The Mun's surface

[pxi]

I think the 'squad are chasing the casual crowd' comments that have been popping up since the last update need to be considered in this context, but i digress.

You'd be suprised how much a wide base on your lander helps

[antb0y]

Yes, make the base wide enough and you can easily land on a 30% slope.

[KSK]

I like the mun.

The Mun is in the sky?

[Fyzzi]

I love the craters, but not THAT much amount! I think they need to make a flat areas here and there, Especially for bases!

I have to disagree with you on that, sir... I think the amount of craters is just fine and pretty realistic... if you want to build bases, you can either do it in the middle of some of the bigger craters OR you can pick one of those large Marias, which are pretty flat... there's also quite a large flat space in between those craters where you can put your base pretty easily Anyway, it's just a matter of practice to be able to put it IN the crater itself... they are usualy pretty flat in the middle

[Louella]

if the surface is too cratery, it limits the purpose of mun rovers, unless the biome map is going to become a lot more complex.

that is, if a rover cannot exit the crater it lands in, and is thus trapped in the same biome, then, what is the purpose of a rover mission, instead of a simpler static probe lander?

[AmpsterMan]

I enjoy the craters. Hopefully the other places get more detail as well.

[MalfunctionM1Ke]

So I've been going on trips to the Mun for awhile now but it seems like the surface is just so crater covered that it's easier to land on Minmus than the Mun and keep you lander intact,I know many people wont agree with this but I was just wondering what everyone thinks about the amount of craters.

If you find the Craters thrilling, than take a look at its poles

LIMBO LIMBO LIMBO!!!

[PlayMp1]

If you find the Craters thrilling, than take a look at its poles

LIMBO LIMBO LIMBO!!!

-snip-

My reaction.

[SkyRender]

Lots of craters just means more reason to practice pinpoint landings. The center of any given crater is generally pretty flat overall.

[Highlad]

I actually enjoy the muns craters.

The way i see it is that, if you want to have flat land, go to minimus or some other Moon/Planet. I think the variation in surfaces is one of the things that spurs me to go to other planets/moons

[boomerdog2000]

Yeah I like the craters too, it makes you have to put some forethought into where your base is going to go and if rovers will be able to maneuver around. The only time I had trouble with it was when I landed my tall, thin ship on a crater wall, so that one is on me.

[Highlad]

The only time I had trouble with it was when I landed my tall, thin ship on a crater wall, so that one is on me.

Haha, Yeah the craters do ensure that you build your ships correctly.

[cesarcurado]

I agree, it's very dangerous right now (much more than ever).

I sent a one-way science run to land on the Mun, probably would be able to make it back (very few fuel left) but...

I landed just to the side of a GIANT crater, really big.

I basically tipped over and rolled all the way down as it exploded part by part.

Before:

The see me rolling...

(No picture of the moment of the explosion though)

I consider the sacrifice worth it, it got me three high cost tech tree nodes unlocked.

He died for science.

[Sig]

I made my first successful landing on the Mun last night. Did an EVA just over the ridge and into the next crater and I discovered it was wide enough and flat enough that it appeared the bulk of KSC could have probably fit in it. I think they got the Mun just right.

[Landge]

There are plenty of flat spots to be found on Mun. This area is on the the trailing or leeward, side of Mun's orbit. The side as you first approach Mun with a heading of 90° East.

Much like a polar landing sight, it gives a constant view of Kerbin just above the horizon.

Of course a base with wheels would help in the event you do land on a slope. Though not in this case...

Now that is ridiculous. I guess they never heard of "Angle of Repose".

Now I send a rover down so that he can scout out a good level landing sight before committing the lander.

This happens to be on Dres but the same principle applies.

My latest rover, the Beagle, is fully loaded with the latest scientific instruments. It is VTOL capable and can takeoff and achieve orbit over any low gravity planets and moons.

It doesn't come with RCS, so once in orbit the main lander maneuvers to dock back with the rover. Equipped with a RC-001S Remote Guidance Unit, the Beagle can also be operated un-Kerballed. Parachutes are also included so it can undock and land safely back on Kerbin.

[merlinux]

The Mun is in the sky?

Not as much as a spoon

[Xzabath]

Absolutely, whenever I land on the mun, I have to reposition 90% of the time to get something safe, I like the craters, but it would be nice to have a few munar plains(planes??) Gonna start using those old balloon landing cushions and roll to the flat.

hehe.

[Brotoro]

Plains.

Or Plaaaaaaains for more than 10 char.

Or maria, technically. Maria with many fewer craters would be nice.

[Spatzimaus]

As shown by earlier posters with actual pictures, if anything the Moon is much worse than Mun. We just can't see the smaller craters from here, and the Apollo missions specifically aimed for the few parts that weren't completely ripped to shreds by impacts or that had been filled in with maria. But if you've spent enough time looking at pictures of the Moon's surface, Mun will look VERY familiar. There ARE some flat areas on Mun, analogous to the maria from a gameplay perspective, but how many people really aim for specific landing sites? That was one of the most challenging parts of using the Kethane mod; when you had to land on a specific area without any obvious visual indicator (like a crater) to aim for, instead of any flat terrain, you learned to pay much closer attention to the little terrain details to find a good spot. So hopefully, this terrain reworking will encourage people to pay closer attention to landing areas and steer clear of the really rough spots.

Also, a few other thoughts that can explain the differences:

1> In the original post, the thread starter compared Mun to Minmus. Given how much Mun changed in its recent reworking, there's a very good chance that Minmus will be changed to be more cratered in the near future as well.

2> Our moon doesn't have much erosion, but it does have a little, from a combination of solar wind and micrometeorites. This weathers the larger craters down a bit over time, to where the only craters we can easily see on the Moon are those formed in the past billion years or so. Given the fact that Kerbin's sun is a hundred times less massive than our own, its solar wind would be less severe (even accounting for Kerbin's much closer distance to its primary), although that assumes we ignore the fact that a star that small can't perform fusion at all.

3> One of the major factors in bombardment of our Moon is... Jupiter. It's large enough that it effectively intercepts (through its substantial Roche Limit) a lot of the comets and such that would otherwise hit the Earth or Moon; Saturn doesn't help nearly as much, although its contribution isn't negligible. Given Jool's much smaller size (relative to Kerbin, I mean), it might not do nearly as good of a job at this same task for Kerbin and its moons, and Kerbin's system lacks a second gas giant (for now).

4> Kerbin's system has no asteroid belt or Trojans, yet. Once those are implemented, we might find that Kerbin's system is substantially richer in asteroids and other small debris than our own system is, which could translate to a higher bombardment rate.

5> Maria are volcanic features; not volcanic in the sense of an actual volcano cone, but basaltic flows of internal magma as the Moon cooled to its present state. Mun might not have any sort of equivalent feature simply because it wasn't formed from ejected material like our own moon was; if it was a captured object, or was formed at the same time as Kerbin, then there'd likely be no maria as its core would have solidified long before the impacts that led to the visible craters were formed.

Basically, this is a non-issue.

[Smidge204]

You'd be suprised how much a wide base on your lander helps

Make use of the "center of mass" indicator while building your lander stage. Ideally your CoM should be as low as possible for stability. This can be difficult considering how short the landing struts are. Generally speaking, the angle at which the CoM is beyond the base is the point where you tip over... so the lower it is the greater that angle will be, and the more your craft can lean before it topples.

Failing that, an ASAS module on a relatively light craft will have enough torque to stand you upright if you DO fall over, so an active ASAS will let you land perfectly vertical on even an insane slope provided you don't slide too hard and destroy something.

=Smidge=

[manskal]

If you find the Craters thrilling, than take a look at its poles

LIMBO LIMBO LIMBO!!!

I can attest to the craziness of the Munar (north) pole.

I landed on the north pole once in .21, but has the polar terrain always been wonky, even in previous versions? Is it intended to be that way?

[Landge]

I can attest to the craziness of the Munar (north) pole.

I landed on the north pole once in .21, but has the polar terrain always been wonky, even in previous versions? Is it intended to be that way?

Prior to 0.21 I've made landings near both North http://imgur.com/a/MgUvl#0 and South http://imgur.com/a/dr8AP#0 Poles. I don't remember them being as intimidating as they are now. I can't even find where the South Pole anomaly is located now that there's a crapton more deep craters and mountains than I remember.

[boomerdog2000]

Wonder how the kerbals feel about that? "Well we have to go remap the Mun because all of its topography changed overnight."

[manskal]

Wonder how the kerbals feel about that? "Well we have to go remap the Mun because all of its topography changed overnight."

And now suddenly they can gain magical science by sending Jeb with a can of goo and an antenna to different parts of the Mun.

"Hey guys, lets fly all over the Mun again to get science!"

I have a feeling Jeb is behind all these updates, all because he needs more excuses to go to space.

[dudester28]

Landing on the mun shouldn't be a huge problem as long as you build your lander wide.