Career Mode help

[Laflaga]

So im new and I went into career after the tutorials.

I have got a lot of science from Kerbin and spent it on everything worth 45 science and then electrics worth 90 science.

But I just feel a bit lost now. What do I do?

I would like to go to the moon but I dont know how to build a good enough rocket and lander, then there is taking off and coming back and all the fuel I would need.

Plus I heard there are orbital refueling stations and space stations.

I dont know what I am able to go for with my current technology.

[jsfalconero]

That's Ok, it's a big daunting universe out there. If you can make a stable orbit, try making a flyby of the mun. The idea is that you want to get close enough to get captured by the mun's gravity well then just sail on past and collect science the whole way.

To do that set up a maneuver node on your Kerbin orbit such that the angle made by mun, kerbin, and your spacecraft (With your craft at the base, Kerbin in the middle, and mun to the right) then increase the prograde vector by around 1000m/s. Your orbit should cross the mun's and as long as your planes are aligned you should get an encounter. You can fine tune it until you're happy with everything then execute the node. You'll go flying off to the mun and pick up a ton of science if you play your cards right. Then once you escape the mun you can burn retrograde to drop your periaps into the atmosphere and boom! Successful mun flyby!

Good luck! Let us know how it goes!

[matts73]

First keep everything simple and small (lightweight) means small capsule small three stage rocket, use boosters but not too much etc. watch tutorial videos. Once You are at mun as jsfalconero describes make EVAs (but be sure to stay on the capsule and right click your kerbonaut to get EVE Reports from differnt spots, bring them back or transmit them and tada you got a lot of science...

[Laflaga]

Thanks, I look around but only seem to see far more advanced ship guides or ones with mod add-ons. Could you suggest a good rocket out of stock early(ish) parts please?

[Rocket Ronald]

Hey. Im sorta at the same stage of the game. Just upgraded from Demo (version18) few days ago, Im like wauw!

Anyway, Ive been looking around aswell for guides to rocket/shipbuilding, and while there's tuns (!!), its all in fancy gear I havent unlocked yet, and nothing for the hill-billy-stage we're at. So what can I share: just some simple advice; Take small steps and build on gained experience.

For instance: you've given yourself a great start sucking Kerbal dry for science points; Now ye know how that all works, go repeat it at the Mun, and then the next moon or planet and so forth. First a fly-by, then into orbit, then landings. Researched new stuff? Testfly it on simple Kerbal -orbit -missions (or craft). Same as new science parts btw...

To get started look at the mun-craft from tutorial 3. If you can get that into orbit around Kerbal, with using none or little of its own fuel, then you are good to go for at least orbiting the Mun and coming back safely.

And remember: the more times you fail, the greater will feel the reward at success! Hey and just enjoy having to pioneer ye way around, I know I am! And happy there's no newby-guide to ruin all the fun.

[Dave Kerbin]

I haven't yet flown my .23 career Mun rocket (and while I have it designed it might not be the best for a beginner).

But you can see the career rocket I used in .22 to land on the Mun which I believe was built using the same technology that you have now

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/53159-Science-leads-to-wonderful-things-%28PIC-HEAVY%29?p=707046&viewfull=1#post707046

The only change for .23 is that now you don't need to return things like the Science Jr or the Goo containers anymore. Because you had to return the entire science experiment in .22 I had a more complex parachute system to bring it all back safely (and some extra fuel to bring it back). If you take your kerbal on EVA, get close to the experiment after it has been run and right click you can remove it and bring it back to the command pod (I would do this on the Mun or in Mun orbit before burning to return to Kerbin). Then you just need a decoupler and parachutes for your command pod, the rest can be dumped before you open the parachute.

[JumpsterG]

After playing career mode for a while, I found that you can benefit from splitting your missions between 2 or 3 types.

Science Missions - Specifically target an area or areas to gather the science needed to unlock parts

Launch Testing - Launching rockets (or planes) without any payload (or with simulated payload, a full fuel tank, for example), to find their capabilities and tweak them into something that can be used for Science missions safely. Once you've created something that can get x tons to orbit, you can start planning science missions with that tonnage as your engineering limit.

Infrustructure Missions - Once docking ports come into play, non-science payloads can be prepared in orbit: refueling stations, multipurpose craft, science packages.

A lot of early career (especially for a player new to KSP) should be spent on Launch tests. Experiment with different configurations until you have something reliable that you can reuse over and over again. Then, once you've exhausted the science that can be collected using that lifter, go back to the drawing board and try to build something bigger with the parts you unlocked.

[Laflaga]

Ive got to the Mun twice now but crash landed both times.

Keep overestimating how much my engine can decelerate me...

3rd time lucky I hope!

PS: Dave Kerbin, thanks for the design, it was helpful

Edited December 23, 2013 by Laflaga

[Zwer.ch]

Ive got to the Mun twice now but crash landed both times.

The Kerbal Way!

Before reliably landing, try orbiting the different Mun biomes. You can do "near space" EVAs over each biome, netting you a lot of science.

Spend the landing fuel instead on changing your inclination, so you can overpass all biomes, including the polar caps.

The EVA reports can be transmitted without loss back to Kerbin, so you can immediately spend it on better equipment. Should enable you to build a more advanced lander

[jsfalconero]

If you're looking for a good video tutorial I'm going to recommend one by Scott Manley (who gets a lot of love around here because he's usually pretty good about these sorts of things) that should help with the concepts and provide a decent visual walkthrough of the process. I can't remember if he says it in this video, but one bit of advice that I think is quite helpful is to try for Minimus first -it's just easier to land on than Mun.

Here's the video...

[Auger]

Ive got to the Mun twice now but crash landed both times.

Keep overestimating how much my engine can decelerate me...

3rd time lucky I hope!

PS: Dave Kerbin, thanks for the design, it was helpful

Haha sounds like me. I'm new just got KSP last weekend, really enjoying it. Well I've managed to land twice on the Mun sort of, both times my lander toppled over, and I have 2 kerbals now stranded on the Mun. I'm thinking 3rd time will be the charm. One thing I found out that might help you if you never knew is that hitting F5 will quicksave the game. So when your on your descent to the Mun surface quicksave and then if you crash just quick load with F9 (need to hold F9 down a second). Good luck

[Vanamonde]

The third ship in my post in this thread is moon-capable and uses only parts from tiers 03.

[Laflaga]

One thing I found out that might help you if you never knew is that hitting F5 will quicksave the game. So when your on your descent to the Mun surface quicksave and then if you crash just quick load with F9 (need to hold F9 down a second). Good luck

That is gonna save me soooo much frustration! Thanks!!!

Didn't actually make it because I messed up my gravity turn 3 times in a row. 1st and 2nd attempts must have been lucky lol! After watching some videos I think I understand the theory so going for a retry.

[Laflaga]

Sooo, sort of hit a snag. I landed on the Mun, did some science, then couldn't reach orbit with my remaining fuel....

Is it worth the trouble to send a rescue of just retry launch?

Edit: It seems I am unable to revert launch at this point anyway. If I press escape key the revert button is greyed out, I tried ramming the ground and the revert function wasn't there also. So Jeb is officially stranded on the Mun I guess. Any suggestions for a rescue craft?

Can you refuel a ship on the moon with another ships fuel?

Edited December 24, 2013 by Laflaga

[JumpsterG]

Yeah, the revert function becomes disabled once you've gone back to the space center.

If you can dock with the ship (unlikely if you are still in low tech tiers), then you can transfer fuel between tanks by Alt-Right-clicking two tanks.

Rescue ship just needs room to pick up Jeb and more fuel than the previous ship. Your first few landings will be very fuel inefficient as you descend very cautiously (or crash), but as you get practice, you'll use less and less.

A good landing profile I often use is to move my periapse over the target location, then lower it as far as possible without hitting terain (7-10Km for Mun, maybe? Lower if you're adventurous and going into a wide, deep crater) and waiting until that periapse to burn retrograde and kill horizontal velocity. This reduces the distance you will fall and consequently the speed at which you do so. It can be trickier to do precise landings at a target location, but it seems to me to be a very efficient and safe way to go about landing, since you kill most of your velocity all in one go, and just need to burn a little at the surface for touchdown.

[barrenwaste]

Ok, I'd advise building a bunch of differing mun landers and lifters. What doesn't seem possible often works and what would seem simple often proves almost impossible. Build using your imagination, learn the capabilities of each engine and part. Learn the exploits like clipping and multi-staging without decouplers. Once you have a good design and know it's limits, then try for a mun landing. You are still going to wipe, but the chances of you getting back are much higher. Mostly, though, I advise stretching your imagination and increasing your knowledge base on the parts available. It's fun and will make the rest of the game flow much smoother.

[Laflaga]

So I came up with a plan, tested various versions, and eventually launched operation "White Knight Down"

http://imgur.com/a/KqZce

[JumpsterG]

Awesome job. This is why we love this game.

[PrivateFlip]

Pretty impressive to land the rescue ship so close to other one!

[Laflaga]

I got the hang of landing pretty well. I figured out how to use the set maneuver nodes too which helped me alot. I recently hit another milestone. I've not long ago unlocked docking ports and I got my first orbital satellite setup. A drone controlled mobile processing lab.

http://imgur.com/DOVlmir

I also rescued an ambitious science vessel which ran out of fuel after escaping mun and getting into orbit.

http://imgur.com/K2HNZiG

Lets just say I learnt how to dock by necessity!