Career Mode strategy/tips?

[Stealth2668]

I've done a few basic missions to get started and unlocked a couple of basic techs. I then did a decouple mission and when I decoupled from my lifter section, it of course fell back down and exploded, thus creating a big loss for me (didn't put parachutes on it like an idiot). So I've got about 7k left to work with which isn't much.

I'm thinking of restarting my career (only like an hour in or so anyway) but what is your strategy? Do you do your own "missions" to gather science and unlock parts or do you do missions for money first, or a combo of both? How do you avoid losing too much for damaged parts and what do you look for when accepting a contract?

Also general tips would be nice, haven't played this game in months

Thanks.

[Master Tao]

I do a combo of missions for money and science. Once, I rescued a Kerbal, but landed him on the Mun before recovering him.

There are a few mods that will let you recover lifters with parachutes, but it's generally very difficult to recover lower stages in stock KSP. My solution has been to use cheap SRBs as my first stage – bicouplers and tricouplers and tweakable thrust are really helpful.

[SRV Ron]

My first mission started out with an RT-10, Pod, and parachute. I got contracts for launch and set 5,000 meters altitude. Landing in the water will allow for RT-10 recovery

Here is that first ship and its cost.With tweaking of the thrust, I also completed the 33,000 meter altitude contract.

For the sub orbital mission, the tweaked first stage combined with a full power booster, made it to space in a sub orbital mission.

Combined with Goo canisters, observations, EVA, and reports, you can gather enough science to start unlocking the second tier Science which will bring up additional contracts to fulfill. Combine as many as possible for the most efficient use of your resources.

[Stealth2668]

Oh, I was under the impression that I could put parachutes on parts that were jettisoned so they fall gently back to kerbin for recovery. It seems like it will be hard to make profitable launches if we lose our lifter with every take off, unless I'm missing something?

Also, that SRB went to 33,000m? That's pretty good. What was the tweak % set to?

Edited August 23, 2014 by Stealth2668

[JDCollie]

Oh, I was under the impression that I could put parachutes on parts that were jettisoned so they fall gently back to kerbin for recovery. It seems like it will be hard to make profitable launches if we lose our lifter with every take off, unless I'm missing something?

Also, that SRB went to 33,000m? That's pretty good. What was the tweak % set to?

Currently the stock game does not have this feature. If you are comfortable with modded gameplay DebRefund

( http://beta.kerbalstuff.com/mod/57/DebRefund ) allows you to recover debris that falls out of loading range so long as the objects were on a suborbital trajectory and had sufficient parachutes to allow the item to land at ~10m/s or less.

[Taki117]

Oh, I was under the impression that I could put parachutes on parts that were jettisoned so they fall gently back to kerbin for recovery. It seems like it will be hard to make profitable launches if we lose our lifter with every take off, unless I'm missing something?

Also, that SRB went to 33,000m? That's pretty good. What was the tweak % set to?

If you have a mod such as StageRecovery or DebRefund then you will get funds for spent stages that have enough parachutes attached.

[Stealth2668]

Hmm, why wouldn't they allow this is the vanilla game? Seems like a big flaw. Getting into orbit for missions is hard for noobs if you have to make a SSTO to avoid losing money from dropped stages :/

Guess I'll download the mods. Thanks

[DocMoriarty]

I agree that this is a flaw, because it renders rocketry fairly useless once you have space planes. I do every launch with space planes since i have that unlocked. Only the first launches and missions to the Mun were rocket based.

Even big parts like a new space station core for kerbin are launched by admittedly big and ugly but very functional space planes. Here a new "Einstein Station" being released in it's final orbit around Kerbin.

Edited August 24, 2014 by DocMoriarty

[Wanderfound]

Easy ways to get √ once you're established:

* Put a satellite in orbit with a radio, a thermometer, a battery, a solar panel and a probe core. Disable the probe's internal battery to use as emergency reserve. Every time a "science from space" contract appears, send in a temperature scan.

* Put a satellite in orbit with a dozen cheap detachable drone-equipped rescue pods for orbital crew pickup.

* Leave a Kerbal on the Mun to build a forest of flags.

When you're just starting:

* Many contracts include a cash advance. Accept, ignore, spend.

* Ground tests: girder, Stayputnik, test item, 100% recovery. Test rockets unfuelled.

* Splashdown tests: probe core, test item, parachute, RT-10 with 90% of fuel removed and thrust limited. Pop, splash, test.

[Kasuha]

SRBs are cheap, you can easily afford to lose a few of them, early contracts will pay you back plenty.

Of course later on it is good to have an SSTO lifting stage. But don't forget that SSTOs are not necessarily spaceplanes. You can have a contraption of just jet engines and intakes and it will bring your payload to orbit as securely as a plane - without need to decide where to put all the wings you need to lift off the runway.

[SRV Ron]

Oh, I was under the impression that I could put parachutes on parts that were jettisoned so they fall gently back to kerbin for recovery. It seems like it will be hard to make profitable launches if we lose our lifter with every take off, unless I'm missing something?

Also, that SRB went to 33,000m? That's pretty good. What was the tweak % set to?

45%. The rocket went to 36,700 meters after a slight turn for an ocean landing.

[MarvinKitFox]

Once, I rescued a Kerbal, but landed him on the Mun before recovering him.

This is routine for me..

Why risk killing your crew, when there are free-floating hitchikers that will not only do the dangerous mission for you, but do it Free and gladly, just for a chance at rescue..

As the orbit they are in is right exactly where i park my Mun missions before TLI, picking up a vagrant is no real effort at all.

My general strategy:

Collect *all* missions available. Put them all in a jug. This here beer Stein looks handy for that.

Frankly figure out what mission I want to do next.

Mix the two together, a Frank appraisal of science needs and a Stein full of paying contracts.

okok, corny joke.

Accurate, though!

[capi3101]

Since you're short on funds, I'd suggest taking parts testing contracts. In particular, if you can find ones that let you test while landed on Kerbin, those will help you beef back up your coffers; Wanderfound's method works wonders. If you haven't got Staputniks yet, use a manned pod...and make sure you've got a chute on it...

[Alshain]

Tip: Put a satellite with a thermometer in orbit of Kerbin, Mun, and Minmus. Whenever you get a "get science around..." mission, switch to it. Easy money.

[Kryxal]

For Mun and Minimus, there's a better alternative. Land a couple of those excess Kerbals and leave them there, they can plant flags for easy mission completions AND get EVA reports from "just above" whichever biome they're in by just hanging off the ladder.

[EtherDragon]

Succeeding in Kerbal Career Mode requires you to focus on balancing your expenditures for each launch against the income from each mission. Launching in Vanilla costs money because much of your ship can't be recovered as you discovered. But it's not bad - you don't need mods, or anything to overcome this. Just realize that each launch will have a certain non-refundable cost.

Take a look at the missions you can reasonably achieve in a single launch. This might be a combination of meeting some altitude goal, a space rescue, and testing a certain part under the right conditions. Basically, you will need to combine some missions, at least at first, to earn enough Funds to make the launch worthwhile. I always assume that any vehicle I launch is 100% expendable, that way any savings from recovery is just a bonus.

Every mission should plan for more income from contracts than expenses from launch. If this isn't the case, either get more contracts, or get different ones.

If your rocket costs more than the contracts will return, then you must redesign your craft to reduce costs.

It's quite doable, as I show in my Let's Play series for vanilla hard-core career mode (link in my sig). I have been launching stuff that has very little recoverable stuff - Just the command pod, and science experiments, usually. The rest, the lifter, orbital / maneuver stages, etc... are all disposed of on the way and are not recovered at all.