Torrack

Hi all, While completing contracts isn't much of a problem I am having some problems generating "large" amounts of funds for purchasing those building upgrades. Does anybody have some advice they can give me about how I can generate larger profits on my missions? Or any other ways? I am already performing my contracts with ships built to the old "only what is NEEDED" minimum part counts. I also have been playing around with adjusting the amount of solid/liquid fuel (and oxidizer) in my tanks when I think I can complete a contract with less. It just seems to take forever to generate those thousands and thousands of Kerbits required to purchase the upgrades. Any help would be great, thanks everybody! ******************* UPDATE ******************* Thank you very much for all of the quick and really helpful advice! What a great community we have here, wow. Thanks again, all; I'm off to put some probes into orbit (hopefully with enough Delta-V leftover for some orbital inclination burns) and try to knock out multiple contracts per mission. Awesome tips!

While playing through many of the procedurally generated contracts (nice job on those BTW, Squad!) I have found myself having to click back and forth between my science lab and mission control (or using the internet) to see what the part in question is. I simply do not have all of the part names and alpha-numeric designations memorized and as such, before I accept a contract to use a part I want to know what it is. Do I already have it unlocked? Is it a part I can easily/theoretically incorporate into a basic design I already have? Will this part be a pain to test at the listed altitude/speed (or in orbit)? Sometimes simply seeing what part I am being asked to test lets me know if this is a contract I should accept or not.

LiveHereNow, I agree with Taki117's comment as it mirrors my own experience with contracts in 0.24. A good example of this is a contract which asks you to test a liquid fuel engine within certain altitude and speed parameters. Often you will find yourself fulfilling all of the 'requirements' of a contract (all the little green check marks are present) however, the contract will not complete. You will need to activate the part in question via staging (i.e. pressing the spacebar) or, depending on the part, you will need to right click the part and select 'run test.' Hope this helps.

Northstar, If you don't yet work for NASA, you should. I'm fairly certain that was the best "down to Kerbin" explanation of Orbital mechanics I've read in quite some time. Well written and thought out; thank you for posting!

Most of the contracts I have encountered require the part to be activated via staging (and NOT by use of the throttle or 'right clicking' interface). It's not so bad when you're relatively stationary but some of the altitude and speed requirements can make it quite challenging to get your staging 'just right.'

Turk_WLF, Welcome to the KSP forums and to the game! About the best advice you can get will be found on a YouTube channel by a man named Scott Manley (the resident Rock Star of KSP). Don't be dismayed at first glace; his channel has a ton of content and some if it is pretty advanced stuff. The reason I recommend you view his videos is he also has many "beginner's guides" and "getting started" videos. While playing KSP is loads of fun, it can be difficult for the new player as the "tutorial" portion of the game is still under development and isn't "fleshed out" yet. A few quick tips to help you on your way: 1.) Bigger isn't always better! More rockets, while fun, means more fuel and more weight to lift; you will rapidly approach a point of diminishing returns. 2.) Find a way to drop the parts of your ship you don't need during flight. A quick search on Onion Staging and Asparagus Staging will serve you well. 3.) Only attach parts to your rocket that you NEED; again, while redundancy is fun, it does mean more weight to lift. 4.) Maneuver nodes, don't forget that a single long burn to orbit is not always the most efficient (and easy) way to get there. Often burning the right amount, at the right time, for the correct length of time will make an otherwise failing craft soar into the heavens. Hope this helps and best of luck. Again, welcome to KSP.

Don't forget, during your vehicle design/construction stage, you can set the thrust limiter on an engine (solid or liquid fueled) by right clicking on it while still inside the hangar. Why not test that single side mounted engine when it's firing at 1% instead of 100%? Hope this helps.

Why is everybody testing the chutes coming down? Why not test them going UP? I had a few.... odd contracts... I simply put a chute on the top of my craft, set my function keys to 1=deploy chute and 2=cut chute. When I was headed upward at the correct speed/altitude range, I deployed the chute (very little oblique angle drag due to the "nose" placement) and then immediately cut the chute. It counts as testing the chute, you get the rewards, and can continue your flight to do something else (like a multi-contract flight) and then still land/splashdown safely via use of radially mounted chutes. Just a thought.

In the case of solid fuel and liquid fuel engines/boosters you ofter have to "activate" the part in question as a stage (i.e. with the spacebar) and NOT by throttle adjustments or right clicking the part and selecting "activate/deactivate." This means you will need to design a craft such that you fall within those procedurally generated ranges and are then able to "stage" the craft and cause the needed part to activate for the first time. I would imagine this will be adjusted/balanced in the coming weeks. Hope this helps!

Nice looking ship, well done.

Love the old school Romulan warbird, too!

Very cool idea!

Just wanted to stop by and say hi to everyone! I've been playing KSP for some time now and am really excited that missions look to be coming soon. To date my best accomplishment is landing safely on Eve; still working on the return trip, may have to be a rescue mission.