Self-imposed KSP rules. Things we do that make things more difficult.

[Mikki]

I use to have at least some room left for eventually rescued Kerbals on every interplanetary mission, and i try to use no single Kerbal landers, so in case they get stranded, they have company until rescue.
Rescue is mandatory for allready hired crew.

[Evanitis]

I don't have 'global rules', but my separate career playtroughs usually have some restrictions to make it more fun. I'm having a horizontal launch only game for a while, and one where I only play in IVA with RasterPropMonitor, and first person EVA.

I also found much fun in forcing myself to -never- do the slightest math before a mission, or to meticulously plan each stage with low margins of error. I enjoy both extremes.

[Bersagliere81]

Tac ls and remote tech always.

With 1.1 i am going to start career mode on hard difficoult. No mistakes allowed

[cantab]

No quickloads or reverts. Exceptions are for 1) blatant bugs, and 2) unmanned launches that fail early, where it's just quicker to revert than to wait for the debris to land. (And in Science Mode there's no impact in that revert other than gaining a few in-game minutes).

[Samlow]

Currently Im doing a interstellar quest-alike campaign.

My rules:

- No reverting
- No quickload to get around failures (quickload is used to get around bugs)
- Kerbals can and will die. Dead means dead. Also, no man left behind.
- Kerbal life support and remote tech change the base!
- SETI balance and tech tree add science longevity

[r_rolo1]

Not sending anything manned to a place where a unmanned ships was not sent before the launch of any eventual manned mission. Simply because it is like that RL works 

It gets interesting when you play on Career with stock rules, given that SQUAD is a die hard fan of having little green men on the right bottom corner of the screen :/

[UnusualAttitude]

The lack of any type of life support requirements or obligation to provide crew with living space is IMHO the big immersion - killer of the stock game. Even RO/RSS doesn't stop you doing this without additional dependencies. 

Having played (and enjoyed) both, it actually feels more believable to be sending a large, well designed ship with crew accommodation and supplies to Duna in the toy solar system than it does to be launching a Mk1 lander can on an 80 year transfer to Pluto.

So yes, some additional self - inflicted rules are always required... 

[Torgo]

Can't play without KCT, USI-LS and RT. They add so much to the depth of the game. 

For me, all craft have a set budget, which is based on existing contracts and possible future contracts. A rover can go over budget by 100% on the first launch, but then will remain active while it completes other contracts that come down later. 

Minimum of 30 extra days supplies for any mission in Kerbon SOI that will leave Kerbin orbit. 

All launch vehicles need some sort of recovery function. TMI stages will impact on the target moon and be destroyed. Stage Recovery helps craft stay within budget parameters by turning spent boosters back into some funds. 

Once a mission is completed, the craft is de-orbited or otherwise disposed of. 

[Wjolcz]

19 hours ago, monstah said:

On living quarters, I assume (before I installed USI-LS, that is) that I need 2 times the crew space for a long duration mission, plus company. That means at least 3 aboard, with room for 6.

Same. At least one Htichhiker per every two kerbals. I also never send interplanetary ships without having at least 3 members of the crew on board.

Edited January 5, 2016 by Veeltch

[problemecium]

Aesthetics. I guess I forgot to specify, but the dead struts nubs look ugly and do nothing useful. So I guess it minimizes part count too - I don't want to sacrifice performance for parts that aren't doing anything for me.

I'll investigate your claim about the nubs disappearing, but in my experience they always seemed to stick around forever.

[luizopiloto]

I have a lot of rules... almost like FAA...

never leave debries arround Kerbin SOI
Only use recover with crafts close to KSC, if not close, send a cargoplane to retrieve.
all spacecraft must have an abort procedure...
and other minor rules...

[monstah]

1 hour ago, Veeltch said:

Same. At least one Htichhiker per every two kerbals. I also never send interplanetary ships without having at least 3 members of the crew on board.

Hm, interesting. My approach was twice the room needed total, you seem to dedicate this space to living alone; so that's twice the needed room plus command pods and landers? I think I'll try that if/when I play without LS again.

1 hour ago, Torgo said:

Can't play without KCT, USI-LS and RT. They add so much to the depth of the game.

I liked RT, but now I think it's too much grinding for little gameplay value added (YMMV, obviously). KCT and USI-LS, on the other hand, are such an awesome combo!

[Waxing_Kibbous]

My only rule is probe cores only go on satellites/probes, which isn't too demanding. I haven't gone interplanetary yet but providing proper habitation is something that I want to implement as well.

It seems like habitation is a popular theme, here is my take on it: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/128621-idea-habitation-modules-as-life-support/

[Wjolcz]

2 hours ago, monstah said:

Hm, interesting. My approach was twice the room needed total, you seem to dedicate this space to living alone; so that's twice the needed room plus command pods and landers? I think I'll try that if/when I play without LS again.

 

I usually have my interplanetary ships controled by probes, so there are no command pods. Even if there are they are only landers. It also depends how lazy I am, of course. If I find the 1x Hitch + 1x Hitch (lander) combo sufficient then I don't add any additional 'living modules'.

I probably should download the USI-LS though. Been planing to do that for a while and since I'm about to start a new save with modded tech tree I don't see a reason why not to use it. Might be fun.

Edited January 5, 2016 by Veeltch

[Tourist]

1 hour ago, Veeltch said:

I usually have my interplanetary ships controled by probes, so there are no command pods.

I'm the opposite, but not deliberately and to my great frustration at times. Neglecting to supplement the cupola or command pod with a probe core. Why have I discovered this to be important? Well, I usually take the pilot on away missions only to discover on my return how useful it would be to have somebody in the mothership capable of operating the SAS.  

Edited January 6, 2016 by Tourist

[GoSlash27]

Most of my self- imposed rules have been covered up-stream.

Rule #1 is safety. KSP is supposed to be a "let's have fun and make explosions" kind of game, but I don't play it that way. I consider it a major failure if any of my Kerbals get killed. I have a lot of safety procedures and precautionary measures to try to keep that from ever happening.

Rule #2 is debris/ contamination. I don't launch anything without a clear plan for where it ends up. No floating debris allowed. This goes double for nuke parts. They may not return to Kerbin's atmosphere for any reason.

Rule #3 is realism. Long duration trips require proper living quarters. Short duration trips require capsules. I do not use command seats for anything except short- hop rovers and I don't stuff Kerbals into material bays.

Rule #4 is cost- effectiveness. I'm always trying to accomplish the mission with a high expectation of success, low mass in upper stages, and low total mission cost. I plan the entire mission from start to finish, engineer the stages to the mission requirement, and look for ways to stretch my operating budget.

Now... all of this applies only in "career mode" for me. I treat sandbox mode as just that; a playpen where I can experiment and develop new techniques. My goal is to not have mishaps there, but I expect them.

Additional rules: No mods of any kind and no external aids that I haven't developed myself.

Best,

-Slashy

Edited January 6, 2016 by GoSlash27

[AbacusWizard]

I like to do a lot of orbital infrastructure, even in situations where it might not be the most efficient, effective, or inexpensive solution. This usually includes space stations--one each in low orbit around Kerbin, Mun, and Minmus--with lab and crew quarters and, for the latter two, landers; large tankers in low and medium Kerbin orbit to act as fuel depots; a couple of four-seat transport skiffs to ferry small crews back and forth between the stations; a big 16-seat passenger liner for larger crews; a small harpoon-equipped interceptor to grab unwanted debris and haul it into a suborbital trajectory; a "repair cruiser" with a couple of KIS-credentialed engineers whose job is upgrading old ships with new parts. It's always fun when I can find a way to accomplish some task (from a contract or self-imposed) using only what I already have up in orbit, without needing any new launches.

[KerikBalm]

Not only do I not allow debris to be left in orbit - Re-use/recover everything after unlocking whiplashes (if I was starting over, this might be panthers, or I might even try multistage reusable rockets... I've been experimenting with such designs in sandbox)... To make a fully developed STS (not just the shuttle). Prior to that, just ensure every stage is deorbited or impacts (I still have a few pieces of debris in orbit from early career where I failed at this)

one hitchhiker per two kerbals on interplanetary mission... I've broken this sometimes... I have 2x 3 kerbal return vehicles that are 1x hitchhiker with 1x mk1-2 pod (that thing is heavy). Often I use heavier than needed parts (ie, the 3 kerbal capsule) just to make the margins thinner. Also, I forgot about it for a mission to Dres... I wasn't willing to put together the usual package for an interplantary mission (orbital fuel depot, orbital tug, maybe ISRU), so its just a basic to dres, deploy lander, come back... 3 kerbals with seating for 4.... including the 1 kerbal lander... yea... Dres is the worst assignment for my kerbals

Probes go in first... sometimes I skirt this rule by launching the manned mission before the probe arrives... but the probe always arrives first (hypothetically, if it found conditions to be hazardous, the manned ship could still alter trajectory)

No using ISRU at any point to go to Moho or Eeloo. These are challenges that just become too easy with ISRU (and they are only really challenging if one tries to make every stage/part reusable/recoverable... disposable staged designs are so easy)

No interplanetary crew size smaller than 3... must have 1 of each class, and 1 of each gender.

Duna and Laythe get surface colonies of at least 6 kerbals, 1 of each gender for each class... for you know... long term mental health... and vehicles and such for exploring the bodies in more detail (rovers, planes, hoppers, etc) as opposed to the airless worlds (and Eve) where I just do a couple/few landings and call the mission obejctives complete

No dropping nukes on kerbin.. only a few particularly good spaceplanes are permitted to use nukes and return to kerbin

Nukes must be kept away from crew areas, preferablz with some form of shield

Long missions should include a way to simulate gravity.

Example... this went to duna carrying 6 kerbals (Ignore the docked craft... thats a modded Xenon ISRU):

Capacity: pod=3, 2x cupolas = 2, 2x hitchhikers = 8, 1x lab = 2... total... 15 kerbal capaicty, only held 6 kerbals (theres also a rover, a plane, an ISRU lander, a surface hab, and a lander on the surface that add 19 to the number of enclosed crew spaces on/around duna... and then a surface hab for Ike with 10 kerbal capacity, and a station with 7 kerbal capacity). So... plenty of space once they get to the duna system, but space for 15 while travelling to it.

Hitchiker containers on long arms that allow spinning for gravity

Nukes far away, with a shadow shield (although I'd want all kerbals to be able to be in the core when the nukes are on, since  that would be even more shielding... but the center needs space for 1 more kerbal.... oops... I should have added another hitchhiker to the center)

[Randazzo]

Don't kill any kerbals.

That's my only rule.

[Gojira1000]

I avoid using NERVAs for outer system work in my career games. Forces me to do better engineering on extended mission ships. And fly more tankers. 

[Mister Dilsby]

Here are mine, so far:

Kerbfleet General Orders (partial list, some paraphrased)

0. No one gets left behind.

1. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few (or the one).

2. No dangerous Mission shall risk more than the minimum crew required to accomplish it.

3. A Kerbfleet officer must obey all lawful commands given by an officer of superior rank or appropriate civilian authority.

12. If communication with Mission Control is lost, the senior officer present in each planetary SOI shall take command of all craft within that SOI.

13. The ranking Command pilot aboard a vessel can override any order for reasons of crew safety.

14. Any member of the mission team may stop the launch countdown at any time by repeating the command "Abort" three times.

26. Any officer accused of a crime or misdemeanor shall be provided adequate representation from the office of the Judge Advocate Kerbal

27. Probes go in first.

53. All craft about to cross an SOI boundary shall notify Mission Control, and be actively tracked through the boundary.

 

...recently we've considered adding something about not leaving crews out in space alone for too long because SPACE MADNESS.

[linuxgurugamer]

1. No Kerbal dies
2. Life support (USI-LS)
3. All tech at a single level must be unlocked before moving to the next level.  I allow a single exception (ie: one in the next level)
4. FAR and DRE
5. Ships in atmosphere must be streamlined
6. Always do career
7. AntennaRange (RemoteTech, while good, is just too complicated for me)
8. No reverts in a mission, however, doing test launches and reverting is fine

I'm sure I have others, just can't think of them yet.

Edited January 6, 2016 by linuxgurugamer

[Matuchkin]

1. A kerbal may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A kerbal must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 

3. A kerbal must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

[Peder]

I use the rules
1). Kerbals must not die and should be rescued. So I also build rockets and planes with an escape system.
2). I use TAC life support system to simulate water/air/food ect.
3). Remote tech to simulate loss of radio signals so i have to think about sattelites ect.
4). not using mecjeb ( always thought that is cheating ). So i fly everything manual.

[Talavar]

I just posted this on the forum a few minutes ago.. My own rules... NO FUEL!
 I've been playing KSP in a different way. Starting with electric generation and full steel structurals and wheels and mining capabilities, but no fuel.. so the objectives are switched around... the first thing to do is, Get fuel!. Im also using Extra planetary launchpads, INfernal robotics, KSP foundry, and KAS KIS.  I first moved to a location and plopped down a launchpad near a good fuel source. This took a while.. I built paddle boats to transport everything, and some large land rovers to haul my stuff to the new location. Since Im no longer using the default space center, (other than to design my rockets for EPL) I have to mine for everything.. Also my new base is on top of a mountain in the western desert 4000 meters above sea level, (saves some fuel when launching) . This was a REAL job getting everything up there, (I built a spider that grapples the terrain to climb the mountain).. This enhanced my gameplay INCREDIBLY.  I've just wiped my save, and am starting over in a new location for a different experience. Just thought I'd throw this up here for an IDea for people who may be getting bored with the same ol same ol. Take care!

Edited January 6, 2016 by Talavar