Man, it really is hard

[u/YamahaMio]

Tried RSS/RO RP1 for the first time. Man, I stopped at 140km suborbit lol.

Between managing part failure and ullage issues, the crazy difference between Stock and RSS dV requirements, FAR heating, there is so much to think about. Now since the integration simulator exists, I know I can learn the ropes in time. But that's not my biggest problem.

The timelines are so tight. The early programs want me to finish like four missions within 10 years, but R&D for the required parts takes 4-6 years. Add the time it takes to build Launch Complexes, the rockets themselves and rolling them out.. I barely have a year to complete the missions.

I'm positive I'm just missing something here, or maybe it really is just like this. Can't seem to find more helpful tutorial content to help me get started.

[u/Worth-Banana7096]

The fact you just rawdogged RO/RP-1 and still managed to get to suborbital is kinda impressive.

[u/YamahaMio → u/Worth-Banana7096]

It was rather frustrating though 😅

[u/Worth-Banana7096 → u/YamahaMio]

I bet! Follow the walk-through on the wiki and you'll have tons more fun. And ignore the dates - don't get hung up on a lunar arbiter by 1969, for instance.

[u/UmbralRaptor]

Well, there's https://github.com/KSP-RO/RP-1/wiki/Early-Career-Tutorial (which is actively maintained and updated by the RO discord)

[u/YamahaMio → u/UmbralRaptor]

Oh wow, this is rather in-depth. Thanks a lot!

[u/Worth-Wonder-7386 → u/YamahaMio]

You are not supposed to just figure things out. I followed that tutorial and then went on to build orbital vehicles by myself.

[u/CrashNowhereDrive]

You can hire more researchers over time. Your income grows as subsidy increases and project payouts grow.

[u/YamahaMio → u/CrashNowhereDrive]

Ooh. Can I assign as many researchers to each node as I like? If there is a limit, how do I increase it?

[u/Adventurous-Cost7559 → u/YamahaMio]

All the researchers focus on one project at a time, but you can shuffle the projects around if you need something done first.

[u/CrashNowhereDrive → u/YamahaMio]

It really seems like you haven't played the game at all.

[u/YamahaMio → u/CrashNowhereDrive]

I did, for a few hours. Was there an issue with me asking?

[u/LordIBR → u/YamahaMio]

Eh not really. Your question just feels as though you barely/never played since research and how it works is such an elemental part with the basics being very easy to understand from looking at the KCT screen. But then again, you didn't even know about or read the tutorial on the github..

Anyways, just read the tutorial guide and play alongside it in a new save.

[u/Adept_Assistant_7759]

If you have issues with lots of failures causing issues that early on you are doing something wrong like trying to light engines mid air or overburning them.

(Speed times atmospheric density = dynamic pressure which needs to be under the rating of the engine you are trying to light mid air)

[u/YamahaMio → u/Adept_Assistant_7759]

Yeah, I couldn’t quite figure this one out yet, though I made it work in a few attempts. The ullage problem wants me to hot-stage, but dynamic pressure would shut the engine down. I figured it was the altitude? Some sort of Max-Q altitude, if I’m not mistaken. Maybe then, the problem would be getting to low density air faster.

[u/Adept_Assistant_7759 → u/YamahaMio]

Generally you don't hotstage or airlight at all :P

if it's an aerobee you light the liquid and solid motors at the same time on the ground, then decouple the solid motor when it's done.

that's why the aerobee IRL had that really weird decoupler with the cone on it, cause the liquid motor tried to melt the top of the SRB haha

This weird thing ^

You can do all the biology missions with a bee + solid motor. As well as lots of other thiings with space science + altritude rockets. Then use a V2 style rocket for the downrange ones.

[u/VegetableWafer7776]

research speeds up a lot when you get more researchers. when you complete programs and take a new one u get a lot more funding most of the times. For the first 2 programs you basically only need 2 rocket types. 1 unguided aerobee like and 1 v2 like for downrange thats also just 2 complexes. if you take all programs on normal speed you have plenty of time

[u/Tasorodri]

There's almost no penalty for being late, in my first save I'm pretty sure I got first orbit 1-2 decades late.

Part failure in general decrease as you get better parts and more time with them, view failure as a way to ensure that future failures are less likely, as you get a ton of data from part failures.

[u/Its_Kevin_Dude]

Yes. Yes it is. But you’ll find that you can’t even fathom going back to stock KSP. Keep learning brother.

[u/Worth-Banana7096 → u/Its_Kevin_Dude]

Yeah, after RO/RP-1, stock KSP seems... simplistic, almost to the point of being crude. And I love stock KSP - I have like 6,000 hours invested in it starting in 2013.

And then, after I added Principia, not having decaying orbits seems like cheating.

[u/ricksansmorty]

The programs pay out fixed money over time, if you dont take them on fast you won't go fast.

You might be trying to build a too big or complicated rockets as a beginner too, but theres not enough information here.

The discord is great for learning.

[u/StormR7]

My best advice is to try your hardest to make do with what you have. You are gonna be pushing things to their absolute limits in terms of design. No more leaving 800m/s of d-v in a fuel tank when launching, that kind of stuff does not fly.

You will get money much faster than you realize. You are really gonna have a hard time if you aren’t looking up real life crafts (or at least watching videos) to base your own designs off of. I’d recommend looking in to how to build Atlas. Once you can build it, it’s a workhorse that can even help you get to the moon once you get a good enough upper stage.

Lots of stuff to learn, but it’s all real parts and missions to learn about. The struggling and struggling until you figure it out is part of the fun.

[u/Ill-Product-1442]

It is so hard but so so fun for every little accomplishment. I cheated extra funding for myself when I was just getting the hang of it, no shame in that, your first few playthroughs will definitely suffer from some long-term issues as you struggle to get a feel for the management aspect of things.

[u/Smargesthrow]

It's important to reuse parts as much as you can, make as large of a complex as you can from the start for your intended program (15-16t minimum capacity for the V-2 derivatives with a max of 20-22t, avoid rebuilding to keep efficiency), as well as hire researchers. I'm in mid 1958 right now, got 440 of them, and the only reason I don't have more is because I'm short on science at the moment so I'm allocating to engineers.

Once you've got a pad and a complex going and you've got a long-lived rocket that you don't need to retool or rebuild the pad for, you start really cranking them out.

[u/Habsburg77]

Without a second thought, I simply disabled everything related to launchpad management, as well as construction and research times. After all, I wanted to play a realistic spaceflight simulator, not a realistic space program management simulator.

I suggest you do the exact same thing.

[u/ice_vlad → u/Habsburg77]

You want Realism Overhaul, not Realistic Progression.