Late game, how do you play it?

[agrasyuk]

Hi, fellas,

I'm on my very first career playthrough. so far its been a blast juggling contracted satellites, tourists, Labs and science between kerbin, mun and minmus. I don't think I ever enjoyed the sanbox game as much. at the moment the situation with funds and rep is great, as far as science pretty much all nodes of community tree unlocked (that pertain to my mods installed). at this point any additional planetary bases or stations that might came up as contract i can complete with proven SSTO craft that can later land at KSC for a full refund. i have a 8-pack of relay/survey sattelites heading towards Duna (~180 days ETA), they should be there few month ahead of crewed station exploration vessel (with fuel production). another 8-pack heading towards Jool with ETA of about a year, and i just launched a probe towards Eeloo a bit ahead of trandfer window. I accepted a contract to bring class D asteroid to Ike orbit so i have a pair of IR observatories en route to survey for candidates to capture.

the question is - do you at this point stop taking Kerbin system contractrs? time accelerating  for more then a few days just doesn't seem right, i always have this feeling "i can be doing something else..." and the contracts offered are still  "test juno engine in flight over kerbin"...

Edited October 5, 2017 by agrasyuk

[Zhetaan]

It depends on the contract.  Most often, the Kerbin system contracts that do arise are small scale and pay pennies, but as usual, there are mods for that.

Field research is really more of a general contract pack, but Tourism Plus has some interesting late-game bits.  Look at the picture in its first post and you'll see what I mean.

You're right; there is always this idea that the more time you spend in time warp, the less you're doing around Kerbin ... but it's also true that going to Eeloo one day at a time because you insist on doing a Kerbin-system contract every day guarantees that you'll burn out long before you cross Jool's orbit.  It isn't spoken of as such, but KSP has something of an unwritten leveling-up mechanic not unlike an RTS or base-building game:  in the early game, you have to gather your resources one at a time because you don't have the good tech.  Later on, you can have automated factories and drones and whatever that do it for you and let you focus on doing other things:  while you could continue to gather resources one at a time, you're missing the point if you do.  In KSP, it takes years to get to Eeloo.  While you may have other things going on at the same time, no one expects you to have the same focus on the minute-by-minute of mission operations as you did when your entire space program consisted of a pod resting atop a barrel of boom and may or may not have included a parachute.

Also remember that contracts are proposed missions:  unless they have 'Challenge' in the name, they aren't challenges.  Even then, you aren't required to take them and you're not even expected to take them all.  If they aren't good missions or even if you simply don't want to do them, then don't be afraid to click the 'Decline' button.  You lose one reputation for the refusal, but reputation is asymptotic anyway:  you can't get a perfect reputation score, and in the late game, simply saying Hello in another planet's orbit can give you fifty reputation, so there's no point in hoarding it.  Feel free to spend some of it in the pursuit of a good contract.  If you want to have a Jool program, it is perfectly acceptable to refuse Dres contracts (or let them expire without declining them).  KSP simulates your space program:  you're not acting in the simulated public trust.

Also also remember that the contract system is weighted based on what you accept and decline:  if you keep taking Kerbin contracts, it will keep offering them, and a slot taken up by that offer is not taken up by the better outer-system contracts.

Edited October 5, 2017 by Zhetaan

[FancyMouse]

9 hours ago, agrasyuk said:

do you at this point stop taking Kerbin system contractrs? time accelerating  for more then a few days just doesn't seem right, i always have this feeling "i can be doing something else..."

At a time I was feeling the same thing, until I realized after one months IRL that my game time only advances a month as well, and my lovely motherships will never reach their destination - nowadays I'm forcing myself to advance at least 10 days for a single day IRL, if I'm playing career and outside VAB/SPH.

And it's already answered why you get Kerbin contracts so often. My solution is, I often modify my save file to tweak different contract weights. I'm not completely avoiding contracts on Kerbin but its weight is already the lowest and I let contract system to decide how often to offer me such thing. Result is acceptable to me.

[Spricigo]

Late game...fully upgraded buildings, all parts unlocked,  astronauts at high level, can afford any vessel.. like sandbox. 

 

[juanml82]

I've stopped playing career because of funds and contracts. I'd rather make my own goals than to get side tracked with "side quests" like putting one more satellite I don't care about in one more useless orbit.

So for me late game means landing and returning from every single celestial body and harvesting every piece of science in the Kerbol system (well, most of it) just for the sake of doing it.

Playing career, IMHO, at some point means time warping weeks or months without getting into the contracts building. If you want to run your Duna or Jool exploration fleet, just time warp until they enter Duna or Jool's SOI and disregard the available contracts

[Palaceviking]

Late game=return from eve.

Edit: scrap that,  late game = refuelling station on eve's surface to refuel my eeloo colony.. 

Because I can

Edited October 8, 2017 by Palaceviking

[Geschosskopf]

On 10/5/2017 at 11:25 AM, agrasyuk said:

the question is - do you at this point stop taking Kerbin system contractrs? time accelerating  for more then a few days just doesn't seem right, i always have this feeling "i can be doing something else..." and the contracts offered are still  "test juno engine in flight over kerbin"...

Yeah, only accept contracts for the places you're going.  And accept them far enough in advance to design the big mission to include them.

It takes months to years of game time to get to other planets.  But if you keep spending that time in real time or low warp doing things in and around Kerbin, then it will take months to years of real time for your missions to other planets to get there.  The only way to ever get anything done away from Kerbin is to warp ahead months to years at a time while the mission is en route.

Besides, by the time you're rich enough to afford going to other planets, the contracts close to home are chump change not worth your time.

[Palaceviking]

Take on one very ambitious contract at a time and work around that. 

[Theysen]

Late game: abort just another playthrough somewhere after the first duna Mission because you get bored / sidetracked / find another mod you think you NEED and back to the drawing board (read CKAN). 

I have serious problems sticking to my initial plan of „this time you’ll play it right to the end“ and it always is the same. I need help  

[Pand5461]

Check out Kerbal Construction Time mod. It makes ship building long, so "I can be doing something else" won't be a thing anymore.

 

[bigcalm]

On 05/10/2017 at 5:25 PM, agrasyuk said:

Hi, fellas,

the question is - do you at this point stop taking Kerbin system contractrs?

Yes.  At a certain stage you can basically get all of the money that you need via "mine x ore from body" contracts.  I still like accepting and performing all of the world's first contracts, but at this point, contracts aren't particularly interesting and it's your own goals that take precedence.  It is effectively sandbox from this point on.

That said, I do occasionally take some challenging contracts because it's fun to attempt them - I recently completed a mission to land on Mun, Minmum, Duna, Ike, Gilly, and Moho with a single vessel.

[agrasyuk]

Thanks guys.

I guess now I don't feel too bad to fast-forward the time