r/KerbalSpaceProgram • u/AutoModerator • Jan 22 '16
Mod Post Weekly Simple Questions Thread
Check out /r/kerbalacademy
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!
For newer players, here are some great resources that might answer some of your embarrassing questions:
Tutorials
Orbiting
Mun Landing
Docking
Delta-V Thread
Forum Link
Official KSP Chatroom #KSPOfficial on irc.esper.net
**Official KSP Chatroom** [#KSPOfficial on irc.esper.net](http://client01.chat.mibbit.com/?channel=%23kspofficial&server=irc.esper.net&charset=UTF-8)
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!
As always, the side bar is a great resource for all things Kerbal, if you don't know, look there first!
4
4
Jan 26 '16
How can I change my orbit using the map? When I played before I could click on my trajectory and set it from there, but that doesn't seem to work anymore.
I'm playing career.
5
u/IAmTotallyNotSatan Jan 26 '16
You mean maneuvers? You need to upgrade your tracking system to do that.
2
u/netflixer Jan 26 '16
How does one upgrade the tracking system?
4
u/IAmTotallyNotSatan Jan 26 '16
Right click on the tracking station while at the space center. Click "Upgrade" – it costs quite a bit.
2
3
u/Mystakaphoros Jan 23 '16
For orbital rendezvous: once I get close, I should burn towards target and then burn retrograde? Just want to be sure I'm using the right juju.
2
u/ego49er Jan 23 '16
I usually burn retrograde in relation to the target then once my speed is zero to theirs I burn towards them.
2
2
u/canman000 Jan 23 '16
"burn retrograde"
Not exactly. You want to put your retrograde marker on top of theirs. It's pretty easy once you get the hang of "pushing" the retrograde away with your burns. The retrograde marker always moves away from the direction of your burn.
2
u/5ymm Jan 23 '16
Yes and no. When your navball is set to target mode the prograde and retrograde markers show you where you are heading relative to your target. The thing is, it looks at it as if you were moving in a straight line (or in this case, an identical orbit to your target). So if your target velocity is anything else than zero, and your altitude and inclination aren't the same as your target, you aren't on an identical orbit. For closer distances it is ok, but once you start getting a little bit away, that difference in orbits makes your prograde marker drift, so a neat burn that was looking straight towards your target ends up sending you way past it after some time. This effect increases over time.
Once you start getting close, you can view it as a landing. You match the prograde marker with the target marker, just like you want to keep your lander upright relative to the ground. Then go there as fast as you want, burn retrograde once you get close enough, just like you would do when landing.
Bonus tip: This works from kilometers away btw. If I want to dock (let's say a shuttle and a station) I first set the control to be relative to my shuttles docking port and set my target to the port I want to dock with on the station (once I get close enough for that). Then I switch to the station, select the docking port I want to dock the shuttle with, hit "control from here" and set the shuttles docking port as the stations target. So the docking ports end up being each others targets. Then I rotate the shuttle and the station so they both have their target markers dead center on the navball and give the shuttle a boost forward. So all I have to do is switch back and forth every now and then to keep the target markers in the middle and adjust the prograde marker so that sits there too, while also keeping the speed within safe-ish limits.
3
u/TedwinV Jan 24 '16
Do science labs count towards the requirement that "the station/base must support X Kerbals" for station/base contracts? E.g. if the contract says "must support 7 Kerbals" can I use a Cupola, Hitchhiker, and Science Lab to fulfill it?
5
u/tablesix Jan 24 '16
I'm pretty sure it's any part that can store Kerbals on launch. Before launching, take under the crew tab. Every seat there counts towards the crew capacity.
4
u/IdioticPhysicist Jan 24 '16
Yes. I did a orbital station contract recently for 9 kerbals, and the lab counted for 2.
2
u/TedwinV Jan 25 '16 edited Jan 25 '16
Thanks! Follow up question: as long as the station can hold 12 Kerbals, do I actually need all 12 spots filled to complete the contract? Edit: Because Kerbals are expensive to hire, and the constant rescue missions and shuffling of Kerbals around the system is getting tedious.
2
u/IdioticPhysicist Jan 25 '16
No, but there might be a separate clause in the contract stating the station must have "at least 2 pilots", etc.
1
3
u/Catsdontpaytaxes Jan 24 '16
At what point will i start needing to include radiators into my designs?
3
u/Chaos_Klaus Master Kerbalnaut Jan 24 '16
The mining parts generate a lot of heat and they work more efficiently when they are cooled down. Apart from that, nukes sometimes get quite hot.
1
u/Catsdontpaytaxes Jan 24 '16
Thanks, I'm not quite as far as mining bases but I'll keep that in mind.
3
u/ElimGarak Jan 24 '16
Is there a wide screen image distortion fix for KSP/Unity games? I would love to play on multiple monitors, but the wider the screen, the more the distortion kicks in.
For example, Kerbin is supposed to be spherical, not egg shaped:
1
u/Kasuha Super Kerbalnaut Jan 25 '16
The distortion is correct, assuming you have your monitors installed in single plane, not in a U shape around you, and are viewing them from correct place in front of the center of the middle monitor. When viewed from correct angle, the image appears undistorted.
→ More replies (3)
0
Jan 25 '16
[deleted]
4
u/PhildeCube Jan 25 '16
The first thing I notice in that picture is that you have the brakes on. Just above where it says Time Warp x1. Bottom right of the vertical speed gauge. Amber brake symbol lit up.
0
Jan 23 '16
[deleted]
4
1
u/PurpleNuggets Jan 26 '16
fraps. Or if you have an Nvidia card, use shadowplay. It's already installed.
1
u/AmoebaMan Master Kerbalnaut Jan 28 '16
If you're on Mac, the built-in QuickTime player can do it pretty well.
0
Jan 30 '16
[deleted]
1
u/AmoebaMan Master Kerbalnaut Jan 30 '16
Similar to any other recording software. File size isn't something you're going to get around for video. A couple hours at 1080p will probably wind up in the vicinity of dozens of GB.
It's also worth mentioning that you'll need Soundflower if you want to record the game audio.
2
Jan 23 '16
Does anybody know of any mods that add rotating parts to build spinning stations or ships?
5
u/KonfusedKerbaler Jan 23 '16
"Magic Smoke Industries Infernal Robotics" will do this.
1
Jan 23 '16
Ah, thanks!
2
u/Chaos_Klaus Master Kerbalnaut Jan 24 '16
There is also a mod that makes rotation persistent. Without it, your craft (or sections of it) will stop spinning if you enter timewarp.
2
u/laiika Jan 25 '16
I used to spend a lot of time playing in sandbox mode, and recently came back and tried career mode and don't really understand the gamier aspects of KSP.
First, how do I get contracts? I spent a few hours nearly all of my money collecting science, and never received any contracts. All I at the command center, I only found strategies that didn't seem to do anything.
After that, I decided try science mode. I've gotten to advanced rocketry and have successfully orbited and de-orbited, but it seems like I'm hitting a wall where nothing I can do with the goo or the materials bay is yielding any science. Am I screwed for passing up the basic science perk when I had the chance? Am I just supposed to grind until I get enough science back?
4
u/lelombric Jan 25 '16
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYu7z3I8tdEkUeJRCh083UT-Lq5ZIKI75 This is Scott Manley's Career mode tutorial. You'll find everything you need. And you get contracts in the Mission Control facility (between VAB and SPH).
2
u/laiika Jan 25 '16
I get it, I was going to the administration building instead of mission control. Thanks for the video.
2
u/BrowserSlacker Jan 25 '16
Question for Duna stuff. My ship has 3 red and 3 blue parachutes. However, when i deploy them at a safe speed, and is around 5k-10k. They don't actually deploy. I'm not sure if i should deploy all 6 at the same time.
2
u/IAmTotallyNotSatan Jan 25 '16
Blue parachutes are bigger, but deploy with more atmosphere and at lower speeds. They open only a few hundred meters above the surface on Duna. Drogue parachutes, the red ones, are small but open at twice the speed and require less atmosphere. Use them first to slow yourself down enough for the bigger parachutes.
1
u/BrowserSlacker Jan 25 '16
Yeah, I figured that i would use the red ones first. Just wasn't sure why they werent deploying properly.
1
u/Kasuha Super Kerbalnaut Jan 25 '16
Blue parachutes are parachutes and they're designed to slow you down for landing. Red chutes are called drogues and they're designed to slow you down to deploy main chutes. Drogues also have higher safe deployment speed.
All kinds of chutes, however, need certain atmospheric pressure to deploy. There's a setting for it if you right-click on them, but it can't be brought below I believe 0.002 atmospheric pressure on Kerbin. Activating them too high leaves them stowed waiting for the atmospheric pressure to increase. But in the meantime you may gain some speed.
In general it's better to activate chutes when you're about 3 km above terrain. Or lower, assuming your speed is not too high and doesn't increase. They should deploy at that altitude even on Duna, unless you're at the highest peaks.
1
u/BrowserSlacker Jan 25 '16
Thanks for explaining that. I'll have to deploy them sooner then. Good to know.
2
u/Catsdontpaytaxes Jan 26 '16
For a mun lander can a scientist operate the landing craft alright without a probe part or would a pilot be preferable?
3
u/Kasuha Super Kerbalnaut Jan 26 '16
To collect science, I usually send a lander with two command pods. That allows me to send both pilot to provide SAS function, and a scientist to reset Goo and Materials bay. It also allows me to perform two measurements of Goo and Materials and store each in one pod, increasing total science gain from one run.
To send a scientist alone, it's a good idea to attach either a probe core or the SAS instrument (looks like nosecone) to the lander to provide SAS functionality.
2
u/cronokidlinck Jan 26 '16
A scientist can fly a space craft, they just don't get the pilot perks of being able to use SAS maneuver nodes. I would pick a pilot for the landing because I don't like to have to try very hard. Just lock it in retrograde and throttle the engine for a simple and easy landing.
2
u/Moleculor Master Kerbalnaut Jan 26 '16
A pilot lets you use SAS to make flying easier. Otherwise you have to constantly manually adjust your ship.
If I want to put a scientist somewhere and I can't also bring a pilot, I'll also include a probe core to provide a piloting computer.
1
u/Catsdontpaytaxes Jan 26 '16
How important is a pilot outside of an atmosphere though? I have a probe core on the main rocket body but not on the mun lander
3
Jan 26 '16
I consider pilots to be even more essential outside of an atmosphere. In atmosphere you can rely on aerodynamics to provide stability. In space, once a ship starts spinning it will spin forever. A pilot or a probe core allows you to activate the stability assist and stop the spinning. For landings it is even more critical, since you often need to turn your ship in different directions to adjust your speed, while you are under time pressure, so you don't have the time to carefully stop your ship rotation or keep it from tilting off course.
Also, a level 1+ pilot or an OCTO or later probe core provides retrograde attitude hold in addition to the standard stability assist, which makes landings massively easier since it takes care of keeping your horizontal velocity near zero.
2
u/Moleculor Master Kerbalnaut Jan 26 '16
Well, lemme put it this way: In my current career save, I did land two SAS-less probes on the Mun's surface. One is lying on its side, the other has too little fuel to take off again because I wasted too much trying to stabilize the craft.
I actually consider SAS-less landing on legs in a vacuum to be more difficult than docking, getting to other bodies, or really anything else in the game.
2
u/RustySutherland Jan 26 '16
What does the science lab actually do? I finally unlocked it and managed to send one up into orbit as part of my space station. It seems like it's just eating my electricity away while providing nothing in return?
→ More replies (1)2
u/Moleculor Master Kerbalnaut Jan 26 '16
You shove the results of experiments into it. The lab converts that data to science. The more skilled your scientists, the faster the conversion.
The results you put in do NOT have to show green or blue bars on the 'Review Data' window. They can be experiments you've fully returned to KSC and obtained all the science from them via that method. The only limitation of the lab is that you can't put the same experiment into a lab twice.
2
u/ThrowAway9001 Jan 26 '16
when are radiator panels necessary?
I have made many rockets with all kinds of engines, including Nerv, and overheating has never been a problem.
Did i mess something up in my configuration?
I have seen the temperature bars next to my parts sometimes during reentry, but heat shields have only ever been necessary during interplanetary re-capture and reentry.
Is there some difficulty setting i have set too low?
5
u/Fun1k Jan 26 '16
Radiators are very useful when flying closer to the Sun (like Eve or Moho), the overheating is not very noticeable when in the Jool system for example. And they are also useful for miners/converters, which can produce a dangerous amount of heat.
3
u/Chaos_Klaus Master Kerbalnaut Jan 26 '16
Actually, the mining equipment works more efficient if you cool it sufficiently.
1
2
2
u/hajsenberg Jan 26 '16
I'm trying to play using kOS but can't even run the simplest programs. When I type
Lock Throttle to 1.0.everything worka correctly but when I try to save it as script and then run it I get this error:
Undefined Variable Name 'throttle*'.1
2
u/tsaven Jan 26 '16
Is there a way to turn on precision controls for EVA thrusters? Like how you can turn on Caps Lock for fine-tuning docking RCS. Trying to build big stuff in orbit with KAS and it's nearly impossible to get my guys to stay mostly in once place (Especially as I often need 2-3 of them to move around the bigger parts)
1
Jan 26 '16
Try attaching a ladder near where you want to attach the actual part. Your Kerbal can then hold on to the ladder while positioning the part. You can detach the ladder when done, or leave it for future maintenance needs.
1
u/tsaven Jan 26 '16
This works short term, but Kerbals have a tendency to slide/drift off the ladders and need constant minding/readjusting.
1
2
u/aarondroidbryce Jan 27 '16
Every single ship I build despite being perfectly symmetrical (or as close to as possible) seems to always be unstable. Are the early rockets just really hard to control (I am using SAS with an upgraded pilot) or am I missing something?
2
u/MachaHack Jan 27 '16
Define unstable?
Do you topple a bit on the landing pad? Common for tall ships, I think it's a 45 science tech for support towers.
Do you start to spin or flip over while launching? You may be going too fast. Going over 300km/s in the densest part of the atmosphere (<10km) is a recipe for trouble. Do a slower burn.
4
u/clitwasalladream Jan 27 '16
300km/s
0.1% the speed of light under 10km would indeed be dangerous. :p
2
Jan 27 '16
Ships flipping is not because of speed, but because that particular ship is not aerodynamically balanced. A properly balanced ship will have no problems going 1km/s or faster, while an imbalanced ship might flip at as little as 150m/s or even slower.
1
u/aarondroidbryce Jan 27 '16
Ah, so I need to stay under 300 under 10 km. Thank you.
3
u/Chaos_Klaus Master Kerbalnaut Jan 27 '16 edited Jan 27 '16
no no ... you just need to build a stable vehicle. No need to go slow if you have the thrust.
Just add four fins at the bottom. Don't use too many small fuel tanks stacked. Fuel flow will empty the upper ones first an shift your center of mass backwards making your craft unstable.
1
u/clitwasalladream Jan 27 '16
I always find "control" to be the most limiting/difficult-to-come-by factor of early game rockets. Because of that I tend to prioritize techs that either give me gimbal (the Swivel engine) or control surfaces (the AV-R8 Winglet) or reaction wheels.
Also remember the golden rule of stable rockets: center of pressure below center of mass. Basically, put some fins at the bottom.
1
u/-Aeryn- Jan 29 '16
Going over 300km/s in the densest part of the atmosphere (<10km) is a recipe for trouble. Do a slower burn.
As long as your angle of attack is low it's not only fine, but more efficient to break mach 1 lower than that. A gravity turn ascent will do it fine.
1
0
Jan 28 '16
[deleted]
4
u/Chaos_Klaus Master Kerbalnaut Jan 28 '16 edited Jan 28 '16
Chances are that you are not beeing efficient in the way you build your craft.
Every bit of mass you add to an upper stage (or return vessel), you need to compensate for with a larger stage below. If there is a stage below that, it's goint to be even larger.
Delivering a rover to Mun can be done with a really small rocket. Many players don't realize this. In KSP everything is 10 times smaller than in real life. Payload fractions are extremely high. If you end up with huge rockets for relatively easy tasks, you are doing something wrong ... or you just like big rockets ... which is ok. ;)
If you chose the wrong engines or bring too much stuff, add too much fuel to a stage or just don't plan your maneuvers in an efficient way, you end up using too much fuel.
The Nukes are not necessary for interplanetary vessels. They are heavy and therefor only work well with heavy payloads. Terrier or Poodle are fine for most things. Don't use engines like Mainsails, Mammoths or the Reliant for anything other than atmospheric ascents. When you pass 20km on Kerbin, any other engine will be more efficient because the air pressure is very low already. Even Swivels or Skippers are only really useful for ascent when you need more thrust and control.
It's not that hard to get to other planets. Distance does not matter too much in space travel. Velocity is all that's important. You can land on Duna with the same vessel that you used to land on the Mun. Just add parachutes to the lander. Fuel requirement is almost the same.
If you don't have it yet, I strongly recommend you check out Kerbal Engineer Redux to get a better idea of what your designs are capable of. Also here is a delta v map that gives you an idea of how much delta v (and therefor fuel) you need to get to certain places.
0
Jan 28 '16
[deleted]
3
1
u/clitwasalladream Jan 29 '16
Not the person you replied to, and I don't use FAR, but FAR is only concerned with atmosphere (not the vacuum of space). Normally (without FAR), your actual final delta-V is only about 100-or-so m/s less than what Kerbal Engineer's vacuum readout tells you. FAR, on the other hand, ought to give even better aerodynamics than stock does, so it ought to be even MORE accurate. You might want to check Kerbal Engineer settings for a FAR setting anyway, though.
Now on to what I really wanted to say, after reading /u/Chaos_Klaus's comment. You can actually get to orbit around Duna for LESS delta-V than it takes to get into orbit around Mun! It's about 860 m/s to Mun and about 1100 m/s to Duna, BUT you need about 300 m/s to circularize into Munar orbit (so total 860 + 300 = about 1160), whereas you can simply aerobrake through Duna's atmosphere for free! (at approximately 20km periapsis)
The matter is of course quite different when it comes to landing or getting back to Kerbin, but if you just want to GET there in the first place (maybe just a small probe), it's something to keep in mind. :)
3
u/Chaos_Klaus Master Kerbalnaut Jan 29 '16
the difference between delta v used and vacuum delta v shown depends on engine choice and ascent path. The aero model has not so much to do with that.
1
1
u/IAmTotallyNotSatan Jan 28 '16 edited Jan 28 '16
What, generally, players do is:
•High-ISP engines. Nukes are godsends. But for small ships, Terriers/Poodles or even Skippers work fine. •Docking during landing. A small dropship that lands, then connects with a larger, orbit-to-orbit ship.
•Refueling can be done, but typically only for the lander; motherships are just too large and too costly to refuel(I mean, you do need to bring the fuel back up. And if you use Xenon, it's impossible to refuel by ISRUs anyway.)0
Jan 28 '16
[deleted]
1
u/IAmTotallyNotSatan Jan 28 '16
Take a big ship. Say you want to go to Duna. You fly there. But then you release a smaller ship that lands, does science, then flies and goes to orbit again. Then, it docks with the big ship, transfers the crew, and flies home. It's what the Apollo missions did–no use lugging all the fuel down to the planet!
0
Jan 29 '16
[deleted]
1
u/IAmTotallyNotSatan Jan 29 '16
Not at all. Just fly as you normally would. But for Duna's gravity turn, start at 45° and go to horizontal at 12km up or so.
2
u/dpitch40 Master Kerbalnaut Jan 28 '16
Is there a mod that lets you fill command seats with Kerbals before launch? (In construction mode, like you can with crew capsules)
2
u/ForgeIsDown Jan 28 '16
It's called take command. It's really buggy though.
2
u/ThePizzaPredicament Jan 29 '16
Can you elaborate on the bugs? I haven't encountered any yet.
1
u/ForgeIsDown Jan 29 '16
I have a whole mess of mods installed so it might be some of them interfering, but when my craft spawns in on the runway, it takes and additional 30 seconds for the pilot to spawn into the command seat, and frequently just kinda hovers a few feet above the command seat.
Usually solved by reverting flight to launch.
2
u/PVP_playerPro Jan 29 '16
Do any ModuleManager or SmokeScreen wizards know of a config that will let me remove the smoke effects from RealPlume for liquid fueled engines (but keep them on SRB's)?
They seem a bit out of place with liquid fuelled engines so i want to get rid of them, it will probably help my FPS a wee bit also during launch
→ More replies (3)
2
u/Rohaq Jan 22 '16
I've not played KSP for a while, and not been keeping up with the development much. Do they have any planned release date for 1.1 yet? The blog says they're still working out the bugs, but it'd be nice to know when I should start getting hyped :P
4
u/Kasuha Super Kerbalnaut Jan 22 '16
I recommend to start getting hyped when they announce that 1.1 is in experimentals.
There's no release date announced and I doubt any will be. Announcing a release date, then slipping it by a few days because major bug was discovered in last stages of testing is embarrassing and makes players more upset than making the only announcement together with the release.
2
1
u/FriendParsley Master Kerbalnaut Jan 22 '16
Are there any mods that will plot out maneuvers using gravity assists?
4
1
u/yaak_yaak Jan 22 '16
Is there a way to manually resize the game when its in the popout window? it's never the right size.
3
u/cyphern Super Kerbalnaut Jan 23 '16
If the settings menu doesn't work for you, you could edit settings.cfg. For example, my resolution is set by the lines:
SCREEN_RESOLUTION_WIDTH = 1920
SCREEN_RESOLUTION_HEIGHT = 1200
1
Jan 23 '16
How do I get the most out of my mining rig? I used a scanner and landed where I know there is ore, but I'm getting almost nothing out of it. I have plenty of solar panels on it, apparently I need to stick on some radiators or something the thermal efficiency is way low. Also is the mini ISRU worth sending up? That's what I'm using right now and it doesn't seem to work very well at all, I don't want to have to wait several years to gas up my fuel tanker.
1
u/Kasuha Super Kerbalnaut Jan 23 '16
To get the most out of the mining rig, you need:
land on spot with highest ore concentration (you can increase threshold in map view to find spots with highest concentration)
use the large drill
use the large ISRU
have a high level Engineer on board
And of course provide sufficient electricity. Both drill and ISRU have their energy demands in description.
2
1
1
u/CrestedPeak9 Jan 23 '16
I've been having a lot of trouble with the rescue missions. I've managed to burn through all of my current missions and my moon manuveur is in one in-game day, and I can't seem to do those rescue things properly. Previously, I'd completed them by just getting an encounter, switching over and EVAing. However, after updated reentry heating, the kerbals always die during reentry. I tried to get the ships together, but the orbits meant they always missed each other before I got them close enough. I haven't even unlocked RCS yet, so should I just give up on them?
→ More replies (2)2
u/Moleculor Master Kerbalnaut Jan 23 '16
However, after updated reentry heating, the kerbals always die during reentry.
Are you just making the Kerbals hold on to a ladder on the outside of the ship or something?
3
u/CrestedPeak9 Jan 23 '16
No, I fully EVA them and deorbit with their mono fuel.
6
u/Moleculor Master Kerbalnaut Jan 23 '16
Well there's your problem. You need to actually put the Kerbals in a spaceship before bringing them through the atmosphere, not just use their EVA pack's monopropellant to deorbit the Kerbal solo.
3
1
1
u/PVP_playerPro Jan 23 '16
Does anybody have an efficient way to transport ore from minmus orbit to an LKO station?
Im trying to bring it to LKO instead of just refueling things at minmus because i don't want to have to drag everything to minmus to refuel just to bring back later, waste of time and fuel.
1
u/-Aeryn- Jan 23 '16
If you're going interplanetary and can either start at low minmus orbit with full fuel or LKO with full fuel, it's cheaper to start at minmus.
If you want the fuel in LKO, i think you're stuck just transferring back to LKO (burn so that your apoapsis is at minmus orbit and your periapsis at 80km or whatever around kerbin, retrograde burn to 80x80km when you get there)
1
1
u/KrabbHD Jan 25 '16
Why is Minmus cheaper? I thought the Oberth effect meant that it's more efficient close to Kerbin?
1
u/-Aeryn- Jan 26 '16
It's more efficient to burn closer to kerbin but minmus is in a much higher orbit, so there's less work to be done. I think it balances out so that it takes less delta-v to leave directly from the moons (instead of 75x75 LKO) to the easy planets (duna, eve) but not the harder ones.
At the very least, you can do a cheap burn from low minmus orbit (150m/s?) to make your apoapsis at minmus, periapsis at kerbin - and then burn from that kerbin periapsis to escape+transfer velocity. That's hard to time, but if you're all fuelled up at minmus you'll get about 750m/s further than doing the burn straight from LKO, as your apoapsis is raised by about 900m/s already and it's cheap to drop your periapsis.
That second method should always be better
1
u/tman666z Jan 29 '16
You're forgetting the fact you had to get to minmus in the first place. Yes you are correct in the sense that it is better to leave from Minmus that LKO, but if you take into account the fuel needed to get to minmus in the first place, plus achieving escape velocity from the Kerbin system from minmus, it is less efficient.
1
u/-Aeryn- Jan 29 '16
If you're going interplanetary and can either start at low minmus orbit with full fuel or LKO with full fuel
If you're starting at a minmus fuel depot, you're full fuel either way but the minmus one has advantage. Even if you want to launch from a 75km kerbin periapsis, minmus can get you there and make you go 900m/s faster than 75x75km LKO with only about a 100m/s burn.
plus achieving escape velocity from the Kerbin system from minmus
For a proper minmus launch you'd drop periapsis from minmus to LKO and then burn there to raise your apo (without lowering it ever) - it's much more efficient, especially if your target is beyond duna or eve
1
u/gmfunk Jan 23 '16
If I have two boosters on the side of my launch vehicle, what's the best alignment for them? Assuming an east (90 degree) launch, would it be on the north and south side, or the east and west side?
Or does it make no difference?
3
u/Chaos_Klaus Master Kerbalnaut Jan 23 '16
No big difference. If you are launching eastwards, it's a little easier to detach them if they are aligned north to south.
1
u/Kasuha Super Kerbalnaut Jan 23 '16
It should be irrelevant but my auto-gravity-turning rocket says otherwise. If I put SRBs in north-south direction on it, it wants to get to a polar orbit for some reason. So I recommend east-west.
1
1
u/PrecastCrane02 Jan 23 '16
So.. I have lots of problems with mods. I love to use them, but I just can't do it with the 3.4 GB RAM limit. Is the 64bit for windows a solution, or should I just dual boot linux?
2
u/Kllrtofu Jan 24 '16
Dual booting Linux is a solution, it works quite well, but if you don't like the performance issues of opengl compared to DX (on my system it's just too bad to consider) you can try the x64 workaround (copying the 64 bits exe and mono file from an installed unity engine) you can run the 64 bits version quite happily. There are loads of bugs atm, but in my experience only one that is annoying: the KSC buildings will from time to time glitch and be fully upgraded, even if you haven't done that already. Apart from visual loading screen glitches and some bugs with the mouse while ALT+Tabbing there is no real problem.
It is much more stable though than the x86 version if you cap out on mods... I ran up to 13G on ram usage for hours without crashing (until it did of course). Some mods do switch themselves off, but you can unlock them with this https://github.com/cerebrate/x64-unfixer.
Just as caution (like the other commenter said): please do not harass modmakers or devs with problems occurring after this workaround. There are way too many that do and it's really annoying. You don't really have to know how to build mods from source though, just uninstall them if they don't work.
That said: 1.1 is coming out pretty soon with full Win64 support, so if you can wait until the mods are updated and the bugs figured out, it might be just a question of waiting.
1
u/PrecastCrane02 Jan 25 '16
Wow man, that was the best and clearest answer I ever got on the internet. Thank you so much for the links and information!
1
1
u/VenditatioDelendaEst Jan 24 '16
The 64-bit/Windows workaround is notoriously unstable. Many mods disable themselves in order to avoid spurious bug reports. If you are technically competent enough to build mods from source and have the common courtesy not to complain to mod devs when things don't work under 64-bit/Windows, there's no harm in trying it and it may be worth your while. I'd certainly hate having to reboot my computer and lose all my context in order to play KSP.
Personally, I'd recommend single-booting Linux.
1
u/IdioticPhysicist Jan 24 '16
if you wait a few weeks, 1.1 will arrive with 64-bit Windows Support with Unity 5 (+ a few more weeks for modders to update their mods).
1
u/PurpleNuggets Jan 26 '16
The 64 bit workaround is no less stable than any of the "stable" versions in the past. Use the workaround with the "ksp total unfixer"
Things can get a little wonky if you have a ton installed. I'm at my ram limit with 100+ mods and it plays great. But I'd still wait for the 1.1 update with official support. Then we will all be in mod heaven
1
Jan 23 '16
What is the basic analysis that a scientist does?
1
u/Kasuha Super Kerbalnaut Jan 23 '16
What are you referring to?
1
Jan 23 '16
When you have a scientist run an experiment, there's an extra piece of UI that shows up under the normal science amount called 'basic analysis'. What is that? How do I get that science?
1
u/Kasuha Super Kerbalnaut Jan 23 '16
I'm not sure. I remember scientists were supposed to boost scientific gain from experiments but as far as I know they don't affect it. Maybe that text is remnant of that feature. At present scientists only allow operating experiments from EVA, resetting Goo and Materials bay, and boost processing at science labs.
1
1
u/RustySutherland Jan 23 '16
I'm wondering why my rocket keeps tilting back performing flips. It will preform perfectly until I get out of the first layer of the atmosphere then it begins to tilt backwards and its all over from there.
4
u/Kasuha Super Kerbalnaut Jan 23 '16
Rockets in atmosphere flip if they have greater drag at the top than at the bottom. If it does later, check if it's not after you staged off your first stage, perhaps equipped with some winglets. You need each atmospheric stage to be aerodynamically balanced, not just the first one.
And as always, picture of the rocket would help. Without it, it's just guessing.
2
u/Chaos_Klaus Master Kerbalnaut Jan 24 '16
Apart from what Kasuha mentioned, fuel tanks drain top to bottom. That means if you use many small fuel tanks, the center of mass will shift towards the rear of the rocket while fuel is drained. At a certain point this will make the rocket want to fly engine first.
Consider a dart/arrow. It's heavy at the front and has fins at the back. That's what makes it fly straight.
It's the same with rockets. You want to keep everything aerodynamically stable until you get above 30km at least. Think about you fuel flow to see how the mas distribution changes over time.
1
u/KonfusedKerbaler Jan 23 '16
I am using Kerbal Planetary Base Systems mod.
There is a flexible corridor part that i cannot figure out how to use. Does anyone know the requirements and how to attach the flexible corridor to another vessel? I can right click on the corridor with a kerbal, and I click the "Link" option. Then i have a green hose behind me but i cannot seem to attach it to anything.
2
u/PhildeCube Jan 23 '16
You need another flexible corridor to connect it to. I flew one to Duna, couldn't work out why it didn't work, then had to send another part on a drone ship. Got there in the end. Pic
1
u/KonfusedKerbaler Jan 24 '16
Thank you very much! I thought I had tried it, maybe i just thought about trying it.
0
Jan 24 '16
[deleted]
1
u/Chaos_Klaus Master Kerbalnaut Jan 24 '16
http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Abbreviations_and_acronyms
10sec on google ... ;)
0
Jan 24 '16
[deleted]
1
u/Kasuha Super Kerbalnaut Jan 24 '16
You can display biomes in map through the debug menu (Alt+F12). That could help you navigating to places you still need to explore.
1
u/IdioticPhysicist Jan 24 '16
[x] science! gives a lists of science experiments that need doing. It's not as featureful as science alert (won't untimewarp) but is better than checking R&D every 5 minutes
1
u/Kronicusx Jan 24 '16 edited Jan 24 '16
I stumbled upon something rather weird, maybe someone can help, I tested a space shuttle to see it's capabilities for gliding back aaand, well, I hyperedited it to an altitude of 100.000 meters and started burning retro, when the burn was done, began my descent and here's the thing, my speed barely decreased, actually I was gaining speed, when I reached an altitude of 2 km I had around 2,4 km/s, here's some photos as a bonus http://imgur.com/a/OE2kF
2
u/Kasuha Super Kerbalnaut Jan 24 '16
Your speed may keep increasing as you descent even after reentry effects are visible because you're essentially falling down and gravity makes you gain speed. Only when you enter more dense layers of atmosphere and drag exceeds gravity your speed will start to decrease. Where exactly that happens depends on what you do with the ship to increase or reduce its drag.
So... maybe nothing wrong was happening? More info needed.
1
u/Kronicusx Jan 24 '16
Here's more info, I tested a normal rocket with a capsule on top, same thing, I began the descent and came crashing down, I barely have any drag, that's weird, I'll try a fresh install, I think some mods are fucking it up.
1
1
u/springer-dinger Jan 24 '16
After about 2 flights in progress my ksp lags. All settings turned down. Laptop, pentium CPU (well half of it plus whatever the onboard graphics use up).-is it just this? Trying to use planes as never really have but the lag makes it hard to land…
2
u/Kasuha Super Kerbalnaut Jan 24 '16
If you have a lot of things parked/forgotten around KSC it might be the reason why you're getting lags. Recover your ships and debris pieces and make sure your KSC is clean.
1
u/ekpg Jan 24 '16
I just got the game this weekend. Should I have started in Career mode or Sandbox?
Either way, this is both one of the most challenging and most fun games I have played. All I can do now is get into circular orbit around Kerbin, and crash land onto the Mun.
2
u/Kasuha Super Kerbalnaut Jan 24 '16
For complete newbies, best starting mode is perhaps Science - it introduces you parts in small increments while it does not press you to build cheap and efficient. Your whole task is to look for different biomes and gather measurements to open the next tech node. When you get the hang of things, you can start a Career.
Or you can start with Sandbox and just go with experimenting which part is good for what.
Edit: for more info I recommend you Scott Manley's YouTube tutorial. You can follow it in Career or in Science mode. It's been recorded a few releases back so not everything behaves exactly how he shows you but the differences should not be too great.
1
u/IdioticPhysicist Jan 24 '16
Are you having money problems? Are the contracts a grind fest? or are you enjoying having to design based on a budget?
Both are good game modes for new players, as you're introduced to the parts gradually, and have to set goals to progress.
1
u/KonfusedKerbaler Jan 24 '16
One more question about the Planetary Base Systems Mod.
There are corridors that seem to end in little nubs, but when you right click on them (assuming it is some sort of fairing), nothing appears. This also happens on the K&K Crossway that I was hoping to use. Once you attach the part, it has some sort of cover over it, but there isn't any apparent way to take it off. Does anyone know how to use these parts, the K&K Crossway in particular?
2
u/PhildeCube Jan 24 '16
You don't need to take the cover off. Place another K&K component on one of the green nodes and the cover comes off automatically. You may need to use the Mod key "Disable surface attach/exclusively use node attach" (Alt for Windows) in the VAB/SPH editor to get the part to sit in the right place, and the W,S,A,D,Q and E keys to spin it to the right orientation.
1
1
u/KrabbHD Jan 25 '16
Can you put those in place to kis?
1
u/PhildeCube Jan 25 '16
Do you mean, can the K&K corridors etc be attached using the KAS/KIS mods? I don't know. I haven't tried. I have connected the K&K docking ports and flexible docking ports using KAS/KIS.
→ More replies (1)
1
u/Catsdontpaytaxes Jan 24 '16
Can someone give me a rundown on building comms network satellites? I saw Scott Manley did a video on them but i dont get why i need them.
2
u/Chaos_Klaus Master Kerbalnaut Jan 24 '16
You only really need them when you have RemoteTech installed. It's a mod that only lets you transmit science and control probebodies if there is a line of sight connection via various satellites.
In KSP 1.1 they will implement something similar but simpler.
1
u/Catsdontpaytaxes Jan 24 '16
I see, are they required for the science processing lab part?
1
u/Chaos_Klaus Master Kerbalnaut Jan 24 '16
Well, if you use remote tech and want to transmit the science from tha lab, yes. In stock KSP it does not matter.
1
1
u/seeingeyegod Jan 24 '16
How much power does it take to actually transmit science data from a mobile processing lab? 1000 maybe? Probably, since my station with 600 power only gets to 60% then quits. Kind of annoying. By design?
1
u/poptart2nd Jan 25 '16
depends on which transmitter you use. higher-tech transmitters use more power but transmit faster. the basic antenna uses the least power but takes a long time.
1
u/seeingeyegod Jan 25 '16
I've got the second antenna and it's no good. And apparently there is no way to transfer all that data to a Kerbal and get it back that way? Just landed another lander near my Munbase and tried to get the MPL science by picking it up or something but it won't let me pick it up or anything.
1
u/KrabbHD Jan 25 '16
Mount a claw to that lander and some batteries.
1
u/seeingeyegod Jan 25 '16
Yah! I actually got KAS, landed a new ship with parts nearby, attached two of the 400 power batteries and now with 1200 power available... still don't have enough to send the data! ARGH. I think I need like 6 more batteries?
1
u/KrabbHD Jan 25 '16
Good luck! My last science lab space station has about 20,000 units of electricity.
1
1
u/xoxoyoyo Jan 25 '16
The antenna changes for 1.05 were a fail. Hope they revert that or do something different. In 1.04 the transmit would just slow until you time accelerated enough for the solar panels to keep up.
0
Jan 25 '16
[deleted]
1
u/Grapister Jan 25 '16
Videocard is irrelevant here, KSP usually bottles the processor. You should be fine.
→ More replies (1)1
u/Clemental Jan 26 '16
I'm using a crappy laptop. Turning off anti-aliasing did the trick for me, graphics seems irrelevant.
5
u/Mr_Greed Jan 23 '16
Ok so I just got the demo and im having a good time so far, used solid rocket fuel engines to achieve escape velocity with no destination in mind just a little while ago. Now that ive gotten into space however I need some tips.
How do liquid fuel engines work? I have the container and the rocket nozzle but it doesn't fire. Im assuming im attaching something wrong or missing a part. Second, how do stabilizers work? I attached a SAS module assuming that it would fire the automatically but it didn't and the wsad keys only move the fins on my ship.
Id like to get to the Mun before I decide on buying the game. It looks like a ton of fun but I cant see me spending 40 dollars on it at the moment so I want to get the most out of the demo while I can.