An easy guide for first time Career in KSP 0.90 Beta

[SRV Ron]

For the seasoned veterans, there have been a lot of changes in how Career functions. Noticeably is KSP itself. Instead of launching from a fully functional modern KSP, we now start with a very basic and limited complex. A launch pad and runway of dirt, limited tracking, basic training center, and simple hanger and VAB.

What does this mean for basic Career normal mode for all players?

1. For Mission Control, you are limited to two contracts. As you will have to pay should you have to cancel any you have taken and are unable to complete, chose wisely.

2. For Tracking, you can only see the orbits. No locking nodes display. No use of the Add Maneuver node.

3. The dirt launch pad or runway is limited to 18 tons or less on the weight of your launch vehicle.

4. The VAB and Hanger has a 30 part limit on design.

5. R & D, you can only unlock as far as tier 4 parts.

6. Astronaut complex limits you to five Kerbals with EVA only while landed on Kerbal.

7. And, the administration complex only allows one strategy.

8. If you have the latest version Flight Engineer installed, it's readouts will not be available until you have unlocked it's parts.

Upgrading so you are able to build and launch bigger rockets, do EVAs in space, use the Add Maneuver mode, take on more contracts at once, or unlock tier 5 parts, will cost you funds, lots of funds. Therefore, the strategy of Career is simple, do as many contracts as you can to earn the funds to enable you to gather the Science Points to research the parts you will need and upgrade KSP for continued future missions.

So, lets began using Career in Normal Mode in KSP 0.90 Beta

Your first flight in Career;

1. Go to Mission Control and grab the first two contracts, launch vehicle, and set altitude record of 5,000 meters. Granted, you could go for the higher paying Escape The Atmosphere and build a rocket capable of doing so using Tier Zero parts, but, that would be a waste of funds and loss of future contracts.

2. Build your first rocket using the following three parts. The MK-1 command pod. The MK-16 parachute on top, and the RT-10 SRB for propulsion. Why the RT-10 SRB? Simple, it is the cheapest part available for completing all missions including your first sub orbital into space.

3. Most Important, tweak the thrust and fuel load so that your first flight achieves its goal of 5,000 meters and no more. Otherwise, you will lose the additional altitude contracts. Tweak the thrust by right clicking on the SRB and set thrust to 35% and fuel to 129.9 units.

4. Most important, check the staging on the right. Click on the + marker and drag the rocket marker to the next level below. If you don't, the parachute will deploy upon launch and ruin the flight.

5. Place the rocket on the pad, use the T key to turn on stabilization, and press the Spacebar to launch.

6. During the powered part of the flight use the D key to angle the flight a couple of degrees towards the ocean. This is so you can get a water landing for recovery. If not, the SRB will be destroyed upon landing on the land. The pod will survive.

7. While under powered flight, right click on the pod and select Crew Report. Select Keep Data.

8. After the SRB burns out, you have reached max altitude, and are starting down, disengage stabilization by using the T key a second time and use the Spacebar to deploy the parachute.

9. When you have landed, do an EVA report by clicking on the EVA button that appears above Jeb. When he appears outside, right click on Jeb and select EVA Report. Select Keep Data and use the F key to tell Jeb to return to the capsule.

10. Select Recover Vessel from the altitude meter above to complete the mission.

Second flight. Get the 11,000 meter contract, tweak fuel to 216.5 or a little more, and fly the mission. This time, get a Crew Report after you have landed. Should a Landed at Kerban part come up for testing, you can take it and run the test during launch. Think of such test as puzzles that need solving. Only take them if you are sure that such testing will result in you earning more funds then you will have to expend doing the test. Remember, tests of rocket engines while landed on Kerban do not require fuel for testing. Therefore, do not add fuel to liquid engines and drain all fuel from the SRBs (Unless the test is on the RT-10 you are already launching.) A simple engine test would be just the MK-1 Command Pod (later, a Probe pod) and just the engine. You will get 100% recovery cost after you conduct the test on the pad.

Third Flight. Get the 22,000 meter contract, tweak fuel to 346.4 and fly the mission. Get a Crew Report at 22,000 meters.

Fourth Flight. Get the 33,000 meter contract, tweak fuel to a full load, and fly the mission. You should be able to reach 42,000 + meters.

So, why not use 100% thrust on those missions? Try it once and see what happens to the performance. Not only will you get overheating on the pod, the atmosphere resistance at lower altitudes will degrade performance.

Fifth flight. Go to the Research building and unlock Tier One and Basic Rocketry parts. Get the 56,000 and Escape the Atmosphere and do the following;

1. Place a TR18-A decoupler under the MK-1 pod.

2. Add 2 Goo canisters to the side of the MK-1 pod.

3. Add a second TR18-A decoupler to the bottom of the RT-10 SRB.

4. Add a second RT-10 to the TR-18 decoupler and tweak the thrust to 70%

5. Place on the launchpad and start flying the mission.

6. At about 5,000 meters, right click on the first Goo canister and save the data.

7. At about 40,000 meters, right click on the second Goo canister and save the data.

8. When you reach space, get a Crew Report and save the data. Don't forget to stage so the expended SRB doesn't hit you later on.

9. Disengage T stabilization.

10. As this will be a hot reentry, hold off deploying the parachute until you have reach 5,000 meters or you could lose it.

Your Orbital Flight. You should have more then enough Science Points to unlock Stability and General Rocketry. As there is going to be weight issues, you will build your orbital rocket using liquid fueled engines as shown in the photo below. As the Add Maneuver Mode will be unavailable, you are going to have to fly this mission using Kerbal Engineering or the Map Mode with the available readout. The design has enough fuel for low orbit and safe return. So, for the Noob's learning how to do an efficient orbital turn is key for success. Get a Goo report when in space and after you have landed. Try to land as close to KSP as possible.

At this point in the tutorial, you should have more then enough funds to upgrade the Astronaut Complex, the Launchpad, and Mission Control. Once you can upgrade tracking, you can take on missions to Mun and beyond.

Have fun.

Edited January 5, 2015 by SRV Ron

[Pecan]

So how much more do you get for these 5 hard missions than a single 45-minute to-orbit one?

[SRV Ron]

So how much more do you get for these 5 hard missions than a single 45-minute to-orbit one?

I only had one landed on Kerban contract show up which was done during launch 2. Number six was the orbital flight restricted to under 18 tons. The second stage used an LV-909. Orbit was about 80 by 120k. There was about V38,000 left after upgrading the three items mentioned after the orbital mission. Plans are to do contracts during the night to earn funds. As one that has shown up is testing parts in orbit, Jeb will be going up there to do an EVA. With radical chutes unlocked, more of the test flight can be recovered. Once tracking is upgraded, Mun and Minmus missions can be done.

[ghpstage]

So how much more do you get for these 5 hard missions than a single 45-minute to-orbit one?

You would roughly double your cash by doing them all vs just doing the Reach Space and Orbit. The 56k one is actually worth a little more than reaching space strangely.

They are also a decent opportunity to gather some early science from several biomes and altitudes and can be done very quickly.

Edited January 5, 2015 by ghpstage

[SRV Ron]

You would roughly double your cash by doing them all vs just doing the Reach Space and Orbit. The 56k one is actually worth a little more than reaching space strangely.

They are also a decent opportunity to gather some early science from several biomes and altitudes and can be done very quickly.

Exactly. That is the reason for advancing your space program one small step at a time.

Given that the Goo Pods and Material Bay module are now unlocked, This would be a good time to build a Kerban Biome Research module and do some home based experiments.

Do the following to get some no cost Science Points research;

1. Build the module using an MK-1 pod, Material Bay module and a Goo canister.

2. Place it on the launch pad.

3. Run the experiments, do a Crew Report, and an EVA report.

4. Recover the module for a full refund and additional Science.

5. Do the same thing for the dirt runway.

6. As test contracts permit, land the research module on the other biomes of Kerban for additional Science Points. Note, make use of Radical Parachutes to protect the fragile Material Bay during landing.

Ran the test. Easy 28.8 science points.

Edited January 6, 2015 by SRV Ron

[SRV Ron]

In Early Career testing, soon as you can get a probe core, use it for flight tests. The Stayputnik, while mostly useless, can be used for short flights on stable ships. Until you can unlock the Probododyne with its ability to provide automatic stabilization for extended missions, stick with short range and profitable contracts. Save Jeb for the missions requiring a Kerbal such as testing multiple items while in orbit.

Proof of concept for doing a contract using the Stayputnik. Very cheap and safe for Jeb should the mission fail.

Edit, reason for the decoupler is to prevent the Stayputnik from falling into the RT-10 thus causing it to explode.

Edited January 7, 2015 by SRV Ron

[ghpstage]

Here's another particularly easy to manage use for Stayputnik. The below triple RT-10 stack can launch these three SC 9001 units to higher orbit, gathering high atmospheric, space near Kerbin and space high above Kerbin science in a single go, which, with material tests is a lot. It requires a reaction wheel to correct courses should it wander, but its not much effort.

In Early Career testing, soon as you can get a probe core, use it for flight tests. The Stayputnik, while mostly useless, can be used for short flights on stable ships. Until you can unlock the Probododyne with its ability to provide automatic stabilization for extended missions, stick with short range and profitable contracts. Save Jeb for the missions requiring a Kerbal such as testing multiple items while in orbit.

Not easy to get used to using? Perhaps.

Nearly useless? No way!

They can do everything the other probes can do, and some things better than the OKTO, due to their reduced mass when not needing torque, and having a greater torque/mass when they use a reaction wheel.

They are perfect for early rescue missions, orbital and suborbital parts tests, satellite contracts, lugging science equipment to the Mun and Minmus, and carrying out exploration missions (most notably for those two moons!)

Its fine to note the parts weaknesses, the lack of SAS and torque, not having a top node and the OKTO coming in the next tech, but calling it nearly useless is an overstep!

On normal, where you get so much science that you could likely get the OKTO at the same time, it probably does get eclipsed too early to see much use, but on hard, or harder-than-hard custom levels, it can be worth using a lot!

Edit, reason for the decoupler is to prevent the Stayputnik from falling into the RT-10 thus causing it to explode.

Is this a bug? I've not seen it Edited January 7, 2015 by ghpstage

[SRV Ron]

Nearly useless? No way!

Is this a bug? I've not seen it

For those expert at flying on manual, the Stayputnik with an SAS will work just fine. For beginners, it will be a pain to control as it has no automatic stabilization functions.

Placing the Stayputnik directly on a fully functional RT-10 SRB will result in it exploding near the end of the powered flight. Placing a decoupler, SAS, or anything else between them appears to eliminate that bug.