Carrer Tutorials and Hints

[Mokrator]

Hi there, i am quite new to this game.

 did not find yet - maybe somebody helps me here: i can not click on the orbs of a vessel to create maneuver plans or align orbits. (pilots Level? Development of a buildin?)

 

i saw a youtube video and bought the game imidiate. The wiki-page for the Career mode is (only english) very lets say "short"... There are many things i figured out the hard way and much more i don't know.

1) Something i missed when i did not read all hints (maybe there was no hint) that i should take a look at mission control to accept missions if i am able to do them. I really run out of money before i randomly found that small building.

2) I would not like to cheat or do stupid things "just because they give most science". Some science-runs on kerbal might be better done with an airplane rather than with a rocket - it is really hard to aquire a stable flight with a rocket but with enough  parashutes you can touch down with a small craft and even make the EVA science or any mission with < 10000m targets. (and for groundtargets, you can roll arround between the the 3 objectives)

 

 

 

 

 

[Pand5461]

That needs tracking station (and maybe R&D building) upgrade to level 2.

You can easily tell if you have the required upgrades by the color of orbit line in map view. Grey orbit = no maneuver nodes yet, blue orbit = you're ready.

[Helmetman]

What's your native language?

Some youtubers have playthroughs in local languages (Russian, portugese, german, French, dutch, Spanish etc)
It's often better to understand something by watching a video rather then reading the wiki, especially if it's narrated in your own language, something you would likely prefer I guess.

9 hours ago, Mokrator said:

*snip

(and for groundtargets, you can roll arround between the the 3 objectives)

Until your electric charge runs out  

[James Kerman]

Greetings and welcome to the forums, @Mokrator.

The good news is you can change languages to:

Japanese 
English 
Spanish  
Chinese
Russian
Polish
Dutch
German
Italian
French

All available here:
https://github.com/KSP-Localization

[Mokrator]

1 hour ago, Helmetman said:

What's your native language?

Some youtubers have playthroughs in local languages (Russian, portugese, german, French, dutch, Spanish etc)
It's often better to understand something by watching a video rather then reading the wiki, especially if it's narrated in your own language, something you would likely prefer I guess.

Until your electric charge runs out  

 

Thanks for some new hints - it's german by the way.

On a airplane i did not have problems with electric charge yet - fly to the target, parachute the plane in terrain and roll around with the plane to Measure/Crewreport the ground targets...
I needed some minutes to find how to stop a rolling plane ( with B ) and the frontweels have no brakes.

 

But does somebody know how to increase Pilot XP or where to get the ability to plan orbits better?

 

[Zhetaan]

There is a button in the Space Center View (and in other views, but this is the first place you can access it when you begin a new game) called KSPedia (it looks like a little white book with a blue rocket on the cover) and it has some more information.  It is possible that the wiki stopped carrying much tutorial information once a lot of that information became available in-game.

Don't worry too much about spending all of your money before you found Mission Control.  Most contracts pay a little in advance (mainly to pay for the rocket that you will use to complete the contract), and simply getting a rocket into the air gives a lot of what are called 'milestone' bonuses, which pay rewards for doing certain things for the first time (first launch, first EVA, first orbit, first time leaving the atmosphere, first time going certain speeds or distances or altitudes, and so on).  Or, if you'd prefer, you can start a new game.

You need to upgrade the Tracking Station to level 2 to make manoeuvre nodes.  You need to upgrade the Astronaut Complex to level 2 to go EVA anywhere but on Kerbin's surface.  You need to upgrade the Research and Development Complex to level 2 to take surface samples (and I think you need to upgrade the Astronaut Complex as well).

The Research and Development upgrade is extremely expensive, so you probably won't do it for a long time, but you should consider upgrading Mission Control to increase the number of contracts you can take.  If you can get, for example, four contracts to test experimental parts at the Launch Pad or on Kerbin's surface, you can combine the tests into one rocket that never leaves the pad.  That gets you a bit of money with no real expense (it's not a lot of money but if you need it, this is an easy way to get it) and it's a lot more convenient to do several contracts when the limit is seven contracts (from a level 2 Mission Control) rather than two (from level 1).

Aeroplanes are supposed to be somewhat more difficult to fly than rockets; if you're having trouble making a stable rocket then I suggest you take a second look at your rocket design.  The rocket parts you get to start are not the best but you should be able to get them to fly straight, at least.

Also, welcome to the forum.  If you need any information about anything KSP or rocketry in general, please don't hesitate to ask.

[Urses]

Welcome and have a nice stay.

And you can trust on the forum users in sibsequient language forums around here. If you have some problems like me to articulate you in english.

But for your basic question.

The way to get money in game is to do as much contracts in one mission as possoble to redice your costs and to earn as much as possible.

For maneuvernodes you need to upgrade your "tracking station" and "mission controll".

For EVA "astronaut complex" and for surface samples "R&D buioding"

You have all of them as clickable  fields on the side of the screen in your KSP centrum.

And try to right click on all buildings to see what they do and if you hover over the "upgrade" button with the mouse you will see which option they provide and what they need additionaly for.

Edited November 20, 2017 by Urses

[Vanamonde]

These questions about how to play the game have been moved to Gameplay Questions. 

Also, welcome to the game and the forum.

[bewing]

To click orbits to make maneuver nodes, you need to upgrade both Mission Control and the Tracking Station to level 2. To upgrade pilots so they have more capability, you must put them into orbit one time. To upgrade pilots more than that, you need to have them gain experience by exploring moons and planets.

 

[MrChumley]

Hello!  Welcome to the forums!

A few recommendations

Try tutorials.  Try sandbox before career.

Youtube : Scott Manley

Kerbals gain experience from Flybys, Flight (in planets with atmosphere), Orbit, Landing, and planting flags.

Edited November 21, 2017 by MrChumley

[Plusck]

1 hour ago, MrChumley said:

Youtube : Scott Manley

This is good advice if you want ideas about how to invent stuff.

It is terrible advice if you want to do things well with the current version of KSP. A lot of the tricks don't work any more and won't help. Basic advice like "how to get to orbit" is just plain wrong.

 

There is (in my opinion) only one thing that you need to do to solve all your problems: go to Minmus!

Science from Minmus is worth much more than anything from Kerbin and more than from the Mun. Landing on Minmus is easy if you aim for the flats (0 altitude!). Getting to Minmus is not too hard: start burning from a circular orbit when Minmus is just about to appear behind Kerbin. Raise your orbit to about 46m metres, then make a course correction about halfway out.

Once you've got a ship that can get to Minmus (really no harder than the Mun), can reliably get to orbit and can reliably hit Minmus with a burn from orbit (a bit harder), and can EVA on the surface, your science will skyrocket, your Kerbals will easily gain two stars and you will be ready for interplanetary trips to (at the very least) Duna and Eve.

[Spricigo]

3 hours ago, Plusck said:

5 hours ago, MrChumley said:

Youtube : Scott Manley

This is good advice if you want ideas about how to invent stuff.

It is terrible advice if you want to do things well with the current version of KSP. A lot of the tricks don't work any more and won't help. Basic advice like "how to get to orbit" is just plain wrong

SM have a tutorial series for version 1.0. That one is still adequate for learning some basics (e.g the 'proper' gravity turn, science gathering, taking contracts) 

In any case is important to keep in mind that the game changed (e.g. commnet), expect inaccuracies in a years old tutorial.

Also that SM don't have the monopoly of KSP videos.