Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Putnam]

I have no idea why some people have such difficulty getting into orbit.

Spoiler: One of my normal spaceship designs (ugly) and secret to getting into orbit (click to show/hide)

USE MOAR THRUST. Treat your thrust like an ork treats munitions. I have a version of this specifically for going to the mun; it has an extra tier of solid boosters at the start. Solid boosters are just that, boosters. Use them to get out of the atmosphere. Liquid fuel rockets are for getting into orbit once you're already 80 km up.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Well, after doing some rather simple tests, I have demonstrated that sometimes, running two stages parallel to each other during rocket flight is a bad idea.

Test 1:

Flying this standard rocket:


Test 1- Using the standard rocket, flew to a maximum of 21555 +/- 10m from the surface of Kerbin until velocity turned negative (fuel ran out almost a minute before). To be used as a benchmark.

Test 2-4:

Flying this standard rocket:


Test 2- Using only liquid engine (leaving solid-fuel engines attached, but without igniting them) flew to a maximum of 8255 +/- 10m from the surface of Kerbin until velocity turned negative.
Test 3- Using both liquid engine and solid fuel thrusters simultaneously, flew to a maximum of 23660 +/- 10m from the surface of Kerbin until velocity turned negative.
Test 40 Using both liquid engine and solid fuel thrusters concurrently (using thrusters first, then after thrusters ran out of fuel, detached thrusters and activated liquid engine simultaneously), flew to a maximum of 58700 +/- 10m from the surface of Kerbin until velocity turned negative.

Conclusion: Based on these results, one can tell that, plain and simply, running two flight stages simultaneously does not go well every time- in fact, it can severely hinder your maximum height reached. However, this has yet to be tested for larger rockets, where some stages acting alone may not be able propel the remainder of the rocket to significant heights before running out of fuel. Still worth taking into consideration for any future rocket designs.

Firstly, "concurrently" and "simultaneously" are the same thing. The word you wanted is "consecutively".

And next, there is the simple matter of the fact that the energy required to accelerate a rocket in atmosphere increases geometrically as its speed increases. With three boosters and a liquid engine, you are providing way too much thrust, attempting to accelerate the rocket too fast in the thick part of the atmosphere, and losing a lot of energy to drag. This is on top of the mentioned increase of rocket effectiveness with altitude.

In other news, I made it to Duna with a fairly straightforward rocket.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

(first two screens actually from a different revision of the rocket)

[Thendash]

(first two screens actually from a different revision of the rocket)

That apparently failed horribly as Bob is not present in the other screens. But good job on getting there! But can you get back? That's the part I'm stuck at, but I think I've developed a decent enough design that if I'm a good enough pilot should have enough fuel to make it back home. I'll post screens if it works out.

[Sean Mirrsen]

(first two screens actually from a different revision of the rocket)

That apparently failed horribly as Bob is not present in the other screens. But good job on getting there! But can you get back? That's the part I'm stuck at, but I think I've developed a decent enough design that if I'm a good enough pilot should have enough fuel to make it back home. I'll post screens if it works out.

It failed in part because of a stupid physics bug. When I switched the map screen on and off, the booster stage detached and flew through the lander, taking the NERVA with it and blowing off the capsule's chute. I had to navigate to Duna on the lander, which ran out of fuel rather shortly. But, the capsule has linear RCS mounted on the underside of the tank, specifically for extra propulsion. The capsule made it to Duna, but I jammed the wrong key by accident, and didn't decelerate in time, hitting the surface at 300m/s. I had enough RCS fuel for a powered landing, even though I didn't have a chute, but alas - it was not to be.

The second rocket, as you see, made it safely to the planet. But yes, there isn't enough fuel left to actually plot a route home, even including the RCS of the capsule. I could definitely do it if I could plot a more efficient rendezvous with Duna by hand. Burned a lot of fuel trying to line up the orbit and timing. You know, it'd help if planets had some more information on them - like their rotation period, so you can at least guesstimate at which point your orbits should intersect, based on your time to apoapsis.

[sneakey pete]

this is very handy for interplanetary transfers

As for landing and getting back, i cannot seem to construct anything near big enough that doesn't explode on the pad/during 1st stage from the stock parts.

edit: in general though, i'm kind of dissapointed with the attitude they seem to have taken to this release, being "lets just add stuff and let the mod community sort out a way to use it". There's no tools to get to other planets in the game (eg path planning with waypoints etc), and no tools to construct the necessary rockets (docking.)

[Sean Mirrsen]

Ah, but that's part of the challenge. Anyone will be able to plot a course to Duna or Eve when they have waypoints. It'll just be point&click, with a modicum of skill required to actually follow the route.

And here's the beastie I plan on using for a "there and back again" trip to Duna, the upgraded Longshot MkIII:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Changes since last version is the re-addition of the booster stage for the NERVA module, to save fuel on getting to actual orbit, and some staging optimization.

[Lightning4]

One thing that makes me sad is how frequently parachutes just pop right off. I guess they're really sensitive to speed.

I spent like 30 minutes trying to save a Kerbalnaut and the command pod he was in by using the suit thrusters. I actually succeeded in breaking his orbit.
Sadly, after a few seconds of slowing in the atmosphere with the parachute deployed, it just popped like my hopes and dreams. His jetpack was not enough to slow his fall and into the drink he went, at lethal velocity.
My attempts at saving rogue Kerbalnauts have only ended in failure.


I've also noticed that changing warp often leads to the parachute popping straight off.

[LoSboccacc]

You can put a pair of fuel tank over the booseters and feed te liquid engine from those, getting more trust and dropping the tank weight along with the booster

[sneakey pete]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Didn't have the fuel to make it back, so i decided to make a landing to make him an easier target to send a rescue mission to eventually. Good news is that landing on the planet seems like its easy enough, parachutes make it easier than the mun even.

Ah, but that's part of the challenge. Anyone will be able to plot a course to Duna or Eve when they have waypoints. It'll just be point&click, with a modicum of skill required to actually follow the route.

But it'd be about designing a rocket that can do the thigns you need it to do, which is what I'm in this game for as much as anything. Not to mention the cool images along the way

And here's the beastie I plan on using for a "there and back again" trip to Duna, the upgraded Longshot MkIII:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

If that's something that could get to duna... I may have been seriously overdoing my rockets.

[Sean Mirrsen]

And here's the beastie I plan on using for a "there and back again" trip to Duna, the upgraded Longshot MkIII:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

If that's something that could get to duna... I may have been seriously overdoing my rockets.

That's essentially what already gets to Duna. It has a rather slow start, because it has to finish its initial orbital burn with the NERVA engines (and for this reason it sorta requires a rather strange egress trajectory), but all in all, it's workable. I am far from a great astronavigator, too, so I bet this design could easily get to Jool. Maybe not Moho, it probably doesn't have enough delta-v for it, but Eve, Duna, and Jool are probably all within the realm of possibility. I'm trying to make it carry a bigger lander now, so that it can make a return trip from Duna as well.

Latest experiment with launching the heavier lander was met with failure. Even with the added booster stage, there is too much mass to establish orbit. At least manually. I think I'll need a third booster set for the main egress stage. Maybe I could just expand the first booster set to double or triple boosters, so I can save more fuel for higher altitudes.

[Rex_Nex]

This is really bugging me. I've been trying to download the patch for the last few days, and every time I bother to try the website is down. uasdsadkandsa

[ank]

Go to that other Bay and get it from there instead.
If you paid for it, I don't think they care how you got it.

[LoSboccacc]

Firefox + downthemall + fulldownload

[Aptus]

My strategy of screw you game I will not do math on my free time is almost working. I nearly hit the mun this time by just going in it's general direction, I think I was going too fast though since I blasted straight past it :p Guess I will have to get some way to slow down when I get closer to it.

[Graknorke]

My strategy of screw you game I will not do math on my free time is almost working. I nearly hit the mun this time by just going in it's general direction, I think I was going too fast though since I blasted straight past it :p Guess I will have to get some way to slow down when I get closer to it.

You made a rocket powerful enough to get to the Mun... just by firing upwards?
Show us it.