Kerbal Space Program

[sojourner]

Yep. It was more of an exploit. Squad was trying to model thrusters having more torque farther away from the COM. It worked too well you could say. So they ditched that bit of code.

[TheGodBen]

It looks like my wishes have been granted; 0.19 will introduce re-entry heat and some improvements to atmospheric drag, with further improvements in 0.20.

[sojourner]

I hear they are moving to Unity 4 for the game engine, so we should see some performance improvements. Which means bigger ships!

[Owain Taggart]

I so need to get this game. It's sounding better and better the more I hear about it.

[TheGodBen]

sojourner wrote:

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I hear they are moving to Unity 4 for the game engine, so we should see some performance improvements. Which means bigger ships!

And the move to Unity 4 should be coming in 0.18.3, which will be out in the next few weeks. I might be able to visit my space station again without risking my computer melting.

Owain Taggart wrote:

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I so need to get this game. It's sounding better and better the more I hear about it.

It's definitely the game I'm most excited for right now. It still needs a lot of work, but the team developing it seem to be moving in the right direction, and it's unlike any other game being developed right now (that I know of). Besides, there's something very relaxing about watching a satellite fly in a low orbit across the surface of another world.

I completed my mission to land a probe on every body in the system a few weeks ago, but that wore me out a bit and I haven't played it since then. Tylo was definitely the greatest challenge, it's high gravity and no atmosphere meant I had to have a stage dedicated to killing its orbital velocity, followed by a sky-crane that landed the probe then flew away to crash. Pol was the most fun landing, I landed on a 30° slope, managed to stay upright, and then spent the next two minutes uncontrollably skidding down the hill.

[Saturn0660]

Owain Taggart wrote:

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I so need to get this game. It's sounding better and better the more I hear about it.

It's fun... Other then the Demo is SOOOOOO much easier then the full game. I think i've killed more Kerbals in the name of "progress" then anyone else on here.

[sojourner]

The demo is being updated soon.

[Saturn0660]

Good to hear indeed.. The full game is still insanely hard for me.

[sojourner]

Get the mechjeb addon. Makes things much easier and watching how it works helps in learning how to do things on your own.

[TheGodBen]

Saturn0660 wrote:

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Good to hear indeed.. The full game is still insanely hard for me.

What are you having trouble with? Are you struggling to adjust to things like getting into orbit with the new balancing, or are you attempting new things like landing on other planets?

One thing I'd advise is to go in baby-steps, like a real space program. Don't try to send a 3-kerbal lander to Mun like in the demo, the redone scale of part sizes makes that a lot harder. First, safely land a tiny probe there, similar to the ones I made in that image I posted. The smaller your lander, the smaller and simpler your entire rocket has to be at launch. If you can manage that, then send a 1-kerbal lander as they're about the same size as the 3-kerbal craft in the demo.

Another trick is to try and land on Minmus before going to Mun. Minmus is slightly harder to get to as it's further away and requires a slight inclination change, but it is much, much easier to land on than Mun for three main reasons.

1. The gravity is much lighter, which makes a huge difference. Landing is slower-paced and it's easier to keep track of all the variables.
2. There are large "ice" lakes on Minmus that are perfectly flat, so you don't have to worry about landing on a slope.
3. The lakes are at 0m elevation, so you know exactly when you're coming in to land. On Mun, the surface is often several km higher than the readout says it is and you have to judge your descent with your eyes, which is an extra hassle you really don't need when still learning how to land.

In truth, Mun is actually one of the hardest bodies in the system to land on because it has relatively high gravity and no atmosphere. Moho, Vall, and Tylo are the only other bodies with no atmosphere and higher gravities than Mun.

[Saturn0660]

I guess my problem is it seems so much harder to build the ships. With the demo you just slapped it together and it was fine. I find myself having a hard time just getting into orbit. I don't know if i'm going with to big a ship and trying to hard. I did download Mechjeb. It's easier using that.

I did manage to get Station Core that comes with the saves already in it. I't out of fuel and I just can't seem to get to it again. Even with a ship I made that gets into orbit fine. <-with extra fuel no less.

[TheGodBen]

Saturn0660 wrote:

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I guess my problem is it seems so much harder to build the ships. With the demo you just slapped it together and it was fine. I find myself having a hard time just getting into orbit. I don't know if i'm going with to big a ship and trying to hard. I did download Mechjeb. It's easier using that.

I did manage to get Station Core that comes with the saves already in it. I't out of fuel and I just can't seem to get to it again. Even with a ship I made that gets into orbit fine. <-with extra fuel no less.

Two things come to mind:

1. Are you using asparagus staging? It's the most fuel-efficient method of getting into orbit as you are dropping empty fuel tanks as they run out.
2. You may be travelling too fast after lifting-off. If you travel too fast in the thickest part of the atmosphere then you lose a lot of fuel in fighting against friction. You'll want to quickly get up to around 100m/s after lift-off, then slowly increase the speed after that so that you're travelling at 250m/s when you reach an elevation of 10,000m. It takes some getting used to, but it does save fuel.

As for intercepting other ships in orbit and docking with them, that's very tricky. Either watch Scott Manley's tutorial and practice, or let mechjeb do it for you.

[sojourner]

Mechjeb doesn't do docking. ORDA does, but you still have to get close to the target craft first (less than 2.25 km, preferably less than 1km) and carry lots of monopropellant for the RCS.

[Saturn0660]

Heres a shot after dumping my engines. Stayed up for 7 days game time. Then did a de-orbit. kept them on till they ran dry. Stayed with me for a bit.
Safe landing.

[TheGodBen]

Now wait until re-entry heat is added and do it again.