Monkeh

I think that mod is RAM hungry so you're probably hitting the limit and crashing before it can even start up. Remove some mods, use texture reducing packs and lower graphics settings to aid in your quest to get H.O.M.E. Good luck E.T.!

I reckon for Munar gravity that will be a fine choice of engine from the choice available. Getting to orbit should be doable with your current tech and you don't need the nukes for travel in the Kerbin system. The nukes are great at interplanetary stuff but a waste of mass for inside Kerbin's SOI really, unless you plan on hopping form biome to biome, then they're very useful.

3) Only in an atmosphere.

Ha, only just seen your reply. Me bad at forums... If you have any interest then please do have a look at my mission report, it's still my favourite ship and most interesting mission I think. There's a disaster included for good measure as well. Good times http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/60009-The-harsh-realities-of-engineering-Home-Sweet-Home-Mk2-To-Duna-and-back

Shhhh, the Feds are onto you now, it's just a matter of time before they knock on your door and cart you away on terrorism charges.

Universe replacer and Nova Punch are pretty RAM heavy and i think the city lights one is quite a RAM hog too, not used that one myself, but I bet its Universe replacer, I had to get rid of most of the planets and just keep the EVA suits, faces and skybox to make it work with my mods. You can also try trimming any parts from NovaPunch you don't use as well, every little helps, or even turn down the graphics settings a bit too.

Title: Roving on the...Mun? Oh. Stock

Title: Why you stand on me please? All stock.

Title: Going nowhere fast The return to orbit vehicle may have fallen over, but damn, we look sexy in our shiny suits! This universe is not stock, it has been replaced with one which is even more confusing.

Title: Kerbin Kovers the sun Bill looks longingly toward home after landing on the Mun, documenting the solar eclipse by Kerbin for all Kerbality! Universe has been replaced...OMG, bring it back you hooligan!

Here's me going all over Minmus with a single nuke and loads of science stuffs. I landed and took off four times and still had over 5,000 m/s left in the tanks. I could have gone to Jool and back as well, probably twice, but it was late and I was tired, so I came home and got over a thousand science for my second trip to Minmus. This is why LV-N's are 'Da bomb!'

Oh, and don't forget that thermometers and barometers and all the little sciency things will get you science as well, it's not all about just the goo and science modules.

This seems like a normal feeling for landing on another world! The feeling of my first Mun landing was amazing. A rush of adrenalin and excitement and accomplishment like no other game ever. After crashing into the Mun at a few hundred metres per second a fair few times I also got, what appeared to be, a real understanding of just how impressive Messers Aldrin and Armstrong were.

Keep it as small as you can, get yourself the Kerbal Engineer Redux so you can build accurately. 4,400 m/s to get orbit. 900 m/s to escape sun's SOI. 1,200 m/s to get to Eve. 1,000 m/s to slow down and circulize. (Aerobraking can reduce this A LOT, even down to zero if you take some time getting the perfect encounter. To do this keep hold of the left mouse button whilst hovering over the periapsis of your encounter node, it will stay on the screen as you fiddle with your node, just try to get it as low as possible). 'Chutes to land. These numbers are approximate, but close enough to work. Build a ship with a total delta v budget of around 8,000 m/s and you're good to go...but not to get back, that's very hard. Here's a shot of the engineer in action in the VAB. You can see thrust to weights and delta v for each stage and lots of other nice information. You can even switch the frame of reference to another body to be even more accurate, lower gravity of Duna or the Mun means less thrust is required to take off and go home. Don't think i would still be playing KSP if it wasn't for the Engineer Redux, so damn useful, makes you feel like a proper rocket scientist rather than a rocket experimenter...or something. And yes, that thing did get me to the Mun and back. Here he is riding the winds of his home planet after going to the Mun baby, WAHOOOOOOOO!!!!

A list of where you've been and what you've done would be most useful. I've opened nearly as much as you have and only been to Mun, Minmus and Duna. Working on a Jool explorer next I think, that will go to many moons and more...AND RETURN. There's still biomes on minmus that I haven't been to yet as well. Are you returning your guys and craft, that makes a HUUUUUGEEEEEE difference in science gathered.

Maybe try right clicking another part and 'control from here' to see it that fixes it, make sure that one isn't upside down as well of course. If the navball is all brown then your root part is upside down. This also means that retrograde is prograde and vice versa. I've had this problem myself when trying to build using a lot of sub assemblies, one thing gets upside down and then you burn the wrong way and oh the calamity...

I see both sides of this argument and feel affinity to both as well. I find strutting to be a minor inconvenience, something that I'm just used to doing I suppose. It doesn't take long to turn on symmetry and stick a strut or two to the larger weighted parts of my rockets. Building efficiently and small requires very little in the way of struts, it's the big rockets that need lots of them and that feels right to me. All that weight and all that thrust need reinforcement, you can't expect a fuel tank that weighs tens of tonnes and being subjected to a few KN of thrust, to sit, unmoving, when attached via a small piece of a decoupler! Thinking it should definitely isn't realistic either. I found the invisible struts in the B9 pack, which also happen to be mighty strong, so it's become even less of an annoyance now, here's my lovely craft that used a fair few invisible struts but flew like a baws. Here's my minimal Mun land and returner which had 4 struts on the first stage tanks I believe. I honestly feel the balance between annoyance and realism in this case is just about right. If you build big then you have to pay for it by spending a few minutes strutting it all. However, saying that, when pieces of my rocket fall off for very little reason, or the thing splits in half because the engine gimbal was too strong, it can be annoying. For those who wonder why their engines wobble so much under the fuel tanks, turn off the gimbal. Less engine wobble will make things much more durable.

*efficiency due to ISP (?)

I've decided that waiting on the surface of the planet is practically the same as waiting in orbit around the sun. This may or may not be true, but it seems to work fine for me. What I mean is I just build and launch and then skip through time once in I've left Kerbin's SOI. You'll still drift around at your leisure until you're lined up better but at least you can do something right away and play the game. Alarm clock is also furry gut.

It's already been said but just to re-iterate: The nuclear engines are heavier but twice as efficient. This means, roughly, you need half as much fuel to go anywhere with the nukes than with conventional rockets. The extra weight in the engine is, normally, countered by having to take A LOT less fuel with you. This all depends on the size of your crafts. If they are small then screw the nukes and use others, but for larger craft they are the bomb. I use the Kerbal engineer which shows how much delta v your rocket has as it flies. If i have built in a nice nuke interplanetary stage then as the rocket goes through the first stages, burning millions of fuels, you still see the total delta v going up due to the atmosphere thinning out and the nukes getting ever more efficient when they start to burn. So the rocket starts with, say 10,000 m/s delta v and as we reach the edge of the atmosphere after burning for a few minutes, we have 11,000 m/s left. They are the best at the long, slow burn with ridiculous efficiency.

Today I accidentally made a Homer J. Simpson science probe. They landed on Ike before I went to Duna. Here's Homer J:

I am no expert in orbital mechanics, however, keep in mind 'escape velocity', the faster you go, the higher you go, (weirdly the fastest part of an orbit is the closest as well, so that messes with your mind), so if you want to get closer to the sun you have to slow down your orbital velocity so the sun can grab you in it's gravity more effectively and drag you closer. Think of a boat on the edge of a vortex spinning into the depths, if the boat speeds up, (burns prograde), it may get away and survive. If the boat slows down, (burns retrograde), it will hurtle into the vortex faster. I understand my very technical language is a huge barrier, but I hope you got the point.

YES! Me now happy, even if you missed an apostrophe and an 'e'.

First time I attempted something similar it all went very well. It was only to the Mun though. I did a burn, switched to another ship and then burned again. Got all of them on their way then watched with baited breath as they crossed SOI. I did put the time warp down as they crossed. Then one at a time as they reached the periap to circulize, then one at a time to land. It went real well. Good luck.