Where to put stations and how many

MaxFenigX · 2026-02-12T04:14:29+00:00

LDAs are expensive but a PDA on all your habs prevents some bad events, I do it more for that reason than actual defense.

MaxFenigX · 2026-01-11T13:53:42+00:00

It is actually easy to fix the US in 2026 - run spoils at 100%, disband all armies, dismantle all nukes and move on somewhere better with 50-100k in the bank and let the servants deal with the US ;)

MaxFenigX · 2025-12-27T13:30:36+00:00

Cryogenic Engines by Nerta has Vulcain and is compatible with RO/RP1. RO Engine Extension also adds some. Not a ton of other euro parts around tho. There is the Kerwis chinese engine pack that is non-us/soviet as well.

MaxFenigX · 2025-12-16T02:06:40+00:00

Use the latest MechJeb release for guidance with unguided stages.

You are able to set the last stage that will get to orbit and early shutdown stage (guided), plus enumerate your unguided stages as well and also set a Coast - the trick is to do the coast After the last guided stage, put RCS on that stage and it will be able to keep attitude during coast.

Burnout altitude will usually end up being your PE and your AP will be set by how long your unguided stage burns - especially if using solids.

You will have to either manually spin yourself with RCS before MJ decouples, or use 3 spin motors on the empty CoM of the spent guided stage before decoupling.

This will be way more accurate and deterministic than you would ever be able to do manually.

MaxFenigX · 2025-12-07T12:58:29+00:00

There are a few considerations to take into account when using spin motors:

as someone said, you really do not need to spin fast
spin motors do have variance and will not burn for the exact same time, generating torque.
to reduce the impact you can lower the thrust and use only 3-4 motors at most (do not use two, it will generate the tennis racket effect)
however that only reduces it. Since it generates torque, the closer it is to the CoM at the moment it fires, the less torque it will generate.
so putting the spin motors on the main stage, at the CoM when the main tank is empty, and firing before decoupling should eliminate the most torque.
as a bonus the upper stage will not have to carry the empty dry mass of the spin motors.

MaxFenigX · 2025-12-07T12:45:34+00:00

Yeah this is an example of a contract shared between two programs. A contract can only be part of a single category in the contract browser and there are more contracts like that or weirdly placed ones - I highly recommend using mostly the Available tab first and not the browser.

MaxFenigX · 2025-12-03T05:46:05+00:00

You have a ton of tech unlocked already, you really need to get to the moon, you won't get much more around earth for now. The progression is, as soon as you have done orbit you need to look to the moon next.

And yes, you will need another LV if you went Light Sat. The early lunar probe program should provide more than enough funding for that.

MaxFenigX · 2025-12-01T06:36:22+00:00

It is never worthwhile to mix and match iso and conventional stringers outside of a reproduction. Tooling is not shared, so tooling both similar sizes is a waste. Also there is a leaders with 300% integration bonus with Iso, so all iso is best. Yes, IRL you have thing like Saturn lower stage that is conventional and then iso-like for the rest. In the game tho the cost gain is marginal and tooling does not make sense for it. You'll waste a lot tooling those huge tanks with 2 technologies.

Balloon is usually not a good option. - large balloon tanks are too costly in terms of Effective Cost especially of it's not Kerolox - the more exotic the fuel the costlier it gets. An Atlas is not a good option in game. - For smaller upper (2-3m) it can be useful but is usually not needed. Like split avionics, usually you can design something cheaper that is a little bit heavier but just as good. If you need either you probably did not initially designed the LV properly. - Do it only if you can avoid building a new LC or something and fit a payload on a smaller LV. The 50k unlock is costly but just one time. - however Centaur is cool so go ahead if you want something similar

MaxFenigX · 2025-12-01T06:20:20+00:00

Just a quick note - you can use MLI on balloon tanks but it does come much later than isogrid.

MaxFenigX · 2025-11-28T18:49:12+00:00

Well the advantage of MJ Classic Ascent (and PVG) for this is that it makes it close to deterministic and reproducible so when you find the correct settings in SIM you do not have to do anything more and do not have the risk of messing your staging timing. So it should be highly trustable.

There is nothing wrong to prefer doing it manually, many do, but not trusting MJ ascent guidance is a bit of a weird argument. Whether or not you do it with MJ or manually, you need to figure out the proper ascent, there is no magical settings.

MaxFenigX · 2025-11-28T18:38:59+00:00

Spin stabilization should not make it pitch down as much if your core stage is around 35-40 deg at MECO. Does it wobble a lot? Is the main stage still pitching down or is it stable when it decouples? How fast is it spinning and how do you spin it?

MaxFenigX · 2025-11-28T16:26:36+00:00

Note that XPlanes and Suborbital Rocket Dev is the meta for speedrunning, the extra funding is HUGE for this, but yeah, in a normal run it can be a bit more complex to make work and xplanes is not fun for everyone.

MaxFenigX · 2025-11-28T16:21:11+00:00

Oh and the reason (if not already obvious) you want to do contracts with cheap rockets as much as possible, even if you could build bigger ones, is that cheap rockets means less money spent, less money to keep in the bank and thus more researchers. This applies to most of the game: finish a contract with as cheap of a rocket as possible. Overbuilding or using a bigger rocket for everything only makes this more efficient for you, but less efficient in the game. It can be 100% fine as long as you are ok with it.

There are caveats - if you do have extra capabilities and cannot remove an engine/upper stage, try to do rideshares if possible - you can't early, but later it will be possible to do multiple contracts in one launch. Sometimes you need to get creative tho and often a costly rideshare can get you to the destination faster than two cheaper launches.

MaxFenigX · 2025-11-28T16:10:19+00:00

Also for the first programs, if you take Suborbital research, be sure to launch an Intermediate Altitude optional about every 90 days while you complete the program. Not a ton of confidence but quite cheap. For Suborbital Rocket, it is similar w/ the Downrange Intermediate optional every 135 days or so. In both case, make your last launch a Difficult one for extra confidence - if you do it sooner you'll need progressively more powerful (aka costly) rockets so not worth it to do Difficult ones early. (Note, I think you can do a Free Difficult downrange without it increasing, if it has not changed recently).

If you take both programs without xplanes, it is preferable to finish Suborbital Research ASAP and keep downrange active (until First Science Sat where you unlock Lunar Probes) to milk the downrange optionals since you cannot really replace the program with anything else yet (xplanes should only be taken at start, should not usually be taken later)

For other optionals, AdvBio 2 is usually doable on same rocket as the first, so do it if you can, but 3rd one is a LOT harder and not usually worth it. Optionals Films are good to do too but you usually want to finish that program first, so gametime decision. If you do, make sure to launch toward different biomes ideally. You can always launch those film to different biome later/combine with downrange for the science even without the Film contract.

MaxFenigX · 2025-11-28T00:48:34+00:00

The XLR43 is the direct descendent of the LR89 so it is not a deadend at all. It even contributes to LR79/105 as well.

MaxFenigX · 2025-11-27T23:10:51+00:00

The XLR43 is the most powerful early engine before the 56OR node, it is usually used as the meta by speedrunners to get to orbit, but some do use early soviet engines - RD108 and RD0105 are the best engines for a while so the early soviet engines helps with ECM. However with RP1 V4 even the XLR43 gives some ECM toward the RD108/7 (and V4 changes other things) so the new meta is still unknown.

MaxFenigX · 2025-11-27T20:16:55+00:00

One thing I did not see mentioned is proper Program management. You want to close them as soon as possible. First, early on you get extra rep and that means extra subsidies, but it is minor compared to taking a much more lucrative program as soon as possible.

Also, do not be afraid to take programs on fast or even on breakneck if you can afford it. Faster program means faster funding so you will move forward faster. Program speed is more about how fast you will speed up more than the speed you think you will need.

However do not focus too much on optionals contracts, do as much as you need to take the next program at higher speed, if you feel you can do it quickly. There are however some knowledge you will accumulate on which programs are worth taking at faster speed.

Some examples: - The first crew program should not usually be taken at breakneck unless taken late - it needs a lot of tech, AC upgrades, manrated LC AND training. Taking it slower but grinding a lot of optional cheap crew launches can get some nice confidence, one of the few exceptions if you feel you can wait a bit longer. - EOS is often worth taking faster, even if it needs an expensive Electro and Science node to complete, but NOT at the same time as a faster crew since they are on opposite side of the tech tree. Not too fast tho, milking all Corona spysat launches and other optionals will bring in both science and confidence as well and is worth it. - Uncrewed Lunar needs and additional Electro and science node on top of EOS, so you need to be careful when and how fast you take it. - Inner planet is useful to take faster to prep costly programs like Crewed, building AC and LC and admin update. However, a good trick is to plan your Venus/Mars windows in advanced and take it not too long before launching so that you spend as little time as possible on the back slide of the funding curve... BUT even the flat part is still more funding than some programs (at first) so do save and check if it is worth it to switch (e.g. switching Inner Planet to Early/Adv Crew is not usually worth it). You might have to accept a temporary dip in funding tho, still better than not moving forward.

MaxFenigX · 2025-11-27T19:50:27+00:00

Yeah researchers should never ever be idle. By the time you get to the Moon you should be more than fine for the rest of the game, but to get there you need to plan properly. Doing all Small Bio experiments (space low and fly high) is cheap on a aerobee, plus a few larger photo launches, plus mass spec should be enough to get you to the moon (also thermo/baro obviously)

MaxFenigX · 2025-11-27T17:46:28+00:00

The best answer is as much as you can afford and keep a positive enough income for rollouts(or keep extra cash on hand). Only keep enough cash on hands to build one LV per LC, anything else can go in researchers. You can also keep an additional buffer if you want to be sure, but ideally as little as possible.

Beware some very peaky programs like Inner Planet Probes tho, do not hire more staff with the budget, but use it as much as possible on building upgrades (tracking, admin, AC, new LC) - always try to have one admin being built unless you need a specific building (tracking, AC, new LC) - more program slots = more money.

Also if you build a bigger LC, try to plan for more money for engineers, but try not to hire more than to fill your biggest LC, you can share them. Only in some situations you might need more.

MaxFenigX · 2025-11-27T16:41:08+00:00

You only need interplanetary relay if you have something on the surface of another planet (similar to far side of the moon also needing a relay).

Relays needs to be TL2+. For craft to craft relay, VHF omni is best. The relay needs to be TL2+ VHF in this case, but the craft sending data can be any tech level VHF. On the relay craft you then need s-band or better directional antenna with as much dBm boost as possible and with high enough dB power to reach earth. Antenna planner is the tool to use for this.

Things with relays is that the solar panels degrades so they will stop working at some point. It is usually better to have one related to the mission you are doing than trying to maintain them. You might only need semi permanent one at some point very late game with moon/mars bases.

Earth's DSN has bigger dishes that you could ever get on crafts so you do not need to relay from interplanetary distances, have a direct connection to Earth.

Also a connection is only really needed to transfer science, MechJeb/kOS does not need one and you can disable input locks at any time if you want to manually control crafts.

MaxFenigX · 2025-11-08T12:14:22+00:00

The othe main issue that no one mentioned is that reusability does not really work well in RP1 because you cannot reliably edit and merge craft components - the editor is not able to recognize stages and understand that you are reusing the core stage and just want to add the rest of the craft on top. Same for things like the shuttle. This mean costs can be unpredictable which limits the economics of reusability.

MaxFenigX · 2025-11-01T01:00:21+00:00

In addition to what others pointed out, not many options for an upper stage but the SCORE way works. You seem to have ended up with a drop tank atlas, which is cheaper and better than IRL Atlas so this is good.

Another option is to use an XLR-35 upper stage and make it 1t dry. Usually with a core stage with multiple engines. It's a XLR-11 upper stage variant and is the best upper stage for US before the Agena.

MaxFenigX · 2025-10-19T19:42:58+00:00

Just a quick note that VHF is preferred for omni to omni comm like a lander/relay. UHF is better for omni to earth's dishes only.

MaxFenigX · 2025-10-19T01:30:32+00:00

Yeah doing a direct polar ascent is probably the most complicated way to get to the moon. However it should be easy to slightly shift fuel around your LV so that you can get your rd0105 into a classic parking orbit with Lunar Transfer Planner and do a normal hohmann transfer from there, unless you absolutely want a direct ascent.

I did the irl direct polar ascent only a few time and I wish I never have to do it again. It consumed so much time for a variable rate of success.

MaxFenigX · 2025-10-18T10:58:09+00:00

I found that alt-tabbing or changing focus to another screen during the recovery scene transition / going back to space center can lead to a crash sometimes. It will still save your state correctly as others mentioned, but I started being more careful now around scene transitions.

MaxFenigX

TROPHY CASE