welcome aboard!
you're right! Orbiter DOES rock :headbang:
getting to orbit efficiently really depends on what ship you're trying to get up there...
but as a rule of thumb:
you're in orbit when you're free-falling and going fast enough so the surface curves down below you before you hit it....
which means - orbit is more about "speed" than "altitude"
take the DG, for instance - takeoff, turn eastwards (so the rotation of the earth gives you a hand), then blast off in that general direction....
fly with a 40 degrees pitch untill you get to about 30-40
km high, then slowly bring the nose down to about 10 degrees...
continue acccelerating (look in your Orbit MFD) as the green circle starts to grow - try to keep the vector ball near 5 degrees or so in the meantime...
keeping your pitch low will make the green circle grow towards the opposite side of the planet from where you are - when it grows larger than the white one, you're pretty much in orbit....
check your ApA (highest point in your orbit) reading - cut your engines when it reaches your desired altitude, then sit back and relax for a bit... you can let your ship coast it's
way until you get there... check the ApT (seconds untill highest point) as you go, you may use time accel, but look alive as ApT approaches zero....
when it does, you'll be at your desired altitude, but if you leave it at that, you'll soon find yourself in a ball of flames going back to the earth you came from - you must now adjust your PeA (lowest point in orbit) to make your orbit circular
turn prograde (use the autopilot), and when ApT reaches zero - fire up the engines (slowly) and check your PeA as it rises
cut it off when it reads about the same as your ApA - congrat's, you've made it up to orbit! :thumbup:
you can now sit back, relax, have a beer and ponder over the fact that you still have to figure out what on earth you're gonna do to get back down :rofl:
cheers!
