Hello world(s)

[MinimalMinmus]

Eeloo Hello KSPers! Minmus here, I'm a fairly new french player of this very cool game (but I've landed on both of Kerbin's muns and back), and I'm starting to send try to send probes to other bodies, such as Duna.

I have a question though: what is the next body I should be aiming to, after I build my Minmus base? (and it may be quite far away, as my plans for this base are quite complicated) I have 3 targets in mind:

1) Gilly

Pros:

-Gilly is very easy to land on

-Gilly has tiny delta V requirements (in fact, less than the mun...)

-Gilly is near Eve, which has an athmosphere and therefore quite a bit of science, and aerobraking is a thing.

Cons:

-Hard and frustrating rendezvous

- 3 biomes, so not much science on Gilly itself

- Eve is entirely inaccessible at my skill level

2) Duna and Ike

Pros:

-Loads of science

-Ike helps for both insertions and ejections

-Duna has an athmosphere, so aerobraking is possible

Cons:

-Ike doesn't only help...

-Duna may ask for a very big rocket

-Duna's athmosphere isn't that useful for landing

3) Jool

Pros:

-INSANE amounts of science to gather

-Gas giants are pretty, that's it

-Plenty of things to do, especially with some ISRU

Cons:

-Sending a manned craft to Jool is unthinkable right now

-Jool needs quite a big amount of dV

-The easiest to reach moons are also the hardest to land on (It's quite the reverse case for Sarnus, isn't it?)

-Navigating in such a complex environement will be hard for me

 

P.S. I'm pretty sure you have figured what is my favorite body in the kerbolar system by now!

[Starhawk]

Hello MinimalMinmus and welcome to the KSP Forums!

I would recommend Duna.  You are correct about the atmosphere not helping much with landing, but it can help.

Getting to Duna is not hard and does not require a particularly large rocket.

Glad to have you aboard.

Happy landings!

 

[James Kerman]

Greetings and welcome to the forums, @MinimalMinmus.

I usually do Duna and Ike after Minmus as Starhawk says.  Duna has a lot of biomes now so it's worth trying to get a science rover on the surface.  Also dune jumping is fun.

[MinimalMinmus]

That sounds about right. I still have a bit of trouble for interplanetary travel, any tip? I'm still not sure about what's a window...

[Starhawk]

11 minutes ago, MinimalMinmus said:

That sounds about right. I still have a bit of trouble for interplanetary travel, any tip? I'm still not sure about what's a window...

Here is a link to the transfer planner that I use.  Leaving at the right time is crucial to performing a fuel-efficient transfer.  To travel to Duna, you will want your trajectory after the burn to be in the same direction which Kerbin is moving as it orbits the sun.

There are other transfer planning tools available if you look around the forum.  Some are available in-game with the use of mods and others are external such as the one linked above.
 

Happy landings!

[James Kerman]

A transfer window is when the planet you are leaving and the planet you are going to need the least Dv for a transfer.

For Kerbin-Duna you want Duna to be about 45 degrees ahead of Kerbin.

This tool can help:

I'm not the most efficient player so I usually add 20-25% additional Delta v for "contingencies".

Edited December 10, 2016 by James Kerman

[JadeOfMaar]

Hello Minmus. @MinimalMinmus Welcome to the forums. I hope you don't get too hard a time with all the landers and miners coming at you.

[NSEP]

I recommend going to Duna for building a base after Minmus, it is not too hard.

By the way, welcome! Have a nice stay!