How much DeltaV do you spent to get to orbit?

[maculator]

I I really really really strip it down I can reach a 70km orbit with 3200m/s lower is possible I guess but even the 3.2k are way beyond my understanding of a safty margin.

In general I pack 3.5 for a 80k orbit - that's what I call a decent ascent.

[maculator]

Well I do it manually or partial manual on most occasions. But i let the recorder run in the background. Getting mj himself to be efficient is too much tinkering and so he mostly needs 3400+. KOS needs ~3200 too but only with a script specially designed for one rocket.
And manual is the most efficient way in combination with smartass.

I like the recorder because it made me design my stages cleverer. So I have a ascent stage followed by a orbitalinjection/mun transfer stage wich I let hit the mun. I'm a sucker for data.

[maculator]

Atmospheric drag isn't as big of a problem as I thought. Unless you go really flat and push your pe ~10min away^^
But in general what I noticed is that starting the turn early is a good thing.
At 10km I had passed the 45° and with a pe of 50km at 30km alt I was at almost 0°. This was my best try. The next level of flat approach won't let you escape the atmosphere with resonable deltaV.

[Manwith Noname]

I'd need to fire up the game to be sure but I recently put a SCANsat in to 250km orbit. The actual rocket only had 2.9k dV and the circularisation was done on monoprop with RCS thrusters. My thumb got quite sore mind you (forward RCS thrust is assigned to up on a 360 controller dpad) and I thought it was going to fail at one point.

[maculator]

RCS is a good point never really cared about it but since I'm using mj instead of ker now he can give me the rcs deltav. And what do you know there are 102.3m/s inside the capsule if you don't empty it before flight.

[Chibbity]

Originally posted by maculator:

RCS is a good point never really cared about it but since I'm using mj instead of ker now he can give me the rcs deltav. And what do you know there are 102.3m/s inside the capsule if you don't empty it before flight.

You are better off emptying it and bringing more fuel, as far as DeltaV is concerned; RCS is terrible.

The only reason a ship should ever even carry monoprop/RCS is if it's intending to dock with something else. Otherwise just bring reaction wheels, and solar panels/batteries.

(That said, I'd be lying if I told you I've never used RCS to make up for low fuel. Lol.)

[maculator]

I know monoprop thrusters got terrible ISP, but that only has a noticable disadvantage if the engineweight compared to the fuel is low. there is really no benefit if you carry a engine with you for just a few liters of fuel.
To maneuver bigger vessels I install thrusters and monoprop tanks. You never really use all the monoprop to maneuver so if you see it like that its "kind of" free deltaV.

[Manwith Noname]

If you only look at things from an efficiency stand point you're kind of ignoring a few other aspects of the game I feel.

I made a probe with no main engine...because it's a satellite to map Kerbin, it doesn't need an engine. I gave it RCS because it allows for adjustments to orbit...without a full on engine. It's a design choice from an aesthetic view point because having a huge motor attached to it makes me feel like it's still a rocket and not a satellite.

In the process of building the launcher for it, I just slapped a few tanks together and the main motor.

*GASP*

I even used those heavy, sometimes inefficient things called fairings when I probably didn't need to but it made my rocket look like the real deal because I prefer to play that way rather than just worrying about squeezing the last 0.000000000001% efficiency out of something.

[Chibbity]

Originally posted by Manwith Noname:

If you only look at things from an efficiency stand point you're kind of ignoring a few other aspects of the game I feel.

I made a probe with no main engine...because it's a satellite to map Kerbin, it doesn't need an engine. I gave it RCS because it allows for adjustments to orbit...without a full on engine. It's a design choice from an aesthetic view point because having a huge motor attached to it makes me feel like it's still a rocket and not a satellite.

In the process of building the launcher for it, I just slapped a few tanks together and the main motor.

*GASP*

I even used those heavy, sometimes inefficient things called fairings when I probably didn't need to but it made my rocket look like the real deal because I prefer to play that way rather than just worrying about squeezing the last 0.000000000001% efficiency out of something.

Despite what I said, I'm in agreeance here. I feel it's important to "know and understand" what's best but then if you want to ignore it anyways feel free to.

It is technically really bad as far as Dv is concerned but I wouldn't suggest letting that stop you from using it. Heck, I inlucde all sorts of uneeded things on my crafts like back up transmitters, back up batteries, lights all over everything, all my sats have a ladder on them for a Kerbal to cling to in case he has to make repairs...even though that's not a thing.

I do the same thing as you with my Sats, so I can make fine tune adjustments after they are deployed. It's weird, but exactly like you said; It just doesn't feel like a proper Sat with the engine still attatched.

[Near Gravity]

Actually haven't bothered calculating anything. I almost consistently hit 50K at about 1500 m/s, and have it up to near 2000 by 70K. Only ever been marginally over 2500 in orbit. When I started a couple days ago, I was going sub-orbital at about 700-900 iirc, and entering orbit at around 2500 on the second stage.

That was before I switched to full liquid propellant designs, and only awhile before I started using the thrust limiter settings.

My first orbit was reached before I did the Advanced tutorial; technically correct, but awkward. Also, the Terrier is awesome for second stage propulsion to enter orbit and adjust your orbits.

[maculator]

DeltaV != speed!
DeltaV is the capability of your rocket to change velocity and is messured in m/s.

[Semaj]

I always shoot for 4k delta v, it lets you get back down and conduct some minor orbital maneuvers if you need to. It's always better to have a little extra than not enough. :)