What Is Your Finanical Status?

[NASAFanboy]

I've seen several posts on the forum complaining that the budget system rewarded way too much and was too easy, so I wondered, what is the average finanical status of most KSP players? Do they pave the space center runway with hundred-dollar bills, or are they nearing an foreclosure on their new satellite? While this is just a mere poll to discuss finance in KSP, I'm interested in seeing the difficulty of the budget system, and whether it should be divided into Easy, Medium, and Hard for newbies and old salts to get their fill alike.

Anyways, personally, while I do support lowering the contract rewards on the repetitive missions (Getting 65K for sending data from Kerbin orbit doesn't make sense when you've colonized the Mun already). Perhaps have the first contract pay more, then the next one a little less, and so on? Otherwise, it's a good balance for RP and satellites/stations. Unless you use SLS, which has bankrupted me already.

Edited July 20, 2014 by NASAFanboy

[nhnifong]

After a few missions in the stock game I think I had about √1.6M and then I modded all the parts to 6x more expensive and started a new game. Now I'm struggling to get my duna ship ready on only √200K funds.

[ddavis425]

I've barely played career mode but I'm rolling in cash

[Frank_G]

After about 20 missions i now own about 500k of funds and a good reputation. Considering, that a decent munar lander, as i built them until .24 costs around 50k of funds, i dont find that over-rewarded.

I like contracts the way they are... it is nice that you need to work to build up funds and are presented with some challenges you normally would not attempt, but sneaking from one launch to the next with fear to ruin your game or being in the need to launch hundreds of missions to get the funds for your personal goals... Regarding that you usually play for around an hour a mission or more, this would slow down the fun and your creativity a lot. That would not be the type of game i like and it wouldnt be kerbal style in my opinion.

[morph113]

I haven't had much time to play yet. But in my current save I have nearly 500k funds and I only flew maybe 5 or 6 missions. I could see that the next missions for Minmus, Duna, Ike etc. will even give me plenty more funds. So far the contracts pay extremely well but as i have already stated in another treaht, I do like this. Because I like to roleplay in KSP career mode and will also shoot a lot of satellites, space stations and colonisations on planets and for that I need funds so I like that the contracts pay well so I can afford to do own missions which do not yield any money.

[AeroAviation]

Around 1 million funds ATM, My Mun mission got off with a very tight delta v budget with 75 m/s to spare to return Bill home, Minmus mission was alot easier with the same craft and had more fuel to spare so I decided to land the lander on Kerbin for more funds . oh and I didn't use landing gear because I wanted to stay as cheap as possible

Some see it as a major safety risk, I see it as money saving.

Edit: My next goal is a probe to explore Eve because its so easy to land with its atmosphere.

[Godot]

Roughly 1.5 million after 14 missions ... half of the money stems from a single mission in which I had to test a liquid fuel booster in orbit around Kerbin

[Jon Tash]

I only did 5 missions so far witch gave a total of 140k funds, still waiting for the mods that I want to update and then I will begin a new serious career save.

[AlexanderB]

About 1.3 milion kerbux and nearly 1000 rep after 10-15 missions, 18 ingame days. Rescued a few kerbals, went to mun and minmus with some science equipment too, and tested a bunch of parts. The last coupe of contracts I did with my new spaceplane, 100% recovery on materials means only cheap fuel expended, thats easy science points and money.

One of the things I do notice, I make a lot more use of solid boosters, I already did before for extra liftoff TWR, but as it turns out, they're cheap too.

And I use more varied building technique, but that might also have to do with the fact that the parts I normally use most aren't unlocked in the tech tree yet.

[Bobnova]

I have something like 1 to 1.3 million I think.

Part of the key is I've been working really hard on cost efficiency.

My Mun probe that went to Mun, landed, then came back to KSP and landed safely cost me less than 20k. Big profit margin on that thing.

Could a newbie nail that? No way.

Could I nail that without a ton of trial and error and/or KE? No way!

(With KE, first try)

I don't think that they overpay for the most part. A few do, a few underpay. It's almost like real life contracts!

[No one]

3 million funds when most launches take a few 10s of thousands, I don't know how much reputation, 4 ingame years. That said, almost all of those 4 years were spent rescuing a kerbal from solar orbit after I didn't put ion thrusters on a return stage in an attempt to save money but then lacked the delta-v to return to Kerbin.

For most of my launches so far I used asparagus (LV-T30s) because of how useful it is, but then I realized how much cheaper SRBs were and have been using them since.

I've been to the Mun, Minmus, and Kerbolar orbit. I haven't been to any other planets because I don't like spending money and I know that if I use transfer windows right I really don't need much delta-v at all, but back in .235 I always had massive overkill (To the point where once I didn't even use my interplanetary transfer stage, which was extremely massive, and the launch stage was enough to get to where I was going) and I'm not sure just how little dv I can get away with.

[Arran]

10.5 Million at day 40, Jeb suggested that my program is now going to pave the runway with shiny reflecting Daimonds for better visibility at night, and golden rails to the Launchpad, and Bob is asking for Kaviar and champagn as standard issue on all manned flights, and Bill demands new Spacesuits made of Silk and full 3D sound system in his helmet for his tunes..

[General Rarity]

HELP MEEEEE

[Beachernaut]

Just under 500k on day 38. To be honest I could spam some of the more lucrative contracts (rescue) and have waaayyy more, but IMO I'd just be cheating myself out of the challenge. Also, I refuse to transmit science inside of the Kerbal system, and will probably not transmit at all on this career play through. Currently working on Mun biomes with a small lander and science ship parked in orbit. I also tend to overbuild my rockets, so I'm sure I'm wasting some kredits there.

[Renegrade]

6.16 million (my average craft cost varies, but most of them are 12-22k), day 8, working on filling out the last tier of science before I land on the Mun a third time.

Contracts are OP~

To be honest I could spam some of the more lucrative contracts (rescue) and have waaayyy more

Actually the rescue contracts have poor payout, as you MUST use an actual craft and actual fuel to perform them.

The "Science data from space around <X>" contracts are flat out the most abusable thing ever. I have cheap science probes permanently stationed around Kerbin, Mun, and Minmus, and I just hop over to one and transmit a thermometer reading. No launches, no fuel, no cost.

(Minmus transmit is about 80k, Kerbin rescue is about 60k)

Edited July 20, 2014 by Renegrade

[DocMoriarty]

I currently have 3+ million after like 20 missions on day 15. I try to recover a good deal. 1 million kame from the LFB test mission around Kerbin. I kept recovering all the trial rockets until it worked out so just spent a few 1000 funds to get the million. I also play honest, that is if something bad happens i take it, i don't revert.

So with that background i say funds is WAY too easy. I would appreciate difficulty settings being introduced where 'normal' is like 75% of what it is now, hard is 25% of what it is now and easy is probably what we have now. Also science need to be rebalanced. Now you can even research a lot just doing tests. In order to rebalance science i would keep rewards as is but anything that costs 550+ science to research should get increasingly more expensive, probably adding 20% or even more to higher research stuff. It should at least be desirable to go to Duna to finish all science stuff.

Also mission deadlines should be set to values that can hurt, especially for missions like rescue Kerbals. Also rewards should at least for some missions depend on how close you get to the deadline. So the part test for LFB could yield 1 mio when you do it soonish, but yields only 250k when you take 10 days of time.

Edited July 20, 2014 by DocMoriarty

[tgruetzm]

After 2.5 million in Funds after 20 contracts or so, I found myself not even checking how much a craft costs. What's the point of a budget if you don't look at it?

I started a new career with part prices tripled. Should make things interesting...

Module Manager config:

@PART[*]:FINAL

{

@cost *= 3

}

[Beachernaut]

Actually the rescue contracts have poor payout, as you MUST use an actual craft and actual fuel to perform them.

The "Science data from space around <X>" contracts are flat out the most abusable thing ever. I have cheap science probes permanently stationed around Kerbin, Mun, and Minmus, and I just hop over to one and transmit a thermometer reading. No launches, no fuel, no cost.

(Minmus transmit is about 80k, Kerbin rescue is about 60k)

Ahhh... I'm running through this play through without transmitting anything. I like the extra challenge of bringing everything back to KSC.

[Renegrade]

Ahhh... I'm running through this play through without transmitting anything. I like the extra challenge of bringing everything back to KSC.

Well, once you have Goo pods (and later the materials lab), you really SHOULD be bringing everything back to max out the returns

I generally only transmit 100% things, and I only do that as a safety measure (in the event Jeb re-discovers lithobraking or something)..

[SkyRender]

Well, just doing my two-mission tech tree max strategy (yes, it works even with funds; I had a generous amount left to boot), I ended up with about a million Funds sitting around. But I understand why: I'm a long-time player who doesn't really make the kind of mess-ups that a lot of newer players do. And even though I rarely need it, I do in fact use quicksave and quickload (meaning that I don't even HAVE any potential for failure on my missions short of poor planning at the launch level, which basically does not happen).

I'm okay with Career mode's Funds and Reputation being borderline-pointless for a player like me. Because I know they're currently engineered for a very different skill level and gameplay style than I work with.

[Beachernaut]

Well, once you have Goo pods (and later the materials lab), you really SHOULD be bringing everything back to max out the returns

I generally only transmit 100% things, and I only do that as a safety measure (in the event Jeb re-discovers lithobraking or something)..

Hehehe... I don't think I had even been out of the atmosphere before I got Goo pods. The whole % for transmitting thing is why I started bringing things back. It became a habit, and now a challenge.

Edited July 20, 2014 by Beachernaut

[protoz]

~15 million, i kept kept repeating send science data from the mun for 80k~ every 10 seconds. Would probably be 999 million if i flew a ship to a further planet to do the same.

[Xavven]

3.5 million here and I haven't left the Kerbin system yet (Eve probe about to leave).

As others have mentioned, one of the reasons it seems too easy to some of us is that we've been to the Mun a hundred times. Think of a new player who is going to have 5 or 10 failed attempts at 50k-70k per Mun craft. They'll go broke in a hurry and have to grind some part tests to get their balance back up, while my Mun lander works on the first try.

The other thing I noticed is that I don't have to pay any money to unlock parts in the science tree. Those will really add up early on.

[Renegrade]

Hehehe... I don't think I had even been out of the atmosphere before I got Goo pods. The whole % for transmitting thing is why I started bringing things back. It became a habit, and now a challenge.

Well, it's a good habit to have

The other thing I noticed is that I don't have to pay any money to unlock parts in the science tree. Those will really add up early on.

I noticed that.. is that intended to ever cost money in the future, or is it some left-over thing they haven't gotten around to removing?

[Beachernaut]

Well, it's a good habit to have

Might or might not have something to do with my penny pinching ways... OTOH, getting a surface sample from Eve may be difficult. I've never attempted to land there, much less return.