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Whats Your Cash Cow in Career Games?


DocMoriarty

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I don't particularly need one. I just have a basic rule that I don't do a mission unless I can accomplish a contract with it. Since that's my rule, I have strategies in place that actually take over 65% of my funds income and convert it to science and reputation, which at this stage, I actually need more than funds. I like to build my rockets minimal and cheap, and so I can make a profit even off a contract with relatively lousy payout. I also always accept the "test at launchpad", "test while landed", "transmit science data from space around", "re-position satellite in a new orbit", etc. contracts. It's basically free money, and it helps clear the contract board for bigger, better contracts.

Edited by Musicrafter
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On December 20, 2016 at 1:14 PM, Slam_Jones said:

If I really need it?  Alt + F12.

Otherwise, station contracts usually.

Haha. Shhhh. We're all honorable  gamers and never, ever open that window. 

 

Early game: sattelites. Quick money, and the network will pay off later. And every world first I can get by hook or crook. 

Early-mid game: tourists (*groan*). Sucks, but pays off later. 

Mid game: mun and Minmus bases and stations.

 

 

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Generally I go with the 'increase available contracts to 30' and 'tweak vessel and flight plan to accomplish several missions' strategies.

There will usually be several training/rescue missions visiting mun, minmus, and popping out to Kerbol that also include two or more base/station contracts and excess space is fulled with tourists.(although I take a lot less tourists than I did before I started using USI-LS, due to habitation and recycling limits).

The vessels have ISRU and will often visit a new biome for each moon(assuming any have science remaining).

 

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I usually license a game within KSP that lets Kerbals assume the role of a manager of a space program. Gameception. Massive cash cow.

Seriously, I usually collect a few 'do this and that on <planet>' and then send some Kerbals there to do the job. Gets you several million funds. After my departure I usually leave some mining equipment so I can easily complete the 'mine x ore on <planet>' missions.

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On 21 December 2016 at 7:12 AM, Renegrade said:

I've always preferred the ground base contracts for Mun/Minmus.

Sooner or later a "5-kerbal base" comes up, and I land a super-cheap, probe-controlled, empty base on one of Kerbin's natural satellites, and rake in the cash.

I don't recall the exact figures, but it's like a 30k launch with a 250k-500k payout or something like that.

Well, those missions, plus rescues.  i'll be damned if I'm going to pay for a kerbonaut when they're just floating around in space for free :wink:

I normally deal with "ground base" contracts by taking a passenger spaceplane for a quick Minmus tour. No expense but fuel, and if you can't get at least half a dozen contracts done in the process you aren't really trying (drop a satellite along the way, make the passengers tourists, survey a few biomes, etc).

 

Edit to add: you can do this single-launch if you're good at nuke spaceplanes, but even a spaceplane novice can pull this off if you refuel in LKO.

If it has the range to reach orbit, then it has the range for a Minmus trip after you top off the tanks. And if you've got spaceplanes, delivering fuel to orbit is trivially cheap.

Edited by Wanderfound
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Tourists, all the Tourists, and even more Tourists. The test part stuff earns way less per shot, (though somtimes the requirements are simple and you can combine 2-3 so they become worth it). Got a little 63k design that will take 10 tourists to orbit. Given 10 tourists pays between 300 and 500 k it's danged profitable.

 

Sats and rescues get junked, without mechjeb i've zero hope of doing them so they're of no use to me.

Edited by Carl
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15 minutes ago, Carl said:

Sats and rescues get junked, without mechjeb i've zero hope of doing them so they're of no use to me.

With rescues you only need to get within 2.1km, then you can swap vessels and EVA the kerbal over to your ship(you may want to switch your nav-ball to target mode and retro-thrust to get your relative speed below ~40m/s so the rescuee can catch your ship).

And while I do not generally bother with satellite missions, it is more due to not needing the funds and not launching many unmanned ships that could fill the contracts as part of a larger mission.  Achieving a specified orbit is a pretty fundamental skill when it comes to space flight, and if you have patched conics, you have a helpful graphical representation of the resulting orbit that makes it much easier to know the outcome of a given burn.

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On 30/12/2016 at 11:53 AM, Carl said:

The point is i can't even achive a specific orbit, making any kind of orbit is about the limit of my piloting skills, it's why i rely on mechjeb, i'm garbage at actually flying stuff.

Who don't know can learn,  who knows can teach. 

Try the training scenarios,  read the questions and tutorials in this forum or look for kerbal tutorial in YouTube. Ask yourself "what I'm doing wrong?"  and if you don't find the answer ask others.

 But by all means don't just say "I'll never learn"  because you will miss so much of the game if you do. 

 

 

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