Kerbal Space Program

Set myself a mission. Make a jet that is capable of landing and refuelling via the Kethane mod. Pulled it off nicely, also got a Kerbal Attachment System on there so it can retrieve other jets.

Only problem is you can't start with full kethane tanks, which means my route would have to involve finding somewhere to refuel (which it just about has the range for) before having enough kethane to get anywhere on the planet. It actually flies really damn well, even with a full load. Definitely a bit of fluke there, the last few planes I've made have been terrible!

It's even got rover wheels to drive around on the ground rather than carefully trying to use a jet engine to manoeuvre up close. Just need something to go and retrieve now.
Long term goal will be making one of these that can also get into orbit, but think that might be a bit tricky if not impossible!

6moXynY.jpg
gwSCIWw.jpg
 
Well I finally installed MechJeb to give that a shot; I had been trying to perform manual docking manoeuvres for a while and just couldn't quite get it, closest I managed was ~400m away before losing the orbit slightly and out of fuel.

Certainly makes things a lot easier now and in the process of sending module after module up to construct this station.

As it currently stands:

1024x576.resizedimage


The small tanks and thrusters are what I was using to navigate the modules into their final intercept paths and then dock using the RCS ports. They're still attached to one module so that I can raise the altitude of the whole station once the construction is nearing completion.
 
Been using mod manager and it makes having mods so much easier

Also found an awesome mod guys :) Called telemachus. (not sure if anyones mentioned it before)

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com...lemetry-and-Flight-Control-in-the-Web-Browser

I only have one monitor so I have it open in my laptop browser, If you had 3 screens you could have two (or more) windows open.

It will open in your browser on the local ip but if you replace this with the internal ip of the machine you can use it over lan.
Also, I opened the port on my router and was able to access it over the internet.
Its pretty cool and has tons of room for improvement :)
 
Have you tried disabling the fuel flow whilst it's still on the ground? (Right click on the tank in question.)
 
underneath your large ship put:
1 large rockomax orange tank with the skipper
6 large rockomax tanks surrounding it with decouplers with skippers
18 large solid rocket boosters around that with decouplers.

Works every time ;) if it doesn't, your ship is too big :P
 
Greeny, does that make my eve ship too big? :p

Boycey, try downloading a mod called mechjeb. Ignore all of its automatic functions and just use it as a tool for the assembly building to see the thrust to weight ratio and delta-v of your rocket in its various stages. if the t/w ratio is always above 1 and the delta-v is above 4500m/s before you get to using the space station fuel then you should be able to get into orbit
 
Good lord docking is a git. I say docking, I've not really got close enough to anything you can actually call "docking" yet. Matching up the orbits is still defeating me.
 
Reaper 392 said:
Greeny, does that make my eve ship too big? :p

Boycey, try downloading a mod called mechjeb. Ignore all of its automatic functions and just use it as a tool for the assembly building to see the thrust to weight ratio and delta-v of your rocket in its various stages. if the t/w ratio is always above 1 and the delta-v is above 4500m/s before you get to using the space station fuel then you should be able to get into orbit
Click to expand...

If it works for you then there's no problem going overkill. Just saying, if you want to get a large ship into orbit then my design is good :)
 
Dj_Jestar said:
Good lord docking is a git. I say docking, I've not really got close enough to anything you can actually call "docking" yet. Matching up the orbits is still defeating me.
Click to expand...

Just get your ship into an orbit either higher or lower than your target depending on where it is.
Get it so your orbit intersects the targets while still staying higher or lower.
then warp around till you get close, you will then make your orbit closer to the targets by burning where you intersect.
then when you are very close (<5km out) burn retro at the target till it hits 0m/s
then burn towards the target at about 20m/s.
keep doing this till your 800m out then switch to RCS and continue :)
You will need patience tho xD
 
Greeny1994 said:
If it works for you then there's no problem going overkill. Just saying, if you want to get a large ship into orbit then my design is good :)
Click to expand...
I think I used something very similar in the first rocket I made in the full game, with much success. However, your design wouldn't have a hope of lifting my Venus rocket more than a few feet
 
yeh dockings a pain , I did it once after watching a 100 guides and now just use mechjeb bc its less frustating.
Attempted my first Mun run last night, about to go into orbit around it and realised id ran out of power :(

few questions:
1) Can anyone tell me how to solve the problem of a not centred flight ball? Obviously its get something to do with the control module but why?
2) Say I wanted 9 orange fuel tanks at the bottom what's the best way of attaching them all? If i do one centre, 4 then another 4 , It doesn't seem to like decoupler from the first 4 to the next 4 tanks??
 
Last edited:
iamtheoneneo said:
yeh dockings a pain , I did it once after watching a 100 guides and now just use mechjeb bc its less frustating.
Attempted my first Mun run last night, about to go into orbit around it and realised id ran out of power :(

few questions:
1) Can anyone tell me how to solve the problem of a not centred flight ball? Obviously its get something to do with the control module but why?
2) Say I wanted 9 orange fuel tanks at the bottom what's the best way of attaching them all? If i do one centre, 4 then another 4 , It doesn't seem to like decoupler from the first 4 to the next 4 tanks??
Click to expand...

You can edit your save file to set the power level in your batteries to a state with enough power to extend your solar panels if you forgot to open them. I've done this before after spending half an hour getting a probe to the mun only to lose it just as I was to start burning into orbit.

You can just open the persistent.sfs file in your kerbal saves directory (back it up first), search for your ship name then go down through the parts until you find the battery then change the charge value (going from memory here so names are guesswork) to something near its max. When you load up the game again you should have time to extend solar panels.

A non-centred nav ball is usually down to your probe not facing in the direction your rocket will be travelling. Often times I'll position a probe at the bottom of a rocket so it's pointing down at the ground, it can be a bit annoying but you just have to remember to switch which markers you burn towards for retro or prograde.

If you're going for the large amount of orange tanks approach then look at asparagus staging, if you place fuel lines from the outer tanks to the inner ones all engines will draw fuel from the outer tanks then you can drop them, then drop the next ones to empty and so on, it's very effective. Just remember to drop them symmetrically.
 
Darg said:
A non-centred nav ball is usually down to your probe not facing in the direction your rocket will be travelling. Often times I'll position a probe at the bottom of a rocket so it's pointing down at the ground, it can be a bit annoying but you just have to remember to switch which markers you burn towards for retro or prograde.
Click to expand...

yeh but i dont get this, it has to be some sort of long standing bug. Because if you stick a remote unit on top sometimes it just isnt centred on launch - but it doesnt make sense? how on earth are you supposed to tell what direction to put it on...

also last night I found if you put stuff on top of the remote unit it seems to de centre aswell .. again why?
 
I got to the Mun during my lunch hour using one of the in game tutorials. Wasn't that difficult tbh, I just need to design my own rocket to get me there.
 
Greeny1994 said:
Just get your ship into an orbit either higher or lower than your target depending on where it is.
Get it so your orbit intersects the targets while still staying higher or lower.
then warp around till you get close, you will then make your orbit closer to the targets by burning where you intersect.
then when you are very close (<5km out) burn retro at the target till it hits 0m/s
then burn towards the target at about 20m/s.
keep doing this till your 800m out then switch to RCS and continue :)
You will need patience tho xD
Click to expand...

"Just" ... "Just" ... !
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom