I never pay much attention to the payloader tool, and it may be erroneous if you are running mods.

It might be a good idea to get a good grasp of orbital mechanics before you start using mechjeb (particularly as you kind of need to understand most of the terms like prograde, retrograde, Apoapsis, Periapsis, etc).

I know for me, one thing that use to give me lots of headaches coming over from orbiter (aside from the lack of needed information) was trying to understand the nav ball in space (the lack of a cockpit view also did not help me).

Also the newer version finally seemed to add tools to help you calculate orbits in advance and burn values and times. just mouse on your orbiter path (you will see a dot), click, and select add manuver, you will see 6 icons (prograde, retrograde, +/-rad, +/-nml), grab one and drag it away from or towards the circle and it will show you the new orbit changes as you drag. Then let go and it will put a new heading indicator on your ball, aim at it and when the clock reaches zero, burn.


Anyhow found this really good tutorial video for ksp orbital mechanics. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCZRF9o8ytc

Anybody found a mod that will autodock? My machine is under the min specs, so anything with tricky like that is a nogo manually.

And I love how most of the mod creators have named themselves after fictitious aerospace sub contractors, it actually gives the game a 'realer' feeling. :P

Love this game....

Hate the BSOD's its causing.......

:(

Great news for fans of SpaceX, since KerbX Falcon 1 was released today!
http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/...on-1-released!

I tested it and I love it!

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-g...Shot%25201.jpg
Launch settings and setup...

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-H...Shot%25202.jpg
Shortly after lift off...

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-w...Shot%25203.jpg
Stage 1 seperation...

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-v...Shot%25205.jpg
Fairing seperation. The payload is a 620kg telescope...

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-k...Shot%25204.jpg
SECO with enough propellant left to de-orbit the 2nd stage...

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-b...Shot%25206.jpg
Payload seperation - mission accomplished!:yeah:

Looks like we now have a "race for space" with hello kitty entering the fray versus the Kerbals :D http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5REsCTG4-Gg

There are a few that can do the job. They are:

ORDA
http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/...nt-v1-0-3-ORDA

and

HydroTech
http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/...82013-02-06%29

The docking cam from Lazors can also be very handy
http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/...Docking-Camera


Out of the two, I would go hand's down with ORDA over hydrotech. Hydrotech you need to mount cameras and targets to use it, and frankly it is pretty horrid at the job (takes for ever, and often refuses to do anything. I've also found the control systems go utterly berserk with mechjeb and Hydrotech. I also think it has one of the worst control setups I've ever seen (you have to save every little change, like docking camera zoom, or if you are nulling out thrust differences). ORDA is far superior as it doesn't need any of that crap.

Note however you do need to know orbital mechanics still, as you do have to get the two craft with in 2 km to use either docking system. I think though that ORDA is capable of doing stuff like that, but i really do not know it very well yet (only started playing with automated orbital docking yesterday).

I use ORDA, don't have any experience with those other autodock plugins.
Note that ORDA also has a minimum distance, iirc it's about 50m. I experienced this when I was pretty close to my station and wanted ORDA to do the rest. Suddenly the damned thing goes backwards until it reaches the required distance, then it starts the docking run again.:-?
Also make sure to carry enough RCS fuel...

Well KSP just got updated to 0.18.4 including using the newer version of the unity engine which is supposed to help with performance

Update!? Already!?:timeout:

:woot:

"Just" an engine upgrade and some bug fixes.

Yeah, "just"... :D


Changelog

It seems promising lol I installed and graphics were set to max for my computer and so far its running smoother, Im pretty sure they said its still in transition too and not at its full potential which they are going to be adding later. Other users have complained of 18.2 being way better, for me its the opposite. I suspect the other users have a bottleneck somehwhere in their system? At least in the wrong place?

I don't know if it's just me, or does the game look "sharper" now with 18.4?

Or have I been watching too many KSP Youtube videos? :O:

Probably part of switching to Unity 4.

I noticed that too. What I do not notice is the announced performance boost. But my system is ancient, so I just shut up here...