early game rescue missions are way too easy for too much gold.

[DBT85]

Thanks for the tips guys I have now successfully rescued Lemzon Kerman. I doubt I did it the correct way or the efficient way but I saved him and yeah I still think rendezvous is hard, damn hard. Picture is awful I know since I was on the night side of Kerbin and I haven't unlocked lights yet.

Congrats

My first two dockings were in the dark so I know how you feel lol.

[Arran]

Thanks for the tips guys I have now successfully rescued Lemzon Kerman. I doubt I did it the correct way or the efficient way but I saved him and yeah I still think rendezvous is hard, damn hard. Picture is awful I know since I was on the night side of Kerbin and I haven't unlocked lights yet.

From here on, it only gets easier, prolly takes still a few attemps, but it WILL get easier, in this Practice makes Perfect really applies..

Congratz on your first Rendezvous!

[rodion_herrera]

I do my rendezvous not by calculations, but purely by "eyeballing" and "feel". This is also how I did rendezvous and docking in Orbiter (Space Flight Simulator) and it carried over to KSP, and it's even easier in KSP in many ways. As such, I don't find the rescue missions challenging--an easy way to accumulate roots.

Edited July 19, 2014 by rodion_herrera

[Greenfire32]

I think it's because the value of a Kerbal life is more important than the value of testing a shiny new part.

I, for one, am OK with rescue missions having a big reward.

[Redd]

I know this is slightly off topic, but I wanted to share it anyway:

Speaking of missions that pay well for doing next to nothing... I had a real gem today. The aircraft used to complete this cost about 40k. And I'm no good at optimizing, so I overdid it a bit.

(Not entirely sure if one needs to unlock the engine first, as I had already completed most of tech tree before this update)

On-topic: My first attempt at rescuing an orbiting 'astronaut' went... odd. Rendezvous went fine, and then he just.. floated there. Heheh. Thanks to this forum, I managed to rescue him. ^^

[lammatt]

I know this is slightly off topic, but I wanted to share it anyway:

Speaking of missions that pay well for doing next to nothing... I had a real gem today. The aircraft used to complete this cost about 40k. And I'm no good at optimizing, so I overdid it a bit.

(Not entirely sure if one needs to unlock the engine first, as I had already completed most of tech tree before this update)

http://i.imgur.com/DdsBgqX.png

On-topic: My first attempt at rescuing an orbiting 'astronaut' went... odd. Rendezvous went fine, and then he just.. floated there. Heheh. Thanks to this forum, I managed to rescue him. ^^

you have to switch vessel when it prompts you found him. and then you EVA him to the ship

[Smurfalot]

i have only unlocked the first 4 nodes...(1st tier 5science and 3 2nd tier 15science)

and i am finding the testing mission for the long SRB on escape trajectory pretty hard, since i havent even unlocked struts...

and this mission is paying less than saving a random kerman at 110km 0deg inclination

-----------------

now i have to sidetrack a bit and launch a ship to mun for some science before i can economically and safely complete that escape trajectory test for the SRB....

That is why you read what they are asking you to do before you accept the contract.

[Bloodlance]

Alt+F12

disable quicksave/load and disable rollbacks to launch and rollback to planning phase.

And do not use cheats or abuse abusable contracts.

my 2c.

[boolybooly]

I agree the funding is so generous for some missions it makes the economic side of the game no challenge once you complete one of those. Needs fine tuning.

I hope they make a difficulty setting for career mode which lets you decide how hard you want it and difficult mode makes you struggle for every Fund. The current reward scheme would be good for easy mode.

Mind you its not simply a case of scaling back all missions by the same factor. The parts tests for example vary tremendously, some are a bit mean, not worth doing for any reason and barely able to break even but some are ridiculously generous. I think the meanest rewards need to be a bit more generous but the most generous need to be less so.

[Monger]

I hope they make a difficulty setting for career mode which lets you decide how hard you want it and difficult mode makes you struggle for every Fund. The current reward scheme would be good for easy mode.

I guess it really depends on how you balance the contract generation. Contracts for low reputation should give you a lot more money than you need for your rocket, and the higher your reputation gets, the more difficult the contracts get without raising the funds significantly. There should be a good chance that a contract fails at the higher levels, if you don't plan carefully.

This way you would basically have a dynamic difficulty mode: more experienced players will probably rush through the early missions, and will find their balance somewhere in the most difficult tiers, whereas beginners will struggle with the early missions for a while until they get better and unlock more complex missions. To see all mission types, you need to be really good for a longer time - which is fair, I guess, and probably the more interesting option than a fixed difficulty level which you may not be able to change after launching a new game.

But to balance this, the game needs to be quite complete. This still may take a while.

[Kerbart]

I guess it really depends on how you balance the contract generation. Contracts for low reputation should give you a lot more money than you need for your rocket, and the higher your reputation gets, the more difficult the contracts get without raising the funds significantly. There should be a good chance that a contract fails at the higher levels, if you don't plan carefully.

That makes sense from a balancing perspective, but not from a game play perspective. Do this and you'll get complaints that players get rewarded for failing by getting more high-yield contracts.

I'm not sure if, in the current form, there's a satisfying solution. Reward success and the game gets too easy as you succeed. Make the game challenging as you get further and the game punishes success. In most games you can easily adjust this by increasing the resistance, but that's not possible in a game built on physics.

What I'd like to see with contracts is payloads. Have a separate group of "payload objects" and have a contract that says "put satellite KZ1267" (which will be available in the payload group after accepting the contract) in an xyz orbit around abc"

As your reputation increases:

• Satellite weight will go up
  
• Deadlines will go down
  
• Orbits will get further away (higher altitude, different planet, etc)
  
• Orbit definitions will get tighter (apoapsis between x1 and y1, periapsis between x1 and y2, inclination between x3 and y3)
  

As the reputation goes up, the difficulty and payout goes up.

Contracts can then also include missions to de-orbit objects.

[aleis]

So did any one else notice that Kerbals are added to your team after you rescue them. And if you think of what this means, squad had finally although indirectly given us a look into the biology of Kerbal kind.

They are spawned in space! This answers why theyou are so fixated on space even when is dangerous.

So in this context I don't think a few ten thousand is to much to rescue a new baby kerbal

Edited July 21, 2014 by aleis
more

[Monger]

That makes sense from a balancing perspective, but not from a game play perspective. Do this and you'll get complaints that players get rewarded for failing by getting more high-yield contracts.

Sorry, I don't follow. Could you explain that again? Why would you get rewarded if you fail on a higher tier, and therefore return to a lower one?

[catastrophy]

Kerbal Insurance Co. is very happy not to have to pay out for the loss of the poor guy.

[magnemoe]

How about the recurring get science from Kerbin, Mun and Minmus orbit: probe core, power, thermometer and an antenna. I tend to get all three at once. 120.000 for a minute work.

Guess it will repeat itself then I get to Eve and Duna,

One note if you use the kerbals in orbit you will not get more of the missions, an Eeloo mission takes many years

[Aragosnat]

Thanks for the tips guys I have now successfully rescued Lemzon Kerman. I doubt I did it the correct way or the efficient way but I saved him and yeah I still think rendezvous is hard, damn hard. Picture is awful I know since I was on the night side of Kerbin and I haven't unlocked lights yet.

While using the Kerbal hit the "L" key. That turns on 2 lights on his helmet.

[Levelord]

Think starting players. Having to get within 30m of a class A object will be a major achievement for them and very hard at first. And then they have to RCS the Kerbal to the cockpit. Yes, it's easy if you have a couple of hundred docking maneuvers under your belt. Not so much when you're just starting out.

This man speaks the truth.