Stock Career - gathering science and other questions

[GungaDin]

Step by step I've managed to gain the technology and knowhow to orbit a Kerbil at Mun and return him safely. I was about to buy a barometer when I realized that it might be useless in Munar orbit or even on the surface for that matter.

I would appreciate any tips on earning science at my level of technology. (I'm not ready to attempt any kind of Munar landing yet.) I was hoping that flying over the Mun would yield more science than it has. (My only science instrument is the Goo and it doesn't seem very impressed by being close to the Mun...)

Also I can't find any use for that fat sized liquid fuel tank. The engines I have don't generate enough thrust to keep it moving upward.

[Dave Kerbin]

A very good way to earn science while orbiting the Mun (or Minmus) is to get outside and take a direct look at the landscape - on your kerbal click EVA to have him get outside of the spacecraft, then right click him and choose EVA report. He'll file a report about whatever region of the Mun you are flying over, such as the Northwest Crater. These reports are valuable (24 points each IIRC) and you can collect a number of them in a single orbit, just go back inside your ship to store the report and come back out to take more observations when you pass over a new area.

Edit: Also the barometer won't do anything on the Mun, though it can take readings in Kerbin's atmosphere (not worth very much though).

[TheDarkStar]

A couple things:

1. Yeah, the Mun has no atmosphere, so a barometer doesn't do that much. It does work on Kerbin, though, and I think it leads to some of the better tech parts.

2. Go to Minmus and land there. It's much easier than the Mun.

3. Bring both the goo container and the 1m science part (that is the same shape as the short 1m fuel tank). Also, make sure to use the crew report feature and to use the EVA reports (you aren't limited to one per mission for EVA reports; they just have to be for different spots). Also, visit Kerbin's different biomes. Finally, make sure to unlock more science parts.

4. It's for upper stages that need lots fuel and for landers. It also has the same amount of fuel as the tall 1m tank; it's just shaped differently.

[Dave Kerbin]

And you didn't mention the Science Jr, did you take a path on the Tech tree that avoided Science Tech, maybe you went through Flight Control to get to Advanced Exploration (Barometer).

Until you reach very far in the tech tree (to the last two tiers which cost 300 and 550 a piece to unlock) your highest grossing experiments by far are going to be the Science Jr experiments, EVA Reports made by your Kerbal and Surface Samples collected by him. The Goo container, Crew Reports, Barometer and Thermometer will give you some science but most of your science is going to come from the 3 bolded sources. Very late in the tech tree you'll get the Seismic Accelerometer and Negative Gravioli Detector which return a lot of science as well as the Sensor Array Computing Nose Cone which is situational.

[thereaverofdarkness]

The fat tank can be fit with multiple engines underneath. Some structural components (docking ports, for instance) can be fit to the bottom in circular patterns, as opposed to how most parts only fit to the attachment point in the middle. Unfortunately, there aren't very many structural components that attach in this fashion and you may not have unlocked any yet. The ones I know of off the top of my head: docking ports, radial attachment points, and some of the girders.

[capi3101]

The Modular Girder Adapter (a Starting Tech part) can fit under the big tank in the manner thereaverofdarkness mentioned; it's useful if you plop one down in the center and then four radially as far out as you can manage; stick an LV-T40 under the central beam and then LV-T30s on the outboard beams -1060 kN of thrust with good steering authority. Go with six outboard and you've almost got the same thrust as a Mainsail (1490) with higher Isp - downside is greater weight (occurs to me there's an experiment there). Don't be afraid to turn on clipping (ALT-F12) to utilize this trick.

You definitely want to be using the Science Jr if you have access - pick up Science Tech of Tier 3 for 45 science; it's one of the crucial early techs, IMHO (for no other reason than the batts and the sci jr.)

If you haven't been doing EVA reports, here's something you can do with Starting Tech - a chute and a pod, 10-12 FL-T200 tanks and an LV-T30. Make your gravity turn headed north or south instead of east. You should have enough fuel to attain orbit and deorbit later. When you're in orbit, take EVA reports; in a polar orbit, you should be able to cover most of the entire planet of Kerbin while it rotates underneath you. The EVA reports are good early science earners. Of course, if you've unlocked Basic Rocketry, you should by all means stick a Stack Decoupler between the pod and the tanks, but you can return safely without it (just expect to lose the engine and about five or six of the fuel tanks when you land).

[Streetwind]

The first large engine you get is designed for vacuum use only, so it not surprising that it (or the medium engines) can't lift the larger tanks.

You can however strap solid rocket boosters to the outside (not the underside) of the large tank using radial decouplers to get it off the ground. Even better than solid fuel boosters are liquid fuel boosters, which are basically just a medium tank with a medium engine like the LV-T30 underneath. Since a LV-T30 has easily enough thrust to lift its own tank, it can help lift the underpowered center tank. And if you have 4-8 of these boosters all around it, that's a lot of thrust.

Your problem is basically solved by "moar boosters!!!"