Science

[Anonymous49]

Guys I have a problem right now, I mostly talked abut tourism and stuff like that in my other threads. But that holds a problem - tourism gives zero science. I currently have 537.36 reputation (as seen from the cheat menu) where as because I finished a lot of tourism contracts. Now I have 90% tourism contracts as seen from here, the only other are placing satellites in a specific orbit where as I am not ready for that yet. So how to get good science or what I call get mun flyby contracts. I really need science right now

[theAstrogoth]

In general, the fastest  way to get science isn’t to complete contracts, but to collect scientific data (using the thermometer, baramoter, mystery goo, etc) in different biomes and situations. The wiki a list of all the things you can do to collect science points. You can check what you’ve already done in your R&D center as well. 

I think the milestone contracts (like “do a Mun flyby”) only show up after you complete ones that you’ve already accepted, and you typically only get 1 at a time, but I’m not 100% sure.

[Anonymous49]

1 hour ago, theAstrogoth said:

In general, the fastest  way to get science isn’t to complete contracts, but to collect scientific data (using the thermometer, baramoter, mystery goo, etc) in different biomes and situations. The wiki a list of all the things you can do to collect science points. You can check what you’ve already done in your R&D center as well. 

I think the milestone contracts (like “do a Mun flyby”) only show up after you complete ones that you’ve already accepted, and you typically only get 1 at a time, but I’m not 100% sure.

yes i know i did that every time i have a mission but it is not good enough. I am confident to reach to the mun cuz i already shipped ~20 tourists to LKO

[Superfluous J]

2 minutes ago, Anonymous49 said:

yes i know i did that every time i have a mission but it is not good enough. I am confident to reach to the mun cuz i already shipped ~20 tourists to LKO

If you haven't gone to the Mun, you haven't done that "every time."

You can measure the temperature in no less than 20 places in Mun's SOI. And that's just temperature scans. Also, they're worth more than equivalent scans at Kerbin.

So GO THERE already

[Anonymous49]

Just now, Superfluous J said:

If you haven't gone to the Mun, you haven't done that "every time."

You can measure the temperature in no less than 20 places in Mun's SOI. And that's just temperature scans. Also, they're worth more than equivalent scans at Kerbin.

So GO THERE already

I am waiting for the contract to show up. And i meant that I kept on doing crew reports every single mission

[Superfluous J]

3 minutes ago, Anonymous49 said:

I am waiting for the contract to show up. And i meant that I kept on doing crew reports every single mission

You've said this several times. There are only 2 reasons to not have the Mun contract at this stage:

1. You already went to Mun so the contract will NEVER show up.
2. You're sitting on an "Explore" contract and so no new ones will show up until you've completed it.

Also, don't wait for contracts. Just don't. The money and science from putting satellites up and testing parts and doing biome studies BLOWS EXPLORE CONTRACTS AWAY. You're essentially losing out on hundreds of thousands of funds because you're sitting around waiting for a ten thousand fund contract.

Also, don't just do crew reports. Do EVA reports, temperature readings, seismic readings, pressure scans, Mystery Goo, Science Jr. Do them everywhere, and make sure you bring the science home. You really don't get much for doing the readings over and over in the same places, though, which is yet another reason to just buck up and go to Mun already.

[Spricigo]

3 hours ago, Anonymous49 said:

Now I have 90% tourism contracts as seen from here, the only other are placing satellites in a specific orbit where as I am not ready for that yet.

A few things to unpack there:

• There is a weighting system that make more likely to get offers of contracts of the types you regularly do and less likely to get offer from contracts that you refuse. They usually don't become super-rare or super-common but there are some other conditions to unlock contract and it may be the case that the prevalence of tourism contract is a combination of not many types of contracts available and the weighting system.
• You may not feel ready to accept and risk to fail a satellite contract yet, but you may simulate doing one. Just build a small, unmanned craft* and try to manipulate your orbit to roughly match the "required" orbit, I other words,  burn towards different directions(pro/retrograde, nomal/antinormal, radial in/out) at different point of your orbit and see how it goes.  That will  build confidence you need to do it for real.
• At the point your career is,  based on what you told/showed in the other thread, those types of contract may be about to be unlocked: rescue mission (need Astronaut complex lvl2), Station deployment contracts (need part docking port unlocked). Rescues will require you to learn how to rendezvous, (new players often have trouble with that) while station contracts only requires you to be capable to launch a 'station' big enough (but are kinda of rare). 

51 minutes ago, Superfluous J said:

Also, don't wait for contracts. Just don't. ...You're essentially losing out on hundreds of thousands of funds because you're sitting around waiting for a ten thousand fund contract.

Yep. That is the Opportunity Cost I mentioned in the other thread. Your time have the value of the best thing you could be doing, doing something else have the cost of not doing that best thing.

IMO the only possible reason to not go to the Mun already (and I don't think is a good one) is that tourist want to go where you already are and it may be a bit of an issue if tourist contract is your main revenue source.

 

*If you provide a screenshot of your current tech tree, we may help to design a craft for that task.

 

 

Edited January 13, 2021 by Spricigo

[Anonymous49]

1 hour ago, Superfluous J said:

You've said this several times. There are only 2 reasons to not have the Mun contract at this stage:

1. You already went to Mun so the contract will NEVER show up.
2. You're sitting on an "Explore" contract and so no new ones will show up until you've completed it.

Also, don't wait for contracts. Just don't. The money and science from putting satellites up and testing parts and doing biome studies BLOWS EXPLORE CONTRACTS AWAY. You're essentially losing out on hundreds of thousands of funds because you're sitting around waiting for a ten thousand fund contract.

Also, don't just do crew reports. Do EVA reports, temperature readings, seismic readings, pressure scans, Mystery Goo, Science Jr. Do them everywhere, and make sure you bring the science home. You really don't get much for doing the readings over and over in the same places, though, which is yet another reason to just buck up and go to Mun already.

oh yeah i forgot to mention i have a contract named explore kerbin. when i realized that i decided to make a space station. a tiny one

but i couldn't send my first space station module because my crew could not get in the command pod

it was a bug it worked right now i am ready to send my second one

[Anonymous49]

how do i dock two space station modules?

[Spricigo]

1 minute ago, Anonymous49 said:

how do i dock two space station modules?

 

[Anonymous49]

hope it works! Btw, I had a small structural tube in the tail

[Spricigo]

29 minutes ago, Anonymous49 said:

 Btw, I had a small structural tube in the tail

 I confess ,without an image, I'm having a hard time figuring out what importance it might have.

[VoidSquid]

In addition to what @Spricigo already said, there is also this excellent docking guide:

 

[Anonymous49]

i had my second module built and ready in the vab but too scared to launch it

this module is going to be launch two times btw. Since it is just solar panel energy that gets attached

[Anonymous49]

the disadvantage is that  there is no prograde markers ;(

[VoidSquid]

Regarding collecting science, there are also the mini biomes at the KSC, each one offers a bit of various science data (temperature, pressure, ...), but all together give you some reasonable amount of science. It's a bit tedious, yes, but very easy and safe to collect.

16 minutes ago, Anonymous49 said:

there is no prograde markers

Umh... not sure I understand what you're saying. Have a screenshot maybe?

Edited January 13, 2021 by VoidSquid

[Anonymous49]

1 minute ago, VoidSquid said:

Umh... not sure I understand what you're saying. Have a screenshot maybe?

Im saying that my second space station module

[Anonymous49]

my new plan is to suck a mk1 command pod on top of the rocket and under the second segment

and eventually undock from the main docking port (which will dock with the first one) and go to a docking hatch

[VoidSquid]

Without knowing what your station / module looks like, it's hard to give any tips. At any rate, if you have probe cores available (if I remember correctly, the first one is the OKTO), you can use those instead of a kerballed command pod. I assume you don't want a Kerbal pilot stuck in the command pod forever  

[Anonymous49]

56 minutes ago, VoidSquid said:

Without knowing what your station / module looks like, it's hard to give any tips. At any rate, if you have probe cores available (if I remember correctly, the first one is the OKTO), you can use those instead of a kerballed command pod. I assume you don't want a Kerbal pilot stuck in the command pod forever  

it is okto, but the okto have no prograde tags, that is what i meant. so my plan is to dock my crewed command pod with on the bottom. and then move it to the top once it is about to dock with the other one.

[VoidSquid]

17 minutes ago, Anonymous49 said:

it is okto, but the okto have no prograde tags, that is what i meant

I see. The OKTO has at least SAS hold, so can manually orient the craft to prograde, and keep it stable.

[Anonymous49]

that's freaking hard

check and download my crafts here https://kerbalx.com/Anonymous49

and click on the "resilient space station" ones

1 module 1 + 2 module 2's would make a bigger segment where capsules could already dock to it, The Harmonic One. I'm obviously docking more segments to it to finish the resilient space station up

shall i send a one star kerbal (Jebediah Kerman) with the segment and undock it after a stay

the bad thing about the station is the entry and coming out. EVA the crew out from the pod and go inside the entry hole (which i think should be the back hole that leads to the crew cabins in the segment 1)

P.S. The pod was actually docked on the underside of segment 2

[paul_c]

I like the way the gameplay is structured in KSP, for earning science.

The biggest gains in science will come later. A gravioli detector earns a lot of science, partly because the value is high anyway, and partly because it can return different science for each biome both high & low orbit over a body. Also the science lab returns a HUGE amount of science once its set up and purring nicely.

But in the outset, I'd do something like this:

Kerbal local environment (launchpad, shores): temp, pressure, EVA report, crew report, surface sample

Kerbin flight: crew report, EVA report, temp, pressure

Kerbin near space: as above

Kerbin high space: as above

Then unlock more instruments and do the same with the new instrument(s)

Then send a probe to Mun (or Minmus), get it into orbit and transmit back the science near and far (don't worry about returning it...). Stick a relay on it for later.

Then try same but with more fuel, heatshield, etc, to return to Kerbin (returning most science instruments earns more than transmitting the data)

 

Mun intercept is easier to do (than Minmus), but Minmus landing is easier than Mun (IMHO) so you might choose to LAND on Minmus first. 

[Anonymous49]

can anyone pls try to fly this thing and dock the whole thing and teach me (hopefully in sandbox)

[VoidSquid]

36 minutes ago, Anonymous49 said:

check and download my crafts here

It says "Built in the VAB in KSP version 1.11.0.", I have reverted to 1.10.1 (1.11.0 has too many bugs for my taste), hence I can't load your craft, sorry.

EDIT: ok, modified the craft file, could load it now. 
The problem I see here, you're not using any RCS, how would you do the docking without, in particular as the docking ports are radial mounted, not axial (e.g. on top of the OKTO)?

Do you have access to RCS fuel and the RCS thrusters?

I also see a few other issues here, e.g. the three Terriers are not in line with the vertical axis but all point slightly outwards. This results in a waste of thrust and fuel as they are partially working against each other (15 degrees angle -> sin (15) = 0.26 -> 26% loss) instead of providing prograde thrust. Same with the six Thuds at the bottom.

Edited January 13, 2021 by VoidSquid