Best starter place to go in the Kerbol System?

[Branjoman]

So I'm thinking of going interplanetary with my rockets. The only places I've ever gone is the Mun and Minmus, and i have only just gotten used to going to them!

What would be the best place to go as a beginner? Is Duna the way to go? Or would Jool be better?

Also on a less related note - any pointers for a viable rocket altogether? I'm assuming NERVAs are the way to go...right?

Edited October 17, 2014 by Branjoman

[Vanamonde]

Duna is relatively easy to reach, and the atmosphere assists your landing, though chutes alone will probably not be enough to being the ship down without damage. So a combo chute+thrust landing gets it done.

Eve is even easier to land on because chutes are more than enough, but getting back from Eve is one of the hardest things to do in the game. So Eve is actually easier, if you don't care about coming back.

[Frannington]

I'd say Duna. That's where I went after I did Mun and Minmus.

If you get your launch window right it shouldn't need too much Dv and you're already in the right plane.

[Beachernaut]

Agreed, Duna is the best next step IMO. All of my interplanetary ships are powered by Nerva's with the exception of small probes, they are ion powered.

Also, not sure how experienced you are with departure windows, phase angles, etc. KAC (Kerbal Alarm Clock) and the phase angle calculator (http://ksp.olex.biz/) are invaluable to me. Sure there are some that say that's cheating, but I'm playing to have fun, and there's still plenty of challenge.

[Pecan]

100-odd pages of logically-structured missions, with example designs provided and discussed. See link in signature (yes, Ike and Duna are best for first interplanetary).

Gilly has a lower deltaV requirement if you're landing rather than just orbiting, but it can be hard to get an encounter and there isn't a transfer window for ages.

[severedsolo]

Gilly has a lower deltaV requirement if you're landing rather than just orbiting, but it can be hard to get an encounter and there isn't a transfer window for ages.

It's basically impossible to crash on Gilly too, you just bounce right off, and can try again. Gilly is quite easy if you can get to Minmus you can get Gilly, and Eve is good for aerobraking.

One tip if you decide to go for it (you probably already know this) - shallow aerobrake at eve and circularise high. Plane changes cost less at high altitude, and the transfer will cost you less too. (eve's massive gravity well means escaping low orbit is expensive)

[Pecan]

It's basically impossible to crash on Gilly too, you just bounce right off, and can try again...

Lol, right - the biggest problem on Gilly is not landing but staying down ^^.

[capi3101]

I'd say Duna. If you want an intermediate step, go for Ike - it's pretty much like landing on Mun, except you have to go interplanetary to get there. Give your craft enough delta-V and you can hit both in one setting. If you're going for science, I'd suggest a single lander with a lab-equipped mothership (for experiment storage).

Eve is easier to reach than Duna. Landing there's easy too. Getting back up is, since it was created it back in 0.17, still probably the game's ultimate challenge. Gilly's a tough nut to intercept; think of it as Minmus on crack. It's SOI is ridiculously small and its inclination is killer. If you can get there, though, it's one of the easiest landings in the game - you don't really land on it as much as you dock with it. You can inadvertently shoot a Kerbal out of its SOI with its backpack.

[eataTREE]

Seconded to everyone who says Duna. Ike is probably even easier, but doesn't look much different from Mun once you're there, and hey, it's cool to go to Mars, right? Besides: Dres is boring, Moho is too hard to reach, and Eve is the Kerbal Roach Motel of the solar system: easy to visit, nigh-impossible to leave.

Two tips: make sure your lander has both braking thrusters and parachutes... 'chutes alone are not enough in Duna's thin atmosphere. Duna has many wide plateaux at high altitudes. Landing on one of these makes your re-ascent take less delta-v.