Surface/Orbit... How does it work

[Guest]

So I have landed on every-celestial-body and two of which I never ever got a surface landing I got an orbit landing. Bop and Gilly I never got a surface landing. It was a sideways landing that was "Fun"

I watch videos from pros like @Matt Lowne and I never ever found it out. 

I always thought it was that the closer to the core the more likely you're were going to land straight down. If anyone can answer by breaking ground/When I will do my next mission. That would be great

[Superfluous J]

1 hour ago, The Doodling Astronaut said:

 

I don't know why it didn't change itself but you can change it manually by clicking it.

And sorry about the quote I'm on mobile and did it by accident so it's there forever.

[Adenosine Triphospate]

The surface NavBall takes into account the Coriolis effect, that is, the rotation of the celestial body, so the velocity is relative to the surface itself. The orbital NavBall doesn't do this, instead its the velocity relative to the core.

For example, on the launchpad on Kerbin, the orbital NavBall would display about 175 m/s, because thats the rotation of Kerbin, and surface NavBall would display 0 m/s. Bop and Gilly both have a very slow rotation, so it makes very little difference, whether using orbital or surface.

Because both celestial bodies are very uneven with massive mountains relative to its size, the game may not have automatically switched between the two settings, due to the sheer height of the terrain.  Additionally, this effect only really matters near the equator, as the apparent speed of the spin is greatest.

Edited May 26, 2019 by Adenosine Triphospate