Training Regiment

[Omaha]

How do you train new crew members?  How do you build their experience levels prior to sending them on real missions?

I start by sending all of them on tours to the surfaces of Mun and Minmus, which gets them to Level 2.  After that, they're put in the queue for Duna, and by the time they get back they are at Level 3, ready for anything.

Unfortunately, there is currently a serious backlog for the Duna flights.

[peteletroll]

A quick and cheap way is orbiting Mun, orbiting and landing on Minmus, exit Kerbin SOI and back to Kerbin. Skipping the Mun landing saves a lot of ∆v.

EDIT: This way you get level 3 kerbals with no need to wait for a transfer window.

Edited November 6, 2017 by peteletroll

[James Kerman]

I like to get my crew to level 3 before duna - Mostly engineers as I find them most useful for my playstyle.

I usually pop out into Kerbol orbit on any crewed mission to minmus.  The Dv requirement is tiny to pop out and then pop back into Kerbin's sphere of influence.

Edited November 6, 2017 by James Kerman
Ninja'd

[fourfa]

As above. Also, I’ve found that practicing a Mun flyby from Minmus orbit, then steering that into a Kerbin aerobrake maneuver, is excellent practice for more complex interplanetary missions. 

[Omaha]

I have thought about replacing the Duna leg with a quick dip in solar orbit.

[regex]

I have them level immediately instead of having to return to Kerbin because the experience system makes very little sense. Astronauts should be fully trained before being sent on a mission (although I like the progression to see how much an individual has flow ).

Edited November 6, 2017 by regex

[linuxgurugamer]

Or, you could use TRP-Hire and just hire them with the levels you want:

 

[Guest]

You mean regimen — no T?

If I played career this would be my main use for spaceplanes, with trainees doing milk runs to orbital facilities.

[Pthigrivi]

I usually land them on the Mun and Minmus. You can level-up from leaving kerbin SOI en-route with a Mobile lab, which I almost always have for an interplanetary mission.

[Urus28]

I land on Mun and Minmus and i end the journey by a short kerbol orbit, which give them a level 3. I have permanent settlement for refuel the ship on both Mun and Minmus making the trip easier.

[Whisky Tango Foxtrot]

I consider my Kerbals ready for interplanetary missions in they've planted flags on the Mun and Minmus. I don't bother to have them leave Kerbin's SOI since they'll be doing that anyway on their first trip. The only time I've ever sent Kerbal astronauts (as opposed to Kerbal tourists, who are pointless to level up) to another planet without a science lab either on their ship or in orbit around their destination planet was when I sent my first mining crew to Gilly, and while it was a bit annoying doing burns without manoeuvre hold it ultimately wasn't a big deal.

[StrandedonEarth]

I have the Tourism Plus contract pack, where one of the contracts is to “Hold a space camp.” For hauling 15-16 tourists to Kerbin orbit for forty days, you get three kerbonauts joining up. My “ Space Camp Bus” holds 23 kerbals and can do the Mun flyby - Minmus Landing - Kerbol orbit - back to Kerbin run with a comfortable margin. So I have room to train any other kerbonauts that need it, or haul up more tourists, or do some rescues at the same time. 

[fourfa]

17 minutes ago, StrandedonEarth said:

I have the Tourism Plus contract pack, where one of the contracts is to “Hold a space camp.” For hauling 15-16 tourists to Kerbin orbit for forty days, you get three kerbonauts joining up. My “ Space Camp Bus” holds 23 kerbals and can do the Mun flyby - Minmus Landing - Kerbol orbit - back to Kerbin run with a comfortable margin. So I have room to train any other kerbonauts that need it, or haul up more tourists, or do some rescues at the same time. 

Great idea, I never thought of doing that. Careful with that contract though - I ran mine on a LKO space station, and any time I’d dock a ship to the station the 40 day timer would reset. Not a trivial problem when you’re playing with life support, and the arrival of enough supplies to keep them alive resets the timer again. Had to Alt-F12 it finally. 

So flying them out away from any temptation to dock up, sounding better and better

[RX2000]

I like the Kerbal Training contracts mod. You pay some money & then do a certain mission parameter & a more experienced Kerbal levels up the less experienced one. Like you pay 125,000 then have a level 0 pilot go up with a level 2 pilot & they come back as a level 1 pilot, etc. Seems a lot more believable than just getting experience for riding in a ship that goes in & out of different orbits......

[StrandedonEarth]

2 hours ago, fourfa said:

Great idea, I never thought of doing that. Careful with that contract though - I ran mine on a LKO space station, and any time I’d dock a ship to the station the 40 day timer would reset. Not a trivial problem when you’re playing with life support, and the arrival of enough supplies to keep them alive resets the timer again. Had to Alt-F12 it finally. 

So flying them out away from any temptation to dock up, sounding better and better

I gave up on life support since it got too tedious for my liking. I just make sure there is a forty day cruise in there somewhere, between SOIs (which also resets the timer)

[katateochi]

I also do the Minmus landing (with a flag planting,....is that step still needed?), then out to solar orbit for literally 5 mins then back in and swing round Mun to brake into Kerbin orbit. I've got a 10 man craft which does repeat flights of that mission and drags some tourists along too (Tourism plus contracts).  

[Eric S]

6 hours ago, katateochi said:

I also do the Minmus landing (with a flag planting,....is that step still needed?), then out to solar orbit for literally 5 mins then back in and swing round Mun to brake into Kerbin orbit. I've got a 10 man craft which does repeat flights of that mission and drags some tourists along too (Tourism plus contracts).  

 

I do the Minmus->Solar SoI a little differently.  Instead of leaving Minmus prograde to Kerbin's SoI limit (to minimize delta-v expended), I leave retrograde+radial out (in reference to Kerbin, but still within Minmus' SoI).  This basically kills so much of my horizontal velocity that when I duck back into Kerbin's SoI, I'm probably going to have to raise my periapsis to aerobrake rather than lower it.  Makes for a short trip, which is nice when you're playing with life support.

And yes, Tourism Plus is fun.

[katateochi]

1 hour ago, Eric S said:

I do the Minmus->Solar SoI a little differently.  Instead of leaving Minmus prograde to Kerbin's SoI limit (to minimize delta-v expended), I leave retrograde+radial out (in reference to Kerbin, but still within Minmus' SoI).  This basically kills so much of my horizontal velocity that when I duck back into Kerbin's SoI, I'm probably going to have to raise my periapsis to aerobrake rather than lower it.  Makes for a short trip, which is nice when you're playing with life support.

oh, interesting, I'm going to have to try that. I'm also playing with life support and doing it the way I've been doing can be quite a long mission (long by home SOI standards anyway).  Do you go to  Mun or Minmus first?
 

1 hour ago, Eric S said:

And yes, Tourism Plus is fun

yeah Tourism Plus is great, means I can basically ignore all the other contracts except the really interesting ones or those that happen to be inline with my own stuff and just farm tourists for cash. I've got two divisions to my space program, the tourism division which is completely reusable (I even mine fuel and farm LF resources to restock the craft on the tarmac, so it doesn't even cost resources) and the insanity division....which does whatever it wants.

 

[Eric S]

13 hours ago, katateochi said:

oh, interesting, I'm going to have to try that. I'm also playing with life support and doing it the way I've been doing can be quite a long mission (long by home SOI standards anyway).  Do you go to  Mun or Minmus first?
 

yeah Tourism Plus is great, means I can basically ignore all the other contracts except the really interesting ones or those that happen to be inline with my own stuff and just farm tourists for cash. I've got two divisions to my space program, the tourism division which is completely reusable (I even mine fuel and farm LF resources to restock the craft on the tarmac, so it doesn't even cost resources) and the insanity division....which does whatever it wants.

 

Hmmm... good point, I'm hitting the Mun first, and it's a 16 day transfer from the Mun to Minmus at minimum delta-v, so the time I cut off coming back from Minmus is probably made up for by that transfer.  Could definitely shorten that trip by spending more delta-v, but I think the extra fuel would outweigh the extra life support consumables.

As for Tourist Plus contracts, I do the minimum necessary for Stage Recovery mod recovery, when you're earning 3-4M roots for a mission that cost less than a quarter million to launch, spending more time than necessary to do that mission to minimize the overhead doesn't feel time-effective.  When I start bumping up the difficulty, I may change my tune, but not for now.

EDIT:  Double checked, my current Tourist Bus designs run from 260K for 30 up to 313K for 50 tourists (I could probably trim that a bit, the 30 passenger version is a bit overbuilt).  OK, technically 29 and 49, since the reward mentioned depends on having a non-tourist along for the ride.  I'll also double check the rewards next run.  I remember being surprised by the total payout, but it adds up and might even be a bit low.  Figure X tourists to the hotel, X tourists home from the hotel, Y tourists to visit the station, and Z tourists to low Kerbin orbit, all tripled thanks to Pilot Focus III.

Edited November 8, 2017 by Eric S
Double checked stats

[Space_Coyote]

How should you train the new crews ? Well one thing is to do jet parabolas, where something like this happens.  

 

And yes, astronauts go through training wher ehtye do stuff like this (Only without music!)

[NSEP]

On 06/11/2017 at 4:18 PM, regex said:

I have them level immediately instead of having to return to Kerbin because the experience system makes very little sense. Astronauts should be fully trained before being sent on a mission (although I like the progression to see how much an individual has flow ).

Ikr.

Seriously, how does going to Minmus teach you how to fix a wheel? 

[MinimalMinmus]

It's worth nothing OPM nerfs vanilla XP.

With OPM, planting flags on Mun and Minmus is juuuust enough for level 2.

[Rocket In My Pocket]

I send my Kerbals on what I call "The Milk run." (Usually 5 Kerbals at a time in a rocket I call "The Milk Truck" lol.)

Orbit Kerbin, orbit Mun, orbit Minmus, orbit Sun, back home.

It's usually enough to get them to level 2-3ish depending, it's very simple, and doesn't involve any landings.

Edited November 10, 2017 by Rocket In My Pocket