So I switched to hard mode at the start of the week.  The major difference between that and "moderate" difficulty is that you can no longer load quicksaves.  There is no going back to a previous point in time when something goes wrong.  I've found it very difficult to balance launch costs with getting enough science points to progress through the tree.  At least early on.


It was a bit of a grind to get contracts with good payouts and far enough into the tech tree to unlock Stayputnik Mk 2, along with solar panels and batteries.  I was doing sub-orbit launches as cheap as possible to send my Kerbals to the far corners of Kerbin to gather surface samples.

Mods I have installed are:
  • Zero Point Inline Fairings (needed to protect payloads from FAR)
  • Chatterer (adds some background noise)
  • Deadly Reentry (Come in too fast? burn up.  Have bits sticking out? They burn up.)
  • EVA Ejection Fix (fixes your kerbals being flung off the ladder when the leave the pod)
  • Ferram Aerospace Research (FAR adds better drag/lift calculations)
  • Fine Print (more contract types)
  • Kerbal Engineer (gives DV, mass, cost, and other useful information)
  • Kerbal Joint Reinforcement (bug fix)
  • Kethane (mine the solar system for fuel)
  • MechJeb2 (pilot automation - and other goodies)
  • NavyFish/DockingPortAlignment (better docking UI)
  • Planet Shine (reflected light on underside of craft)
  • Remote Tech (better robotic probe gameplay)
  • Stage Recovery (get funds back if your stages don't burn up or crash)
  • Thunder Aerospace (TAC) Life Support (have to feed and water your kerbals)
  • Trigger Tech's Kerbal Alarm Clock (keeps you from missing a scheduled maneuver)
The ones that cause me the most trouble in early game when I barely have 2 bottlecaps to scratch together are FAR and Deady Reentry (DRE).


So I finally got far enough into the tech tree to qualify for satellite contracts (from the Fine Print mod).  I got there with only about 50-60k in funds to spare.  And the first thing I have to do before I can put up longer range sats is put up (4) at 700km orbit to act as relays from the KSC to the sats out past 2.5Mm (or not within line of sight of KSC).

Putting up those (4) satellites cost me almost all of my funds and almost 10 launches.  Multiple failure after failure after failure depleted almost all of my funds.  Finally I got 3 of the 4 up with the 4th in an eccentric orbit and completed a single low Kerbin orbit contract.  That gave me a 50k infusion of cash in order to tackle the four big orbit contracts out by the Mun.  It also gave me a mesh network in LKO (low Kerbin orbit) so that my satellites don't go "dumb" after they go below the horizon and can't see KSC for commands.

For the big orbit contracts out past 2.5Mm away from low-Kerbin orbit, I need a relay satellite parked at KEO (Kerbin geo-sync) which keeps KSC in view at all times and can be used to relay commands to the sats out past the 2.5Mm bubble around Kerbin.

Thus began the Callisto series of rockets... which nearly bankrupted me a second time.  First up was Callisto I.  Lots of solar panels, lots of batteries for reserve power, a 2.5Mm range omnidirectional Comm-16 at the top of the craft along with the 500km range omnidirectional DTS-10 which is used during the launch phase.  It all looks really pretty and has plenty of delta-V (DV) to get the payload into orbit without barely burning any of the payload's fuel to do it.



The goal of lifter stages should be to have just enough DV to get the payload almost, but not quite, into an orbit which is outside of the atmosphere.  With the Stage Recovery mod and a few parachutes you can get 50-70% of the lifter stage cost back when it safely reenters the atmosphere.



Ouch, scratch 20500 kerbal bucks.  The primary failure event was the DTS-10 at the top of the payload coming loose and crashing into the rest of the payload (and cutting off communications with KSC).  Once the DTS-10 failed (due to too much thrust), the rocket went "dumb" and could no longer be controlled with eventual loss of the payload.

Back to the drawing board... added fins at the bottom.



Boom... launch failure.  But since my payload has so much DV and a high TWR (thrust/weight ratio), I was able to perform a soft splashdown in the ocean off of KSC.  So I didn't lose the full 22500 launch cost, just about 2/3 of it.

At this point I'm running low on funds.  I take extra time checking out the TWR values, the staging sequence, moving the fins around, putting the DTS-10 in a more streamlined orientation and adding a second one, plus another flywheel in the middle below the payload.



Success!  My first long-range relay sat is up and ready to be moved into synchronous orbit above KSC.



And back to back successes!  The second launch is the satellite that will go service the (4) orbit contracts out by the Mun's orbit.  That single launch of 22500 will net me about 200k in contract fees over the next month as it satisfies the four different orbit contracts.

Now that I have funds (back up to 120k), I can start picking up additional orbit contracts until I get up into the 400-500k fund range. That will give me enough money to start chasing down new technology points and explore the Mun and Minnimus.