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[Guardian G.I.]

Kerbin City community project.

[kaian-a-coel]

Kerbin City community project.

impressive 

[LoSboccacc]

Kerbin city has had a release!

[Aseaheru]

Woo!
Woo?

[LoSboccacc]

Spoiler: launchapds with kethane and ore drillers (click to show/hide)

I've built my first ugly but self sufficient colony!

Now I can build on the colony itself the crafts to build a better colony

Woo!
Woo?

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/47666-Kerbin-City-OPENS!-Build-1

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Girlinhat]

So my friend couldn't get into orbit.  We turned on skype and screen sharing, and I showed her how to build a stable rocket.  Then she asked about Mechjeb...

I turned on my screenshare, and built...
Cockpit + parachutes
Solid Booster
Decoupler
Long 1m Fuel
Nuclear Engine
Decoupler
1m -> 3m structural cone
3m Large Orange Fuel + 6x Asparagus
Mainsail

Using Mechjeb 2.  I showed her how it'll get into a 100m orbit easily, and got my nuclear drive, solid booster, and capsule up with ~3/4 fuel tank left.  She said "Impress me" so I said "Let's go to Eve."  With ~1,500 Delta V on my nuclear drive, I set up an interception for Mun, tapping and tugging the maneuver node to get a crash course.  I let Mechjeb take us to the sphere of influence change, then set an immediate maneuver to bring periapsis to 5km.  It did perfectly, and we passed so close to the surface of Mun that I actually pulled in my solar panels and angled my ship because I was afraid of hitting a mountain!  Luckily, being so close gave a SUPERB gravity boost, and we quickly left the sphere of influence of Mun, and then Kerbin, entering a Solar orbit.  Using Mechjeb, I then set up an inclination change and Homman transfer, but alas ran out of fuel halfway through the Homman!

So what's a little Jebediah to do?  Stuck on a single solid rocket booster in solar orbit...  Well, I said I was getting to Eve didn't I?  I did a quick google, the stage had ~1,275 Delta V left, an SRB burns for 30 seconds, and Eve has an atmosphere.  So I made a maneuver node, and set it to "Retrograde 1,275" to try and drop orbit far enough for an Eve intercept.  Then played with the time, pushing the maneuver node forwards and backwards by 10's of minutes, then 1's of minutes, then by the seconds, until it would show an intercept that had no periapsis - a collision with Eve.  I time warped to the node, waited until T - 15s and burned the solid rocket.

With parachutes deployed, we slam into the atmosphere of Eve at something like 15km/s or so.  Thankfully the SRB is on the bottom, and takes most of the atmospheric shock as it rapidly slows down at over 15 G-Forces (that's as high as the meter foes!), the solar panels rip off, the chutes deploy, and the capsule touches down - detaching from the SRB with the force of landing at 2.5m/s and leaving the capsule on a slight hill on the surface of Eve.

And that's when I realize that Mechjeb is placed directly over the capsule door, and that we've taken Jebediah, and welded him inside a tin can using Mechanical Jebediah.  My friend muttered, "That's dark."

So that's how, at 2am, I managed to get a fairly rickety, tall ship into orbit, slingshot so close to the Mun I probably could have sheared off my engine, ran out of fuel, and performed a Homman transfer using an SRB.

[Sean Mirrsen]

<snip>

"MechJeb, let me open the pod bay door!"
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that, Jeb."



Neat little mission. Send someone with another ship to smack MJ off the doors.

[Girlinhat]

I actually debated attempting a low-speed collision to break it off.  But in my 2am stupor I just X'd out and lost the mission...

[kaian-a-coel]

"MechJeb, let me open the pod bay door!"
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that, Jeb."

Omg so sigged.

[LoSboccacc]

I think (math is hard!)
that because of the oberth effect slingshotting with mun is less efficient that burning directly to intercept in low kerbin orbit.

[Aseaheru]

I think that it was proven that it was either a waste or a savings of 1 or something sad like that.

[BigFatStupidHead]

I think that it was proven that it was either a waste or a savings of 1 or something sad like that.

Still, it's worth doing for the Wow! factor.

[My Name is Immaterial]

I am so very, very happy right now. I finally got Mun orbit. Pics later. I really should be doing homework instead of rocket science.

[Greiger]

I recently bought the full version of this game, and while some things became a great success, others I feel aren't working as I think they should.

I'm good with rockets it seems.  Experience with the old alpha versions probably helped there. I got a satellite into orbit on my first attempt (second if you don't count the one I sent up that I forgot to deploy the solar panels on before it was out of juice), and I also 'sorta' got a satellite in Mun orbit ('sorta' as in the game crashed on orbit transition, and wasn't there when I got back, but I had plenty of fuel left).

But I can't seem to make a spaceplane that can actually get into orbit.  If it carries enough fuel to power the rockets for more than a few seconds it's either too heavy to take off, it's center of lift vs center of mass is all wrong and it does backflips off the end of the runway, or both.  What am I doing wrong?

Spoiler: This is the best design I have so far, it can usually take off and goes up to 18000 on jets alone.  But it still can't reach space. (click to show/hide)

(also how do you make space stations?  Those look awesome.)

[Girlinhat]

To get a space station, you basically lift the parts.  For the most part, that means you take a fuel container, and put a docking clamp on the top or bottom.  You then lift it up, detach it, and leave it there.  The next ship that comes up has its own docking clamp, and can dock to siphon fuel off.  Or attach a new segment.

Spaceplanes are an arcane art.  I cannot offer any help to you.