About those "Build a new orbital station" contracts

[Sonny_Jim]

Quote

 

Me:  Hey Gene, what have you got for me today?

Gene: Okay, I see you are still early on in your career, with only 21% reputation and haven't even explored Minmus yet, but I thought you might want to build a station around the Mun for me.  It's a 2 star contract so you shouldn't find it that difficult.

Me: No worries, what specs do you need?

*Flips open notebook and gets pen at the ready*

Gene: Okay, so we need accommodation for 7 Kerbals

Me: Sure, that shouldn't be a problem.  I got the Hitchhiker container unlocked.

Gene: We'll also need 2 pilots on board

Me: 2 Pilots, check.

Gene: And of course, it'll need the usual docking port, electricity and an antenna so the guys can watch the big game

Me: That won't be a problem, I'll get right on it.

Gene: There's just one more thing though.  Could you put 4,000 units of fuel on board?

*drops notebook*

Me: Errr.

Gene: I mean, it's not that much, right?

Me: Errr.

Gene: It's only one lousy orange tank, right?

Me: Actually, it's more than that.  And I don't even have the orange tank unlocked right now.  I'm not sure what you are asking is feasible

Gene: Of course it's feasible!  You can just mine it from Minmus or something.

Me: Err, I don't have the mining equipment unlocked yet

Gene: Well then, just use some 3.75m parts and fly it up there

Me: Look, I don't even have the skipper engine unlocked, let alone the larger parts.  How about you offer me fuel requirements that are more inline with the rest of the contract request?

Gene: Look, if you aren't going to take this seriously, I'll go talk to Elon Kerbal, I hear he is a forward thinker.

 

 

Does anyone else find the fuel requirements for some of the station contracts a little, well, excessive?

[Nich]

ROFL, I do find that fuel contracts rarely pay for them self even when you do have the larger parts unlocked.  And in your case 4000 units of fuel around the Mun doesnt help much (after completion) as you could strip mine all the science with 1000 units of fuel and a decent lander.

Imagine the task if you had tier 1 science and 30 parts

[Martian Emigrant]

I refuse contracts all the time.

Did I say all the time?

Yup, I did. Meant it.

[magnemoe]

The station contracts pop up an bit early at least with the fuel requirements. 
My upcoming miner will fulfill it. 

[Norcalplanner]

Contract Configurator plus the Stations and Bases contract pack will result in more logical station contracts.

[Wjolcz]

Yup. Welcome to career mode. Where the tech progression is inane and contracts random. Or dumb. Or random and dumb.

I really wish there was some sort of in-game mission designer just so I don't have to deal with all the contracts offered (more like generated though) now.

Edited September 30, 2016 by Veeltch

[Curveball Anders]

Just now, Veeltch said:

Yup. Welcome to career mode. Where the tech progression is inane and contracts random. Or dumb. Or random and dumb.

Which is scary RL, "they want us to do what? for cheap political points? Oh badger, let do it and hope we'll get better ones after next election."

Every time I'm faced with stupid contracts in KSP I blame my imaginary politicians

[monstah]

4 minutes ago, Curveball Anders said:

Which is scary RL, "they want us to do what? for cheap political points? Oh badger, let do it and hope we'll get better ones after next election."

Every time I'm faced with stupid contracts in KSP I blame my imaginary politicians

YOU JUST MADE THE GAME MAKE SENSE. Thank you.

[jhousen]

here's the craziest contract I've ever heard of: we haven't even made orbit, let's land on the moon...yup, blame the politicians....

[Sharpy]

Stations with high fuel requirements are deferred for after unlocking ISRU. Before that, they are just a harmless fluff.

 

Quote

"Mister Kerman..."

"Jebediah, or just Jeb if you please."

"Alright, Jebediah. Have you reviewed the offer?"

"Yes, mister Kerman."

"Oh, just Dynan. It's only fair."

"Alright, Dynan. You surely realize we're getting a lot of nutcases here. People who want to go into low Sun orbit, scientists who wish atmospheric surveys of multiple spots on Eve, even one idiot who wanted to have a flag planted on Jool..."

Dynan's face tensed.

"...and when I strapped the first capsule on top of solid rocket booster a week after building a rudimentary launchpad by my junkyard workshop, they called me a nutcase too. Today nobody calls me nutcase. They call me a visionary."

"Of course. That's why I submitted this contact to you."

"I can tell a visionary apart from a nutcase, Dynan. But first I need some details explained. Let us recount..." Jeb pulled the contract from his briefcase and put it on the desk.

"...just tell me, what do you need this all for?"

"At Probodyne, we have developed a new kind of rover for the Mun. Safe, reliable, fast, fun to drive. Uses only Liquid Fuel, no need for oxidizer. We'd love to see it used in some picturesque places. It gathers some good scientific data too. Tourists love it, scientists love it. But its fuel consumption is... rather high. We need a base for maintaining a set of these rovers. The scientific data would be best processed on-site. And there should be rooms for staff and the tourists."

Jebediah frowned. "On wheels?"

"Uh... after the tourists get bored with one area and the scientists have looked under every rock, the base should be able to relocate to a different area."

"There is one more issue..."

"Yes?"

"A docking port. I hope you realize normal docking on the surface is nearly impossible?"

"Uh. I do. It's a requirement by the Commission of Space Tourism."

[sauce]

 

Anyway - lotsa nutcases whom you need to be able to tell apart from visionaries.

I'm sure Elon Musk gets offers for at least three stupid contracts per week.

[Tyko]

2 hours ago, jhousen said:

here's the craziest contract I've ever heard of: we haven't even made orbit, let's land on the moon...yup, blame the politicians....

Great reference...what was that president/s name...JFK? John F Kerman???

[I_Killed_Jeb]

11 hours ago, Nich said:

ROFL, I do find that fuel contracts rarely pay for them self even when you do have the larger parts unlocked.  And in your case 4000 units of fuel around the Mun doesnt help much (after completion) as you could strip mine all the science with 1000 units of fuel and a decent lander.

Imagine the task if you had tier 1 science and 30 parts

the only worthwhile reason to do something like this is if you were putting up an orbital fuel station anyway, or enroute to interplanetary and taking a quick detour along the way

[magnemoe]

On 30.9.2016 at 4:59 PM, Curveball Anders said:

Which is scary RL, "they want us to do what? for cheap political points? Oh badger, let do it and hope we'll get better ones after next election."

Every time I'm faced with stupid contracts in KSP I blame my imaginary politicians

The other space center launched an station and they want an better one. 
 

[Curveball Anders]

On 2016-09-30 at 9:10 PM, jhousen said:

here's the craziest contract I've ever heard of: we haven't even made orbit, let's land on the moon...yup, blame the politicians....

The original speech from JFK(erman) is mandatory in any education in project management.

It was slightly disturbing to me as a CE nerd when I found out that it was used to teach the pol science nerds ...

[eddiew]

On 30/09/2016 at 2:31 PM, Martian Emigrant said:

I refuse contracts all the time.

Did I say all the time?

Yup, I did. Meant it.

I turn off the penalty. And get all my funds from world firsts

[Artheus]

On 30.9.2016 at 10:51 PM, Sharpy said:

"A docking port. I hope you realize normal docking on the surface is nearly impossible?"

I actually used surface docking several times, on an ike and a minmus base, to be exact. No problems at all, you just need the right height.

[Sonny_Jim]

It's not impossible, but yeah, docking on the surface isn't particularly easy and requires a bit of planning.  Would be nice if there was some way of making it easier, a hitching system that allows for a bit more leeway maybe?

Getting back to the thread, personally I think fuel requirements that are about half what they are currently would probably be a better idea.

[something]

Even worse,  in year 6 of career there is a timeframe of 1 year plus without transfers but to Moho. Yet I am told to ship people to Duna, test stuff in Eve orbit, explore Bop but I don't get any serious contracts for Moho. Well,  launched a rover to Moho without contract...

[Draco T stand-up guy]

On 1/10/2016 at 2:31 AM, Martian Emigrant said:

I refuse contracts all the time.

Did I say all the time?

Yup, I did. Meant it.

Play hard mode where refusing contracts really hurts your rep.

 

Of course, you don't have to accept them

[Dire_Squid]

Never got a Station Contract that required fuel... but I DID, pre 1.1.3, get a contract asking for me to take a Station and orbit around Eve... while being connected to a Type C Asteroid!

I only took it for the funding... I never did it since, at the time, I couldn't even do Rendezvous, let alone asteroid catching!

10 hours ago, something said:

Even worse,  in year 6 of career there is a timeframe of 1 year plus without transfers but to Moho. Yet I am told to ship people to Duna, test stuff in Eve orbit, explore Bop but I don't get any serious contracts for Moho. Well,  launched a rover to Moho without contract...

I once had a close Sun orbit contract... REALLY close. Never did it.

[Kerano]

Fuel requirements can be pretty high, yeah. But these contracts tend to pay pretty well, so I don't mind too much. I picked up a 6000 liquid fuel contract for a Minmus station early on in my career - I just waited until I'd unlocked the ISRU to finish it. Still gave me a nice cash influx for accepting the contract.

Fuel transfer via mining/docking just takes time. The trickier contracts to design for, I find, are the 20+ crew capacity ones - especially when they have to be on motorized wheels on the surface. Still a fun challenge though.

Edited October 2, 2016 by Kerano

[Norcalplanner]

Did someone say "surface docking"? 

[Sonny_Jim]

8 hours ago, Kerano said:

 

Fuel requirements can be pretty high, yeah. But these contracts tend to pay pretty well, so I don't mind too much.

 

The problem I have isn't the pay, like you say it's normally 2x everything else offered.  The problem is that I used to enjoy the station contracts, now it seems that 90% of the ones I get offered are literally impossible for me to complete based on the tech tree I have at the moment.

[problemecium]

I all but categorically refuse station contracts unless they restrict themselves to only requiring a small minimum crew and the accessories. In fact I'm likely to refuse them if they dare to ask for more than six Kerbals.

[Magzimum]

I agree that some contracts are completely unreasonable, but I don't think it's too much to ask to carry 3 or 4 barrels (i.e. Rockomax X200-32) of fuel to the Mun. What would be unreasonable is if you carry it there for no reason. It's up to you to find a reason.

If you are planning on a Mun landing anyway, or perhaps if you have one of those "visit 4 locations on the Munar surface for temperature readings" contracts, you could use (a part of) your station as a lander. Then the contract is just a bonus, because you need all that fuel in Munar orbit anyway. Then you only need to bring along a few extra Kerbals and an antenna/docking port for a lot of extra cash. If you don't have those contracts yet, you could just warp ahead a few days, and check if the right contract has come up yet.

Recently I joined in a conversation about contracts where you gotta bring ore to somewhere (often a place where you really don't need any ore). Those contracts are stupid and could be improved to make more sense... but the "bring a bunch of Kerbals and some fuel to location X" are not a problem for me.

If you think that the fuel is excessive, then you just plan your missions too small.