which parts are generated in test contracts?

[king of nowhere]

playing a caveman challenge, taking advantage of contracts to test parts to use stuff that I don't have a tech for. I would like to get the 1.875 m heat shield, and I'm trying to get a contract for it. I spent over one hour refreshing contracts, I got several ones for the 2.5 m heat shield (in the same tech), but none for the 1.875 m. Now I suspect that there are no contracts generated for that part, ever.

But how can I know? is there some way to know if I will get a contract for the 1.875 m shield or not?

[Vanamonde]

Hmm. Someone would have to dig into the code, which is not something I have skills for. I'd suggest not waiting for a certain contract, though. I myself do the missions I want to do and keep an eye out for contracts which will pay me to do them. 

[18Watt]

The 1.875 m heat shield is part of the Making History expansion pack.  I wonder if the ‘test part’ contracts only are programmed to select parts from the base game.

[king of nowhere]

18 minutes ago, 18Watt said:

The 1.875 m heat shield is part of the Making History expansion pack.  I wonder if the ‘test part’ contracts only are programmed to select parts from the base game.

the bobcat and cheetah engines are also from making history, but i got them easily

[18Watt]

3 hours ago, king of nowhere said:

the bobcat and cheetah engines are also from making history, but i got them easily

Well, so much for that idea..

No idea how to see if the part will ever pop up or not without actually seeing it appear in a contract.

Not sure how this strategy would fit with what you’re trying to accomplish, but if you accept a lot of a certain type of contract (like ‘test part’ contracts), the game will tend to give you more of them.  Eventually, I would think the game would run out of parts you haven’t tested, and your odds of getting the part in question would go up.  No guarantees with that method, and it’s still possible that part would never appear in a contract.

Waiting for something that random seems like a futile exercise to me, but perhaps it’s worth it to complete the challenge you’re working on.

[Scarecrow71]

2 minutes ago, 18Watt said:

Eventually, I would think the game would run out of parts you haven’t tested, and your odds of getting the part in question would go up.

It's entirely random, unfortunately.  In the Caveman Challenge I just finished I ended up getting a contract to test the Swivel engine twice in the same in-game day.  In the same in-game 5 minutes, to be precise.  It's just one of those things that you will either get lucky...or you won't.

[king of nowhere]

there does seem to be a certain regularity in the way the game generates contracts. The "get science from location X", which are my main source of income in this challenge, tend to repeat regularly; Mun surface, Mun space, Minmus surface, Minmus space, Kerbin space, those five appear in no particular order, but without repetition. After I get all 5, I get no more new "science from X contracts, until I pick another contract. it can be a contract of any kind, but i must grab one. and then the game gives me again the five contracts, and then again i have to pick something different.

If I skip one, like earlier I was rejecting the "science from Mun surface"  because I didn't have a fixed base there, I keep getting the same contract.

 

I wonder, if I actually accept all test contracts without accepting anything else, if I can exhaust test contracts this way.... worth a try maybe

 

EDIT: just checked, it's starting to give again the same parts to test.

still no 1.875 m thermal shield. i guess i'll have to research the tech.

EDIT again: just when I gave up, I got the contract for it. it's almost like the game could read my mind...

Edited January 11, 2022 by king of nowhere