KSP - KAL 1000: Automated Maneuvers, Launches and Booster Recovery

A quick look at how to use KAL 1000 as an automated flight computer in Kerbal Space Program Enhanced Edition. #ksp #falcon9 #howto

[@xub3136]

This video inspired me to use a KAL to retract my Eve probe's antenna during aerobraking.

[@odiseezall]

It's always amazing what stock KSP can do.. i think we're too spoiled by mods.

[@Lu-ng3oq]

I used KAL to mimic the first stage of Lunar Descent, which was actually controlled by the guidance computer. It was pretty basic, but this is so much cooler!

[@NickBDesigns]

This use of kal is great I have not used kal in this way before but now I am inspired to give it a try

[@LordOfNihil]

im usually building nerva rcs quads and virtual gimbals with it, but i never considered using it for launch sequencing.

[@WwZa7]

It would be great if we could use detectors like barometer, gravoli detector and accelerometer to influence KAL's timeline. Something like a command to retract everything when dipping into atmosphere would be pretty useful.

[@jakeallen7850]

Great idea!

[@jimbojimberson9934]

This is super cool! Would be amazing to do these sorts of timed flight profiles for all my commonly used rockets. That time commitment though…

[@LordOfNihil]

thats damn impressive. im just going to put kals on everything now, even if i dont have a plan for how to use it.

[@conboi124]

emergency thrust boost

[@uCruz_]

This man casually made a self landing rocket using Kal and its just "So that's it" dude this is amazing, although I don't know how realistic it truly is, since not everytime you'll get the same timing for the landing, and maybe the Kal will turn of at 100m from the ground or get to the ground and keep burning.

[@jakeallen7850]

Thanks! You can actually make it fairly consistent if you use a KAL to control the launch aswell, allowing you to hit the same altitude and distance from the space centre repeatedly.

[@aliCsto]

The fact that you can easily make fully autonomous rockets is crazy!

[@josiah7913]

You've done a great job contriving to make KAL seem practically useful for these things... Actually a pita/impractical to setup vs. alternatives.

[@jjeeqq]

Looks nice, but i can feel pain of people trying to re-creating this without understanding that landing doesn't go allways like that even with kal.

[@zackyboi2934]

i can tell he is skilled with the arts of ksp

[@e-june4057]

This is awesome, I play on console and was thinking of getting the robotic parts dlc but I had no idea something like KAL existed

[@zevlowenstein9572]

you have earned yourself a subscriber.

[@monkeyanimationandgaming]

Seeing this… i though i was decent at KSP but you manage to do this stuff on CONSOLE

[@KyberGaming47]

Brilliant video dude!

[@ganymedemlem6119]

Holy cow I had not even considered this! This is going to change a lot for me.

[@hexotylmobile-gaming8441]

I'm a bit late on this one but these ideas left me speechless, thank you so much I am really looking forward to try that

[@jakeallen7850]

No problem at all, I'm just glad that people are still enjoying this video.

[@Darthsinduk]

I never knew.... This is amazing

[@tadghie6193]

Dare you to make a rapier-powered spaceplane that uses KAL to get it from runway to orbit! Jokes aside, extremely impressive video to automate flights in not only a stock game, but console too :3

[@turmat01]

KAL's can also be use to overclock engines. You can modify the thrust of an engine. Jf you pull the handles on the nodes to make a curve up, then pull the node to the top, the curve will go above 100% thrust. Now I will let you experiment what happens if you make it go below 0%. Might not be the results you are expecting. ;)

[@jakeallen7850]

Unfortunately that glitch isn't possible on consoles as KAL isn't able to control engine thrust yet, we're still a few updates behind PC.

[@turmat01]

@@jakeallen7850 Ah! So in short, on PC, if you make the thrust go below 0%... you have no more thrust. In any direction. Hoewever... it DOES reverse the flow of fuel... So it creates fuel out of thin air (thin vacuum I guess), and refills your fuel tanks XD

[@jakeallen7850]

Haha! That's awesome! Thanks for the tip.

[@jackschitt7783]

That's pretty awesome!

[@thirdboylol95]

This is gonna be VERY useful for my very unstable shuttles

[@Vortex_Space_Agency]

Respect. You did this on KSP console.

[@jakeallen7850]

Thanks!

[@BruceWayne-lk8tu]

Very cool stuff

[@jab9934]

Are there any mods that add sensors and logic functions you can use in the KAL system?

[@jakeallen7850]

Not that I know of sorry. You could potentially use 3-5 KAL controllers to create a logic gate, not sure how useful it would be in game but it would be kinda cool.

[@o-manthehuman7867]

I hooked up a KAL controller to implement the B2 stealth's cool yaw system, by binding its progress to yaw you can easily control anything with wasd

[@YeaaIJusShiddedOnEm]

That intro cracked me up 😭

[@Terminarch]

Alright, but can it land the booster WHILE I'm still flying the main craft? That's actually the problem here.

[@jakeallen7850]

Just fly the main craft until its apoaps is 4-5 minutes away, switch to the booster, land it and switch back to the main craft.

[@Carlos-kh5qu]

you could use the physics range extender mod so the booster is still loaded when far

[@jakeallen7850]

That's true! I can't use mods on console so don't tend to think of them.

[@monkeyanimationandgaming]

Quicksave and quickload, sure you dont actually recover the rocket but still

[@jakeallen7850]

That's true! but check out my Falcon 9 build video, it's old and rudimentary, but at the end of the video I do a flight test and show a method that actually lets you recover the booster properly in stock KSP.

[@aerodynamickerbal]

I am a fellow console player, and wow! Thats impressive for no mods!

[@zevlowenstein9572]

love the name

[@doc1939]

This Channel is quite under rated Thank you

[@nicolabettucci3547]

does this work on pc ? Is basically stock KOS

[@jakeallen7850]

It should work in any version of KSP.

[@terg9823]

This guy is a console genius.. just look at his work, it makes us PC users puny than this console nerd 🤓🤓🤓

[@conboi124]

I used a Kal controller to make an abort system for a plane it 1 decouples,the nose with a heatsheild for a high speed abort and triggers drag parachutes to help nose seperate 2 decouples from back of plane 3 deploys cockpit parachute

[@jakeallen7850]

That sounds pretty cool, I'll have to give it a try!

[@sk8kour]

Ok, so how do you tell the kal when to start playing (for the booster landing)? Do you have to manually play it at the correct time?

[@jakeallen7850]

There's 2 main ways, one is as you say, just hit play manually at the right time. The other is to have a second KAL controller that toggles play on the main one. If that makes sense?

[@jonathanfarrell14]

Could use cal to help guide air to ground missiles bc they just belly flop with out help from the player

[@Swiftey-wu2qq]

Only thing I ever used it for was to automate blinking lights lol

[@El_Presidente_5337]

Does that mean thay I can trash the orbit full automatically?

[@karlfreiha4745]

Can u switch to another craft and it still runs the sequence?

[@thepolishtech1552]

You can use wings on rotors to even automate a gravity turn

[@jakeallen7850]

KAL can control aero surfaces, you just have to use the extend/retract option, not toggle. the gravity turn in the video was automated this way.

[@thepolishtech1552]

@@jakeallen7850 yes, however using rotors means you have more control over its turning, just dont time warp while using it

[@jakeallen7850]

Ah I see where you're coming from, but KAL can also control the authority limit of the aero surfaces, giving you(more or less) full control.

[@thepolishtech1552]

@@jakeallen7850 i see, thank you for pointing this out

[@jakeallen7850]

No problem!

[@karlfreiha4745]

❤❤❤

[@fatmike5038]

I wish there were more comprehensive tutorials on KAL

[@kalkovonschpritzendorf1914]

Every time I try to use KAL in the VAB, it forgets everything I put in there once I launch the craft... :/

[@squishybrick]

Wait.. You're NOT supposed to follow the target reticle as it starts flying away when you're nearing the end of the burn? I always thought I was messing up or something when I saw it start to move away. .. Dang, I learned something today.

[@ICKY427]

no, you are. you can see he didnt end up anywhere near his planned trajectory. in fact, the target will adjust to make up for you not quite getting the burn right. i always slow down toward the end of a burn and make sure i stay on target.

[@darkhalo7405]

Omg how long did this take you?

[@jakeallen7850]

Including the builds, capture, editing and VO...... far longer than I'd care to admit!

[@nomekop777]

is there a way to use the kal controller to turn engines into rcs? i saw a video where someone used ion engines like rcs, with the same buttons and everything, but they said they didnt know how they did it

[@jakeallen7850]

There is but its not easy. Essentially you just need to set up 3 kals, each one controls a pair of engines (left/right, up/down etc.) And link them to the translation controls. The main problem is that the overly sensitive controls tend to make the kal miss its play point on the track editor.

[@ICKY427]

i just watched that the other day. kzbin.info/www/bejne/e4Ovgp6onZecia8

[@mugofbricks]

Whats The spacex landing leg

[@jakeallen7850]

Sorry for the late reply, there's a build video for them on my channel if you haven't already found it.

[@CreeperDude-cm1wv]

It would be cool if in ksp 2 kal could be programmed to respond to altitude, air pressure or speed

[@milandavid7223]

Someone on reddit suggested that KAL controllers could respond to the readouts of scientific instruments. I think that would really extend its functionality, like determining altitude by using a barometer. I was also a bit disappointed to find out that there's no way to manipulate a KAL via SAS.

[@__-fm5qv]

I mean, the real reason this isn't talked about or used a lot is because its simply more work and less reliable for most players than just doing it all manually. Whereas the robotic instances are done either out of necessity or to reduce workload.

[@jakeallen7850]

Using KAL for engine timings is 100% reliable which is the point of the video. The booster landing is just to show how far the system can be pushed if you are willing to put in the work... also stated in the video.

[@__-fm5qv]

@@jakeallen7850 Oh I agree it is 100% reliable, but especially when it comes to staging or timing boost back and landing burns and such its a lot more pre-flight work. And most people I'd think just rather do it all on the fly/manually. But yeah if you are doing a lot of routine launches its good if you can just set it all up and hit play, but again pre-launch work is higher. I've also just personally never done two similar launches or had a need for doing multiple of the same launch. But everyone plays the game differently.

[@jakeallen7850]

Yeah you're probably right, it's certainly quite a bit more work before any payoff, it's a good way to challenge yourself though if you've done everything else.

[@erridkforname]

The other use of kal is making engines insanely powerfulla and somehow make fuel

[@kipter]

Why would you use a kal controller for a maneuver instead of mechjeb maneuver planner.

[@jakeallen7850]

Because you can't mod the game on consoles.

[@Snugggg]

the biggest failure of KSP is that they never added a way to trigger action groups contextually. eg. based on altitude, velocity, orientation values. if they only added that small feature you could make a fully automated autopilot.

[@jakeallen7850]

I totally agree, could completely change the game. It might not be as easy to implement as we imagine though.

[@lorisperfetto6021]

I need to know how rotors work

[@jakeallen7850]

What do you need to know? I can probably help you out.

[@lorisperfetto6021]

@@jakeallen7850 well first of all thanks a lot. Every time I try to build an Ingenuity like helicopter or a propeller driven aircraft I always get it wrong. The craft (except the rotor) start spinning, the blades don't produce enough thrust even if I change their angle of attack, and if I am able to make a plane airborne it only lasts 5 seconds until it crashes down.

[@jakeallen7850]

Okay, there's a few possibilities so let's try a few things. When you place the blades on the rotor, are you selecting deploy from the "part action window" otherwise no matter what authority limit you set, the blades will remain static(often you may also need to invert the deploy direction, especially with helicopters). If you are, are they definitely deploying the right way?(is the leading edge moving as opposed to the trailing edge?)

[@lorisperfetto6021]

@@jakeallen7850 yes I do deploy rotors from the part action window, and I reckon it's the leading edge that moves in the blades.

[@jakeallen7850]

Okay, is 0% blade angle flat against the plane of the rotor disc? (If that makes sense) Give my helicopter speedbuild video a quick watch, see if that helps and let me know if anything is still unclear. We'll get to the bottom of this!

[@user-yr7bj1lf9i]

So, waiting for some people to make bad apple with these

[@xandersfs2346]

I might be able to do stuff without mid course corrections now

[@thenoob883]

Is kal a mod

[@jakeallen7850]

No, it's included with the breaking ground DLC.

[@j100j]

3:30 gravity losses

[@notfeedynotlazy]

Instant perfect suicide burn: set up a maneuver node at a planet's surface giving you a speed of zero, set the maneuver to use all thrust before the node, and program a KAL to execute it.

[@undeleteduser]

I really love this, but being able to do all the things by yourself just gives a way better experience.

[@ThatBoiOnLaythe]

…and OVERCLOCKING!!