OK, Who's getting a cut of parachute sales?

[ArmchairGravy]

I'm at the part of the game where I'm bringing the Mk1-2 Command Pod back down to Kerbin, and I'm really noticing the change in parachutes.  I used to be able to use 1 Mk16-XL chute to get a pod to around 6.5m/s for landing.  That is now 10m/s.  A pod with a 2.5m utility bay using 4 radial chutes and 3 radial drogues lands now at 8m/s.  Do I need to have an equal weight of chutes in order to land safely anymore?      

[NikkyD]

If u do the early stuff, 1 small chute is enough for MK1 but the falling speed is between 6.9 and 7.3 it's changing all the time while dropping. Maybe there is something wrong with chutes

[NikkyD]

Can Kerbals still survive an impact at any speed for as long as they land on their heads ?

[Norpo]

Assuming that the XL chute is being used for the 3-man 2.5m command pod, that's still a safe landing speed, the pod has a high impact tolerance. The 7.3 m/s figure for the 1-man pod is also safe as well, but just a bit more sketchy. The 1-man pod has an impact tolerance of 14 m/s and the 3-man one of 45 m/s. Still safe, just a little bit faster.

[katateochi]

25 minutes ago, NikkyD said:

Can Kerbals still survive an impact at any speed for as long as they land on their heads ?

I just dropped Jeb straight down from 10km up and he survived that without landing on his head. The only thing is they now do the slightly haunting elastic contortion thing; 
First pic is right on impact, partly into the ground, and the other are just ms after.

And that far from the worst contortions I've seen, tried going eva while doing 500m/s straight down and this happened 

I'm not exactly sure what happened after that. a bit of him hit the ground, he vanished, camera started climbing back up and then a puff of dead kerbal smoke appeared @ 400m up. 
 

[Renegrade]

15 minutes ago, Norpo said:

Assuming that the XL chute is being used for the 3-man 2.5m command pod, that's still a safe landing speed, the pod has a high impact tolerance. The 7.3 m/s figure for the 1-man pod is also safe as well, but just a bit more sketchy. The 1-man pod has an impact tolerance of 14 m/s and the 3-man one of 45 m/s. Still safe, just a little bit faster.

Exactly.  45m/s (or 162km/h!) can be easily attained with just three of the radial drogue chutes...no main chute required (although that results in a 39m/s touchdown which probably WILL wreck everything else on the craft).

So I wouldn't worry if it's in the 8-10 range unless hitchhikers or science labs are coming with it (boom).

[Moarmau5]

I've noticed this as well. Unless you use landing gear or do retro burns to touch down, now more recovering heat sheild .

[Deddly]

Landing in water sounds like a sensible solution.

[Norpo]

2 hours ago, katateochi said:

I just dropped Jeb straight down from 10km up and he survived that without landing on his head. The only thing is they now do the slightly haunting elastic contortion thing; 
First pic is right on impact, partly into the ground, and the other are just ms after.
 

Hm, I wonder if there's any absolute maximum speed they can't survive, perhaps it could be a slightly more efficient way to get Kerbals to a Tylo base?

[Skorpychan]

4 hours ago, WildLynx said:

SpaceX for sure. They want us to switch to propulsive landing, but they are unaware that stock game lacks automatic suicide burn calculator.

You can use small engines to kill remaining velocity, Soyuz style.

SMALL engines? I'm normally landing the entire lander back on Kerbin. Lander can, fuel tank, descent/ascent engine, legs, the lot. I use the last licks of fuel in the main tank and the big engine for last-minute braking, then cut thrust and have the landing legs absorb the rest.

For my crewed interplanetary missions, I'm planning to rendezvous them with a return shuttle of similar design, but with less fuel and a Hitchhiker pod.

[Raideur Ng]

Drag on parts has been reduced. Good for planes, bad for capsules. You need a shield, drogues and mains to survive reliably. (Almost like real life)

[Draco T stand-up guy]

29 minutes ago, Raideur Ng said:

Drag on parts has been reduced. Good for planes, bad for capsules. You need a shield, drogues and mains to survive reliably. (Almost like real life)

And you now get the drogues early in the science tree.

[ag3nt108]

I have also had to modify my designs since I am returning material bays, prior to 1.1 I'm sure a single chute was sufficient for a material bay with Mk1 capsule.  Now as of 1.1 as the OP says that results in 10m/s impact and destroys the bay.  After attaching an additional 2 radial chutes my landings are 4.5 m/s and the yummy science is intact.  KSP 1.1 add roar boosters or add roar chutes?

[Jarin]

1 hour ago, Draco T stand-up guy said:

And you now get the drogues early in the science tree.

The tutorial covers drogues too.

Edit: Regarding materials bays, I just EVA, snag the science, and drop it, returning with capsule only.

Edited April 24, 2016 by Jarin

[Mastikator]

Landing struts can aid with lithobraking.

[samstarman5]

1 hour ago, Jarin said:

The tutorial covers drogues too.

Edit: Regarding materials bays, I just EVA, snag the science, and drop it, returning with capsule only.

That helped me a lot. I never bothered with drogues, and enjoyed watching my Mk1 pods just plummet to the ground since they slip through the air so easily.  When 1.1 started, I checked out the Tutorials since it was stated they were getting an upgrade with 1.1, and the re-entry tutorial advised using drogues. Lo and behold they are dang useful.

Of course anything larger like the Mk 1-2 pod will slow down faster, but if you do have additional cargo strapped to it that you want to recover, more chutes are going to be wanted. As soon as I unlock the larger tanks, I use the Rockomax Brand Adapter to give the smaller pods some extra resistance during re-entry.  It's not expensive and not even much weight.  If you don't mind spending a bit more, you can add a decoupler between the adapter and pod and just have one chute on your Mk 1 pod.

And yes, water is a better option now to land in since it has become more water and less stone upon impact, which happened in 1.0 or 1.0.5.  Ground is still the same, though, but still much more lumpy.