I've reached a block...

[Javster]

I am playing career mode, and I've run out of places to do science. I've orbited Duna, Ike, the Mun, and Minmus and landed on the Mun and Minmus. I don't know how to get more science without going to really far away planets...

[Bluegobln]

Time to land on something and make use of those atmospheric and seismic thingies!

Land a one way probe on Duna for example. I think that might be one of the easiest options. If you can give it a small rover to go with it to do small scale science on, or give it wheels, even better. (Wheels probably aren't as good for landing, so maybe give it legs for that and raise them when its time to roll out).

Perhaps someone else can advise further, I personally haven't taken career mode very far.

[Sirrobert]

Land on Duna and Ike?

And Gilly, Eve's mun.

Put a bit extra fuel in your Duna orbitter, attatch a lander that can land and take off from Duna to it with docking ports, and head over there

[John FX]

Send a probe down into the atmosphere of Duna and Eve that can radio back. You`ll get lots of science from that. If it lands you can get gravity and seismic data also. Land on Ike and Gilly also. If you can do it manned you`ll get even more science.

I filled my tree with a few mun missions and an eve flyby and a duna flyby (dipping into the atmosphere to get density readings n stuff of course).

Put all the science on your probes and radio data back as often as you can.

[Spatzimaus]

There are quite a few things you can do.

1> Mun and Kerbin each have about a dozen "biomes", distinct regions that give separate pools of science. I did eight or nine different landings on Mun to get most of these, and that gave me enough science points to nearly complete my tech tree. In the long term, all planets and moons will have multiple regions, but for now it's just those two.

2> Make sure you're sending manned missions, and doing EVA reports and taking soil samples. Unmanned probes just don't earn as much, since you can't do either of these. Frankly, in the stock game there's no real reason to use unmanned probes until you reach the point of ion power, and even there it's really only useful if you use mods that add scanners (like ScanSat, ISA MapSat, or Kethane).

3> Go to Duna. Really, it's not hard with early-game parts; getting LV-Ns makes the trip much easier, but you can do without these if necessary. Land on Duna, take a sample, and return. One trip there gives a huge amount of science compared to Mun and Minmus, especially if you bring two atmosphere scanners (one for low altitude, one for high). With an LV-N on your transfer stage, you'll have no problems at all reaching Duna's sphere of influence, but I'd recommend going to Ike first (and returning to Kerbin) to get a quick influx of science to buy the various heavier parachutes and such that help on Duna. (You don't NEED a parachute; my first Duna trip didn't have them, and I landed with rockets.)

4> Make sure to go back to bodies you've already been to once you unlock a new science part. In the stock game there are seven different science parts (Mystery Goo, Materials Bay, thermometer, seismic scanner, barometer, graviton detector, and the old aeronautics package converted to an atmosphere sensor). A few of those (barometer and atmosphere) won't work on airless moons like Mun and Minmus, and the seismic requires you to have landed, but the others can be used both in orbit over a biome and on the surface itself. The later science parts give more science than the early ones, too.

5> When you unlock the atmosphere scanner, make sure you use it over Kerbin a couple times.

6> The later science parts (i.e., not goo or materials bay) weigh so little that you can easily pack a half dozen of each on your vessels, so just remember to take readings at each stage of your trip. Outside Kerbin's SOI, orbiting the Sun, you can do science as well. Getting back might be difficult in the early game, but it's an extra source of science if you do a Duna or Ike trip. So do a reading right after leaving Kerbin's sphere of influence, then do it again right after entering Duna's, then again once you're in orbit over Duna, then again as you're descending through the atmosphere (when you're parachuting down you'll have plenty of time to kill), then again when you land... it all adds up very quickly.

(Also, if you have extra science devices, you can stack those extra science points without the penalty for transmission.)

In the first couple days of my own game, I did eight or nine Mun trips, two to Minmus, one to Ike, and two to Duna. That gave me enough science to complete the entire stock tree. I then did a spaceplane trip to Laythe, with several atmosphere sensors... that gave me so much science that I unlocked a bunch of very expensive techs added by certain mods, with so much left over that I never need to worry about science again.

[Javster]

Thanks everyone, I did a high altitude Eve flyby which hopefully will give me loads of science.

FUTURE PLANS:

Land on the places I've been to

Atmospheric probes to Duna and Eve

And a question:

Do you need more dV to go to Jool or Eve?

Edited December 8, 2013 by Javster

[Tex_NL]

Run out of places to do science??? How many times did you go to Mun? And how many different (!!!) biomes did you visit?

By just doing science on Kerbin, Mun and Minmus you can get very far in the tech tree. It might even be possible to complete it.

[annallia]

Out of curiosity did you try the sun?

First thing I do when I get solar panels is build the biggest rocket I can (doesn't have to be big, I just like doing it this way). I then go straight up and keep burning until I escape kerbins SOI, this why the rocket didn't have to be big you could do it with far less fuel by following a more normal approach.

Once out of Kerbins SOI (I usually try to get a mun or minmus flyby but you got that already) I start spamming science from high orbit over the sun. If I have the fuel left over I will try to get a smaller orbit to get the science for orbiting near the sun but even if I cant its no biggy. Point is even at the relatively early stages this is worth a ton of science just from the goo container and science jr.

[Javster]

Out of curiosity did you try the sun?

First thing I do when I get solar panels is build the biggest rocket I can (doesn't have to be big, I just like doing it this way). I then go straight up and keep burning until I escape kerbins SOI, this why the rocket didn't have to be big you could do it with far less fuel by following a more normal approach.

Once out of Kerbins SOI (I usually try to get a mun or minmus flyby but you got that already) I start spamming science from high orbit over the sun. If I have the fuel left over I will try to get a smaller orbit to get the science for orbiting near the sun but even if I cant its no biggy. Point is even at the relatively early stages this is worth a ton of science just from the goo container and science jr.

Yeah, my Eve probe and my Duna probe ended up in solar orbit, and I spammed the science there.

[annallia]

Yeah, my Eve probe and my Duna probe ended up in solar orbit, and I spammed the science there.

Did you try getting one closer? I am unsure how close you can actually get but I've had ships go within a few thousand km of the suns surface, get more science there as well.

[superm18]

u can max out the techtree without transmitting a singel experiment, by going to all the biomes on the Mun and returning it

[Kurtvw]

And a question:

Do you need more dV to go to Jool or Eve?

I think you're asking if one is more dV than the other? Yes, Eve is harder. Generally you're going to find that inner planets are harder because to get to them you need to blow off a lot of the dV that you have simply because you were at Kerbin. Kerbin is zipping along it its orbit at whatever its speed is relative to the sun, and you need to slow from that speed, it takes a bit of doing. Eve helps you out on the other end because you can aerobrake which makes it a nice target - Moho is a stinker because you're going to need about 5k dV on the Moho end just to slow down!

Conversely, outer planets are easier because you can build on the velocity that Kerbin gives you from its orbit. And with Jool, Laythe, Duna, etc having atmosphere, you don't have any braking woes on the far end of the trip normally. Laythe is a pretty fun and relatively easy target if you've never been out there.

anyhow, for your future dV reference...

[jfull]

If you don't feel like going interplanetary yet, I'd say do some repeat Mun landings, each in a different "biome". There are lots, and each of the very large craters counts as one.

Also, Duna isn't all that hard, and the interplanetary craft can be relatively small

Edited December 8, 2013 by jfull