World-Firsts contracts - any efficient way to do them?

[Magzimum]

When 1.2 came out, I started a fresh career. Loving all the improvements thus far. But kinda struggling to appreciate the World-firsts contracts. My problem is that they keep sending me back to the same places, which is a bit of a grind. 

First a flyby, then orbiting-gather-science-and-return, then a docking mission... and it asks these for a planet, but also (and separately) for the moons. So, it appears that the game wants me to fly to Duna/Ike about 4-6 times before it is satisfied that I have explored it enough. You can of course just warp forward until you get a different contract, but it will keep recycling the ones you haven't completed, so at some point it keeps spamming me with docking missions around Duna and Ike, which I don't want to do because they are boring and yield very little science (I got that science when I landed on Duna).

How do you guys achieve these targets efficiently? I am now considering to always send multiple ships: one lander with all the science and crew, and as a bunch of dummy-ships, just so that they can dock. The lander will then do its mission, return, while the dummy ships wait patiently in orbit until the contract comes up. At least I can do that docking contract without waiting for the transfer window. These can also carry a thermometer in case someone wants to pay me for science-from-orbit. It appears a little silly to send so many ships - especially when I will get to Jool and its 5 moons. Also, it appears a little weird to send ships ahead to anticipate a contract that hasn't even come up yet. 

Did any of you already come up with a quicker way to satisfy the Kerbin World-Firsts Record-Keeping Society? 

[bewing]

AFAIK, it is supposed to not ask you to do anything more once you have landed somewhere. If you go somewhere (Duna) on your first "flyby" contract mission -- then land a little probe on every moon, and on the main planet. ie. *overly* complete that first mission, so that there is nothing left to do. Then the World's First contracts should cross that one off the list and never ask you about it again.

[Magzimum]

True, it's a "world firsts" so it does not double any missions. For example, it asked me to orbit Duna, then return. I did that, and got the cash (and the science). Now it asks me to dock on or around Duna, or to dock on or around Ike, or to orbit Ike and return. 

Obviously, I could just do all these missions in one go, but I wouldn't get paid for the docking missions and the Ike visit, because they will only show up one at a time, and only after I returned from the 1st mission.

 

Even with the trick of sending docking probes ahead, I think that I still need multiple launch windows (one for Duna, one for Ike) to get crews to the ground because the missions don't show up sooner. I am just trying to see if people have found tricks to advance quicker. 

I also wonder if I can use two probes, dock them around Duna, then undock, fly to Ike, and dock these same ones again, completing both missions (assuming these missions appear when I need them). 

[bewing]

Well, the "explore" contract system had bad bugs that really made it non-functional until 1.2. So nobody has had any more time than you to develop any tricks yet. But yeah, if you want to complete multiple "explore" contracts for the same CB with just one launch, that's going to be a tricky thing. You will need to leave an extremely capable mothership in the vicinity of your CB for a long time, and slowly release probes to complete each contract as it comes up. That's a toughie!

Edited October 23, 2016 by bewing

[Magzimum]

My feelings towards the new World-firsts contracts start to incline towards positive for the early career stages. However, I would strongly recommend that they (they being the developers) drop the "rendezvous" and "docking two vessels in orbit of ...", because those just take too much time and slow things down too much. 

I just completed a Jool-5 (still proud), and therefore orbited, landed on, and returned from every moon in that system. But the contract system is not satisfied, and keeps suggesting rendezvous or docking missions on or around the Joolian moons... while my interests are now at Dres, Moho and Eeloo (in that order, don't worry Dres!). Basically, I would assume that of all contracts, the "World Firsts" would be the one aiming for new horizons, while the other contracts would now exploit the fact that I can visit Jool, and ask me to haul ore around and rescue some Kerbonauts from the surface of Laythe. 

I think that two docking missions (one in orbit or Kerbin, one in orbit of the Mun) would be sufficient. 

[/rant]

[monstah]

3 minutes ago, Magzimum said:

My feelings towards the new World-firsts contracts start to incline towards positive for the early career stages. However, I would strongly recommend that they (they being the developers) drop the "rendezvous" and "docking two vessels in orbit of ...", because those just take too much time and slow things down too much. 

I just completed a Jool-5 (still proud), and therefore orbited, landed on, and returned from every moon in that system. But the contract system is not satisfied, and keeps suggesting rendezvous or docking missions on or around the Joolian moons... while my interests are now at Dres, Moho and Eeloo (in that order, don't worry Dres!). Basically, I would assume that of all contracts, the "World Firsts" would be the one aiming for new horizons, while the other contracts would now exploit the fact that I can visit Jool, and ask me to haul ore around and rescue some Kerbonauts from the surface of Laythe. 

I think that two docking missions (one in orbit or Kerbin, one in orbit of the Mun) would be sufficient. 

[/rant]

Agreed. Getting somewhere new is an achievement. Doing the same thing there? Not so much.

"I'm Mark Watney, and I just took the first leak on Mars." Funny in the book. Unamusing in KSP  

[Geschosskopf]

On 10/23/2016 at 3:58 AM, Magzimum said:

How do you guys achieve these targets efficiently?

Well, these awards come up by themselves whether there's a contract for them or not.  Every time you go to a planet'moon for the 1st time, or do something new there, then you get whatever award there is for that.  So my advice is to just plan your missions, do what you do, and pick up the free money that rolls in as a result.

There are scads of these awards.  I doubt I can name them all, but it's something like this:

• Enter SOI gives "fly-by"
• Be in an impact trajectory with the planet/moon and get "suborbital flight"
• Entering a stable, closed orbit gives "orbit".
• Do an EVA and get "EVA at Planet X".
• Landing will give both "landing" and (if applicable) "atmospheric flight.
• Doing science in at least most of these places gives rewards for that.
• Grabbing an asteroid counts as "building a station" so you can get this at Kerbin, in solar orbit, and anywhere else you have asteroids.
• Docking 2 ships is somehow different from building a station and can be done everywhere.

[Magzimum]

15 hours ago, Geschosskopf said:

Well, these awards come up by themselves whether there's a contract for them or not.  Every time you go to a planet'moon for the 1st time, or do something new there, then you get whatever award there is for that.  So my advice is to just plan your missions, do what you do, and pick up the free money that rolls in as a result.

There are scads of these awards.  I doubt I can name them all, but it's something like this:

• Enter SOI gives "fly-by"
• Be in an impact trajectory with the planet/moon and get "suborbital flight"
• Entering a stable, closed orbit gives "orbit".
• Do an EVA and get "EVA at Planet X".
• Landing will give both "landing" and (if applicable) "atmospheric flight.
• Doing science in at least most of these places gives rewards for that.
• Grabbing an asteroid counts as "building a station" so you can get this at Kerbin, in solar orbit, and anywhere else you have asteroids.
• Docking 2 ships is somehow different from building a station and can be done everywhere.

I realize that. After said Jool-5, which cost me nearly 3 million funds, I came back 2 million richer (i.e. I must have made around 5 million by all the world-firsts). The possible income is sufficient, perhaps even too much (I play 'normal' settings, already told myself to go for 'hard' next time). My Program ™ has enough income, so that is not the topic of this rant thread (this comment is not a criticism of your post either, btw... I agree and like the summary you gave)...

I just think that specifically the World-Firsts-contracts that pop up in Mission Control could be improved. In the early career, the World-Firsts give me exactly the challenges that I like and that I need to advance (so, that's a compliment to the game), but now that I have explored several planets and moons it feels more like a homework exercise than an award. From a World-Firsts, I would expect the contract to come up to either explore one of the unexplored planets, or to accelerate a satellite to >50 km/s and blast it out of the solar system... or something that's worth being on the front page of the Kerbal Times. Doing a docking-mission around Bop, when I just did an Apollo-style landing just doesn't feel very newsworthy to me.

Edited November 22, 2016 by Magzimum

[Superfluous J]

The "dock" and "rendezvous" stuff should be at Kerbin only. Other worlds should just have flyby, orbit, land, and "plant a flag and return." Except Jool on those last 2

[Magzimum]

2 minutes ago, 5thHorseman said:

The "dock" and "rendezvous" stuff should be at Kerbin only. Other worlds should just have flyby, orbit, land, and "plant a flag and return." Except Jool on those last 2

Agreed. And the differentiation between "Splashdown" and "Landing" for Eve and Laythe adds something too... although I would prefer it if they would combine that into a single contract: Send 2 ships, one should land, one should splash down, both should send back science. (I was frustrated after succesfully landing a probe, that the next assignment was to visit the same place again for a splashdown).

[bewing]

You do know that if you don't like the contract you are offered, you can just wait until it times out and it'll randomly generate a new one that may well be more to your liking?