Chronin

So I was headed home for Kerbin after many years going and coming back from Eeloo. I was about 50m/s of DeltaV from making a regular return to Kerbin (get encounter, get into orbit, land), so I just made a collision course with Kerbin, knowing that my 8 parachutes would be able to slow me down. I touched down on water at 7.4m/s when my science lab exploded, and my mysterious goos with it. So I figured I would quickload to when I was about 400m off the ground and slow myself down with my remaining fuel. But after I quickloaded, my parachutes weren't there. It said that they were there, because it gave me the option to cut them, but I couldn't see them or feel any of their effects. So I found myself 400m of Kerbin with an LV-909 engine and a little fuel. Not good. I was able to get down safely (Hyperedit's cheaty Land/drop), but does anyone know why this happens? Thanks.

Ok, I guess it's settled. Pretty beats practical in my opinion, even though science isn't too important to me now. Let's go to Jool!

Greetings to all! I come to you today with... A Question! I've managed to get to Duna, Ike, Mun, Minmus, in orbit around Kerbol and I've also managed to strand the immortals on Eve. I was wondering what planet I should try and visit next. I could go to Jool, but it's a little far. Eeloo is probably possible, even with it's strange orbit. Eve isn't an option because of the high gravity, but Dres and Moho are probably do-able. What would you guys suggest? I have most of the Tech Tree unlocked except for some of the structural and spaceplane parts. Thanks for reading -Chronin

Well, I've managed to get 37 ton lander to Duna and back with no docking involved, so I'm sure you can make it. If you want, I can send you my ship link, it has plenty of fuel to get to Duna and back, and if you have good piloting skills (unlike me), you can send it to Ike and Duna in one trip. One tip for making a ship: do what you're good at. I tried thinking small, and I failed miserably. When I built big, I created the largest ship I've ever made and it worked great. If you're good at building big, do it. No one is stopping you. Is it not as efficient as it can be? probably. Yet you had more fun, and that's the important part. If you have fun and it works... then you're set. To all the people who are going to complain and tell me to think simple and smart, here's my lander: 217 parts of pure inefficiency, and a lot of useless junk. Worked great.

Let me start off by saying: asparagus staging is a godsend. It's really a marvelous thing, and you should definitely use it. Since it's already been explained pretty well here, this is the link to a very nice guide: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/65892-Asparagus-Staging-an-Explanation Edit: ninja's are sneaky.

I had a Duna lander that I just used, it worked pretty well. Four nuclear engines radially attached to it, an LV-45 in the center, 17 parachutes, 16 landing legs, and a ton of science stuff. It can also take two people, so if you want to take another person along, you can. I don't know that you'll use it or even like it, but whatever, here is the picture of it taking off from Duna

Thanks for the help, this really gave me some nice ideas. Had you replied yesterday I wouldn't have used nukes, but early this morning (in America, at least, I don't know where you are) I went to Minmus and came back with around 700 science, so I know have nuclear engines and some other new parts (not enough for the GRAVMAX though). Anyway, I really like your ship, I myself can never think small. I know simple is good, I know it's more efficient, but my brain doesn't care. Problems with a ship? More Mainsail! Too many Mainsails? More boosters! Etc. etc. I really wish I could think small and simple for once...

While I'm still working on it, I have an idea for a lander capable of landing in all directions, like a somewhat ball shape. Might be completely stupid, but I'll give it a try and post the results here.

Brun I was actually planning to send a giant mothership into orbit around Duna, send the lander down and return to kerbin with the lander alone. I have the equivalent of five FL-T800 on my lander, and I'm fairly confident it can get back to kerbin alone. Rokker The problem with Eve is that my lander is too heavy to get off of its surface, while I should have enough fuel to slow myself down in Duna orbit (9 parachutes help too) Specialist290 Is that true? Cause I can make it to the Mun and back with fuel to spare, and that's with no gravity turn (I was too lazy to do one) You guys have been really helpful, so thanks.

Greetings to everyone who happens to stumble upon this thread. I come to you with a problem today: I need to get to Duna in career mode (0.23) and I can't seem to design a ship good enough for it. I've been to Mun, Minmus and around Kerbol many times, and I can get there pretty easily. I want to go to Duna before I go to Eve because of Eve's very high gravity, and so I think that Duna will probably be easier. Let me just put my tech tree here so you guys can see what science I have unlocked. I'd say I have a decent number of things unlocked, and, from what I've seen, should be enough to get me to Duna. Unfortunately, I am not that great of a ship builder (I suck) and cannot get a good design. My lander isn't bad, but the rest of the ship... Anyways, there are a couple things that I would like to be able to have/do with this ship. This is a list of things I would like from most important to least important: 1) Must be able to get to Duna and back to Kerbin 2) If possible, I would like it to be manned with a crew of 1 or 2 kerbals 3) While I do have docking ports unlocked, I have not messed around with them yet, so I would probably mess something up if I try and dock two ships together in orbit 4) Reasonable room for errors, I'm an okay pilot, but I can't get to Mun and Minmus with only the Start science node. 5) As you can see, I don't have the amazingly efficient nuclear engines, but I can probably unlock them if necessary. 6) Any science tools I can bring along are very welcome. If you have a ship that meets at least a few of these requirements, I would be delighted to see them, if only to get some ideas. Thanks for reading -Chronin