simsatellite

This is actually a simple and effective solution, worked fine with my 2 command pods variation, thanks!

Flying straight up then free fall straight down. Worked fine in 1.0.2 - it was an easy way to do tons of tourist contracts with my eyes closed literally (press T, space bar, then every time I don't hear rocket noises, press space bar again ) So I take it in 1.0.4, I either have to fall at an angle (which means I also have to launch at an angle) or pack some small rockets for the descent (which I've done successfully, just can't do it with my eyes closed)? Do airbrakes or drogues work well in 1.0.4? I'm very very far from those techs though...

Just updated from 1.0.2 to 1.0.4 and restarted my career. In 1.0.2, I had rockets that just shoot straight up and free-fall back down and slowed with parachutes for doing sub-orbital tourist contracts. In 1.0.4, my chutes always rip off unless I deploy them so late that the pod crashes and explode before the chutes can slow them down enough (had to deploy somewhere below 1000m to not have them rip off, but that's too little time to slow down in 1.0.4.) My craft is very basic (only unlocked the really cheap techs so far): Mk16 chute / 2 radial chutes - command pod - command pod - heat shield - decoupler - hammer SRB - decoupler - hammer SRB (I need the second command pod for a pilot for SAS, otherwise rocket will flip.) I tweaked the SRB so that I get around an apoapsis of 80,000m or so. I did manage to get something workable and economical by adding a flea SRB (and an additional Hammer stage) that fires during descent to slow me down to < 200 m/s before deploying the chutes. Are there other solutions to make the chutes usable? Spamming a lot of radial chutes also look like it may work (it worked with the 1 pod version) - not because they slow me down in time if I deploy really late, but because they seem to add a ton of drag that slows me down even before I deploy them. Adding draggy parts seem like such an inelegant solution though, and I don't know if that approach will scale well when I build heavier crafts (not to mention wastes a lot of fuel on ascent.) Also, what exactly changed in 1.0.4 that seems to have nerfed the chutes so much? Reduced air drag so crafts don't hit terminal velocity as quickly as well as raising the terminal velocity? Or is some part of the atmosphere a lot less dense now that it doesn't decelerate crafts as much? Understanding what changed will help me redesign all my old crafts much quicker.

I didn't realize that some survey contracts specify "below", I always assumed it's "above"... That explains why I keep getting 'trivial' contracts that don't appear trivial to me... Guess I should read contracts more carefully. Strapping Terriers to boost a plane up high sounds intriguing. I tried that with Thuds once and it flipped out of control, but then again, I'm not good at designing planes nor flying them, and I tried that before knowing about action groups... I'll have to give it another shot.

The basic jet engine seems to lose a lot of thrust if I go too fast or too high (I find it hard to maintain speed around 10km or so.) I looked around the wiki and in the cfg file, and it seems that it's designed to be that way (the atmCurve goes down very quickly.) It's low on the tech tree, so my question is, what exactly can I use the basic jet engine for in early career? Initially, I thought it was designed for all of those Kerbin survey contracts, but they all want an altitude reading at like 18km+ or so, which seems impossible to reach with a basic plane (okay, I know it's not impossible according to some challenge posts, but it's very hard for new players like myself.) For parts testing, it's just so much easier to put them on liquid fuel rockets. The only use I've found for it so far is strapping one to my makeshift rover (made it with the cheap landing wheels since real rover wheels are higher up on the tech tree) and drive around KSC for science. Saves me a lot of fuel compared to an equivalent rocket-powered rover. I think it does provide a nice educational value about how (hard it is) to design planes, but it just doesn't seem to help with any in-game contracts or goals. So, what am I missing?

I actually like the ability to decline contracts that I don't like and not have to time-warp for new ones to pop up. Unrealistic? Yes, but takes the grind out of waiting for contracts to expire, so it makes the game more enjoyable imo. I think too much realism for the contract system would make me too risk-averse, which doesn't feel like the Kerbal way. I agree with AbacusWizard though, if it was intended that people have the freedom to pick and choose, there should be a reject-all button or some kind of filter. For the satellite data contract, I don't want it to only spawn where I have not done science, 'cos that means if I do all the easy science first, the contracts will only spawn for locations that I have difficulty reaching, which means it's one less type of contract that less experienced players like me can do to finance all my costly failed test launches (e.g. I get a ton of rescue missions, and I suck at those, I only completed one so far where I deorbited the kerbonaut using his jetpack and land in the ocean and miraculously survived.) To make it less exploitable, maybe have the agency borrow your satellite for x hours, making it unusable for other contracts for that duration. This way, you can't just spam those missions (unless you have a ridiculous number of satellites in orbit, in which case I think it's okay since you bothered to make that investment.)

I see, so pilots aren't that useful unless I expect to be in the shadows a lot. Follow-up question about electricity hitting 0, won't that kill all the in-line reaction wheels, too? I usually put quite a few of those around my ships (they work wonders for poor pilots like me!) Can a Kerbal pilot still use reaction wheels with no electricity? Or will the Kerbal pilot only have access to torque from (the less magical) manned command pods (I think those don't need electricity), RCS (seems like a waste of monopropellant) and control surfaces (useless in space)? I guess some SAS is better than no SAS...

There seems to be some misunderstanding about my question. I'm not just asking manned vs unmanned, which I've found threads that discuss that. My question is also pilot vs non-pilot Kerbals. Non-pilots can do all the reports and EVA and pushing (I suck at that) and planting flags, too. So, if I had a manned mission, why would I send a pilot?

Does it have to be a pilot Kerbal though? The description makes it sound like it can be any Kerbal, so I was planning to bring a scientist... The remote guidance probe (the one really far down the tech tree) doesn't need Kerbals at all right? So once I unlock that, are pilots obsolete?

What is the advantage of using a Kerbal pilot vs other Kerbonauts or an unmanned drone? A lvl 0 pilot only provides SAS, which is also provided by the OKTO probe, and it isn't that hard to unlock (I just went straight down that branch on the tech tree so I can test spacecrafts without hurting Kerbals.) I am about to unlock the Avionics Hub, which looks like it'll replace any level of pilot specialization, and it is a lot lighter than adding an extra manned command pod. I always try to recover my manned spacecrafts, so its high price tag isn't that big of an issue. Also, once I unlock the remote guidance probes (probably be a while), does that supersede both Kerbal pilots and the Avionics Hub? It looks like the probe does everything the others can do and do it cheaper... Probes use electricity, but not that much, and batteries aren't that heavy nor expensive, so it's not much of a drawback. So, when would I ever want to use a Kerbal pilot except at the beginning of the game when my techs suck? Do lvl 5 pilots have some awesome abilities that I'm not aware of? Both the engineers and scientists perform functions that cannot be replaced by any other Kerbals or techs (I land jets with parachutes since I'm a terrible pilot and bring Bill along to repack them so I can take off again; I bring Bob on all science expeditions for the science bonus and resetting experiments), so it seems odd that the pilots appear so replaceable. Whereas Jeb and Val just hangs out in the astronaut complex all day since I unlocked the OKTO probe... If pilots really provide nothing but SAS and direction locking, Squad should definitely consider adding some perks to Kerbal pilots. Jeb and Val's badS-ness should not be replaceable by some machines!