How to get experience

[Silverwood]

Hello

I am new to this game (a week now), after several attempts I am getting the hang of it. However one issue is that of experience in career mode. After level 2, how do in practice get more experience?

To try and get to the Mun without the manoeuvres option is almost impossible and to get that you need experience and to get the experience you need to get to another body!

Anyone have an tips please?

Keith

 

[digger1213]

Kerbals get Experience based on where they have been.

Until you can get to the Mun, your Kerbals wont be able to reach higher than Lvl 1. However, their Experience is not what is stopping you from getting maneuver nodes.

To use Maneuver Nodes in campaign, you need to have gotten at least Lvl 2 tracking station, Lvl 2 Mission Control and have Full Probe/Crew control on your vehicle. If any of these are not met, you will not have maneuver nodes, and will not have patched conics to show you your encounters.

Full Probe control means having a connection back to Kerbin, and full Crew Control means having a pilot on board, or otherwise a connection to Kerbin.

As a bonus tip on getting Experience, the best way to get experience on any body other than Kerbin is to plant a flag on it. A flag gives more experience than just landing does. You can view a Kerbal's experience in the Astronaut Complex, and they only get thier experience once recovered or levelled up using a Mobile Processing Lab (or you have Instant Experience turned on.).

Hope I helped!

Edited May 10, 2017 by digger1213

[bewing]

2 hours ago, Silverwood said:

Hello

I am new to this game (a week now), after several attempts I am getting the hang of it. However one issue is that of experience in career mode. After level 2, how do in practice get more experience?

To try and get to the Mun without the manoeuvres option is almost impossible and to get that you need experience and to get the experience you need to get to another body!

Anyone have an tips please?

Keith

 

To get your Kerbals to 2-star, they need to land on Minmus and plant a flag. To get to 3-star, they need to temporarily escape Kerbin's SOI, and then return to Kerbin -- and you don't need maneuver nodes at all for that. Just a lot of fuel.
And it's actually really easy to get to the Mun and Minmus without maneuver nodes, but you need to get some practice at hands-on piloting, yourself, to do it.

The other way to do it is to use probe cores. Probe cores are robotic pilots and you can buy their abilities with money and science points. A HECS probe core is the equivalent of a 2-star pilot. An OKTO2 is the equivalent of a 3-star pilot.

 

Edited May 10, 2017 by bewing

[Urses]

The typical way to become a Kerbal to lvl3 is 

Start in orbit

Fly to the Mün and orbit

Fly to Minmus, orbit there, land and plant a flag.

Peak out for Kerbol (Sun) orbit.

Fly back and land on Kerbin.

Your Kerbals are 3 Star then.

For Maneuver nodes you need, as said above upgrade for Mission Control and Tracking Station upgrades. And for needed EVA upgrades from R&D and Austronaut Complex.

All other stars for Kerbals need long range missions to another bodies.

Hope this helps.

Welcome to the forums

Funny Kabooms 

Urses 

[Reactordrone]

You also have the option to level up your crews using the mobile processing lab on the way to another planet. In the past we used to have to do the short trip out in the Sun's sphere of influence and return to Kerbin to get level 3 crews but the new mechanic allows you to send level 2 crews out and get them leveled up during their interplanetary trip.

[Silverwood]

Thanks  to all who replied.

Appreciate it.

Keith

[CSE]

Playing through the early career for the first time is indeed tough. But it's also the closest experience to the real-world space programs, and a phase that provides many experienced players with their favourite moments of KSP. If you are getting your vessels to low Kerbin orbit without breaking your budget, after only a week of playing, then I think you're doing pretty well.

The Mün in KSP is a special case that is simple to reach without maneuver nodes, because it orbits exactly over Kerbin's equator and the launch site and there is a convenient landmark - the horizon - to give the timing.

• Launch your probe into a low orbit over Kerbin, altitiude seventy to a hundred kilometers or so, going eastbound.
• Make the orbit roughly circular. It doesn't have to be perfect.
• When you see the Mün starting to rise above the horizon, point your heading prograde (at the eastern horizon) and burn the engine.
• Stop the engine when the map view shows the top of your new elliptical orbit just touching the Mün's circular orbit.

The Mün is close enough and big enough, and the timing of Münrise near enough correct, that you have a very good chance of a flyby even on your first attempt. With practice, you may feel confident enough to send crew by this method.

(For any other celestial body, I think you're right. Going there without maneuver plotting, in career mode with budget constraints, is the province of experienced players who have done the trip before with the help of nodes.)

Happy flying!

[Silverwood]

32 minutes ago, CSE said:

Playing through the early career for the first time is indeed tough. But it's also the closest experience to the real-world space programs, and a phase that provides many experienced players with their favourite moments of KSP. If you are getting your vessels to low Kerbin orbit without breaking your budget, after only a week of playing, then I think you're doing pretty well.

The Mün in KSP is a special case that is simple to reach without maneuver nodes, because it orbits exactly over Kerbin's equator and the launch site and there is a convenient landmark - the horizon - to give the timing.

• Launch your probe into a low orbit over Kerbin, altitiude seventy to a hundred kilometers or so, going eastbound.
• Make the orbit roughly circular. It doesn't have to be perfect.
• When you see the Mün starting to rise above the horizon, point your heading prograde (at the eastern horizon) and burn the engine.
• Stop the engine when the map view shows the top of your new elliptical orbit just touching the Mün's circular orbit.

The Mün is close enough and big enough, and the timing of Münrise near enough correct, that you have a very good chance of a flyby even on your first attempt. With practice, you may feel confident enough to send crew by this method.

(For any other celestial body, I think you're right. Going there without maneuver plotting, in career mode with budget constraints, is the province of experienced players who have done the trip before with the help of nodes.)

Happy flying!

Ok thanks. I haven't had much success with the 'Probe' yet, but with a crew it seems ok. I am getting close to breaking the bank though!

One thing that does irritate is the way you save the game, I have had to restart a couple of times as the save was not right, now I have found the keys to actually load another game apart from the one that appears first!

I will try your instructions with my one good pilot!

[Silverwood]

1 hour ago, Silverwood said:

Ok thanks. I haven't had much success with the 'Probe' yet, but with a crew it seems ok. I am getting close to breaking the bank though!

One thing that does irritate is the way you save the game, I have had to restart a couple of times as the save was not right, now I have found the keys to actually load another game apart from the one that appears first!

I will try your instructions with my one good pilot!

You know you should never tempt fate, ever since this post I have been totally unable to get into orbit! No idea why, I am using the same rocket & same Kerball. The only changes were an upgrade to Tracking to L2 and Mission control to L2. Apart from that no changes!

 

[Cpt Kerbalkrunch]

Sorry to say, you can probably list "pilot error" as the official cause of failure. Perhaps your recent successes made you cocky?

Seriously, though, you probably are doing something just slightly different (if, as you say, the rocket is exactly the same) that's making you come up short. Those early rockets don't have much forgiveness built in.

As far as saves, you should definitely have multiple saves at different points (after completing contracts and recovering vessels and so forth). And once you're making orbit, multiple quicksaves, as well. I played this game for over a week before I found out about F5/F9. And it was over 6 months before I discovered Alt + F5/Alt + F9. Really wish I would've found this forum a year ago.

 

P.S. For cash? Keep grinding out those contracts, baby.

Edited May 10, 2017 by Cpt Kerbalkrunch

[The Flying Kerbal]

What does Alt+F5/F9 do?

[Cpt Kerbalkrunch]

33 minutes ago, The Flying Kerbal said:

What does Alt+F5/F9 do?

It allows you to save and load specific quicksaves. Quicksave#2, Quicksave#3, and so on. This is really useful. You can quicksave at important points along your mission (say, just before burning to start a landing), while still allowing you to use the normal quicksave (F5) for important points at this very moment. If, for instance, your landing didn't work out the way you wanted, you can load Quicksave#4 and start that part over again. You'll come to rely on it, once you start using it. I cycle through about 15 of them right now.

Edited May 10, 2017 by Cpt Kerbalkrunch

[The Flying Kerbal]

I didn't know this, thanks for informing me!

[Cpt Kerbalkrunch]

3 hours ago, The Flying Kerbal said:

I didn't know this, thanks for informing me!

No problem. The Steam version of KSP (where a lot of us play) should have a direct link to this forum. The things I've learned on here would've saved me months of trial and error.

Edited May 10, 2017 by Cpt Kerbalkrunch

[Spricigo]

3 hours ago, Cpt Kerbalkrunch said:

Sorry to say, you can probably list "pilot error" as the official cause of failure. Perhaps your recent successes made you cocky?

Seriously, though, you probably are doing something just slightly different (if, as you say, the rocket is exactly the same) that's making you come up short. Those early rockets don't have much forgiveness built in.

 

P.S. For cash? Keep grinding out those contracts, baby.

to add to this,

About piloting: slight differences in the procedure can lead to a huge difference in result. A few seconds, a few degrees a few dozen kilograms.

 

About contracts: try to learn, as quickly as you can, which contract are worth doing and which ones are a waste of your time. e.g testing a part at launchpad can be done in a few seconds without expending any Funds; testing part flying faster than 1000m/s below 5km will require serious consideration about thrust, control and heat. Both contract have similar rewards. Notice that there is more to consider than just "how much Funds the rocket will cost" vs "how much Funds the contract pay", there is the time investment, how likely are you to use the mission to do something else, how much you enjoy doing the mission.

[bobisback]

On 5/10/2017 at 4:29 AM, Urses said:

The typical way to become a Kerbal to lvl3 is 

Start in orbit

Fly to the Mün and orbit

Fly to Minmus, orbit there, land and plant a flag.

Peak out for Kerbol (Sun) orbit.

Fly back and land on Kerbin.

Your Kerbals are 3 Star then.

For Maneuver nodes you need, as said above upgrade for Mission Control and Tracking Station upgrades. And for needed EVA upgrades from R&D and Austronaut Complex.

All other stars for Kerbals need long range missions to another bodies.

Hope this helps.

Welcome to the forums

Funny Kabooms 

Urses 

Have any idea what the dV needed to do this is?

I am guessing from low kerbin orbit, going to need about 4k dV. So from launch probably in the 8-9k Ballpark?

[AHHans]

36 minutes ago, bobisback said:

I am guessing from low kerbin orbit, going to need about 4k dV.

You don't need to land on the Mun, and from Minmus you are already nearly at the edge of the SOI. I haven't tried that, but looking at the dV chart I think with an optimized flight plan 2.5km/s dV should be enough. Maybe even 2km/s.

Some comments: 1) When outside Kerbins SOI, make sure that you are "in orbit" around the sun. I.e. not on a trajectory that will encounter Kerbin before one orbit is completed, that way you would only get the "flyby" experience. 2) When orbiting the Mun, you don't need a circular orbit. An elliptical orbit to the edge of the SOI is fine. 3) Going from the Mun to Minmus is probably going to be nasty to schedule right. (You want to bur at the PE in the Mun's orbit, and the direction mus align with the Mun's orbit and a transfer window to Minmus.)

[Silverwood]

Wow! I posted this in 2017! Still - interesting ideas.

Since the original post I have several Kerbals who are now experienced.

[bobisback]

Ya I am trying to build a leveling ship, the idea is to load up kerbals and get them to level 3, in huge groups. I need to man my science bases.

[AHHans]

1 hour ago, bobisback said:

Ya I am trying to build a leveling ship, the idea is to load up kerbals and get them to level 3, in huge groups. I need to man my science bases.

Well, my "let's see if 2.5km/s is indeed enough" test flight has 39 Kerbals...
(But it's in my career save, going from Minmus to just across Kerbin's SOI takes 36 days, and there are other things to do in the meantime that take my time.)

[bobisback]

39 hahaha a bit more then what I was shooting for. You going to land that thing on minmus? hahaha

[AHHans]

26 minutes ago, bobisback said:

39 hahaha a bit more then what I was shooting for.

I don't mind doing rescue missions early in my career games. It's quick and easy cash, and the additional Kerbals don't hurt. So while Val, Bill, and Bob(*) were on my first interplanetary mission to Duna, Jeb loaded all the rookies into a big bus and took them on a tour of the Kerbin system: planting flags on the Mun and Minmus. So when the issue came up again I just re-used the same craft. I had a few new rookies, and filled the empty seats with anyone who didn't run away fast enough.

26 minutes ago, bobisback said:

You going to land that thing on minmus?

No. Not again! I've been on Minmus already. Right now the bus is in transit from Minmus to the edge of Kerbin's SOI. (It had 2536 m/s dV after refueling in a 90km orbit around Kerbin. Now, after landing on Minmus and on an escape trajectory it still has 960 m/s left. Looks good so far.)

P.S. (*)Bill and Bob prefer flying with Valentina and not Jeb. They mumble something about "reckless flying" and "unnecessary high-g maneuvers" when you ask them.

Edited August 28, 2019 by AHHans
Added P.S.

[bobisback]

Ya I really regret not doing the early rescue missions :(( They are easy and cheap kerbals

[AHHans]

1 minute ago, bobisback said:

Ya I really regret not doing the early rescue missions :(( They are easy and cheap kerbals

Have some slots for easy mission empty and check up on your new missions every 5 days or so. They'll show up eventually even late in the game.

[AHHans]

O.K. My school-bus is on the way from Mun orbit back home with a 40km Kerbin periapsis. It has 514m/s dV left, so my guesstimate of 2km/s was nearly spot on.

P.S. Yes, I did the trip in the order: Kerbin orbit -> Land on Minmus -> get out of Kerbins SOI -> orbit the Mun -> aerobrake on Kerbin.

Edit: And everyone is safely - and quite a bit more experienced - back at the KSC on Kerbin.

Edited August 29, 2019 by AHHans