A word of warning: it’s been stated by the lead developer that saved games from the current version will be incompatible with the new one (which will come out any day now).
I started a new save last week where I’m doing things more like a space program. In the past I tended to do large launches with a single goal in mind. Maybe it’d be two launches if I wanted to land somewhere distant but needed some extra fuel for a return trip. In this save, I’m restricting every launch to be small and capable only of going to low orbit.
So I’ve built a basic station with a couple fuel modules, a crew module, and a small ship. I’ve launched another fuel module and had the ship drag that out to the Mun to start a station there. The plan is to build stations like that around many of the planets/moons and use them as staging areas for the construction of colonies on the bodies they orbit and whatnot.
But being pretty early in the process and with that update coming, I’m going to stop now so that starting over won’t be too painful.
Oh well, I’m still in the “learn to do shit” phase. If I have to start my space station over it’s no great loss. And landing on the moons, too. If I had a mega base out in one of the planets I’d be a bit peeved.
I got a little fed up and started cheating. Mechjeb 2 will dock things so I started messing with it. It is still pretty hard to do it and I am not sure how to change crew on the space station.
Is it your use of MechJeb that you consider cheating?
I’ve landed on the Mun twice but it was mostly MechJeb and I’ve landed on Minmus once not using MechJeb at all, just maneuver nodes and seat of the pants flying. I was actually pretty proud of that.
Since then I’ve tried two manual landings on the Mun. I’ve come close both times but I’ve always had just too much lateral velocity and my ship tips over in slow motion. What makes it especially hard is that I’ve never been able to get quick save to work. I’ve verified my key bindings but hitting F5 or F9 doesn’t do anything. So every time I crash my ship, I have to start back on the launch pad.
I’ve boosted space station cores into orbit and only then found out that putting Kerbals in a habitat(?) module doesn’t allow them to control the craft. I had designed it to leave the space station core with a couple of Kerbals in orbit and then one Kerbal could return to Kerbin in the very top stage.
I’ve put modified cores in orbit with a remote control module but I haven’t worked up the courage to try docking yet. Does anyone know if the remote control modules work without a communications antenna?
All in all I’m having a blast with this game.
I keep reading that the next release is coming out soon. Anyone know what’s being changed in this release? I’ve hit the KSP web page but I’ve just seen developers comments on what they’re doing this week.
You have to hold F9 for a couple seconds to quick load. That’s my only guess for why it wouldn’t be working for you.
In the first update that had the Mun, there was no saving (or maneuver nodes). So like you’re experiencing, crashing on landing meant starting again at the launchpad. When they introduced quick save and quick load I wasn’t sure how I felt about it because I liked that all crashes were final. And not using the quick save wasn’t an option. If it’s in the game, I’ll use it (Which is why I won’t ever install Mechjeb. I don’t think I’d have the discipline to have it at my disposal and not use it for everything). But having saving restricted to just a single quick save (unless you copy your persistence file) seems like it relieves a bit of the frustration without entirely taking away the sense of risk.
The only largish things I remember being included in the update are crew management (maybe transferring Kerbals between docked craft without EVA?), ASAS that doesn’t constantly over correct, and a new look to the Mun. I’m suspicious that the Spaceport/installing mods will be integrated directly into the game in this update but that’s a total guess and probably not happening yet.
You can’t save while thrusting. Try not making any changes to your speed and orientation while pressing F5 and making sure you’re not accelerating time either.
(I still have yet to use MechJeb myself. It’s just my mouse, my keyboard, and the NavBall. And a few cough horrifying disasters. But also success! Wheee!)
Yeah, I think that MechJeb is a cheat. And until I used it for docking I hadn’t used it to do anything that I haven’t done myself and after watching one of the dockings I don’t know if I have the patience for it. MechJeb 2.0 is entirely different than 1.9.
Thanks MichaelEmouse, I got quick save to work. I’m pretty sure trying to save while under thrust was my problem.
I finally made a manual landing on the Mun. It only took me four tries with quick save. In just about every failed landing the capsule survived, and every time it came to rest with the crew hatched blocked. Admittedly, I put ladder rungs below the crew hatch which may have kept the capsule from rolling. Anyone else notice this?
Is there some ground radar that I’m missing? Unless I’m landing in the ocean on Kerbin, I have no idea how high I am above the surface. The altimeter shows MSL but when I’m landing I want to know AGL.
With Grumman’s answer I believe that I have a viable candidate for docking in orbit but my day off is almost over, I think I’ll refrain from sacrificing any more Kerbals or destroying more equipment… at least for tonight.
The in-pod view of at least one of the command pods gives you AGL. Also, Mech Jeb 2.0 does, I’m not sure about the previous Mech Jeb. The AGL altitude is one of the main reasons to use Mech Jeb.
Also, you can rely on the shadow though that’s a lot more chancy.
I played this game back when it was free, and while I could see the promise of it, everything was just too difficult for me - without any kind of assistance, it was too hard to get in a stable orbit.
Nevertheless, I put in many, many hours. When I got a little money, I though I’d jump right back in, and I’m glad to see that so much has gone into it.
I’ve already managed to get a few satellites in circular (± 5km) orbit, and I’ve got a simple yet charming 3-stage rocket that’s capable of hitting the Mun - though I haven’t done that yet. Space stations and stuff, though, that’s quite intimidating.
I want to start by mirroring the progression of the real-life space program, which means something like this:
Orbital satellite - done.
Man in orbit - done.
Lunar orbiter - in progress.
Probes/orbiters to Minmus, other planets
Controlled lunar landing w/ probe (Surveyor, Luna 14)
Piloted travel to and from the moon
Assemble a space station
From there, I suppose that my ultimate goal is to start sending things to other planets and then bringing them back again, and ultimately to set up permanent orbital space stations around every planet. And develop some space-planes.
I’m still trying for a visceral appreciation of how transfer orbits work, and how to set up an orbit. I’ve done it reliably enough, but there’s always something improvised about it; I never have it down to formula.
An orbit is a combination of three variables: a place, a time and a velocity. Your basic transfer orbit works by using two burns: one to put you on a ballistic flight to the right place at the right time; and one once you get there to give you the right velocity.
Try getting into a circular, equatorial orbit and creating a maneuver node. Drag the simulated burns in different directions and see how the resultant ballistic path changes.
Burning east or west raises or lowers the height on the opposite side of your orbit.
Burning north or south (perpendicular to your current velocity) changes the inclination of your orbit.
Burning up raises the orbit ahead of you and lowers it behind you, while burning down does the opposite.
Let’s say I want to end up in a circular orbit of 120,000 km. What’s the best way to do that from the ground? At what point do I stop going up and start going east, or start just coasting up to my apoapsis?
I’m certainly no expert but I’ll venture an answer. I’m assuming you want to get into a circular orbit of 120,000 m or 120 km, not 120,000 km.
The simplest most straightforward way to get into orbit is launch your rocket and start your gravity turn (going to the 45 deg point of the 90 deg line on your navball) at 10,000 m. Once you get to 45/90 keep it there. Switch to Map view and track your apoapsis. When it gets to 120,000 m, kill your engines. While you’re coasting up, set a maneuver node at Ap. For the node, increase your prograde burn until you see your projected obrbit circularize. Get to the maneuver node and perform your burn. You should now be in a relatively circular orbit.
That’s the basic formula, of course, the devil is in the details.
While a 45/90 deg gravity turn at 10 km is simple and straightforward, it’s not optimal. From comments I’ve read I’ve been trying to flatten out (more towards the horizon line on your navball) while I’m still burning and approaching my desired Ap. If you want to get a better idea of the optimal path you would have to ask someone else.
To get the best results, you want to turn following the 90 deg line (or 270 if you really want to know) on your navball. If I have a rocket with only a little rotation, I may be able to point it in the right direction but unless the 90 line is pointing directly right/east, it’s a little harder to get into orbit and I’ll be off the plane of the eliptic. I always want my rockets to rotate as little as possible during launch to orbit.
It took me a while to learn that not only can you adjust your directional burns on the node, you can also drag it back and forth along your current path to see how it changes your projected path. I try to set the node at Ap and then take the projected burn time and cut it in half. That’s about how long before I reach the node that I start my burn. Of course you have to make sure that you’ve got your navball centered on the blue target.
Sorry for the long answer but that’s been my experience. From what I’ve read in this thread there are a lot better pilots then me out there.