Science Mode: Best Practices (KSP 1.2)

[bighara]

l've been away from the game a while, but recently started playing in Science Mode (no mods). I keep getting stuck. It seems I can't get to where I can earn enough science for the next tier of research. What order do people recommend for unlocking the packets, and then what missions will get you the most science at each stage. I've gotten as far as stable orbit and Science Jr experiments.

[FancyMouse]

(it applies to both career and science) As soon as you have science jr+surface sample, just go for Minmus and hop multiple biomes (at least 5, as many as possible). Remember to carry two pods, and do two copies of each experiment (a second surface sample/science jr is worth almost the same as a new temperature scan). After recovering all these, you'll come home with thousands of science points enough to fill most of the stock science tree.

[bewing]

Partly, it depends on whether you are interested in getting science points on Kerbin, which depends on how much time you have available to play the game. It also depends on what difficulty level you are playing. The requirements are a lot different if you have the slider set to give you 100% science, vs 60%, vs 50%.

If you are willing to take Aviation, that gives you wheels and the Juno -- which gives you full access to all 14 KSC biomes, plus the 4 natural biomes within walking distance of KSC. Which always unlocks more of the tech tree.

If, instead, you want to take the "get me to space ASAP" route of gameplay -- then FancyMouse's suggestion is by far the easiest, in going to Minmus. If you can get to LKO, then you can land on Minmus with only a tiny bit of extra effort.

[bighara]

I need to work on conserving DV when getting to orbit, but that's mostly poor flying on my part. I end up almost out of fuel before I even get pointing to Minmus.

Planes are still a problem for me (rockets are easier!). What's weird re: lunar landings is the ladders are not part of any of the packets I've unlocked. (weird)

Edited December 29, 2016 by bighara

[Carl]

Bear in mind each of the building area's has one, somtimes two biomes per spot, you can pick up several hundred science that way. Also a Sun probe can net you several dozen science transmitted back.

[Aegolius13]

32 minutes ago, bighara said:

What's weird re: lunar landings is the ladders are not part of any of the packets I've unlocked. (weird)

You can use your jetback (or possibly even a jump) to get back to your ship on the Mun, Minmus or other similar bodies.  

But a few caveats:  this does not work on more massive bodies where gravity exceeds the jetpack's thrust (Eve, Tylo, etc).  You have to have some jetback fuel left.  And if you use Kerbal Inventory System, any weight you're carrying will affect your ability to fly with the jetpack.  

[bighara]

I tried launching an unmanned rocket with a Probododyne capsule, but the darned thing kept flipping over. 

[Carl]

Personally i use mechjeb, i'm a terrible pilot and it's advanced SAS is available early which makes unmanned probes a cinch.

Another thing, focus on the tourist contracts, get your rep and credits nice and high, then use strategy to turn future rep earnings into science. Starting in on that myself because i've hit my personal limit as far as science from other stuff goes but don't feel i've quite got everything i need to try a mun shot. The trouble with going to the mun or minmus is tourist will want to go once i do, so i need to make sure i can build an affordable tourist shooter.

[DD_bwest]

done right you can complete the tree in less then 5 launches.  the trick is to plan what biomes you will encounter on a given flight,  figure out every test that hasnt been done in that biome yet, place science gear for it and go.

the ksp wiki has a chart thatll tell you where the biomes are and what tests are global or local.  like in low orbit you can do a local eva for flying over every biome. even a low inclination orbit on kerbin will pass over 6 biomes.

any time you do a report for anything, pull it out so you can get rdy to run it again for a new biome.  science pods can help with this, then just pull the data from that before re entry.  if you havent got much of the upper armosphere data, when in orbit lower your pe to 68km and grab them the short period your below 70km.  you can even get the eva report this way.

manned missions, or those that actually return the data to kerbin are MUCH preferred over Transmitting data.

place thermos and baros on the top of your pod near the chute,  theyll be safe there and let you grab new data for flying low over your landing biomes, and again data from where you land. when you come back down from orbit, try to hit a different biome each time.  you can also get the eva report for fling low over the biome by going eva while your pod is around 5 to 6 m/s from the chute, or by jumping while on the surface and hitting eva while in the air.

a very important tech node to unlock is propulsion systems.  the spark will make it pretty easy to do a trip to Mun orbit, where you can get a ton of science for your liking. especially if you put yourself in a polar orbit.  

oh and if your unmanned rockets tend to flip easy,  one factor may be that your cenrer of mass is to far back in relation to your center or pressure.  if you turn on advanced tweakables, you can choose how fuel drains.  by dividing ip your fuel tanks you can make it flow bottom up so that as it flies the COM will move forward, adding stability.

edit: and about minmus landings, its an amazing place to get a ton of points, but it doesnt sound like you are quite ready for that.  the amount of points youll get from the 4 main science tests plus crew reports and eva reports for all those biomes when in orbit around mun and minmus will make your life alot easier when it comes to time to land.  sure you could go land on minmus, but there are alot of easy points in space first before you need to head down.

Edited December 29, 2016 by DD_bwest

[KevinW42]

If you're having trouble getting enough dV for a Minmus landing, I find that a good intermediate between that and Kerbin orbit is doing a free-return flight around Mun. Especially if you make sure to grab all the biome-specific EVA reports while in low space.

[Foxster]

Go for flybys rather than landings is one way to do it. Put the points into science across the bottom and about midway across the top for the rocketry stuff. 

Do lo+hi Kerbin, same for Mun and Minmus. Then the Sun, Eve and Gilly. Followed by Duna and Ike. Should be most of the way along the tech tree for anything useful then. Finish with flybys of the Jool system, or the other planets, or landings on Gilly and Ike. 

Check out the mod ForScience! It automatically does all the experiments as they become available in each location. Takes a lot of the tedium out of this without cheating because it doesn't generate any science that you couldn't obtain manually. 

Edited December 30, 2016 by Foxster

[Carl]

X science is also a god mod, even has a flip out panel where you have all the experiment activations next to them.