A definitive guide to planetary exploration contracts

[Johnny Wishbone]

Has anyone figured out exactly how the planetary exploration contracts are generated and triggered? I've found a few threads mentioning it, but nothing definitive on exactly what to do (or not to do) to get planetary exploration contracts to trigger correctly.

In my current career game, after reaching orbit around Kerbin, I got the 'explore Mun' and 'explore Minmus' contracts. After successfully completing them, it triggered the 'explore Eve', 'explore Gilly', 'explore Duna', and 'explore Ike' contracts. I accepted all 4 of them and put together a mission to Duna. I did a manned landing on Duna and Ike, completing those 2 contracts, which triggered 'explore Jool', but nothing for Dres or any of the moons of Jool. I accepted the Jool contract, but decided my next mission should be to Eve. I put together a probe, lander, and transfer stage in orbit around Kerbin with the plan to drop the probe on Eve and do a landing on Gilly to satisfy both of those contracts. Unfortunately, my window to Eve wasn't very good, but my window to Jool was better so I sent the hardware (and Kerbals) on a voyage to Jool instead. After successful aerobrake and orbit around Jool, I satisfied that contract, but no new exploration contracts for the moons (or anything else) triggered. I then moved to orbit around Laythe, which triggered an 'explore Bop' contract for some reason, but still no contracts for any other Joolian moons. So now I've got a crew hanging around Laythe, ready to land, but I'm unwilling to send them down and miss out on the money and prestige of the 'explore Laythe' contract that hasn't triggered. I suppose I could go to Bop and satisfy that contract, but I don't want to waste a lot of delta-v bouncing around the various Joolian moons without a plan or contracts for them.

I'm trying to figure out where I went wrong and why I'm not getting these contracts. Yes, I've tried waiting around and time warping to see if they appear and they have not. The only other thing I can think of is that my tracking station is currently only at level 2. Does that play a role in triggering exploration contracts? Do you need a fully upgraded tracking station to get contracts for the outer planets and bodies? My hope for this thread is for someone to come in with a full explanation of how the exploration contracts are triggered so it can serve as a reference for myself and others.

Edited January 15, 2015 by Johnny Wishbone
Spelling errors

[eddiew]

It does seem a little random... Currently I have contracts for Ike, Gilly, Jool, and Bop. Ike came as a pair with Duna, Gilly came with Eve, while the last two appeared while already en-route to Jool because, like you, the window was open so I sent some probes. On average they do seem to come in planet/moon pairs, but not necessarily in the order I'd like (Eve was first up).

[Frank327]

Maybe there's some randomization to it. My guess:

Mun

Minmus

Duna/Eve/Ike/Gilly (might be random, but I think this is the order. Maybe ike before eve?)

Jool/Pol/Bop/Tylo/Vall/Laythe (I suspect it starts with outer moons and works inwards)

Dres?

Moho?

Eloo?

I think once you get into the SOI of a body, you won't get its exploration contract. Also sometimes a lack of reputation can prevent you from getting an exploration contract.

Edited January 15, 2015 by Frank327

[Deadpangod3]

Frank327 is right, once you enter the soi, if you dont have an explore contract already, you wont get one.

[Johnny Wishbone]

Frank327 is right, once you enter the soi, if you dont have an explore contract already, you wont get one.

Yep. So why didn't I get the Jool moon contracts at all? I didn't enter any of their SOIs on my way into Jool, and completing the 'explore Jool' contract should have triggered contracts for its moons. My reputation was maxed out, so that shouldn't have been an issue. And I waited several months in Jool orbit to see if the contracts for the moons would trigger and they didn't. It took me going to Laythe to get the 'explore Bop' contract to trigger.

[Deadpangod3]

Yep. So why didn't I get the Jool moon contracts at all? I didn't enter any of their SOIs on my way into Jool, and completing the 'explore Jool' contract should have triggered contracts for its moons. My reputation was maxed out, so that shouldn't have been an issue. And I waited several months in Jool orbit to see if the contracts for the moons would trigger and they didn't. It took me going to Laythe to get the 'explore Bop' contract to trigger.

maybe you have to go to eve/gilly first?

[kriseric]

For me this is a weakness in the current planet exploration contract system -- it feels a bit too linear. Having completed one contract game, on the second playthrough I knew what to expect. However, I really wanted to get a contract to explore Dres, Moho or Eloo, but those never came up.

Being forced to visit Eve - Duna - Jool in that order every time is going to limit replayability of contract mode IMHO.

[tater]

The exploration and all the basic science "contracts" should be renamed as "missions" and reflagged as coming from your own space program. You are like NASA, and the pure science stuff are internal ideas floated around the conference table (with budgets, etc), while the external contracts exist to offset costs.