Kerbal Space Program

[The_DarthMoogle]

Very nice. Not a huge fan of the spaceplane myself. Rockets all the way.

[Xylord]

Very nice. Not a huge fan of the spaceplane myself. Rockets all the way.

Perfectly understandable, rockets are just so much simpler, but I like a challenge, and I'm persistent. I WILL drop rovers on Duna from my spaceplane.

[lukeb28]

I get the same problem. It seems to accompany having a bunch of mods installed (big or small). I've got small stuff like quantum struts and the crew manifest but it's crashing anyway.

Also, do you have any large part packs (novapunch, kw rocketry) installed? Having just one of those made the game crash every launch for me.

No mods what so ever.

[thebird]

Perfectly understandable, rockets are just so much simpler, but I like a challenge, and I'm persistent. I WILL drop rovers on Duna from my spaceplane.

You're trying to carry rovers on a space plane? That seems insane to me, my space planes keep trying to become submarines.

Also, here is a screenshot from my recent experiments with those ion engines.

[Melfice]

Yeah, ion engines are best used on probes, and only for flying through space with. They're terribly weak.

[Xylord]

Yeah, ion engines are best used on probes, and only for flying through space with. They're terribly weak.

Or for making solar-powered ultra-light planes, off course.

[Teraku]

I can manage to get a craft into orbit, but not much else. :/

[Xylord]

I can manage to get a craft into orbit, but not much else. :/

As the other guy said, in orbit is halfway there to everywhere else. Inter-orbital travel is very cheap compared to getting out of Kerbin's atmosphere, in term of delta-v.

[Teraku]

Yeah, thank god. Problem is, once I get into orbit, I'm out of fuel.

[okamikk]

Yeah, thank god. Problem is, once I get into orbit, I'm out of fuel.

add an ion drive to a small module at the very top, maybe. ;P

[Teraku]

Good luck getting those things to work on anything other than a probe.

[Xylord]

Good luck getting those things to work on anything other than a probe.

Yeah, for orbital stage, nuclear engines are far more preferable.

[Melfice]

Tried to delete my post. Apparently that's not a feature on these forums.

So, instead you get this post, which is still a double-post, but was intended not to be one! Because it should have been deleted!

Sorry!

[Melfice]

I've spent so long creating a plane that could go hypersonic, I'd forgotten how to build a rocket and lander that could go to the Mün.

Fixed that today. It's not pretty, and it takes AGES to accelerate to the bloody thing (it's using the nuclear engine to transfer), but it got there, and my lander performed beyond expected. Even though I forgot to install the RCS nozzles.

The lack of RCS nozzles unfortunately means that I won't be able to rendezvous with the return stage, still in orbit around the Mün.

Screenshots later, possibly. I forgot to take them...

Old Post:

Yeah, thank god. Problem is, once I get into orbit, I'm out of fuel.

If you want I can create a screenshot of my heavy launcher stage (Ambition).

Unless you're launching something unreasonable heavy, Ambition should be able to get you into space with fuel to spare.

EDIT: But that's really where your problem lies, it seems. You need to think in two steps: Payload and lifter/launcher/whatever you want to call it.

You only ever ignite the payload's rockets when you're in the vacuum of space. Preferably even when you're in a stable parking orbit around Kerbin.

[Neowulf]

Broke down and snagged the full version yesterday. Spaceplanes and extra parts are nice.

Anyone got a list of good addons for it, like with links? What's in there is good but as we all know, mods makes things awesomer.

[Teraku]

Yeah, mods are almost a necessity in KSP as the stock parts have a habit of exploding/tipping over/tipping over and exploding when you don't align them to the millimeter.

[Melfice]

The following mods have better descriptions on the page I link to.

Mostly for aircraft, but also useful for easier fuel transfer: http://kerbalspaceport.com/tac-fuel-balancer-v1-0/

Save parts of rockets to use on other rockets! http://kerbalspaceport.com/subassembly-saver-loader/

So you can go do other stuff while you wait for your rocket to do stuff! http://kerbalspaceport.com/kerbal-alarm-clock-2/

So you can see how much you fart thrust you're producing, compared to how fat you are the weight of your rocket! http://kerbalspaceport.com/0-18-1-kerbal-engineer-redux-v0-5/

Missiles that go after your target! http://kerbalspaceport.com/lazor-guided-weapons/

LAZERS! (Sharks and headmounting gear sold seperately) http://kerbalspaceport.com/sunbeam/

That's just a short list. The last two are, obviously, mostly for shits and giggles.

[Xylord]

Broke down and snagged the full version yesterday. Spaceplanes and extra parts are nice.

Anyone got a list of good addons for it, like with links? What's in there is good but as we all know, mods makes things awesomer.

Sure thing.

Lazor System, Lazor Missiles, Lazor Docking Cam, Lazor Robotic Arms.

A bunch of awesome mods made by the same guy that all use the same lazor guided system to do a bunch of stuff.

B9 Aerospace, KW Rocketry, Taverio's Pizza and Aerospace.

A bunch of parts packs to give more possibilities to your rockets and spaceplanes; B9 is a must, so many people use it that it's almost considered stock.

Kethane Pack.

Mod that adds a new mechanic, mining combustible on planets and burning it to go back home! Pretty awesome.

Mechjeb.

I recommend leaving it for now if you just started, it's better to learn on your own the mechanics before having an autopilot do it for you, but it's amazing for veterans who aren't interested in docking for the thousandth time and others. (I recommend using the 2.0.X version)

Edit : Ninja'd heh. Gives you more options though. I use the subassembly saver-loader, it's amazing.

[Milk]

I checked through this thread and couldn't find a link, so might as well.

Scott Manley made a video of essential mods. It showcases each and gives links. Linky

[Xylord]

I checked through this thread and couldn't find a link, so might as well.

Scott Manley made a video of essential mods. It showcases each and gives links. Linky

Hmm, I haven't tried quantum struts yet, my space-assembled ships didn't seem to require it yet. Useful thing though.

[Neowulf]

May have went overboard in my first attempt. Took 15 minutes to start the game, half an hour to go from VAB to launch (entire computer was unresponsive for a couple minutes at a time), and it crashed after one launch.

Wish it had a mod loading system, so mods could be put in as zip files and loaded at runtime. A lot easier to clean out...

[Xylord]

May have went overboard in my first attempt. Took 15 minutes to start the game, half an hour to go from VAB to launch (entire computer was unresponsive for a couple minutes at a time), and it crashed after one launch.

Wish it had a mod loading system, so mods could be put in as zip files and loaded at runtime. A lot easier to clean out...

Yeah, I believe that's a planned feature in the next update. For now, it reminds of the good old days of manually installing MC mods.

[Milk]

Thankfully most if not all mods have a prefix for their part folder names, else I would've reinstalled the game infinite times.

[Xylord]

0.20 is out! Better mod management, flags, seats and lots and lots of fun! Full list here. (The video is fucking hilarious).

[Neowulf]

Was just about to post about that.

New directory structure is nice and will help me out a ton. I found out the issue I was having was the larger part packs (B9 mainly) was increasing my ram usage tremendously, and my system had major problems with HD transfer rates so even shifting 100meg to the HD cache locks everything for a couple seconds. Being able to easily add/remove mods will save tons of time finding a good balance.