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[GreatWyrmGold]

"Shoot for Minmus, for if you fail, you will explode among the stars."
--Unknown (possibly because he exploded)

[3_14159]

From your standard construction pattern, it seems as if you have a problem with too-long rockets. This is one of the mistakes I am also prone to do. Basically, imagine the following: Take a long ruler and push it from below. If you begin slightly swinging it, this vibration will continue.
Now, take an eraser and stick it on the top. Now, every time you move the ruler the vibration gets even stronger. This, of course, makes the rocket much, much more unstable. That was the problem of Minmusshot IV.

Now, from my experience, you can do a Minmus return with just a tiny bit of fuel. The Minmus to Kerbin stage you had shown last is probably nearly enough to get from Minmus orbit to the surface and back to Kerbin. Probably.

Then, a tip for general rocket construction: You want it to look roughly pyramid-shaped. So, try this:
Take the Kerbin-Lander and the Minmus --> Kerbin stage as you have designed. Add a single Science Junior plus two of the Goo canisters to the Kerbin lander. One single science mission with them should bring you about 100 science if you return them.
Then, add a single Tricoupler under it, and add three fuel tanks plus engines there. That's all you'll need. Build your stages from those three, with three decouplers and struts between them. That should probably work and - if you don't make the rocket too big - be maneuverable, too.

Lastly, there is a tip I can give you: Use either MechJeb or FlightEngineer (haven't used the latter). Not for landing, just during vessel building. This will give you information about the thrust to weight ratio (which could have prevented something from your past...) and the available deltaV. With the KSP Cheat Sheet, that should help you calculate the actual requirements. Of course, you could do it per hand, with enough time, but this generally makes it easier.

"Shoot for Minmus, for if you fail, you will explode among the stars."
--Unknown (possibly because he exploded)

Shoot for the moon.

[Aseaheru]

Want a rocket design? Or shall we just sit here and laugh?

[GreatWyrmGold]

Want a rocket design? Or shall we just sit here and laugh?

You don't read well, do you?

-snip-

Pretty good advice, pi.
People keep recommending Mechanical Jeb. Where is it and how do I use it?

"Shoot for Minmus, for if you fail, you will explode among the stars."
--Unknown (possibly because he exploded)

Shoot for the moon.

Ah, Randall Munroe. You always crack me up.

Anyways. Update shortly.

[BigD145]

http://jenkins.mumech.com/job/MechJeb2/ Use version 168. I have experience with it being mostly stable. If you make a ship that's too front heavy it may chase its tail with maneuver nodes.

[sum1won]

Ok.  So I got the demo, and my ships keep flipping over early in launch.  What am I doing?

[GreatWyrmGold]

http://jenkins.mumech.com/job/MechJeb2/ Use version 168. I have experience with it being mostly stable. If you make a ship that's too front heavy it may chase its tail with maneuver nodes.

Neat.

And I'm sorry I lied about getting started on the update, but my laptop battery died and my charging cord just isn't working. So yeah, no updates for a little while.

[BFEL]

http://jenkins.mumech.com/job/MechJeb2/ Use version 168. I have experience with it being mostly stable. If you make a ship that's too front heavy it may chase its tail with maneuver nodes.

Neat.

And I'm sorry I lied about getting started on the update, but my laptop battery died and my charging cord just isn't working. So yeah, no updates for a little while.

LIAR! YOU DIRTY LYING LIAR! HOW DARE YOU LIE TO US?!? US! YOUR ONLY FRIENDS!

Ok.  So I got the demo, and my ships keep flipping over early in launch.  What am I doing?

Probably shoulda posted this in the actual KSP thread, but yeah your ship is apparently really top heavy. Your rocket is too big at the top, not big enough at the bottom.

Or alternatively you could add a bunch of torque parts

[GreatWyrmGold]

I've got lost of friends elsewhere on Bay12. And a few in real life, even!

Anyways, thanks to my roommate's laptop's charging cord being similar enough to mine to work, and how he usually leaves his laptop (and cord) in his room, I have a stopgap measure! Not likely enough to get a post up tonight, unless I get lucky with quickly navigating public transit to the nearest Best Buy, but I should have an update tomorrow at least.

[GreatWyrmGold]

No cord but yes stubbornness.

Let's get to work on designing a whole new spacecraft. Quickly, so I can launch it before my battery dies. Screenshots aren't working, sadly, so I'll describe it.

A command pod with legs and a parachute--the Kerbin lander. A mid-sized (for now) fuel tank and a high-ISP engine--the Minmus launch-offer. A tri-coupler, some lab stuff, some larger fuel tanks, and more of those rockets--the Minmus lander. Three more fuel tanks with higher-thrust engines--the Minmus-reacher. Six solid fuel boosters strapped to the edges--orbiting. Six decouplers--launch-pad cushions. Sending Bill up because he was fist in line.

Spins begin upon launch. I recall that I didn't strut anything to anything, nor did I add extra command pods for torque. Oh well.

Solid fuel half gone at ~2800 meters, speed just over 178 m/s. We pass 200 m/s at 3500 and two-thirds gone. Throttle has no effect on these things, so I can't avoid wasting delta-v in the lower atmosphere.
7500 meters, most of the way to the gravity turn. 343 m/s on the nose. Solid fuel ninety-odd percent gone.
Solid fuel boosters ejected at nine kilometers and 388 m/s. The reaction wheels in the cockpit slow down and stop the roll. Gravity turn, a bit late. I try getting the apoapsis up, and it takes me several precious seconds to realize that the fuel in the current stage ran out. Already on landing engines, I try to salvage the mission, burning more vertical than not.
I bring the apoapsis up to a bit under 71 kilometers.
I try to set up a maneuver node to take me around to a nice orbit, but reach it before I finish. I start burning, realize I've burn up half my fuel. We're nearly out before we get a topside apoapsis. Scrapping it. Maybe half an hour of charge left in my laptop, so I'll wrap this up and call it an update.

Thoughts?

[BFEL]

Its funny how your SRBs are empty at 9 kilometers and mine aren't even turned on until 11 km.

BECAUSE AERODYNAMICS.

Why yes, I WILL shove this in your face at every opportunity

Ever heard of the FTL egg?
Lemme find it on Youtube... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EZWbF3sQQI
that's Scott Manley showing what it does.

But yeah, I want to find a way to use that as my first stage.

[ShadowHammer]

I too must recommend aerodynamics. I just discovered the awesomeness today, and managed to get this 11 part ship to Mun.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

It did land on Mun with 0.08 liquid fuel left, but it still got there!

[BigD145]

It's not that hard to get tiny ships on the Mun. Ships that start pretty small.

[sum1won]

Its funny how your SRBs are empty at 9 kilometers and mine aren't even turned on until 11 km.

BECAUSE AERODYNAMICS.

Why yes, I WILL shove this in your face at every opportunity

Ever heard of the FTL egg?
Lemme find it on Youtube... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EZWbF3sQQI
that's Scott Manley showing what it does.

But yeah, I want to find a way to use that as my first stage.

Could you cool it with the aerodynamics schtick?  It's pretty obvious at this point that he's not going to just off and do it until he gets to that point.

[MarcAFK]

It's kinda cheaty using jets that way, they really only manage huge efficiency at high speeds, which sadly the game doesn't actually take into account, so even though I can (possibly)  launch an orange tank with only 6 parts at 10 meters per second, it's not really that much fun.