Sat contracts around other planets

[Shpaget]

... or in this particular case, Ike.

I'm in early career - two comsat constellations around Kerbin (the dishes on the first set were not adequate, so I launched a new one, plus a high polar one) and three more sats around Minmus, not in constelation, and I have been offered a contract to place a sat around Ike. However, the planets are not aligned for Hohmann transfer. It seems silly to just timewarp for several months. My space program can suffer the disappearance of its director for a couple of days or weeks during a Mun or Minmus transfer, but this seems irresponsible XD.

How do you guys go ahead with this kind of contracts? The money is not bad, but there is also plenty to earn in LKO, so that's not a motive. I do like the idea of expanding my comsat network, though. So do I launch now with more boosters and just gun for Duna on a less than optimal trajectory? Or do I accept the contract and wait for the launch window?

I'm at crossroads. I'm playing vanilla (possibly just until the stable KER is released), but I'm seriously considering KAC, something I've never used before. I don't know why. Ahh... help!

[KSK]

I'm in a similar position with my 1.2 game - I'm about 90 days in, have got a couple of Duna contracts* but a decent transfer window won't open for a good while yet. I plan to wait for the transfer window. In the meantime, I'll set up crew rotations on my stations orbiting Kerbin, the Mun and Minmus and timewarp in smaller chunks between crew swap missions. That way it doesn't feel quite so much like I'm going AWOL for months at at a time.

The jump from flights taking several days to flights taking several months has always been a problem for me with KSP.

 

* Including one which I can't wait to try. Put an outpost on Duna. It needs to be able to hold 9 kerbals. It needs to include a science lab. And it needs to be on wheels!

Current plan is to do this SpaceX style with a properly sized ship capable of getting from LKO to the surface of Duna and back, probably refueling in-situ. Giant mobile base will be launched separately. This could even turn into a staged Elcano challenge - land a crew near the base, drive them around Duna until the transfer window back to Kerbin opens, bunny-hop the ship over to the lab, collect the crew and head home. The next crew fly in, take the base a bit further, rinse and repeat.

 

[Aethon]

It's unfortunate the contract system doesn't take into account transfer windows.

I hate to timewarp more than a few hours.  I want to have the tech to send a wave of ships to Moho when the first window arrives on Earth day 21, hour 17.  I have a polar package (Resource scanners and 2 ScanSats)  and a equatorial group (ISRU rover, fuel ferry, and space station), so I usually take the contracts that can be completed the fastest.  

The best way to get around running one mission at a time, watching the warp to get it where it's gong, is to use Kerbal Alarm Clock.  It allows you to run many missions at once and reminds you when you need to pay attention to each one.

 

 

You can take the Duna contract.  By the time it comes up, you will probably have mission control fully upgraded, giving you room for all the contracts you want, however when the Duna window finally opens, you'll have the tech tree fully unlocked and all structures upgraded, so you wont need the science/cash anyway.

 

 

[Alshain]

You don't have to wait for them to align, just add more fuel and go anyway.  Satellites are small (low mass), so they don't need a lot to get there in any case.  I wait for transfer windows when sending large payloads and manned missions, not satellites.

[RX2000]

You dont have to do the contracts immediately. Just do other stuff until the transfer window opens.......

[GluttonyReaper]

Yeah, it's a bit of pain in stock - the only real form of balance for it is the suuuuper long deadlines on contacts (in 5 years, you're pretty much guaranteed to have a Duna window at some point, right?). Mod-wise, I've enjoyed playing with Kerbal Construction Time, if only because it helps fill those waiting times. But even so, it's still an awkward fix - you still get the occasional Eve contract that clogs up Mission Control for a year or two.

[Wjolcz]

Well, that's just how it is with stock contracts system. I'd recommend playing with Strategia (once it's updated) because it gives you the control over what kind of programs are generated.

The stock system is kind of dumb when it comes to guessing what you want to do next and doesn't take transfer windows into account. It asks you to go places simply because you went interplanetary by accident (happened to me today, now I'm seeing Duna contracts all over the Mission Control, even though I just landed on the Mun).

[Shpaget]

Yeah, I'm in no particular hurry to fulfill that contract, it's valid for 25 years, so I should be able to find a window, but I still need to keep an eye on the planetary alignments. KAC should be the answer. Or I may just brute force it.

I still haven't even landed on the Mun, or even Minmus (which is usually my first stop). Like I said, I'm very early in career and visiting other planetary systems can wait, but if'm I'm going to stick to this save file, I might as well start the multimission approach with the alarm clock.

[Wjolcz]

20 minutes ago, Shpaget said:

Yeah, I'm in no particular hurry to fulfill that contract, it's valid for 25 years, so I should be able to find a window, but I still need to keep an eye on the planetary alignments. KAC should be the answer. Or I may just brute force it.

I still haven't even landed on the Mun, or even Minmus (which is usually my first stop). Like I said, I'm very early in career and visiting other planetary systems can wait, but if'm I'm going to stick to this save file, I might as well start the multimission approach with the alarm clock.

Yeah, the spaceship armada is the best option IMO. That's what I usually do in my playthroughs. You can also try and use slingshot manouvers to visit multiple bodies with one probe.

I actually think I will do that. Might be interesting.

[RidingTheFlow]

On 23/10/2016 at 5:21 PM, Shpaget said:

It seems silly to just timewarp for several months. My space program can suffer the disappearance of its director for a couple of days or weeks during a Mun or Minmus transfer, but this seems irresponsible XD.

How do you guys go ahead with this kind of contracts?

Huh? "seems irresponsible"? This sounds like arbitrary restriction you've imposed on yourself.

I just timewarp for months, years, whatever. It has no game play implications whatsoever (except contract time limit, but these are generally very generous for several transfer waits). These contracts are very good source of income (and generally provide ability to do ore survey afterwards if you leave enough of spare dV).

 

Edited October 24, 2016 by RidingTheFlow