After what milestone should you be able to call yourself an expert at this game?

[Kabloosh]

I think you have become an expert if you can do all of the following...

1. Get into orbit.

2. Go to Kerbin moon and land on it and comeback.

3. Dock ships together and essentially maneuver a craft as you see fit.

4. Get to and land onto another planet regardless which one it is and comeback.

Essentially once you have mastered the fundamentals of being able to reach any body and comeback you have essentially become an expert of the game. There are still somethings you figure out to become a master like being able to comeback and land where you want to land your craft after a mission, visiting all planets with one spacecraft, building bases, etc. are entering the realm of master status. There is a huge gap in being an expert and being a master.

[Liowen]

When you stop worrying about how good you are in relation to other players?

This as arbitrary set of standards to be called an "expert". A true "expert" helps others, not brag about what they can do.

[Klingon Admiral]

I guees I have to do a mission to Duna then to call me an expert ... did never see a reason thus far to go to other planets - stupid space stations did always hold me up. The only time I sent a Kerbal to another world was when my crudely bashed together N1-replica turned out to have enough dV to land on Duna.

[Bothersome]

Some Snippage applied here for brevity

Rank 3: Master Player

Notes: Functionally speaking, you can get anywhere in the KSP solar system. Likely some things are still quite challenging (like getting on and off Tylo, or Eve), but overall you have a solid grasp of the game. Likely you have some pretty glaring weak points in your skillset in spite of that.

Rank 2: High Master Player

Notes: Certain aspects of the game can still trip you up (probably spaceplanes and/or docking; most have problems with one or the other), but other than that you have the game mastered and are thoroughly capable of just about any task you can think up. You may well quickload a few times during not-quite-routine missions, but usually you don't need that unless you're trying to get an absolutely perfect maneuver done.

Rank 1: Grand Master Player

Notes: Not much about KSP still flummoxes you. Orbital maneuvers are easy, getting to orbit is easy, missions almost always go off without a hitch, etc. Maybe some reliance on quicksaving and quickloading, but it's not really necessary for you.

Rank A: Legendary Player

Notes: Absolutely nothing is challenging to you about Kerbal Space Program. Getting to orbit is an afterthought. Planning missions is relatively quick and painless, and always works out right. Quicksave and quickload are completely unnecessary outside of bug avoidance. You are one with the Kerbal Space Program.

Rank S: Ultimate Player

Notes: You're taking things above and beyond the norm. Even the legendary players are awestruck by your skill. Challenges on the forums and Reddit don't even faze you. Complex mega-missions like grand tours are a breeze. Very few players ever reach this level of skill.

So, where would I be if I've been to Tylo and back?

Great scale by the way.

[Red Iron Crown]

Good players stop pressing F9. Great players stop pressing F5.

[SkyRender]

So, where would I be if I've been to Tylo and back?

Great scale by the way.

The scale is kind of skewed, because as one user noted, not everyone learns consistently how to do things. Landing on Tylo and getting back again is definitely something I'd expect to fall within any of those ranks, potentially, though. It's more how elegantly and easily you can do it than it is if you can the higher your rank is, by that point. I would like to reiterate that I came up with that scale in frustration, as well, and it shouldn't really be taken as any sort of proper way to gauge other players' abilities. Skill or lack thereof is constantly in flux: highly talented people can fail just as easily as someone who's never attempted something before can succeed on their first try. Even if neither is statistically likely, neither is impossible either.

[XxDaSTaRXx]

I'm proud to say I've sent a probe to Duna and crashed it into the surface at 1190 mp/s.

[SkyRender]

I'm proud to say I've sent a probe to Duna and crashed it into the surface at 1190 mp/s.

That actually is harder to do than you might expect! The atmosphere tends to slow things down, even as thin as it is on Duna. You must've hit that sucker like a charging bull coming in from interplanetary space!

[Concentric]

I don't know if it's just the way I think of the term "expert", but maybe something like

This person I found on YouTube?

[Flymetothemun]

A true "expert" helps others, not brag about what they can do.

Exactly this. I couldn't say it better myself. In fact, it's going in my signature.

[Commissioner Tadpole]

-rank snip-

It seems I am at Rank 8, apparently.

Not bad.

[NASAFanboy]

-snip-

Rank 2 to Rank A.

Personally, I keep my KSP life secretive. Most of my time on the forums is spent writing fan fiction and arguing in the Science Labs, but I haven't touched KSP for a week because of lag issues when launching...the sky around Kerbin is literally that crowded with more than fifty satellites and a hundred debris parts, and my research bases on Duna ad the Mun are giving me horrendous lag issues when I load them up, after all, they consist of around five hundred parts in seperate buildings.

What defines a experienced player?

Send a manned crew to Duna and back. It took me 23 attempts t get to Duna. It's not easy.

[Blaster]

Going to Laythe and returning on a whim, without waiting for launch windows.

[ArmchairGravy]

Eve return gets my vote, which means I'm no expert. I can do a Duna return no sweat, but figuring out an Eve return still eludes me. I can land probes everywhere, it's the getting back that's haaaaarrrrddd.

[m4rt14n]

Never.

We are merely humble students of the cosmos...

[Aragosnat]

A good start would be being named Scott Manley!

At least I was not the only one who thinks "Scott Manley" is an expert. Do agree that there will always be someone better then oneself out there. So it is kind of hard to define an expert as everyones idea of one will be diffrent as well as one's mental state.

[Pds314]

If you can burn six hundred seventy thousand units of fuel just to put a five pound paperweight in orbit.

I counter that with:

If you can burn 0.67 units of fuel to do the same.

[Pds314]

Yeah, I'd say all of:

One: be able to go to any and all planets and moons with a success rate near 100% and no quick saves.

Two: be able to land on anything but Jool or Kerbol or The M***c B*****r.

Three: be able to rendezvous with The M***c B*****r or similar targets.

Four: be able to return from anything you can land on (Eve included, you need not have a PC that can handle it though).

Five: be able to closely match the results of calculators. If it takes you more than a year and 2600 post-orbit Delta-V to get to Duna, something is very, very wrong.

Six: make an SSTO spaceplane that can land on Duna and/or Minmus.

Seven: be able to aerobrake. If you have FAR, be able to aerobrake any interplanetary ship you build in FAR.

Eight: make an SSTO spaceplane capable of getting at least 5 Kerbals to orbit.

Nine: make an SSTO spaceplane that can get to orbit and return to the runway with over half its original mass left.

Ten: be able to Rendzvous with objects that aren't in stable orbits, given a fueled ship is nearby.

Eleven: be able to fly down to Minmus and back on a single tank of Kerbal jetpack fuel.

Twelve: be able to work with rockets from 10 to 1000 tonnes and spaceplanes 5 150 tonnes.

Thirteen: be able to make a dependable rover that can actually go at top speed and turn, at least somewhat, on the Mun

Fouteen: be able to land with at least some degree of accuracy on bodies with and without an atmosphere.

[InterCity]

Eve landing and return are probably the hardest things I've ever experienced. When i finally achieved it, i was a year older, and it wasn't even a single ship! I've sent a refuel vessel towards eve.

SSTOs are also difficult, if they are meant to do something more than reach LKO. I am not sure which of those two is the real challenge.

[Red Iron Crown]

The M***c B*****r. *snip*

I have no idea what this is. The autocensor here on the forums is a bit silly.

[Superfluous J]

I have no idea what this is. The autocensor here on the forums is a bit silly.

Took me a while but I think he means Magic Boulder.

Which is (obvously) not filtered so he did it himself.

[Pds314]

I have no idea what this is. The autocensor here on the forums is a bit silly.

It isn't auto-sensor, it is manual.

[Pds314]

Also, making SSTOs is easy. Just strap a RAPIER on the back of any decent-sized fuel tank with wings and a cockpit, and boom, SSTO. Alternatively, strap some R 48-7S rockets on and a turbojet.

[Red Iron Crown]

My bad, I thought the forum software was censoring it automatically.

[Kasuha]

Edit: duh. I'm not paying attention or something...