Taleric

Unison III If morale is ever added I am in big trouble.... Orlas realized too late that his Minmus flyby would not make it back so he gave his life for the program. I was really pressing my luck, I should have just worked the Mun till I had the solar panel unlock. Arrow I & II With the panels I am able to get a temp reading from interplanetary space and conduct surface imaging of Kerbin and the Mun. The panels are so fragile the G force often catches me off guard and crushes them not to mention inopportune eclipses! Unison IV Bob and Thompson visit the Mun again. The landing spot is poorly selected and only one sample is obtained. I have unlocked the long range antenna to preparer for interplanetary flybys. In Kerbin SOI there is the Minmus imaging to complete and surface samples.

Unison II The dry run pays off as Orlas, Bob and James II (!?! No idea) make a Mun landing. I did not yet have radial mono propellant so I had to get creative with the lander and it worked out well. The only hiccup was poor staging that led me to burn 1/4 the lander fuel during my Mun burn.... I ended up compensating by going suborbital before separation then having the command module regain orbit. Time to unlock the small lander-can and the mainsails. Another Mun mission or two and Minmus are next up.

Mule I & II Six science short of large decouplers I am unable to make a Mun sample return. Even with reduced batteries the craft are too heavy. Mule I followed by II hunt around the Mun and Kerbin to cleanup anything I can get. I am glad to close the door on this model. Unison I Mun dry runs begin! Bob and Orlas setout with a goo return probe. The goal is to return after Mun orbit with spare energy and life support. The goo is bonus if I can pull it off all the better. This was a great mission, several orbital reports were done and the goo was reclaimed with plenty of extra fuel. Very glad the pilots were returned. I might consider having the orbiter probe controlled for a greater buffer. I was also worried about the reentry heat to the goo but the angle, altitude and defile from the capsule was enough. Now to unlock the lander-can and match the probe lander's weight.

Loki III I am thrilled by the performance of this design! So well that I am able to start making calculations for my manned missions. There is still the lander can and the 909 I need to unlock so next up will be surface sample returns from both moons.

Loki II Once in a while a mission goes off perfectly, maybe to payback for the Odin disaster, this would be Loki II an orbital/seismic Minmus mission. The design had ample fuel and energy even biome hopping after initial landing. With this science I am able to unlock the orange tanks, first large engines and the mid-sized heat shields. Time to head back to the Mun for orbital goo and missing biomes.

Loki I On target to land on the Mun. The trip is smooth and the landing while intact ended on a slope. I am able to unlock the three Kerbal capsule and plan more Mun flybys. Odin I Disaster... I should have tested what was a valid transfer. James nobly made several Mun reports but lost his life on return. After the three immortals (Jeb, Bob, Bill; but not in BTSM) I try to keep pilots alive... I will atone for this one by keeping Bob alive as long as I can, the last of the first three.

Time to get some Kerbals into space! Man I is shot up and back a few times to get crew reports and any grav reports I missed. Then Squid I does a quick Mun flyby. There are a few Kerbin biomes such as the badlands I will skip till I am really close on science for a node. I will conduct Mun flybys until I can unlock the seismic for the first probe landing. I was unsure if the starting communications would reach Kerbin so I upgraded just incase. I am noticing a bit of overage in batteries but have not run into problems reaching targets yet.

I will be posting my haphazard progression playing Better Than Starting Manned (BTSM) : Career Mode Redefined. Starting at BTSM v1.541, KSP v0.23.5. (Updated to v1.55 29 April) You can find BTSM here. This play through is done by trial and error on top of long term vanilla KSP play. The fun of just making mission success due to hiccups is the best! *Honor Roll* (KIA) Jeb, Bill, James I, Orlas, Thompsen, Bob To get things started, I hammered out the beginning nodes with the craft below. I apologize for the image quality, I knocked out the start during travel lull on a potato. Next I snatched my space goo, just kissing low orbit, using my excess fuel to slow decent to parachute deployment altitude. I will move on to my manned orbital flights in a bit. I was up to the final tech nodes in my previous run and am looking forward to reaching the late game builds again. Let me know if you have any questions or suggesting to better capture my progression. (As the missions become more complex I will give greater detail on my thoughts and actions)

All your designs have that great look of form meeting function Dave are there any challenges/mechanics you would like to see added in future KSP/BTSM? Maybe a planet with a biome in an incredibly deep canyon, radiation shielding concerns, a planet with an obstructive cloud layer, rover type science, ect?

Lol! I am sure it was a support group and not guidance to appease the masses maximizing profits at the expense of actual game design. I picture all the recent Indy devs sobbing openly, "Hi my name is Notch and I allowed my creation to be perverted." "Hi Notch!"

Ok you got me on "quick aero", that will be a bit. Also I checked the planned features and there is no citation for the cited aero improvements That is upsetting because it would indeed be easy to shelve. Honestly prior to the rediculous stability brought on by the joint change I had no desire for further aero. Ships were fine beyond the crazy "swimming" that could happen in space. If they plan to leave any challenge they should empower mod devs with some hooks to revert questionable "improvements". I hope none of this is tied to the enhanced performance, my PC is very appreciative.

This is all quickly fixed by implementing a career economy, nerfing reaction wheels and completing the aerodynamic forces in the game. Creative artistic types will continue with sandbox while the challenge players get their fix. I look forward to contracts to see where that goes. We can have tons of OP equipment in game but if the cost is so great that a disaster or frivolous use brings a space program to its' knees intelligent economic design will prevail.

The problem lies in the lack of risk/reward career. Sandbox wise it was just a natural move after better structural integrity. Same belle ache could be made at advent of mainsail. If you factor in the cost and risk of loss in a career, even once unlocked it would be a precious launch vehicle.

This well put, .23 play did help to lessen my sadness about resource loss. I too hit a wall and thankfully was forced to get creative to continue progression. I will be interested to see where contracts and crew stats take us. Squad's decision reguarding development focus is appreciated and supported with renewed confidence.

I don't even touch them, just not my type of KSP fun. I see them as broken but people are too reliant on them to change at the moment.

I found using the follow mods/rule to be a great mix. -RT2 -TAC Lifesupport -Kerbal Economy -Preemptivly using goo and science jr as one shot returns without transmission

I am running kerbal economy and remote tech 2 climbing through the tech tree. It was time to head for Duna. I rigged a dish probe to leave in orbit and a Viking style lander to deposit unconnected (had to retract long range antenna on entry!) Going well I had a close call on bingo fuel just getting satellite into orbit and lander on "crash course". About to retract the panels and antenna when, no connection, WHAT!?! Thirty min till atmosphere I rush back to kerbin, geostationary satellite, not so stationary, has slipped out of position! I rush another up and regained connection just in time to button-up the lander for entry. The probe parachutes in beautifully intact and the Duna satellite does a close flyby to wake it up. Can't wait for the remote tech 2 flight computer and delay implementation, the pinical of my KSP fun!

Thank you for this excellent mod!!! I tried so hard to get mission control, paired with other things to give the right feeling. It was always too linear Kerbal economy paired with remote tech is giving me the freedom with fiscal/science and infrastructure constraints. I am a KSP vet and at the end of the road for satisfying KSP play; KE just reset the whole game