Initial Altitude Challenge Contract Change

[Jason Patterson]

It's a small thing, but it seems like it should be straightforward to change.

The Change:

Rather than having each of the altitude challenges that are given at the beginning of career mode as separate contracts, switch them to a single contract with goals and rewards for each altitude.

The Why:

Suppose you get the contract to fly to 5km and you get to 6km. The game pays you and you are then offered a contract for 11km. If instead you get to 12km on your first flight, the 11km contract is never offered; it skips directly to the 22km contract. If you make the mistake of going for orbit straightaway, you lose -all- of the altitude contracts and the money, reputation, and science that is associated with them. It makes a significant difference early in hard career mode, and it forces players to fly repeated, boring missions in order to max out the money from these contracts. Further, players who are unaware of the system don't even get the choice. A single contract with multiple parameters should solve this nicely.

Update:

It appears that the planet/moon exploration missions function in this way as well. I've gotten contracts to explore all of the Jool system except Vall, which happens to be the one moon I orbited prior to accepting its contract. I got Jool, Bop, and Pol, then Laythe and Tylo, but never Vall. It's possible that it's coming, but it seems unlikely.

Edited December 30, 2014 by Jason Patterson

[wizzlebippi]

I support this.

[Anquietas314]

Yep, this'd be great for the folks like me who simply can't be bothered fine-tuning a SRB to not blast through all the markers in one shot

[Vaporo]

Huh... I never even realized this existed. I though it was just the 5000 meter contract, then the space contracts. I play with FAR, so I can reach space with a command pod on top of an SRB, which is what I start all my career saves with.

Well, then, I support this. I will have to remember this when I start my next career save.

[Anquietas314]

Huh... I never even realized this existed.

Don't worry, you're not alone

[ghpstage]

Huh... I never even realized this existed. I though it was just the 5000 meter contract, then the space contracts. I play with FAR, so I can reach space with a command pod on top of an SRB, which is what I start all my career saves with.

Well, then, I support this. I will have to remember this when I start my next career save.

I only found this out recently too, before that I would go straight to space too. But you miss out on about 50k cash doing that!

I support the idea in the OP too.

[Vladthemad]

Why not write a simple mod up to do this? Also, what exactly are all the altitude levels you can get contracts for?

[Damien_The_Unbeliever]

Why not write a simple mod up to do this? Also, what exactly are all the altitude levels you can get contracts for?

So far as I recall, 5k, 11k, 22k, 33k, 56k. If there's one in the "40k" range, I've never been offered it - and I do tend to plan flights to hit each level as closely as possible.

[Jason Patterson]

Why not write a simple mod up to do this? Also, what exactly are all the altitude levels you can get contracts for?

In my opinion, mods should be for altering the behavior of a game in new ways, not for fixing problems.

Also, as per my update on the OP, this appears to affect exploration missions as well.

[WanderingKid]

I support this plan. I ran into it by accident earlier and was able to utilize it, but it's incredibly easy to miss when you've got exploration contracts past the target (orbit/atmo).

[78stonewobble]

Seems like a good idea to me. I also missed a few, until I noticed this.

[Gimbal]

Great Idea, hopefully the developers of the game will see that and implement it!

[Orionkermin]

I support this as well. It works just as well for giving goals to new players and gets rid of unneeded tedium for the experienced ones.

[BudgetHedgehog]

Update:

It appears that the planet/moon exploration missions function in this way as well. I've gotten contracts to explore all of the Jool system except Vall, which happens to be the one moon I orbited prior to accepting its contract. I got Jool, Bop, and Pol, then Laythe and Tylo, but never Vall. It's possible that it's coming, but it seems unlikely.

So that's why I never get Explore Minmus contracts! I always go there before fully completing the Mun one and I then never get offered to explore it! Damn, missed out on so much cash... EDIT: You should post this on the bug tracker - Exploration contracts aren't generated if previous ones in progression (e.g. Mun first, Minmus second) aren't completed fully.

Edited December 31, 2014 by ObsessedWithKSP

[ghpstage]

Just completing one part of the Mun contract should unlock the Minmus one. Does for me anyway.

All exploration contracts should be opened at the start in my opinion.

Maybe even given a special status where they are always active, while not taking up contract space. Right now its possible to land yourself in an impossible situation by taking contracts to other planets before you have the tech to complete them.

Edited December 31, 2014 by ghpstage

[foamyesque]

Simple and effective. Do it!

[Heimdall5008]

I support this also.

Either make one altitude contract or auto accepted any fullfilled campaign contracts.

[Chad_hale]

I for one do not understand why the game just "DROPS" you off at the space center. I have no idea that there is an "Achievement" list and know even less about how to GET a contract.

I would have thought that contracts would be through the admin building - nope. I don't see them there. I have some floating tags when I use the tracking station, but that doesn't tell me how to GET the contracts - or even what the contracts are...

to be brief, WHERE ARE THE NOOB QUESTS that teach me how to play?

the tutorials in the game don't even mention contracts or achievements.

[BudgetHedgehog]

Mission control to the left of the VAB. Tiny building, easy to miss. EDIT: There's no achievements, but early pre-defined contracts are things like 'launch anew vessel' and 'reach 5000 metres' kind of thing.

[Heimdall5008]

to be brief, WHERE ARE THE NOOB QUESTS that teach me how to play?

the tutorials in the game don't even mention contracts or achievements.

Hopefully in the final release

You just have to remind yourself that the game is an early access and not finished. It just reached a kind of beta state.

[Technical Ben]

That and a percentage of funds for accuracy of contract instead of a fail/success method. Why? If you miss the target by 1m, you still get funds, just 99% instead of 100% and no need to spam reload.

[Violent Jeb]

Does anybody know where the config file is for the initial missions?