Things to do while waiting to go to EVE?

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

Since returning to KSP... I've flown more missions to the Mun and Minmus than I ever thought possible.  I've mined on both.  Found a couple of anomalies on each.  Run scans on stuff.  Set up unmanned research stations on both.  I've even sent a Sentinel into a solar orbit just inside Kerbin's orbit.

My 'missions' (career mode) are all pretty much focused on Eve.  So I've got a plan for that, but a 200 + game day wait until that window opens.  I'm still 15 Tech's away from completing the tree (read: most of the 300s, a couple of the 550s and one of the 1000s)

There's a few possibilities, I'm guessing, for things to do while I wait.

1. fling random probes around the solar system just because / to do stuff.

2. capture an asteroid.

3. locate the anomalies on Kerbin that I haven't found yet.

My Sentinel has spotted several question mark objects, none of which are in Kerbin's SOI.  The most recent is 5 hours 'Last Seen' and then on up to 32 days.  I'm guessing that those are not 'good numbers' to be going for an asteroid.  (Most of the tutorials I've read suggest going for an asteroid in the SOI of Kerbin.

The question:  what do you suggest?  What would you do, or did you do when you were at this level?  Is it worth trying to chase down an Asteroid that hasn't been spotted for 5 hours or more?  Does randomly flinging probes around the Kerbol system make sense?  Is it worth the time to drop a Rovemate into high polar orbit, plot points and fly to the triangulated anomalies on Kerbin?  Or should I just warp time until my Eve window, and try to not botch that mission?

 

...

 

What to do... what to do?

Edited June 3, 2020 by JoeSchmuckatelli

[N_Danger]

 I'm a shameless time warper. You do have to watch your contracts if you have several about to expire. But you can manage which ones you take keeping that issue manageable.

Real life time is too short to role play a 2 year mission in real time.

Just my 2 cents.

[AHHans]

8 hours ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

The question:  what do you suggest?

Do what you enjoy doing.

8 hours ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

What would you do, or did you do when you were at this level?

IIRC in my current career I mostly collected Kerbals from low Kerbin orbit, so that I haven an army of troops that owe me their life once I decide to take over Kerbin.

But I think the more helpful answer is that I time-warped 5 days (because that's the typical time-out for contracts) and checked if there is a contract that I liked doing.

8 hours ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

Is it worth trying to chase down an Asteroid that hasn't been spotted for 5 hours or more?

I guess this "last spotted" value tells you how long it will be until that asteroid will vanish (and be replaced by another?). As long as the marker is there, you can start tracking the asteroid and see where it is going.

And yes, while waiting for my interplanetary craft to get to their destinations Kerbin acquired a fashionable Asteroid belt. (Be careful of bug #24855!)

8 hours ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

Does randomly flinging probes around the Kerbol system make sense?

Well, I would aim for the SOI of another planet, but that's just me.

In my current career I made a rule that I'm only allowed to go to another planet if I got a contract to go there. (Originally only from the WFRKS, but I got tired of waiting for ships to go from / to Duna and Eve, so I expanded my rule to "regular" contracts and got to go to Jool.)

8 hours ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

Is it worth the time to drop a Rovemate into high polar orbit, plot points and fly to the triangulated anomalies on Kerbin?

If you want to find anomalies or even all of the anomalies then that's what you have to do. Not only for Kerbin, but also for the other planetoids. My carrier craft with 6 RoveMate enabled detachable probes is currently on the way to Jool. (Yes, yes. There are  six of them. But I like symmetry and the do double as relays.)

8 hours ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

Or should I just warp time until my Eve window, and try to not botch that mission?

I do recommend trying not to botch a mission anyhow but then again, what do I know. (SCNR! )

In summary: I guess there are two approaches to KSP careers: one group does one mission after another and time-warps to the transfer windows and to the arrival. And the other sends craft on their way and then tries to fill the meantime with "useful" stuff to do. If you want to do the latter then I strongly recommend the mod Kerbal Alarm Clock! Trying to juggle 10+ missions that all have time-critical maneuvers some time in the future will get problematic otherwise.

[jimmymcgoochie]

Scrape every last science point off of Kerbin, Mun and Minmus while you wait. Labs are basically cheating but there is more than enough science on Kerbin itself at high multipliers and within its SOI even at low multipliers to complete the tech tree. Complete contracts to rescue Kerbals from Kerbin’s SOI then level them up by flying them to the Mun and Minmus before sending them to Eve. Build your Eve ship, landers and other useful vessels like probes and rovers and assemble it in Kerbin orbit ready to leave for Eve when the window opens. Take up contracts for Eve ready to be completed when you get there.

However, for a first landing on another planet I’d recommend Duna over Eve as while it’s a bit further away and comms will be more difficult, it’s a whole lot easier to land on and escape from plus there’s Ike to explore as well which is a lot easier to reach than Gilly is around Eve. Duna’s thin atmosphere has next to no effect on rocket ISP but is just enough to make aerobraking and parachutes useful, plus at 1/3 gravity it’s easy enough to get to and from its surface as well as to capture into orbit and escape again; Eve has a very thick atmosphere and high gravity so capturing into orbit is difficult, landing is tricky due to re-entry heat and getting back from the surface requires a highly optimised design.