Mun, Minmus, Duna, Now what?

[Squidiness]

So I've sent manned missions to Minmus, Mun, and Ike, but I don't know what to do now. I've now finished most of the tech tree, and I don't know if I should head for the Eve system or the Jool system, so which one should I head for?

[N_Danger]

I would go for Jool first myself. The moons are pretty interesting and diverse. To do a mission covering all of them is challenging.

But nothing compares to Eve for challenge. Getting something off it's surface into orbit is the hardest thing to do in the game for me.

[Aegolius13]

I'd probably go wherever has a sooner transfer window.   

Eve is very tough to land and return from.   But if you just want to orbit,  visit Gilly, or send a one way probe to Eve'so surface,  it's not too bad. 

Jool is a very diverse place.   Laythe is fun since you can run jets there.  Tylo is challenging for a vacuum planet.   The other moons are pretty ordinary. Gravity assists are really helpful around Jool area,  which adds some extra interest. 

Edited January 20, 2017 by Aegolius13
Tylo, not Taylor. Thanks phone.

[Kyrt Malthorn]

Dres?  Eeeloo?  Wherever you like?

transfer windows are usually the determining factor for me.  Be advised it takes a long time to get to Jool so if you don't mind having a couple missions going at once, launch one for Jool and do some to Duna, Eve, etc in the meantime. 

 

[Just Jim]

I would shoot for Jool first. Eve is closer, but really, really tough as far as landing and taking off again.

Jool is much further, and usually requires some serious planning as far as refueling and such, but has 5 really fun moons to explore once you get there. 

And in my humble opinion, there is nothing quite as beautiful as watching the sun rise over Jool from the shores of Laythe:

Spoiler

 

 

[Sharpy]

First thing you didn't include: how modded is your carrer?

Finish the tech tree through Eve microlanders. Send a single craft carrying a good 10 or more tiny probes capable of landing on Eve surface in multiple biomes. Possibly establish a base on Gilly, it's really fun.

Once you have unlocked Rhino and all mining goodies, grab a big asteroid and bring it into LKO or nearby to have an orbital fuel station.

To go to Jool you NEED RTGs. You won't get anything done on solar panels there.

Install Stock Visual Enhancements, then send a good, rugged, crewed rover to Duna and travel at least several biomes there. A single landing really doesn't compare. A trek over Duna is a true adventure.

And build an extensive comms network EVERYWHERE. If you have ScanSat, include scanner satellites.

Edited January 20, 2017 by Sharpy

[Wanderfound]

* Unkerballed probes to absolutely everywhere, whenever a transfer window comes up. Sample returns if you can, one-way missions if you can't.

* Establish a large fuel depot / crew transfer station in orbit. It's much easier to explore the system when you can refuel after launch. I'd recommend using the large docking ports to join sections; wobbles are no fun. Put a Poodle or some nukes on one end so you can reposition it.

* Build yourself a decent reusable SSTO tanker to keep the fuel depot filled for minimum cost.

* Jool has lots of variety. Moho is an interesting high-ΔV challenge. Eeloo takes ages to get to. Eve is pretty but a deathtrap. Dres is a sad and lonely space potato.

[Birdco_Space]

Moho.

The challenge of building a 12k + m/s Delta V rocket to get there, Land and get back is a top tier challenge.  It is by far the hardest place to get to, but the windows to get there are very frequent.  its >mun mass is a good intermediate challenge in designing for large airless bodies (Tylo).  The Large delta V design is a good first step in design experience for Jool 5, and lifters for Eve return missions.

 

 

Edited January 20, 2017 by Birdco_Space
clarity

[cantab]

Gilly if you want challenging orbital manoeuvres and an easy, but annoyingly slow, landing.

The Joolian system if you want a multi-target mission or you want to hone your gravity assist skills. Or specifically: Bop and Pol if you want somewhere kind of like Minmus, Vall if you want a bigger Mun, Laythe if you fancy fun with boats or jets, Tylo for one of the game's ultimate challenges.

Dres if you want to go to the place everyone else ignores, or fancy fun with asteroids.

Eeloo again if you want a non-obvious choice.

Moho if you like running out of delta-V. Or you like half-hour ion engine burns.

Visit a near-Kerbin asteroid if you want to try rendezvousing with something on a flyby trajectory, which is something worth knowing how to do.

A Mun or Minmus science station or base if you fancy trying your rendezvous and docking, surface base building, and precision (ish) vacuum landings.

Eve if you want to open a Kerbal retirement home. Because they ain't coming back.

[Squidiness]

14 hours ago, Sharpy said:

First thing you didn't include: how modded is your carrer?

Finish the tech tree through Eve microlanders. Send a single craft carrying a good 10 or more tiny probes capable of landing on Eve surface in multiple biomes. Possibly establish a base on Gilly, it's really fun.

Once you have unlocked Rhino and all mining goodies, grab a big asteroid and bring it into LKO or nearby to have an orbital fuel station.

To go to Jool you NEED RTGs. You won't get anything done on solar panels there.

Install Stock Visual Enhancements, then send a good, rugged, crewed rover to Duna and travel at least several biomes there. A single landing really doesn't compare. A trek over Duna is a true adventure.

And build an extensive comms network EVERYWHERE. If you have ScanSat, include scanner satellites.

My game is 100% stock, which I thought was obvious

What's a comms network?

Edited January 21, 2017 by Squidiness
Stugff

[Sharpy]

7 hours ago, Squidiness said:

My game is 100% stock, which I thought was obvious

What's a comms network?

Relay satellites that have other relay satellites or KSC in range and provide good connectivity to whole, or at least most of planet's surface.

[RandomUser]

If you're a beginner, I'd recommend not going to either just quite yet.  Not because it is impossible, in fact it is quite contrary.  However, if my previous major save is something to go on, I'd say slow down a little bit.  It may not be hard to get there, but if ya go there, you've practically seen it all.  At which point the game simply seems less interesting.  After I finished off all the Jool moons, I more or less stopped playing. 

I'd say, go and do more with the planets in close-ish reach, such as perhaps send a manned mission to and from Duna, or build a station around the Mun.  All these can be really interesting, mostly because they are quite a challenge. 

In my current game I am trying to play a wee bit more realistic.  As of year 31, I have only sent a single manned mission to Laythe, and a probe to Eeloo.  This was only after having sent a load of probes to Jool to "scout out" the region before sending Kerbals there.  I generally find it can make it a more interesting and unique experience.  The only place I haven't returned my Kerbals from for an exploration mission is Laythe, which is being habitat tested, to see if colonizers would be able to survive on the planet.  Elsewhere I've sent I think 2 manned missions to Duna, both of which left the surface, a major station to Duna, and a pretty big (Actually Sorta Laggy) moon base, with plenty of modules, 3 different flags from different national "eras" and an array of pods for sending Kerbals back to Kerbin at a moments notice.  And after all which was said, that was barely scraping the surface. 

So in conclusion, I'd simply say take your time.  It can be much more fun to add a story of your own to KSP, and therefore add more value to the missions themselves, which in this case would be far more monumental than a simple plant a flag and hop to the next planet sort of game.  It'll take more time, but yet feel all the more rewarding in the end. 

Edited January 21, 2017 by RandomUser

[KerikBalm]

23 hours ago, Birdco_Space said:

Moho.

The challenge of building a 12k + m/s Delta V rocket to get there, Land and get back is a top tier challenge.  It is by far the hardest place to get to, but the windows to get there are very frequent.  its >mun mass is a good intermediate challenge in designing for large airless bodies (Tylo).  The Large delta V design is a good first step in design experience for Jool 5, and lifters for Eve return missions.

 

 

I second Moho.

Its a challenge, but the transit times are fast and the windows are frequent.

Other than that, Laythe is fun - but I don't spend all that time for just a flag and footprints mission, I go for a laythe station (ie fuel depot and lab), a surface base and mining (although excellent arguments may be made for doing your mining on Val/Bop/Pol instead ), and science jets to get sceince from all the biomes.

But that is much more complicated, and you'll want to do a lot of base testing in Kerbin's SOI first.

So... a Moho flag an footbrings mission could be nice.

Or a gilly mining operation to prepare for an eve landing (that way your rocket can arrive nearly empty and refuel)

[Mastikator]

If you're going for Moho I suggest using a nuclear propulsion. Using LF/O thrusters to achieve 12km/s dv is a huge pain.

[Magzimum]

Here's what I did in my 2nd career (the first was a bit of a joke and went bankrupt):

1. Mun
2. Minmus
3. Duna 
4. Duna & Ike
5. Eve lander & return (attempt #1)
6. Eve lander & return (attempt #2)
7. Eve lander & return (attempt #3)
8. Eve lander & return (attempt #4)
9. Eve lander & return (attempt #5) - finally nailed it. 
10. Jool

Eve is hard, but not impossible if you can already get to Duna and back. Don't let all the good advice discourage you from doing something ambitious! 

Edited January 21, 2017 by Magzimum

[theend3r]

On 20. 1. 2017 at 0:00 PM, Birdco_Space said:

Moho.

The challenge of building a 12k + m/s Delta V rocket to get there, Land and get back is a top tier challenge.  It is by far the hardest place to get to, but the windows to get there are very frequent.  its >mun mass is a good intermediate challenge in designing for large airless bodies (Tylo).  The Large delta V design is a good first step in design experience for Jool 5, and lifters for Eve return missions.

 

 

I'd say moho is pretty easy. You know what you need, you can build/refuel in orbit and generally prepare without any testing. Eve return is a completely different league.

[regex]

On 1/20/2017 at 2:14 AM, Sharpy said:

To go to Jool you NEED RTGs. You won't get anything done on solar panels there.

Not true, a pair of 1x6s or 2x3s will power a small probe and recharge batteries out to Eeloo. Most of my Jool ships are powered by a pair of the largest solar panels and I have never had power issues in the base game. I could easily do with a handful of smaller ones.

[Firemetal]

After doing Duna and Ike, I went to Dres. It was closer than Jool and also pretty easy to land on. Though I probably should have landed on Gilly first since that is a little easier. #Don'tforgetDres.

Fire

[Freshmeat]

I went to Moho on a kerballed lander mission after firing probes towards Jool and Eeloo this career. The design is large, but nukes will save the day. For RP reasons as well as life support I ended with a rather large payload, but the landing itself is not much harder than a Mun landing.

[Justin_Kerbal]

On 1/20/2017 at 2:14 AM, Sharpy said:

First thing you didn't include: how modded is your carrer?

Finish the tech tree through Eve microlanders. Send a single craft carrying a good 10 or more tiny probes capable of landing on Eve surface in multiple biomes. Possibly establish a base on Gilly, it's really fun.

Once you have unlocked Rhino and all mining goodies, grab a big asteroid and bring it into LKO or nearby to have an orbital fuel station.

To go to Jool you NEED RTGs. You won't get anything done on solar panels there.

Install Stock Visual Enhancements, then send a good, rugged, crewed rover to Duna and travel at least several biomes there. A single landing really doesn't compare. A trek over Duna is a true adventure.

And build an extensive comms network EVERYWHERE. If you have ScanSat, include scanner satellites.

How do you deploy '10 or more probes' at Eve?  Every encounter (literal) that I have with the planet results in explosions!  How do you get them all slowed down enough for entry and then landing? 

2 hours ago, Firemetal said:

After doing Duna and Ike, I went to Dres. It was closer than Jool and also pretty easy to land on. Though I probably should have landed on Gilly first since that is a little easier. #Don'tforgetDres.

Fire

Actually, no one has ever been to Dres.  Ever.

[Firemetal]

1 minute ago, Justin_Kerbal said:

How do you deploy '10 or more probes' at Eve?  Every encounter (literal) that I have with the planet results in explosions!  How do you get them all slowed down enough for entry and then landing? 

Actually, no one has ever been to Dres.  Ever.

Fire

[KerikBalm]

3 hours ago, regex said:

Not true, a pair of 1x6s or 2x3s will power a small probe and recharge batteries out to Eeloo. Most of my Jool ships are powered by a pair of the largest solar panels and I have never had power issues in the base game. I could easily do with a handful of smaller ones.

solar works fine at jool, its proportional to using solar at Jupiter... which we do.

However, I think its been calculated that in KSP, RTGs become more mass efficient than solar panels past Dres.

[Sharpy]

1 hour ago, Justin_Kerbal said:

How do you deploy '10 or more probes' at Eve?  Every encounter (literal) that I have with the planet results in explosions!  How do you get them all slowed down enough for entry and then landing?

Actively bring your carrier into Eve low orbit (propulsive braking, not aerocapture).

Have the probes fit 0.625 profile plus a little more (spider engines, science, static antenna, shielded solars). Equip them with 1.25m heatshields with 10% of default ablator (less mass = easier to brake, and that ablator is plenty enough, never mind ablatorless heatshield would probably suffice) and Oscar B and Spider or Ant engines ( a good 1000m/s of propulsive braking before reentry)

Definitely give them drogue chutes. Eve atmosphere is nasty. I lost parachutes at least twice now, after deploying them "when safe" having them destroyed by aero forces as the lander didn't brake fast enough as atmosphere got much thicker.

If you're feeling paranoid, give them fairings too, with blunt end instead of a sharp tip. Be cautious about that, KSP has some nasty bugs regarding "many fairings in a fairing" and staging that.

Of course that all means no Science Jr. materials bay. Still other instruments will give science aplenty. Make sure your batteries are enough to transmit atmospheric scan. And as you *collect* science in Eve flight, wait with sending until you land. You really don't want to run out of batteries before you deploy the chutes

Edited January 21, 2017 by Sharpy

[regex]

56 minutes ago, KerikBalm said:

However, I think its been calculated that in KSP, RTGs become more mass efficient than solar panels past Dres.

But that still doesn't mean that you NEED RTGs. You can go to Eeloo quite early in the tech tree if you want, you don't need RTGs at all, which was the point of my post.

[KerikBalm]

indeed, you don't, which is why the line directly above it, I said "solar works fine at jool"

The however is just to point out that while you don't need it, it may be more efficient depending upon one's electrical needs.