Better Than Starting Manned (Flower's WIP KSP mod )

[Stormweaver]

But seriously, this run has taught me a lot - how to get into a easy polar orbit around the Mun, how to not waste the last few drops of fuel in your orbiting stage before going to the Mun without having to guessimate when to start burning.....

A good way of working out burns is to burn your engine well before the node to get the estimated burn time and then burn half of that before the node and half after. You want your median burn time to rest on the node. So if it's a 2 minute burn, burn one minute before the node and one minute after. Also if possible always burn on the apoapsis or periapsis, you'll get the most efficient delta v to fuel burned ratio at those points.

But still, guesstimation :p

I'm gotten into the habit of seeing how much fuel I have left, setting up a node that will more or less use all the fuel, then setting up another node in the same place (well, a little behind, but on the new orbit) for the actual burn with the little engines. Then you just have to tweak a little to get it in the right place. I don't know how useful it actually is, or whether I'm just using it as a crutch for my utter lack of skills in flying, but I'm going from having a slither of fuel left once in Mun orbit to often having over half a large tank. Which is literally the difference between burning up or re-entering.

[FlowerChild]

Yeah, I'm totally in the guestimation camp myself. I wing pretty much everything, as seat of the pants flying is part of what I enjoy about the game.

I have no objection whatsoever to people doing the calculations or using a mod to do so though. It's just not my cup of tea. Same thing with BTW actually, in that pretty much all of my builds are improvised.

[E.B. Farnham]

Hehe I always try to hide a little more fuel then I think I'll need. I've done so many Munar landings in vanilla that I have a good feel for it now. I just don't tell the crew so I can keep my reputation as a miracle worker. ;)

[FlowerChild]

Hehe I always try to hide a little more fuel then I think I'll need. I've done so many Munar landings in vanilla that I have a good feel for it now. I just don't tell the crew so I can keep my reputation as a miracle worker. ;)

Yeah, it's the same for me actually with the Munar landings. I don't even use maneuver nodes for anything associated with the Mun as I have such a good feel for it.

Heck, up until I started working on this I had never even gone beyond Minmus as I was trying to preserve the experience for when career mode was released. I've done a shit ton of Munar stuff as a result, and I still haven't even gone to Duna. I'm actually determined that my first Duna mission will be with BTSM :)

[E.B. Farnham]

Yeah, it's the same for me actually with the Munar landings. I don't even use maneuver nodes for anything associated with the Mun as I have such a good feel for it.

Heck, up until I started working on this I had never even gone beyond Minmus as I was trying to preserve the experience for when career mode was released. I've done a shit ton of Munar stuff as a result, and I still haven't even gone to Duna. I'm actually determined that my first Duna mission will be with BTSM :)

I can dig it, I can still remember trying to do Munar landings before the node system was in. Using the wait till the Mun is just below the horizon and burn method.
I'll be looking forward to what you have to offer for Duna, though in some ways it's easier to land on then the Mun, thanks to the atmosphere, weak as it is.

Duna is though the only other world I've landed on. I've done Jool runs but never landed on anything there. I think I mostly did them to aerobrake really big ships (800+ tons) and watch the fireworks. Though the rest of the worlds I have yet to visit, I guess I found making Apollo style missions to the Mun just too much fun.

[FlowerChild]

I can dig it, I can still remember trying to do Munar landings before the node system was in. Using the wait till the Mun is just below the horizon and burn method.
I'll be looking forward to what you have to offer for Duna, though in some ways it's easier to land on then the Mun, thanks to the atmosphere, weak as it is.

Well, don't forget that atmospheric entry is now a concern, as thin as the atmosphere is there ;)

[jorgebonafe]

Thanks, Storm, the rocket design you've suggested worked fine :)

[Donzaffi]

(more stuff to come)

0.09999 of the mod can be grabbed here (see thread for more info):

Download Link

Installation instructions (these are important...read them):

-Go here: Deadly Reentry link and download Deadly Reentry Continued. You need to install this FIRST, before BTSM, otherwise my tweaks to Deadly Reentry won't take effect, and the overall balance will be WAY off. I'm working with the author/maintainer of that mod to eliminate this install order dependency, but for now, this is the way it is.

-Install BTSM by copying everything in the .zip file into your KSP directory (this is also how Deadly Reentry is installed BTW).

BTSM uses ialdabaoth's very handy ModuleManager plugin which is included in the BTSM download (in accordance with his license), and his thread can be found here:

ModuleManager Link

Damned, I end up playing Minecraft for awhile and found KSP by luck, and thought all the time, there are a plenty of people in these forum that like it, but I never posted a link.
And now I going back and found that you made a mod for that game,
just awesome man.

[Mason11987]

So I just got the wheels and I've been trying my best to come up with a spaceplane that will take off but I have no idea what to do. I don't have the jet engine, which I'm sure is important to this whole process but I can't seem to get anything to take off as is. Any hints on a wing/engine arrangement that would actually work?

[PatriotBob]

So I just got the wheels and I've been trying my best to come up with a spaceplane that will take off but I have no idea what to do. I don't have the jet engine, which I'm sure is important to this whole process but I can't seem to get anything to take off as is. Any hints on a wing/engine arrangement that would actually work?

Your not really going to be able to get to space with out air-breathing engines.
Aside from that you build a rocket sideways, strap a metric crap-ton of winglets to it a fly about for a bit... but you wont get very far.
You probably won't be able to lift off the runway with early tech, you'll just have to fly off the end and pitch it up a bit and start gaining altitude.

[FlowerChild]

I dunno, I think you could go Me 163 with a solid fuel booster and get off the ground. I make no guarantees as to survivability though, and would recommend packing a parachute :)

Planes aren't really meant to be a thing at tech level 5 though. I meant it more as a backup in case you needed some extra science points, but in the end decided to bump the sensor array nosecone up to tech level 6, as I worked more on the balance between tech 5 and 6.

[FlowerChild]

Another small release here (0.99999), largely to take care of the balance between techs 5 and 6, which I'm now much happier with:

Download Link

-Increased the science point returns from the Mun in general, as they were a bit low for progressing from tech levels 5 to 6 before.

-Moved the Sensor Array Nose Cone up to tech level 6 in supersonic flight so as to avoid muddying the intent of tech level 5 as the Mun probe one.

-Made a few other tweaks and adjustments here and there mainly related to the move up from tech 5 to 6.

Enjoy :)

[Zhil]

You're really really not going to let go of the 9 thing, are you? :D

[FlowerChild]

You're really really not going to let go of the 9 thing, are you? :D

Nein :)

[TheGuy]

You're really really not going to let go of the 9 thing, are you? :D

Nein :)

I was not expecting that response.

[icynewyear]

I haven't watched it yet, but are you saying he actually might make use of the control surfaces instead of trying to turn a rocket with hopes and dreams? :P

I'll control your surfaces in my dreams!

[FlowerChild]

Just wanted to share a tip someone posted to the comments on Icy's last vid as it's something that's been driving me frigging nuts:

If you place a single item, like an experiment, assign it to an action group, then pick it up again, turn on symmetry mode, then replace it, the action group will only apply to a single part instead of all the parts in the symmetrical grouping.

I wanted to pass that along just in case it has been annoying anyone else as much as it has me to get multiple results windows when you trigger experiment action groups, and then have to discard all but one.

[PatriotBob]

I haven't watched it yet, but are you saying he actually might make use of the control surfaces instead of trying to turn a rocket with hopes and dreams? :P

I'll control your surfaces in my dreams!

*shudders*

Well that explains last night... I just thought it was the tacos...

[kjbrona]

Latest Icynewyear

[Battlecat]

I've installed the latest version and it's been an absolute blast. The challenge of trying to launch a rocket without some of the tools I've taken for granted has been very amusing. It's simply fantastic Flowerchild, thanks for sharing.

Anyhow, I recorded my efforts and I'm uploading the results to youtube if anyone is interested. A link to the first video can be found below. I hope it's all right to post it here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuwMksEdtXY

[Zhil]

I'm getting ready to play this :)

All I've done with KSP in the past is play through an old version's tutorials. I'm excited! :)

[FlowerChild]

I've installed the latest version and it's been an absolute blast. The challenge of trying to launch a rocket without some of the tools I've taken for granted has been very amusing. It's simply fantastic Flowerchild, thanks for sharing.

Thanks man! I appreciate that :)

[LupusExMachina]

I have never seen anyone procrastinate that hard on a hobby with a hobby.
I enjoy your work a lot though, it's actually pretty great.
So, How about you take a look at supreme commander before you tackle tech level 9?
I always felt that game never reached what it could be :D

[jorgebonafe]

I can never deploy my parachute properly... On the way down, the rocket goes upside down. When the parachute is deployed it doesn't drag the ship enough to get it back right side up, and when it opens it just yanks my ship and blows it all up....

Can anyone tell me what am I doing wrong?

Also, is this the thread I should use? Or should I make a new thread to ask KSP questions to help with my noobiness?

[Stormweaver]

I can never deploy my parachute properly... On the way down, the rocket goes upside down. When the parachute is deployed it doesn't drag the ship enough to get it back right side up, and when it opens it just yanks my ship and blows it all up....

Can anyone tell me what am I doing wrong?

Also, is this the thread I should use? Or should I make a new thread to ask KSP questions to help with my noobiness?

Either the center of mass of your rockets is too high, or the center of lift is too low.

Though...to be honest, you shouldn't expect to be landing much before you get decouplers - after which you'll probably only have a tiny module that the parachute has more than enough drag to get upright.