Mun Help From a Noob

[Jeb The Astronaut]

First off....i almost quit after the first 2 hours in the game....then I did career mode and it simplified everything. Im about 20 hrs in and think this may be one of the most original and enlightening games ive ever played.....so impressed!

Ok...ive figured out orbits pretty good...and my last two attempts to get to the moon have been pretty successful. However ive never successfully landed...I crash land. I could use some advice. I dont have lights so when I come in on the dark side I cant see anything...my last crash was in a mountain I assume cause it was 2.4km in the air still. Also is there a way to slow your approach....I had a small thruster with plenty of fuel but it seemed even with that puppy fired up I was coming in too fast. Should slow down before I even get that close?

The best part about this game is even my failures still feel great....crashing into the moon meant ..atleast I made it to the moon!

Edited December 20, 2013 by Jeb The Astronaut

[TheCanadianVendingMachine]

Hint, burn retrograde!

[700NitroXpress]

Here's a mission to Mun and back to Kerbin. Orbits and burn techniques are explained.

[Jeb The Astronaut]

Thx guys....watching the video...and ya burning retrograde probably long before im so close im assuming hahah....I was sooo disappointed to make it that far!

[technion]

Don't be afraid to quicksave right before you start your ascent.. and reload if you crash.

Also, if you're in orbit, you can just sit and wait until you're on the daylight side.

[Moonfrog]

one hint is if u enter the command pod by pressing C. There is a dial called the radar land scan thingy. It shows the distance between your craft and the actual ground. Your altitude normally is off by about 3 or 4km. If u check every so often and switch back and forth u can see how far u actually are from the ground. There's a dial in the command pod that shows your actual vertical velocity, as surface velocity takes into account your horizontal as well.

Its useful to know cos not everyone mentions it.

[Liowen]

one hint is if u enter the command pod by pressing C. There is a dial called the radar land scan thingy. It shows the distance between your craft and the actual ground. Your altitude normally is off by about 3 or 4km.

Its useful to know cos not everyone mentions it.

Unless you land like I do, in very deep craters . Protip try to avoid landing in craters, they have steep sides that are not fun to try and land on. Three Mun landings and only one of thos was not on the side of a crater....it was in the center though.

[Murph]

Unless you land like I do, in very deep craters . Protip try to avoid landing in craters, they have steep sides that are not fun to try and land on. Three Mun landings and only one of thos was not on the side of a crater....it was in the center though.

Actually, the middle of a crater can be an excellent spot to land, as it's very likely to be flat. It's really just the edges of craters that need to be avoided, as well as craters overlapping each other.

[Liowen]

yeah that was thee exception to the crater landing, but it just seems like I always end up in them when I land. It makes me laugh as I pick a spot and then forget to slow down early enough to hit that area. Oh well live and learn.

[Jeb The Astronaut]

i tried landing in a crater...so far no success landing but ive come up with a few things i noticed....if you do go for a steep crater I think you have to have sharper descent....i quick saved coming but I was moving to fast to retrograde quick enough to make it into the crater....id hit the other side....I was coming in like a frisbee instead of straight down. Man I suck at this game haha but it is addicting. Even every time I crash I find I learned something new or designed a rocket slightly better. I think im gonna build up a bunch more science first to get a few items I want then try landing again.

[LethalDose]

I figured out the following tricks when I was learning to land on the Mun:

1. Never land on the dark-side of anything. Ever.
   
2. You can do the approach in a very measured way. At around 10-20,000 m, aim to have your surface speed ~ 1% of your altitude, i.e. if you're at 3,500 m, try to aim for a surface speed of 35 m/s. This is not the most efficient way to land, but it's a good way to learn.
   
3. After ~3,000 m, watch your visual height, when you start seeing your shadow, just monitor your height visually.
   
4. Don't land on the dark side of the planet or moon.
   
5. Rotate so that the center of the blue half of the Navball is near the 12 o'clock position and your retro marker is straight down from the center of the blue hemisphere.
   
6. If you're comfortable with the RCS, use the IJKL buttons to cancel out the horizontal float on the final approach. The goal is keep the retro marker in the center of the blue hemisphere.
   
7. Seriously, DON'T LAND ON THE DARK SIDE!!!
   

[Jeb The Astronaut]

I landed on the moon!!!! thx all who helped....I found that waiting til i was right over the spot i wanted to land almost then retrograded hard....so I dropped almost straight down...I actually bounced my first time then got carried over and bounced again off the side of a crater...going super slow the whole time...finally landed on the side of a hill. Got out ran around...was just about to plant a flag and the game screen went black hahah...hoping my last save will help. It wasnt pretty but damn it I landed on the moon...I feel like im in the club.

[nethervvoid]

My issue is landing very narrow, slightly taller landers. lol ANY lateral motion and you're on your side. I've been thinking about putting some lateral rockets on the side to tip the rocket up and back on the gear.

[Jeb The Astronaut]

I had the same issue a few times...i just kept pointing my legs a little in advance of where i was going to hit...so instead of straight down i had it cocked towards the direction I was going so when it hit it slowed me down and made my craft straight. I got my save working and didnt have enough fuel to get back home. I can get off the moon and even get into orbit in kerbal but just not enough!

[jedensuscg]

I had the same issue a few times...i just kept pointing my legs a little in advance of where i was going to hit...so instead of straight down i had it cocked towards the direction I was going so when it hit it slowed me down and made my craft straight. I got my save working and didnt have enough fuel to get back home. I can get off the moon and even get into orbit in kerbal but just not enough!

If you want to save your Kerbal's, get the KAS addon. It allows you to refuel craft, even stock ones by bring along the gear (connector ports) that you have your kerbal attach to the lander's fuel tank, then run a hose from the refuel supply and start a transfer. I actually did the same thing but by combining KAS with Kethane addon so I mined the fuel directly from the Mun, converted it to the right type and then transfered it to TWO of my empty landers (with 4 kerbals in each). So now I have a mini moon base and fuel stop.

Might have to get into the tech tree a bit more to get the required parts, but eventually you can bring that craft home rather then just send a rescue pod to get the Kerbal.

[Jeb The Astronaut]

thats a great idea jedensuscg.....i havent even looked at the add ons...and or mods....at least yet!

[jedensuscg]

thats a great idea jedensuscg.....i havent even looked at the add ons...and or mods....at least yet!

Addons are fun, but can be addicting, and a hassle. Mainly during large updates of the base game, some addons can break until an update from their authors. And of course too many addons can cause issues. The smaller addons are not bad to stack, but parts packs are generally a one shot deal unless you mix and match. I like the extra lights from the B9 parts pack, but don't need the plane parts, so I just use those with the KW rocketry parts, but delete the fairings from that as I prefer procedural fairings...see what I mean, it can be a hassle and at times I wish the base game would incorporate parts from the more popular addons so I could run bare bones.