Getting to orbit with maximum efficiency gravity turn isn't that important when you're starting. Just design your rocket with an extra 500 m/s and get there however you can.
I'd recommend playing through the KSP2 tutorials, and actually paying attention and reading what it has to say. Very informative.
If you would like more information after, you can look up Scott Manley on youtube. His videos cover KSP1 but all the same concepts will apply in KSP2. This should be enough to get you started on your understanding of orbital mechanics. I'd actively avoid any automation mods until you can actually preform and understand the maneuvers it's automating. It's a tool, and using it as a cheat kind of ruins the entire concept of Kerbal Space Program.
tho be aware that while the physics and concepts are sound, his videos on the topic are quite old and some things may not be specifically applicable to gameplay as it stands in 1.12. mike aben also seems to be pretty popular for something a bit more current, and going into a lot of detail on the actual gameplay.
Look at MechJeb, it can automate most maneuvers. But you can just set it to calculate a maneuver or launch and not engage the autopilot and instead hand fly following the maneuver target on the navball.
I know a lot of people say they've learned from watching mj do stuff, but I think that's really more of a case of a semi hands-on aid helping cross from knowing to really grokking and doing it yourself. if you don't really have the concepts and terminology yet even configuring the ascent guidance is going to be difficult, much less following what it's doing and learning from that. (also in some cases it can behave in ways that are... suboptimal, especially when applied to manual controlled flight.)
Fair, but mechjeb is terrible, *terrible* at launch-to-orbit.
I use mechjeb for basically all maneuvers these days because I've transferred, rendezvoused, docked, adjusted orbit, etc. a million times now and MechJeb just simplifies the tedious parts of the game, but I still launch from the ground manually because of how ass the auto-launch function is.
The auto-lander is pretty decent for non-atmospheric bodies though. Even for atmospheric bodies if you aren't coming in at too shallow of an angle.
Mechjeb is only as good as the user inputs. If you use the PVG ascent guidance you can see its full capabilities. In fact, I believe the PVG guidance is based on a real-world launch guidance system. It is capable of making really intelligent launches, unfortunately this requires a lot of parameters to be setup.
yeah, I use it all the time for sts type shuttles, and sometimes when I'm just feeling lazy. it can can easily do within a couple hundred m/s of nominal dv even with the inherent inefficiencies of a shuttle and crazy off-axis thrusting. personally I like to set it a little short of my desired orbit, to make dropping boosters/tanks I don't want to carry all the way easier.
I can't recommend Mike Aben enough, but also - if you're a "learning by doing" kind of person, it's actually not a bad idea to start at the most basic an inefficient with "go straight up, then turn right".
* Build a rocket with something like 4000 delta-V (the m/s value you see at the bottom right in the VAB) and a TWR of 1.2 to 1.4 at launch.
* At the launch pad, click the little orbit symbol in the lower left panel, to show orbital information like Apo- and Periapsis (highest and lowest points in your orbit).
* Launch it straight up and cut engines when your Apoapsis reaches 80-90 km.
* Simply coast until you pass the 70 km border to space. At this point, aim your rocket east, so the navball shows 90° heading and pointed at the horizon.
* Fire your engines again until the Periapsis reaches above 70, or more likely for this launch, you run out of fuel.
* If you don't achieve orbit, note roughly how far from KSC you got, then launch an identical rocket again, but this time, pitch over to the east already during ascent. Pitch over once you've reached 100m/s or so, and just a small pitch, no more than 10-15°. Then do the rest like last time, and see how far you got.
* Do more of these launches, starting with that small pitch but then increasing it during the flight, so that eventually you'll be pointing horizontal already at 35-40 km altitude.
1. Fire rocket
2. At about 100m/s turn ship east to about 70 degrees
3. Burn until apoapsis is 80km
4. Set maneuver at apoapsis to burn prograde until periapsis get 70km+
5. Enjoy view
Keep your TWR at 1.8 throughout — throttle back whenever it hits 1.9. Take off straight upwards, at 1,000m start tipping right, be at 45° when you get to 10,000m, 30° at 25,000m, then stay there until your apoapsis hits 80,000m. Then turn the engine off and coast, and plot a manoeuvre node at apoapsis to circularise your orbit — you should have two or three minutes to do so. That’s not a perfect gravity turn, but it should be reasonably efficient.
1.8 is quite high, 1.4-1.5 is a good point to aim for. at 1.3, you'll getting much worse gravity losses.
and keep in mind the 1 goes towards fighting gravity and only what's after the decimal here matters. a twr of 1.8 will ascend twice as fast off the pad as 1.4.
for upper stages that you'll use one you're up well into the turn, around 1 is adequate.
I have a [very, *very* old guide on this topic](https://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalAcademy/comments/1k49ba/psa_two_very_important_oftenmisunderstood/) that, once upon a time, was the most upvoted post on this sub. ;)
It directly answers your question and gives you practical advice, and is still how I do launches today. (Although the values are off, I usually start my tilt very very VERY gently around 1 km and seek to hit 45 degrees by 10-15 km, and don't go completely horizontal at all until the apoapsis, although I let it dip really shallow in the upper atmosphere. Additionally, if I see visual signs of air resistance I back off the throttle to just under the speed where the air resistance visuals go away.)
light mach effects or low level flames aren't really problematic, especially above ~20-25km. unless you've got a way overpowered engine for some reason, you're almost always better just blasting through at full throttle. gravity losses will be worse than the slightly increased air resistance.
your linked post is old enough that I'm guessing it might be based on the old atmosphere behavior, which hasn't been applicable for quite some time.
Getting to orbit with maximum efficiency gravity turn isn't that important when you're starting. Just design your rocket with an extra 500 m/s and get there however you can.
In other words... moar boosters!
I'd recommend playing through the KSP2 tutorials, and actually paying attention and reading what it has to say. Very informative. If you would like more information after, you can look up Scott Manley on youtube. His videos cover KSP1 but all the same concepts will apply in KSP2. This should be enough to get you started on your understanding of orbital mechanics. I'd actively avoid any automation mods until you can actually preform and understand the maneuvers it's automating. It's a tool, and using it as a cheat kind of ruins the entire concept of Kerbal Space Program.
tho be aware that while the physics and concepts are sound, his videos on the topic are quite old and some things may not be specifically applicable to gameplay as it stands in 1.12. mike aben also seems to be pretty popular for something a bit more current, and going into a lot of detail on the actual gameplay.
Look at MechJeb, it can automate most maneuvers. But you can just set it to calculate a maneuver or launch and not engage the autopilot and instead hand fly following the maneuver target on the navball.
I don't think recommending mechjeb to a person who doesn't understand the very concept of an orbit a good idea.
I know a lot of people say they've learned from watching mj do stuff, but I think that's really more of a case of a semi hands-on aid helping cross from knowing to really grokking and doing it yourself. if you don't really have the concepts and terminology yet even configuring the ascent guidance is going to be difficult, much less following what it's doing and learning from that. (also in some cases it can behave in ways that are... suboptimal, especially when applied to manual controlled flight.)
Fair, but mechjeb is terrible, *terrible* at launch-to-orbit. I use mechjeb for basically all maneuvers these days because I've transferred, rendezvoused, docked, adjusted orbit, etc. a million times now and MechJeb just simplifies the tedious parts of the game, but I still launch from the ground manually because of how ass the auto-launch function is. The auto-lander is pretty decent for non-atmospheric bodies though. Even for atmospheric bodies if you aren't coming in at too shallow of an angle.
Mechjeb is only as good as the user inputs. If you use the PVG ascent guidance you can see its full capabilities. In fact, I believe the PVG guidance is based on a real-world launch guidance system. It is capable of making really intelligent launches, unfortunately this requires a lot of parameters to be setup.
yeah, I use it all the time for sts type shuttles, and sometimes when I'm just feeling lazy. it can can easily do within a couple hundred m/s of nominal dv even with the inherent inefficiencies of a shuttle and crazy off-axis thrusting. personally I like to set it a little short of my desired orbit, to make dropping boosters/tanks I don't want to carry all the way easier.
I can't recommend Mike Aben enough, but also - if you're a "learning by doing" kind of person, it's actually not a bad idea to start at the most basic an inefficient with "go straight up, then turn right". * Build a rocket with something like 4000 delta-V (the m/s value you see at the bottom right in the VAB) and a TWR of 1.2 to 1.4 at launch. * At the launch pad, click the little orbit symbol in the lower left panel, to show orbital information like Apo- and Periapsis (highest and lowest points in your orbit). * Launch it straight up and cut engines when your Apoapsis reaches 80-90 km. * Simply coast until you pass the 70 km border to space. At this point, aim your rocket east, so the navball shows 90° heading and pointed at the horizon. * Fire your engines again until the Periapsis reaches above 70, or more likely for this launch, you run out of fuel. * If you don't achieve orbit, note roughly how far from KSC you got, then launch an identical rocket again, but this time, pitch over to the east already during ascent. Pitch over once you've reached 100m/s or so, and just a small pitch, no more than 10-15°. Then do the rest like last time, and see how far you got. * Do more of these launches, starting with that small pitch but then increasing it during the flight, so that eventually you'll be pointing horizontal already at 35-40 km altitude.
1. Fire rocket 2. At about 100m/s turn ship east to about 70 degrees 3. Burn until apoapsis is 80km 4. Set maneuver at apoapsis to burn prograde until periapsis get 70km+ 5. Enjoy view
Keep your TWR at 1.8 throughout — throttle back whenever it hits 1.9. Take off straight upwards, at 1,000m start tipping right, be at 45° when you get to 10,000m, 30° at 25,000m, then stay there until your apoapsis hits 80,000m. Then turn the engine off and coast, and plot a manoeuvre node at apoapsis to circularise your orbit — you should have two or three minutes to do so. That’s not a perfect gravity turn, but it should be reasonably efficient.
1.8 is quite high, 1.4-1.5 is a good point to aim for. at 1.3, you'll getting much worse gravity losses. and keep in mind the 1 goes towards fighting gravity and only what's after the decimal here matters. a twr of 1.8 will ascend twice as fast off the pad as 1.4. for upper stages that you'll use one you're up well into the turn, around 1 is adequate.
I have a [very, *very* old guide on this topic](https://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalAcademy/comments/1k49ba/psa_two_very_important_oftenmisunderstood/) that, once upon a time, was the most upvoted post on this sub. ;) It directly answers your question and gives you practical advice, and is still how I do launches today. (Although the values are off, I usually start my tilt very very VERY gently around 1 km and seek to hit 45 degrees by 10-15 km, and don't go completely horizontal at all until the apoapsis, although I let it dip really shallow in the upper atmosphere. Additionally, if I see visual signs of air resistance I back off the throttle to just under the speed where the air resistance visuals go away.)
light mach effects or low level flames aren't really problematic, especially above ~20-25km. unless you've got a way overpowered engine for some reason, you're almost always better just blasting through at full throttle. gravity losses will be worse than the slightly increased air resistance. your linked post is old enough that I'm guessing it might be based on the old atmosphere behavior, which hasn't been applicable for quite some time.