Kerbal Space Program

[FunkyNige]

EventHorizon said:

Thanks i gave it a try, got so close to an orbit insertion at Mun all i needed was a 2 second retro burn but controls had gone dead even had a little left in the tank.

Space flight is a cruel mistress.

One of the many things they don't tell you is that you need to keep electrical charge in the ship, you can tell what it is by pressing 'resources' in the top right, that will bring down a list of all the fuel on board (electrical charge is 110/110 in my screenshot above). You'll need to add a solar panel (lots of choices, think they're under utility) and a battery (for when you go into darkness). Once you're out of the atmosphere you need to right click on the panel and press 'extend panels' to make them start working. Engines also create electrical charge so you've got a bit of time once reaching orbit to sort these things out.

[isee]

FunkyNige said:

One of the many things they don't tell you is that you need to keep electrical charge in the ship, you can tell what it is by pressing 'resources' in the top right, that will bring down a list of all the fuel on board (electrical charge is 110/110 in my screenshot above). You'll need to add a solar panel (lots of choices, think they're under utility) and a battery (for when you go into darkness). Once you're out of the atmosphere you need to right click on the panel and press 'extend panels' to make them start working. Engines also create electrical charge so you've got a bit of time once reaching orbit to sort these things out.

I tend to stick with the nuclear generators myself. Less charge per minute but always on and means I can do away with the battery too.

has anyone got a download link for MechJeb 2.0 by the way? I cannot find it anywhere yet see lots of forum posts about it having been released grrr! I want an automatic docking feature!

[jmorgan]

The forum had been down for a while. Back up now and a how to place tanks is in the how to section.


Edit. Looks like not being able connecting to radial connectors is a bug.

Edited by jmorgan on Saturday 20th April 06:39

[EventHorizon]

Ah electricity, they dont mention that in the tutorial. I dont think the demo has solar panels. Any other methods of achieving a moon landing using the demo sand box?

[Rich n Em]

I managed a return trip to Mun, with landing using just demo parts. It's fairly doable.

You don't need much fuel to get back from Mun.

My lander was simply:

Parachute
Command Pod
Decoupler
RCS Fuel tank with 4 x RCS thrusters
Small liquid fuel tank
Small engine
4 x Landing struts

After getting that right, it's just a case of throwing on enough rockets to clear the Kerbin atmosphere and make the burn to Kerbin. That Lander is enough to get a Mun orbit, land and return.

[callmedave]

Rich n Em said:

I managed a return trip to Mun, with landing using just demo parts. It's fairly doable.

You don't need much fuel to get back from Mun.

My lander was simply:

Parachute
Command Pod
Decoupler
RCS Fuel tank with 4 x RCS thrusters
Small liquid fuel tank
Small engine
4 x Landing struts

After getting that right, it's just a case of throwing on enough rockets to clear the Kerbin atmosphere and make the burn to Kerbin. That Lander is enough to get a Mun orbit, land and return.

Awesome!

Ive just managed to get the first bit of my space station into orbit, next is coupling the fuel storage section. then il use this as a waypoint/refuel for a mun lander/return attempt.

After that, il try a mun land & return in one go from lift of at Kerbin and return!

[Rich n Em]

Just had a frustrating couple of hours trying to figure out docking. I can't even get to the point where I'd need to use RCS for the dock, I simply can't get my 2 ships near enough to each other of an orbital rendevous.

More YouTube videos needed on this one.

I get that a lower orbit will catch up the chase vehicle, or a higher orbit if the target is ahead, but I just can't seem to get the 2 to meet when I want them too.


Grrrr,

[IanMorewood]

On the orbital map click on your orbit and add a manoeuvre that intersects with your target, then point at the blue dot and when the time comes make the required burn to put yourself in the same orbit.

[RobGT81]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&amp...

Big carrier ship..

[isee]

so I moved on to some mods now.
Namely Mechjeb 2.0 which can do the whole shebang, from a proper ascent to automatic docking. some see it as cheating I just see it as something that enables me to spend time creating stuff rather than crash it.

Also downloaded NovaPunch and KW rocketry. Both amazing mods that are based on real life rockets and provide some stronger struts to fight the weird wobble.
I made a 2 stage heavy lifter that can put 102tonnes up into orbit. 85 tonnes of which is an efficient nuclear powered rocket with over half an hour's worth of burn time and 6k delta V.
the other 17 tonnes is a truck (actually looks like a 5t military truck). this should allow me to explore the whole solar system without having to refuel at a space station. And the truck come equipped with quite a few retrograde rockets and parachutes so should be universal to land anywhere. (having said that I haven't tried many planets yet so not sure what is in store.)

I also made a cool flying truck to get to the abandoned military base on an island in Kerbin. It has retractable truck wheels and is powered by one turbofan engine

The mods have given this game another dimension!

[jmorgan]

I am finding this snap on bug annoying at the moment, before I get to any mods, I want to build outside what it is allowing me at the moment.

Might log on to the forum and ask the question. I have tried the fix in the fAQ but no joy.

[isee]

jmorgan said:

I am finding this snap on bug annoying at the moment, before I get to any mods, I want to build outside what it is allowing me at the moment.

Might log on to the forum and ask the question. I have tried the fix in the fAQ but no joy.

It's quite easily circumvented
Just place those engines anywhere that it will let you first. once the part has been attached it becomes "greenflagged" to even attach in a way that would partially clip it into another part.
so when trying to add something radially just pop it onto some other part then take it back in place where you wanted to originally.
HTH

[jmorgan]

Been trying that, no joy. Try again later today see what happens. Getting to orbit is no problem but want to get bigger and better and badder...

[isee]

Bedazzled said:

Just press Alt-F12 and enable part clipping... problem solved.

Or that, yes. I also tried infinite fuel. It became boring after about 10 minutes of constant acceleration and only getting to 30km per second out of the 300000 needed for the speed of light. So switched it off and went back to no cheats.

[FunkyNige]

isee said:

The mods have given this game another dimension!

If you want a new challenge the RemoteTech mod adds a bit of realism into the game where you have to set up a communication relay in order to send commands to distant probes, there's proper time delay in sending commands, etc. It's a bit of a pig to get your head around to start with and you'll find a bunch of your early probes go 'Out of contact' and you can't control them any more, but it is satisfying pressing 'burn for 5 seconds' then waiting 30 seconds for the signal to go!

[isee]

FunkyNige said:

If you want a new challenge the RemoteTech mod adds a bit of realism into the game where you have to set up a communication relay in order to send commands to distant probes, there's proper time delay in sending commands, etc. It's a bit of a pig to get your head around to start with and you'll find a bunch of your early probes go 'Out of contact' and you can't control them any more, but it is satisfying pressing 'burn for 5 seconds' then waiting 30 seconds for the signal to go!

That sounds realistic but also fun breaking.
I would however like a mechanism where there was a NEED to send a probe out first to learn about the atmosphere and terrain before you send a proper lander/rover out there. So that all the science modules were there for something other than aesthetics (yes I realise that they work and give a readout, but comms relays do nothing)

I am also hating all the random boulders on the surface of a planet that has no atmosphere... How there hell did they get there? There are no craters, there are exposed boulders and there is no atmosphere???? WTF?

[FunkyNige]

isee said:

That sounds realistic but also fun breaking.
I would however like a mechanism where there was a NEED to send a probe out first to learn about the atmosphere and terrain before you send a proper lander/rover out there. So that all the science modules were there for something other than aesthetics (yes I realise that they work and give a readout, but comms relays do nothing)

I am also hating all the random boulders on the surface of a planet that has no atmosphere... How there hell did they get there? There are no craters, there are exposed boulders and there is no atmosphere???? WTF?

It's a parts based mod so I've just got one saved game with ships that have the part on, then on other saves I don't bother with it. I like the extra challenge, but I'm much happier sending out probes to map the other planets rather than trying to land lots of stuff on Mun!
I also hope they add an element of discovery into the game, being able to know everything about all the bodies takes some of the expoloration part of it away for me, skimming the forums it seems it has been suggested but others don't like it since in real life we knew loads about the planets without having to go up there and take a look.

[DIW35]

Thought I'd give this a go, but having paid my $23 by Paypal, I've not received anything that allows me to download the full version. If I go to the store and click the download button, the only option I get is to download the demo or to purchase the full version, which I've already purchased but not received. Any suggestions?

[jmorgan]

Bedazzled said:

jmorgan said:

I am finding this snap on bug annoying at the moment, before I get to any mods, I want to build outside what it is allowing me at the moment.

Might log on to the forum and ask the question. I have tried the fix in the fAQ but no joy.

Just press Alt-F12 and enable part clipping... problem solved.

Knowing I have tried this in the past and now get a little options screen come up, anyway. Works now. Managed to Clarckson my build. Back to the drawing board.....

[jmorgan]

DIW35 said:

Thought I'd give this a go, but having paid my $23 by Paypal, I've not received anything that allows me to download the full version. If I go to the store and click the download button, the only option I get is to download the demo or to purchase the full version, which I've already purchased but not received. Any suggestions?

Cannot remember how I got mine, did you get a mail acknowledging the sale with a link? There are forums there you could look through and ask?

Looks back through mails.....

Looks like I created a profile for the store page and visited my profile page on the site for the download location.