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Kerbal Space Program questions, tips, and strategies.

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posted on Jul, 30 2016 @ 07:17 AM
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Kerbal Space Program is an amazing bit of software. It has the physics of spaceflight, rocketry, orbital insertions, landings and everything else spaceflight related down to a tee. Well, a big enough tee to appeal to a commercial market. And pardon my poor memory, but I believe it was either Phil Platt (Bad Astronomy) or Randall Munroe (XKCD) that said "I learned more about orbital dynamics playing KSP than I did in college.
Now, I'm probably going to find out shortly after posting this that there's already a dedicated thread for it, and this one will get swatted down. But I honestly didn't see it. So, I would find it very hard to believe that there aren't any KSP enthusiasts on ATS. And with the creativity, energy and knowledge that abound here, I figure we should be able to come up with some fantastic things.

If you haven't already heard of it or played it, and are interested in it, here is a link to the page for downloading the demo.

Kerbal Space Program Demo

I haven't been playing for too long, but I love the game. I set my sights too high at first, though. Jumped straight from the tutorial to Sandbox mode and spent more than a month watching rockets explode or run out of fuel trying to get to Duna (the Kerbal equivalent of Mars). Still haven't managed to successfully land on it, but I have gotten damned good at hurtling space junk that was SUPPOSED to be a lander down on it's surface from orbit.
So, does anyone have any designs, stories, tips, anecdotes or questions they would like to share? Let's roll this thread out to the launch pad and see what she can do!

edit on 30-7-2016 by pfishy because: (no reason given)

edit on 30-7-2016 by pfishy because: (no reason given)



posted on Jul, 30 2016 @ 09:06 AM
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That game is a++

I'm not playing right now, but every now and then I see something (Usually something spacex is doing) and fall back into it. Takes me a few weeks of playing with every spare moment to be satisfied enough to reach escape velocity, as it were.



posted on Jul, 30 2016 @ 10:09 AM
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a reply to: lordcomac

Glad to see another fan. I am currently trying to get a crew safely to the surface of Duna and back. So far, I've thrown an army of robot modules at it, but I can't stick the landing. Oh, also, I'm trying to develop a launch system that can get there straight from the ground, without docking to refuel or anything.



posted on Jul, 30 2016 @ 12:14 PM
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a reply to: pfishy


Landing on Duna is much harder because the atmosphere is way less dense then on kerbal , so you have less atmospheric drag.

The best thing you can do is first orbit Duna once you are caught by its sphere of infuence , and then keep lowering your orbit on both the periapsis and apoapsis until one of them makes contact with the atmosphere , this way you keep your speed at a minimum and have a horizontal decent wich gives you a bigger window to deploy the airbrakes , parachutes and engines for the landing.


Hope this helps , The game also has a huge mod community wich greatly increase the game value and joy so be sure to check those out as well.

edit on 30-7-2016 by TheGreazel because: (no reason given)

edit on 30-7-2016 by TheGreazel because: (no reason given)



posted on Jul, 30 2016 @ 12:19 PM
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a reply to: pfishy

Awesome game. Was running a server using the multiplayer mod a while back but now host all my stuff on azure so can't do it anymore. Currently got a crew stranded on the Mun. First rescue mission I landed pretty well, but then did a spacex and sobbed when the capsule tipped over! So now I have 2 crews to rescue.

That, and a single Kerbal orbiting Kerbin sans spaceship.

So the above and the attempts to build a space station keep me busy when I get a chance to play, which isn't often these days.



posted on Jul, 30 2016 @ 01:06 PM
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originally posted by: youcanttellthepeople
a reply to: pfishy

Awesome game. Was running a server using the multiplayer mod a while back but now host all my stuff on azure so can't do it anymore. Currently got a crew stranded on the Mun. First rescue mission I landed pretty well, but then did a spacex and sobbed when the capsule tipped over! So now I have 2 crews to rescue.

That, and a single Kerbal orbiting Kerbin sans spaceship.

So the above and the attempts to build a space station keep me busy when I get a chance to play, which isn't often these days.


I had Bob stranded in orbit sans space ship once- that was my greatest rescue.
Here's what I learned.

1) Bob will, in fact, run out of jetpack fuel. Don't let this happen to you.
I had him trying to slow a capsule from a botched mun rescue that had run out of fuel... (yeah, bob had just spent ten years on the surface of the mun, and now he's floating in space...) it just needed to slow down a few more km/s to start hitting atmo on each pass, but I wasn't watching his fuel. The pod made it safely to ground- he did not.

2) The pod-bay doors have a limited number of open/close cycles.
I built a ship with a space shuttle cargo pod thing, and swung it around to "catch" bob. It took a few tries to do it without slingshotting him out of the way. When I finally caught him, I opened the doors one last time to show the girl my accomplishment (as if she cared...)
The doors wouldn't close again after that, and I had to catch him. AGAIN. With another ship.

3) If you catch Bob in a cargo bay, Don't time-warp. He'll fall out.
That's right. I caught him the second time, and then I brought that ship back into a much easier orbit to work with. Then I brought up another ship designed to park next to that one so I could open the pod bay doors and he'd only have one place to go- into a hatch of a lander.
Only he wasn't there, he fell out when I time warped, and he was still in orbit, alone.
So I had to go catch him a third time.

At this point I was really, really tempted to just try and land the damn craft with him in the cargo bay- but the physics are notably buggy during re-entry, and I fear he'd fall out- and do his death.
So I caught him a third time, and brought him to a more reasonable orbit without using time warp.

Then I built a small craft- very nimbile, that fits inside the cargo bay he was in. The idea was to cram it into there so he had nowhere to go that he couldn't grab onto the ting, so he could then get into a hatch. (This is hard without jetpack fuel!)

I got him. He was in the craft with his oldest friend, jeb.
They departed the third rescue craft, which I then set for a trajectory to burn up in atmo. Bob shed a tear as it faded into the distance.
Jeb then pointed the re-entry capsule for retrograde and made the first of three burns to bring this craft in for a nice, slow descent.
Then the second.

They're close now- so close they can feel the craft shivering lightly as it rubs against the 70kb orbit line.
Jeb makes the third burn- small, but deliberate. The longest ten seconds Bob has seen in some twelve years.
The engines cut as the fuel is expended. The craft is now heating with friction from atmo, and jeb puts his hand on the lever to eject that burn stage.
Bob and jeb lock eyes, and jeb flips the switch. The craft lurches as the last thrusters eject and the capsule reorients itself based on its new aerodynamics.
The thruster and fuel tank drop, and pass by the capsule window. As Jeb and Bob watch it tumble through the air, jeb utters these words...

"Is that our heat shield attached to that fuel tank?"

They both died during re-entry.

The last thing I learned-
4) Always double check your decoupler placement.



posted on Jul, 30 2016 @ 01:26 PM
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a reply to: lordcomac

Let's take a moment for Jeb and Bob. They will never be forgotten.



posted on Jul, 30 2016 @ 04:42 PM
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This thread has resulted in my starting a new career game.

There goes my productivity for the next four to six weeks...



posted on Jul, 31 2016 @ 05:42 PM
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a reply to: lordcomac

That was actually rather heart wrenching.



posted on Jul, 31 2016 @ 05:48 PM
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a reply to: lordcomac

I can get to pretty much any destination. And usually manage to slip into a nice falter orbit. I can even get to a nice orbit for atmospheric probes and landers. However,that's pretty much where I hit the wall almost every time. I can land a capsule with parachutes, but I have yet to put a powered lander down safely. And if it isn't a powered lander, I can't launch and return to the spacecraft to get home. If it weren't for robotic control systems, my Space Program would just be a complicated, highly sophisticated and extremely expensive Kerbal Genocide.




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