0.9 Campaign. I need tips from the pros!

[Mister Kerman]

Hi guys. I don't know if this deserves it's own topic, but I'm starting a new campaign in KSP for the .90 update. My goal is to earn as much science with probes (Preferably satellites) as possible to unlock parts from the tech tree, so that I'm free to make landers and space stations later on. (Which is my true passion.)

I've never left Kerbin's SOI; It's scary. I hear it isn't so bad once you've done it a few times but it's something I've simply never done. My play style has been specifically exploration of the Mun and Minmus and quite frankly you can earn enough science on the Mun alone to unlock everything I want. (Lander, rocket, and rover parts.) I'm familiar with orbital rendezvous and docking, and not too bad at landing. That is the gist of my skill in KSP.

I prefer to bring experiments back physically, but if satellites with science equipment sent to other planets will help me get what I need I'm willing to compromise my usual playstyle. That's where you guys come in...

Can you guys give me some tips and possibly reliable tools (stock KSP) for planning launches to other places outside Kerbin's SOI. ( I assume everything on this page is reliable: http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Calculation_tools )

Edited December 22, 2014 by Mister Kerman

[Anquietas314]

Technically you can still comfortably complete the tech tree without ever leaving Kerbin's sphere of influence, but the real money's in doing interplanetary stuff

A very useful web app for planning transfers to other planets:

http://alexmoon.github.io/ksp/

Even though you want to play stock KSP, I would still recommend Kerbal Alarm Clock, mainly because it will give you friendly reminders when a transfer window is coming up (you can also use it to help with not missing maneuver nodes and so on). It doesn't add any parts to the game, although it does store its reminders in your save file (so be somewhat careful if you decide to remove it). TriggerAu has another mod that's essentially an in-game version of that web app, but I don't think it's been updated to 0.90 yet.

EDIT: I stand corrected, the mod is updated: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/93115-0-90-Transfer-Window-Planner-v1-1-3-0-%28Dec-20%29

Edited December 21, 2014 by armagheddonsgw

[Jimbimbibble]

The trickiest part of interplanetary is getting the transfer timed correctly, especially with a low TWR ship. There's a mod called Protractor that's really useful for this. It tells you exactly when you need to start your burn taking into account your ship's TWR. It's not perfect but it will get you close. Also, you might consider doing a return mission from Eve and Gilly. Land on Gilly and just orbit Eve. Those are probably the easiest targets for your first mission. Just remember that unmanned probes can only return experiments. No crew report, eva, or surface sample.

[Anquietas314]

Land on Gilly and just orbit Eve.

It's very important to note that under no circumstances unless you're insane or don't mind losing the kerbals involved should you land on Eve with a manned mission; in stock it's a one-way trip unless you build quite an insane lander. The same goes for Jool.... although that's a guarunteed one-way trip to the surface

It kills you.

[Mister Kerman]

So it kind of sounds like manned missions are still the best way to get the most science bang for your Kerbal buck. Do probe satellites serve any practical application early in the game?

EDIT: AKA Launches are expensive :[

[Anquietas314]

So it kind of sounds like manned missions are still the best way to get the most science bang for your Kerbal buck.

If you don't mind "cheating" slightly, you can set the strategy for converting funds to science in the admin building... it's quite severely overpowered though.

But, yes for the most part you get the most science from manned missions. Probes can be cheaper, but they also require solar panels or an RTG to run for extended missions, and unless you bring them back there are quite harsh penalties for transmitting as opposed to recovering the experiments. It's worth considering btw, that quite often the same launcher can be used to send a probe to Kerbin orbit and all the way to Duna or Eve, and if you design it just right even further.

[Jimbimbibble]

Probes can still be practical for some types of missions. It's a good way to get science from inside of Jool or the surface of Eve without killing your crew. Also, you don't have to worry about returning a proble if you transmit so you can use a much smaller rocket.

[Mister Kerman]

I'm gonna leave this thread unanswered for a few days if anybody else wants to throw a much appreciated new career tip my way. Thanks for the help in any case fellas!

[WuphonsReach]

Even with wanting to stay with "stock" KSP, there's a few mods that I won't fly without:

Kerbal Alarm Clock (KAC) - Useful in so many ways, especially useful when juggling 3-4 missions at once. I will also program in the start / optimal / end of transfer windows so that I know what the upcoming windows are.

(I find the optimum delta-V needed for the transfer using Alexmoon's tool, then I calculate how much before/after I can send something to the other planet with only 10% more DV. That defines the transfer window on my calendar, tracked with KAC.)

Precise Node - The in-game maneuver node is a tricky beast and trying to drag the little nubby things in/out can be difficult. Even hovering the mouse over them and using the scroll wheel sometimes is too coarse. Enter Precise Node which lets you fine tune the transfer nodes after you create it and rough it in.

Kerbal Engineer Redux (KER) - Gives TWR / Delta-V for all stages as you design it in the VAB/SPH. Also useful for getting information like Orbital Period or Eccentricity without doing a lot of math.

Plus there's the bug fix mods (such as the EVA fix) and Kerbal Joint Reinforcement.

[Mister Kerman]

I appreciate the suggestions, but I prefer stock. I can't give an adequate answer to satisfy someone else with, as for why. It's basically sailing blind; which is insane, but that's what I prefer. It'll just make me over-prepare, which I'm fine with.

I'm mostly looking for money/science generating strategies for someone who plays for fun and not stats the way I do. I want to get over the beginning of the game hump as soon as possible!

[xub313]

There are a bunch of tutorials on the KSP wiki. They arn't updated very often but the same principals should apply.

Also, satellite contracts usually give pretty good rewards. Probes are light and cheap.

[WanderingKid]

I'm mostly looking for money/science generating strategies for someone who plays for fun and not stats the way I do. I want to get over the beginning of the game hump as soon as possible!

See my sig. Don't do my mistakes (which I show), just the things that work well.

[Mister Kerman]

There are a bunch of tutorials on the KSP wiki. They arn't updated very often but the same principals should apply.

Also, satellite contracts usually give pretty good rewards. Probes are light and cheap.

I know the basics. I feel like I play too cut and dry with no chance for success but a slow painful crawl from mediocrity. I'll probably end up continuing to play the way I do even with all these suggestions. I just feel if there's a trick to making the process easier that someone is willing to share, I'd definitely love to hear about it.

[Signo]

Well, based on my lonely career game (moderate), first of all I made around 90% of my launches using SRBs for the ascent to start saving. Then, the best way to me to aim for cash are sats, outposts and stations. I think the most important mission for the program until now was the first sat contract I got that allowed me to upgrade the R&D to lvl 2 upon completion. I made this one with a Stayputnik, so that's why I underline this one. It was the most challenging in terms of piloting.

I did not leave Kerbin SOI until now while bringing back just one soil sample from Mun and I was able to fully unlock tier 7, so I suppose you can fully unlock the tech tree w/o leaving Kerbin SOI. I used the "r&d outsourcing" strategy at first that I soon abandoned for cash generating strategies.

So, more or less that's it. All my outposts and stations are "unmanned" cause Oktos are better pilots than a freshkerb.

[SRV Ron]

Probes are an excellent, cheap, and safe way to fulfill those Explore contracts. Do them once you unlock OxStat panels and a Too Hot thermometer. That way, you can fulfill those future request for data contracts with no additional investment in launch vehicles.

Two cheap examples;

And, with the one on the left;

[Mister Kerman]

Probes are an excellent, cheap, and safe way to fulfill those Explore contracts

I'll definitely be sending some probes to cheaply rake in cash for those. I'll explore them proproperly with a manned interplanetary vessel when I'm ready!

Good tip.

[Wanderfound]

Probes are good: they're cheap, light and expendable. You can send a probe a very long way for very little fuel when the payload is only a few hundred kilograms. Plonk a probe core and a small amount of science gear on top of a 1.25m fuel tank and an LV-909, and you can send it anywhere in the Kerbol system for under √20,000. Use SRBs or a spaceplane to get it to orbit, then fire it off when an approximate transfer window appears. The actual interplanetary burn requires less ÃŽâ€V than the initial climb to orbit.

I use the Mechjeb porkchop plots myself, but if you insist on playing unmodded, http://alexmoon.github.io/ksp/ is very useful. Going interplanetary isn't significantly different from going to the Mun; the key difference is that the orbital hub you're doing your Hohmann transfer around is Kerbol instead of Kerbin.

So, if you're dropping down to an inner planet (e.g. Moho) you want to burn on the Kerbol side of Kerbin, thrusting retrograde relative to Kerbin's orbital path; if you're heading to an outer planet (e.g. Jool), you want your exit burn on the dark side of Kerbin, accelerating along Kerbin's orbital path.

The main key is just to minimise your payload. Kilograms on the top of the rocket can save tons at the bottom.

[Parkaboy]

A few good tips:

1. Put a thermometer in your satellites. Previously launched sats can be moved into new orbits and used over and over again to do the "get science from space" contracts.

2. Use probes for exploration contracts. Unlike sats, these don't have to be new for each mission. An ion-propelled probe in Minmus can do dozens of contracts.

3. Try and upgrade Mission Control as early as possible. Part contracts suck, but they sometime let you have a part for testing that is from a tier in the tech tree that you'll take a long time to reach, since R&D upgrades are so expensive. Get a contract for a part you need and don't complete it until the deadline is near.

[SRV Ron]

A Rocomax 48-7S, soon as it is available, is the most efficient early on power for those probes. If a contract shows up for a LV-1 liquid fueled engine, grab it to take advantage of using them in the final stage of a long range probe. Just keep in mind that the Stayputnik no longer contains an SAS, so you will either need to add the small SAS to the payload, or use a probe core you have unlocked that has that feature still built in.

[Anquietas314]

A Rocomax 48-7S, soon as it is available, is the most efficient early on power for those probes. If a contract shows up for a LV-1 liquid fueled engine, grab it to take advantage of using them in the final stage of a long range probe. Just keep in mind that the Stayputnik no longer contains an SAS, so you will either need to add the small SAS to the payload, or use a probe core you have unlocked that has that feature still built in.

It should be noted that the LV-1 has a lower Isp than the Rockomax 48-7S; depending on the mass of the probe the LV-1 may be more or less efficient.

[SRV Ron]

It should be noted that the LV-1 has a lower Isp than the Rockomax 48-7S; depending on the mass of the probe the LV-1 may be more or less efficient.

That is true. I will use them on a manned lander due to their low mass and high efficiency. However, the LV-1 becomes efficient on the final stage when the probe is very light. With one Round 8 fuel can and a setup for the suicide burn from the stage before it, it can both land and go back into to orbit from Mun or Minmus.

Why the Round 8? I find the Oscar B much too heavy given the fuel contained in them.

[Anquietas314]

That is true. I will use them on a manned lander due to their low mass and high efficiency. However, the LV-1 becomes efficient on the final stage when the probe is very light. With one Round 8 fuel can and a setup for the suicide burn from the stage before it, it can both land and go back into to orbit from Mun or Minmus.

Why the Round 8? I find the Oscar B much too heavy given the fuel contained in them.

I found the smallest 1.25m tank to be the most cost-effective one to launch. The 7S is either about as efficient or more efficient than the LV-1 for that tank, and iirc marginally cheaper (I don't currently have the game open). The tank's small enough that the same launcher works just fine (as does the next one up, but that makes the launcher less efficient)

The probe-size tanks have a lower fuel/mass ratio and are much more expensive for the same delta-v

[Mister Kerman]

I prefer the insulated ring tanks and 48-7S'. Satellites definitely serve a solid role for contract fulfillment. These are the exact kind of tips I'm looking for. Thanks for the responses.

Also, keeping a part-testing contract around for teating a part is basically like unlocking the part as long as I don't complete the contract. Repeatedly using experimental equipment is wreckless, but I like it.

[Anquietas314]

Also, keeping a part-testing contract around for teating a part is basically like unlocking the part as long as I don't complete the contract. Repeatedly using experimental equipment is wreckless, but I like it.

That also leaves you with one less contract slot to use (Important early game)

Be warned though that you won't be able to launch a ship that has the part after you complete the contract and before you unlock the part properly.

[Mister Kerman]

Yeah, this 2 contracts at a time stuff is busting my chops. All this new career stuff is. KSP just got real tedious, but it's great at the same time! It feels more like a real game now.