Poll: What is your favorite moon?

[AbacusWizard]

8 hours ago, Sputnik 1 said:

Poll: What is your favorite moon?

 

Pol. What is your favorite moon?

Srsly though I am very fond of Minmus. Easy to get to, easy to land on and launch from, low gravity so a little ∆v goes a long way, large flat spots for runways and construction, great site for mining fuel, beautiful alien landscapes, fresh minty flavor.

 

Laythe is also pretty cool for its pleasant beaches, beautiful views of Jool, and oxygenated atmosphere, but it's kinda far for regular travel.

[Superfluous J]

I can't pick just one.

• Minmus for it's practicality from a dV standpoint. It's my #1 destination when I want an off-world fuel depot.
• Mun for the nostalgia. I can be a US-onaut landing my own hand-built Eagle-1 next to the Armstrong Monument.
• Gilly because it's fun to have to thrust downward to land in any decent amount of time.
• Laythe is just so beautiful, and gives a reason to haul jet engines all the way to Jool.
• Tylo is a great challenge. Just getting a basic lander down and back can be rough.

Ike, Vall, Pol, and Bop aren't that memorable to me. The larger 2 are too similar to Mun (Though Vall is pretty) and the smaller 2 are too similar to Gilly.

[Francois424]

Ever since I first landed on Pol in 0.23.5, I fell in love with her.   It's a long distance relationship and her father does not like me "Aerobreaking" by anymore, so we don't see each other often.
But I will put a station around her one day.  We'll be together every day then, fueling that love to even further horizons  !

Edited February 11, 2016 by Francois424

[FullMetalMachinist]

Mun, because back when I started playing, it was the only moon. I'll never forget the joy and sense of accomplishment I got when I landed on it for the first time. 

[Snark]

8 hours ago, Der Anfang said:

The friction system is a little weird. Not sure ho a wheeled vehicle would actually p\erform on lower gravity, but I doubt it would slip around all over the place.

Actually, it would.  The force of friction depends on your weight, not mass.  Lower gravity = lower weight = lower friction.

That said:  I drive rovers around Minmus all the time, no problem.  It's just a matter of knowing how to drive in low gravity (and how to design a rover for it).

Anyway, as for "favorite moon," my vote goes for Tekto in Outer Planets.    Just freakin' gorgeous, and loads of fun to explore.

(Yeah, I know, it's not stock, but it oughta be!)

 

If I gotta vote for something in the stock game, I'd say Gilly.  I find the super-low gravity to be fun to play with.  Also, it's very strategically placed:  a nice low-dV refueling station right next to Eve is exactly what I need.

Edited February 11, 2016 by Snark

[Der Anfang]

3 minutes ago, Snark said:

Actually, it would.  The force of friction depends on your weight, not mass.  Lower gravity = lower weight = lower friction.

That said:  I drive rovers around Minmus all the time, no problem.  It's just a matter of knowing how to drive in low gravity (and how to design a rover for it).

Anyway, as for "favorite moon," my vote goes for Tekto in Outer Planets.    Just freakin' gorgeous, and loads of fun to explore.

(Yeah, I know, it's not stock, but it oughta be!)

 

If I gotta vote for something in the stock game, I'd say Gilly.  I find the super-low gravity to be fun to play with.  Also, it's very strategically placed:  a nice low-dV refueling station right next to Eve is exactly what I need.

Well, okay, that makes sense. Has this been considered when the apollo missions landed their moon buggies? From some of the footage, it seemed to drive around just fine, not like what rovers do in ksp...

[Mitchz95]

I'd like to say Laythe, but it's so far away I'm lucky to get one mission there before the game updates and I have to start my save over.

Probably Minmus. Low gravity plus close proximity to the homeworld makes it a great place to get free fuel.

[Snark]

1 minute ago, Der Anfang said:

Well, okay, that makes sense. Has this been considered when the apollo missions landed their moon buggies? From some of the footage, it seemed to drive around just fine, not like what rovers do in ksp...

First, they weren't driving on Minmus, they were driving on the Moon, which has a gravity much like the Mun.

Second, they were driving on a soft dusty surface with wheels that had quite some tread on them, so friction wasn't simply sliding-over-a-smooth-surface friction.

Third, and most importantly, they weren't trying to drive the rover around at FORTY-FIVE FREAKIN' MILES PER HOUR. 

Seriously, speed kills.  Rovers seem so slow in KSP that it's easy not to realize just how fast they're going.  Even if you're "poking along" at a measly speed of 10 m/s ... that's well over 20 MPH.  I don't know what speed the Apollo moon rover did, but I'm willing to bet it was nowhere near that fast.

So... take a rover to the Mun, and try driving it around at, say, 2 m/s.  I bet it'll do just fine.

[Der Anfang]

1 minute ago, Snark said:

First, they weren't driving on Minmus, they were driving on the Moon, which has a gravity much like the Mun.

Second, they were driving on a soft dusty surface with wheels that had quite some tread on them, so friction wasn't simply sliding-over-a-smooth-surface friction.

Third, and most importantly, they weren't trying to drive the rover around at FORTY-FIVE FREAKIN' MILES PER HOUR. 

Seriously, speed kills.  Rovers seem so slow in KSP that it's easy not to realize just how fast they're going.  Even if you're "poking along" at a measly speed of 10 m/s ... that's well over 20 MPH.  I don't know what speed the Apollo moon rover did, but I'm willing to bet it was nowhere near that fast.

So... take a rover to the Mun, and try driving it around at, say, 2 m/s.  I bet it'll do just fine.

All valid points. However, I was mostly refering to the fact that even on Mun, you still slip as if you have no treads, which is what I originally meant in my first post: none of the wheels seem to have their own for of traction at all. You're right though, it's easy to forget how fast the rovers actually are in the game.

[Snark]

7 minutes ago, Der Anfang said:

All valid points. However, I was mostly refering to the fact that even on Mun, you still slip as if you have no treads, which is what I originally meant in my first post: none of the wheels seem to have their own for of traction at all. You're right though, it's easy to forget how fast the rovers actually are in the game.

And the slippage happens when going fast.  If you drive a rover around under 2 m/s, it won't slip.

Note that the amount of friction goes down with gravity, but the coefficient of friction does not.  For example, "how steep can the hill be before the wheels skid" will be the same on Kerbin or Mun or Minmus.

The difference is speed.  Things happen in slow motion in low gravity.  The Mun has 1/6 of Kerbin's gravity, so driving a rover around at 10 m/s on the Mun is like driving at 60 m/s on Kerbin.  If you could drive a rover at 60 m/s on Kerbin, it would skid, too. 

 

[RizzoTheRat]

7 hours ago, Snark said:

Third, and most importantly, they weren't trying to drive the rover around at FORTY-FIVE FREAKIN' MILES PER HOUR. 

Eugene Cernan set the unofficial moon land speed record on Apollo 17, 11.2 mph which is 5m/s.  My basic Mun rover happily cruises at 25 m/s on the flat, which is 56mph

 

You always remember your first, for me that's the Mun.  Nice and local and a  good place to test stuff before going further afield.  Currently testing my base construction skills and if it tested it on Minmus, or not bother testing and going straight for Ike, Jeb and Bill would be in big trouble by now as they've only got a week and a half's sandwiches left.

[Warzouz]

Tough question. I votes Minmus, because it's quite nice. but I like many other moons.

The only moons I don't like are

• Bop : it's a pain to land with this 24000m x1 warp !
• Gilly : again, ultra long duration landing. Not that fun. Further more, the ship usually act strangely when landed.

 

[Kobymaru]

8 minutes ago, Warzouz said:

Tough question. I votes Minmus, because it's quite nice. but I like many other moons.

The only moons I don't like are

• Bop : it's a pain to land with this 24000m x1 warp !
• Gilly : again, ultra long duration landing. Not that fun. Further more, the ship usually act strangely when landed.

 

I actually like Gilly landings. Because I don't do them in the classical "airless body landing" way. Instead, I just kill my orbital velocity, thrust towards the ground and then break at the last moment.

I always feel super overpowered on Gilly

But yeah, the rotation is crazy-fast compared to its gravity, so "landed" isn't so much landed, as it's like... brushing your landing legs against a rotating asteroid.

[CaelumEtAstra]

Mun. It's easy to get to and really fun to do Apollo-style missions there.

[TopHeavy11]

I'd have to say Minmus because it's close to home and it has low gravity. Might not be in the spirit of exploration, but hey, base building made easy! I might of chosen Gilly, but it's farther away and it has RIDICULOUSLY low gravity!

[Snark]

1 hour ago, Kobymaru said:

But yeah, the rotation is crazy-fast compared to its gravity, so "landed" isn't so much landed, as it's like... brushing your landing legs against a rotating asteroid.

Yeah, one doesn't land on Gilly, so much as dock with it.

[Stewcumber]

It's Minmus for me. It's easy enough to get to, a nice colour (generally more "light" than Mun) and landscape but feels like you're making progress when you've been to the Mun and want to go further as it is so small when viewed from Kerbin!

Having said that I haven't visited other moons yet

[TopHeavy11]

4 minutes ago, Stewcumber said:

It's Minmus for me. It's easy enough to get to, a nice colour (generally more "light" than Mun) and landscape but feels like you're making progress when you've been to the Mun and want to go further as it is so small when viewed from Kerbin!

Having said that I haven't visited other moons yet

You ain't alone...

[Endersmens]

As of now my favorite moon is Minmus. Easy enough to get there, plane change makes things interesting and gives a sense of accomplishment (not to mention ghost encounter bug) really easy to land, and low delta-v requirements. It is the lowest delta-v hungry landing mission possible, and easiest to control on landing. (for me. Sweet spot between gilly and overreaction and tylo and undereaction) The flats make landing even easier, and the many biomes+close proximity+Jetpack capability means you can net lots of science early game. Minmus is your friend.  While it may lack in interesting terrain, do yourself a favor and try to construct a minmus slopes sled. It is hilarious.  

I suspect that later on, my new favorite might be Laythe, for the accomplishment, interesting landscape, atmosphere, and general coolness. But I haven't mastered getting there yet.  

[Gauga159]

I like the mun because it's awesome and a pool of early interplanetary deltav

[TonyC]

Pol, because of its extremely low gravity needed in Jool space environment for mining.