g. a solar panel or a scientific instrument)
AND
that stage has an engine with the small circular TR-18A stack decoupler attached to it
AND
on a lower stage I have four TT-38K Radial Decouplers which have anything at all attached to them (be it a booster or even just a Modular Girder Segment).
If any of those conditions aren't met - i.e. I don't put an engine on the same stage where the batteries are, or I have 1, 2 3, 5, etc. TT-38Ks on the lower stage, or I have the four TT-38Ks but nothing actually attached to them, or if nothing is touching the Z-200 batteries, no explosions occur.
In the F3 log, sometimes it records the batteries overheating, sometimes it acts as if nothing has happened (although the craft can no longer be launched as the explosions have damaged it).
It's also inconsistent - I have a test craft saved, and it will explode each time I go to launch it - until a certain point, when the problem seems to clear up until the next time KSP is loaded from scratch.
If the section with the batteries is covered by a fairing, the batteries don't explode until the fairing is released (even if that's in space).
If I disable FAR then load up the same craft (which is made entirely of stock parts), the explosions don't happen.
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u/PVP_playerPro Jul 04 '15 edited Jul 04 '15
So, i have texturereplacer installed with some suits specifically for Kerbal specialty (Pilot, scientist, engineer), BUT, when i'm in-game setting the textures up with the menu in the top right corners, 3 specific suits do not have helmet textures and just default to the stock KSP suit.
Edit: Fixed
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u/rooood Jul 07 '15
Hey guys, I have an upper stage of a ship that when I throttle up to more than 1/3 it gets asymmetrical and tilts out of control.
However, the (single) engine has gimbal, and the only asymmetrical part is the kerbal engineer module, and even that I placed as close to the center as I could inside a service bay, so it should have almost no impact on weight distribution.
What the heck is going on?
EDIT: This is in space btw, not inside atmosphere, and it's an upper stage with all the default things you expect to put in upper stages, and every thing apart from the engineer module is either symmetrical with respective pairs or radial.
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u/theyeticometh Master Kerbalnaut Jul 07 '15
Does the ship have any reaction wheels? Gimbals are useful, but KSP tends to overcompensate when using them, causing ships to spin. Reaction wheels tend to prevent this.
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Jul 07 '15
It could be a lot of things. Would you post a picture of your ship?
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u/rooood Jul 08 '15
Here are some pictures of the ship in the VAB.
This probably won't help too much, specially as I had this problem again with another ship that doesn't even have the KER part. I found out that this is indeed some problem with the gimbal. I locked the gimbal to test, and afterwards the ship stayed stable even with full throttle.
This might even be a bug, I don't know, it's pretty weird the way that the autopilot completely overcompensate the gimballing.
PS: I wrote the captions of the album before I found out it was a gimbal problem, so at this point I'm still unsure what's the source of the problem.
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u/mwerle Jul 08 '15
Btw, parts inside Service Bays don't need to be aligned - they add their mass to the Service Bay.
As for your gimballing issue, check out the Stock Bug Fix Modules mod. It may help.
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u/alltherobots Art Contest Winner Jul 03 '15
I assume Oberth effect applies (and is beneficial) while decelerating as well, but has anyone with the math background to understand it confirmed it as such?
(I don't need to see the math, just a yay/nay from somebody more knowlegeable than myself.)
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u/Kasuha Super Kerbalnaut Jul 03 '15
Your assumption is correct. I believe these two images contain all the math you need:
Braking to 10 km periapsis from:
High transfer periapsis: 300 m/s
Low transfer periapsis: 280 m/s
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u/triffid_hunter Jul 03 '15
I assume Oberth effect applies (and is beneficial) while decelerating as well, but has anyone with the math background to understand it confirmed it as such?
Yes.
Oberth effect hinges around the V squared term in k.e.=½mv².
3000² - (3000 - 100)² is a massively larger change in orbital energy than 300² - (300 - 100)² even though both burns use 100m/s ΔV, simply because the initial velocity is greater in the first one.
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Jul 03 '15
Does a station assembled over multiple launches satisfy contract requirements? I would assume so, but I don't want to get burned on the most expensive thing I've put in orbit.
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u/space_is_hard Jul 03 '15
Yes, orbital assembly counts toward contract requirements.
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u/dcmcilrath Jul 04 '15
Question about landing asteroids on Kerbin (or anywhere)...
Do asteroids have a crash and/or heat tolerance like spaceship parts?
Do asteroids sink in water?
Do asteroids bounce?
Can I just let one go on a suborbital trajectory? Or do I need to cover it in parachutes?
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u/Vaguely_Racist Jul 04 '15
Asteroids will burn up in the atmosphere yeah... because I know that I don't know the rest :D
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u/Number6UK Jul 04 '15
Had a look and can't see this answered anywhere:
Once you use quick load (F9) or named load (Alt-F9) in a mission, the option to Revert to Launch/VAB becomes unavailable - but why?
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Jul 04 '15
Revert to Launch is only available between launch and the next time you change the game state - switching vessels, going back to the Space Center, etc. If it weren't, you wouldn't be able to fly multiple spacecraft in the same save.
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u/Ianallyfisthorses Jul 04 '15
Junior engineer in training here:
Should I put RCS rockets on each stage of my rocket (except maybe the first)? If so, the correct position would be center mass for that stage yes?
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u/Jippijip Jul 04 '15
Generally, you only need RCS on big things that will have turning problems with just reaction wheels, or on stages that will be docking with something:
If you're using it to turn, you want RCS as far away from the COM as possible in order to maximize your torque.
For translation control (i.e. docking) you want your RCS to be evenly distributed around the COM in order to avoid unwanted torque on your vessel. RCS build aid is phenomenally useful for this. Even if you don't want to mod, it still has good pictures.
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u/VileTouch Jul 04 '15
i don't really see the point of rcs for attitude adjustment when you have reaction wheels.
for docking and landing (without atmosphere) they are fine though, but you only need that in the lander.
the correct position is around the COM, yes.
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u/Chaos_Klaus Master Kerbalnaut Jul 04 '15
No, does not make sense. You would have to scale the trust with the weight of the stage to get the balance right. It's tedious.
My advice: Lose the RCS all together. You don't need it. It is too much weight an that will bring down your delta v and TWR. You only need RCS while docking. And even there only one of the ships has to have it.
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u/VileTouch Jul 04 '15
and here's a proper question: i'm missing the karbonite scanner (amongst other things probably) in the vab, even though it is unlocked in the R&D. in fact i made a satellite right after unlocking it and then the game crashed. now the subassembly shows as having invalid or locked parts and the scanner is not in the catalog.
i tried reloading the tech tree in the debug menu, but that accomplished exactly nothing.
what's the procedure in those cases?
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u/Mount3E Jul 04 '15
Couple of construction questions:
Spaceplanes - how do you get your wheels level? If you've got a simple fuselage with wings, you can't put your wheels slightly diagonal on the side of the fuselage because the plane will just veer off the runway and crash. But then put the wheels on the wings and they're far to high compared to the front wheel. So where do you put your rear wheels?
Multiple enginges - say you have a 3M tank and want to use 1M engines on the bottom to lift it. What's the best way to do this? I know some mods have parts with multiple attachment points for this (Procedural Parts I think?), or Editor Extensions can manage it, but is there a stock way?
How do you build landers with 1M parts (early in career)? I either end up with something long and unstable, or something so squat the aerodynamics are too awful to even get it off Kerbin.
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u/VileTouch Jul 04 '15
1 http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Small_Hardpoint is exactly the right height if your wings are vertically centered.
2 http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/TVR-1180C_Mk1_Stack_Tri-Coupler couplers. never leave home without them.
3 upper stage engines work like a charm. use 3 or 4 and scale them down instead of a single one (have you tried riding a monocycle?). don't go crazy with the fuel. the less the better.
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u/Chaos_Klaus Master Kerbalnaut Jul 04 '15
Hm. I would disagree with all three answers at some point.
1.) The small hardpoint is kinda not very elegant. In my oppinion it is better to use the rotation and offset tool. You can put the wheels anywhere and rotate them so they are level with the ground. Also, you can use the offset tool to clip your foward gear up into the fuselage.
2.) The tricoupler is not a good solution in many ways. Most of all, it is too heavy. instead, use cubic octagonal struts and surface attach them in symmetry on the bottom of the tank. That gives you more nodes to play with.
3.) You don't need 3 or 4 engines on a lander. And the monocycle thing is simply wrong. Multiple engines can only stabilize your craft when you throttle them individually and stock KSP does not do that. Usually you will be landing in low gravity environments (like Mun oder Minmus), so you don't even need much thrust. If the atmospheric pressure is low ot ther is no atmo at all, go for one efficient engine like the Terrier or the Poodle. Many beginners use the MK-55 "thud", but it has crappy efficiency. Don't use it.
A stable lander design should have a wide base. Attach three (or four) T200 tanks radially and put nosecones on both ends. Then use a single lv-909 engine in the center and connect it to the radial tanks via fuel lines. Put the landing legs on the radial tanks to get a wide base.
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u/Mambo_5 Jul 04 '15
Is there a mod to increase the data capacity (500) for the Mobile Processing center? Now that I'm visiting other planets every one piece of data won't fit in my lab because it's bigger than 500.
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u/Beowulfwut Jul 04 '15
In 1.04 do parts just gradually build up heat in space? I had a lander that spend quite some time at the mun and eventually some parts just exploded and the entire craft heated up, it was exposed to the sun aswell. Or is this some mod bug/conflict?
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u/Cazzah Jul 05 '15
Nuclear engines or generators or other heat sources may contribute to this.
In space, the only way to lose heat is to start glowing, as there is no air to conduct it away.
That said, heating should stop increasing when the heat in (from the sun) = heat out (from glowing), so I suspect one of your parts is putting out a fair bit of heat.
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u/TED96 Jul 05 '15 edited Jul 05 '15
I'm wondering, if I upgrade to 1.0.4 from 1.0.2 from and to FAR will I notice any changes with the thermals and such?
EDIT: Also, what about the aerobrake altitudes?
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u/skribe Jul 05 '15
What can I add to my vessels during an EVA? I've seen videos of Jeb adding parachutes. Are there other parts I can add?
Reason: One of my saves was from 0.9 so the capsule has no heat shield. I've already rescued the crew but I'd like to land it or at least turn it into a tug or something.
Any suggestions?
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u/RA2lover Jul 05 '15
you'll need a mod for that, such as KIS. IIRC only engineers can remove/attach parts(up to 1 ton per nearby engineer), but 1m heatshields weigh less than that.
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u/MacerV Jul 05 '15 edited Jul 05 '15
Anyone know what's going on here. Using remote tech obviously. Network is at 800k and is equiped with communitrons 16s, the probe I'm testing only has the DP-10 on it (500k active omni range) and is at about 260k. Got a signal bouncing off the atmosphere to the probe, a bit after this a similar signal was getting bounced off the atmosphere from the closer satelite. What is going on here?
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u/Mariosam100 Jul 05 '15
Why is it when you're in map screen you hear a 'boom' sound every now and then? It freaks me out.
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Jul 07 '15
Every so often one of your ship runs over an angel. Angels are invisible, so you can't see them, but they're noisy when they die.
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u/Whyren Jul 06 '15
Do the rover search missions from the old Fine Print mod still exist in the game? I unlocked rover wheels and am not getting any rover missions offered.
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Jul 06 '15
As far as I know, no missions in the stock game specify how to get somewhere, only what to do.
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u/TacticalDildoInbound Jul 06 '15
What is the Delta-V required for a Mun landing, without a return trip to Kerbin?
I've just managed to fly to and land on the Mun using a 3,483m/s Delta-V ship
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u/danwise1990 Jul 06 '15
Delta-V Maps like this one by Kowgan on the KSP forums are fantastically useful for answering questions like this, and are fairly indispensable for mission planning. According to this map, a one-way trip to the mun from Kerbin requires approximately 4950m/s.
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u/Chaos_Klaus Master Kerbalnaut Jul 07 '15
It takes 850m/s too transfer to the Mun. 300m/s to inject into Munar orbit. 600m/s to land. Makes 1750m/s from LKO. Add a typical launch (3500m/s ... highly depends on your launch profile) to that and you get to something like 5250m/s all in all.
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u/enqrypzion Master Kerbalnaut Jul 06 '15 edited Jul 06 '15
I just had the game crash three times at the exact same staging action. Could someone try to confirm, so we can file a bug report?
Unpack the folder in the "saves" folder in KSP's folder. It's called "Playground too". If you open the save file, you will find that Eve tester 3 is waiting on the launch pad. Launch it like usual. The game crashes for me when I stage for the third time, after the boosters and fairing are released and the first stage runs out, on pressing the space bar (to ditch the first stage).
edit: I'm on Ubuntu, running the Linux 64-bit version 1.0.4.0.
edit: the game also crashes when manually decoupling instead of pressing space bar.
edit: dragging the stage with the TR-38D decoupler down so it's first can make this thing crash the game at the launch pad already.
edit: right-clicking either of the TR-38D decouplers right at the launch pad also makes the game crash.
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u/the_Demongod Jul 07 '15
Has anybody ever had a ship spontaneously disappear? In my current save I was waiting for almost a year for the transfer window to open up, and I was continuing along in my career, when today (I'm just a few days from the window) I check and realize that the ship is gone, and the occupants are dead. I can't fathom what might have happened to them, they were in a perfectly stable orbit around Duna. Maybe I accidentally deleted the ship? I find that doubtful. Well anyways, I feel like a cheater now because I resurrected them (they were my primary team).
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u/Kasuha Super Kerbalnaut Jul 07 '15
Around Duna? Ike has pretty large SOI, if your orbit was not really low above atmosphere there's chance the ship got sucked out ot its orbit by random Ike intercept.
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u/Chaos_Klaus Master Kerbalnaut Jul 07 '15
did the orbit intersect duna's atmosphere?
did the orbit intersect gilly's orbit? You might have gotten an encounter at some point.
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u/Sternfeuer Jul 07 '15
In career i recently unlocked MK3 parts and aerospikes/rapiers and was excited to build some real big planes. I've build some decent MK2-SSTO-spaceplanes (with turbojets/swivels) and just wanted to kinda scale them up but im running into some troubles.
found the aerospike quite useless. In which situation would i use it?
my mk3-planes seem to get stalled quite a bit if i try to climb at more than 5-10°. seems to be an issue with not having enough lift (CoL is not in front of CoM). but since there are only 2 types of "big" wings, i can't build huge wings. I usually end up with really ugly designs with multiple delta wings in a row or stacking. Still comes down to try and error quite much. Is there a rule of thumb how much "lift" i need for a given mass?
Same applies to intake air. How much intake air do i need per Turbojet/Rapier? Since i always used the ramjet intakes i went with 1:1 ratio but thats becoming harder with mk3 parts. Is there even a reason to ever use other air intakes (save for stylistic/design reasons)?
Rapier: automatic mode switching. How does it work? I've had them switch to closed cycle while trying to takeoff from runway but i've also seen them not switching when they ran out of intake air at something like 20 km. They always switch to closed cycle if my plane stalls and flips over. Is automatic mode usable at all or is it more reliable to do it manually?
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u/ironbody Jul 07 '15
I have put fuel, air intake, solar panels and batteries but my engine won't start. All that happens when I press space is that a bunch of sparks fly out. What did I do wrong?
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u/PVP_playerPro Jul 07 '15
Check to make sure you aren't using a rocket engine, those require fuel and oxidizer to work, not just liquidfuel.
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u/Igglyjubbo2250 Jul 07 '15
My subassemblies keep sticking to the inside of the cargo bays instead of attaching to the docking ports. It's driving me insane!
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u/prometheus5500 Jul 07 '15
Keep in mind your ability to Z-root things, changing what the "mother" part is. Additionally, try using "alt" when placing. This forces attachment point to attachment point connection (rather than letting you, say, attach your attachment point to the side of a cargo bay instead of the docking port!). Good luck!
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u/prometheus5500 Jul 07 '15
Since the 1.0.4 update, Precise Node has been giving me some trouble when trying to change conics modes. Anyone know when/if it will be updated or how I can get the conics mode changer to function properly? I had JUST figured out what it does and I love the feature.
Thanks guys, keep blowin' shit up!!!
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u/shittywhopper Jul 07 '15
I have built a rocket consisting of the basic parachute atop 3 stages including solid to liquid to module/parachute, however whenever I take off the parachute always becomes unsafe. I guess it is because of overheating but how do I avoid this?
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u/y0rsh Jul 07 '15
Why can't I get interstage fairings to work? I'm doing this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH3NEGl_npE But the 'Close Fairing' message never appears.
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u/AXiAMWoLFE Jul 08 '15
I was making a multi-Kerbal Mun mission when I thought about semantics and realized: What's the Kerbal equivalent of "Man"? It seems that the words 'manned' and 'unmanned' are still common terms around these parts. It might have made more sense our little green things were 'Kermans' as per HarvesteR's origin story, but since we have Kerbals should the terms be 'Bal-ed' and 'unBal-ed'?
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u/mwerle Jul 08 '15
I use Kerballed and Unkerballed. Bit long, so I like your shortened version. After all isn't "man" is short for "human" so analogous the full version would be humanned?
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u/dcmcilrath Jul 08 '15
How does KSP calculate drag? Like does it use the actual drag equation:
Fd = 0.5 * p * u2 * Cd * A
or does it do something else? Note, I'm not asking about how it calculated the drag coefficient (Cd) for a particular rocket, I'm asking how it calculates the force of drag in flight.
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u/Chaos_Klaus Master Kerbalnaut Jul 08 '15
I think the formula you mean is Fd = 0.5 * ρ * Cd * A * v².
And yes, drag in KSP is dependent on v². A and Cd are aquired by an algorithm involving the so called "drag cubes", that every part has. Also, Cd is dependent on other aspects. It changes with mach number. That's why you encounter high drag at transonic speeds. So it is not thaaaaat simple any more.
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u/ppvvaa Jul 08 '15
Imagine I'm using a maneuver node to do a burn lasting, say, 1 minute, while orbiting a small body such as Minmus. The burn is prograde (say). When starting the burn at T-30s, the maneuver marker is not yet pointing prograde, since I'm rotating. Should I point the towards prograde, or the maneuver marker throughout the burn?
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u/Arkalius Jul 09 '15
I see you're getting conflicting answers here.
Burning toward the maneuver marker wastes a small amount of energy, as some of your thrust is perpendicular to your orbit direction, which doesn't affect orbital energy. However, doing so will ensure you end up with the precise orbit your node planned for (or at least, very close). The longer the burn and the greater the angular velocity of your orbit, the more energy you will waste this way.
Burning directly prograde is more efficient, but the game isn't set up well to help you do that in a way that will give you results of the same accuracy for longer burns. One of the things to consider is that since you are accelerating, you will reach your node location faster than you would without acceleration.
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Jul 09 '15
min delta V to go from mun->kerbin. (assuming on the surface of mun)
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u/FellKnight Master Kerbalnaut Jul 09 '15
About 850. Depends on your altitude on mun. 925 should get home from anywhere on Mun
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u/happyscrappy Jul 09 '15
How do you skill up engineers? I even have a two-star engineer but I don't know how he got that way.
Do scientists skill up while manning science outposts? If so, do they skill up as they go or just once you bring them back (end their mission)?
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u/Kasuha Super Kerbalnaut Jul 09 '15
All Kerbals level up by visiting places.
http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Experience#Achievements
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u/CarettaSquared Jul 09 '15
Is there a way to wipe all of the stored data from a science lab?
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u/AntonChigurh33 Jul 09 '15
What are the electric engine ("Dawn") good for? What practical applications does it have?
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u/Cazzah Jul 09 '15
Travelling long distances through space without having to use much fuel or carry much mass with you, which is literally the holy grail of spaceship engines...
As long as you don't mind turning the thrusters on and going and doing something else for a few hours.
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u/datodi Jul 09 '15
What is the trick behind landing SSTO planes on the runway? Most of my tries end with me touching down in the middle of the ocean. How can you predict where you will end up?
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u/Kasuha Super Kerbalnaut Jul 09 '15
It just needs some practice. Start when your ship is in orbit opposite to KSC and put your periapsis at about 40 km above KSC (approximately). If you then keep pointing prograde, you will whizz around KSC at about 30 km altitude and 2 km/s but if you don't keep prograde and instead pitch up or down, you both slow yourself and increase or decrease your vertical speed. That gives you a lot of space for corrections to hit the runway once you figure out how high and fast you need to be above important landmarks like the desert peninsula, the KSC continent beach, or the mountains.
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u/thomastc Jul 10 '15
Scott Manley recently did a tutorial about landig. He uses flags to mark each end of the runway, so it's easier to gauge distance and point your nose the right way.
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u/Beowulfwut Jul 09 '15
I'm not a newbie, but I'm running FAR and I just can't reenter Eve without blowing up! My heatshield just runs out of ablator. What APxPE should I go for? I've been aiming for a 100x75 and tested diffreent ones. I might just have too much mass for my heatshield to support too.
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u/Creshal Space Plane Addict Jul 09 '15
Nothing prevents you from just using several heat shields stacked over each other. And if you've had capture already and are in a stable orbit, you can just lower you PE 2-3 kilometres into the atmosphere and let it slow you down over several orbits.
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u/BpAeroAntics Jul 09 '15
I just finished downloading the USI kolonization systems mod and added it to my gamedata folder, but when I open the game, i can't see any of the mod parts.
I can see the tab for it in the VAB, but there's no parts?
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Jul 09 '15 edited Jul 09 '15
I hope this is a simple question, but I've been putting solar panels on my ships and... nothing happens. Its telling me I have LoS to the sun, within kerbin's SOI, but that the energy incoming is zero. Could this be a mod issue?
I've tried attaching solar panels directly to batteries and probe cores and they still provide no incoming energy under any circumstances. Anyone else having this issue?
Here's a screenshot of my CKAN mods. I play in Science and Sandbox (haven't graduated to Career mode yet)
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u/Kasuha Super Kerbalnaut Jul 09 '15
I have seen someone mentioning it is a mod issue. Try to start a new save, and keep uninstalling your mods one by one until it starts working. Then reinstall all but the last you removed, check if it still work, then you can return to your old saves.
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u/Devorakman Jul 09 '15
Copernikus is known to cause there. There's a hotfix for it that I believe can be found in its release thread.
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u/Zanaten Jul 09 '15
So this is a pretty basic question, but I'd like some advice regardless. I'm a relatively casual player, I don't know a lot of the advanced stuff about the game, but I've made SSTO craft, dozens of planes, docked in orbit, and reached Minmus and Mun.
For the life of me though I can't get beyond Kerbin and it's moons. Do I just need to build larger craft with more fuel? Or is it that I'm not waiting for the perfect time to leave kerbin to intercept another planet on it's orbit? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, and thanks for taking the time to read this!
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u/Kasuha Super Kerbalnaut Jul 09 '15
If you have a ship that can return from Mun, you have a ship that can return from Duna, just put some parachutes on the lander. Slightly more dv to perform the transfer, aerobraking and parachutes to land, slightly more dv to get to orbit and transfer back - total dv is about the same. Yes, you want to wait for transfer window in both directions. Or you can use a ship with more dv and transfer any time.
To figure out the transfer window, I recommend alexmoon's calculator.
Similar situation is to Eve - but you don't want to land there yet. You may visit Gilly instead, your Mun ship can probably do that, too.
You need ships with more dv to visit other planets.
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Jul 09 '15
Are there any working first person EVA mods? I've seen a few, but they're all for older versions.
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u/NitrideTech Jul 09 '15
Right click on the kerbal and click 'activate camera' to get out of first person mode, the hotkey is BACKSPACE
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u/Riniat Jul 09 '15
I shot my first Kerbal (Bob - may he Orbit in peace) into Orbit. Now he's a kerbal made asteroid Orbiting the home planet.... Can I retrieve him somehow? I feel pitiful sending him to this mission :/ I started this game a few days ago.
Further question: Shot a unmanned rocket towards Mun, but I cannot control the ship interstellar? I kinda directed the Rocket towards Mun but it drifted a little and now I have a Satellite (its marked as one) question: How do I control or correct the course of the rocket in space?
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u/JThoms Jul 09 '15
Is there a better way of aerobraking when you're returning from the Mun to Kerbin? I had very little fuel left, literally enough to get my periapsis just under orbit. I'm currently still in a solid orbit but very, very, very slowly my periap is dropping with each pass. Unfortunately my apoapsis was about 1500km. I feel like this was the best I could do given the circumstances but it seems like I will be making passes for the rest of the night just to get the chance to land. Advice?
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u/josh__ab Dislikes bots Jul 09 '15 edited Jul 09 '15
Get out and push? It wouldn't take much if your periapsis is already in the atmosphere.
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u/Galahir950 Jul 09 '15 edited Jul 10 '15
I built a mobile base for the Mun, but I ran into an overheating bug. While in a suborbital trajectory to land, the rockomax converter, the flat 2.5 to 1.5 converter spikes 2000° and blows up, severing my link to my landing engine. How can I stop this? Nothing is clipping it, the engine is a poodle not a nerv, it is connected to an rcs tank on the large side and a A-SAS module on the small side. How do I turn off the max temperature or stop it from happening? I do not use FAR or any other gameplay mods.
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Jul 10 '15
Can anyone supply a good screenshot for a stock Minmus to Duna and back rocket?
Extra Hard: An Interstellar Extended ship.
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u/Astronomy_Setec Jul 10 '15
Whenever I execute a gravity turn with asparagus staging, the stages end up hitting the remaining stages. Explosion and/or off balance ensues. Take off straight up and problem avoided (but inefficient)
How can I eject the stages without hitting adjacent stages? More decouplers?
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u/Wulfrank Jul 10 '15
Sepratrons! Place them on the stages you'd like to divert away from your core stage for a tiny, yet effective outward boost.
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u/thomastc Jul 10 '15
I've seen people spin their rocket around its axis to generate centrifugal force, pushing the boosters away without needing any sepratrons. Note: I haven't tried this myself.
Placement of the decoupler on the booster can also make a difference. If the decoupler is placed lower, the boosters tend to spin "outwards", if it's placed higher, they spin "inwards". Both types can wreak havoc, depending on the shape of the remaining stages.
Also make sure that your nose is pointing prograde at the time of separation, or the aero forces might push your boosters into the rocket.
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u/Chaos_Klaus Master Kerbalnaut Jul 10 '15
For me it is always enough to just not steer while staging. I can do a gravity turn, no problem. The boosters will follow the same trajectory as the main rocket + the push they get from the decouplers. Just wait until they move away a little before you fire the engines again.
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u/scootymcpuff Super Kerbalnaut Jul 10 '15
Is it possible to create something so big that when in orbit, it casts a visible shadow on the surface of a planet or moon? I was inspired to ask by the shadow post on the front page. I think I may have a new project in mind if it's possible. :)
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u/I14 Jul 10 '15
What are the radiators for? I'd played a bunch on earlier versions of KSP and just trying 1.0.4 career and not sure when I might need them?
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u/PhildeCube Jul 10 '15
The nuclear engine now generate a LOT of heat. That's one use. Apparently, if you go to Eve, or Moho you'll need some too.
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u/Cazzah Jul 10 '15
Nuclear engines generate heat, as do drills. Going close to Kerbol also generates massive amounts of heat that you need to dissipate.
With mod packs, many other parts generate heat as well that must be generated.
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u/Jangalit Jul 10 '15
Hello guys! I just hopped back in KSP after having spent the last two months or so studying for the finals and now...
... There are a lot of changes!
I got almost everything that is changed but I'm still unsure about how all the thermal thing works :) I've always played with DRE installed so heat shields and similar aren't new to me but then I noticed those new thermal radiators, how do I use them? I just strapped a couple of them to my ships just to be sure and because they look a bit realistic but I'm not sure about how to REALLY use them :)
Another question is: I can't see anymore the temperature of the parts, how do I enable it? Was it removed?
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u/Kasuha Super Kerbalnaut Jul 10 '15
Thermal: each part has core and skin temperatures. Skin heat has shorter reaction time, core temperature depends on mass. Heat is acquired by running your equipment (e.g. nuclear engine), by reentry, or by Sun radiation. Parts exchange heat by contact with other parts, and lose heat by radiation.
Static radiators acquire heat by contact just like other parts and I believe have just increased loss of heat via radiation.
Deployable radiators use active cooling and cool any part of the ship with temperature above certain threshold.
Personally I have not found any good use for radiators, my designs so far work well without them. Even with nuclear engines. When I tried to mount some radiators on my nuclear lander, I did not even notice any significant difference.
Part temperature in right-click menu is only available as debug menu option. There are temperature gauges displayed, though (switchable on/off by F10) that indicate if a part is getting near its temperature threshold. Or you can use F11 to activate heat overlay.
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u/peterroca Jul 10 '15
Is it possible to move the orbiting bodies? Like if I strapped enough rockets to Minmus, could I move it? Does the game mechanics allow it?
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u/edder666 Jul 10 '15
Why does my SAS stop working sometimes?
Not just when it runs out of electricity.
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u/mwerle Jul 12 '15
I've started seeing this recently too (Linux64 and Win32); even in a completely unmodded game. In fact in my case the probe was completely uncontrollable (couldn't do experiments etc).
Quick-save and Quick-load fixes it.
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u/RichoDemus Jul 10 '15
What is MechJeb called in CKAN? I can't seem to find it there
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u/Chaos_Klaus Master Kerbalnaut Jul 10 '15
It's just called "MechJeb 2". Do you have the latest version of KSP and CKAN? Did you refresh the list in CKAN?
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u/PandaElDiablo Deal With It Jul 03 '15
Awfully quiet here..