Bay 12 Games Forum

Alright, maneuver nodes are really annoying. I've seen Scott Manley use a maneuver node editor--what's that from and how do I get it?
Seriously, this is a pain. It takes way too long to find a path that takes me to Minmus. I could have easily gotten an encounter to the frakking Mun, though. And to add insult to injury, Smart A.S.S. isn't working for some reason.
I eventually set up a node that brings me within 4,000 kilometers, and check the wiki for Minmus's SoI. A bit over 2,000 kilometers. Better keep fiddling. I do so, and get a frikkin' encounter at last.


_{Finally. Finally. FINA-FRIGGIN-LY!}

We get into a nice, circularish orbit.


_Wow.

Next, let's activate some experiments. 140 Science.
I bring the orbit down with a couple more burns, 93a73p.


_{We're finally close enough for some decent pictures.}

Anyways, I need to lower it some more. A lot more--to 30 kilometers. I lower it to closer to eight, then wait.


_{Minmus, Sun, Kerbin, Mun. All visible. Now, that is a good picture.}

I get another 140 Science from experiments near Minmus, then prepare for a suborbital transfer.
Now, for the tricky part...landing. First, I should quicksave. Next, I should remember: WWSMD?
First, descend. Next, kill horizontal velocity. Finally, wait, and reduce surface speed at the last second to avoid crashing.
I overshoot it the first time, and end up spinning (largely since S.A.S.S. is working again). This happens more than once (I want to avoid loading the quicksave). As I approach the ground, the importance of killing horizontal velocity begins to truly dawn on me, because I hadn't quite. I'm still moving sideways at about 9 m/s. I end up going sideways to execute a combination burn. I bring it down and turn vertical.
Finally, we land. It's a crappy landing, I would have crashed if I hadn't overbuilt it seriously, and any good KSP player would probably be ashamed of it...but it's my landing, so I'm proud of it.


_{Duna's high in the sky, but Kerbin's below the horizon. So have a distance shot instead.}

We get hundreds more science from here on the lowlands of Minmus, between the other two science pods, an EVA report, and a surface sample. Minmus is not made of pudding; the noises Mission Control makes at this discover annoy Bob greatly.


<sub>1. I managed to land Bob without falling over!
2. "Pudding. PUDDING. How could Minmus have been formed out of pudding? And more importantly, how is pudding dense enough to account for the observed effects of Minmus's gravity on the--"
"Bob, you're a nerd."
"We're rocket scientists. And other kinds, in my case. If we aren't nerds, something's wrong."

Ah, how I wax eloquent.</sub>

An attempted rocket pack flight to retrieve the goo and materials from the lander (which will be left behind) fails.


_{"...Please tell me the video cameras didn't catch that."}

Part of the problem is that I keep screwing up w and s. Eventually, I cut the knot.


_{It was kinda nerve-wracking for a second there, when I thought it was going to fall on its side.}

Of course, this isn't enough.
And I still suck with the EVA pack. My fails would be great if this was a video, but they are annoying since it isn't.


_{Is it too late to blame it on Bob's coordination?}

The worst part? It should be possible to grab the stuff from the ground!


_{Geez, who designed this crap?
...Oh, right.}

Unfortunately, we encounter another...difficulty.


<sub>Dammit Bob, you stood up too hard!

...Well...at least we should be able to get the science easier.
Except that I already grabbed the stuff closest to the ground.</sub>

I think it knocked the solar panels off, but nothing else. Once I return to the rocket, I determine two things:
1. This was right.
2. I cannot right the rocket.

Only one thing to do...determine which experiments I need to collect, then roll the rocket (which I can do) to get those closer to the ground. I prepare a plan.


_{Diagram courtesy of Wile E. Kerman.}

Part way through step 1, I find a better way to complete step 3.


_{It might be safer to use the ladder, but eh.}

Removing the other mystery goo requires a bit of hovering, but I manage to get all of the science.


Except the experiments I just grabbed. For no damn reason.

Hm...
Turns out, the Mechanical Jebediah system works as an autopilot (ie, probe body) as well as providing the other functions! So, hypothetically, we could try having Bob hang onto the side of the rocket the whole way home, at the slight cost of not being able to frikking time accelerate. Still...I'll leave it as an option.

More importantly, Bob has detected some odd signals from elsewhere on the Minmal surface. Should he investigate?

P.S:

_{I accidentally decoupled the rocket. Eh, we needed to do that eventually.}

Edit: P.P.S:
I suppose I could also hack the save file to give me the science I should have had from those experiments, but that isn't ideal.