Today was a really lucky KSP day for me...

[Clockwork13]

Today I made my first landings on Minmus, then Mun. I got an encounter and passby for the first time with Duna and Laythe, and right now I am heading to Eeloo for the first time, too. All using a single ship I built in career mode... I returned from every mission except Laythe and Eeloo...

Edited February 23, 2014 by Clockwork13

[Clockwork13]

Now I'm not sure where to go. Any ideas? And I don't know what else to research because I just unlocked the mainsail and that was my only goal for right now...

[Mr.Rocket]

It seems you're learning pretty fast. Nice job!

Have you tried going to any of the inner planets yet, Eve or Moho? Or Eve's moon Gilly and Duna's moon, ike?

Or you could go for Dres?

[Tex]

I'm a bit jealous now; you've gone more places than I have, even...

Then again, I have a big rocket deficiency, I can't ever get my rockets to do what I want them to. Great work!

[Clockwork13]

Post here if I should upload my rocket design that I used...

[Aragosnat]

Ah. Good times those where. You could post the look of the ship. But, what you spend yer points on next is yer call. Build a craft that can leave Eve. =^.^=

[Clockwork13]

Ah. Good times those where. You could post the look of the ship. But, what you spend yer points on next is yer call. Build a craft that can leave Eve. =^.^=

Pfft I don't even know how I am supposed to get onto Eve and come back. I might send a probe or suicide crew to Eve's surface to transmit data with no plans to return though. I can make a mini Eve base... I still have the planets Eve, Moho and Dres to get to, and I still have yet to go to Gilly, and every single one of Jool's except Laythe because I have encountered Laythe once. On another note, I appreciate the good community, and the fact that the moderators don't yell at you for posting threads that they don't really care about... (Believe me I've had that happen before...)

[thereaverofdarkness]

Wow, look at all those blank(ish) ribbons! Here's some generic challenges to try for each world--many not so much difficult as fun:

Moho: explore a mohole and descend into it with a hovercraft. Take note of the weird gravity effects. Also relevant challenge is get a Moho intercept and land there. If you bring a lot of dV, you can play around a bit after you arrive.

Eve: land a craft on Eve that can take off again and reach orbit. Take note of the higher gravity there (1.8x) and also realize that you'll want a bit lower than 2x TWR while you're going through the thick parts of the atmosphere. Maybe 1.5 to 1.75 (that's 2.7-3.15 Kerbin TWR). Aerospike engines are a good choice as they wont lose efficiency in the thick atmosphere, and landing on high elevation points will make a huge difference but I nearly succeeded in this challenge from a beach and with mainsails for half the trip (by burn duration). I didn't run out of dV, but failed in 1.) not being able to land (I instead spun up the engines and jettisoned the parachutes a few meters from the ground) and 2.) phantom forces destroyed it for no apparent reason as it was almost out of the atmosphere. But I digress... challenge ribbon if you succeed

Minmus: Extreme EVA. It's actually not that difficult. The fuel margin is small but entirely tolerable. The most important thing is trajectory. On liftoff, you want to head almost horizontal and get just enough lift to clear the hills. On landing, you want to try to come in horizontal also, and be slowing your motion across terrain more than your motion downward--try to maintain the same trajectory as you slow down. You want to slow down evenly until yoou reach a perfect stop just above the surface. If you're slowing too fast, wait a bit till you get closer.

Mün: not so much a challenge but fun (I think) - build a fueling and research station in low orbit around the Mün. You'll want at least half an orange tank of fuel, a mobile processing lab, and either medium or small docking ports (or both). Then build a small research lander and you can take it down to the surface and back up to the station pretty easily. Plus, I think landing is fun once you get the hang of it. Tricks I've used to make landing easier: 1.) angle yourself almost horizontal 2.) suicide burn to save fuel 3.) use RCS translation to stabilize during final descent 4.) put lights on the lander for night landings. If you land in a spot near multiple biomes, you can grab data from all of them. Screw using a rover, just EVA there. Also you can fly the lander over pretty easy if you're good at landings.

Duna: land with both parachutes and engines. Make your chutes open early, they take a while to take effect. Come in as steep as possible. Try to land at a low elevation to make it easier, or at a high elevation for a bigger challenge. If you do it right, you should need a very short burn right before landing, saving a ton of fuel with those parachutes. Then when you're done, take off again and note how easy it is to take off, since the air doesn't hold you back much and you can do it with a high TWR. If you do it right, you use the thin atmosphere for cheap descent AND cheap ascent. You can't do that on any other world (relative to its size I mean).

Ike: one-way extreme EVA. The fuel margin is small, but it's possible for a kerbal to EVA from the surface into a very low orbit, or from a very low orbit to land on the surface. For additional challenge, make a super low orbiting station and a ground base, then EVA back and forth between the two. When Ike gets biomes, you could drop cheap landers on each biome, consisting of just a Mk 1 lander can and barely enough dV to land, then have a kerbal EVA from one to another, collecting science along the way and using the capsules to refuel (as well as consolidate reports), and finally have that kerbal EVA off to orbit to the waiting station.

Jool: aerobrake. If you come in shallow enough, you can end up streaking for a long time. It's pretty and fun. Also, fly a plane down inside, do some loop-de-loops or other controlled maneuvers inside that atmosphere, then activate rocket engines and come out to an orbit. This will earn you wings on your Jool ribbon.

Laythe: bring an air-breathing jet and fly around. Also grants wings. Extra challenge: use the same plane for wings on Layth as well as Jool - do a big long streaking aerobrake at Jool, descend into the atmosphere and fly around, then pop out and go to Laythe, and land there under powered flight. Alternatively, you can just drop a probe in with a parachute and score lots of science.

Tylo: land. Or land and take off again. That second one earns the Tylo challenge wreathe. Easiest way to land is come in super steep with a super high TWR.

Bop and Pol: land with an ion-powered probe. It's tricky because of the reduced light from the sun at that distance. Pol is easier. For practice, try landing an ion probe on Minmus first.

[Kasuha]

I had lots of fun with my "mission" to put a flag on each pole (north/south) in the system.