So... I started playing this game for the first time since career mode came out. I'm really enjoying career mode since having some pretty hard limits at what you can realistically do at any given time gives the game a lot more focus. So far I've managed to orbit the moon and back using the tier 2 parts. Protip: When you haven't invented any way of storing a significant amount of electrical power, don't blow all that power sending data from science experiments back to home base. At least, not when your navigational controls also require power. I literally got back to Kerbin with less than 1% of my power left. On the plus side I got like 80 science from one mission so now I've unlocked robotic probes, batteries, some more rocket stuff... I think Dinkus VI might drop off an automated lander to the surface of the Mun to get some more data. For science.
Edit: Wait, active Kerbal multiplayer? Not passive Kerbal multiplayer? How?
Gundi on
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MetalbourneInside a cluster b personalityRegistered Userregular
So with career mode and getting science I finally have a reason to do more than token probe missions.
Beginning of a two in one mission to send get a Kerbal to do an orbit around the moon and return, while also dropping off a robotic probe.
First time I did this mission I got the Kerbal back safely but the probe ran out of power and slammed into the Mun's surface at like a 100m/s. Luckily with the science from the first attempt I was able to unlock the ability to put solar panels on this second attempt.
Landed in the big equatorial crater. Did lots of science. I think the total science gained from the first and second attempts to do this mission combined with the science from the two orbiters was easily double the science of all the missions I'd done before this one.
Decided to try something a bit different for my mission to Minmus: A two way robotic lander.
I like that it looks appropriately... scientific.
Didn't have any problems landing. It'd been awhile since I'd landed on Minmus, but RCS thrusters are still great for fine-tune landing control on low-G bodies. And what did we learn from the mission...?
Feed the mission control staff more often. (More than once a week.)
About 300 science delivered in a neat little container.
Finally got around to downloading the demo and now it's crashing on launch. Really thinking of getting this after playing SimpleRockets all weekend on my Nexus, but getting worried.
EDIT: Downloaded on Steam and working perfectly. Could also have had something to do with the fact I had less than a gig of free space on my HD.
Photosaurus on
"If complete and utter chaos was lightning, then he'd be the sort to stand on a hilltop in a thunderstorm wearing wet copper armour and shouting 'All gods are bastards'."
BaidolI will hold him offEscape while you canRegistered Userregular
Can parachutes burn up on reentry? Earlier today I accidentally deployed the parachute in space, so I spent a fair amount of effort fine tuning my reentry to prevent the parachute from getting on fire for too long.
MachwingIt looks like a harmless old computer, doesn't it?Left in this cave to rot ... or to flower!Registered Userregular
At the moment no, but the devs are supposed to be adding in heat damage at some point. The only thing you have to worry about with chutes is decellerating to a reasonable speed before they fully deploy and tear half the ship off.
+1
BaidolI will hold him offEscape while you canRegistered Userregular
Getting them back should actually be easier. What's causing the problem?
One problem is conserving the fuel for a return. Second is landing in such a way that you don't break your engine off, and third I'd setting an efficient return trajectory.
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MachwingIt looks like a harmless old computer, doesn't it?Left in this cave to rot ... or to flower!Registered Userregular
Getting them back should actually be easier. What's causing the problem?
I usually end up burning too much of my final stage fuel slowing for a viable descent
I mean I've gotten back into orbit a couple of times, but never with enough left to deorbit onto the right planet
Don't slow down until you're a couple thousand meters above the surface, and even then, you can keep you speed as high as 80-100m/s until you're very close to landing. Unless you're using one of the tiny engines, you should have enough thrust for a more efficient decelleration near the end
Getting them back should actually be easier. What's causing the problem?
One problem is conserving the fuel for a return. Second is landing in such a way that you don't break your engine off, and third I'd setting an efficient return trajectory.
Getting them back should actually be easier. What's causing the problem?
I usually end up burning too much of my final stage fuel slowing for a viable descent
I mean I've gotten back into orbit a couple of times, but never with enough left to deorbit onto the right planet
Don't slow down until you're a couple thousand meters above the surface, and even then, you can keep you speed as high as 80-100m/s until you're very close to landing. Unless you're using one of the tiny engines, you should have enough thrust for a more efficient decelleration near the end
even with the relatively powerful engines starting deceleration at anything below 10,000 has consistently resulted in a lot of rapid unplanned disassembly
I don't even know how you could get your speed down from 100 m/s to anything practical within 1,000 meters
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MetalbourneInside a cluster b personalityRegistered Userregular
Getting them back should actually be easier. What's causing the problem?
I usually end up burning too much of my final stage fuel slowing for a viable descent
I mean I've gotten back into orbit a couple of times, but never with enough left to deorbit onto the right planet
Don't slow down until you're a couple thousand meters above the surface, and even then, you can keep you speed as high as 80-100m/s until you're very close to landing. Unless you're using one of the tiny engines, you should have enough thrust for a more efficient decelleration near the end
even with the relatively powerful engines starting deceleration at anything below 10,000 has consistently resulted in a lot of rapid unplanned disassembly
I don't even know how you could get your speed down from 100 m/s to anything practical within 1,000 meters
It's really to do with knowing your engine size versus the mass of your lander. Use f5 and f9
A good benchmark, at least for the Mun, is to slow down to at least 100-150m/s by at least 5000m.(According to the radar altimeter, not the regular one.) From that point whether or not you want to do a fast quick last-second burn or a more gradual descent depends on you. Suicide burns are the most efficient, and in the cases of Vall and Tylo somewhat necessary precluding comically sized rockets, but they are pretty difficult to pull off. Another tip is to get into as low an orbit as possible before actually landing. Also doing things Apollo style with separate orbiter and landing stages also dramatically decreases fuel demand.
Anyways, I've been up to a few things:
I did my first Mun landing with career mode stuff. I like that you can take soil samples to get extra science. Landing without using the Apollo strategy really highlighted the importance of getting docking ports ASAP.
I also did an orbital mission with the 3-man pod after I had unlocked it. I find it kind of disappointing that taking more crew seems to have no extra science benefits. I guess I'm gonna have to think of creative ways to try and use them to get more science.
I won't spoil the Minmus science messages because they're pretty funny but... flying around on Minmus is still really fun...
Crashing? Doubly so.
Anyways, among the many things I unlocked with the science from these three missions were nuclear rockets, and you know what that means...
To be continued!
The regular altimeter only tells you your height from 'sea' level.(Which is kind of arbitrarily defined on most bodies since only three bodies in KSP even have seas.) The radar altimeter in cockpit view tells you your height from the surface directly below you, which usually isn't at sea level.
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MetalbourneInside a cluster b personalityRegistered Userregular
Also if you have Mechjeb you can bring up the "Landing information" screen that has "True altitude". It also gives you "Time to suicide burn" indicator, which is the time where you want to burn at full to come to a safe landing speed exactly when you hit the ground.
Though in career mode you don't get the landing information screen right up at the beginning, you have to have some unlocks to get it.
I really like what career mode does with Mechjeb, where it goes from basic maneuvers(set heading/pitch, point at Pro or Retrograde), plus some limited information, to more information and better maneuvers, to I assume full functionality as you unlock other stuff.
Like I don't think I've ever used the information screens before, I've relied mostly on the automation, but having to learn to plug in the actual numbers and stuff myself before I get the full automation is awesome. And then by the time I really just don't want to have to circulize another orbit by hand I can just say "Oh yeah, I know that I know how to do this, Mechjeb, do it".
Also take surface samples from various places on Kerbal. Polar caps, desert, highlands, etc.
"If complete and utter chaos was lightning, then he'd be the sort to stand on a hilltop in a thunderstorm wearing wet copper armour and shouting 'All gods are bastards'."
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Edit: Wait, active Kerbal multiplayer? Not passive Kerbal multiplayer? How?
Come over tomorrow
Beginning of a two in one mission to send get a Kerbal to do an orbit around the moon and return, while also dropping off a robotic probe.
First time I did this mission I got the Kerbal back safely but the probe ran out of power and slammed into the Mun's surface at like a 100m/s. Luckily with the science from the first attempt I was able to unlock the ability to put solar panels on this second attempt.
Landed in the big equatorial crater. Did lots of science. I think the total science gained from the first and second attempts to do this mission combined with the science from the two orbiters was easily double the science of all the missions I'd done before this one.
Decided to try something a bit different for my mission to Minmus: A two way robotic lander.
I like that it looks appropriately... scientific.
Didn't have any problems landing. It'd been awhile since I'd landed on Minmus, but RCS thrusters are still great for fine-tune landing control on low-G bodies. And what did we learn from the mission...?
Feed the mission control staff more often. (More than once a week.)
About 300 science delivered in a neat little container.
EDIT: Downloaded on Steam and working perfectly. Could also have had something to do with the fact I had less than a gig of free space on my HD.
3DS: 1289-8447-4695
Now, to actually get a ship into orbit.
unfortunately I have thus far failed to get anything back off the moon
Dear god that altitude
I'm scared
I usually end up burning too much of my final stage fuel slowing for a viable descent
I mean I've gotten back into orbit a couple of times, but never with enough left to deorbit onto the right planet
Don't slow down until you're a couple thousand meters above the surface, and even then, you can keep you speed as high as 80-100m/s until you're very close to landing. Unless you're using one of the tiny engines, you should have enough thrust for a more efficient decelleration near the end
MORE BOOSTERS!
even with the relatively powerful engines starting deceleration at anything below 10,000 has consistently resulted in a lot of rapid unplanned disassembly
I don't even know how you could get your speed down from 100 m/s to anything practical within 1,000 meters
It's really to do with knowing your engine size versus the mass of your lander. Use f5 and f9
Anyways, I've been up to a few things:
I did my first Mun landing with career mode stuff. I like that you can take soil samples to get extra science. Landing without using the Apollo strategy really highlighted the importance of getting docking ports ASAP.
I also did an orbital mission with the 3-man pod after I had unlocked it. I find it kind of disappointing that taking more crew seems to have no extra science benefits. I guess I'm gonna have to think of creative ways to try and use them to get more science.
I won't spoil the Minmus science messages because they're pretty funny but... flying around on Minmus is still really fun...
Crashing? Doubly so.
Anyways, among the many things I unlocked with the science from these three missions were nuclear rockets, and you know what that means...
To be continued!
there's more than one altimeter?
Yeah. Press c to switch to cockpit view
I didn't realize cockpit view had any practical advantages
I know, it's amazing, isn't it?
Though in career mode you don't get the landing information screen right up at the beginning, you have to have some unlocks to get it.
I really like what career mode does with Mechjeb, where it goes from basic maneuvers(set heading/pitch, point at Pro or Retrograde), plus some limited information, to more information and better maneuvers, to I assume full functionality as you unlock other stuff.
Like I don't think I've ever used the information screens before, I've relied mostly on the automation, but having to learn to plug in the actual numbers and stuff myself before I get the full automation is awesome. And then by the time I really just don't want to have to circulize another orbit by hand I can just say "Oh yeah, I know that I know how to do this, Mechjeb, do it".
Career mode! My time has come.
I shall science all the way to the stars!
Five science from my first launch, huzzah!
also eva and take a soil sample of the launchpad
Kerbals should not leave the 'safety' of the rocket's interior while the rocket is under acceleration.
Science report #2:
Kerbals are now confirmed to be unable to survive unaided descent to the ground from a height of around 13,000m.
Science report #3 will be delayed by 48 hours as personnel attend the funeral of Bob Kerman.
Yes then do not eva
as long as you aren't accelerating in zero g you'll exit the ship moving at a matched velocity and speed
so it's literally physically impossible to float away unless you start firing your jetpack
supposedly it's entirely possible to land safely with judicious use of EVA thrusters
Well it would be possible if it weren't for that pesky gravity thing.
You can totally take off from minmus and break out of kerbins gravity though.