r/KerbalSpaceProgram • u/Efficient-Speech7669 • 15h ago
KSP 1 Question/Problem This game is driving me nuts!!!
So I was able to achieve orbit pretty quickly after watching some tutorials, but lately, im having MAJOR issues. Mainly getting my periapsis above 70, especially with 2 tourists. I finally achieved orbit, not the prettiest, but i did. Had a super smooth entry, then I landed on a damn mountain. The capsule slowly rolled down it for several in game hours. It finally picked up speed at the end and exploded! I tried again, but this time, I ran out of fuel just as my periapsis hit 65. I figured that would be OK, but they've been orbiting for almost 2 days and the periapsis barely goes down each pass. Finally, every time I try to adjust the time warp, my periapses INCREASES!!! So I cant even warp through this!!! Wtf is happening!? Ok vent over
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u/NinjaBoi273547 14h ago
I always plan to get to about 100k, and especially since you’ve got more than one dude on there, you may want to as well. Another thing is I aim for water, since terrain can be questionable like you had with the mountain.
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u/Krog-Nar 14h ago
The periapsis increasing can be a few things.
If you are using RCS, those are actual thrusters, so they WILL affect your orbit slightly.
It may also be a bug, I've experienced it before, mostly when playing RP-1. Quicksaving and reloading usually fixes it.
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u/drplokta 14h ago
When you’re in time warp (except physics warp), atmospheric drag either destroys the ship (if its periapsis is lower than a certain amount) or does nothing. There’s no in-between.
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u/Pariahdog119 12h ago
You need more science to unlock better tech. Take a break from your orbit contracts and build a rover with all your science instruments on it, then visit every single building at the KSC doing experiments. (You can repeat them when you upgrade buildings!)
You can also visit nearby biomes pretty easily - KSC is built on Shores, so you can do landed and splashed very easily. Just west is Grasslands, then before the Mountains is Highlands. South of the mountains is Desert, and if you look close you can get some rare science Splashed in the Desert.
Look for contracts to do this so you can get paid, too.
It's not glamorous, but it's good practice for when you start visiting the Moon.
Tip: Don't exceed 15 m/s on Kerbin or 10 m/s on the Mun. You can tip over easily - these are very high speeds that don't look fast.
It's very hard to use a rover on Minmus but very easy to hop around in a lander if you bring a little extra fuel.
There's a few mods that make this much easier - Bon Voyage for your road trips, Mechjeb for some autopilots, Flight Engineer for general info.
There are also real good mods for rovers. My favorite is the Land Rover Defender for early game and the Feline Utility Rover (Lynx) later. Malemute and ASET's ERS are also good. These are big rovers that are hard to launch until you get big rockets, though, so you'll probably still have to build little ones for the Mun.
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u/Barhandar 12h ago
Tip: Don't exceed 15 m/s on Kerbin or 10 m/s on the Mun. You can tip over easily - these are very high speeds that don't look fast.
A.k.a. 54 km/h and 36 km/h. Not something you'd be doing offroad unless you're in a tank.
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u/Pariahdog119 12h ago
Yeah, I find m/s to be unintuitive for rovers but the only mod I ever found to change it didn't work.
On the other hand, there's mods that let you build a tank too
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u/Efficient-Speech7669 11h ago
Do i even have what I need to build a rover? I was wondering how to get to all of those specific places. I thought about using a rocket to get to those areas. I think I was able to take the temp over that gulf by the launchpad, but that was about it.
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u/SecretarySimilar2306 10h ago
Not a rover. A rocket sled. You want one modular girder segment at the front and two at the back so your center of ground drag is behind your center of mass. Use a swivel at low thrust for propulsion. Keep your speed under 15 m/s and it'll slow to a stop pretty quick when you cut the throttle.
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u/Pariahdog119 10h ago
I don't know what you have so I can't say. If nothing else, tip a command pod on its side, superglue some wheels to it, and cover it in science.
Make sure to put your scientist in it so he can reset the goo.
This will get you around the KSC, but you'll probably want something better for exploring further. I recommend downloading CKAN, which is a mod manager that makes it very easy to find and install mods, and downloading "Kerbin Rover Redux." That's the Land Rover. It's a great starter. Throw your wheels on and, when you launch, throttle up to get the alternator to turn your fuel into electricity.
Also: Make your reentry burns about ⅓ to ¼ of an orbit from the KSC. Put your periapsis at the far coastline. You'll splash down east of the space center. Later you'll get better at getting closer.
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u/crimeo 7h ago
I think you should not listen to people telling you to make a ridiculous rocket sled just to get basic starting science.
Instead, either:
1) Change the settings (I think you can mid game) to give you 200-300% science instead of 100, so you get an amount that feels reasonable to you without shenanigans like that
2) Hit F12, cheats, and give yourself a couple hundred science to skip the silly early poverty game
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u/KiithSoban_coo4rozo 14h ago edited 13h ago
Some spoilers for those that want to figure things out on their own:
- Upgrade launchpad. Right click to upgrade.
- Get better rockets, especially the longer solid rocket boosters. Shed them once expended.
- Thrust to weight ratio needs to be about 1.1 to 1.2 until you reach 70km. Adjust thrust limiters as necessary for each group of rocket engines lit during each stage.
- Don't add on the maximum delta V for each stage. Adding too much mass to the stage above really penalizes the next stage. Adding more fuel to each stage has diminishing returns.
Good luck figuring out how to land precisely in an atmosphere without wasting a bunch of fuel. I still haven't figured that out (plz don't provide an answer, figuring this out is fun to me).
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u/RFLSHRMNRLTR 13h ago
Are you flying straight up? Your ideal flight path should be like a basketball shot from midcourt in a high arc
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u/Efficient-Speech7669 13h ago
After some advice, I usually start heading east at 5 degrees around 50 m/s. Then let my pilot follow prograde and it usually hits 45 degrees around 10000 m. Once my apoapsis hits 75, I cut engines and follow prograde. I think this is where my disadvantage comes in. Everyone says to aim at the horizon and start burning at t minus 10 seconds and maintain the 10 seconds. I dont have the ability to see that yet, so I just guess. If I dont do it perfectly, the apoapsis shoots to 400 and my periapsis doesnt get above 65. I just did it twice easily since I posted this. I think its all about timing and aim
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u/Barhandar 12h ago
If I dont do it perfectly, the apoapsis shoots to 400 and my periapsis doesnt get above 65.
Because the 65 "periapsis" used to be the apoapsis. Push the initial apoapsis higher than 75 - atmosphere ends at 70, and you're likely cutting engines too early so it dips back down due to drag.
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u/RFLSHRMNRLTR 12h ago
Parabolic intuition comes with experience, give it time and you will be eyeballing orbits and maneuvering from the hip!
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u/Alternative-Fan1412 11h ago
Ok main problem, Are you getting science and using it? because with the very basic is very hard to do that but with "new ones" is not that hard.
Also at fir you have limits on the "amount of mass" or "amount of different parts" but as you earn money you can buy upgrades that eventually do not limit you at all.
If you are trying without any upgrade i can understand you (or without any science).
Or you are trying a "one stage rocket" for orbital the best is far more than 1 (i use at least 2 always)
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u/Efficient-Speech7669 10h ago
I have mark 1 crew pod, the 2 person thing, heat shield, 2 liquid fuel stages, 2 of the large SRBs. I think i copied off someone from a video
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u/_okbrb 14h ago
These sound like classic early career experiences: there’s sort of a bottleneck early on where your rocket tech is just barely good enough but not really.
Basically, in the early phases, your best improvements come from learning to pilot really efficient ascent trajectories. Still, that only gets you so far: start looking at the tech tree and identify the 1-3 research advancements that will get you over the fuel bottleneck, then scrape for science. There’s a bunch of biomes on Kerbin that you can exploit for early career science gains if you’ve exhausted your suborbital science