help with my career

[Firefitter]

I'm stuck.

I'm in my career early on and I've run out of money and missions I can do. Please help me figure out where I've gone wrong.

The first thing I do is do a few missions and upgrade my launch pad. I find that the weight limit is really restricting.

Then I did enough simple missions so I can upgrade my tracking station. I though that would get me maneuver nodes. To my horror, it has not!

I have like 3 missions left, the ones that are on Kerbin where you either rescue a Kerbal or fly to different locations and get crew reports. I can't do these because I don't have the ability to build a plane.

I purposely stayed away from doing the mun landing mission until I got maneuver modes. I thought I had them when I upgraded the tracking station so I accepted that mission.

Bottom line, I have about 18,000 credits left. No missions that I can do and apparently I need to upgrade mission control to get maneuver nodes which is 52,000 credits. I'm stuck.

What did I do wrong? How it is possible to upgrade everything you need to upgrade in the early game?

Thanks guys,

Fitter

[UmbralRaptor]

Do you have the Mun exploration contract lying around? If so, take it. You can do a flyby fairly easily without maneuver nodes (which require also upgrading both the tracking station and mission control).

The pre maneuver node way of doing a free return from the Mun:

1) Get into a low (70-~120 km) Kerbin orbit

2) Burn hard at Munrise

3) Aim for a ~14000 km apoapsis.

Failing that, dismiss some contracts that don't do anything for you and see what respawns? Science returns from Kerbin orbit can be reasonably lucrative and are within your budget.

[Bill Phil]

How far are those survey contracts? If not too far, you can use a rocket to get there.

Good luck, pal.

Soneone in the background: Game over man.

[zarakon]

You can use multiple missions to do the survey contracts. Send a cheap rocket for each waypoint and you can still make some decent money and science from it

With that science, try to research toward getting solar panels. Once you unlock those, you can take sweet, sweet satellite launch missions which pay quite nicely

[Frostiken]

Kind of surprised you have no missions left. My contract list is always full of these stupid 'test part' contracts and they won't go away. I'm halfway through the tech tree and still getting the occasional 'test Mk16 parachute for twenty kerbucks'.

[merendel]

Try timewarping for a few days and see if more missions spawn. Also kerbal rescue contracts are not that difficult even at low tech. Just stack 2 pods on top of eachother, only put a kerbal in one of them, and build enough of a rocket to get it into orbit and have some fuel left over. Just put yourself into as close to the same orbit as possible as the stranded kerbal and then raise your AP a bit till he catches up to you near PE. It jsut takes a bit of patience as once you get withen about 2km you can have him jetpack over and then just return to the planet.

[Bill Phil]

Try timewarping for a few days and see if more missions spawn. Also kerbal rescue contracts are not that difficult even at low tech. Just stack 2 pods on top of eachother, only put a kerbal in one of them, and build enough of a rocket to get it into orbit and have some fuel left over. Just put yourself into as close to the same orbit as possible as the stranded kerbal and then raise your AP a bit till he catches up to you near PE. It jsut takes a bit of patience as once you get withen about 2km you can have him jetpack over and then just return to the planet.

You forget...

The hardest part of Kerbal Space Program is patience.

[Frostiken]

Try timewarping for a few days and see if more missions spawn. Also kerbal rescue contracts are not that difficult even at low tech. Just stack 2 pods on top of eachother, only put a kerbal in one of them, and build enough of a rocket to get it into orbit and have some fuel left over. Just put yourself into as close to the same orbit as possible as the stranded kerbal and then raise your AP a bit till he catches up to you near PE. It jsut takes a bit of patience as once you get withen about 2km you can have him jetpack over and then just return to the planet.

The delta-V of that jetpack is insane. Without an upgraded tracking station, using him to catch up to the rocket versus the other way is so much easier.

[Firefitter]

Thanks guys.

It's not that I don't have any contracts left. It's the fact that the contracts that I have left are outside my reach. I did pick up the "explore the mun" contract. I suppose I can try to do an orbit around the mun without nodes. Although I find myself running really low on delta v and I'm not sure I'm going to make it.

I feel very stuck.

Thanks for the tips

For future reference, is there a different strategy I should use other than upgrading my launch pad first then my tracking station and mission control? Is there a better way to spend my money keeping in mind that I am very uneasy about going outside kerbins orbit without maneuver nodes?

Thanks,

Fitter

[Pecan]

...How it is possible to upgrade everything you need to upgrade in the early game?...

I'm not usually a career-mode player but this is my mission-1 profile that gets mission control, the astronaut complex, tracking centre and launchpad upgraded in the first 45 minutes (game time):

Mission 1 - Straight To Orbit

Accept best advances from 'basic 4' contracts - new vessel, 5000m, escape atmosphere, orbit.

** Use advance money to upgrade mission control ** so you can accept more contracts, accept the others you can do immediately.

Command pod & parachute, communotron 16, 10 x FL-T200 fuel tanks, T30 engine

Launch, perform crew report on launch pad and transmit it. EVA, get EVA report, re-board.

Liftoff, perform crew report in flight (over Kerbin's shore), transmit it (and EVA report). Get another over water and/or in upper atmosphere below 69km and transmit it, you're 'in space' above that. (T30 has been charging pod electricity so you could transmit several times - now it's off, you can't)

Once in orbit the basic contracts are complete. Return to the space-centre and ** use money to upgrade astronaut centre ** EVA off-Kerbin now possible.

See if there are any 'science from space', EVA or other easy contracts available. Accept them for advance, perform now if possible for science.

Unlock science (basic rocketry, Survivability, Flight Control (for the probe-core and aircraft parts), Electric (for the solar-panel) to see if that makes any more contracts available.

Unlocking probe-core should provide 'place satellite' contracts. Accept them for advance and ** use money to upgrade Tracking Centre ** manoeuvre nodes now available.

Perform EVAs all the way around orbit for as many different biomes as possible, then de-orbit and land. Do another EVA (and crew report if possible) from wherever you've landed, then recover.

Result: Mission-control, astronaut complex and tracking centre are already upgraded, now upgrade the launchpad too. Jeb is promoted to level 1, you should have over 20k in funds for your next ship and have some useful science unlocked.

Incidentally - I am reconsidering upgrading the launchpad. If it costs the same (which I haven't checked) it may be better to upgrade the runway instead - it's easy to launch vertically from the runway as well as horizontally, while you can't do the latter from the launchpad, so you get more flexibility by going for the runway first. That's if I've understood the VAB/SPH changes in 0.90 properly - it should be as easy to design a rocket for launch from the runway, but I'm not sure.

Edited December 21, 2014 by Pecan

[Yemo]

Science is abundant, funds are not (esp. on hard).

In that scenario, there is no need to upgrade the launch pad before the mun mission.

Also, do all the profitable altitude contracts.

I did a small tutorial for a hard career (without "exploits"), with an imgur gallery for ship design:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/103689-KSP-0-9-Career-Kickoff-Guide-%28from-normal-to-hard-difficulty%29

Edited December 21, 2014 by Yemo

[Firefitter]

Science is abundant, funds are not (esp. on hard).

In that scenario, there is no need to upgrade the launch pad before the mun mission.

I would love to not have to upgrade the launch pad before the mun mission but I can't even get into orbit when I have to keep the mass below 18.

Can you help me understand how to build a rocket and get to the mun keeping it under the mass cap of 18?

Thanks!

Fitter

[SRV Ron]

You forget...

The hardest part of Kerbal Space Program is patience.

This is why you set a goal of just making each and every altitude record as well as getting as much science from those missions.

Sure, one can build and achieve orbit in tier zero or tier one. But, doing so and you will have blown the funds obtainable on those midway missions as those contracts will never appear.

With patience, you will easily earn sufficient funds to be able to upgrade the launch pad and the training center by the time you are ready to do a serious orbital mission.

[Firefitter]

This is why you set a goal of just making each and every altitude record as well as getting as much science from those missions.

Sure, one can build and achieve orbit in tier zero or tier one. But, doing so and you will have blown the funds obtainable on those midway missions as those contracts will never appear.

With patience, you will easily earn sufficient funds to be able to upgrade the launch pad and the training center by the time you are ready to do a serious orbital mission.

I hear what you're saying. I thought I was being patient with my current career. I'll start again and try being even more patient!

Thanks again all!

[SRV Ron]

I hear what you're saying. I thought I was being patient with my current career. I'll start again and try being even more patient!

Thanks again all!

Here is a hint from a tutorial challenge I am working on.

Set this requirement for the altitude goals of your suborbital missions;

Limit all your suborbital rockets to the following parts;

1. MK-1 Command Pod

2. MK-8 Parachute

3. RT-10 SRB rocket engine

4. TR-18A Stack Decoupler once you have earned 5 Science Points to unlock Tier 1 parts.

Your mission goals, obtain all six altitude record contracts of 5,000, 11,000, 22,000, 33,000, 56,000 and escape the atmosphere. Learn how to tweak the thrust and fuel load of the RT-10 SRB rocket engine to reach those altitudes one flight at a time. Should your flight go higher then planned and hit the next altitude record on the list, that contract will not appear. Better to miss the contract by coming up short, you can always launch another with more fuel, rather then going too high and losing the next one.

Testing has shown that just one RT-10, when properly tweaked using just the MK-1 and MK-8 as a payload, can reach an altitude of 44,000 meters and still survive a water landing. With a tweaked second stage and the TR-18A Stack Decoupler, an altitude of 240,000 meters is possible. Use this cheapest design to take on sub orbital contracts along with the observation ones to earn extra finds and Science Points. Land on the nearby biome with Goo canisters to earn extra Science.

[Yemo]

@Firefitter:

All explained in the linked thread and its imgur album.

[merendel]

The delta-V of that jetpack is insane. Without an upgraded tracking station, using him to catch up to the rocket versus the other way is so much easier.

True but you still need to drive a craft withen the physics window before the game will let you take control of him. Its harder to get that close without the upgraded tracking station but patience with a just slightly higher orbit till he's close to catching up will let you do it eventually.

[Frostiken]

I would love to not have to upgrade the launch pad before the mun mission but I can't even get into orbit when I have to keep the mass below 18.

Can you help me understand how to build a rocket and get to the mun keeping it under the mass cap of 18?

Thanks!

Fitter

Parachute

Pod

FLT-100

LV-909 engine

Decoupler

FLT-400

FLT-400

FLT-400 -> 4x Radial decouplers -> 4x RT-10s. Set RT-10 thrust limit to about 50%.

LVT-30

On launch, don't use the LFE until SRBs burn out. Drop SRBs, turn and burn. Should be able to get apoapsis into orbit and a little bit more on your circularization burn. Finish burn with LV-909. Pod will be a bit heavy so on landing, save a bit of fuel in the FLT-100 and reduce your landing velocity to less than 7m/s and you'll save the fuel tank and engine for another day.

Edited December 21, 2014 by Frostiken

[Firefitter]

Thanks a lot for all the info, guys!

I really appreciate it!

Fitter

[UmbralRaptor]

I would love to not have to upgrade the launch pad before the mun mission but I can't even get into orbit when I have to keep the mass below 18.

Can you help me understand how to build a rocket and get to the mun keeping it under the mass cap of 18?

I'm not sure how to get a landing/return under the 18 t / 30 part cap, but a flyby is perfectly doable.

(The important part is 3x FL-T200 above the LV-909, and 9x above the LV-T30)

Parachute

Pod

FLT-100

LV-909 engine

Decoupler

FLT-400

FLT-400

FLT-400 -> 4x Radial decouplers -> 4x RT-10s. Set RT-10 thrust limit to about 50%.

LVT-30

I think this layout ends up being more like 25 tonnes.

[WanderingKid]

No upgrade Mun Landers: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/103878-18t-%28or-less%29-Returnable-Manned-Mun-Lander

[UmbralRaptor]

Oh, nice. When I last checked, no one had solved that.

[Frostiken]

I think this layout ends up being more like 25 tonnes.

Yeah I didn't check it in-game, it has one more FLT-400 than is needed. Drop one tank, reduce boosters to three, then shave a bit of fuel out of the SRBs.

[Pecan]

I would love to not have to upgrade the launch pad before the mun mission but I can't even get into orbit when I have to keep the mass below 18....

Are you playing on hard mode/settings/mods? If so, stop it.

Have you practiced building cheap, low-part, vehicles? If not, do it.

Did you try the mission I detailed? If not, try.

You're fine but I'm not quite sure how to put this without being impolite to other others ... Oh yes ...

"This thread contains a lot of well-intentioned but misinformed opinion being expressed as canonical advice.

Following such advice may teach you many valuable lessons, hence the information is valuable.

Not following such advice is more likely to achieve the goals you have stated."