Early Career Tutorial
This tutorial is for RP-1 with Programs And Launch Complexes, the latest version of RP-1. As the mods are updated, certain parts of this tutorial may become out of date, especially the numbers. The concepts, however, will remain accurate. The intended audience is anyone who is new to RP-1, but if you're an experienced player and just want to learn about the new PLC features, you can probably go straight to chapter 3.
Before you go any further, make sure you've read and followed these install instructions to the letter. RP-1 is a very carefully crafted experience that is easily broken if you don't follow instructions carefully.
This document will describe all of the new features of PLC. You'll learn how to hire and assign staff, build launch complexes, accept programs, and more. There will be some design ideas for your first few rockets, looking in detail at the first few missions you will embark on. Finally, a general strategy will be presented to inspire you on your path to your first orbital rocket.
There's a lot of information here, so it has been split into chapters. Take your time and read carefully.
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1: New RP-1 Career Settings - This chapter contains some preliminary setup for your new career, covering things such as the difficulty and launch site selection.
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2: Building A Sounding Rocket - This chapter covers how to design and sim your first rocket, a small and fairly simple sounding rocket.
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3: Managing A Space Program - This chapter covers all of the managerial tasks of the space program, which includes a lot of the new content for PLC.
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4: Building A Downrange Rocket - This chapter covers how to build a guided downrange rocket and fly it with mechjeb.
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5: Upgrading Sounding Rockets - This chapter covers how to upgrade your existing sounding rockets with better technology to complete more difficult contracts.