Print

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

[Aseaheru]

The smallest RCS tanks (.5m) can be radially mounted.

and Ions are fucking SLOW now...

ANd s it just me or did somone ramp up there xenon consumption?

[Descan]

The "And...?" is that the markers that tell the tutorial that "Oh hey the craft is now in orbit" have changed, without the tutorial realizing it. So it's looking for a marker that either doesn't exist or doesn't change when a craft goes into a circular orbit any more.

IIRC the makers modified how the game determines where a craft is relative to orbital and orbiting bodies in order to save on calculations needed and thereby make the game run faster (I remember something about sometimes it'll be the SUN changing position and not your space ship, or the planet you're escaping from/entering-into-SoI/orbitting will be the one changing position relative to your ship)

This change might be what is interfering. But it could be any number of changes, .20 and .21 were fairly major both in front-end (Career mode and modifying parts) and in the back-end (aforementioned calculation modification)

[Putnam]

what is it that you need to learn, tell me, and i will provide you an useless tutorial free of charge

The controls.

Specific.

[GreatWyrmGold]

The "And...?" is that the markers that tell the tutorial that "Oh hey the craft is now in orbit" have changed, without the tutorial realizing it. So it's looking for a marker that either doesn't exist or doesn't change when a craft goes into a circular orbit any more.

Oh.
That's not convenient.

what is it that you need to learn, tell me, and i will provide you an useless tutorial free of charge

The controls.

Specific.

When I have a specific query I'll ask it.
Although the whole "get into orbit and end up roughly where the Mun is" thing is a bit arcane to me. And it seems important.


Anyways. No TTMp2, so back to jets. I make a nice, big one I call the Microraptor because it has four wings. It comes with an eject button and was intended as a VTOL craft. Jebediah, our pilot, noted that the plane fell in a sad medium between "able to take off" and "awesome explosions". He reported that the cockpit was fun to roll around in, though. The Microraptor was redesigned; pilot Jebediah Kerman noted that it did a backflip without him needing to do anything and that the crash at the end of the backflip was satisfyingly explosive. Additional weight in the form of fuel tanks was added to the front and the launch sequence modified. The Microraptor again began to backflip and crash. (If the pilot ejects first, it isn't a crash!) Aft fuel tanks were moved forward and a passenger compartment added towards the front. Four ranking engineers died due to frontflip, which Jebediah Kerman noted was "an interesting change". The passenger compartment was removed, but the Microraptor continued to frontflip. The fuel tanks were moved back slightly. It flipped sideways, much to Jebediah's surprise. Engineers installed the other aft fuel tank and it flipped backwards. They inched it forwards, it flipped backwards. They threw pens at it, it flipped backwards. I decide to take a break from KSP.

[BigD145]

There are buttons for center of mass, thrust, and lift in the SPH/VAB.

[BullDog]

what is it that you need to learn, tell me, and i will provide you an useless tutorial free of charge

The controls.

Here is a list of the controls. Also, if you need tutorials, check here or here.

[dragnar]

Although the whole "get into orbit and end up roughly where the Mun is" thing is a bit arcane to me. And it seems important.

Allow me to direct you to the glorious glory of "maneuver nodes". Click along your path to make a node, then drag the Prograde symbol (same as on the navball) until the projected orbit lines up with the Mun's. Then, just click the middle of the node to drag it around your orbit until it shows an encounter. Poof, you've got both time to burn and directino of burn displayed on the nav ball.

And yeah, if you need some more in-depth tutorials, I can't recommend Scott Manley's tutorial series highly enough.

...Also can I just take a moment to say that's like, the most awesome name that is real I've ever heard? Seriously. It's pronounced Scott Manly for crying out loud.

[BigD145]

And yeah, if you need some more in-depth tutorials, I can't recommend Scott Manley's tutorial series highly enough.

He restarted recently.

[GreatWyrmGold]

what is it that you need to learn, tell me, and i will provide you an useless tutorial free of charge

The controls.

Here is a list of the controls. Also, if you need tutorials, check here or here.

Thanks for the recommendations.

Although the whole "get into orbit and end up roughly where the Mun is" thing is a bit arcane to me. And it seems important.

Allow me to direct you to the glorious glory of "maneuver nodes". Click along your path to make a node, then drag the Prograde symbol (same as on the navball) until the projected orbit lines up with the Mun's. Then, just click the middle of the node to drag it around your orbit until it shows an encounter. Poof, you've got both time to burn and directino of burn displayed on the nav ball.

I've figured out the maneuver node thing, just not the "make it hit the Mun" thing.

...Also can I just take a moment to say that's like, the most awesome name that is real I've ever heard? Seriously. It's pronounced Scott Manly for crying out loud.

He's even Scottish.


I do a bit of "house cleaning," which consists of deleting old designs for stuff I'll never use. Many half-assembled and/or obsolete jets and a few highly explosive drones were tossed into a pile out back and lit in fire. That's when we discovered that Jebediah Kerman was sleeping in one of them. He died again.

I try flying one of the stock jets. Jebediah Kerman reported, after his two-and-a-half-minute flight that ended with his demise by crashing into a mountain on an offshore island, that it was easy to fly and handled well. He requested that these features be removed from future planes.

I decide to see how simple of a rocket can make it into orbit. One Landercan, one reaction wheel, one decoupler, one Jumbo-64 tank, one Mainsail. I was a bit doubtful at first, but then as fuel was expended and the kilometers weakened the pull of gravity, I had hope. And you know what?
We didn't quite make it.
Final apoapsis: Nearly 82 kilometers. We crashed about three minutes later. We didn't have room for a receiving radio antenna, which is probably part of why KerTube videos of the two crew-members as they realize they're not in orbit is already one of the most-viewed videos. Lengan Kerman, high of stupidity and low in courage, attempted to escape. He failed to achieve orbit, but he did buy himself a few minutes. It has been suggested that all future space helmets be equipped with a new device known as a Lengan Navchip to help them avoid such situations and get into orbit. This was nearly implemented until it was discovered that the Lengan Navchips appeared to be K-Scout Cookies that the daughter of one of the engineers was trying to pass off as computer chips. The girl was later said that K-Mints were not the best choice of cookie for such a procedure.
Another stage, one tank and one engine, is added. Hans and Sidfred Kerman, the latter possessing much of the Kerbal virtues of Courage and Stupidity, the former possessing almost none. Ascent was a bit wobbly; a touch of manual control supplemented the SAS. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the ascent was a bit slower than the first attempt's. Upon dropping the first stage, these problems virtually vanished. With nearly nine kilometers and an uncertain amount of vertical velocity added to the original design, it was hoped that this little craft could make it to space! And, you know, not fall right back down. It had a respectable apoapsis a bit above 80 kilometers when it started coasting, only about a third a tank of fuel left. And then someone accidentally hit spacebar and the launch had to be restarted. Three minutes, wasted. Much more stable first part, though. We reach apoapsis a hair under 80 kilometers, shove the periapsis just above atmosphere, and wait for the new apoapsis, more than half a megameter above the surface and on the opposite side, about half an hour away. They circularized their orbit with a bit more fuel, but they still had some! Hans and Sidfred proudly high-fived each other about their accomplishment. They were so close to becoming the first kerbals to reach orbit and return alive. All they had to do was point for Kermin, burn off their orbit, decouple, release their parachute...wait, why is there no "Release Parachute" button?
The two kerbals panicked, but settled down after a few days. They are now a hit reality TV show.

New idea: Pirate raiders attacking the reality TV show for undefined reasons!

[Twi]

GWG, you should do that more often.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Do what?

[Twi]

Write that sort of thing. Make a KSP LP or something. This is amaaazing.

[Twi]

I've figured out the maneuver node thing, just not the "make it hit the Mun" thing.

The non-sciency version: Put yourself into a roughly equatorial orbit heading east over Kerbin. Wait for the Mun to rise, then burn prograde until you hit encounter.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Write that sort of thing. Make a KSP LP or something. This is amaaazing.

I've been thinking of something like this. KSP is pretty ideal for my LPing capabilities (ie, no video), since there usually isn't much action.

Of course, every time I think about using my writing for something I feel a tiny pang of guilt for putting off whatever my latest writing idea is (currently, a story based off of my first XCOM playthrough). Still, I think this could be good too.

I've figured out the maneuver node thing, just not the "make it hit the Mun" thing.

Use the maneouver node to get an intercept with the body (mun, eve, kerbin, kerbol, whatever), burn the way the node tells you to, once you get into the body's SoI, face the opposite direction to that which you are travelling, then burn until you are in orbit (to create an orbit) or have no lateral velocity (to land). Wait to get close-ish to the surface, point upwards, and burn. Give yourself enough time, but not so much that you waste fuel. (I've never been good at judging this), and, once near the surface (at this point, you should be going pretty slow), try to make your velocity as close to 0 as possible when you land.

The "get the maneuver node to an intercept" bit is the tricky part. How do you tell where the intercepted body will be in however much time?

[Twi]

That changes depending on how you set patched conics (that is, the way it displays when you change Spheres of Influence.)

For the most energy-efficient results, you want a Hohmann transfer. The Phase Angle Calculator is good for interplanetary stuff, just remember inclination. For the Mun, you can approximate this with surprising ease: get into a low orbit on Kerbin and burn prograde at Munrise.
Minmus is MUCH easier to land on, but you might have to fiddle with timing and inclination to get there.