Contracts are crazy?

[MoridinUK]

Ok so far I haven't got far. I've landed on Mun once, built a space station around Kerbin and Can't be bothered to send kerbals there, yet.

I'm about to visit Minmus and have a transfer window booked up for my first interplantery flight to Duna. My contracts have gone nuts, they have offered me my first 'outpost' contract. That's right folks it's for Ike...

How do I get the kerbonite missions and sensible, mun and/or minmus outpost missions, and why does it want another station (a smaller one) around Kerbin? sigh...

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Also, my 1st stage has 4690 Dv according to kerbal engineer at 100% pressure, this guy couldn't get anywhere near orbit... What am I missing, all the maps say 4500 dv is needed for orbit?

Edited February 3, 2015 by MoridinUK
Answered

[Randazzo]

Ok so far I haven't got far. I've landed on Mun once, built a space station around Kerbin and Can't be bothered to send kerbals there, yet.

I'm about to visit Minmus and have a transfer window booked up for my first interplantery flight to Duna. My contracts have gone nuts, they have offered me my first 'outpost' contract. That's right folks it's for Ike...

How do I get the kerbonite missions and sensible, mun and/or minmus outpost missions, and why does it want another station (a smaller one) around Kerbin? sigh...

Answer: The contract program has oversight from Jebediah Kerman, who is certifiably crazy.

Short answer: Yes, contracts are crazy.

You can always reject a contract offer from mission control, but I usually just get a carbon copy contract from a different issuer to replace it.

Also, my 1st stage has 4690 Dv according to kerbal engineer at 100% pressure, this guy couldn't get anywhere near orbit... What am I missing, all the maps say 4500 dv is needed for orbit?

4500 is an approximate value. It can take quite a bit more if you don't fly fuel-efficient ascents. If your initial thrust-to-weight ratio is too high and you aren't accounting for terminal velocity, you can blow a lot of DV fighting against drag. This can be the case particularly if you're using a lot of solid fuel boosters that can't be throttled. It also depends on your flight path. Climbing straight up and then trying to burn into orbit is horribly inefficient compared to a shallow gravity turn climb.

Edited January 28, 2015 by Randazzo

[MoridinUK]

Nah I'm careful to not go over 100% atoms efficent, gravity turn at 10k then more acute as the apos gets higher... not sure what I'm doing to throw the engineer out. maybe cos I'm carrying unattached fuel to refuel a station?

[NASAHireMe]

How do I get the kerbonite missions and sensible, mun and/or minmus outpost missions, and why does it want another station (a smaller one) around Kerbin? sigh...

Refueling Karbonite missions are done by an external mod. It's not stock.

The contracts system will often offer you contracts even though you've already completed a similar one in the past. If it wasn't this way, you'd have to undertake a new mission every single time, which would be really challenging, from a funds/gameplay/time standpoint. So just accept those contracts and fly the same vehicle-- easy money!

[MoridinUK]

Yeah I'm trying to avoid too much grind! I thought I has the contracts mod though for karbonite one... My issue is just that the susequent ones are easier! The first one wanted space for 8 kerbals! My first Mun outpost wants 8 kerbals too! I'm pondering that one!

[Srpadget]

Just reject the contracts you don't want. Another one like it, but with different details, will come up. If you want to do a Mun outpost but want one smaller than 8-kerbal sized, reject the 8-kerbal one (and the "rescue So-and-so from orbit", and the "test part at high speed low altitude", and so forth which follow), and another outpost offer will pop up sooner or later. Smallest size is 5 kerbals; the biggest outpost contract I personally have seen was 20 kerbal capacity, a science lab and a cupola....all on WHEELS.

(I turned that one down...)

[Superfluous J]

Have you left Kerbin's SOI? I have been wanting Ike or Duna contracts and have canceled literally dozens (if not over a hundred) station/base contracts on Mun/Minmus. But nobody has left Kerbin's SOI yet.

And to misquote Jay Leno from before some of you were born, refuse contracts all you want. They'll make more.

[gazzareth]

Have you left Kerbin's SOI? I have been wanting Ike or Duna contracts and have canceled literally dozens (if not over a hundred) station/base contracts on Mun/Minmus. But nobody has left Kerbin's SOI yet.

And to misquote Jay Leno from before some of you were born, refuse contracts all you want. They'll make more.

I got an Ike outpost contract before I left Kerbin's SOI, from memory it was something like 700k advance and then 1.7mil for completion. Well worth doing and not nearly as hard as I thought it would be..

G

[tsotha]

I think the Duna contracts unlocked when I completed my first "escaping Kerbin" contract, which showed up relatively early.

[cantab]

Nah I'm careful to not go over 100% atoms efficent, gravity turn at 10k then more acute as the apos gets higher... not sure what I'm doing to throw the engineer out. maybe cos I'm carrying unattached fuel to refuel a station?

Very possible. If you're carrying fuel you don't plan on using, lock the fuel tanks so they never drain and KER doesn't expect them to drain. (To lock/unlock fuel tanks, right click on them and click the green arrow or red no sign).

[MoridinUK]

Have you left Kerbin's SOI? I have been wanting Ike or Duna contracts and have canceled literally dozens (if not over a hundred) station/base contracts on Mun/Minmus. But nobody has left Kerbin's SOI yet.

And to misquote Jay Leno from before some of you were born, refuse contracts all you want. They'll make more.

No I haven't left Kerbin SOI! No idea why you haven't had them come up? I've had several probes right at the edge, and one that was due to leave but I burnt them back in before then? Nor have I completed an escaping Kerbin contract... :S

Cantab, I have figured that.

Edited February 1, 2015 by MoridinUK

[Superfluous J]

Update on my personal game, I left Kerbin's SOI and canceled about 10 contracts before a "Duna Base" contract came up. Seems that is at least one trigger for this to show up, but maybe there are more, like if your rep is high enough you can get offered them earlier.

As the title says, contracts are crazy.

[MoridinUK]

Oh maybe I did have outrageous rep at one stage, before I figured what I wanted to trade it in for, like the ticker tape thing was all the way over to the right..

[MoridinUK]

Ok what gives.... I had a contract for temp readings on mun, flying over a certain height or under etc... the target areas 'moved' every orbit I burnt normal to get my orbit perfectly aligned with the target, and it moves to the right! out of the crater it started in and off into another one! I guess this is something to do with Muns rotation? How do I compensate for that in future? Just guess work? Killed alot of Dv...

[AlexinTokyo]

Ok what gives.... I had a contract for temp readings on mun, flying over a certain height or under etc... the target areas 'moved' every orbit I burnt normal to get my orbit perfectly aligned with the target, and it moves to the right! out of the crater it started in and off into another one! I guess this is something to do with Muns rotation? How do I compensate for that in future? Just guess work? Killed alot of Dv...

If the marker is actually moving over the surface of the Mun, then you probably have a bug.

On the other hand, the surface of the Mun itself does move as the Mun rotates, meaning that if you're burning ½ or ¼ of an orbit away from the target, you'll have to lead the target in order to compensate.

You can either do this by feel, or (more accurately) use the Trajectories mod in 'Body Fixed' mode to show your orbital path relative to the surface of the body in question.

ETA: Also, the markers are not set on the surface, but at an altitude above the surface. You do get parallax between the markers and the surface, so you can think you're passing directly under the marker from one angle, but actually miss it by a fair margin.

[MoridinUK]

If the marker is actually moving over the surface of the Mun, then you probably have a bug.

On the other hand, the surface of the Mun itself does move as the Mun rotates, meaning that if you're burning ½ or ¼ of an orbit away from the target, you'll have to lead the target in order to compensate.

You can either do this by feel, or (more accurately) use the Trajectories mod in 'Body Fixed' mode to show your orbital path relative to the surface of the body in question.

ETA: Also, the markers are not set on the surface, but at an altitude above the surface. You do get parallax between the markers and the surface, so you can think you're passing directly under the marker from one angle, but actually miss it by a fair margin.

I'll have to play with the trajectories mod then, but I assume it was the rotation and that the pointer is in the air. That may explain how it appeared to move out of the crater it was initially in! Thanks!

[Sigma88]

idk why I posted here wrong thread

Edited February 4, 2015 by Sigma88

[MoridinUK]

I got all excited!

[TheMoonRover]

How do I get the kerbonite missions and sensible, mun and/or minmus outpost missions, and why does it want another station (a smaller one) around Kerbin? sigh...

Refueling Karbonite missions are done by an external mod. It's not stock.

Actually Karbonite is mentioned in the config files for the stock contracts (I think it was for the surface base contract, maybe others). I don't know if it actually works as I don't use Karbonite. I don't remember it being commented out though. If SQUAD knew they were planning on integrating Karbonite when they integrated Fine Print, it makes sense that the relevant code is still there.