Thoughts on what to do after Mun and Minmus Missions

[21kamando]

Hello Ladies and Gents, so i'm about to launch my last two missions to Mun and Minmus (at least for the near future). Up to this point my career mode has been a slightly RP-ish Apollo style manned program and a limited unmanned program (few probes to Mun and Minmus and a whole lot of commercial satellites to pay the bills.) Now I've been playing for a few months (steam says I'm up to 170 hours now) but this will be my first career mode play-through to more or less complete everything in Kerbin's SOI. So I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do after I'm done with my next two missions so i thought I would share the basic plan I've come up with and see if you guys had any suggestions or thoughts.

So to give a quick rundown of my current status; I've fully upgraded the KSC and fully unlocked the tech tree. I've already gone ahead and started a few strategies to convert the science I have and any future gains in to either cash or rep (currently a 9/1 split). I got a large roster of about 50 Kerbals, the majority are scientists then engineers and then pilots. I've got currently about 6.5 million in funds and I've learned from my first career play-through and I make sure that after a few missions I do a bunch of contracts and refill the coffers. These last two missions will be a dual launch with the idea that the crew to Minmus (if i get my timing right) will arrive right before the crew to Mun and basically i will run both missions at the same time. This is something I did to see if I can manage to run multiple missions at once. Other active missions include a basic probe on its way to low solar orbit and another on its way to Duna.

So now onto my plan; My main focus and the focus of my manned program will be the construction of my first space station. The main section and the first section I'm going to build will the be main service mods and the science labs (2 or 3?) plus a few experiments so the crew can keep the labs running and generate science and therefore cash. The next bit to be built will two docking areas for visiting craft along with two areas for the assembly of future vessels in orbit. Also i will add several fuel tanks so the station can act as a refueling point for future missions. Finally once the station is fully operational I'm going to start building at least two large interplanetary ships. While I'm still nailing down what I want to do with those i do know that I want them to be able to reach another SOI and return to Kerbin orbit, carry at least two crews (the flight crew for the vessel itself and two exploration crews that will take SSTO shuttles down to the planet/moon), have some ability to mine and process its own fuel, and carry at least one lab to process the science the ground teams collect. During the building of the station and the ships my secondary focus will be sending probes and rovers to most other planets and moons in preparation for future manned missions.

Now this is a truly rough outline of my plan and i bet I'm forgetting something but its late (nearly 1 am) and I wanted to get out there while it was still fresh in my head, so here it is. Anywho, I would love to hear any feedback you guys have. So please feel free to ask me anything. And thanks.

[Majorjim!]

I didn't read the wall of text because I am a lazy so and so.

Go to Duna man. It takes less dv than going to the mun if done right. And it's magical!

[Aethon]

Welcome to the Forums.

I would agree with Majorjim. Any ship that will land and return from Mun will land on Duna.

One of the great things about KSP is there is so much to do. Perusing the forum will provide you with many ideas on new mission concepts with varying degrees of difficulty. Duna mission? SSTO? How about a Moho orbiter, or an Eve sample return? Space stations are fun, however in my experience, new players tend to make them too big, but hey, that's fun too. You are only limited by your imagination.

As far as running multiple missions at once, check out K(erbal) A(larm) C(lock). For many reasons, I find it an absolute necessity. Good luck!

Edited July 19, 2015 by Aethon

[Sharpy]

Before you go Kerbed, send a bunch of probe missions everywhere (but Eve foremost). Multiple small landers, possibly with rover capability. Let them fly to their destinations while you build your base.

[Thomassino]

Space station around Kerbin, then Duna/Eve/Moho/Jool flybys, then orbiter missions, landers (obviously Jool landers that would have been pathetic )perma-outposts+mining stations on Minmus and Mun, manned interplanetary missions with return, then permanent Duna, Laythe etc. colonies and space stations. I usually do it this way.

[Scotius]

If you do not mind mods, couple of science\miscellaneous ones can add a lot to your game. Life support will force you to actually pay attention to accomodation given to crews, and how effective your navigation is. Antenna Range and SCANSat mods will give you good reason to build and send mapping satellites and relay stations. Station Science will add many new experiments and scientific modules for your space stations.

[juanml82]

Plant a flag in every body in the system (well, except Jool) and return those crews.

And nothing about sending a probe first to test the waters, so to speak. Send manned expeditions. And if they fail, send a rescue during the next transfer window. And nothing of running a, for instance, Duna mission and waiting for the ships to land in Kerbin after their return to send an expedition to, say, Dres. Send fleets at every transfer window.

Now I got to go. I have to build and send a small fleet to Dres at about the same time my Duna fleet is beginning to enter Duna sphere of influence

[cantab]

The solar system is your oyster. Space stations are of course popular, but keep a close eye on the part count or you'll have a lag-fest.

[LordFerret]

The solar system is your oyster. Space stations are of course popular, but keep a close eye on the part count or you'll have a lag-fest.

I thought that was half the fun.

[Norcalplanner]

The solar system is your oyster. Space stations are of course popular, but keep a close eye on the part count or you'll have a lag-fest.

Totally agree. Fewer, larger parts plus KJR and a plan for the station ahead of time will go a long way. I try to keep my workaday stations under 50 parts and my big impressive ones below 150.

[21kamando]

Wow. I wasn't expecting this much feedback, very cool.

As far as running multiple missions at once, check out K(erbal) A(larm) C(lock). For many reasons, I find it an absolute necessity. Good luck!

Thanks, I gave it a look over and downloaded it yesterday. Found it very useful when I ran both missions together.

Before you go Kerbed, send a bunch of probe missions everywhere (but Eve foremost). Multiple small landers, possibly with rover capability. Let them fly to their destinations while you build your base.

Space station around Kerbin, then Duna/Eve/Moho/Jool flybys, then orbiter missions, landers (obviously Jool landers that would have been pathetic )perma-outposts+mining stations on Minmus and Mun, manned interplanetary missions with return, then permanent Duna, Laythe etc. colonies and space stations. I usually do it this way.

I'm thinking that's what I'm going to do. I was watching to tutorial vids Scott Manley did and I think I came up with a good orbiter/lander/rover that I can use in my first missions to Duna and Eve based on his design. Might even be a little adventurous and try at least one return mission with one of the probes.

If you do not mind mods, couple of science\miscellaneous ones can add a lot to your game. Life support will force you to actually pay attention to accomodation given to crews, and how effective your navigation is. Antenna Range and SCANSat mods will give you good reason to build and send mapping satellites and relay stations. Station Science will add many new experiments and scientific modules for your space stations.

I've actually been downloading mods all yesterday (hence the late reply) and I did find Antenna Ranger and SCANSat very interesting. Also picked up Kerbal Engineer, Near Future Tech, KIS and KAS. Still browsing KerbalStuff and Curse, so any more suggestions would be welcomed.

Plant a flag in every body in the system (well, except Jool) and return those crews.

And nothing about sending a probe first to test the waters, so to speak. Send manned expeditions. And if they fail, send a rescue during the next transfer window. And nothing of running a, for instance, Duna mission and waiting for the ships to land in Kerbin after their return to send an expedition to, say, Dres. Send fleets at every transfer window.

Now I got to go. I have to build and send a small fleet to Dres at about the same time my Duna fleet is beginning to enter Duna sphere of influence

Well thanks to KAC, I now know that i got about a year before Duna is in the right spot, so i figure in the mean time I'm going to focus on the space station I talked about while I brute force a hand full of probes to both Duna and Eve.

[Captain H@dock]

Well thanks to KAC, I now know that i got about a year before Duna is in the right spot, so i figure in the mean time I'm going to focus on the space station I talked about while I brute force a hand full of probes to both Duna and Eve.

That's the thing: from your first post it seems as you're playing 'real time' (ie. you aren't going to jump to day 320 just to be launching a Duna mission).

Since I do the same, I would suggest you map out the up-coming transfer windows (to Eve, Duna, Jool and Dres). This way you will be able to plan in advance when to get things in orbit for these.

Due to trip durations being wildly different for these bodies, you will hardly be able to run them concurrently, except if you make them self-sustaining. Leaving Kerbin SOI, makes any sort of 'real-time' playing quite difficult...

In the mean time, here are some things you can do:

1. launch some 15,000 dV probes right now

2. start building your station

3. validate your inter-planetary ships by flying test-runs at the mun

4. return your test-runs ships to your kerbin fuel station

5. practice your hohmann transfer skills by doing mun <-> minmus trips

6. train for multiple burns in Kerbin system (Pe kicking)

That should keep you busy until the first optimal windows. At the risk of getting your bored until you actually get to the other planets.

[21kamando]

That's the thing: from your first post it seems as you're playing 'real time' (ie. you aren't going to jump to day 320 just to be launching a Duna mission).

Since I do the same, I would suggest you map out the up-coming transfer windows (to Eve, Duna, Jool and Dres). This way you will be able to plan in advance when to get things in orbit for these.

Due to trip durations being wildly different for these bodies, you will hardly be able to run them concurrently, except if you make them self-sustaining. Leaving Kerbin SOI, makes any sort of 'real-time' playing quite difficult...

In the mean time, here are some things you can do:

1. launch some 15,000 dV probes right now

2. start building your station

3. validate your inter-planetary ships by flying test-runs at the mun

4. return your test-runs ships to your kerbin fuel station

5. practice your hohmann transfer skills by doing mun <-> minmus trips

6. train for multiple burns in Kerbin system (Pe kicking)

That should keep you busy until the first optimal windows. At the risk of getting your bored until you actually get to the other planets.

hmm, didn't think about doing mun <-> minmus trips. thanks for the tip. I was also figuring that depending on how much time the station and the exploration ships take to assemble I might even try building smaller stations/test colonies on Mun and Minmus. At the very least get my mining colony on minmus started.