Change of mind set

[Nich]

Hi all,

I have recently returned from KSP from a long break and I wanted to try a hard career with no save/revert.  Things are going pretty well but I have had to restart twice for bankrupted space programs.  In past games I would try to build optimized rockets but I have had to retrain my thought process to take safety as a primary concern.  How do you make safety a primary goal?

 

In my game I have started using probes much more frequently.  My first Mun/Minimus flyby, orbit, and landing missions were all done with probes and net me about 1.3 million kredits.  I have also noticed my self planning Kerbin orbit dv requirements of 3800-4000 rather then my old 3400

[qromodynmc]

Career mode made my rockets more efficient to be honest, before that i was just adding moar boosters.

[Jhawk1099]

@Nich I am probably going to do the same once I get my computer built (waiting for cyber monday to get my GPU and Processor because money). But before safety was hitting the return to launch or VAB button before my kerbals fell to a fiery death. But once I start a hardcore save safety will be testing rockets with probes first, having common return module setups with an escape tower and decoupler setup to the abort action group (backspace) and multiplying delta-v and food requirements by 1.3 to give me an added cushion. Hopefully Jeb will survive for as long as I use the save 

[suicidejunkie]

1) Don't worry about dv requirements.  Pay more attention to the funds per payload delivered.  Fuel is cheap; consider underpowered engines and bigger fuel tanks.

2) Recoverability and reusability drive rockets towards being free.  Aim for the space center, and recover your boosters.  SSTOs capable of runway landings cost only fuel.

Punt some tourists into space using 4x BACCs and a hitchhiker with some fins and no separations, and you're only paying for ~5% of the rocket body, plus some dirt cheap SRB fuel.

[septemberWaves]

I would recommend a few things, to potentially make your life easier when playing this career:

• Invest in launch escape systems for all crewed vehicles, and get used to using the abort function. Your kerbals are the most valuable part of your space program so it's best to keep them safe.
• Make a standardized series of lifters for various payload masses, test them until you can be sure that they're reliable (ideally using cheap, uncrewed payloads for the test launches), and then save them as subassemblies. This way you can be reasonably confident that your launches are going to work.
• Actually, test everything that is going to be crewed. The main reason space programs in real life are so expensive is because all the technology has to be tested extensively before it can be used for the actual mission. Test all of your crewed technology (within funding constraints of course). For a Mun or Minmus mission you're probably going to be fine (assuming you're quite experienced), but for something like a Jool 5 mission (for example) you should definitely test your major landers before sending crew in them, because the last thing you want is to crash into the surface of Tylo at 500m/s because your descent module ran out of fuel. You should also test your launch escape systems on launch vehicles before attempting a crewed launch.
• Finally, it's very helpful to have probe cores on everything. This applies to most space programs, yet it still seems to be quite common for people to make one-kerbal landers without autonomous control, put a scientist in them, and then experience enormous difficulties because there's no SAS. The stability assist is especially important when you can't even quickload a failed flight.

[DrLicor]

Try to make your rockets/boosters reusable. There are mods for getting all your stage reusable, this is one I strongly recommend when you want to keep your costs low (works great in 1.1.3):

Spoiler

 

When you have done your first orbit, you'll be getting toerist contracts, do them a lot. Toerist contracts can make you a lot of money, especially when you make a rocket that is capable to carry at least 16 toerist. And with the first (two) stage(s) reusable, you almost have no costs. 

When playing with no revert, make sure you have for every situation a backup plan, for instance in atmosphere a launch escape system.

Don't be to precise with the delta-v's you need, When stages are reusable it doesn't really matter if you have 100delta-v left for safety.

   

[Kermanzooming]

14 hours ago, eloquentJane said:

Invest in launch escape systems for all crewed vehicles, and get used to using the abort function. Your kerbals are the most valuable part of your space program so it's best to keep them safe.

This. The cheapest you can replace a dead Kerbal on hard mode is around 35-50K, and goes up from that.

Losing a couple of them can bankrupt any space program, so play conservative and always have a escape system available.

[magnemoe]

30 minutes ago, Kermanzooming said:

This. The cheapest you can replace a dead Kerbal on hard mode is around 35-50K, and goes up from that.

Losing a couple of them can bankrupt any space program, so play conservative and always have a escape system available.

if you have lots of crew like in my 1.13 game kerbals will cost multiple millions.
Yes it makes Eve surface or low solar retrograde rescues profitable. 

[eddiew]

For maximum safety; only use probes. That's what we do IRL, after all 

If you insist on crew; launch any new vessel under probe control without crew. Send up the kerbals in a second launch, with a known, proven delivery mechanism that has good abort options. Rendezvous and docking isn't dangerous, just tedious, and there's not many destinations that are more dangerous than RUD during ascent.

Spaceplanes may be useful as crew transports in the latter scenario and mid-late game. You can test the full lifecycle repeatedly under probe control, never risking a kerbal until you are 100% satisfied with the design. You do need to be confident about landing though, and without reverts, I would pack them with enough chutes to make an emergency stop in the rough, and test whether they can freefall into the ocean without losing the crew pods.

[mikemcdonald83]

Oh yeah. I feel your pain. I finally got frustrated with no-save because I realized how sloppy I was when I could just save scum. One thing I did do was rescue Kerbals from LKO for days and days. It was a good way to get cash and kerbalpower. Tourism also helped a lot with cash. I'm not sure how difficulty affects those types of contracts except for the no-save part. My plan, when 1.2 becomes stable, is to start a new hardcore career and use the tips in here. I really like the idea of testing to-be-crewed vehicles with a probe body first. Maybe just make a prefab storage bay with a probe core and a few batteries I can easily slap on to any rocket design. DroneCore mk1. Man, this game get's me stoked about the weirdest things.

[RX2000]

3 hours ago, magnemoe said:

if you have lots of crew like in my 1.13 game kerbals will cost multiple millions.
Yes it makes Eve surface or low solar retrograde rescues profitable. 

How do you get that much money? Just farming missions right?

[magnemoe]

Just now, RX2000 said:

How do you get that much money? Just farming missions right?

Yes, many of the later interplanetary gives out lots of money.
Also I used mostly rescued kerbals, if you want lots of them it might be smart buying as soon as you are done with the spaceport buildings. 
As you get more and more the price goes up fast. 

[Sharpy]

I found funds per hour of gameplay far more important than other metrics. So what if a mission pays ten million if the reward will be in three months of gameplay? So what if my launcher costs half the contract value when it could cost 10%? Three million earned in one evening is better than ten million earned in a week - doing the same number of contracts at three times my efficiency, and seven times gameplay time.

[Nich]

3.1 mil to upgrade the science lab is going to take a while but at least I have rescued 17 kerbals and have 800k in the bank. Should be more then enough for a maned mission to Duna but I have not got any contracts for anything but satellites and only something like 180 days to the window

[Norcalplanner]

 

@Nich Welcome back. Are you running 1.2 pre or 1.1.3? If it's the latter, there are some great mods such as Strategia that can help you with funds while accommodating where you want to go.

[Nich]

Oh I have not even thought of a contract pack mod. Yes I am playing 1.1.3 and I am truely enjoying the update. Not sure if they turned up aero heating or if that is just the hard aero but I have yet to recover a materials bay from orbit. Yes I know I could but just not in a cost effective manar