The No Contract Career Challenge

[purpleivan]

Well I finally did it, all buildings are upgraded to level 3, paid for only by milestone rewards.

Part 1 of the final mission (a trip to Laythe) report is here.

I'm breaking the report down into 3 parts (outbound and landing, ascent and renezvous and finally return) as there's over 70 images to post in total.

I'll make my final post, giving the final details about my entry here later today.

 

Here's part 2 and 3.

So Mr @5thHorseman I submit to you my completed challenge entry, in the Modded Normal category (due to KER, which I only used in the VAB/Hanger... well, stats were displayed inflight, but I forget I even have it).

No Admin strategies were used and no ISRU.

Edited March 25, 2020 by purpleivan

[Superfluous J]

19 hours ago, purpleivan said:

So Mr @5thHorseman I submit to you my completed challenge entry, in the Modded Normal category (due to KER, which I only used in the VAB/Hanger... well, stats were displayed inflight, but I forget I even have it).

No Admin strategies were used and no ISRU.

Very well done! Welcome to the winner's circle and congrats on making it without admin strategies!

[Superfluous J]

On 3/21/2020 at 11:08 PM, ralanboyle said:

Alright, I'm in.

Hello hello! Your video made me miss EVE and all the city lights. Nice job on Minmus, I hate going there without patched conics at least.

[ralanboyle]

I thought I was about done with this challenge. I did the Jool 5 and came back to find I'd earned, not nearly as much from it as expected. Mostly because i didn't get any of the "Returned from" Rewards. I thought i got that for bringing the kerbal home but I see from the wiki that its the ship so my first question: 

1. What exactly do I have to do to get that award? Like, what part of the ship needs to come home? Can it be docked and refueled on the way home?

I've got about $1.5M in the bank and it looks like I need another $1.5M to upgrade all the buildings. I have not yet landed on Eve or Gilly but I've visited them. And I have not yet visited Moho. I'm assuming I can't get $1.5M from those. 

2. What should I do? 

[Superfluous J]

6 minutes ago, ralanboyle said:

1. What exactly do I have to do to get that award? Like, what part of the ship needs to come home? Can it be docked and refueled on the way home?

I know it has to be a command pod or probe core. Other than that I don't think it matters. You should be able to dock it to other things to refuel, and even re-enter and land, but you should undock everything and recover them separately for full credit.

 

6 minutes ago, ralanboyle said:

2. What should I do?

You could do what I did, which is batch convert all of your leftover science to cash in the Admin building. I don't recall offhand but I may have also dug into my reputation as well.

If you are really hurting, the best way to go is probably to get a science lab landed on Minmus, and bring it any science you can find to process and send home. Then convert that to cash in the admin building.

Or you could re-do the Jool mission

[ralanboyle]

Yeah, fair enough. So far I haven't used labs or the admin building but I may have to. I didn't even collect science on my Jool run because i'd already unlocked everything. 

[ralanboyle]

Okay, I have now competed this challenge. I'll post videos after I edit them but I am here to confirm that you get the "Return From" awards if the command pod that landed on the body, also lands on Kerbin. I had a classic "no parachutes" situation and all that survived was Jeb and his command seat. He did have to chase it down a mountain and get back into it to "recover vessel," but it survived and I got the credit! 

[ralanboyle]

Okay, I have completed the challenge. 

I made it into a 5 video playlist. 

Here is the link. 

 

 

[Superfluous J]

On 4/15/2020 at 3:11 PM, ralanboyle said:

Okay, I have completed the challenge. 

I made it into a 5 video playlist.

Sweet sorry for missing this for 2 weeks. I watched the first video am working through the rest, but figured I'd add you to the winner's list before completing.

Looking forward to the final episode. I loves me a Jool 5.

[ralanboyle]

@Superfluous J, I hope you enjoy them! It ends with a BANG!

[ThreeMartiniLaunch]

On 2/16/2018 at 1:09 AM, MarvinKitFox said:

Ok, so by your example, the correct way to do this challenge is to:

1) locate a mod that gives oodles and oodles of noodles worth of FREE science.

what happened to:

On 2/15/2018 at 2:58 AM, 5thHorseman said:

Rules:

Rules? There are no rules! Actually, there are rules.

1. Stock functionality for science, funds, and reputation amounts gained/lost is a MUST.

2) claim win?

5H, don't get me wrong, I'm a fan. But the other guy has a point.

 

How about a mod, that once you achieve orbit, just click a button and get all the near space science and achievements. Once I can do EVA in space, click a button to get all the EVA science?

 

I mean, I can do it all myself, but it's menial and unchallenging.

[ralanboyle]

20 minutes ago, ThreeMartiniLaunch said:

5H, don't get me wrong, I'm a fan. But the other guy has a point.

 

How about a mod, that once you achieve orbit, just click a button and get all the near space science and achievements. Once I can do EVA in space, click a button to get all the EVA science?

 

I mean, I can do it all myself, but it's menial and unchallenging.

That’s what “ForScience” does. 

[Superfluous J]

51 minutes ago, ThreeMartiniLaunch said:

5H, don't get me wrong, I'm a fan. But the other guy has a point.

I'm a fan back!

I've actually been meaning to redo this challenge without the science thing. I was just a particular fan of it back when I started this challenge. I still stand by how it didn't actually help all that much (far less than "click button win game") but sure, it did help. The big reasons I haven't are I'm having trouble getting the gumption to play stock KSP after playing JNSQ, and after Factorio 0.18 dropped I've been a bit obsessed with that.

Maybe I'll do this again in JNSQ. There are more destinations so more cash, but everything will cost more to launch so it's probably about a wash. Then maybe people will stop complaining about me unlocking a few tech nodes slightly early 2 years ago

Or maybe I should record myself uncut driving around the KSC for an hour collecting mundane science. Then anybody who watches it in full can feel justified using KEI.

Edited April 30, 2020 by Superfluous J

[Superfluous J]

On 4/29/2020 at 10:11 PM, ralanboyle said:

@Superfluous J, I hope you enjoy them! It ends with a BANG!

Finally found time to finish this and I must say, nicely done! TIL that a chair counts as a command module for recovery purposes.

 

[ralanboyle]

@Superfluous J, Yeah I was pleasantly surprised by that. I would have redone the mission if it didn't count and I would have done it better. The original plan was to refuel at Gilly before going to Moho, That would have given me enough dv to return the main ship. That would have been a much cleaner end, but I was ready to move on to other challenges by that point and I liked the "Kerbalness" of that ending.  

Thanks for watching and thanks for the kudos! 

[ThreeMartiniLaunch]

18 hours ago, Superfluous J said:

Or maybe I should record myself uncut driving around the KSC for an hour collecting mundane science. Then anybody who watches it in full can feel justified using KEI.

Now that would make for some compelling video!

 

And I started using the mode right after I read your post. Thanks.

[xendelaar]

Just want te let you guys know I love the idea of this challenge and I'm giving it a go. I don't feel like writing an elaborate mission report of the grind and stuff, so please believe me when I say I've finished it.

My starting conditions:

- normal game
- no strategies
- no overpowered science lab
- I don't think if I'm going to use ground experiments DLC
- DLC: breaking grounds, making history
- KSP version: 1.9.2? (i think)
- Mods: visuals, KER, Mechjeb (though I'm not using it), waypointmanager

Edited May 3, 2020 by xendelaar
added more restrictions

[Superfluous J]

On 5/3/2020 at 12:11 AM, xendelaar said:

I don't feel like writing an elaborate mission report of the grind and stuff, so please believe me when I say I've finished it.

Elaborate mission reports are optional (though I love them) but at least show a picture of every ship that leaves the atmosphere, at launch and at its destination. And a quick synopsis of what it got you in world firsts and building upgrades.

I need some way to at least follow your progress.

Edited May 5, 2020 by Superfluous J

[xendelaar]

1 minute ago, Superfluous J said:

Elaborate mission reports are optional (though I love then) but art least show a picture of every ship that leaves the atmosphere, at launch and at its destination. And a quick synopsis of what it got you in world firsts and building upgrades.

I need some way to at least follow your progress.

I will make screenshots and put them in a small mission report if you like. I don't have any screenshots from my first orbit. But I do have one of me going to the Mun!

I'm also keeping a balance book to calculate the expenses, profits and science points I earn per mission! it's a lot of fun! this challenge makes you reconsider your designs!

[Superfluous J]

17 minutes ago, xendelaar said:

I will make screenshots and put them in a small mission report if you like. I don't have any screenshots from my first orbit. But I do have one of me going to the Mun!

That's fine. I expect anyone able to finish this, can get to orbit early on the cheap.

[Superfluous J]

Because people wouldn't shut up about my last entry it's been 2 years and I want to try this again only on YouTube instead of garbage Imgur albums, I started anew with two interesting restrictions related to science:

1. Ground science on Kerbin is 10% of what it would normally be, making gathering KSC science nearly useless. I'd have made it 0, but the game won't let me.
2. All planets and moons have 1 biome each. Their science values have not been changed, so each is worth FAR LESS science value.

Episode 1 (If you don't watch, at least check out the speed and altitude readings on that screenshot):

 

[Superfluous J]

In episode 2 I get all Mun money (except anomalies but I don't think they're very profitable go go after with no other gains) and collect (but have yet to return) all Mun science (except redoing goos and jrs which I won't bother with) and even upgrade a couple more buildings.

 

[xendelaar]

Just wanted to let you know I made a lot of progress on the challenge. I posted a report in the mission report section.

I'm aware that I did not make screenshots of all crafts on the surface of the planets, so this could be a hard no-go for the challenge leaderboard*. if that is the case, that's fine! I don't mind. This challenge is an absolute epic journey and I'm loving everyminute of it!

So far I've been to:

1. Mun
2. Minmus
3. Gilly
4. Ike and Duna
5. Dress
6. Eve
7. Jool-5

(in this exact order btw)

I still have Moho and Eeloo on my to do list. according to my calculations, I should be able to manage to finish the challenge when I visit these two rocks.

 

Edit: * I still have the overview with all World first achievements. I could posts pictures of those records? it's not really fun to read, but neither are my mission reports or movie clips in general haha.

Edited May 10, 2020 by xendelaar
added some stuff

[Superfluous J]

My own effort at this continues unab(l)ated.

In spite of the dramatic screenshot (YouTube was generous on this video. All 3 were good but this one was awesome. You can even see KSC in the background!) everything is going well. It ends on the surface of Minmus having collected a ton of science and cash.

[xendelaar]

Just wanted to let OP know that I've finished the challenge!

During my last mission I visited Eeloo and Moho with an ISRU craft. It took me quite some time to get there but in the end it was worth it. The whole trip cost me less than 35,000 funds!

I upgraded the last facilities and still have 245,710 funds left in the bank for candy and beer.

 

well.. that was a great challenge! thanks again for proposing it to the world dear OP! You are awesome! now it's time for me to check all the other entries! I didn't look at them because I wanted to do this challenge without any inside information.

take care y'all!