Slitherine

Any suggestions to keep from going bankrupt or from not having enough money to launch missions? I was going great guns in multi-player with a Mars and Venus flyby programs started and Mercury. However, I got so low in funding I had to cancel the unmanned mission and fire most of the astronauts, and there are still several turns where I can't do anything because I don't have money to launch.

Basically, take it in four year bites, figure out what it'll give you in terms of prestige points, and concentrate on those PP's that will get you to the Moon.

So, you need a probe in the first 4-year cycle, and just one rocket. In the second, you need 2 probes (as well as the extended mission of the first) and one manned program - X15 works well, as it's cheap.

The third, you need to get at least the first two manned missions of the single-manned capsule done, and the Lunar Flyby and Lunar Impactor. The next two, it's time to work on the Gemini and the lunar orbiter and the lunar lander probes. If you want, you can do a Mars or Venus flyby instead of a lander.

Thanks for the tips!

For the 2nd 4-year cycle, skip the X15 and just do the 1-man capsule. Put probes on pause after you get the lunar probe to unlock lunar manned missions.

Thanks!

In my job of fitness we have a saying, the goal is to keep the goal, the goal. When pursuing a goal, it's easy to get distracted by a bunch of other stuff. Focus.

What is the goal of this game? To put a person on the Moon and return them safely to Earth - before anyone else does! So you do the absolute minimum of missions you can to achieve that.

Before you can do manned lunar missions, you have to do at least the lunar flyby probe mission. Before you can do that, you have to do the orbital satellite. From there, technically you can just open Gemini/Soyuz Lunar Landing, however it'll take forever to get the reliability up and if your first manned mission in space is to the Moon the reliability penalties will get everyone killed. So in practice you need the one-man capsule in Earth orbit, then the two-man capsule, and from there either Gemini/Soyuz Lunar Missions in Earth Orbit. Apollo takes extra time, and the UR-700/UK-700 approach is one you can only do if you have stacks of spare cash and/or lots of time.

Below is the shortest approach I've found. Only after the first successful mission of one do I open the next programme. This ensures the best reliability carryover, eg opening Mercury and Gemini at the same time is not as good as getting Mercury's reliability up to 80+%, doing an unmanned suborbital, and THEN opening Gemini. I list the minimum missions, anything after that (like manned duration missions) are just a bonus if you have spare time or want a prestige boost, and are not necessary to the ultimate goal.

1. Orbital satellite + suitable rocket - minimum, orbital satellite mission
2. Lunar flyby + suitable rocket - only one mission
3. Mercury/Vostok + human-rated rocket - earth orbit - first unmanned suborbital, then unmanned orbital, then manned orbital
4. Gemini/Voshkod + human-rated rocket - earth orbit - unmanned suborbital, unmanned orbital, manned orbital, eva and docking
5. Gemini/Soyuz Lunar Missions in Earth orbit + human-rated rocket (you can use the same as before, but this is a good time to start working on the Saturn V or N1 that can get you to the Moon) - unmanned suborbital, unmanned orbital (of both capsule and lunar landers), manned orbital, docking, eva (remember this will be a different spacesuit to that in the previous step, so you have to get the reliability up)
6. Gemini/Soyuz Lunar Landing - unmanned lunar pass, unmanned lunar orbital, manned lunar pass, manned lunar orbital, then...