Looking for a little guidance.

[MHI]

I should first start off telling you that my enjoyment from playing KSP is the "engineering" side of it. The building, testing, and that process.

I use MechJeb but I find I'm still not very good navigating.

Lets say I've just left Kerbin Escape... What would be a good first mission, planet/moon to visit & return, and what would I input into MechJeb to make the route happen?

I'm sorry my lingo isn't where it needs to be. Very new.

[Claw]

You'll get lots of opinions on MechJeb. I will just say use it if it helps you, don't use it if it causes you problems. In any case, do what's fun!

If you are looking for a first place to visit, I recommend going to Minmus or the Mun. They are both in Kerbin's system so they don't take long to get to and back. Minmus has the advantage of being a lot more forgiving (needs less fuel and thrust), but the Mun doesn't require a plane change from Kerbin.

There are a lot of tutorial videos out there. You can youtube trips to Minmus or Mun and you'll find many. I'm sure someone will also come along and post their videos.

MechJeb uses a series of maneuvers to get to a destination. You'll need to make Mun or Minmus a target by clicking on it, and selecting "set as target" (that's not a MJ thing by the way). Then cycle through MJ's maneuver planner to find things like "match planes with target" and "homann transfer." I really do recommend that if you don't know what any of that is, watch a video first. It will make a lot more sense when you try to do it in game.

Good luck!

-Claw

[Taki117]

The information might be a tad outdated, but it's still viable. Enjoy.

Unless you are talking about Escaping Kerbins SoI in which case you should probably try to get to Duna.

Edited November 6, 2014 by Taki117

[cantab]

If you want to go to another planet, the most fuel-efficient way is to decide where you're going, check when there's a transfer window, and make one transfer burn in Low Kerbin Orbit to get on course to said planet.

As for target suggestions, the four obvious places are Eve, Gilly, Duna, and Ike. Some pros and cons of each:

Eve:

+ Easy to reach.

+ Easy to land on with parachutes.

- Has oceans, you might not want to land in them.

- High gravity, check your ladders and don't send a flimsy ship.

- Relatively had to return to Kerbin from orbit.

- Very hard to return from the surface, so plan for a one-way landing.

Gilly:

+ Super low gravity makes landing a doddle.

- Tricky to get to, it's in an inclined and eccentric orbit round Eve and has a tiny SOI.

- Such low gravity that walking can be a problem, so you need to be good with the jetpack.

- Can be a test of patience, orbit and descent speeds are slow.

Duna:

+ Easy to reach.

+ Easy to return to Kerbin from orbit.

+ Practical to return from the surface.

- Trickier to land on than Eve, you need either lots of chutes or engine assistance.

- Jetpacking is marginally possible. Checking your ladders will make life easy.

Ike:

+ Fairly easy to reach. (Unwanted Ike encounters are common!)

+ Landing and takeoff are much like the Mun.

- Not quite so simple to reach as Duna itself.

Overall, I rate Ike as the best pick for a first interplanetary return mission, at least for a player with a few Mun landings under their belt. For a one-way trip Eve is a great target.