What's up Gamers?
In this episode of Let's Play Kerbal Space Program, we're headed back to career mode and attempting to complete the missions we were stuck on at the end of Episode 1, which prompted me to head to the Training Exercises for some of the more basic tutorials within the game.
To start, we have a total of 126,571 Funds, 5.8 Science Points, and a total Reputation of 1% that we had accrued during that first episode, most of which came from Milestones and Achievements!
Side Note: The two pictures I used in this post are thumbnails within the KSP game files on my computer! I love that I found this feature, and will definitely be utilizing these craft thumbs within the thumbnails of my YouTube videos, like I did below!
Also, at the end of this episode and blog I have a question for all viewers/readers! You will get to decide the future of my Career in Kerbal Space Program, so stay tuned-in til the end, and leave a comment to cast your vote!
Starting Contracts Overview
The very first thing I wanted to do was head over to the Tracking Station within our Kerbal Space Center (KSC) to check out the missions that I got stuck on during our first episode.
These were:
- Gather Scientific Data from Kerbin - where we had recover any science experiment data from Kerbin. This should have been a fairly easy mission to complete, if I could have successfully landed our rocket back on Kerbin!
And
- Conduct a Focused Observational Survey of Kerbin - which we had to take a Crew Report In-Flight under 17,800 meters Near Zone 3MH3, which is easily found on the Map by a Green Icon above our Space Center.
My main issue was I couldn't really figure out how to complete these contracts, I was stuck on figuring out how to take crew reports and trying to get to Zone 3MH3. But, with our recent training, I think we're more than ready to complete them!
8th Career Build
As we headed over to the VAB to construct our rocket for our new mission, I decided to utilize some of the knowledge we just gained from the training exercises!
So I decided to recreate the Hopper Rocket from the Basic Flight Training, and added two Goo Containment Units using the Symmetry and Snapping Tools we learned about!
For those who don't remember, the Hopper rocket consisted of the:
- MK-1 Command Pod
- MK-16 Parachute
- RT-5 'Flea' Engine
I decided to test out the knowledge we had learned during the training exercises, and I adjusted the parachute settings so that the minimum pressure slider was set to 0.1 atmospheres.
During the time of recording this episode, I hadn't started taking notes of my progress or of the information we learned in training, so I had already forgotten that the lower the Minimum Pressure Slider is set, the higher you will be when the parachute activates!
But, after placing the Goo Containment Units on the craft, as the science experiment were attempting for our contract, and renaming this the craft the "Goo Collector MK-1", I decided it was time to test out this design on the launch pad!
In total, we spent 2,857 Funds during the design of this craft, including the 35 Fund Piloting Fee, which hopefully is enough for our brave crew to pay their bills!
8th Career Launch
With our design finalized for Mission 08, we head on out to the Launch Pad and prepare this bad lad for lift-off!
After turning on the SAS, which we learned how to do during the Suborbital Flight Training, we headed to the Map by pressing the M key on the keyboard, and set the navigation to Zone 3MH3 so we could attempt to complete our contract.
The Launch Process itself went smoothly, and I believed we were headed towards Zone 3MH3, but with the RT-5 Flea Engine we used, we had no where near enough fuel or power to even break 9000 meters!
Even though we missed our target zone, we still managed to take a crew report in flight (by Right-Clicking on the Command Pod to bring up the contextual menu) and we also successfully observed the Goo within our Containment Units (again, by Right-Clicking on the Goo Containment Unit itself to bring up the contextual menu) before finally touching down on the surface ot Kerbin!
4th Career Recovery
After our brave Kerbal crew returned safely to the surface of Kerbin, we successfully recovered our Goo Collector MK-1, and although we missed Zone 3MH3, we still managed to complete one of our contracts, which was to Gather Scientific Data from Kerbin!
With that being said, we managed to earn a total of 10.6 Science Points for taking a crew report, observing the Mystery Goo, and successfully recovering a spacecraft!
On top of that, we also received a total of 2,700 Funds from the parts that we were able to salvage from our flight! This leaves us with a total of 149,773 Funds available to use towards our next mission!
In total, this only the 3rd rocket we've successfully Launched and Recovered, with 4 Crashes and 1 Dud Recovered so far in our Career Mode Gameplay.
Contracts Update 1
So with one Contract completed, I decided we might as well accept another, and attempt to complete them both on the next launch!
Looking through the list of available contracts at the Tracking Station, I quickly decided to accept the contract to Haul and Test the MK-16 Parachute in flight above Kerbin.
We've already managed to successfully land 3 of our rockets using this Parachute, so I figured we might as well go ahead and complete this contract before we get to far in our gameplay!
We got an advance of 6,750 Funds for accepting this contract, giving us a total of 156,523 Funds available for use!
So with that, we once again have two active contracts, and yet another mission to embark on!
Building the Craft for Mission 09
With a new mission unfolding before us, it's time to start designing the craft we intend to use during this flight, and one that can hopefully complete both contracts!
Since we previously created our own version of the Hopper Rocket from the Basic Construction Training, we might as well continue on that path, and design our own version of the Jumper Rocket we created during the Intermediate Construction Training as well!
Our new Jumper design:
- MK-1 Command Pod
- MK-16 Parachute
- 3 FL-T100 Fuel Cells
- LV-T45 'Swivel' Liquid Fuel Engine
- 4 Basic Fins
If you remember, the Jumper we created during the Intermediate Construction Training contained a total of 5 FL-T100 Fuel Cells, so while we won't be able to cover as much distance, it should be more than what we need for this Mission!
After adding all of our parts to our new design, the total build cost for this "Jumper MK-1" Rocket was 3,007 Funds, which again, includes the standard 35 Fund Piloting Fee, helping our brave Kerbals keep the lights on for their families!
So far, the cost of our builds haven't really made a dent in our Funds, but this is bound to change once we start building more advanced spacecraft!
Before testing out our new design on the launchpad, we went ahead and adjusted our parachute settings once again, setting the Minimum Pressure Slider to 0.2 ATM, and this time we also adjusted the Altitude Slider to 1300 meters, which should give us more than enough time to slow down enough for a safe landing!
9th Career Launch
Moving out to the Launchpad, we once again set our navigation towards Zone 3MH3, and turned on our SAS feature to help us out during our flight!
Keeping our past mistakes in mind, I immediately navigated towards Zone 3MH3, and attempted to get us in position to take a crew report and finally complete this contract!
Unfortunately for us, we completely overshot our target, and even though we had attempted to take a crew report, I completely forgot to stage our parachute at a safe altitude, which left us hurtling towards Kerbin's surface.
By the time I had staged, it was too late.
Resulting in the 5th Crash Landing of our Career, I was bound and determined to successfully recover this craft, so I decided to launch her one more time.
10th Career Launch
Since we have the awesome feature to restart from the Launchpad, and I knew that we could successfully recover this craft as is, I decided to go ahead and retry the Launch Process and attempt to bring, what will now be Mission 10, home safely.
Once again, we set our navigation to Zone 3MH3, turned out SAS on, set our Throttle to 75%, and launched our craft towards our target zone.
I ended up using Max Throttle, even though it wasn't necessary, and had to return to the 75% range around 13,000 meters.
In fear that we would once again overshoot our target, I decided to increase the air resistance (or drag) around 18,000 meters, by pointing the nose of our craft towards Kerbin.
By the time we hit 30,000 meters, the nose of our craft was pointing straight down as we were still ascending through the atmosphere.
My hope was that this action would slow us down enough that we would alter our course enough to land within our target zone, instead of overshooting like we did during the last launch.
This did prove to be successful, although I think it was more luck than skill, that guided us into Zone 3MH3, giving us an opportunity to take a crew report and finally complete this mission.
Around 17,000 meters, we took our crew report and did just that, completing our mission at long last - after a total of 5 launches!
5th Recovery
I decided to stage our parachute around 5,300 meters, knowing that we had customized our parachute settings and that it should wait to deploy until we reach out minimum pressure settings.
What I had forgotten, was that 0.2 ATM is about 9,000 meters above Kerbin, so our Parachute deployed immediately upon staging.
Even though we set our Altitude Slider on our Parachute to fully deploy at 1,300 meters, I wanted to make sure that we were within the contract parameters, and that we didn't repeat the results from the last mission!
Our parachute did fully deploy by the time we hit 1,300 meters, in accordance to our settings, and our Kerbal crew was in the process of descending back towards the surface of Kerbin, successfully completing their latest mission.
With both contracts completed, we had earned a total of 3.5 Science Points for taking the crew report in flight, while we received 0 Science Points for successfully recovering our craft! With these 3.5 SP, we now have a total of 28 SP to spend on new Research!
We also received a total of 1,015 Funds from date thank we recovered from room craft, which gives is a total of 214,118 Funds for our Career - not too bad in my opinion!
This brings our Career Mission Totals up to 4 Successful Launch and Recoveries, 5 Crash Landings, and 1 Recovered Dud, with a plethora of exploration left to do!
Contracts Update 2
To end this episode, I thought we'd go ahead and look through, and accept, a few new contracts to give us something to look forward to next week, which would give us ample time to prepare!
As of now, we're going to stick with the "Trivial" contracts, and attempt to earn as many funds and science points as possible before we start attempting the higher tiered contracts!
We still have quite a few of these Trivial tiered contracts, so I decided to accept the contracts that we know we could easily complete:
- Perform a Test of the LV-T45 'Swivel' Engine
- Perform a Test of the TD-12 Decoupler
We also received an advance of 10,133 Total Funds for accepting these contracts, giving us a total of 224,251 Funds to begin preparing for our next mission, which should we more than enough to build our next craft!
Now, we actually used both of these parts on our last launch, but, we're going to be designing a new craft to use for this mission, and see just how far a LV-T45 'Swivel' Engine can take us into space, so don't forget to tune in next Friday for that!
You Decide the Future of our Space Program!
Since we also have a good amount of Science Points currently saved up, we have the ability to unlock 1 new Research Node within the Tech Tree of the Research and Development Building!
But, I would like to leave this up to you guys to determine what path we should take!
As of now, there are 3 potential Research Nodes that we can unlock, which are listed below.
- General Rocketry for 20 SP
- Stability for 18 SP
- Survivability for 15 SP
With the 28 SP we currently hold, we can unlock just one of these Research Nodes, and it's up to you to decide! Which one will it be?
Voting will end on
Monday, November 20th at Midnight!
This should give everyone a chance to cast their votes before I record the new episode!
Our next episode will also be voiced over at time of recording, hopefully making the editing process much easier in the long run!
Link to Twitter Poll can be found here
Since I don't have many subscribers on YouTube, I thought this might be a great way to promote and increase viewer engagement, and to grow this small community of like-minded gamers - both on and off the Hive Blockchain.
All comments made in regards to this vote will be featured in both the video and the respective blog post, and will receive a shout-out to help show my appreciation for your support! Something like this, but will hopefully change a little over time!
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Thank you both for your support, and I hope that you enjoy your stay! 💚
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Until the next adventure,
Stay Toasty My Friends!
The Anarchist ✌🏼💚
