How To - Kerbin Observe Missions - Long Trips from KSC

[nunnner]

Hi All!

I've been playing KSP since its official launch (so not that long), exclusively in career mode with no mods. I have all 45 since point tech tree nodes researched and a couple 90 point ones (Space Exploration, Electrics and Heavy Rocketry).

I'm trying to get a bit more science from Kerbin and do some observation missions. I have a basic plane that I've used for areas close to KSC, but that plane would take forever to reach the poles and distant observation areas. I have two observation missions active, one above ~18,000m and one below.

My question is: what is the best vehicle to do these missions? Do I need a more powerful plane? Should I do it with a rocket? Or should I suck ti up and take the time to fly there with time warp at 4x?

Thanks!

nunnner

[Sanic]

I would say the best vehicle is a plane designed for endurance (straight winged and with plenty of fuel) for the far away (from KSC) observation missions and a swept wing one for nearby high-alt observations. Use a Panther engine if you have it and activate the afterburner when you climb to the observation altitude.

A rocket is unnecessary and frankly impractical.

[Leftotian]

The "above" ones can be done from polar orbit with time warping. Not really worth it, but doable in reasonable amount of time if you really want to do them. The "below" ones are ignored 100% of the time because they are the biggest dumbest waste of time you can do in KSP.

[nunnner]

Ok thanks guys. I'm pretty far away from getting the panther. I'll probably just ignore them and focus on the others I have active.

[Plusck]

Before deciding never again to accept one of those contracts, I used it as an excuse to test a number of minimal rockets and to practice my accuracy for re-entry.

[TheDestroyer111]

If such contracts take me anywhere very far from KSC, then I just rarely accept them, but accept some (so that they don't stop appearing from time to time) and finish all of them once I get some actual jet engine that allows me to gain a reasonable amount of speed. Although I once flew to the north pole for such a mission at high subsonic (it went barely supersonic once I dropped the droptanks and used some fuel from the main ones), I did it only once and never ever flew another long range mission at subsonic/low-supersonic speed.

[Ser]

@nunnner

First to say, I play with FAR/AJE (I guess that only makes things harder). So for such missions I use a large wing jet plane with an additional rocket engine mounted. I climb up to 10-12 km and proceed to the target at that altitude using jet. That saves me a lot of fuel. Usually it takes about 1-1.5 game hours to get there, so 4x warp is a thing to use. At about 40 km to waypoint I enable the rocket engine and it lets me to get to 20+ km altitude but it eats its fuel pretty fast, that's why I set my throttle as low as possible but still to be able to keep my plane stable at those altitudes. If you do the things right you'll be able to fly between all three waypoints ranged at 40-100 km.

As you can see, polar missions are more than doable so I do all my polar and badland science with airplanes.

Another option for distant waypoints that are still near the equatorial plane is to launch a rocket to LKO (I usually do it together with another mission, say a tour) and alter your orbit abit. Note that "above" some altitude doesn't mean you need to be close to that altitude, so it's ok to do an observation "above 18000" from 80000 m.

[KOCOUR]

On 2. 9. 2016 at 6:56 PM, Leftotian said:

The "above" ones can be done from polar orbit with time warping. Not really worth it, but doable in reasonable amount of time if you really want to do them. The "below" ones are ignored 100% of the time because they are the biggest dumbest waste of time you can do in KSP.

Realy? FOr me it is quite oposite. I do the "Below" Ones all the time, i do the "surface" ones if they spawn close to KSP, and I ignore the "Above" ones as they are expensive. (Rocket costs much more than plane, and plane will return most of the investment) 

[Leftotian]

40 minutes ago, KOCOUR said:

Realy? FOr me it is quite oposite. I do the "Below" Ones all the time, i do the "surface" ones if they spawn close to KSP, and I ignore the "Above" ones as they are expensive. (Rocket costs much more than plane, and plane will return most of the investment) 

You shove single kerbal with some sciense stuff to polar orbit once and leave him there forever. Now you can do infinite "above" missions, no matter where they are, because polar will cover all of the planet, you just need to timewarp. Doesn't get cheaper than that.

"Below" you need to fly with no or very low timewarp, it takes forever. You can do multiple space missons with much higher reward each in time it takes to do one long range plane misson. Flying plane long range is the most expensive thing you can do if you consider how much money you can make in same amount of time.

"Below" missions next to ksc are fine, but op was asking about the ones that are like on the other side of the planet.

[KOCOUR]

12 minutes ago, Leftotian said:

You shove single kerbal with some sciense stuff to polar orbit once and leave him there forever. Now you can do infinite "above" missions, no matter where they are, because polar will cover all of the planet, you just need to timewarp. Doesn't get cheaper than that.

"Below" you need to fly with no or very low timewarp, it takes forever. You can do multiple space missons with much higher reward each in time it takes to do one long range plane misson. Flying plane long range is the most expensive thing you can do if you consider how much money you can make in same amount of time.

"Below" missions next to ksc are fine, but op was asking about the ones that are like on the other side of the planet.

I cant show kerbal in space and leave him there, I use Lifesupport mods, he would suffocate or starve or die from thirst. For Faraway missions use supersonic planes and patience. Iam often able to read a book, or work on second computer while playing KSP.

 

Edit, For me Below missions always spawn in close proximity to KSC longest trip was about 10 minutes real time on 4x timewarp.

Another edit: Surface missions are the worst, i have two that spawned an the other side of kerbin. I wait to unlock more stuff in Science center to be able to make suborbital planes, then iam going to drop a rower there that i will resuply with suborbital planes.

 

Edited September 12, 2016 by KOCOUR

[ForScience6686]

I like them at times.  Get to change up the game a bit and just fly around.  I like making science bombers that drop pods at surface sites.  And with proper building you can cover over and under as well.  Easy enough to do, plus landing is fun.

[RizzoTheRat]

I only bother with the ones that are fairly close to KSC (few minutes flight at most) and usually only in the fairly early game.  A basic jet plane with some form of rocket assist works well, can fly around and do a couple of below ones, light the rocket to zoom climb for an above, and I usually put parachutes on it so I can land even on really rough ground for a surface one.

I like @ForScience6686's science bomber suggestion though, do you drop powered rovers so they can relocate if you miss or do you just have to learn to be accurate?

 

[ForScience6686]

On 9/13/2016 at 5:34 AM, RizzoTheRat said:

I only bother with the ones that are fairly close to KSC (few minutes flight at most) and usually only in the fairly early game.  A basic jet plane with some form of rocket assist works well, can fly around and do a couple of below ones, light the rocket to zoom climb for an above, and I usually put parachutes on it so I can land even on really rough ground for a surface one.

I like @ForScience6686's science bomber suggestion though, do you drop powered rovers so they can relocate if you miss or do you just have to learn to be accurate?

 

I go for stationary to save room for more probes.  Since you can usually get a heading to hit multiple spots I just line up, make the drops, then fly over to check deployment before returning to base.

 

I also messed around with some guided missiles yesterday.  Was tricky to balance them, but they could easily be modified for above readings.  I might play with them some more, but the current model has given us a uav with guided missiles for ksc surveillance.

Edited September 16, 2016 by ForScience6686

[Sharpy]

1) a good spaceplane. Instead of going to orbit, you do a suborbital jump into the vicinity of the target.

2) for the land-based ones, a rover on board will be a good idea. Possibly droppable on a parachute from the cargo bay. (fly low and slow amd do a few circles until the rover lands, not to move out of its physics bubble. Then land at a more convenient location, recover, and switch to the rover from tracking station.)

[Warzouz]

On 16/9/2016 at 5:42 PM, Sharpy said:

1) a good spaceplane. Instead of going to orbit, you do a suborbital jump into the vicinity of the target.

2) for the land-based ones, a rover on board will be a good idea. Possibly droppable on a parachute from the cargo bay. (fly low and slow amd do a few circles until the rover lands, not to move out of its physics bubble. Then land at a more convenient location, recover, and switch to the rover from tracking station.)

Space planes may not be the wisest choice. They are usually numb to fly. In those type of missions you usually have to land. A fast an manoeuvrable dedicated plane is better. It's mandatory that the plane fly steadily at x4 warp (planes tend to nose down at higher warp).

Even though, as other said, those missions are a waste of time, but they can be worth it at the very begining if you choose some easy mission around KSC. On the other hand, those missions are good flying practice, for beginner players.

Finally, there are worse missions that observe on Earth : observe on other planetary bodies. They usually cost a lot of fuel are very very little reward for a very long an tedious trip. I did it once on Ike, thinking it could be fun : NEVER AGAIN !