Well, that was one short career...

[Xyphos]

Started a new career mode, built the noob pod and launched it, got the free bonuses, went to look for contracts and...

1. test the hammer in escape trajectory
   
2. test the radial decoupler in escape trajectory
   
3. test the rockomax decoupler in escape trajectory
   
4. ferry 2 kerbals in suborbit around kerbin
   
5. ferry 1 kerbal in full orbit around kerbin
   
6. ferry 3 kerbals in suborbit around the mun
   

well, damn... I don't have those parts unlocked and there's no way I'm getting out of kerbin's atmosphere with only a flea...

re-rolling.

[Alshain]

It gives them to you when you when you accept the contract. They will have a blue background in the VAB and it will lock again when you complete the contract. You don't have to worry whether you have the part or not... at all. (There are too many other things to worry about, like why the heck does it want me to drag a Kickback SRB to solar orbit?)

[Plume & Akakak]

Bah ? Just timewarp til new missions pop up.

Get back in that seat, sir, tis not over.

[Wanderfound]

Eh?

1) Accept "test hammer" contract.

2) Use the hammers to send as many tourists as you like on suborbital hops.

Or, alternately:

1) Put a crew capsule plus goo pod on the launchpad. Do crew report, goo observation, EVA report. Recover vessel.

2) Do the same thing on the runway.

3) Unlock the first few nodes of the tech tree, which gives you enough tech for an LF rocket which can reach orbit.

[Xyphos]

Eh?

1) Accept "test hammer" contract.

2) Use the hammers to send as many tourists as you like on suborbital hops.

Or, alternately:

1) Put a crew capsule plus goo pod on the launchpad. Do crew report, goo observation, EVA report. Recover vessel.

2) Do the same thing on the runway.

3) Unlock the first few nodes of the tech tree, which gives you enough tech for an LF rocket which can reach orbit.

you don't get hammers when you first start, only fleas.

[Alshain]

you don't get hammers when you first start, only fleas.

Read the other replies. You get the hammer when you accept the contract.

[Captain Sierra]

Eh?

1) Accept "test hammer" contract.

2) Use the hammers to send as many tourists as you like on suborbital hops.

Or, alternately:

1) Put a crew capsule plus goo pod on the launchpad. Do crew report, goo observation, EVA report. Recover vessel.

2) Do the same thing on the runway.

3) Unlock the first few nodes of the tech tree, which gives you enough tech for an LF rocket which can reach orbit.

Other option:

Accept "test launch clamp <insert anything other than "on the pad" here>" contract.

Free launch clamps.

[Alshain]

Other option:

Accept "test launch clamp <insert anything other than "on the pad" here>" contract.

Free launch clamps.

Lol, that bug was fixed. They fixed the system to not ask the impossible. It still asks the ridiculously difficult though. Just two days ago I saw a contract to build a base, in an asteroid, around Moho.

[Woksaus]

Bah ? Just timewarp til new missions pop up.

Get back in that seat, sir, tis not over.

Declining a contract makes a new one pop-up immediately, right? Saves you the hassle of timewarping...

[Captain Sierra]

Lol, that bug was fixed. They fixed the system to not ask the impossible. It still asks the ridiculously difficult though. Just two days ago I saw a contract to build a base, in an asteroid, around Moho.

Excuse me? I literally just had a "test launch clamp in orbit of Kerbin" contract, I kid you not. If its fixed then why am I exploiting it?

[guitarxe]

Maybe I'm missing something, but what's stopping you from declining the contract to get a different one?

[problemecium]

^ This. No timewarping or unlocking is necessary. Just reject them.

There is no penalty for rejecting contracts at the outset (only for canceling after accepting them), and new contracts will spawn to ensure you always have some available. If you reject a lot in a short span, the game might fall behind, in which case do something else (or timewarp if you like) for a few hours and a new batch will appear.

[Alshain]

Excuse me? I literally just had a "test launch clamp in orbit of Kerbin" contract, I kid you not. If its fixed then why am I exploiting it?

I couldn't say. Are you running the latest version of KSP?

[Mipe]

"Test part" contracts temporarily unlock the part for you. Had you actually accepted the contract and tried it, you would have known it, but instead you opted to throw the towel in and complain.

[Guest]

Declining a contract makes a new one pop-up immediately, right? Saves you the hassle of timewarping...

I spend a lot of time clicking that red X, too much time IMO.

[Streetwind]

Since when do you get tourist contracts to the Mun without achieving orbit? I have a feeling that that one at minimum is just plain made up...

Not to mention that you don't get ANY contracts without leaving the atmosphere. Which I suppose could be done with fleas if you absolutely went out of your way, but that's not something I'd expect from a person who can't get the 5 science points to unlock the Hammer. (You don't even have to launch a vessel for that.)

Testing the 2.5m decoupler doesn't appear until 2-3 tech nodes in either, so the claim that he doesn't have access to the Hammer is wrong too.

So yeah, I call shenanigans on OP's post.

Edited July 27, 2015 by Streetwind

[Scotius]

Lol, that bug was fixed. They fixed the system to not ask the impossible. It still asks the ridiculously difficult though. Just two days ago I saw a contract to build a base, in an asteroid, around Moho.

This is at least reasonable. I got a contract to ferry two tourists on a suborbital flight...on the Sun. I'm thinking they are members of some suicidal Sun cult

[Alshain]

This is at least reasonable. I got a contract to ferry two tourists on a suborbital flight...on the Sun. I'm thinking they are members of some suicidal Sun cult

That isn't completely unreasonable either

It says put them on a suborbital flight, it doesn't say to leave them there till they impact. I wouldn't want to do it anyway, I can only imagine the Delta V required. But theoretically can be completed.

[Terwin]

That isn't completely unreasonable either

It says put them on a suborbital flight, it doesn't say to leave them there till they impact. I wouldn't want to do it anyway, I can only imagine the Delta V required. But theoretically can be completed.

Did one just the other day, had a parent ship with a tiny automated capsule in the hold(along with ISRU), landed on Minmus to top off fuel and fill ore, burned a couple KM with the mother ship, undocked the pod, burned the ion engines for a while until the perapsis went inside the sun, waited to leave Kerbin SOI, return burn on both mothership and pod to Minmus orbit(pod currently in orbit, mothership still on it's way).

Once I get back to minmus orbit I'll klaw the pod, refill fuel from Minmus mining and head home.

Not at all cost-efficient, but I took a station orbiting Minmus contract on the mothership to pay for the trip.

Notes:

* below ~2km/s around Kerbol put me sub-orbital (Kerbin is ~9.2km/s)

* I had minmus between Kerbin and Kerbol, so I am sure that saved me at least a little d-v

* I had originally planned to rendezvous near the edge of the Kerbin SOI, but both had fuel to get to Minmus, and I have a lot more experience with docking in low orbit where 3 extra orbits costs me less than 2 hours of in-game-time

[imaspacestation]

This is at least reasonable. I got a contract to ferry two tourists on a suborbital flight...on the Sun. I'm thinking they are members of some suicidal Sun cult

I have an inkling who they might be... Praise the Sun!

[JetJaguar]

A tip, you can use test contracts in an early career game as a way to use parts before you've unlocked their node. They remain available so long as their contract remains unfulfilled (I swear, eventually I'll get around to testing the skipper on an escape trajectory...).

[Cdr_Zeta]

Hi,

This is the reason I take about a month to redo the Science tree.

cdr_zeta

[keeper]

I was on about day 230, unlocked all of tech tree, had 26 MILLION funds, had an ARMY of kerbalions, accidently spent my entire day off building modular pieces for a huge mining station...

Launched the bulk of it last night in one ship, in my last stretch of energy before colapsing of pure exhaustion I punched in co-ordinates to land, and eyes shut.

Got home from work today to see i have landed - with the mid stage. lol

No worries, procedure for this: hit f5, apply full power, shutdown engines, do all the detaching and whatnot re-land nearby and continue as planned.

It goes like - tap f5 so quick it doesn't save, apply full power, detach everything, have a mish mash on the small ascent, come in the landing, OH NO IM GONNA LAND ON TOP OF ALL MA JETISION JUNK then i sploded.

Thank god for F9, only the last time I actually quicksaved was on day 59. I loaded the persistant and that had mirraculously been written over immidiatly upon loading the quicksave. Well to that I say, no thank you.

I think i'm going to give ksp a looong break.

[ajburges]

A tip, you can use test contracts in an early career game as a way to use parts before you've unlocked their node. They remain available so long as their contract remains unfulfilled (I swear, eventually I'll get around to testing the skipper on an escape trajectory...).

One game it was the Kickbacks, in another landing gear. Launch clamps on the ground can be a good score to enable an early, unstable rocket.

[LABHOUSE]

I accepted a contract like that just so I could save on unlocking the part.