Introduction and Overview
Welcome to Realistic Progression One (RP-1), one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences available in KSP. RP-1 provides a well-developed and carefully balanced career mode for use in conjunction with Real Solar System (RSS) and Realism Overhaul (RO), and comes closer to running a real space program than just about anything else available for KSP. See the latest release for the current version of RP-1. It now includes Programs and Launch Complexes, a major departure from previous versions of RP-1 (aka "legacy RP-1").
1. Introduction to RP-1
2. Major Features of RP-1
- Time
- Crew Management
- KSC Facility Upgrades
- Tooling
- Customized Tech Tree
- Maintenance
- Customized Contracts
- Science
- Engine Variants
- Part Tags
Realistic Progression One is the modern career mod for Realism Overhaul and the successor to RP-0. As before it is heavily dependent on a mod suite to provide changes to game play.
RO revamps KSP to accurately reflect the properties and behavior of real rockets engines and rocketry materials, aerodynamics in planetary atmospheres, power generation and consumption, and much more.
RP-1 adds a historically grounded tech tree, contract progression, and time/project/manufacturing concerns to provide you with the opportunity to guide your own astronautics program through the space race.
Do you enjoy learning about real spaceflight history and hardware? Do you enjoy sifting through a lot of data to select the best parts for a particular design? Do you find stock career mode lacking because you can launch a capsule multiple times on day one of a new career, or launch a Saturn V and an Aerobee from the same launch complex? Do you wish for greater realism with things like challenging objectives, variable program budgets, engine failures, and astronauts who retire earlier if you never launch them into space? If these sorts of questions have you nodding your head, then RP-1 is probably right up your alley.
RP-1 2.0+ is a save-breaking update, and is a very different experience from previous versions of RP-1. Rather than individual contracts that can be accepted at will, contracts are grouped into Programs, with each Program having a different funding level, funding curve, and deadline. A new currency, Confidence, is used to activate Programs at faster speeds, resulting in a shorter deadline to complete the program, but with higher funding per year. KCT points are gone, replaced by employing Engineers and Researchers instead. VAB upgrades are a thing of the past, and launch pads no longer have just a maximum launch mass. The new mechanic involves the construction of different Launch Complexes ("LCs"), each designed to support a particular family of rockets, with specific fuels available at each LC and limitations on rocket dimensions and mass (including a minimum mass). Lastly, there are now Leaders that can be unlocked and then hired in the Admin building, each of which has a different effect on your program.
Time is one of the key considerations in RP-1. To paraphrase the movie Interstellar, you have to think about time as a resource, just like funds or science. Rockets take time to build, and more time to integrate and roll out to the pad. Pads must be refurbished after each launch. New technology takes time to research. Astronauts take time to train, and will eventually retire. Launch windows and transfer windows come and go. Programs have deadlines, and your reputation will suffer if you don't complete them in time. Balancing the relationship between funds, science, reputation, confidence, and time is key to progressing well in an RP-1 career.
Your program will now start with no crew - you'll have to hire them when you start thinking about crewed flight. Prior to going up in anything more complex than a jet trainer, each crew member must complete a one-time proficiency course to become qualified on the cockpit or capsule type. Additional mission-specific training is required prior to each flight. Returning crew will be on leave for a variable period of time after each mission. And eventually, each astronaut on your roster will choose to retire from your space agency. Many of these time frames are affected by each astronaut's stats, so it's a good idea to hire the smartest and bravest applicants you can, then fly them on a regular basis so they'll stick around longer. At the very least, don't leave them idle--even training them helps stave off boredom-induced retirement!
KSC upgrades are even more extensive now than they were previously. There are 10 levels of Tracking Station, and you have to build the first upgrade (along with the first Mission Control upgrade) to access maneuver nodes. The Administration Building starts off with 5 slots to select programs (enough to select 2 beginning programs), but upgrading the Admin building will allow you to have more than 5 slots and accept more programs later on. Players can expect to build a number of Launch Complexes, each supporting a different rocket family, and each with their own Engineering staff.
RP-1 uses a highly customized tech tree which is far more complex than stock, and contains none of the stock tech tree nodes. Parts are placed in the tech tree via whitelist only – that is, all parts are excluded unless someone has specifically configured it to work with RP-1. The tech tree also contains “Blue Sky” nodes which represent significant advances in materials science and electronics. Many desirable and advanced technologies are gated behind these Blue Sky nodes, but the nodes require a lot of science to research them. And some parts (such as the Apollo capsule) are incredibly expensive to unlock.
To offset the funds cost of part and upgrade unlocks, and tooling (see below), RP-1 now includes a credit system, whereby a portion of the Researcher salaries used in researching nodes is available as a credit to reduce these costs (costs representative of development and setting up manufacturing lines).
Side discussion: Earlier tech tree nodes have generally received more attention than nodes at the end of the tree. Populating the latter half of the tech tree with balanced implementations of interesting and useful parts from compatible mods with RO/RP-1 configs is an ongoing effort.
Tooling is available for most procedural parts, and represents setting up a factory production line to churn out a particular size of part. While setting up tooling can be a steep up front expense, the parts built using that tooling are produced far more quickly and cheaply. There are also efficiencies gained when tooling a new upgraded part in a similar size, or changing only the length of a fuel tank. For example, tooling a 1 m x 2 m Aluminum Stringer fuel tank will be cheaper if you previously tooled an Aluminum tank in that same size. And stretching that Aluminum Stringer tank and retooling it in a 1 m x 3 m size won't cost much at all. Adapting and reusing existing tooled tank sizes in new designs, and planning ahead for what future sizes you may need, are both valuable techniques which mirror real life. As another example, a newly-unlocked tank type which is tooled in a 2.4 m diameter might be used as the first stage in an early Thor-alike launcher, then reused later in your career as an upper stage tank on a larger rocket. Looking at the diameters of engines and capsules you'll be unlocking soon will help you decide what sizes you should be tooling now.
RP-1's Launch Complexes expand the concept of reusing existing tooling to entire rocket stages and families, reflecting how some rocket designs (such as Delta) were reused and upgraded long beyond their original design life. Learning to build rockets that are more flexible so they can be reused to complete different missions, within certain parameters, is a new skill that players will develop.
Each KSC facility (including each LC) costs funds each year to maintain, and each Astronaut, Engineer, and Researcher draws a salary. There's a financial subsidy to help cover the cost of these basic expenses, and that subsidy increases based on the calendar date and the amount of reputation you've acquired.
The contracts in RP-1 are all customized, and grouped into Programs representing particular goals or themes. More advanced Programs and contracts are frequently gated behind prerequisite Programs and contracts. For example, you'll need to complete one of the two early orbital programs before the Crewed Orbital Program becomes available, and within the Crewed Orbital Program, the player must successfully recover an uncrewed capsule from orbit before the contract to send up a crewed one becomes available.
The science system has been completely redone, with lower tier instruments frequently gathering only a small portion of the total science available for a particular experiment in that situation. There's motivation to revisit locations after unlocking new, more advanced science instruments. Further, some science experiments (such as early film cameras or biological capsules) can't be transmitted at all, and must be recovered intact on Earth to have any value.
Please note that there is no more Landed, Splashed, or Flying Low science on Earth (with the exception of some crewed science); all of those experiments are considered to have been completed before starting your Space Program.
Many engine variants are available and purchased via the Engine GUI, accessible from the PAW of each engine part in the VAB. These variants represent the evolution of a family of engines over time, and each variant has its own reliability, thrust, and specific impulse ratings. These variant upgrades will become available as various nodes are unlocked in the tech tree.
Integration time (and thus cost from salary), and Rollout time and launch costs are significantly affected by the types of systems on the craft. For instance, toxic hypergolic fuels require special handling and disposal. So while a solid rocket motor driven craft may at first glance seem more expensive, it may indeed be less costly due to reduced handling complexity shortening its integration and rollout time and its launch cost. These part tags that modify integration and launch costs are indicated in the parts menu in the VAB. RP-1 now also expands this idea to entire LCs, with those that are crew-rated taking longer to construct, with higher maintenance costs.
You read your way down the sidebar. The bold links are very important, but all the resources available on the wiki have been compiled to improve the lives of players and enrich their RO/RP-1 experience. It is worth reading everything you can.