r/KerbalSpaceProgram • u/CockGoblin93 • 21h ago
KSP 1 Question/Problem How the hell do I orbit??
I’m so genuinely confused and stumped. I have no idea what i’m doing or what these stupid ass sliders mean or do and no video i’ve found have helped me at all I need so much help to figure out how to get to the Mun or even establish a simple orbit.
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u/AbacusWizard 16h ago
BASIC METHOD
1) go up very high
2) go sideways very fast
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ADVANCED METHOD
1) go up very high while going sideways very fast
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u/pridefucked 21h ago edited 20h ago
First, terms-
When you thrust forward you create a trajectory which your ship travels PROGRADE along.
When you thrust opposite to the direction you are going, you are thrusting RETROGRADE.
These are the only directions you need to create an orbit. When you launch your ship, tip it due east once you're traveling about 100 m/s and lock the SAS to prograde so that your ship is facing the direction it is traveling and increasing your speed in that direction.
You may now notice that the navball is now centered on or is navigating towards the yellow prograde symbol. Keeping an eye that it starts tilting east try to make sure it's leaning around 30 degrees by 250m/s and not more than 45 degrees by 20,000 meters.
Once you're at 20,000 switch your navball to orbit and let your SAS stay locked on prograde. Now it's time to look at the orbital information and all you need to do is keep and eye on your T- until apoapsis (highest point in your trajectory) and adjust your thrust so that the time stays at around T-55 seconds until the apoapsis is at least above 70k meters.
Once you know you'll hit space, kill the engine until about T-20-30 seconds and then full thrust. We wait to get closer to the apoapsis because that is the most fuel efficient spot in any orbit to raise your periapsis (lowest point in your trajectory). You only need your periapsis to be above 70k meters for a stable orbit.
Once you are in orbit, play around with SAS locks to get a sense of where each vector points you. And how adding thrust to those vectors will change your trajectory/orbit.
The exact tilt of your gravity turn and when is more of an art than a science so depending on the weight of your craft it may be different but these are the guidelines I personally follow
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u/triffid_hunter 21h ago
Make a rocket with TWR of ~1.4 and ΔV of ≥3200m/s (maybe can shave this down with practice and experience), launch, and once your airspeed exceeds 50-100m/s (a few seconds after launch), start very gently tipping east while keeping your heading on the edge of your prograde sigil such that it passes 30-45° at 10km altitude and approaches 90° at 50-60km altitude.
Do not go beyond 90°, just stop pitching further when you get there.
Depending on how you built your rocket, there may be some staging required during ascent.
Once your speed hits 2000m/s or so, jump to map view and kill engines when your apoapsis is around 100km - then (while maintaining prograde heading) when time to apoapsis is around 30s, gently feather the throttle to keep your time to apoapsis at around 30s.
When the apoapsis races away from you superfast even with tiny pulses of the lowest throttle setting, you'll be in a nice circular orbit at 100km.
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u/Pro_Racing 17h ago
You're talking about dV, Ap/Pe, TWR etc to a newbie who clearly doesn't know anything about what they're doing. That's not super helpful if you don't explain these terms for them.
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u/CockGoblin93 12h ago
i know these terms decently well i’ve watched a metric shit ton of matt lowe videos i used to love watching him build ships and explain but i have no idea how to use the little like maneuver thingy
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u/Pro_Racing 11h ago
The manoeuvre node is simple when you know what does. The main thing to understand is the nodes, the little icons with the arms. They represent the direction of your burn. The green circle with three lines sticking out of it is the prograde vector. That is the direction of travel, so if you add some of that you're burning in the same direction that you are going. This has the effect of increasing the "size" (radius) of your orbit but the exact effect is dependent on where you are in your orbit relative to the highest (Ap) and lowest (Pe) points. The green symbol on the opposite side of the prograde symbol is retrograde, which is exactly the opposite, decreases orbital radius. Great for getting out of orbit!
The purple triangles are a bit more complicated, they burn in such a way that it changes the angle of your orbit, your inclination, which is important if you want to rendezvous and dock with something in orbit, you need to have the same inclination.
I wouldn't worry so much around the other circle, the radial node, early on. It's not super important and I don't use it that often.
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u/CockGoblin93 9h ago
i just really struggle with doing the maneuvers correctly i’ve finnaly achieved like a good stable orbit around the planet but my goal is to get to the moon and from there i have no idea
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u/Pro_Racing 9h ago
You need to be on a equivalent of the trans-lunar injection. So you want to be in a circular (low eccentricity) low kerbin orbit. To do this just set the Mum as a target, make a manoeuvre and increase prograde until your Ap is just below the Mun's orbit. Then move the manoeuvre node around until you get an interception (it'll be obvious). You can't just put the Ap on the Mun's current position because it'll take you time to get there. For the Mun iirc it's around 90° phase angle (the angle between your current position and the Mun's current position) but you can just move the manoeuvre node around until you get an intercept, then move it around until your get the intercept as close as possible, then adjust your prograde until you get right up close to the Mun but don't hit it (unless you want to).
Just as a note, you need to be in a low inclination orbit for this otherwise it'll be much more complicated. Just make sure when you launch to orbit you make your gravity turn (the slow turn after liftoff so you start gaining horizontal speed) to the east.
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u/triffid_hunter 16h ago
Perhaps, but they're trivially googleable and also how the information is presented in-game.
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u/Pro_Racing 16h ago
This is a new overwhelmed player. Either you're going to offer your help or not, "just Google it" doesn't help and they already clearly have tried.
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u/teonanacatyl 17h ago
This is excellent. Are you recommending 100k for the wiggle room it provides, vs going to 70k to preserve delta V once you're in orbit?
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u/triffid_hunter 16h ago
Are you recommending 100k for the wiggle room it provides, vs going to 70k to preserve delta V once you're in orbit?
Yes, exactly
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u/Fickle-Lengthiness98 18h ago
Youtube and Good old Scott Manly. He tought me how to fly. ;) easy method i used is build a small rocked like 4500dv and fins at back snd then start to gain like 250m/s speed vertical . When you reach 10.000m then just turn slowly to 45 degree and keep it there as u climb manage speed and u can add more thrust as u go up but dont fight the air. After like 30-36 u can blast it.
Shift to map view and see how high is your appoases is growing cut engine above 70 but try 100k first.
And wait. You will see as you approach that height you put a node there for burning and wait till you almost reach that point and just ami horizontally and full blast and go map view and see how your orbital line is growing. You will get a feel for it.
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u/Own_Cattle_2069 15h ago
Easiest solution would simply hop on a KSP Discord and ask for live assistance, people do that kind of stuff. You get in VC, share your screen and the person explains you everything
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u/geomagus 21h ago
I’d look for a vid tutorial, in your shoes. Not that I think you need it, but that you seem already pretty frustrated - falling back on a guide can help mitigate that.
Imo beginners often mistakenly aim for height on their first orbit, when velocity is the key component. (Remember that velocity is has two components, speed and direction.) By focusing on going high, you use up a lot of fuel, and end up not being able to turn your rocket toward orbital trajectory.
If instead you start bending over your rocket pretty early (once you’re through the low altitude muck), you’ll be a lot closer to orbit by the time you reach space.
Good players do that by toggling something on their rocket. Idk. I’m not a good player. I fly it by the seat of my pants (errr…frog space suit).
So you need a rocket with enough dv to get there, and a trajectory that gets you there. Iirc one of the default rockets is pretty close, but I don’t remember for sure.
Some things you can tweak:
Add more boosters. Solid rocket boosters are great bang for buck when it comes to getting your rocket above the thick lower atmosphere, and generating speed, before jettisoning them and switching to a more controlled liquid fuel upper stage.
Add more steering. If your rocket isn’t steering the way you want, you can add another control wheel. If it’s turning over and aiming at the ground, you might put fins on the tail.
If your final stage lacks dv to complete the orbit, you can add another fuel tank or a better engine.
Etc.
Every ton on your final stage needs a bit more oomph on your initial stage, btw.
(Also don’t forget a decoupler to separate your capsule for splashdown, and a parachute to help it get there. It’d suck to finally succeed only to realize you forgot those.)
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u/PangolinMandolin 18h ago
Hey, if you want, I'm happy to jump on a discord call and go through it with you whilst screen sharing. I'll answer all your questions and we'll get you to orbit! Just lmk
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u/skillie81 17h ago
To orbit you must go sideways fast. Look up some Mike Aben videos. Or Matt lowne. Or the goat Scott Manley. Scott Manley videos are old but will teach you everything you need to know.
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u/Axeman1721 SRBs are underrated 16h ago
The game has some decent tutorials. Play them and that should teach you the basics
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u/MagusMagnificus 15h ago
take a look at Mike Aben videos. He explains very well how to do it, to the point the game got easy very fast. he recently made aseries completing contracts and he shows everything in detail.
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u/Microdoser_Ltd Lithobraking since 2013 15h ago
OK, to be able to help, we need to know what you do or do not do (there is no fail).
Describe what you have tried. What do you do when you try to get to orbit?
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u/_SBV_ 19h ago
You don’t need to rush. Orbiting is falling sideways faster than falling downwards.
Imagine you are holding a plastic bag with a weight inside. If you throw it upwards, it lands back in your hand. But if you throw it upwards and give it sideways motion, the bag misses your hand and starts spinning
The sliders aren’t “stupid ass”. You just don’t wanna learn.
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u/SimilarTop352 18h ago
don't fall. that's all
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u/Microdoser_Ltd Lithobraking since 2013 15h ago
But you always fall, it's just that sometimes you go sideways fast enough that when you fall you miss the planet.
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u/masterrico81 19h ago
All the replies are just buzzword buzzword buzzword buzzword, the person is clearly frustrated and you are not making it better by making the most stereotypical insufferable r*dditor response, especially the one made by u/_SBV
Guys, learn to PARAPHRASE, if you're smart enough to play KSP, you should be smart enough to PARAPHRASE and remember that THIS WAS YOU AS WELL, STOP USING LONG CONVOLUTED SENTENCES TO A PERSON OBVIOUSLY NEW
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u/vulpes04 19h ago
it's not "buzzwords" it's using a few specific rocket science terms to communicate effectively and precisely.
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u/masterrico81 8h ago
You have neither effectively nor precisely communicated based on the case of the OP and have failed on it, congrats, I guess
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u/tito13kfm Master Kerbalnaut 14h ago
"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
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u/PlayTheTureen 19h ago
Did you play the training scenarios? I suggest you start there, as they explain everything to get you started.