Hi, I'm new! A couple beginner questions...

[classicaljazzman]

Greetings!

So excited to finally grab this game. I was really trying to hold out for the Wii-U version, but I just couldn't wait any longer. Anyway, I'm wondering about the best approach here. I decided to jump into science mode since it seems more paced out without too many other variables to worry about, but I'm finding that I wish I had the contracts that the career mode offers... I know this is supposed to be a challenge, but I find that much more digestible if I have small specific goals that build on each other. Is there any way to compromise on this in-game?

Secondly, I'm looking at these training modules, but judging by the names of them, they look to just give away all the answers. I mean, I see stuff about how to go into orbit, getting to the Mun, etc. Shouldn't this be more about teaching the mechanics and principles of flight and design rather than just building it for you? 

 

Thanks!

[Lich180]

The tutorials actually do a really good job of explaining the basics, and even some of the advanced stuff. I recommend going through them at least once. They don't hold your hand that much, more like give you tips and guidance on successful building, launching, flying, and keeping your nose towards space. 

As for giving yourself objectives, just try one step at a time. Launch a rocket and land safely, then aim for a suborbital flight and landing, then orbit and landing... Then you are halfway to everywhere. Hit Minmus first, it's easier to land on than Mun, unless you like a challenge.

[ZooNamedGames]

Welcome to the exciting game of KSP! Whatever you paid for this, you didn't pay enough. I've been playing KSP for 4 years and I still have many many MANY things to see and do  !

What do you own the game on? PS4? Xbox One? 

Most start with career mode since it's the most complete but science allows the same challenge but without some of the other difficulties.

Sadly there is nothing you can do to get contracts without career mode.

Definitely take the training especially rhe basics. As to the other ones, they explain how things work however in the real game when you try it for yourself, there's so much more. 

Lastly I can provide a tutorial livestream for you if you want. Complete help stream but I won't spoil the game, just explain it so you can play it without being foggy as to the mechanics! 

[FallenPhoenixRA]

Welcome to the Wonderful World of KSP!  The two guys above me have explained a lot and I would like to contribute.  Once you get Science mode down try a career mode.  The game is supposed to be fun so don't feel bad if you crash Jeb into the ground a few times.  I remember when I started KSP that I did do Science mode a lot and then I tried Career once and I was hooked so don't feel pressured to do something now.  Ease your way into the game.  Then comes the mods.  Oh boy are those fun!  There are over a thousand mods out there for all types of purposes.  My favorite is a RSS( Real Solar System)  game.  Enjoy playing KSP and I hope it will bring you many years of enjoyment to come!

[Bigbootie]

Welcome! 1000+ hours here. I have played all the modes. My preferences and reasoning:

1. Sandbox - get creative with no restrictions or grind. Your imagination is the only limit.

2. Science - less grind than career but some structure to help you have something to do.

3. Career - Ugh! Grind. Restrictive and did I mention the grind. Not a fan.

All this is my opinion of course. Fun is subjective to the individual in this game. Some people trial and error and some are all about the maths. Have fun!

Edited August 13, 2016 by Bigbootie

[Aragosnat]

Scott Manly has some decent youtube vids for new people. HE has helped me get into space. Streamers on twitch are also very helpful. Namey the Rocket Jockey group.

[ZooNamedGames]

3 minutes ago, Aragosnat said:

Scott Manly has some decent youtube vids for new people. HE has helped me get into space. Streamers on twitch are also very helpful. Namey the Rocket Jockey group.

I'll help newbies  

[OrbitalBuzzsaw]

1 hour ago, Lich180 said:

 Hit Minmus first, it's easier to land on than Mun, unless you like a challenge.

Liar! Minmus has orbital inclination!

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, OrbitalBuzzsaw said:

Liar! Minmus has orbital inclination!

Mun is easier to get flybies and practice manoeuvring and encounters with, but Minmus is far easier to land on and return from. I think Kerbin has two moons, and that they are the way they are, for the reason that they offer different challenges to players. Ultimately one should try to reach both and see which gives them an easier time.

[OrbitalBuzzsaw]

You are entitled to your strange opinion.

[Kyrt Malthorn]

Welcome to the game and the forums @classicaljazzman! Others here have dropped some great suggestions, allow me to add my two cents.

I am very like you in that, desiring a less limiting game experience, I thought science mode was right for me.  And yet, the prompts from contracts in career mode are so helpful! Here's one of my solutions:

When starting a new game, when you choose the game mode, you also choose the difficulty. If you do a custom one, you can change a lot about how career mode plays.

For instance: crank up the Fund Rewards.  This will make the cost of your rockets a non-issue.

If you also drop Fund Penalties, you lower how much everything (except rocket parts) costs - this includes the cost of hiring kerbals and upgrades to your facilities.  You can easily start the game with more than enough funds to upgrade everything to max tier, and then you're basically playing a science mode game with contracts.

 

Oh, and if you drop the decline penalty to nothing and reputation penalties as low add they can go, you won't have to worry about rep either.  (And all rep does is affect how often you see contracts with a higher number of stars, I.e. more challenging, high cost/high reward).

Edited August 13, 2016 by Kyrt Malthorn
Typos

[Jhawk1099]

3 hours ago, classicaljazzman said:

*snip*

but I find that much more digestible if I have small specific goals that build on each other. Is there any way to compromise on this in-game?

Thanks!

I would suggest doing a career mode but turning the money gained factor up at the beginning or even if you want to go into the save files and give yourself money so that isn't a factor you have to worry about. Welcome to KSP and its forum @classicaljazzman

Edited August 13, 2016 by Jhawk1099

[pandaman]

Hi, and welcome. 

Lots of good advice above, so me repeating it won't gain you any new knowledge.

So, yes explore the tutorials, check out you tube (Scott Manley helped me a lot) and experiment with the different game modes. And above all have fun, and never be afraid to post questions or ask for advice on these forums. 

[Foxster]

I really don't like career mode for the reason that it forces you into doing a load of stuff you might not want. It's probably worth trying once though to see if you like it. 

I prefer science mode, with the challenges along the way being to flesh out the tech tree. 

[classicaljazzman]

Thanks all! These are some great ideas. I'm going to try them!

[CaelumEtAstra]

If you are looking to learn even more, there are some twitch streamers out there who would gladly help. One that comes to my mind first is @DasValdez, he does an interactive classroom where you can ask anything and he will gladly answer.  http://twitch.tv/DasValdez

@EJ_SAis another streamer I could recommend. He usually can explain anything you might need answered. Also, he often goes in depth on spaceflight and anything related to engineering. http://twitch.tv/EJ_SA

Another thing I can recommend is to watch Scott Manley's (Better known as @illectro on the forums) tutorial videos, they are very informative, though a bit outdated. You can find them here: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYu7z3I8tdEm5nyZU3a-O2ak6mBYXWPAL

Edited August 13, 2016 by Mrsupersonic8
The mobile editor is a pile of excrement.

[Tex]

@classicaljazzman, I went ahead and moved your thread over to the Welcome Aboard section, as it looks like that's what your thread is.

 

And with that, welcome to the forums!

[classicaljazzman]

How do I set a target point on my nav ball? It says I need to do an experiment in a certain area, but how do I aim for that place? Thanks!

[MaxxQ]

1 hour ago, classicaljazzman said:

How do I set a target point on my nav ball? It says I need to do an experiment in a certain area, but how do I aim for that place? Thanks!

Are you talking about a biome, or a planet/moon?  Different things entirely, and while you can target the latter, you can't target the former.  

I'm going to assume you mean a biome, since you said "area", in which case, there are several on Kerbin (and the other planets and moons as well).  On Kerbin, there's grasslands, shores, water, tundra, highlands, poles, deserts, badlands, and mountains (I may have missed one or two - doing this from memory).  There's also several mini-biomes scattered around KSC - launchpad, crawlerway, runway, the flagpole, each building has it's own biome, and a couple have biomes on the roof, and I think the pool/fountain has a biome as well.  

As I mentioned above, biomes can't be targeted, and so you'll just have to figure out where they are based on the terrain.  If it's just grasslands, you can move the experiment anywhere away from KSC (except towards the water - I think it goes straight to shores at the end of the runway) and do it there.  A little farther west and you'll hit the highlands, and a bit farther than that, you be in the mountains.  Mods like KER have a readout that tells you exactly what biome you're in (or over), so if you're not averse to using a mod (and provided you're playing on a PC), you might want to try that one.  

Since it sounds like you're doing a career mode, make sure you read the fine print on the contract, as there may be specific requirements, such as using a rover, or flying at a specific altitude over the biome.  Sometimes, the fine print requires a specific piece of equipment, even if it has nothing to do with fulfilling the contract.

[classicaljazzman]

21 hours ago, MaxxQ said:

Are you talking about a biome, or a planet/moon?  Different things entirely, and while you can target the latter, you can't target the former.  

I'm going to assume you mean a biome, since you said "area", in which case, there are several on Kerbin (and the other planets and moons as well).  On Kerbin, there's grasslands, shores, water, tundra, highlands, poles, deserts, badlands, and mountains (I may have missed one or two - doing this from memory).  There's also several mini-biomes scattered around KSC - launchpad, crawlerway, runway, the flagpole, each building has it's own biome, and a couple have biomes on the roof, and I think the pool/fountain has a biome as well.  

As I mentioned above, biomes can't be targeted, and so you'll just have to figure out where they are based on the terrain.  If it's just grasslands, you can move the experiment anywhere away from KSC (except towards the water - I think it goes straight to shores at the end of the runway) and do it there.  A little farther west and you'll hit the highlands, and a bit farther than that, you be in the mountains.  Mods like KER have a readout that tells you exactly what biome you're in (or over), so if you're not averse to using a mod (and provided you're playing on a PC), you might want to try that one.  

Since it sounds like you're doing a career mode, make sure you read the fine print on the contract, as there may be specific requirements, such as using a rover, or flying at a specific altitude over the biome.  Sometimes, the fine print requires a specific piece of equipment, even if it has nothing to do with fulfilling the contract.

Ok, so you're saying I should either launch low into the air and do my best to maneuver my way to each biome using the map, or just get out of my pod and walk to each area? Maybe not that last bit. Seems a bit slow. You can't move your launch pad can you?

Thanks,

[Pecan]

On 8/13/2016 at 3:53 AM, OrbitalBuzzsaw said:

Liar! Minmus has orbital inclination!

I'll call you out on that.

Before you accuse too many people of being liars or having strange opinions you might like to provide some evidence.
So, by what evidence would you support your claim that Mun is easier to land on than Minmus?
If you have no evidence I would suggest it is you who are the liar.
If you claim it is because plane-change is really hard (as you appeared to above) I suggest it is you who has a strange opinion.
If you claim you can do it in a simpler or smaller vehicle I will challenge you to build one [your Mun vs my Minmus].
If you claim it is easier to find a place to land I will just laugh.

It is quicker though, I'll give you that ^^.
Point: This forum is possibly not like the ones you are used to.  KSP is not about shooting things down (usually) but about making things work ... eventually.  On the forum we don't shoot things down either, we make them work ... eventually.

Edited August 15, 2016 by Pecan

[MaxxQ]

1 hour ago, classicaljazzman said:

Ok, so you're saying I should either launch low into the air and do my best to maneuver my way to each biome using the map, or just get out of my pod and walk to each area? Maybe not that last bit. Seems a bit slow. You can't move your launch pad can you?

Thanks,

There's a couple options.  Playing stock, you can build an airplane* or a rover** and just drive or fly around until you find a new biome (note: once you've researched a biome - say, grasslands - that biome is done no matter where you find it).  Optionally, you can try to build a suborbital or ballistic (same thing really, just a matter of degree), and just launch towards what looks like a likely spot, and hope you hit it - don't forget the parachutes.

If you're talking about just getting out and walking around KSC to get what you need for the contract there, then yeah, your best bet might just be getting out and walking.  You can press and hold Shift while walking to run, and you can also time warp while running to go 4x faster (just remember to leave time warp before trying to do anything else).

Last thing... Part of the fun of the game, and the challenge of career mode, is to figure out how to do what the contract wants with what you have available.  Sure, it's a grind at first, until you can open up some of the higher tech, but some people get pretty creative.  The whole contract system, as well as just science mode, is designed to allow you to learn as you go, and get steadily better, and one of the main draws of this game that I've seen many people mention, is that the game allows you to learn from failure, and sometimes - in this game - failure is fun.

And no, the pad can't be moved.

*If you're playing 1.1.3, wheels are borked (allegedly - I haven't used any wheels yet in my current playthrough) and so you may have trouble taking off if in a plane, or driving around if using a rover.

**A rover can just be a pod with wheels, but better add some batteries and/or solar panels, or you'll run out of power.

[OrbitalBuzzsaw]

1 hour ago, Pecan said:

I'll call you out on that.

Before you accuse too many people of being liars or having strange opinions you might like to provide some evidence.
So, by what evidence would you support your claim that Mun is easier to land on than Minmus?
If you have no evidence I would suggest it is you who are the liar.
If you claim it is because plane-change is really hard (as you appeared to above) I suggest it is you who has a strange opinion.
If you claim you can do it in a simpler or smaller vehicle I will challenge you to build one [your Mun vs my Minums].
If you claim it is easier to find a place to land I will just laugh.

It is quicker though, I'll give you that ^^.
Point: This forum is possibly not like the ones you are used to.  KSP is not about shooting things down (usually) but about making things work ... eventually.  On the forum we don't shoot things down either, we make them work ... eventually.

Ok. Stats for old Mun rocket

88 tons

6 stages

Stats for Minmus rocket

281 tons

17 stages

[Bill Phil]

On ‎8‎/‎12‎/‎2016 at 9:53 PM, OrbitalBuzzsaw said:

Liar! Minmus has orbital inclination!

It has less gravity. Easier to land on, take off from, and return from. The total Delta-V to get to Munar orbit is less, but landing, taking off and such cost more Dv.

It becomes very easy to change inclination once you're in a higher orbit. It's basically just triangle math. For example, if you want to change your inclination by 60 degrees, if you do it with an equilateral triangle, it'll take your current orbital velocity as your deltav. But if you're orbital velocity is less, it takes less Dv to change inclination.

25 minutes ago, OrbitalBuzzsaw said:

Ok. Stats for old Mun rocket

88 tons

6 stages

Stats for Minmus rocket

281 tons

17 stages

You could've used your Mun rocket.

[Pecan]

1 hour ago, OrbitalBuzzsaw said:

Ok. Stats for old Mun rocket

88 tons

6 stages

Stats for Minmus rocket

281 tons

17 stages

Those figures suggest strange design opinions to me ^^.  Try Minmus < 30t or, as a starter, either moon < 45t.  3 stages should be plenty.  We are, however, hijacking this welcome thread - (anyone) feel free to PM me if you think it's worth making a "lightest moon-landing" challenge thread.

@classicaljazzman apologies for the intrusion ;-0

Edited August 15, 2016 by Pecan