Kerbal Space Program

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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by Smoove_B »

Acquired by Take Two Interactive, as per Blues:
We have been impressed with Kerbal Space Program since its launch, and we are committed to grow this unique experience while continuing to support its passionate community,” said Michael Worosz, SVP, Head of Corporate Development and Independent Publishing at Take-Two. “We view Kerbal Space Program as a new, long-term franchise that adds a well-respected and beloved IP to Take-Two’s portfolio as we continue to explore opportunities across the independent development landscape.”
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by coopasonic »

You don't say?
jztemple2 wrote:Breaking Kerbal Space Program news... KSP Acquired by Take-Two Interactive
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

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:(

Distracted by Archer.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by NickAragua »

Picked this up on sale over black friday, as my daughter is really into rockets so I want to show her some rocket launches.

I apparently am terrible at constructing rockets.

First couple of rockets (just with Flea boosters and parachutes) safely go up and down. No problem.
Then, I start getting contracts to test equipment at 27k or 54k.
First, I can't get my rockets past 10-15k using a combination of Flea and Hammer boosters (even if I two-stage it). One pilot dies when the rocket starts spinning uncontrollably about 500m off the ground and slams into the dirt.
Then, after watching the "getting into orbit" tutorial, I routinely get my guys out of the atmosphere, at which point they burn up on re-entry. I completely miss the velocity/altitude targets for the tests.

Without having to re-read the whole thread, any tips re: how to complete some of these earlier "test something at X altitude and Y velocity" contracts?
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by coopasonic »

I will reinstall and play around with it when I get home because I can't remember having much trouble. Now that I am thinking about it, I mostly skipped those contracts with specific altitude and velocity because they can be tricky. I haven't played in a while so I don't know if my knowledge is current. If you are playing the campaign you need to farm science to unlock better equipment to readily achieve those goals. Making your way to orbit then Mun or Minmus is more fun anyway.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by Sepiche »

Yeah, I never found any of those testing contracts fun to do, so I just skipped them. I'm not very good as KSP, but I'd generally start with the easy stuff... getting to space, getting to orbit, getting to the moon, and try to do as much research along the way as I can, and do tourist missions once I had the engines to do it.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by coopasonic »

And just to clarify my comment about not remembering having much trouble, I played the game for 100+ hours before contracts were introduced. I would not expect it to be easy for you, the game was very hard in the beginning but I got to learn all the ins and outs in sandbox before there was anything else. You might want to play around in sandbox until you learn the mechanics better so you don't murder all your Kerbals.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by NickAragua »

Hah, too late. Those poor bastards never stood a chance on reentry (and sometimes going up to orbit, too).

I actually figured out that I can set the thrust level on those solid fuel boosters so they don't fry the spaceship going up, so my casualty rate has gone down significantly. But the game could really benefit from some kind of trajectory calculation aid. I mean, it already exposes all the thrust and mass data, so I *could* calculate the proper trajectory by hand... but I really don't want to?
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by jztemple2 »

What you want is the famous Mechjeb add-on. Can automate so many things for you, so you spend your time designing and building, not trying to fly a rocket.

My other go to add-on is the Docking Port Alignment Indicator. Very easy to use once you read the instructions, makes docking much, much easier.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by coopasonic »

jztemple2 wrote: Tue Nov 28, 2017 12:20 am What you want is the famous Mechjeb add-on. Can automate so many things for you, so you spend your time designing and building, not trying to fly a rocket.

My other go to add-on is the Docking Port Alignment Indicator. Very easy to use once you read the instructions, makes docking much, much easier.
Learn how to do it yourself first at least. I guess it depends what you want to get out of the game, but I think piloting is where most of the fun is. The only mod I ever really used was one that gave you stats on your ship so you could figure out if you had enough fuel for your mass.

I just played the first three launches, getting out of the atmosphere last night and it all came back to me. You can skip all the difficult contracts and just follow the path to orbit then Mun or Minmus flyby then orbit then landing. Add what science you can to get research for more parts.

If you are burning up on launch you have too much thrust, dial back the boosters. If you are burning up on re-entry you need heat shields and a lower angle of re-entry.

Scott Manley's Career Mode for Beginner's (Part I):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d74m3qThOoU
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by NickAragua »

Yeah, I hate to say it, but I think I'm going to have to strongarm my OCD and ignore those "test engine X at altitude Y" contracts.

I wound up cranking out some serious science simply by flying my rocket around and landing on various different parts of Kerbin (over/on water, over/on land, over/on mountains, etc). The number of times my kerbonauts have had to get out and collect goo/temperature samples, I'm sure they're starting to get annoyed.

Well, better annoyed than a pancake.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by wonderpug »

What's the latest on the Making History expansion pack? Is that getting close to release?
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by Isgrimnur »

NASDAQ reporting seems to believe it's this year, still. (November 08)
Earlier this year, Take Two acquired the popular simulation game, Kerbal Space Program . A new Kerbal game, Kerbal Space Program: Making History Expansion , is also slated for launch this year.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by coopasonic »

http://kerbaldevteam.tumblr.com/
This week was not short of progress. The Making History Expansion continues to take shape as components and features continue to be implemented.
That was posted 3 days ago. If they are still implementing features on 11/25, shipping this year seems unlikely. On the other hand, Take Two's fiscal year ends 3/31. That's probably more likely.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by jztemple2 »

coopasonic wrote: Tue Nov 28, 2017 11:03 am
jztemple2 wrote: Tue Nov 28, 2017 12:20 am What you want is the famous Mechjeb add-on. Can automate so many things for you, so you spend your time designing and building, not trying to fly a rocket.

My other go to add-on is the Docking Port Alignment Indicator. Very easy to use once you read the instructions, makes docking much, much easier.
Learn how to do it yourself first at least. I guess it depends what you want to get out of the game, but I think piloting is where most of the fun is.
Agreed, for a lot of folks flying the rockets is part of the fun. Not for me, as I'm fairly clumsy with button pushing. I don't want to be the astronaut, I want to be the guy sitting at the factory designing these things.

And I too gave up on all those damn contracts, do action A in altitude band B within a speed band of C. They just seemed very Mickey Mouse. I'd rather see a contracting system that doesn't give me finite objectives at all or even uses the concept of contracts. Instead, when I launch a rocket that doesn't blow up in the first fifteen seconds, I get a message from the Kerbal Space Agency that says "Good job, here's some more money!".
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by coopasonic »

jztemple2 wrote: Tue Nov 28, 2017 5:47 pm And I too gave up on all those damn contracts, do action A in altitude band B within a speed band of C. They just seemed very Mickey Mouse. I'd rather see a contracting system that doesn't give me finite objectives at all or even uses the concept of contracts. Instead, when I launch a rocket that doesn't blow up in the first fifteen seconds, I get a message from the Kerbal Space Agency that says "Good job, here's some more money!".
I think you do get money and science for various milestones outside of the contract system.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by Montag »

A couple of salient points. A lot of the contracts are dependent on staging the item. You can activate the item whenever with the right click activate choice. This would let you go ahead and start an engine before triggering the staging event. You can now PIN a component window so that you can run the test quickly. Have the contract visible on the side and the conditions will turn green when met. I had a lot of fun trying to score as many contracts as I could on one mission. Getting more than 7 was pretty sweet.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by NickAragua »

Think I'm getting the hang of it a little bit. Still no way I could do those "activate item A at height B with velocity C" contracts, but I don't really care.

Does it make me a bad person that I burst out laughing when, halfway down from the curve from the top of a ballistic trajectory, I realized I had forgotten to put a parachute on the rocket?
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

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NickAragua wrote: Wed Nov 29, 2017 10:08 pmDoes it make me a bad person that I burst out laughing when, halfway down from the curve from the top of a ballistic trajectory, I realized I had forgotten to put a parachute on the rocket?
No, not really. They are just Kerbals after all.

Oh wait, I forgot, if I don't think you are a bad person that pretty much guarantees you are a bad person.

Have you landed on the Mun yet? Completed an orbital rendezvous?

I started playing again and got to a Mun flyby, but then I started a new XCOM2 campaign as well... now I want to Kerbals to show up in XCOM2 so I can shoot them. Remember what I said about being a bad person?
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by NickAragua »

I'm still screwing around with suborbital trips right now, trying to figure out how to slow the stupid thing down on the way down - for some reason my parachutes have decided that they don't need to deploy any more.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

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NickAragua wrote: Thu Nov 30, 2017 8:28 pm I'm still screwing around with suborbital trips right now, trying to figure out how to slow the stupid thing down on the way down - for some reason my parachutes have decided that they don't need to deploy any more.
Double check your staging -- it's a common issue to accidentally have your parachutes on the wrong stage.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

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According to some research, it looks like my ship is coming in way too fast, so the parachute doesn't deploy. I'm either going to have to screw around with shallower trajectories or haul a retro rocket up. Kind of annoying.

I also discovered, to my dismay, that it's difficult to attach a large booster to the rocket assembly at two points.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

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NickAragua wrote: Fri Dec 01, 2017 1:31 pm According to some research, it looks like my ship is coming in way too fast, so the parachute doesn't deploy. I'm either going to have to screw around with shallower trajectories or haul a retro rocket up. Kind of annoying.

I also discovered, to my dismay, that it's difficult to attach a large booster to the rocket assembly at two points.
Don't do the retrorocket, that's too much weight to be worth the bother. Let the atmosphere do the slowdown work for you.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by coopasonic »

Agree with the pug. If you are making a simple suborbital flight, the atmosphere ought to be enough to slow you down to parachute speeds regardless of trajectory... now you may overheat and explode, but that's what the heat shield is for, but again a suborbital flight shouldn't give you enough speed for that to be a problem. I guess if you are coming in pointy end first maybe the atmosphere won't slow you down as much.

Honestly I just can't imagine how you are getting to the ground with too much speed to open a parachute unless you built a missile with that goal in mind. Make a video and let us laugh at you! GeForce Experience makes recording gameplay and posting to YouTube really easy.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by Paingod »

Every time I see this thread, I feel like I'm a step closer to buying.

How technical is the gameplay? Are we talking like Dwarf Fortress, where you'll need at least a week of cramming to study for the certification that lets you even download the game, or is it a little more accessible?
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by coopasonic »

I have never played Dwarf Fortress so I can't comment on that comparison, but I'd say if you watch a couple episodes of the Scott Manley beginner's series I linked a little higher up you would have pretty much everything you need to get started. Once you get started you have a couple choices, you can go the jzt path of MechJeb and just make ships and tell the mod to fly them places or the coopasonic path and keep blowing things up and losing Kerbals until it works (Revert to Launch is the *best* post failure button, followed closely by Revert To Assembly). There is also the tiny_ogre path where you learn and understand the math and physics, but that's just crazy.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by coopasonic »

Remember you are just putting a guy in a tin can and setting off a controlled explosion underneath him that may send him into the endless nothingness of space for eternity. What's intimidating about that? Also, the looks on their faces are priceless.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

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Well, since I'm working from home today, I took a couple of minutes to indulge you sick bastards.

Parachute Fail
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by jztemple2 »

Paingod wrote: Fri Dec 01, 2017 2:14 pm Every time I see this thread, I feel like I'm a step closer to buying.

How technical is the gameplay? Are we talking like Dwarf Fortress, where you'll need at least a week of cramming to study for the certification that lets you even download the game, or is it a little more accessible?
I would say that if you are willing to do a lot of trial and error then you really don't need to do much studying. Playing in sandbox mode gives you access to all the parts at once, but this might be too overwhelming. It would probably be better to start a career and give yourself a lot of easy settings on the sliders. Just keep building, launching and then resetting back to the VAB to tweak your design.

I recently moved my Squad purchase over to Steam, why I'm not quite sure :roll: but I think I'll install it and give it some playing again.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

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NickAragua wrote: Fri Dec 01, 2017 2:53 pm Well, since I'm working from home today, I took a couple of minutes to indulge you sick bastards.

Parachute Fail
You are coming in like a damn missile aerodynamically speaking. Turn that thing backwards (or sideways) and let the atmosphere slow you down more. Do you have access to drogue chutes yet? If you can't control it to turn once you don't have engine power, reaction wheels and some battery power can help.

Side note: that is way too much boost for that little rocket to do what you are doing with it. You are practically burning up on launch.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

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NickAragua wrote: Fri Dec 01, 2017 2:53 pm Well, since I'm working from home today, I took a couple of minutes to indulge you sick bastards.

Parachute Fail
It's hard to tell, but I think your parachutes are getting destroyed before or during your fiery reentry. I'd recommend you don't try to set an autodeploy altitude (mostly because I've never tried that feature and don't trust it) and instead deploy them manually as your final stage once you're done with the burny burny part of reentry. Shallower reentry, too, so you get more atmospheric slowdown time.
coopasonic wrote: Fri Dec 01, 2017 3:24 pm Side note: that is way too much boost for that little rocket to do what you are doing with it. You are practically burning up on launch.
Too much boost?! You're fired from the program. "I dunno I guess add more?" is the Kerbal way.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

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wonderpug wrote: Fri Dec 01, 2017 5:38 pm
coopasonic wrote: Fri Dec 01, 2017 3:24 pm Side note: that is way too much boost for that little rocket to do what you are doing with it. You are practically burning up on launch.
Too much boost?! You're fired from the program. "I dunno I guess add more?" is the Kerbal way.
OK, alternatively you can add more weight.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by NickAragua »

Well, maybe I'll scale back to 8 of the tier 2 boosters instead, to give myself more flexibility. And wings everywhere.

Manually deploy chutes? How do I do that in flight? It never gives me the option.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

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NickAragua wrote: Fri Dec 01, 2017 6:14 pm Well, maybe I'll scale back to 8 of the tier 2 boosters instead, to give myself more flexibility. And wings everywhere.

Manually deploy chutes? How do I do that in flight? It never gives me the option.
Are you hitting spacebar to deploy each next stage? If so, it looks like your chutes are all on stage 0, so you'd just hit spacebar a final time to deploy that stage.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by NickAragua »

Yeah, I hit space bar like 50 times. It's definitely the velocity is too fast. I used to not have this problem when I was just doing quick atmospheric hops (except for that one time the craft "landed" in the mountains... hoo boy...). I'll see if I can pop the drogue chutes earlier to slow myself down a little better.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by RuperT »

Yes, all that white nose stuff at launch represents air drag, so that's a lot of wasted energy, but the pug shows an appropriate attitude towards wasted energy in KSP.
The parachute icons are meaningfully color-coded (https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Parachute) and generally one doesn't mess with the chute parameters, but just waits until about 1000 m and there's no red, and triggers the last stage.
That said, I don't know why you have four parachutes unless they're radially mounted (the square one that attaches to the side rather than the stage anchor points like the default chute. If it is the default chute (like on the tip), you might have some editor weirdness where multiple things exist 'inside' each other, causing general non-Newtonianism.
Okay, I watched more carefully, and see you are well familiar with chutes of both sorts. Two would be plenty, but I commend your commitment to Kerbal safety. I think your main problem is the last 1000 feet looked like Zeus' lawn dart.
Actually, I think you're reentering with too much weight, try to drop that penultimate stage earlier. Atmosphere will slow the capsule alone greatly, which is what you're relying on really when you get into orbital speeds.
You're about to really get orbital, and then the fun begins.

Finally: pull the trigger, Paingod. You'll dig it.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by NickAragua »

We finally did it! After many, many attempts that involved the rocket spinning out of control or crashing into the dirt, an "iterative" process eventually brought is to our goal of getting to sub-orbital altitude and coming back down safely.

#1: Apparently, I need wings near the bottom of the rocket. Otherwise, the slightest perturbation makes the whole thing rotate like one of those circus performer batons. An eight-pack of Hammer (tier II) boosters is enough to send me up.

#2: Forward-facing retro rockets on the last stage. Sure, it makes the thing spin around like a centrifuge, but Kerbals appear to be immune to that sort of thing.

Don't even need all those chutes (well, the drogues still come in handy, but I'll probably get rid of the radials).
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by coopasonic »

Have you watched the Scott Manley n00b videos I linked? I ask because it still sounds like you are overbuilding like crazy.

I did a simple flight that does pretty much the same thing (suborbital flight with a crew cabin) for comparison. I had a little trouble controlling it at first and then *gasp* removed some thrust and decided to leave it in the video just for funsies. Also note, no extra chutes required. They don't hurt (much... more weight = more fuel = more weight = well, you get it), but not necessary.



One more thing I noticed after doing the flight myself, you were coming back into the atmosphere with fins on your craft, that basically forced you to come in nose down like a missile.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by NickAragua »

What would be awesome is if we had retractable components - that way, I could build something with reverse wings on the nose, but only put those out when descending.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by Apollo »

Your problem is that you are launching straight up and then falling straight down. Under the pre-release aerodynamics (that many of us put hundreds of hours into) you would've been OK doing that, but under the post-1.0 aerodynamics (which are more realistic) you need to do more atmospheric braking. You could launch and then turn to a 45 degree angle at 1000 meters or so, and that would probably give you enough time to slow down and thus enable your parachute to properly deploy. It's actually easier when you are re-entering from orbit, because you can come in at a shallow angle and get lots of atmospheric braking on the way down (just remember to put a heat shield on your capsule!).

Personally, I prefer playing in Science mode. Having to watch my spending crimps my style too much for me to enjoy Career mode.
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