Any tips on making money mid/late game?

[Jokurr]

So in my current career mode I've successfully sent probes to Duna/Ike, Eve/Gilly, and Moho. I've got another probe on route to Jool and its moons, and a manned mission on it's way to Duna. I have more than enough science to get all the parts I need and then some, but the problem is I don't have much in the way of cash. The only contracts I get that help cover costs are "explore [planet/moon x]", and even then, I don't get contracts for all of the places I want to go. For example, I've visited Moho 3 times now (first time didn't have enough delta V to achieve orbit, second time was a successful one way trip, third time is a return journey), and I've never received any contract to go there. So basically I'm wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars to get there for no return. How can I generate a contract to go there? Is it completely random?

I've picked strategies that help maximize profits but it doesn't seem to be enough. I suppose I could attach parachutes to all of my boosters so I can recover costs that way, but it would be annoying to do that mid flight. I'll also admit that I could build the spacecraft I send to other planets in orbit above Kerbin, but I don't mainly due to laziness. For example, I sent a probe to Moho that consisted of lander and an orbiting module that had enough fuel for a return journey to Kerbin. I could've launched the lander and the orbiting module separately and docked them above Kerbin, but instead I launched them in one go. The rocket to lift that into orbit above Kerbin cost me over $250,000. Prohibitively expensive :/. Any tips to cut costs or generate more money are welcome.

[wibou]

Most of my money making in mid-late game come from "Science from around ..." contract.

I have satellites around all celestial bodies already so any of those contract is basically free money, from 30K (Kerbin) to 200K (Jool). You _should_ be getting a lot of those already, especially if you explored some of the bodies already.

My other cash cow is the (not quite sure of the name) "Gravitational data from around". Those cost me some fuel but most of my satellites got PLENTY of fuel (~2000 Xenon?) and the net gain is ridicolously high... As example, these mission around Moho earn me about 600-700K.

Now, if you are NOT getting any of those... well the "Explore X" take up contract slots but never expire, so you might need to complete those just to free some space for other contracts.

You can (and should in mid-game) also decline all the "Test parts" contracts since the net gain is usually quite low (although not all the time).

In any case, time warping a few days will expire/refresh the contracts and you might be getting something interesting... just time warp until your lander reach Duna

NB: attaching parachutes to booster usually won't work since the engine will automatically delete any objects you don't control that are inside the atmosphere... orbit is fine though. Or there is some mods that make it possible, if you are interested.

[GoSlash27]

Absolutely, the #1 cash machine in my career has been satellite missions in the Kerbin system. It takes very little cash to accomplish, can be done with a standardized launch vehicle, takes very little time, and pays out big.

Best,

-Slashy

[StrandedonEarth]

If you've already been to Moho, unfortunately it won't generate an 'Explore' contract for that.

One way to make more funds is to stack contracts: Accept multiple satellite, station, and outpost contracts, then build a satellite or base that will satisfy the requirements of all the contracts. Then just move the base from place to place (Kerbin orbit --> Mun orbit ---> Solar orbit ---> Duna orbit --> Duna surface: 5 contracts for one station!). Same thing with satellites, and you can launch small sats attached to your station/base.

Another way is with the Science Funding mod, it simply gives 2k funds for each science point you transmit or return to Kerbin (not including science rewards from contracts). I realize that's a little late for you as you don't need science anymore, but it's a big help in Hard mode.

Last, solid boosters make for very cheap first stages. I have a heavy lifter consisting of 14 Jumbos and 7 mainsails, with a zillion 'chutes and heavy landing gear (plus probe core, power, etc), with an onion ring of 36 disposable S1 SRB's as the first stage. It costs 400k to launch but recovers for over 240k. The Trajectories mod helps with precision landing at KSC for max recovery rate. The core can make orbit with 160T payload and a little fuel left over so I can recover it whenever I want.

Edited January 18, 2015 by StrandedonEarth

[Jovus]

Also, if you're sick and tired of contracts and you have one of the resource extraction mods (Kethane, Karbonite, AMT, etc.) you can drop resources down the gravity well for recovery. Use a big enough tank and you can get a nice'n'pretty injection of cash.

[juanml82]

Basically, you can recover boosters that make it out to space. And yes, it's a bit of a chore. You can make a booster which doesn't stage (save for SRBs) and then use what little fuel it has left to deorbit. One of the large quad engines with LFB-1x2s surrounding it can lift a lot of weight. I usually break something on landing, though, but you do get a lot of money back.

You can also leave a permanent base in the places you've visited, so you can easily complete "plant the flag" and "science from" contracts (if it's "space near..." and you have a kerbal on the surface, just jump and produce an EVA report. It will read "space near..." instead of "on the surface".

You can do several contracts with one single vessel: "put a station in solar orbit" and "create a base on Minmus" can be done with the same spaceship, which may also be a full SSTO or the payload portion of a (maybe partially) recoverable vessel. One of my last missions in career involved a space ship composed of two hitchhiker containers plus a 3 man pod filled with engineers: take it just outside kerbin's soi to complete "station in solar orbit", return it, land it in Minmus to complete "base on Minmus", EVA all 11 kerbals, make each one of them plant a flag for xp, get them all back inside, take off and land back by the KSC for recovery.

Also, once you get the "science from" or "plant a flag" contracts and you already have kerbals or vessels in the place to complete them, I don't bother going to the Tracking station, selecting the appropriate ship and doing the contract, I just open the debut window and mark it complete

[ghpstage]

Some parts tests contracts have immense payouts, I just saw a test LV-1R in orbit of Laythe contract that paid out nearly 400k on hard difficulty, and the same thing for 800-900k at Jool, including the advances. Either could be done for considerably less than 10k using a probe. Combined with science around Laythe for around 230k and your getting serious cash.

The same orbital tests seem to have a ludicrous range in their payouts however. Moho, Ike and Duna tend to give laughable returns for the same mission.

Temperature or visual scans of bodies lacking an atmosphere tend to easy and pay out crazy amounts, temp scans in particular could done at a similar cost too.

The downside of course is that interplanetary missions do take a long time in Kerbal timeframes.

Edited January 18, 2015 by ghpstage

[Torquemadus]

I'm playing on hardcore custom difficulty settings, which means that I have work within very tough economic constraints while trying to raise large sums of money for building upgrades.

My absolute best earner in 0.90 has been spamming of visual surveys and temperature scans above Kerbin's moons. Provided that the contract doesn't require me to land, I can overfly all of the required locations from polar orbit, with only a small amount of fuel required to change altitude.

Contracts that require a landing can't be spammed, since the act of landing and taking off consumes fuel. However, I'm still able to combine those with flag planting contracts to turn a worthwhile profit.

I get a good return from satellites though use of my low tech shuttle.

[Jokurr]

I do have several [science from around x]... though most of my satellites have returned to Kerbin (as a test to see if I could successfully complete a round trip). I suppose I can leave satellites in orbit and keep spamming those, as I've noticed I've got that mission twice for the same planet/moon. Thanks for the tips!

[Xavven]

My strategy has been to send a probe lander with lots of delta-v (4000+ if you build it right) in a single stage, along with a refueling tanker that has enough for 4 or more fill ups, to each celestial body. Put a gravimeter, thermometer, and seismometer on it.

The tanker and probe should be in a polar or nearly polar orbit at the destination. Any time a gravity survey, seismic survey, or temperature survey appears, you can fulfill it quickly with your probe lander and rendezvous back in orbit for a refuel. This nets half a million or more each on hard difficulty at interplanetary locations. The tanker and probe combo gives you something like 20,000 m/s of delta-v at the destination. Amazing how many landings you can do with that before you have to send another tanker.

On Gilly, Bop, and Pol, I haven't even had to refuel a single time, so I'll probably never have to send another tanker until the next patch comes out and I restart my career. Getting around is so cheap on delta-v at these low gravity moons.

Eve, Tylo, and Laythe, on the other hand, are not quite so easy. These are not cash cows for me yet as I haven't fully decided how I will handle long term exploration methods here. Some combination of land rovers and orbital probes will have to do the trick. Laythe has oxygen, so I'll probably have some Rapier based probe. Not sure yet.

[numerobis]

If you want to just explore and not be money-constrained, there's always sandbox mode.

[gazzareth]

Just picked up a mission to construct a 7 kerbal base on Ike, 700k advance, 1.5mil for completion - guessing that it will probably cost me a few hundred k to complete, although it is a first attempt at a base mission. Was going to work on a SSTO to get the base and transfer stage into orbit to get costs down even further....

G

[match]

I never got into designing SSTOs, and in particular spaceplanes until doing career on hardmode. The cost of putting any small payload into LKO is minimal (normally under 2k kerbal bucks).

I rarely will take a single satellite contract by itself. If the orbits allow, a single satellite does both. Otherwise I just take two up in one trip.

[magnemoe]

I'm playing on hardcore custom difficulty settings, which means that I have work within very tough economic constraints while trying to raise large sums of money for building upgrades.

My absolute best earner in 0.90 has been spamming of visual surveys and temperature scans above Kerbin's moons. Provided that the contract doesn't require me to land, I can overfly all of the required locations from polar orbit, with only a small amount of fuel required to change altitude.

Contracts that require a landing can't be spammed, since the act of landing and taking off consumes fuel. However, I'm still able to combine those with flag planting contracts to turn a worthwhile profit.

http://i.imgur.com/mvtAjjb.jpg

I get a good return from satellites though use of my low tech shuttle.

http://i.imgur.com/fdgAuva.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/K68qzBX.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Es4K4ZS.jpg

Yes, Minus surveys are even better as gravity on Minmus is a joke, something with 2km/s is able to land and return to orbit on Mun, on Minmus you can jump around for a long time.

For Mun, do satelite contracts then take the satelites down into low orbit and do various surveys with them.

Later on an ion probe is nice here as you can do lots of plane changes and stuff with it, you can also refuel it, this is also nice around other bodies.

[eddiew]

I get quite a lot of money off orbital station contracts around Mun and Minmus. Cook yourself up a reliable spaceplane that can hold a decent crew, and you've got a 100% recoverable 'station' Only problem is when they want a cupola or lab in there as well, although B9 Aerospace or MK IV Spaceplane mods offer options that are big enough to hold these.

Also always leave at least one science capable probe everwhere you go. Science from the surface of Eve, 200000 roots? Sure, let me just query one of the weather stations we dropped there last month! Leaving rovers is even better, especially on small bodies; I have one little guy on Mun who cost about 60k to put there and has earned 10x that because he keeps getting seismic surveys within 20km; quicker to drive than to launch a new mission, and zero cost.

You can also try the StageRecovery mod, which does what it says on the tin and gets you a good portion of your launchers back

[Farex]

Greetings!

I also highly suggest the StageRecovery mod mentioned above. It is quite fair and logical, one of the mods I would really like to be stock.

As for money making I have set up a Base / Outpost net on all the celestial bodies I have explored. This gives you the ability to do a lot of "plant flag on x" missions, which bring a lot of funds. You can also of course put a station in orbit that has 10 to 20 small mini-satelites that can be "bombed" off, this enables you to complete a lot of "put satelite in orbit of x", which also gives a lot of money.