Do you run missions in serial or more than one at a time?

[Invader Jim]

I almost always play one mission at a time. However, I am getting close to trying my first interplanetary mission and head to Duna. I have not decided whether I will run other missions during the long transit time or whether I will just warp the time away.

Do you tend to do one mission at a time or do you have multiple missions engaged simultaneously?

[Rickenbacker]

Depends. I do try to combine them, just ran a mission where I set up a base on Minmus, planted a flag there, and rescued a kerbonaut from Minmus orbit, all with the same craft. Forgot to get some science from Kerbin orbit on the way out, otherwise I would have done four missions in one!

[Invader Jim]

Depends. I do try to combine them, just ran a mission where I set up a base on Minmus, planted a flag there, and rescued a kerbonaut from Minmus orbit, all with the same craft. Forgot to get some science from Kerbin orbit on the way out, otherwise I would have done four missions in one!

I do the same but I meant do you have more than one ship doing something or in transit at a time?

[Slam_Jones]

A lot of time I'll start out a career only doing one ship at a time.

Invariably, I forget, and end up having flights everywhere.

[Invader Jim]

Maybe I should have said "multiple Ships" instead of "multiple missions" because I was talking one ship doing a mission(s) and another one doing a mission at the same time. You could run a lot of missions with one ship in the time it takes to another ship to transit to Duna.

So are you likely to time warp a long transit or run other missions with another ship during a portion of the transit period?

[Jouni]

I tried playing a "real" space program with multiple missions going on, but it wasn't fun. Far too often, I found myself wanting to continue a particular mission immediately, instead of having to wade through other missions for hours and hours before getting there. Now I just start new sandbox games for new missions and play the career mode one mission at a time.

[Adester]

In career mode i start the transfers and do other stuff instead of just timewarping, but within the Kerbin system i only do one thing at a time. When i play sanddbox there is ever only one ship doing something... thats how one unlucky Kerbal ended being over 50 years on eve befor rescued.

[amorymeltzer]

Once I get the tech tree mostly done, I'll usually have between 5 and 10 at a time. Kerbal Alarm Clock is obviously required for this sort of thing, but I like running a lot of stuff at once. I'm a bit of a completionist, and I like having crews maxed at experience, so there's always plenty to do! Not always transit times, I'll usually have two or three to the Mun or Minmus at once. Plus, every planet and moon needs scanning and at least one station...

[Superfluous J]

Yes.

For my personal enjoyment, I much prefer having dozens of missions going at the same time, with KAC telling me when each one is ready for my attention. It feels more like I'm running a space program, and not piloting a space ship.

For YouTube, I think I'm going to always just run one thing at a time (though that one mission may have several sub-objectives) because it can get pretty confusing, a month or more later, when I'm returning to a ship that nobody - not even I - remember the purpose for.

[SDEngineer]

In the early game, when I'm just within the Kerbin SOI, just one at a time. Once I go interplanetary though, I definitely do other things as well, but I do tend to just accomplish a few things then go back and time warp whatever interplanetary mission is closest to it's next "checkpoint". For example, current game I have a lander halfway to Eve (just finished fine tuning the intercept). I have a reasonable dV launch window to Duna coming up in about 2 Kerbal weeks, so I've launched that mission into orbit awaiting the transfer burn, and am meanwhile running a few incidental contracts (rescuing a few Kerbals, launching a throwaway solar station, etc) to pay for a new Minmus fuel mining station I want to launch to Minmus. I should have those done by the time the Duna launch window comes up, then I can start the Duna burn, and swap back to the Eve mission to time warp to an Eve rendevous - land the Eve lander and do some SCIENCE!, then swap back to the Duna probe which should be ready for it's fine tuning burn by about that point. Then head back to Kerbin and do a few more local contracts/infrastructure building, and look for another good launch window for another interplanetary mission, and repeat the cycle.

[moronwrocket]

I ran several missions at the same time in 0.9. Topped out around 8-12, but got to the point that timings in KAC were starting to run up against one another. Some pretty tense moments waiting for a burn/landing to complete so I could jump to another ship. I was running multiple XP missions to Mun/Minmus/Sol, along with building my Minmus OKS/MKS base, and the occasional satellite contract. Right before 1.0 came out my saves were around 15 MB.

In 1.0, I am going to try and limit myself to 4 highly-active missions at a time, with some additional interplanetary cruise missions. So far I've got 2 probes to Duna, 1 science lab to Minmus, and another Kerbin tour bus getting ready to launch. Kerbal Construction Time helps to spread out the missions, although I just noticed I have 6 rockets waiting in my build queue now.

[Jonboy]

I usually do one at a time, because in-game time is a basically limitless resource. However, sometimes I have saves where I simulate a realistic colonization effort of Duna or Laythe. If I'm doing that, I'll do launches at every transfer window to be more realistic and I'll end up with multiple sorties of ships in various stages of transfer at the same time (and a big queue of Kerbal Alarm Clock reminders so I can switch back and forth to make maneuvers as I time warp).

[yorshee]

I do lots of missions at the same time - KAC helps notify me when things need to have attention paid to them. I could do hundreds of missions that require me to go to the Mun or Minmus in the time that it takes me to get to Jool, after all.

[FlyingPete]

In the Kerbin system, I tend to have a couple of things going on. Given that the transit time to Minmus takes a few days, I'll have something going on at the Mun while the crew are coming or going. I usually have a space station and landers at one or both of Kerbin's moons so there's always some exploring or mission support to be done. Interplanetary missions are the same really- I'll do all the preparation at Kerbin, send the mission on its way, then focus on other things for a while. I think it adds to the gameplay for things not to be instant.

[zarakon]

Sometimes I'll do simultaneous flights if they are related to or supporting each other in some way, but typically I focus on one thing at a time. When I plan out an interplanetary mission, I want to actually see it through to completion, not switch off to do other stuff.

[DancesWithSquirrels]

In the early game (orbit, Mun, Minmas) I tend to run one or at most a couple of simultaneous missions - a manned mission to collect science and perhaps a probe or two for contract work. Past that I install Kerbal alarm Clock and run 3-4 missions simultaneously.

Without KAC I find myself missing SOI transitions and burn times, so I consider that essential for multi-tasking..

[Randazzo]

Really, I do both. Just sort of depends on the situation and whether or not I've got contracts to execute.

I have also been known to launch flotillas as opposed to single vessels, technically all part of the same mission.

[Technical Ben]

I may have lost a few craft when KAC needed updating and I forgot what was flying where when.

Oh well, if I forgot about them, they cannot of been important... right?

[Bill Phil]

Depends.

A flight to the mun is okay to just do the whole thing. An LKO rendezvous is similar in that regard. But Minmus takes a while to get to. Same with planets.

One of the reasons I don't go imterplanetary very often is that windows don't show up early on, and so you have to wait. But I havevto do missions while I wait. One of the reasons I think construction time is a good idea.

[mrclucks]

Kerbin to mun I tend to do one ship at a time. Sometimes when I land or get into orbit I'll launch something else/ do a contract for funds. Past the mun I'll launch another ship or two. If I have several ships between minmus and the mun I'll switch between them to complete the missions or at least get into a stable orbit.

Interplanetary I transfer and run other missions, occasionally switching to the tracking station to see how long I have left before changing soi.

I should really get KAC

[Alshain]

Early on when I don't have cash it's definitely serial, but later when it takes longer, I usually expand out rather than time warp.

[tater]

I never just warp to targets, I always run concurrent missions.

[Rickenbacker]

Ahh. Well, i generally run one ship at a time, though sometimes I'll leave one in orbit around a planet or moon where it's supposed to land while I send off a refueling mission or probe. I'm no Scott Manley, holding fifteen missions in the air at once .

[Aethon]

I feel guilty when I time warp. There's always something that needs to be done.

Thanks Kerbal Alarm Clock.

[sisyphean]

well i pretty much exclusively play realism overhaul now so its pretty much a necessity, my first moon mission often pays for itself with the satalite contracts i complete during the 3-4 day transfer, beyond mercury and mars the transfer times are just so long it would be silly to just throw away all the transfer windows....