harderS career beta

[Moesly_Armlis]

harderS.career.beta.part1

With the release of KSP 0.90 beta I was trained from my previous harderS career and now ready for another attempt at this hardest setting career. Perhaps it is best named scottmanley mode, this career is already looking very tough especially with the cost of upgrading buildings. Just love the challenge this presents.

First vessel does not go far. Pod pushing is always fun to grab some KSC science. What with the stairs at the R&D. Wernher must be testing something fancy in there.

Plow on through the rest of the altitude contracts. What happened to the 32km thought that was next and oops didn't read the

FINE PRINT

,oh well another flight to go for the 56km contract but not escape the atmosphere now that is a lost contract. Tough with the two contract acquisition limit.

Now with an orbit to complete. The design was two stage weighing 18.0t at a cost of 5,335 funds. Jeb had no problem getting to orbit and returned without losing the LV-T30 engine.

Have to complete contracts to get something new. Decoupler contracts cost more funds than was returned.

On to survey contracts. The first survey went well. The second survey included a visit to space to complete the favorite “Science Data From Around Kerbin Space†contract.

Now to for Bill to get some experience and send him to orbit. The vessel is altered removing the abort decoupler and add extra fuel. Bill nervously holds the controls but manages to go straight on planned trajectory. Bill completes a “Science Data From Around Kerbin Space†contract on his way to apoapsis. Orbit is achieved and he gets ready to complete more “Science Data From Around Kerbin Space†contracts.

An easy contract to test a BACC solid rocket booster landed is completed for science.

Back to Bill for another “Science Data From Around Kerbin Space†contract is completed but the batteries are now in need of charging. Before the next “Science Data From Around Kerbin Space†contract is completed the engine is ignited and Bill makes maneuvers to charge up the batteries. One more “Science Data From Around Kerbin Space†contract is completed on the re-entry burn by exploiting the transmission of data (only had 9.27 charge but because the battery was being charged the data was sent and completes the contract). Bill makes another crew report for an additional “Science Data From Around Kerbin Space†contract when he is recovered.

The first day is over and the sun starts to rise over KSC. Economical “Science Data From Around Kerbin Space†contracts are up next. Going to be a crap tonne of them to complete.

18 Contracts

25099 Funds

-701 Reputation

13.1 Science (spent 5)

0 Building upgrades

0 Building destroyed

Jeb has one star level

Bill has one star level

Bob has zero star level

Musical selections were intended for a country setting.

Edited December 19, 2014 by MoeslyArmlis

[Moesly_Armlis]

The plan to upgrade the launchpad is first on the list, with a pricetag of 520,000 funds. The 18t limit on craft weight is restricting my progress.

This craft with the three stooges kerbals will complete the contract “Science Data From Around Kerbin Space†eight times via five radio transmissions while in space and three more with data recovered after the landing resulting in 27k funds. That equals to 20 rounds of this launch to upgrade the launchpad. Will routine and complacency kill?

[Moesly_Armlis]

First launch is two simple contracts and recive some funds and a point of science. The test went as planned and the twin chutes opened up beautifully. Now on to serious contract grinding.

The plan was to improve the number of contracts returned per vessel. So with three command pods, a 2/3 full FL-T200 with six more FL-T400 and an LV-T30 engine total mass 18t and a height of 20m, the TWR was 1.22 and with a dv of 4382 m/s. Jeb and Bob set out to explore local kerbin space for profit.

Upon reaching space with a final apoapsis of 82km the stage was set and contracts were being completed rapidly. A total of six contracts were completed and three are stored in the command modules for later. The landing was to be a controlled burn with an MK-1 nose cone chute assist. The touch down went superb with three FL-T200 fuel tanks and the LV-T30 engine surviving. Thats all!!!

So my first run through did not go as planned and ended poorly. Better chalk this up as experience and try again, it is not like I got that far anyway.

Now I remember why the previous vessel was using SRB's, it was to keep the height low.

Edited December 20, 2014 by MoeslyArmlis