I would like to express sincere gratitude to the original author https://steamproxy.net/id/ethanluo12 for generously allowing this translation into English, and for their efforts creating the original guide. All credit goes to the original author https://steamproxy.net/id/ethanluo12.

This guide may not be up to date. Please refer to the original guide for the latest. This guide is up to date as of November 4, 2024.

Permission to translate the original guide.



If for any reason the original author asks me to pull down this guide, I will do so immediately to the best of my ability. The intent of providing this guide is purely to provide an English translation for those, like myself, who cannot read the original.

If you have questions, please direct them to the original guide, as I am likely not as expert at the game as the original author is.

Be aware that some links had difficulty. Even though efforts were made to provide adequate links, you may need to refer to the original article.

Now on to the guide! Enjoy!

The following Shift, Alt, and Ctr all refer to the buttons on the left

===Construction interface===

1. Clicking the control core can move the entire rocket. What if you can't click it sometimes? (For example, the core is wrapped by the load), please use Shift+left button.

2. Shift+mouse wheel zoom, and direct scrolling is moving up and down.

3. Ctr+z undoes the modification of the rocket, and Ctr+y restores it. It seems that the history record is 10 times.

4. The construction interface QEWSAD is a 90° moving part. Holding down Shift rotates and moves by 5°, which is suitable for precise control. Pressing the space bar restores the default state.

5. X increases the number of symmetries, and Shift+X decreases the number of symmetries; C increases the angle limit degree, and Shift+C decreases the angle limit degree.

6. Solid rockets can right-click to adjust the throttle size to avoid too large initial TWR; it can also be used to adjust the actual amount of fuel tanks.

===Orbital flight interface===

1. Alt+L locks the level, and then presses to unlock to prevent accidentally pressing the space bar. . .

2. When you hover the mouse over Ap Pe AN DN, etc., relevant information will be displayed. Right-click once to display it all the time, and click again to cancel the display.

3. CapsLock turns on precise adjustment
This is before turning it on:


After turning it on: (the pointer turns cyan)


4. Press and hold the F key to temporarily enable SAS (when it is off; when SAS is on, press and hold F to temporarily turn off SAS); press the T key to switch SAS on and off.

5. When docking, press the R key to turn on RCS. Do not switch to docking mode and use WSAD+ShiftCtr to adjust! ! ! , you should turn on RCS in hierarchical mode, and then use HNJIKL to adjust, H for forward, N for backward, and JIKL for up, down, left, and right translation.

You will find that the docking adjustment is much simpler now

6. Use the Tab key to switch between the celestial bodies, and the ~ key (the one above the Tab key) to immediately return to the currently controlled aircraft;
When editing a maneuvering node, you can press the Tab key to focus on the node, which is very useful when the node is far away from the aircraft.

7. Shift: Increase the throttle; Ctr: Decrease the throttle; Z: Maximum throttle; X: Close the throttle

8. How to stop the aircraft when it keeps spinning? Use . to accelerate the time and then press , to decelerate the time (or press / to directly restore 1x speed) to stop it from spinning.

===Atmospheric flight interface===

1. Alt+arrow keys can fine-tune the balance of the control surface, and Alt+X can return to normal.

2. B is the brake, or you can click the brake key on the right side of the altimeter.

===EVA===

1. When walking outside the cabin, the L key can turn on the headlights of the little green man.

2. Shift can accelerate the walking speed of the little green man on the surface of the celestial body, but it is invalid when the backpack fuel is used up.

3. Shift+Space allows the little green man to jump down from the ladder directly, and Shift+WASD+Space allows him to jump in the corresponding direction.

4. Engineers can repair damaged parts and manually control the core with no power (help open the solar panel). Just walk up and right-click the part that needs to be repaired.

===Others===

1. F5 quickly saves, Alt+F5 saves with a custom name; press and hold F9 to read the most recent save, and Alt+F9 allows you to select a save to read.

2. The period key on the numeric keypad: . You can show or hide the navigation ball.

The basics of the basics: Learn about the navigation ball and various signs: Click this link to learn more [www.yxdown.com]



1. Regarding the initial orbital inclination, it is related to the latitude at the time of your launch. For example, if you launch a rocket at 25° north latitude, since the orbit revolves around the center of mass of the earth, your initial orbital inclination cannot be lower than 25°, and you can only change the orbit to an inclination lower than 25° after entering the orbit.
Therefore, the best launch site is the launch site located at the equator, which can launch orbits at any angle between 0-90°.

2. Regarding the initial orbital inclination, as shown in the figure below, the orange-red line points to the north

The orbital inclination formed by launching a rocket in the direction of the orange-red line and the orbital inclination formed by launching a rocket in the direction of 180° (180° indicated by the navigation ball) are both 90°, and both are polar orbits.

The orbital inclination formed by a rocket launched in the direction of 90° is 0°

If you are at the equator, the orbital inclination is 0°. If you are launching at a non-equatorial latitude, the orbital inclination is the latitude of your launch site.

The orbit formed by launching a rocket in the direction of 270° is 180°

If you are at the equator, the orbital inclination is 180°. If you are launching at a non-equatorial latitude, the orbital inclination is 180° minus the latitude of your launch site.



3. Still changing the inclination (Inc), if you want to change the inclination most economically with the least ΔV, the ideal situation is that the Ap point coincides with the AN or DN, and then change the track at the Ap point, otherwise choose a low-speed AN or DN point.

4. During the launch phase, you can press the Tab key to open the precise control, and you can fine-tune the rocket inclination. As shown in the figure below, the small pointer turns green:







to be continued

===Simple explanation 1===

Take a piece of paper and blow air from your mouth, and the paper will float up.
Explanation of Bernoulli's principle: the faster the fluid flow rate, the lower the pressure.
When the paper is blown, the gas flow rate on the upper surface of the paper is higher than the gas flow rate on the lower surface of the paper, and the pressure on the upper surface is lower than the pressure on the lower surface, resulting in a pressure difference, which lifts the paper.

Let's look at the super-simplified flow model of the wing in the figure below. The small dots represent gas. Due to the curved surface design of the wing, the gas on the upper surface reaches the tail of the wing before the gas on the lower surface, indicating that the flow rate on the upper surface is faster than that on the lower surface, thus generating a pressure difference and lifting the wing.


By Kraaiennest - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6352777

But this cannot explain why the plane can fly upside down. Paper airplane wings have no curved surface, and the air flow speed is the same above and below, so how can it fly?

===Simple Explanation 2===

Pick up a small stone and skip it on the water. The stone can bounce several times on the water surface.
Explanation of Newton's third law: The action and reaction between two interacting objects are always equal in magnitude, opposite in direction, and act on the same straight line.
Lift comes from the reaction force of the air on the bottom of the wing. Similar to skipping a stone, when the stone slides quickly across the water, it will displace the water and obtain the reverse force to leave the water again. When the aircraft is flying, it constantly pushes the air downward, thereby relying on the reaction force to obtain lift.

The obvious error of this theory is that it believes that the lower surface of the wing mainly generates lift, and the contribution of the upper surface of the wing can be ignored. This leads to the conclusion that changes in the shape of the upper surface of the wing will not cause changes in lift. A typical counterexample is the spoiler. When the spoiler on the upper surface of the wing is opened, the lower surface does not change. It can be said that the shape of the upper surface does not change much, but the result is very significant - some aircraft only open when landing. Spoilers can reduce lift by more than half.

========If you don't want to rack your brains, just read this=========

The following content is excerpted from Wikipedia:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von author:

Originally posted by author:
Limitations of simplified explanations
Making lift requires maintaining pressure differences in both the vertical and horizontal directions, so both "downward deflection of the airflow" and "change in flow velocity in accordance with Bernoulli's principle" are required. Therefore, the simplified explanations above are incomplete because they define lift based on only one of them. Depending on the details, the simplified explanations have other flaws.

The explanation based on fluid deflection and Newton's laws is correct, but still incomplete. It does not explain how the wing can deflect fluid that is much farther away than the part it actually touches. In addition, it does not explain how the pressure difference in the horizontal direction is maintained. In other words, it ignores the "part affected by Bernoulli's principle" in the interaction.

And the explanation of Bernoulli's principle is based on the higher flow velocity on the upper surface, but fails to correctly explain what causes the flow velocity to increase:

The explanation of mass conservation is based on the narrowing of the flow tube on the upper surface, but this does not explain why the flow tube changes size. To understand why the air flows this way requires a more complex analysis.
Sometimes a geometric argument is proposed to explain why the size of the stream tube changes: it is asserted that the top "blocks" or "compresses" the air more than the bottom, so the stream tube is narrower. This feels intuitive for the case of a conventional wing with a flat bottom and curved top. But it does not explain how lift is generated by a flat plate, a symmetrical wing, a sailcloth, or a conventional wing flying inverted, and attempts to calculate lift based on the amount of contraction will not predict experimental results.
The common equal transit time version is wrong, as explained below.
Considering only Bernoulli's interpretation means that the speed difference is caused by something other than the pressure difference, and that according to Bernoulli's principle, the speed difference will cause the pressure difference, but this implied unidirectional causality is a misconception; the true causal relationship between pressure and speed is reciprocal. Finally, Bernoulli's interpretation alone cannot explain how the pressure difference in the vertical direction is maintained. That is, they ignore the part of the interaction that deflects the airflow downward.

Both of these explanations can simply explain lift, but the actual situation is much more complicated. However, we are just playing a game, and it is enough to have a qualitative understanding of lift. For more explanations of the principles, please refer to:

How is lift generated? [//] [zhuanlan.zhihu.com]
https%3A%2F%2Fzhuanlan.zhihu.com%2Fp%2F19806195

Is the lift of an airplane just the Bernoulli principle? [//] [www.zhihu.com]
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zhihu.com%2Fquestion%2F22042210

Wikipedia's explanation of lift [//] [zh.wikipedia.org]
https%3A%2F%2Fzh.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2F%25E5%258D%2587%25E5%258A%259B

1. Basic Aircraft Design Guide Please refer to the KSP official basic aircraft design guide [wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com]

The following content refers to KSP official communication forum keptin wrote
Basic Aircraft Design - Explained Simply, With Pictures[forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com]

2. Things to note when designing an aircraft:
Try to make the center of lift (CoL) a little behind the center of mass (CoM);
CoL in front and CoM behind: the aircraft is very easy to lose control (it will keep tilting);
CoL and CoM overlap: the aircraft pitch performance is extremely flexible;
CoL is a little behind CoM: the aircraft pitch performance is both stable and flexible;
CoL is a little behind CoM: the aircraft pitch is very stable, but not as flexible as the above design;
CoL is very far behind CoM: refer to dart flight, it is very stable but cannot change direction and turn.

As shown in the figure below, from the side of the aircraft, the left side is the head, the right side is the tail, the yellow dot is CoM, and the blue dot is CoL:




3. The center of thrust (CoT) should be on the same horizontal line as the center of mass (CoM), otherwise you need more control surfaces to counteract the nose-up tendency caused by asymmetric thrust. When the CoT is above the CoM, the nose tends to tilt down, and vice versa. As shown in the following figure:




A better engine design is to place it horizontally behind the CoM, as shown below:




4. Wing design:

The higher the aspect ratio of the wing, the more stable the roll, the lower the top speed, the lower the stall speed, the shorter the take-off and landing distance, and the easier it is to control;
The lower the aspect ratio of the wing, the more flexible the roll, the higher the top speed, the higher the stall speed, the longer the take-off and landing distance (under the same engine thrust conditions), and the more sensitive the operation. As shown in the figure below, the wing area of ​​the three aircraft is the same, but the maneuverability characteristics vary greatly with the change of the wing aspect ratio. From top to bottom, the wing aspect ratio is from high to low:




5. Wing design:
Swept wings have better high-speed maneuverability. The larger the sweep angle, the better the high-speed maneuverability. Of course, the low-speed maneuverability is not as good as the one with a small sweep angle. As shown in the figure below, the aircraft on the left has better low-speed maneuverability, and the aircraft on the right has better high-speed maneuverability:




6. Want to make takeoff and landing easier? Make sure the front wheels are slightly lower than the rear wheels, so that the nose of the aircraft is slightly tilted up on the ground; if the rear wheels are placed a little behind the CoM (Center of Mass), it is easier to tilt the nose during takeoff, and the farther away from the CoM, the less likely it is to tilt the nose.

Continuing with the design of the wing

Let's first understand a term:
1. Angle of attack (AOA) is an aerodynamic term, which is the angle between the chord of the wing and the free flow (or the direction of the relative wind flow); if it is the angle of attack of an aircraft, it is defined as the angle between the shaft and the relative wind flow. When the wing is facing upward, it is a positive angle of attack, and when it is facing downward, it is a negative angle of attack, as shown in the figure below. When the airflow is from left to right, the angle α between the wing section and the direction of the airflow speed is the angle of attack.


由User Theresa knott on en.wikipedia; remade to SVG by User:Petr Dlouhý - Original (png) image was draw by Theresa knott using the drawing tools that come with Microsoft Word. See en:Wikipedia:How to draw a diagram with Microsoft Word for advice on how to draw diagrams like this.，CC BY-SA 3.0，https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1104190

We now know that for an airplane to take off, the wings must maintain a certain angle of attack to obtain lift. If you build an airplane in SPH with the wings level with the fuselage, then in order to maintain level flight (without losing altitude) during flight, the nose must tilt up a little (＞0°). The nose indicator displayed on the navigation ball is at an angle >0. If you insist on pointing the nose at 0 horizontal degrees, we will need to constantly correct the tendency of the nose to fall down (you can also use Alt+S to slightly tilt the horizontal tail upward to offset this tendency, and press Alt+X to cancel all trims). Therefore, generally the main wing will form a small upward angle of 1-5° with the fuselage.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Additional information:

In KSP, the appropriate angle of attack is within 20°. If the angle exceeds this, the aircraft will be at risk of stalling (in layman's terms, the lift is not enough to support the weight of the aircraft). As shown in the figure below, when the angle of attack reaches a certain level, the airflow at the rear end of the upper surface of the wing generates a vortex, and the pressure of this vortex is similar to the air pressure on the lower surface of the wing. The lift = the pressure below ➖ the pressure above, the pressure difference decreases, and of course the lift also decreases; for example, in an extreme case, if the kite is 90° perpendicular to the ground, you can't fly no matter how hard you pull it.



How to save a stalled plane? Method 1: Increase the throttle and rush forward, just like how a rocket rises into the sky, with great force, bricks can fly; Method 2: Lower the nose of the plane, let the plane dive down to gain a certain speed, then pull up and fly level, just like throwing a paper airplane upwards, the paper airplane will always rise again and fly level after diving down.

Additional understanding b:

Note that the angle of attack is different from the pitch angle. The pitch angle refers to the angle between the aircraft and the ground. For example, when a fighter jet rises at an angle of 60° and the airflow flows over its fuselage, the angle of attack of the wing (the angle between the wing and the direction of the airflow) is still α°.

Additional information about c:

At the same speed, the greater the angle of attack, the greater the lift, and of course the greater the drag of the wing; it can also be said that in order to obtain the same lift, the greater the angle of attack, the lower the speed required; it can also be said that at the same angle of attack, the greater the speed, the greater the lift obtained. The angle of attack of civil airliners is generally larger than that of fighter jets.

But in KSP, even if the wings are level with the fuselage, it doesn't matter. Just tilt the nose up slightly to keep it level.

===The influence of the upper and lower positions of the wing on the fuselage on the control===

The up and down position of the wing, especially the main wing, will affect the position of the lift center. See the figure below for a simple and easy understanding (standing in front of the aircraft):



Blue CoL, yellow CoM.
The upper design, CoL is above CoM, the aircraft is very stable, but the rolling flexibility is slightly poor
The middle design, CoL and CoM overlap, the aircraft maintains a certain stability while increasing flexibility
The lower design, CoL is below CoM, the aircraft rolls very flexibly, but the stability is slightly poor
We can also change the horizontal angle between the wing and the fuselage to further increase this trend, as shown below:



From top to bottom:
Small passenger planes mostly use the first design
Large passenger planes and large transport planes mostly use the second design
Solar aircraft and gliders often use the third design
Fighters mostly use the fourth design.

Let's take a look at a real example. The following picture is the aircraft archive that comes with KSP:






Design points:
1 CoMC, CoLC, CoT are all in a straight line when viewed from the side, and CoL is slightly behind CoM;
If you want to increase the pitch flexibility of the aircraft, move the CoL closer to the CoM. When the CoL and CoM are at a center point when viewed from the side, the pitch flexibility reaches its maximum. Remember not to exceed the position of the CoM.

2 Look at CoMCoLCoT later and they are all at one point;
If you want to increase the aircraft's rolling flexibility, then make CoL lower than CoM. The lower, the more flexible.

3 The rear wheels are placed a little bit behind the CoM, which makes it easier to lift the aircraft when taking off to increase the angle of attack and help reduce the rolling distance. You can also try to put the rear wheels farther behind the CoM for comparison.
4 The front center tire turns, and the rear tires on both sides keep balance.

In fact, the aerodynamic effects and some physical characteristics of KSP are not very realistic, so we need to install Mods to make the game more realistic and hardcore:)

Official Mod download address: Mod Release [forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com]

Newbies can also download directly CKAN [forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com] To manage Mod dependencies, it is also the officially recommended Mod management and download tool

It can automatically determine the required mods when you download a mod and download them, and recommend other linked mods at the same time. This function is not easy to use. It should be noted that you should not check too many mods to install at one time. It is safer to check a small number of mods multiple times. Otherwise, if you check dozens or hundreds of mods at a time and the download crashes, you have to start over, and you will cry.

=========

1. RSS, and Real Solar System [forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com]

After installing this mod, you are no longer in the Kan system, but in a real solar system model. The required ΔV is also much larger. The original ΔV of about 3800m/s can enter orbit, but now at least 9400m/s is required. The original rocket engines are too weak in this model. It is not impossible to use them to go to the moon...

2. Ferram Aerospace Research Continued [forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com], Realistic aerodynamic model, modified the aerodynamic physical parameters to make them more consistent with the real situation.

3. Real Fuels [forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com], make the engine parameters consistent with reality, the engine will be lighter, have stronger thrust, and greater specific impulse. If you use RSS, this is a must-install, otherwise the original engine parameters will be too weak; at the same time, you can change the type of fuel consumed by the engine and the engine technology level. According to the official introduction, the technology level is as follows:

TL0: 1945-1955, WW2 and earlier rocket technology
TL1: 1957+, early space rockets (Redstone/Vanguard/R-5, Atlas/R-7)
TL2: 1962+, Saturn I rocket and similar technology, Voskhod/Molniya
TL3: 1967+, Apollo series
TL4: 1968+, Apollo Applications Program, N1, etc.
TL5: 1978+, Space Shuttle, etc.
TL6: 1985+, Space Shuttle, 80s and 90s LVs.
TL7: 2005+, Today's Rocket Technology

At the same time, fuel will leak, liquid light fuel will evaporate, such as liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen, etc. will slowly evaporate. . . . . . . The number of engine ignitions is also limited.

If you don't want to be too hardcore, you can also refer to the modification tutorial below and just enjoy the benefits of Real Fuels :) It's not considered cheating

--------Okay, it's realistic enough, but not too hardcore that you'll give up after 3 minutes of playing---------

~~~If you think RealFuels settings are too complicated, there's a plugin for you to use instead: SMURFF [forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com], This plug-in directly reduces the weight of the rocket and increases the thrust. It basically does not require any settings and can be used immediately after installation. Please use it with RealSolarSystem (real solar system), otherwise the game will be too simple.

======The following mods will not increase the difficulty======

MechJeb 2 [forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com] : The Maibox module includes automatic launch, automatic track change, automatic approach, etc. It is a must-have for novices.

Near Future Series [forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com]: A series of near-future cores, rockets, modules, power modules, etc., recommended.

Kerbal Engineer Redux [github.com] ：A very useful Mod, which can display a lot of parameters, and can customize the displayed parameters, color, position, etc. It is a must-have. As shown below:



Precise Maneuver [forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com]

Real Fuels is almost a must-install mod in the RSS environment. While it enhances the engine to make it have a real effect (the original Kerbal engine is very weak, after all, the Kerbal system is much smaller than the solar system), there are many real features that make it difficult for novices to deal with, such as the engine has a chance to stall, there is a risk of fuel leakage, the number of ignitions is limited, and the fuel will slowly evaporate over time even if it is not used, etc. Let's modify it to make it more useful:

Find the X:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Kerbal Space Program\GameData\RealFuels folder, open RealSettings.cfg, and find the following at the end of the file:

simulateUllage = true, change true to false, and the fuel will no longer leak
limitedIgnitions = true, change true to false, and the engine will have unlimited ignitions
shutdownEngineWhenUnstable = true, change true to false, and the engine will no longer stall
explodeEngineWhenTooUnstable = true, change true to false, the engine will no longer explode

Then create a new folder zFinal under the GameData folder, pay attention to the capitalization, and then create a new cfg file under the folder, with any English name, the content is as follows:


------OK, close and save, finally delete the ModuleManager.ConfigCache file in the GameData folder, the fuel in the tank will no longer evaporate and be lost over time------

CoM: Center of Mass, center of mass, solid sphere, solid cube, etc. The center of mass is its geometric center, while the aircraft is much more complicated.

CoT: Center of Thrust. It must be on the same center line as CoM.

CoL: Center of Lift. For an aircraft, CoL should be later than CoM. If CoL is higher than CoM, it is more stable, and if CoL is lower than CoM, it is more sensitive and difficult to control.

-------------
Ap: orbital apogee, that is, the point in the orbit farthest from the orbiting celestial body.
Pe: orbital perigee, that is, the point in the orbit closest to the orbiting celestial body.

AN: ascending node, when the orbit of a celestial body centered on the earth moves from south to north, its orbital plane intersects with the earth's equatorial plane.
DN: descending node, when the orbit of a celestial body centered on the earth moves from north to south, its orbital plane intersects with the earth's equatorial plane.
In the solar system, with the sun as the center, the ecliptic plane is used as the reference plane to determine AN\DN.

For other celestial bodies, follow the right-hand rule, that is, make a fist with your right hand, extend your thumb, and point the four fingertips in the direction of the celestial body's rotation. Then the thumb points to the north of the celestial body. At this time, when the aircraft crosses the celestial body's rotation orbital plane, the point from south to north is AN, and vice versa is DN. ------This may be wrong

------------

TWR: thrust-to-weight ratio, that is, the ratio of thrust to gravity, TWR=F/(mg), F represents thrust, m is the mass of the aircraft, and g is the acceleration of gravity. When TWR is greater than 1, the aircraft can take off.
When the engine starts, as the fuel consumption m decreases, and as the aircraft gets higher and higher from the ground, g becomes smaller and smaller, TWR will become larger and larger.
The larger the TWR, the faster the acceleration. It is recommended that the TWR of the first-stage rocket is around 1.5. If the TWR is too large, the speed will exceed the speed of sound many times before it reaches a certain height, the air resistance will increase, and the friction heat will burn the aircraft.

Isp: Also written as ISP in the game, specific impulse, defined as: the impulse generated by a unit weight of propellant in a rocket engine, or the thrust generated by a unit weight flow of propellant, Isp=F/m, F represents thrust (unit Newton, N), m represents fuel consumed per unit time (unit kg/s),
Isp indicates the efficiency of an engine. The larger the value, the higher the combustion efficiency, and the same fuel can provide more speed increments. The unit of specific impulse is usually seconds (s), which can be understood as the time (in seconds) that 1kg of material produces a thrust of 1kg force.
Isp is divided into vacuum and ground. For long-distance interstellar travel, please choose an engine with a higher vacuum Isp.

ΔV: Speed ​​increment, unit m/s, in layman's terms, represents how far you can go. The larger the ΔV, the farther you can go to the celestial body.

To be updated

Now it has Chinese version, the screenshots are the screenshots of the previous English version
CKAN is very easy to use, just check the Mod you want to install, and then click Apply changes to automatically download and install. The tool will automatically install the corresponding Mod version according to the detected KSP version, and automatically install the necessary prerequisite Mods.




--------Modify the settings of CKAN as shown below--------