Eve or Duna?

[linuxgurugamer]

I am about ready to start my interplanetary exploration. So, which should I try for first? Eve or Duna?

I would appreciate your giving the reason for your recommendations.

thanks

[Kelderek]

Either is fine for unmanned exploration, but if you want to send a Kerbal on a round trip then stick with Duna. Getting off of the surface of Eve is one of the hardest challenges in the game. You could strand a Kerbal there with a one-way trip if you are the cruel type, but I would just work with Duna first.

[Superfluous J]

Duna.

They're roughly as easy to get to their SOIs, but landing on Eve is a prison sentence unless you work REALLY hard. For days. Or months. Gilly (Eve's moon) is super easy to land on and take off from (it's so small I actually thrust down toward it to speed up the landing) but it's so small and eccentric it can be difficult for a new player to intersect.

Duna, on the other hand, needs nothing more than a few parachutes (more is better. The atmosphere's pretty thin, and don't be shy firing the rockets to slow down at the end to make sure you're going slow enough) to land on and a ship not much bigger than what you took to Mun and back the first time you did it. Ike is the opposite of Gilly. It's HUGE and the problem is generally figuring out how to NOT interact with it. It's very similar to Mun so landing on it - once you get there - should be a nice familiar thing to boost your confidence during this new endeavour.

Duna, I suggest people do FIRST. Eve, I suggest they tackle LAST.

[WhiteKnuckle]

If you want to only land a probe on the surface, or if you don't mind stranding a Kerbal: Eve.

If you want to land and return from the surface: Duna.

Both planets have atmospheres, so you can aerobrake. Both have moons that are easy to land on. Landing on Duna is more difficult, but you'll be able to get home. Landing on Eve is easy (just bring parachutes) but getting back home is the most difficult mission in the game.

My vote always goes to Duna first.

[Kelderek]

@OP: 279 posts on the forum and you're just now starting interplanetary travel? I would be curious to know what other stuff you've focused on all this time (I'm guessing it's a lot of airplane stuff in Kerbin's atmosphere).

[Robotengineer]

Are you looking to do a Kerballed mission? Or are you just dropping a probe?

Kerballed: Duna. Pretty easy to land/return from, and doesn't require a lot of ∆V to get there.

Probes: Eve. Easy to drop stuff on, chutes work well. Requires less transfer ∆V.

I would recommend dropping a probe on Duna before you send Kerbals, just to get the feel of it. You might need a powered lander on Duna as well.

[FlyingPete]

Eve is slightly easier to get to and land on due to the thicker atmosphere and higher gravity. You can land just about anything with parachutes. Gilly is also very simple to get to from Eve- you can land on it with just the EVA jetpack. Taking off from Eve, however, is one of the more difficult engineering challenges in KSP.

Duna is slightly more tricky due to the much thinner atmosphere reducing the effect of aerobraking, plus Ike has a habit of getting in the way as you're encountering Duna. It's far simpler to get back from Duna though. I launched a mission to Duna and Ike, and I ended up landing on Ike first due to a chance encounter following aerocapture. For Duna, I'd have the main ship establish itself in orbit and then deploy a lander to the surface.

I'd go to Duna first if you want to do a round trip exploration. Eve is good for unmanned probes and permanent colonies.

[cicatrix]

I am about ready to start my interplanetary exploration. So, which should I try for first? Eve or Duna?

I would appreciate your giving the reason for your recommendations.

thanks

Duna. Try out a normal planet first, not a killer one.

[GreeningGalaxy]

I, being the "cruel type" according to Kelderek, went with Eve first. Getting there is rather easy (easier than Duna on account of its much larger SoI and faster orbit, meaning that transfer windows occur more frequently). I also find it prettier than Duna since it's purple and has oceans, but that's only my personal preference. Eve's one of my favorite places to go, even though I've never made a proper ascent from its surface - it's just so pretty to look at from orbit and from the surface.

Duna's fine too, though - That was the second planet I visited when I started, and it's also a nice place. Especially since you might make it home alive.

[Kelderek]

I, being the "cruel type" according to Kelderek, went with Eve first.

I'm not implying that being cruel is a bad thing.

I sent a kerbal to Eve to scout it out and he's still there enjoying some "alone time". The main thing is to think carefully about who you send if you do a one-way trip. You might want to avoid sending your highest leveled kerbals or even consider sending kerbals only as passengers with a probe core to fly for the one-way trip.

[RAINCRAFTER]

Unmanned... either one works. Just don't try to return anything from Eve.

Manned... DO DUNA unless you are, as quoted by many, "cruel."

[linuxgurugamer]

@OP: 279 posts on the forum and you're just now starting interplanetary travel? I would be curious to know what other stuff you've focused on all this time (I'm guessing it's a lot of airplane stuff in Kerbin's atmosphere).

I've been doing a lot with MKS, OKS and most of the other 90 mods that I have installed.

I've only been playing since December (I got it 1 week before 0.90 came out). I'm fairly good now with docking, rendevous, almost anything going on in Kerbin orbit.

I recently restarted my career game, since the last one was a mishmosh of mods. I have a fairly stable set of mods installed now, so can concentrate on the play rather than the Kraken.

I actually have NOT done anything with airplanes yet. I'm waiting for a better aero model to come out because what is there just doesn't make sense. This is a problem of too much knowledge, I build and fly radio control airplanes and know how they work. Trying to get the current model working (for me) is just a bear. I just sit back and admire everyone else who is successful with planes.

[KerikBalm]

Either is fine for unmanned exploration, but if you want to send a Kerbal on a round trip then stick with Duna. Getting off of the surface of Eve is one of the hardest challenges in the game. You could strand a Kerbal there with a one-way trip if you are the cruel type, but I would just work with Duna first.

^This

Except I would say go to duna, so you're a bit familiar with the planet and such for when you do send a manned mission

[-Velocity-]

Anyone know if we'll ever get a "return a Kerbal from the surface of" type contract? Because it's blatantly missing in the game, and it's one of the big goals in real life space exploration. And it especially adds gameplay value for Eve. Right now, you don't technically have to return Kerbals from the surface to fulfill any contract you get on Eve.

[AlexinTokyo]

Both?

Depending how much time has elapsed in game, you can probably launch two probes fairly close together, one for each planet, for not unreasonable ÃŽâ€v requirements (under 1,500 m/s for the transfer).

[problemecium]

I second "both".

If you want to pick where to go first, I'd say just go with whatever has an earlier transfer window.

[StrandedonEarth]

Eve is where I send convicted kriminals. It's harder to escape from than Alcatraz! Duna is more like minimum-security.

[cantab]

Eve for one way. Landing is a doddle.

Duna for return. Returning from Eve orbit is somewhat more expensive delta-V wise, and returning from Eve's surface is a major end-game challenge.

Duna can be malicious for landings though, the air is thin.

[Kelderek]

Duna can be malicious for landings though, the air is thin.

I've had aerobrake maneuvers that came within a couple km of hitting mountain tops on Duna, so yeah, be careful.

[panzer1b]

Other then its rather small SOI (needs alot of correction maneuvers along teh way), duna is probably the most friendly place to visit. you dont need any fancy craft to land there, and most things can take off too. Eve, while a great place like any other (although my fav is the entire jool system for the many moons and laythe jet planes), is rather tough to do anything once you get there. Eve itsself is crazy hard to take off from, as you need at a bare minimum 12000dV, which is no small feat evenb for the experienced players. Its usually a 1 way trip, landing there is easy, bases can be paradropped down, and well youi cfan run around on the surface, but getting back to orbit is very hard. Gilly is also not very new player friendly, as its orbit is very hard to get to without knowing how to deal with eliptical orbits. That said, it has almost no gravity, so you can land anything there (that has at least 1 engine ofc). Duna has ike, which is much easier to deal with, and while landing on it isnt that easy, its more or less similar to a mun landing (which ill assume anyone who wants to got to duna has done at least once). Finally, duna, unlike the later game jool and other places, doesnt require nukes at all for a return trip, so its relatively cheap and easy to get to duna early game (heck, the kerbalX can get to duna and land, and that stock with very early game parts).

[Alchemist]

Duna can be malicious for landings though, the air is thin.

In my current playtrough I explored Duna (multiple landings all over the planet) with my Moho-grade nuclear-powered lander. The landing profile was "screw the atmosphere, brake the usual way!"

Actually, with this lander's TWR it's just unsafe to use this atmosphere for braking.

Eve is the only landable body I haven't returned from yet. My last prototype of Eve ascent vehicle reminded me of early days of KSP: it lost control, barely recovered after dropping first stage and in the end it reached the altitude of 10 km.

[linuxgurugamer]

Anyone know if we'll ever get a "return a Kerbal from the surface of" type contract? Because it's blatantly missing in the game, and it's one of the big goals in real life space exploration. And it especially adds gameplay value for Eve. Right now, you don't technically have to return Kerbals from the surface to fulfill any contract you get on Eve.

Another big hole in the contracts is that when you are tasked to create a station which _can_ support x number of Kerbels, it doesn't actually require them to be there.

[Spheniscine]

I actually have NOT done anything with airplanes yet. I'm waiting for a better aero model to come out because what is there just doesn't make sense. This is a problem of too much knowledge, I build and fly radio control airplanes and know how they work. Trying to get the current model working (for me) is just a bear. I just sit back and admire everyone else who is successful with planes.

Have you tried FAR?

[linuxgurugamer]

Have you tried FAR?

Yes, it's one of the 90+ mods I have. It was actually one of the early ones I installed. But it still doesn't do a great job (at least for me), my thinking is that I'm over-thinking the planes based on my experience building them.

[Spheniscine]

Yes, it's one of the 90+ mods I have. It was actually one of the early ones I installed. But it still doesn't do a great job (at least for me), my thinking is that I'm over-thinking the planes based on my experience building them.

Hmm... perhaps it's because the mass ratios in KSP are different from the model planes you're used to? Make sure the center-of-lift stays behind the center-of-mass, and all that... oh and don't forget shifting as fuel is burned...