Pecan

I'm not usually a career-mode player but this is my mission-1 profile that gets mission control, the astronaut complex, tracking centre and launchpad upgraded in the first 45 minutes (game time): Mission 1 - Straight To Orbit Accept best advances from 'basic 4' contracts - new vessel, 5000m, escape atmosphere, orbit. ** Use advance money to upgrade mission control ** so you can accept more contracts, accept the others you can do immediately. Command pod & parachute, communotron 16, 10 x FL-T200 fuel tanks, T30 engine Launch, perform crew report on launch pad and transmit it. EVA, get EVA report, re-board. Liftoff, perform crew report in flight (over Kerbin's shore), transmit it (and EVA report). Get another over water and/or in upper atmosphere below 69km and transmit it, you're 'in space' above that. (T30 has been charging pod electricity so you could transmit several times - now it's off, you can't) Once in orbit the basic contracts are complete. Return to the space-centre and ** use money to upgrade astronaut centre ** EVA off-Kerbin now possible. See if there are any 'science from space', EVA or other easy contracts available. Accept them for advance, perform now if possible for science. Unlock science (basic rocketry, Survivability, Flight Control (for the probe-core and aircraft parts), Electric (for the solar-panel) to see if that makes any more contracts available. Unlocking probe-core should provide 'place satellite' contracts. Accept them for advance and ** use money to upgrade Tracking Centre ** manoeuvre nodes now available. Perform EVAs all the way around orbit for as many different biomes as possible, then de-orbit and land. Do another EVA (and crew report if possible) from wherever you've landed, then recover. Result: Mission-control, astronaut complex and tracking centre are already upgraded, now upgrade the launchpad too. Jeb is promoted to level 1, you should have over 20k in funds for your next ship and have some useful science unlocked. Incidentally - I am reconsidering upgrading the launchpad. If it costs the same (which I haven't checked) it may be better to upgrade the runway instead - it's easy to launch vertically from the runway as well as horizontally, while you can't do the latter from the launchpad, so you get more flexibility by going for the runway first. That's if I've understood the VAB/SPH changes in 0.90 properly - it should be as easy to design a rocket for launch from the runway, but I'm not sure.

I think they'll probably get a lot of attention during beta. Blizzy wrote a couple of custom ones that I downloaded to use as templates for my own, but I've never found time for it (or so many other things :-( ).

I bought KSP almost exactly a year ago and have hardly played anything else since, welcome :-) There are lots of 'how to build rockets' answers in the tutorial in my signature, almost everything else has at least one dedicated tutorial in http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/forums/54-Tutorials as well. Bookmark http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/28352-The-Drawing-Board-A-library-of-tutorials-and-other-useful-information si the best place for an index to them all. Have fun.

Yes, it's just the executables. The engine KSP uses (Unity) doesn't work well on 64-bit windows so it, and KSP have a lot of problems at the moment. Just like mods don't see the OS though, a lot of players don't see the OS, engine or application - they just shout "Yr mod sux" and a lot of people in the modding community got fed-up for being blamed for underlying issues that were nothing to do with them.

And my point is that if you've made things too hard for yourself with settings or mods the solution is for you to stop making it so hard for yourself, not for Squad to change the game for everyone else.

;-) And don't forget that with default settings you can upgrade mission control, the launchpad, astronaut complex and tracking centre after just the first, 45-minute, mission.

Give Dres some love! Now it'll hug you back :-)

SSTOs are way less efficient than staged designs, why would you think one could do this in less mass?

I don't understand the question. By the time I'd completed my first mission, 43 minutes into the game, I'd upgraded mission control, the tracking centre, launchpad and astronaut complex. If you're using hard settings or mods and finding it too hard then, er, stop making it so hard for yourself ^^. Apart from that, we already know there will be another, "level 0", of buildings - that's the starter one that looked like a US trailer-park and farm buildings but was not re-modelled in time for 0.90. Expect it in the next update.

Although there is no warp drive there is time-warp, so if you don't have other things going on you can just 'fast forward' past the drifting-through-space parts. In any case the KSP solar-system is on a different scale to the real one - you can get to Mun in 5 hours efficiently. As there are no other stars in the stock game there isn't any interstellar travel and lightspeed engines aren't really an issue.

SCANSat's great. As the satellites map the surface of each body they also reveal 'anomalies' - any odd "Easter Eggs" that the developers have put into the game. They make interesting/amusing/amazing places to visit, in order to find out what they are!

Yep - thanks for that.

Ah right - I don't usually do career mode as it's so complicated and insane. Erm, your ship isn't exactly 'start tech', is it. I'm in the wrong discussion I think (yours is right, mine isn't) but I've been saying what I did with tech-0, mission-1.

"Finally"?! 0.90 has only been out a few days! (No idea at all is the answer. I'd better find out before I start launching the things ^^) If it's not, I'll wait on quite a few other missions until it is.

There is quite a lot of difference between version 9 and 90. There isn't quite as much between 0.9 and 0.90, but it is significant ^^. Don't cheat, use SCANSat!

No, it looks like a ... phallic symbol. It's just the way things are.

Or you could just use all the contract payments for getting to orbit to upgrade the astronaut complex and so allow EVA off-Kerbin in the first place ... ETA for below - http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/103878-18t-%28or-less%29-Returnable-Manned-Mun-Lander?p=1613524&viewfull=1#post1613524 and the posts that follow it in that thread.

LOL - Oh you bread heads ^^ Jurisdiction and therefore legal opinion varies. Squad being a registered company *and the legal owner of KSP, trademarks, etc. etc.* in Mexico that 'should' - although I don't see it mentioned anywhere - be the prevailing jurisdiction for the rest of the world. If you want permission you need it in writing from Squad. De facto and de jure in most Western (European, Australsian, American, Japanese, most African, some Asian) jurisdictions Squad would own any pictures they publish, including in the software itself. You would own any other pictures you take usingthe software. IANAL - but I Am A Judge (UK Magistrate). Seek legal advice before committing yourself - it's the only way lawyers can stay richer than their clients.

Thanks - I laughed :-) My resolution - write a manual for beginners

I haven't even got the faintest idea what funds you start with in career mode, it's a silly distraction from rocket design as far as I'm concerned. Here are the screenshots though: Leftmost is completed contracts (there are no failed/cancelled - I'm not that shallow). Middle is active - those I've taken for the advance but haven't yet completed. Right are contracts available, not not accepted, at the moment. This is ~45m into the game, when the first mission has landed and been recovered. @5thHorseman - there is 'enough' ^^ science from the initial crew-reports and launch/5,000m/atmosphere/orbit contracts to unlock a fair bit. The rest of the unlocks came, mostly, when I'd landed. The point remains - spend 'whatever' as soon as you can. In the middle of a mission it might make a whole new set of possibilities available (such as all the EVAs). Guys - suck it and see :-) Stuff we can all agree (probably): 1 - You start with 'launch new', '5,000m', 'leave atmosphere' and 'orbit' contracts. 2 - A pod, parachute, 10xFL-T200 fuel tanks and T30 is plenty to make orbit and back (if you know how to fly). 3 - You can only accept 2 contracts at the start

@WanderingKid - whatever the default settings are, I only mess about with career to see if it has anything interesting to add, otherwise I design and build in sandbox. There are no extra points for doing things the 'hard' way (CSM Hall, 1982) There was exactly ONE 'science from space' contract during my first mission, and even that was probably just lucky. I certainly wouldn't want to bank on it again. The visual contract was an entirely unexpected one and I'd think the chance of that was practically zero - it lterally appeared between my de-orbit burn and re-entry. There weren't any other contracts I could complete during this mission but there were several - with the upgraded mission control - that I could accept now and complete, maybe, in four or five years ... *Yeah! Like I'm going to run the game that long!" .. Apologies for writing it wrongly. Get the advance payment, leverage the advance payment, do what you wanted to (penalties for failure are going to catch up with you a LOT later, if at all). Havng said that I only took contracts that I was willing - and expecting to be able - to complete. Screenshots follow ... Here is the blurb: Escape atmosphere: advance 9,449, completion 29,528/15/95 Launch new vessel: advance 1,835, completion 4,587/5/11 Orbit Kerbin: advance 14,764, completion 59.055/30/142 Visual Survey: advance 3,787, completion 15,907/10/18 Science data: advance 5,000, completion 30,000/1/150 Altitude 5000m: advance 459, completion 2,294/0/11

No, you nailed it first time. "Transmit or recover", although crew-report transmissions are fine on the way up thanks to the T30 recharging the pod battery (as you were all speculating), the rest is returned. Here are my mission notes, made after the event: Mission 1 - Straight To Orbit Accept best advance money from 'basic 4' contracts - new vessel, 5000m, escape atmosphere, orbit. ***Use advance money to upgrade mission control so you can accept more contracts.*** Command pod & parachute, communotron 16, 10 x FL-T200 fuel tanks, T30 engine 'Launch', perform crew report on launch pad and transmit it. EVA, get EVA report. Liftoff, perform crew report in flight (over Kerbin's shore), transmit it (and EVA report). Get another over water and/or in upper atmosphere below 69km and transmit it, 'in space' above that. (T30 has been charging pod electricity so you transmit several times - now it's off, you can't) This has completed the basic contracts. Once in orbit return to the space-centre and ***use money to upgrade astronaut centre - EVA off-Kerbin now possible.*** See if there are any 'science from space', EVA or other easy contracts available. Accept them for advance, perform now if possible. Check for any other contracts that can be completed straight away. Unlock science (basic rocketry, Survivability, Flight Control (for the probe-core and aircraft parts), Electric (for the solar-panel) to see if that makes any more available. Perform EVAs all the way around orbit for as many different biomes as possible, then de-orbit and land. Do another EVA (and crew report if possible) from wherever you've landed, then recover. Result: Mission-control and astronaut complex are already upgraded, now upgrade the launchpad too. Jeb is promoted to level 1, you should have over 100k in funds and some useful science unlocked. As it happens I also got a lucky fluke 'visual survey' contract just West of KSC that I just happened to fly over on the way to landing. Can't expect that to come-up too often though. "Explore Mun" for second mission maybe, although I think I should upgrade the TC first. Satellite contracts should pay for that (I think, haven't looked as I've only just got back from work) plus I can start putting up SCANSats as I have the solar panel. ETA: It wasn't a boring mission at all as the only even slightly 'grindy' bit was repeated EVAs and, since it was only for one orbit, I just time-warped to the next biome (by eye, in map view), reverted to 1xtime, EVA & report, re-board, repeat ... Got 8 in one orbit, plus the crew reports and one 'science from space' contract. The big trick is to upgrade, unlock science and get new contracts as soon as possible - don't wait until the end of the mission. LOL - it turns out I have enough satellite missions available the advances pay for the TC upgrade as well :-)

Career mode is emphatically NOT a way into KSP for new players. Meanwhile, more than 80% said we wanted a dV display in a forum poll this year - can't have too much information ^^.

Same here, without the SRB. In the process upgraded mission control, the astronaut complex and launchpad and got enough science to get the OX-STAT solar panel (which means I can now put permanent satellites up).

Rushing off to work but I'd like to point out that after my first mission I had upgraded the launchpad, astronaut complex and mission control as well as unlocked (some) science as far as the OX-STAT solar panel.