Spengler

What is contained inside the fairing? Do you have a piloted capsule in there, or a probe core? If it's a probe core, is it one that has advanced SAS capabilities, such as Prograde/Retrograde hold? If it's a piloted capsule, do you have a pilot inside that has enough experience to have advanced SAS capabilities?

I'll start off with "YMMV (Your mileage may vary)", primarily because it's a matter of personal preference for what you are looking for both out of the base game AND what mods you want to install and use successfully. Me, personally? I'm running 1.8.1, and I have no issue with the base game or the mods. The mods I've got installed and are working most awesomely are: AtmosphereAutopilot Kerbal Alarm Clock MechJeb 2 Module Manager Reentry Particle Effect Renewed Transfer Window Planner I'd say the most important thing is to identify what base game features you want, and then go from there.

This, along with upgrading Mission Control. Level 2 on each will unlock all of the Ap/Pe/An/Dn markers, as well as allowing you to create maneuver nodes.

Ah. I was under the impression that, if the version of the game you are using isn't shown as supported, then the mod won't work because it hasn't been fully tested. However, I will trust your advice and install it. Thanks!

Is there a mod not available through CKAN that can help plan launch windows? The one that shows in CKAN (Transfer Window Planner) is for a version of KSP prior to my current version. CKAN shows maximum version as 1.7.9, using mod version 1.7.2.0, but I'm running 1.8.x, which means I can't use this mod. Yeah, I know, I should really update my version of KSP to a newer version, but I'm happy with what I've got. Anyhow, I have been planning launch windows by creating small probes, launching, using MechJeb to create the node, then checking the time to node, reverting to build, and then fast-forwarding until I'm within a day or two before creating the real craft and launching. And that's just not efficient; I'd like to have something that helps me identify the next maximum window so I can not only plan appropriately, but so I can use the time between windows to do some more stuff, like a billionth trip to Minmus or scouring the surface of Kerbin for the monoliths. Any help here would be most hot!

@Fraktal Yeah, one of my major design issues is that my first stage tends to barely get me into orbit around Kerbin, which then means I'm relying upon the lander itself to get me to the Mun and back (with a landing thereupon). So yeah, I'm over-engineering the lander to handle far more than it really should. To be honest, the lander should really only need to land and get back. I need to get better with my stages; I have to design something that has 3 distinct stages: Take-off and orbit Kerbin Transfer to Mun (or another body) Land and return to Kerbin I'll figure it out at some point. Your images are a great start, and I'll see if I can replicate that (although without knowing the parts you used, it might take me a while).

So, I took the advice of everyone in this thread, and I was able to come up with an odd lander that worked. Pic of the craft is below so you can see what I eventually did. I had to use the FL-T100/400 fuel tanks because the fairing I had access to at this point in my career save wasn't wide enough to get around some of the larger tanks. You'll also notice that the craft is missing legs. That's right - the fairing I have access to also isn't wide enough to get around legs on the tanks, so I had to land this bad boy right on the Spark engines. But I got this thing in the Farside Crater on the Mun, did a whole bunch of science stuff, and came back home to a whopping (well, it's whopping to me!) 392.8 science gathered. In one trip. For me, that's a major development. Now to speak directly to some in the thread to answer your questions/comments! @Signo Thank you so much for the help here. This idea actually did the trick. Now I just gotta get better at designing rockets so I can get farther out in the Solar System. @FruitGoose You get some credit here too because it's the same design. @Snark Yeah, I generally aim for mostly level-ish landing spots; I've spent far too much time reverting flights and loading pre-landing saves thanks to just trying to stick anywhere, which usually results in my ending up on the side of a rather steep hill that you shouldn't land on. As far as the Baguette tanks go, I actually tried using those before the FL-T400s, and they don't seem to generate enough dV for use. At least, not for me they don't. Which is probably a design issue on my end which, as I mentioned earlier, I need to get much better at. And now for that tasty image I promised you!

Hi. Hello there. I'm new here (as if you couldn't tell). I've been playing Kerbal Space Program for a couple of months now, and I'm at the point where I want to start branching out and doing better things...but I'm running into some stumbling blocks. Particularly when it comes to designing landers. Now, to be clear, I've gone through the tutorials, and I've watched a few videos and such. In "How to Land on the Mun", Rocketscience gives a video with some decent pointers. Unfortunately, he doesn't really go into how to design a lander, but rather focuses on how to get the lander to touchdown. Great information, but not what I'm looking for. In "Sporkboy's Guide to Mun Lander Design", we get a bunch of images with some tips on how to design landers. Lot of good information there too, and I particularly like the Animal Farm quasi-reference. But the tips are (at least to me) common sense, especially the part about building wide not tall. Finally, in "Early Career Mun Landing", I start to see the type of information I'm looking for. Clear pictures with descriptions of the parts being used. This particular thread has become the go-to design for all of my craft at this point. So what's my issue? I can build a rocket and get into orbit, and I can take the design from Early Career Mun Landing and actually land on Mun and Minmus. I'm bad at fuel consumption, but that's something I gotta get better at on my own. But my issue is that all of my landers are the tall, skinny kind, which are hard as nails to land, even with 6 or 8 legs. Something about the center of mass being too far up the column or some such. Anyhow, I've tried designing low, wide landers, and I'm just not getting it. Here's what I've tried so far: I've tried designing a rocket similar to the ECML tutorial/thread, but the upper stage is a lander can and fuel wrapped in fairing. I'm running out of fuel far too soon, and I've tried stripping away as much weight as I can to get as much dV as I can get. I know that without images you can't really see what I'm doing, but it's essentially a lander can sitting on a fuel tank with a Spark engine and 4 legs. And I just can't seem to get more than 3,000 dV out of it, which is not enough to transfer, orbit, land, and return. I told you I'm not very good at fuel consumption; I have found that my sweet spot for fuel is around 3500 dV to do the entirety of the landing as I just put forth. I know - I gotta get better. Which is why I'm here asking about lander design. I've tried using the docking ports to sit a lander on top of a command module, with having just enough fuel (about 1500 dV) to land and then return to the command module, but I've got multiple issues trying to do this. I know I need docking ports on both the can and the module, but when I'm building the thing do I have to have them connected at the start? Or could I go: Command Module - Docking Port - Lander Can - Docking Port? I'm confused about this because if I detach in space and then come back, will the 2 docking ports then be able to connect? Oh, and let's not forget that docking is a serious pain in my behind, and I'm barely able to finish the tutorial in-game on docking with the help there. So I guess what I'm asking is for some in-depth help on how to actually build a lander. Which way is the right way? Should I go down the path of rendezvous and docking, or use the can as the command module? How do I build one that has enough dV to do everything I need it to do to get to [insert celestial body here] and back? Assume we start with Minmus (as that's easier to get to than the Mun, for some odd reason); how do I design a lander that can get there? Again, I'm using the ECML thread as the basis of my rockets, and that works. But I want to get better, and I'm just not grasping something here. I know I'm missing something, and I'm sure it's something rather basic that will trigger me to go "Aha!" as soon as I see it. But it's elusive for now. One last, semi-related question on landing please. In Sporkboy's guide, he mentions at one point having a landing speed of less than 10 m/s. What is the optimal speed to be landing at? I've been shooting for less than 1 m/s, but can I get away with a higher speed to help save on some fuel? If so, what's that sweet spot? Any help anyone can give me would be most appreciated. And until I get a response, I shall be off to try building...well, more rockets!