DexterBelgium

May amend my entry for points, as my ascent was kerbaltastic (but, well, it's Bob driving, what with Jeb stuck around Duna waiting for a return window and Bill in my space station). I present: Rapier Gamma Stats Parts: 50 (all stock, except for Kerbal Engineer part) 2 ram intakes, 1 engine nacelle, 3 rapiers On launch: 1080 liq fuel, 1188 oxidizer, 108 monoprop (8 from the cockpit) On orbit (75*74): 59.51 liq fuel, 208 oxi MET to orbit: 10 min+ (messed around at 12 km, I'll redo, but not just now). Looks: cooler than re-entry. CRAFT File (will update to add ascend instructions, but for now it's just: start engines to full, point somewhat upwards. Kross fingers, eat snacks.) <iframe class="imgur-album" width="100%" height="550" frameborder="0" src="http://imgur.com/a/4Xtyr/embed"></iframe> No idea why the embed isn't working, to be honest. Link

Figured out, with the help of the aerobraking calculator, an aerobrake that not only slowed Jeb in his first ever manned Duna mission down upon meeting Duna without a single burn, but, even more awesomely, slung him around Ike and deposited him on a nice trajectory towards the surface of Duna with very minimal rocket fuel usage. I now have massive amounts of delta-v in my transfer/get into orbit stage. Eeeh well, dumping a big load of rocket fuel, oxidizer and a nuclear engine to jumpstart it all shouldn't harm anything, amirite? <iframe class="imgur-album" width="100%" height="550" frameborder="0" src="http://imgur.com/a/dJw1Q/embed"></iframe> By far the most badass thing I did in KSP so far.

To be honest, while farming biomes of Mun might be the "easier" way, I found sending a probe far out is a very very good (and easy, if your definition of easy includes the fact that throwing more boosters at a problem is physically (for the player) a lot easier than landing on Mun) way to handle science needs. Don't forget the science multiplier that applies when doing experiments around other planets, meaning that anything you do in space around Duna is worth 7 times what it's worth in space around Kerbin. Laythe 9 times, Jool 7 times (same for atmosphere of Jool btw) (from the wiki)

The fact that you made that contraption manned is awful! Though the fact that we still don't know what kerbalbarf looks like amuses me...

Went and got Jeb's stranded on the Mun ass back home. <iframe class="imgur-album" width="100%" height="550" frameborder="0" src="http://imgur.com/a/UslK4/embed"></iframe>

Thanks for the suggestions and answers, guys. I actually went further and shot for the moon... welll, not THE moon, A moon. Not even Kerbin's moon. I thought to just throw a probe out and see where I could go do some automated sciences. Turns out Duna and Ike are actually quite reachable if you have no need for getting back. 2k odd sciences for that one, and a ton of useful info. The Lander is now a permanent automated presence on Duna for its troubles. After that success I thought I'd shoot for the moon, .... well, the Mün. As suggested here. Got there pretty much Ok. Jeb's parking skills need some work (bouncing three times, while entertaining, is NOT ok, Jeb). That meant I had not nearly enough fuel left over for a return journey, so as we speak, Jeb's waiting for a ride, towel in hand. That has taken me down the path of trying to get a three-man pod up to the Mün and back, and that in turn has led to all sorts of brilliant advances in pyrotechnics, both nuclear and non-nuclear. The latest effort is now in an orbit overtop of Jeb's position, but I'm mighty apprehensive whether Bob will be any better at parking than Jeb. Also thanks for the sig answer, I was wracking my brain on that one. I can assure the forum software that I am NOT a Stayputnik attached to a pc posting on the interwebs. That would be lud... *hang on, I haven an idea...

Of course, stranded on Mün after the first ever Moon crash... eeh ... beautifully controlled landing with lithobraking and extra bounciness. He's got power and comms to Kerbin, so he's just uploading his totally rad landing vid to YouKube, while browsing Keddit (ETA on the upload: 2y 11m 23d 11h 12m) . A rescue mission ("Jeb's Taxi I") has been staged, after MULTIPLE simulated failures (seriously, who would have thought all those rad HUGE engines Jeb so selflessly unlocked by postponing his vid upload until AFTER all of the science uploads were done, would be so hard to actually get into space? All this "less is more" seems so un-kerbal-like, somehow). Also, stowaways always trying to fill up Jeb's seat. I'm looking at you, Bill! The rescue vessel seems to lack lights, and Jeb's landing location is not ideal and currently covered by darkness, so we'll be a while.

Hi, I'm a 34 year old man from Belgium who likes to build virtual rockets in his spare time (not that I have any, but eeh well). I'm fresh off a succesful landing mission to Minmus (900+ scienceseses) (been playing the game roughly a week now), and I have only touched career mode. Sandbox feels too "open" to me. I'd rather have my toolset limited, and have me figure out the basics (using the mass of excellent content created around this game) rather than having to figure out what in the name of Kerbol the exact difference is between all of the 700 different engine types. I do find myself reaching for quickloads and revert flights much more than I would like. It seems the greatest stories on here are rescues and/or disasters (*ahem* I mean, lithobraking, unplanned sudden disassembly and/or the good old "please proceed to the nearest emergency exit and scatter yourselves over a 25 km wide area on the surface of kerbin"-situation), but I tend to hesitate to send kerbals to die for Science and explosions! I guess I'm just a bit of a softie. Other nasty habits: quickloading to a quicksave on a PREVIOUS mission... (seriously did the "hail mary, please grant me some gravity effect to throw me into kerbin atmo from Mun with less than the dV I seem to need" 4 times due to that), hitting [space] when I meant "X" (why is my chute hanging out, and where is my rocket engine going, it's far from empty... oh...), forgetting proper staging ([space] wait, why is there fire coming from THERE? *KERBLOEIIEE*) and pissing away my fuel without regard for the return journey. Questions that are bothering me right now: - where do I add my signature on these forums? - whereto next? I'm either thinking probe some things (use some unmanned probes to try some "further out" targets) or try to land on Mün. - is there an easy overview of the different science things and where/when you should use them? - I have to find an easy way to get science off most if not all of the mun biomes - has anyone got an easy way to record your past missions? Something automated/addonlike.