Need help with Mun landing

[Worst at Video Games NA]

I have no problem at all getting to Mun. But I can't seem to actually land on it.

Every time I drop below 10 m/s or so during a controlled descent, my ship immediately starts going back up instead of continuing to slow down, resulting in me either coming in too fast and exploding, or wasting a ton of fuel bouncing up and down a few thousand meters up forever. When I watch tutorial videos, nobody ever seems to have this problem-- their controlled descents always look pretty seamless. What am I doing wrong here? Is this a common rookie issue? How can I correct it?

Thanks in advance for any responses.

Edited June 2, 2014 by Worst at Video Games NA

[Vanamonde]

It's likely that the engine you have on your lander is too large, so that a small change in throttle settings is making a big change in speed. Either re-design the lander with a smaller engine, or you can right-click on an engine in flight and set the slider to some fraction of normal thrust.

[Worst at Video Games NA]

Hey,

Thanks for the speedy reply.

I'm using the small 50-thrust thruster, which is the smallest I have access to. I'll try working the slider and see if it gives me the finesse required.

[SpenSpaceCorp]

As Vanamonde said, the engine most likely has too much thrust. What is the name of the engine you are using? Generally for a small/medium lander, you need a smaller one like the short LV-909.

[TheDarkStar]

If you have one engine, you can always right click on it and modify the max thrust.

[Harvzey]

Also, you might want to check your lateral velocity. The navball velocity will include lateral movement too.

[Jimbimbibble]

Make sure the navball is set to surface mode and point your ship retrograde. From your description, it sounds like you're killing your vertical speed but not your horizontal speed. The engine you're using should be fine though.

[Duxwing]

Set your navball to surface, point retrograde, tap your throttle, and keep your speed below five meters per second.

-Duxwing

[Worst at Video Games NA]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the tips. When eliminating horizontal speed, do I just keep my ship pointed retrograde? Right now I'm just pointing it directly up towards the 360 during descent, but you guys are right, there's some very noticeable horizontal movement. Should I cock it more diagonal to try to eliminate some of that instead of going straight up and down?

[Harvzey]

Yep, just point yourself to the retrograde marker, and start burning away a little, and it should eliminate both your horizontal and vertical speed

[Pecan]

Pointing at retrograde to land is not the most efficient or controllable way to do it but it's the easiest. Initially you'll be pointing at the horizon, reducing horizontal speed. As that falls so will the ship, and you'll pitch-up more and more towards the zenith with proportionally more of the thrust slowing the descent. Ideally you'll be pointing straight up shortly before landing. The navball is by far the most useful instrument in stock KSP, the altimeter the least. It is slightly easier to land from the internal (IVA) cockpit view, which in most cases let you use the 'radar' altimeter' - your true height above the surface.

[Procyon]

the way i eliminate lateral velocity is to place my marker below the retro marker and push it up to top dead center. then its just controlling decent speed (with minor adjustments to lateral) till landing.

[Worst at Video Games NA]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the help! Eliminating my horizontal velocity did the trick and my Kerbals had their very first Mun landing (though they were unable to walk on the Mun as I was precariously balanced on the side of a very large hill and didn't want to accidentally tip my vessel over). Thanks for the help! How do I re-tag this as answered?

[Claw]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the help! Eliminating my horizontal velocity did the trick and my Kerbals had their very first Mun landing (though they were unable to walk on the Mun as I was precariously balanced on the side of a very large hill and didn't want to accidentally tip my vessel over). Thanks for the help! How do I re-tag this as answered?

Congratulations on your first Mun landing!

To mark this as answered, edit the original post and click "Go Advanced." Then you can select "Answered" from the drop down and save.

[Evil Ed]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the help! Eliminating my horizontal velocity did the trick and my Kerbals had their very first Mun landing (though they were unable to walk on the Mun as I was precariously balanced on the side of a very large hill and didn't want to accidentally tip my vessel over). Thanks for the help! How do I re-tag this as answered?

In those situations, hit F5 to quick save, then do the risky move. If it fails, just hit F9 to load the quick save.