PixelClef

Hmm. That has some promise, if (when?) I get into that situation again. Even with the over-thrusters I've put on, I could tweak the maximum thrust down so that the throttle grade is much more easily featherable, carefully run it up and then take a quick trip around, locking leg suspension before I get full lift and start to panic again. Hmm, yes. This even makes me believe that I just may have been able to use this on my first landing, even though the wheels were partly damaged. Kinda like learning to think with Portals. The tools are there, just gotta get creative in the application.

Good information, thanks! The way I land, though … I need as much cushion as I can get. My last seconds are tense key mashing mixed with equal parts arrogance, terror and a heaping helping of wishful thinking. I suppose there would be little hope for tapping a brief second of thrust, adjusting the suspension and letting her land again? Leads me to wonder if there is a way to define action groups outside the VAB, since I found out yesterday that you can restage after launching.

Still very much in beginner mode, here. With some help from the forum, I'm now coming close to finishing the career tech tree. All my work so far has been in Kerbin orbit, Minmus and Munar landings. I've also successfully complete a pair each of orbit-and-return gravity probe missions to Kerbin's satellites. Over the last week, I've done lots of testing trying to land my Mun Lab with a rover. I have proven successful in adapting a 55 ton LKO lifter (based on screen shots of the LT branch of Munshine V), landing on the Mun and even demonstrated that return to Kerbin is completely possible with my return vessel. If only the Mun hadn't gotten in the way. The only trouble with my successful landing was that the legs on Mun Lab 01 compressed too much to provide enough clearance to drive (or push) the rover out from underneath. Since then, I've redesigned the lab with greater clearance and also more thrust. This morning I got Mun Lab 02 into Munar orbit and tried twice to land it, only to be thwarted by a combination of uneven terrain, achingly slow craft rotation and the resulting panic. If another redesign is needed, I will add some RCS. Still, with a little more practice, I am certain to land this beast, give the near successes I've already achieved. Everything I've read about Munar landings is true: try your hand on Minmus first. It's harder to get there - due to distance and orbital inclination - but it's far easier to land. I made two landings on Minmus before trying my first Munar landing. I suppose I may have to take a Mun Lab to Minmus as well. I've actually landed twice on each satellite, and the second Munar landing had a toy rover. This success is what lead me to want a larger, more robust lander with science instruments and a local lab for delivery. The plan is to ferry seismic and gravity data from multiple Munar biomes, transfer as much of it onto the return vessel as I can, and return for massive science.

A worthy tutorial. Nearly filled out my tech tree with it!

Eventually, I shall drop an innocent Kerbal into the sun. Accidentally.

Welcome! Glad to meet ya. Very interested to hear your experiences with the Mun! Still working forward to that myself.

It was the return trip home that I had the problem. Jeb was saved! There was a parade. No one even saw him pass out, it was amazing.

Turns out I had a flawless landing, but a near disastrous return. Landing on Minmus is almost exclusively patience. Don't over burn on your descent. Firing retro until vertical is super easy. And if you land perched on one leg, a little WASD tap will level you. I ran out of fuel during the maneuver to set up aerobraking. Instead of 40k, I ended up at 68k. I startled when the engines cut off early. Took a couple orbits, but 68k was enough to drop me down. Boo yah!

I've done two flybys each of Mun and Minmus and currently have my lander en route to Minmus for my first attempt to land on a foreign body. I fully expect to fail hilariously! I don't know how I'll ever get Jeb back home.

Thank you kindly. I think I tried both of those separately, but not together (Edit OP, Advanced).

Nice! Now how do I mark this answered?

Good morning! (Please adjust greeting to suit your current time zone.) I have been experimenting with Career Mode and having a grand time. I think I have a starting handle on things, but would like verification on how to read the Science Archives screen. From my progress, reading and MMO experience (if there's a bar, make it bigger) it seems that I should fill the value bars in the Science Archive records. In other words, once the bar is full, there's not much point in pursuing that research further. So one approach to using the Science Archives screen: pick a planet (Kerbin, for me - I'm still working toward making orbit an easy target) pick a biome (or discover a new one?) sort by value This puts the empty bars at the top. This approach seems to point out which of the current records I've discovered still have research to be done. To summarize: Am I supposed to fill the bars in the Science Archives records (as opposed to emptying them) What would be a good strategy for improving science gathering, using the Science Archives screen as input?

Thanks for the welcome, and the quick reply! Your response makes sense, especially in light of the limited question I posed. I would completely expect anything to have an effect on the performance of the simulation! I suppose a better question would have been to ask for a general comparison of the performance effects between the surface station described here and an orbital station. I will certainly be testing with local KSC builds before committing to a launch. Since I'm new, I'm still exploring the game, having successfully flung several demo Kerbals into orbit already. I'm running KSP on a dual 2.6 GHz Xeon at work, and a 2.9 GHz i7 at home.

I've read that orbital space stations can cause lag. Do surface bases suffer from the same problem?