New career: 6.4x Kerbol system: colonize as fast as possible!

[DivisionByZero]

I've tried to make threads on my previous career modes, some of which worked out, some didn't. Maybe this one will stick. I decided I would try to set up MKS/OKS stations on as many of the planets as will support them as quickly as possible. The twist? Use KerbalConstructionTime to slow things down, a bunch of "hard-mode" mods to add some challenge, and then the kicker? Run it in 6.4x Kerbol-sized system.

How long will it take to colonize everything when 6.4x wipes away the advantages of FAR on stock Kerbin? How much grindy-grind will it take to get a decent-sized launch vehicle? Will incredible launch failures occur crushing my savings and forcing me to give up? Find out with me!

Here's the mods in use:

ATM

AJE

ART

Adjustable Landing Gear

EVE

CRP (+CRP-KSPI)

CTT

DRE (hard settings)

EditorExtensions

EvilCorp (Kerbanomics modified for lower reputation bonus)

EPL

FAR

KAS

KCT (+stage recovery)

KerbalEngineer

KJR

KWRocketry

IR

NavyFish docking port alignment

OrbitalMaterialScience

FinalFrontier

ORS+KSPI

ProceduralParts

RealChute

RSS (6.4x Kerbol config)

Regolith

RemoteTech

SCANsat

StationScience

TAC fuel balancer + life support

TechManager

KAC + transfer window planner

TweakScale (for IR)

USI mods (AMT, ExpPack, FTT, Karbonite, MKS/OKS, SoundingRockets, SrvPack)

B9

RealFuels

Pilot Assistant

whew.

I'll be making some changes to add to the challenge. For instance, I'll probably be removing all the distillers from karbonite and only pull fuel from the KSPI ISRU modules (i.e. water). Karbonite will be useful for ISRU constracts. I'll also remove the LVN and PB-ION and only use KSPI nuclear and electric propulsion as they don't exactly balance each other. Kerbanomics is in development so I may put in some borrowing rules for myself, or adjust the mod on the fly.

No respawn. I'm going to keep quickloads and quicksaves to cover crashes. The career settings were to start with 25000, 0 science and 0 reputation, and all the gain multipliers are 1 (100% I think). I did this because I didn't know what to expect with 6.4x Kerbin.

Should be fun!

First update upon a successful orbit: Jump to the post!

Mini-update: Dawn of the Age of Aerospace!

Edited January 8, 2015 by DivisionByZero
first mission update linked.

[DivisionByZero]

Delays as I evaluate AJE, RealFuels and whether I should include B9.

Any strong opinions?

AJE makes life hard. RealFuels seems to make life a little easier (using stock-alike config). B9 adds a crushing part list, but more options for space planes, which become important if you want cheap launchers.

[Shania_L]

I am interested in how you do this, I am running a heavily modded 6.4k career game at the moment I'd love to see how we compare

I dont use B9 myself (other than the 2x blister lights, the 2x airbrakes and the info drive) but then I have never, even in stock KSP, managed to build a usable spaceplane. I do use AJE though and am quite capable of making small planes to harvest all those juicy spy contracts.

Realfuels however has persisted to baffle me, despite 2 seperate attempts to use it, so I have stuck with stock fuels (and a patch to turn all NTR into LH2 only)

Are you using Paul Kingtigers 6.4k, or Raptors original? I have Pauls, but I have patched in Raptors multiple launch sites, which is a godsend when you factor in RemoteTech!

[Fizwalker]

I am interested in how you do this, I am running a heavily modded 6.4k career game at the moment I'd love to see how we compare

I dont use B9 myself (other than the 2x blister lights, the 2x airbrakes and the info drive) but then I have never, even in stock KSP, managed to build a usable spaceplane. I do use AJE though and am quite capable of making small planes to harvest all those juicy spy contracts.

Realfuels however has persisted to baffle me, despite 2 seperate attempts to use it, so I have stuck with stock fuels (and a patch to turn all NTR into LH2 only)

Are you using Paul Kingtigers 6.4k, or Raptors original? I have Pauls, but I have patched in Raptors multiple launch sites, which is a godsend when you factor in RemoteTech!

Sounds like the beginning of a space race!

[DivisionByZero]

Heh. A race sounds like fun. I was just trying to build an orbit-capable ship... holy cow is 7500m/s hard to build on the tier 1 building settings. My first go was 45t (out of 18t) and 36 parts (out of 30)! wow... I might have to grind out a bunch more contracts to get to the building upgrades sooner than I expected.

[Shania_L]

Heh heh, yeah you 'can' get an orbital launch in 30 parts and 18tonnes, just dont expect to be carrying any payload at all ... or going beyond low orbit .... or doing anything other than looking about

You are going to have to get used to building very minimalist rockets, see those 1.25m parts? thats medium sized ... you are going to get more acquainted with 0.625m parts for your payloads

I am a bit further ahead of you in this so I dont think a race is particularly doable... especially as we are running different mod sets,

Without upgrading any KSC facilities Gertrude (seems a feasable name as she was as stubborn as a goat to fly) managed to put a 0.3tonne probe satellite into a horribly irregular orbit ... but it is an orbit. You will want to earn as much science and funds as you can from Kerbin itself and sub-orbital ... leave the orbital science alone for now.

My next task is trying to put together a working 11,000m/sec launcher for a 1.5-2tonne geostationary comn relay ..... even the medium launchpads 140tonnes is a tight squeeze, its looking like Frankinsteins rocket

P.S. Do all of the altitude records, RoverDudes balloons are awesome for doing them one at a time. At 6.4x you get 5k, 11k, 22k, 33k, 53k(ish) and something around 70k. They are definitely worth doing, funds will be your biggest bottleneck. You have to do them manned, and if you have already taken a Kerbal beyond that altitude then the contract wont get offered.

Edited January 1, 2015 by Shania_L
Addendum

[DivisionByZero]

heh. Yeah I was thinking I'd have to go with a stayputnik launch after having all that trouble with the Mk1 pod. simulations were good and the rocket is in the construction queue. Once I push through to orbit, I'll drop a post with the rockets to date, notes on the strategies I'm using, etc. I have to decide whether to enact a fund-raising strategy... you're right that the funds are a bottle-neck, particularly with the cost of the facility upgrades!

I might have botched 53km, didn't see it in the list I don't think. I'll check my contracts list again.

P.S. B9 will stay, but space planes will be hella-hard with AJE+6.4x kerbin. I've just been messing around to understand the mod and how the engines behave and it's neat, but it's going to be difficult to make an SSTO with conventional tech... I have to double-check how KSPI interacts with the mods. My initial check indicated it was sort of a "parallel" thing and they didn't interact much, which is probably fine since KSPI is supposed to be pretty advanced tech.

[DivisionByZero]

Milestone achieved: orbit around Kerbin!

Year 1, Day 51 3:15

After achieving the significant milestone of orbit, I'll show some information on the progress to date and the strategy involved.

Mission aspects:

vessel chart

A total of 46 launches have been accomplished culminating in the successful orbit of the Stayputnik probe about Kerbin. Most of these were sounding rockets which are an effective means of gathering early science. Two rockets are shown in the vessel summary below. Due to the size of the 6.4x Kerbin, and the strange aerodynamics of the sounding rockets, they have been limited to gathering science from only 3 biomes: shores, water and grasslands. This has still provided quite a bit of progress up the tech tree.

the other feature of Sounding rockets is that they are cheap and so do not require a lot of time to construct. By the time I was completing the third tier of rockets, they would require about 6 hours of construction time, but even that would be shortened by re-use of the experiments and nosecones. More about KCT strategy below.

Manned launches have occurred through the Proteus series of rockets. Due to the economical features of SRBs, these were used quite extensively. The Proteus Mk. 1 achieved multiple altitude contracts by only varying the amount of solid fuel at the time of launch. Most of these, however, lost the RT-10 SRB upon landing due to the 7+m/s landing speed.

After completion of the 33km altitude record (day 26), the 73km contract was spawned and this was accepted alongside breaking the atmosphere. The Proteus Mk. 2 was designed and put into the construction queue at this point. This was the first rocket to feature a liquid stage which consisted of an aerozine-powered LV-909. It was expected this would not be a difficult launch after simulations but at the time of the actual mission (day 37), a mid-flight abort was required. A gravity turn was begun too early in the launch and so the ascent trajectory was far too shallow. The stages were separated successfully and the pilot (Jebediah) was recovered safe and sound. Recovery chutes were also successfully used allowing recovery of 3800 out of 5970 funds. A second launch of the rocket occurred on day 40 and was successful. An astounding 5233 out of 5971 funds were recovered on the mission.

A Proteus Mk. 3 was designed at this point to send a kerbal into a stable orbit and return him to the ground. This, however, proved exceedingly difficult to accomplish due to the woeful state of the facilities. Instead, a new mission was devised to make use of the Stayputnik probe core recently unlocked. A new launcher, the Accolade Mk. 1, was designed and construction commenced on day 38. This is a three-stage rocket, the first stage consisting of the BACC SRB, the second stage, a kerosene-fueled Coxswain engine and finally, the upper stage using again the Aerozine-fueled LV-909 for a total vacuum delta-V of 7124m/s. Simulations showed that the launcher had just enough fuel if the pilot was careful.

Construction was completed on day 51 and the vehicle was carefully rolled out on to the launch pad. The initial ascent seemed to be carried out quite well. The gravity turn seemed optimal, with a nearly 45 degree velocity at about 45km altitude, well into the second stage. The high acceleration of the LV-909 and slight imbalance of the satellite required careful management, but the mission seemed to be going well. By the time the engine had nearly flamed out, a 450km apoapsis was achieved - but the periapsis was only 80km! This is too low in 6.4x by about 11km and I thought all was lost. Then, I remembered that the payload fairing had one last decoupler available. The vessel was pointed toward Kerbin's center and the decoupler fired. Success! The periapsis was raised to 91.4km - just enough to be a stable orbit! Stages 1 and 2 were recovered providing 6221 out of 9232 funds.

orbit

Here's a chart of the progress of funds, science and reputation.

progress chart

The KCT strategy consisted of boosting the VAB level 1 and 2 to 0.65 and 0.6 respectively. This was done so that while a Proteus launch was prepped at 0.65 construction rate, many sounding rockets could be prepared in parallel and launched. The SPH is now getting boosted and is currently at a 0.2 build rate. The next few build points will be pumped into the SPH to support upcoming plane-based missions. Some points are put into tech unlocks, but it is still on 4 sci/day I believe.

A race was made to aerodynamics (currently being unlocked) to get to planes as fast as possible. This is due to the fact that the more difficult part tests occur "in-flight" which is far easier to control with a plane. So, getting working planes should help with the part-test contracts. It will also enable aerial survey contracts to be conducted which are quite lucrative. While I currently have 47 science and could unlock another 45-science tree node, I'm saving up for landing gear to fully enable flight-based contracts. The current tech tree status is below.

tech tree

- - - Updated - - -

Are you using Paul Kingtigers 6.4k, or Raptors original? I have Pauls, but I have patched in Raptors multiple launch sites, which is a godsend when you factor in RemoteTech!

I tried using the 64k reboot but it seemed that the settings didn't work out ok. I jumped back to the original 6.4x release by Raptor but grabbed the EVE settings from the reboot. I wasn't quite sure what to make of the two threads, really.

I gotta say, RealFuels seems worth it. It adds some tech levels to the engines and more choices. I found it confusing at first as well, but I think the key is the place the tank and an engine, and set the engine up first. The tank will probably have an automatic setup to match the engine. I switched to the Coxswain engine (a RealFuels engine) from the LV-T45 because it would give a TWR of close to 1.2 at staging. This saved weight - didn't need all that thrust.

[Shania_L]

Wow, nice detail. Congratz are also in order for first orbit

I have decided to give KCT and RealFuels a(nother) go on my 6.4 career.

I found that one of the biggest problems I had with realfuels previously was that I had created custom fuel tanks for NearFuture LiquidHydrogen, or to add lifesupport etc into service modules, this was playing merry hell with the RealFuels MM scripts.

I have stripped all my edits out now and have made a solemn promise not to tinker below the hood .... just yet:sticktongue:

KCT otoh is a first time for me, how did you manage to get 46 launches in 51 days? Even my sounding rockets are taking 4 days each in a 0.7 VAB. Simulations however, I LOVE simulations!!. The death rate of proby pilots has plummeted as has the "Up in flames" category of my financial statements Test stuff before you strap a man in it? sounds like proper intelektual finking that does!!!

[DivisionByZero]

Yeah, simulations rock. Magico is genius for putting that in when the vehicles cost so much in terms of time and money to build.

So, as for managing so many launches, the KCT system is pretty neat because the calculation determining how quick a launch proceeds is dependent on a bunch of factors. One of the obvious ones is how many recovered parts you have in inventory. If you're recovering and re-using, you end up saving, not just money, but time as well. The other thing you get is the more often you use a part, the smaller the amount of time needed to put it into the next launch. So, this encourages re-use, not just of parts, but of the rocket design itself. So by the end of my few dozen launches, my sounding rockets would only take a day or less because I'd reuse the nosecone and science package and had already used the booster rocket and sticks dozens of times.

As for getting launches so fast, I'd run them parallel by loading my KCT points into VAB levels 1 and 2. Level 1 eventually reached 0.65 and level 2 was at 0.6 so I was always building two rockets in parallel. I'd have a manned rocket at level 1, but these usually took several days to construct. The next sounding rocket would be built in parallel and depending on how big the next major launch was, I'd be able to launch 4-6 sounding rockets. I had to play with KCT once or twice before I realized this was a good way to go.

[DivisionByZero]

Mini-update:

The age of aerospace has begun!

I have taken a very different approach to this career game than previous ones I've attempted. Instead of working up the rocketry side of the tech tree, I've pushed for controlled flight. The reason for this, which I mentioned in the previous update, is due to the large number of "Part Test" contracts that require strange combinations of altitude and speeds as well as the survey contracts which require somewhat precise maneuvering. The strategy is looking positive right now!

The first opportunity for an airplane came from a parts test for a set of B9 aerospace engines turned into Pratt & Whitney JT8Ds. These engines have the nice feature that the air intake is integrated into the engine nacelle which reduces the part count. An image in flight is here:

The actual contract called for testing the engines while splashed down. With a working airplane, I could also take on a visual survey mission! With only flight control unlocked and no landing technology, a vertical take-off scheme was used making use of the largest sounding-rocket motors to provide the initial thrust. Seeing as how the build-rate for the VAB is still much larger than that for the SPH, I launched form the pad instead of the runway. The system worked beautifully. A large number of parachutes were attached to maximize the chances of surviving splashdown, but I neglected to dump most of the kerosene before hitting the water. Most of the plane broke up, but I lucked out and one wing and engine remained attached. CONTRACT FULFILLED!

Shortly after this initial testing flight, the aerodynamics science node was unlocked providing regular access to the engine as well as several new wings. New contracts were also generated for additional advanced engines such as the Pratt & Whitney J58 and GE YJ93 engines. These exceptional contracts will both a combined 120 science, 70k funds and about 200 additional reputation for the part tests alone. A similar vertical take-off plane was designed for use with these experiments and is shown below:

This design features two Science Jr. pods as these were recently unlocked and haven't been used to obtain science data yet. The new jets have the range to easily reach the mountains and the parachute landing makes them ideal for gathering data while landed on the ground in this rocky terrain.

Some science and funds were spent on KCT upgrades and these went straight into the SPH (now up to about 0.4). This will become far more important once wheels unlock and I have to use the runway. Use of landing gear will eliminate the 2 sounding rocket motors and 8 parachutes which will free up those parts for the sounding rocket science components, mystery goo, 2 HOT thermometers and possibly even conversion to a 2-seater to include a scientist with the pilot!

We'll see how it goes from here!