Using Mods: Kethane, IonCross, and Mechjeb.
Concept
Your funding is largely based on the public perception that you're pushing the boundaries of the known world. Hitting new milestones delivers the biggest payoffs, and manned missions are always much more valuable than unmanned. However, rockets cost money, and blowing them up is expensive. Even worse, losing Kerbals in crashes strikes fear into the heart of your investors, and leaving them to die on a planet you never intended to rescue them from? Unconscionable.
Rule #1 of Archon's Career Mode: Launching a ship is a permanent decision.
Manned launches cannot be reverted after liftoff. They have to be left as-is, terminated from the Space Center, or allowed to crash. Unmanned launches may be reverted after liftoff, but it is considered to be a crashed rocket, and you have to buy a new one.
Rule #2 of Archon's Career Mode: Kerbals want to explore!
Unmanned ships should never perform docking maneuvers, cannot land on a planet/moon unless there is a communication satellite in orbit, earn less for missions, and cost more to build.
Costs
Ships and fuel cost money, losing Kerbalnauts can be expensive, and cleaning up messy launches can cost quite a bit over time. Reducing costs while running effective missions is the way to succeed!
- Every launch has a cost based on the size of the rocket. Using any tool that calculates your rocket's pre-launch weight (like MechJeb) round up to the nearest 25 tons. Note that fuel is heavy- each orange fuel tank costs a buck and a half!
- Every 25 tons of total weight = $1. If the mission is unmanned, a probe core adds $2 to the cost of the rocket. If it is a manned delivery of unmanned modules, probe cores cost $1 each. Probe cores only for deorbiting cost nothing.
- Any flight that is a test flight (no mission can be accomplished, cannot leave Kerbin’s orbit) 200 tons = $1
- Track crew losses. Each Kerbal lost in launch accidents/crashes cost $20, abandoned Kerbals who starve cost $30. (see rules for bases)
- ALL off-Kerbin debris must remain in place unless you pay $1 to terminate small items (decouplers, mono-propellant, engine and fuel tank), $3 per large item (space station module, fuel tank with engine), and $5 for whole ships or very large objects. If a Kerbal visits the debris in a ship/rover they can be cleaned for free.
- Quickloads: Each one costs $1. If after say… 15 quickloads you realize you can't save a certain landing, you can just pay the cost for the crash and not the quickloads. (it's an either/or scenario, not an additional cost). You should not use quickload to save a failed launch from Kerbin.
Getting Paid:
Here's how your program makes money! Most items refer to the number of hops. This uses the following Hop Chart: Number of hops on this chart. Any 'hop' (except launching from Kerbin) that has a DeltaV cost of more than 1000 is rounded up and counts as 1 hop per 1000. For example, Gilly transfer to Eve low orbit says 1270, this is worth 2 hops.
One-Time Milestones
There's a number of milestone missions that pay double the first time as investors get excited about reaching someplace new. Note, each one pays only once per planet/moon. If you claim the milestone for landing on Duna unmanned then send a second manned mission, that second mission will be a regular mission, not a milestone.
- Stable, circular orbit of a planet or moon that has not been visited before.
Unmanned: $1 X Number of hops. (cannot be earned for Kerbin/Mun/Minmus)
Manned: $1.5 X Number of hops, + $1 for each Kerbal on board.
- Landing on a planet or moon for the first time. (A mission that establishes a stable orbit and then lands gets paid for both.)
Unmanned: $2 X Number of hops
Manned: $3, X Number of hops, + $3 for each Kerbal on board
- Returning safely to Kerbin from a planet or moon surface that has not been returned from before.
Unmanned: $8 X number of hops
Manned: $10 (+$1 per Kerbal), X Number of Hops
Successful Missions
Cash in this category is coming from investors and the public's faith in your program. These missions aren't actually profitable, they inspire funding and investment.
- Regular day-to-day missions: They're just Milestones repeated. Each time a 'one time Milestone' from above is completed after the first, you get paid half of its Milestone payout. This will be in addition to any other mission payouts.
- Profitable Probes: (must be visually distinct, and maintain an electric charge for a full orbit)
- Kethane Satellite: (kethane sensor, polar orbit, 1 per planet)
- $5 + #Hops, after mapping the majority of a planet/moon.
- Communication Satellite: (dish, antennas, 1 per planet)
- $5 + #Hops, allows unmanned landings, required for a colony.
- Weather Satellite: (dish, sensors, very low orbit, 1 per planet)
- $5 + #Hops, required for a colony.
- Ground Probes: (Comm-Sat is a pre-req. sensors must work after landing, must be 50+km distant from other probes, max 4 per planet)
- $2 per working sensor, +$1 if it can relocate itself, + #Hops, X 2 if it never shuts down due to lack of electricity.
- Crew and Oxygen transfers
- Each Crew transferred between ships and stations in orbit to Kerbin
- $2 (provided there is reason for it)
- Each crew transferred from another celestial surface to an orbiting vessel
- $1
- Each time a ship docks with an orbiting station
- $3 ($1 if crew transfer is done via EVA)
Profit Income
Mining and refining Kethane saves companies back on Kerbin loads of cash. Returning it to Kerbin to be sold generates even more. Building platforms for Scientists to work from generates steady income from research.
- Delivering Kethane to a dockable fueling platform:
- Delivering Processed Fuel from Kethane to a dockable fueling platform:
- Space Station (requires a space in a HH module for a Kerbal to be stationed)
- ($5 * number of modules after delivery of a new module) + (# hops *2)
- $1 per Kerbal counted every 10 days MET for station.
Supplying Kerbals off Kerbin (incomplete)
Generally, each seat on a ship has 300 days worth of mission time for one Kerbal in space. Keep a log of any long term missions/bases/stations you have. Each time they get visited by another ship which was sent from a colony, space station, or Kerbin, consider the supply clock reset.
Colonies (incomplete)
A colony is a group of Kerbals that are self-sufficient. Once requirements are met, the group will never starve. Any ship visiting them resets their supplies. This requires the following:
- At least 7 Kerbals at the location.
- Enough Hitchhiker modules for everyone.
- Uninterrupted electrical supply for the full orbit.
- A Science module
- A Comm module
- Local transportation
