db101

No bonuses on those. I don\'t know how many decouplers you use, but keep them to an absolute minimum -- the flight time isn\'t long enough to justify excessive decoupler weight (and parachutes for the dropped pieces if you want to recover them). Hmm looking back over my old submissions now, the reason I must have had a better start is because I was successful on contracts my first two turns (which gave +2000 and +4000 I believe) -- that makes a huge difference for a fledgling space company. It\'s been a little dry the past few turns but I\'m sure the contracts will keep rolling in to grease your wheels. Hitting 25k a time or two will get you up to the 80k pretty soon, I think those are the two missions with the best bang for the buck for new players (at least I couldn\'t figure out how to profitably fly the 50k one). Soon after the 80k you\'ll be home free.

I didn\'t do a mission on my first turn, 25k on my second, 80k on the third. Probably shouldn\'t have researched booster tech first so I could have had enough money to launch something in turn one, but I didn\'t for some reason. Definitely hit all the contracts you can for extra cash, and I see you\'re researching salvage -- that\'ll pay for itself in no time (I <3 my salvage money)

Good luck! Could you post a (non-spoileriffic) shot of the junk in orbit so we can be wowed by the first piece in space? (PS: finally finished my turn and I\'m adding 4000 more to turn twelve to get ready for the next launch.)

I\'m sure we have a good few turns before the campaign might switch over to 0.16, but I propose we launch something up there sooner rather than later. The new parts scale/balance will probably make it harder to hoist up 40+ mass at time, what with the powerful engines we have access to now. Of course it might be easier, we won\'t know until it gets here (but I have a feeling it\'ll be harder).

Are we allowed to turn on normal SAS/ASAS before 1:30 and let the stay on for the duration of the flight, or is it assumed that they get fried too?edit: could you double-check my salvage? If something broke on landing that\'s cool (what I thought at first, but I can\'t get my numbers to match up for the possible breakage scenarios). Thanks

I thought the orbit ladder was personal -- I was the only one to put up a kubble last turn, and got the 10k first bonus. Doesn\'t that mean others can still do the 100x100 orbit for the full 33k, but as I already have one up there, I need to put one in a 200x200 (which is the plan this turn). And etc. Aha I\'ve got it -- awaras put up a kubble this turn too? And if issarik launched one, the sky is getting crowded with prying eyes! (Don\'t mind me, just enjoying the launching of actual payloads more than passing altitudes.) Now for an uncalled-for suggestion: I\'m not fond of the doubling in altitude each time -- perhaps if it were linear (100, 200, 300, 400, 500... or 100, 200, 400, 600, 800, 1000...). Maybe a Fibonacci sequence (100, 200, 300, 500, 800, 1300, 2100, 3400, etc). I\'m rather fond of that one, and thought I\'d suggest it sooner than later in case anyone has some input. The Fib is a gentler exponential that will still make each new launch a serious decision, but doesn\'t have as hard a cutoff as a strict doubling of altitude each time. (edit2: prime numbers are pretty nice too, and 'harder' than linear. (100, 200, 300, 500, 700, 1100, ...) Just a thought.) edit: Thanks for the launch time clarification. I was just thinking along the lines of 'sunrise' or whatever. Since Kerbals haven\'t invented clocks. (Just stopwatches for elapsed time per mission)

I\'ve been testing out some several-turns-down-the-road missions, and a launch timing issue came up. Do you allow us to dictate (roughly) when our launch occurs? Namely, I was playing around with the zoxy panels and needed a morning launch so the air would remain clean as the crew entered space.

Alright I finally finished my turn and am putting in 5000 to make up for missing last time.

I can\'t say how to best ease the email -> excel import, but I\'ve been thinking about sending a data screenshot of my craft along with my turn -- it might help the cost of parts breakdown for you: If you want. (edit: or my .xls file like issarlk suggests) If you\'re exporting a good chunk of excel data to the forum, here\'s how I\'d try. Particularly if the form you use has a full page of excel data filled with turn info: Save a copy of the page with the data you want as a space-delimited text file, which will generate a .prn file (heh. porn.) And you can open that with notepad or whatever to look something like this. Then to copy that here easily just select all (or whatever part you want) and wrap in [tt] the teletype tags [/tt] like this: [tt]Part Mass Price Salvage Amount Mass Cost RecoveredSalvageCore ZO2 Main 1.2 $1,000 65% 1 1.2 $1,000 1 $650 Command Module 1 $2,000 35% 1 1 $2,000 1 $700 Propulsion $0 LFE - large 2 $15,000 20% 0 0 $0 0 $0 LFE - gimballed / aerosp 2 $20,000 20% 0 0 $0 0 $0 LFE - small 0.5 $6,500 20% 0 0 $0 0 $0 Solid Rocket Booster 1.8 $500 65% 20 36 $10,000 20 $6,500 Fuel Tanks $0 Fuel Tank - small 1.25 $400 25% 0 0 $0 0 $0 Fuel Tank - large 2.5 $800 25% 0 0 $0 4 $800 RCS Tank 0.9 $400 25% 0 0 $0 0 $0 ZO2 - small tank (150) 0.35 $150 25% 0 0 $0 0 $0 ZO2 - large tank (800) 1.5 $750 25% 0 0 $0 0 $0 Structural $0 Radial Decoupler 0.4 $250 0% 0 0 $0 0 $0 Stack decoupler 0.8 $250 0% 1 0.8 $250 1 $0 Strut 0.05 $50 15% 0 0 $0 0 $0 Tricoupler 0.8 $500 25% 0 0 $0 0 $0 Utility & Control $0 Parachute 0.3 $750 15% 3 0.9 $2,250 3 $338 Winglet - AV-T1 0.05 $150 15% 0 0 $0 0 $0 Winglet AV-R8 0.08 $250 15% 0 0 $0 0 $0 Fuel line 0.05 $100 15% 0 0 $0 0 $0 RCS Thruster block 0.05 $100 35% 0 0 $0 0 $0 ZO2 - Solar Panel 0.1 $3,000 50% 0 0 $0 0 $0 Landing Strut 0.1 $200 25% 0 0 $0 0 $0 Robotic $0 Unmanned Pod 1 $4,500 70% 0 0 $0 0 $0 PowerSat 1.2 $2,500 15% 0 0 $0 0 $0 Total cost $15,500 Recovery $8,988 Mass at lift 39.9[/tt] <3 preformatted text! Might be worth a try if you\'re copying a lot of data over to the forum.

Just sent in my turn too. I like putting in something each turn (takes the sting out of putting in a huge lump) but if my calculations are correct, I have under 500 after research + expenses before the income rolls in. Can\'t fill the pool more this turn, I\'m just hoping no catastrophes plague my mission so I can keep at this next turn. I\'m liking the idea of sub 2000 per mass launch vehicles.

Don mentioned that we can\'t use payload engines on the way up, so disregard my price-beating (to an extent). We could try for ~10 mass on the first launch if it\'s cheap enough, similar to your newer design. Maybe a bit more if it looks worth it in the cost-per-unit metric. Bigger is better, but I\'m always worried about failed missions too -- even though I love making sky monsters. I\'ve got a legit, and horrifying, 53 mass lifter on the pad that should work after I perfect the winglet placement. It\'s expensive (and looks like a suspension bridge) and I\'d never risk the pool money on a contraption this idiotic. I really am a sucker for behemoths. Edit: yeah this design is a nightmare to get right. Time to get serious and try some viable launch vehicles!

Well there\'s only one response to that: More SRBs!

One caveat I should include is that I\'m using two of the payload LFEs for a bit of thrust (is that okay, don?). Those, plus 6 engines and 24 tanks are the crux of the lifter. (the price before salvage was $120k, btw) I\'m working on a redesign for efficiency, and to take in account that the capsule won\'t come down -- we need 4 capsules up there in the end anyway.

Man I\'m rubbish at building small and efficient ships... this campaign has been a real challenge! (in a good way) I can\'t realize a design that beats awaras\' numbers on the small end, but I just whipped up a moderately heavy lifter that can put 39 mass into the 200km orbit for around $95,000 after salvage (which would be $2,435/unit). It\'s a little inefficient and I have no LFE research yet, but hopefully in a few turns I\'ll have a competing design. I suppose I\'m pointing out that more mass per launch is better in general (it would be silly to launch a rocket for just one RCS block, yaknow). That 8.4 design sounds like a good start. I think lifting only 4 mass might have been a bit stingy

I have a few hefty expenses in this turn (before the income rolls in), so I\'m starting off only putting in 1000 for this round. :-[ Also, I\'ll see if I can design a nice lifter when I get back from work.

Another consideration is how much technology players have -- any LFE ship I build someone (Awaras ) can build cheaper. This isn\'t a bad thing, because when I donate to the pool my money will go further if someone launches with their cheaper LFEs. I\'m liking the idea of a sidebar design 'contest'. Once we figure out an efficient design for x payload I think we should consider the technological advances different players have in order to get the best return for the pool. It doesn\'t have to strictly be the highest tech person, of course. But I wouldn\'t really want my money to get splurged by someone who hasn\'t researched any technology at all.

Are structural pylons allowed as radial decouplers? (or perhaps unlockable via technology research?)

Yeesh that\'s laggy on my comp Have you considered lowering the reward for repeating flights? Like, if I keep squeaking out the 10k challenge, after a successful mission the reward for me will drop a few percent -- and after more successful flights the reward will keep creeping down. A few drops and the conservative players will be setting their sights on higher challenges quickly.Granted, this would add a little more work for you Don, as you\'d have to keep track of how many times each player has done each mission.

I mean can I do the fundraiser as the first step in my first turn -- effectively giving me 10500 starting cash before my first turn tech research + mission/etc? Just trying to see what I\'ll have the budget to build for in turn one (Looks like a cash-tight start! )

This game looks sweet, count me in! Just a question: is the 'What you can do in a turn' in a fixed order (or can I start my turn with a fundraising drive then do a mission/contract/etc)?