The "Better Than Starting Manned" Career Challenge

[ThreeMartiniLaunch]

However, it is possible to achieve.. just not likely on the first Tier 2 launch if you're going for "Bird's eye view" (2) -- On your first Tier 2 launch, transmit 100% Temp and Pres science from Upper Atmosphere". In fact in my proving-missions, I had to launch three T2 rockets to get enough science to unlock two nodes in Tier 3 before trying "Biome Hunter I".

That would explain it. Thanks.

[ttnarg]

Ah didnt see there was a new vertion of BTSM that would be where the 12.5 number came from.

That make it a lot harder but still possable.

I didnt get to 70 but 69 still counts as space.

I'll update my earlyer post tomorrow when I have time. Thanks for the info about the new BTSM update.

[Death Engineering]

Ah didnt see there was a new vertion of BTSM that would be where the 12.5 number came from.

That make it a lot harder but still possable.

http://i.imgur.com/futLRvsl.jpg

I didnt get to 70 but 69 still counts as space.

I'll update my earlyer post tomorrow when I have time. Thanks for the info about the new BTSM update.

Yeah, it is a little harder to get two T3 nodes with only T2 equipment and mass limit. However, I think a single launch can still achieve the T2 main goal of Upper Atmosphere science and get enough to unlock two T3 nodes.. just have to cherry pick which science you chose to transmit. Will try it later, but if not possible in one launch, can definitely be done in two or three at most.

Also...

Added a bulletpoint to the top of the challenge which I will keep updated with the latest version number and release date. Will also create a new post on this thread when a new version is released for people who, like me, don't subscribe to the BTSM thread but do subscribe to this one.

"Note about BTSM v1.57 :

Launch pad mass restrictions are now in place. If you started this challenge prior to the release of v1.57, you may have launched an earlier mission which would not be permitted with the current mass-restrictions. Please check your crafts to ensure they meet mass restrictions.

All challenge points are still achievable."

[BukWildman]

Sounds horrible...:0

[ttnarg]

Sounds horrible...:0

It's realy not. The challenge points are optional anyway the main thing is how quick you can get sciance. I realy like the weight limit it's stop people from just adding more stages (see some of the pictures above) and makes you realy think about getting the most out of your ships. The main headake is having lotting of missions going on at once.

The only problem is Xenonauts AND OpenXCom came out while I was in the middle of this so it might be some time before I come back to it.

[Death Engineering]

Sounds horrible...:0

What part sounds "horrible"? If you didn't like how the challenge is designed, I'm always open to feedback. If you're not keen on BTSM as a mod, well, not much I can say about that except BTSM isn't for everyone. It makes major changes to the game and pretty much precludes using other mods (except visual), which turns a lot people away from BTSM.

[Death Engineering]

Death Engineering Presents..

Unlocking BTSM's Tier 1 - 7:

Since the botched Duna sample return mission cost many days, its going to be hard to get back on track by late-game. Currently, I have enough science points to unlock 4 nodes in Tier 8, but holding back on that until I can get another Duna sample return mission underway. By then, Gilly and Eve missions will be complete and should be able to unlock most of Tier 8 in one swoop.

Sending a probe down to Kerbol low-space and harvesting Mun and Minmus surface samples have helped a lot with stockpiling science points, as did a rather bold move to launch a single Kerbal on a Minmus flyby (prior to the landing and before life-support recycler was unlocked) which also dipped, albeit briefly, into interplanetary space before turning back and heading home.

Tier 3 rocket getting Biome Hunter I

This rocket is capable of getting into space, barely, in order to earn enough points to get "Biome Hunter I".

Direct-ascent Minmus Landing

Didn't need to bring three crew along, but helped make the mission interesting.

Reusable Mun Lander and Mini Space-station

Lander and mini station are launched ahead of the crew. With a crew of two Kerbals in a CSM on a separate launch, the lander can support at least 5 landing and return missions to the Munar surface before exhausting supplies on the station.

Tier 1 - 7 Highlight Album

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Edited July 1, 2014 by Death Engineering

[ThreeMartiniLaunch]

I will join this challenge and document it in a new video series.

In

, I complete the Tier 1 - "Ahh, balance.. I get it now" (1) and Tier 2 - "Bird's eye view" (2) sub-challenges.

TML

[Death Engineering]

I will join this challenge and document it in a new video series.

In

, I complete the Tier 1 - "Ahh, balance.. I get it now" (1) and Tier 2 - "Bird's eye view" (2) sub-challenges.

TML

Welcome to the challenge, TML. Looking forward to your new video series.

[ThreeMartiniLaunch]

is up.

In this episode, I complete Tier 3 Science and the Tier 3 - "Taking it slow" (3) and Biome Hunter I (1) sub-challenges.

After making this video, I realized I did not have Deadly Re-entry installed. I installed it and was able to duplicate all missions and challenges to this point. I will not be making replacement videos.

[Death Engineering]

First interplanetary steps

Hoping to play this challenge as "the long game", earning as many points as I can with an eye to sustainable missions and spacecraft. Finally got a Duna sample return mission home, but was a little bit anti-climactic since I'd been sitting on so many science points awaiting a second run at the "Duna Dominance I" sub-challenge.

Just about cleared out Tier 8 with these missions, but now that the green glowing stuff all around KSC has a use in the NUK-NUK, its time to push towards Jool!

Duna Goo Sample Return Mission ready to head home

45-day Duna Lander heads out uncrewed

Challenge progress details - 51 points so far

Tier 1 - "Ahh, balance.. I get it now" (1)

Tier 2 - "Bird's eye view" (2)

Tier 3 - "Taking it slow" (3)

• Biome Hunter I (1): Score Tier 3 SCIENCE! on at least 3 biomes on your first Tier 3 launch.
  

Tier 4 - "Spudnik" (3)

• Survivor I (1): Unlock all Tier 4 nodes with no kerbal fatalities.. so far.
  
• Biome Hunter II (2): Score Tier 3 science on all Kerbin biomes
  

Tier 5 - "This land is your land, this land is Badland" (4)

• Survivor II (2): Unlock all Tier 5 nodes with no kerbal fatalities.. so far.
  
• Goo hunter I (2): Retrieve Goo canisters from Mun's high and near space.
  

Tier 6 - "One small step.." (6)

• Team Effort I (2): Perform a joint orbital docking in Kerbin orbit (any altitude). This means that two separate launches will put at least two kerbals in space where they will rendezvous and dock for a photo op. Craft must then deorbit separately. All kerbals must survive.
  
• Survivor III (3): Unlock all Tier 6 nodes with no kerbal fatalities.. so far.
  

Tier 7 - "Minmus master" (6)

• Take a Breather I (2): On a single flight, score Atmospheric science on at least 4 biomes.
  
• Biome Hunter IV (4): Score crew report science over all Minmus biomes.
  
• Duna Dominance I - Prime (4): Launch a robotically controlled mission which scores Goo science from Duna's surface.
  
• I'm a Scientist! I (3): Score Science Jr. from Mun and Minmus
  

Highlights to Year 2 Day 138

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is up.

In this episode, I complete Tier 3 Science and the Tier 3 - "Taking it slow" (3) and Biome Hunter I (1) sub-challenges.

After making this video, I realized I did not have Deadly Re-entry installed. I installed it and was able to duplicate all missions and challenges to this point. I will not be making replacement videos.

Thanks for the update.

Edited July 1, 2014 by Death Engineering

[flipmcf]

Thanks for this! I love career mode.

Mods installed.

Going for Purist and No Sliderule. Only these mods installed.

[Death Engineering]

First steps to Duna colonization and a 'roid capture

Both missions in this update were things I'd never attempted before (aerocapturing a 'roid by itself and DOR with spacewalk rendezvous), but amazingly came off without a hitch. The Kerbal who would be first on Duna and would stay on the surface for 45 days, arrived around the red planet first. There was a lucky encounter with Ike for a good science boost and then a clean aerocapture around Duna.

The 45 day lander module arrived later and the tricky part was to not only match the orbit and inclination of the mission already orbiting Duna, but to also put it into a reasonably close orbital encounter with the awaiting crew, as life support supplies are critical on this leg of the mission.

On the first orbit after aerocapture, the lander and the interplanetary craft were only 300m apart. The plan was for a Duna Orbit Rendezvous but without docking, just a close encounter. I was hoping for closer then 300m, but that's all the fuel we had left so it made for a sketchy spacewalk on the dark side of Duna.

The asteroid capture, a class "C", was accomplished with two launches; both with crews of two. The first launch, sent out 10 days before the Kerbin encounter, met the 'roid and pushed it into a Kerbin aerocapture encounter. The crew stayed with the 'roid until nearing Kerbin then detached and landed safely.

After the 'roid was captured into a Kerbin orbit, a second crew was launched to intercept the 'roid and park into a stable orbit. Really only had one shot at launching the second mission to meet the "doomed" 'roid, but managed to catch up with it at around 350km. After a short burn to push the Pe into a safe altitude and several orbits to park it at 200km equatorial orbit, the second crew took the sweet 'roid science home.

Scored on this update:

• Rockhound II (4): Score science for a class C asteroid (or higher).
  
• Team Effort II (2): Earn "Rockhound II" or "Rockhound III" with a crew of at least two kerbals.
  
• First leg of Duna Dominance II - crew still on Duna.
  

Year 2 Day 226 Highlights

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Thanks for this! I love career mode.

Mods installed.

Going for Purist and No Sliderule. Only these mods installed.

I can live without engineering aids, but I'm attached to KAC! Good luck and welcome to the challenge.

Edited July 6, 2014 by Death Engineering
format

[flipmcf]

I'm attached to KAC! Good luck and welcome to the challenge.

Heh. I have a piece of paper with the positions of all the planets drawn, and live off of http://ksp.olex.biz/

Ever noticed that when you plot all the optimal positions of all the planets with Kerban as the start of the journey, and The Sun at the origin, it resembles a golden spiral? Gotta do the math for that one. There's something fundamentally funky and culty with phi.

Update - I've gone as far as I can, and working on the manned moon missions. One tech away from completing Tier

Prototype Solar panels make great sounds when you carry them into re-entry!

So far, 21 points and 25 days (24.475 if I was to enter now)

[John FX]

I will give this a go. Of course it takes months to fully do a BTSM career game (unless KSP is all you do) so I can imagine this thread being bumped up a few times.

I`ll be back (a lot later)...

[flipmcf]

just took a break and loaded up my Kethane modded instance.

Vanilla is incredibly easy after playing BTSM for a few days.

[flipmcf]

Question:

If you loose a kerbal on Tier 5 (no Survivor II), but Don't loose a Kerbal while on Tier 6 (Survivor III) do you qualify for Survivor III?

Or is it once you loose a Kerbal, all Survivor bonuses are invalid from then on?

[Death Engineering]

Question:

If you loose a kerbal on Tier 5 (no Survivor II), but Don't loose a Kerbal while on Tier 6 (Survivor III) do you qualify for Survivor III?

Or is it once you loose a Kerbal, all Survivor bonuses are invalid from then on?

Sadly, once you lose a Kerbal thats the end of the "Survivor" bonuses, as its a progressive reward for keeping Kerbals alive throughout the challenge. Thanks for the question - I'll put up a clarification note on that.

After I lost Jeb on Tier 5 due to a silly mistake (re-entry from Minmus going too fast), I've been trying to keep them alive but was a little shocked when I saw the "Lost" tab had enough Kerbals to display a 'scroll bar'.

(Edit)

Added to challenge post:

The "Survivor" modifier is progressive - once you lose a Kerbal, no further "Survivor" modifier can be scored. Keep them safe!

Edited July 9, 2014 by Death Engineering

[flipmcf]

Ok then.... Off go the kerbals into deep space to do reports. They are so brave to give their lives for science!

As the Kethane mod so rightfully pointed out, they are a renewable resource after all.

[flipmcf]

Tier 6 - "One small step.." (6)

Complete an Apollo-style Mun landing: Three kerbal crew; separate CM and LM; two stage LM. Two kerbals must land on the Mun and all kerbals must survive.

Does this require that both the LM and CM must be launched at the same time, or can you do two launches, one for LM and one for CM?

The Rendevous I'm performing will be done with a test LM and CM in two separate launches, and it would be nice to, if possible, leave the lander in orbit and promote it from "Testing" to "Production"

These kerbs are on a tight timeframe, so any time I can save is worth it!

EDIT:

Nevermind, the lander I did build is only one stage, so it can't be production... but the question is still valid.

[flipmcf]

Ok. Here's my Official "Team Effort"

I accomplished this with a testing lander. Unfortunately, it's a single-stage lander, so it's not going to be used for the mun landing. (that's what testing is about, right?)

The lander was left in orbit, as planned, and Dodbin joined Jeb for reentry in the Command Module.

Also, it just so happened that Jeb saw KSP from orbit, and decided to go in for a KSP landing. It was a bit tricky, ended up with a decent angle somewhere around 70 degrees, but fortunately, it was from low orbit and low speed.

He also nearly crashed the Command Pod with the detached engines. Sweaty moment there.

Sacrificed another eight prototype solar panels to the gods of the upper atmosphere. Hope they're not too expensive because we're going through them like hot cakes.

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Edited July 10, 2014 by flipmcf

[Death Engineering]

Ok then.... Off go the kerbals into deep space to do reports. They are so brave to give their lives for science!

As the Kethane mod so rightfully pointed out, they are a renewable resource after all.

A la "Soylent Green"?

Does this require that both the LM and CM must be launched at the same time, or can you do two launches, one for LM and one for CM?

The Rendevous I'm performing will be done with a test LM and CM in two separate launches, and it would be nice to, if possible, leave the lander in orbit and promote it from "Testing" to "Production"

These kerbs are on a tight timeframe, so any time I can save is worth it!

EDIT:

Nevermind, the lander I did build is only one stage, so it can't be production... but the question is still valid.

The "Apollo Style" modifier can be done as a LOR or EOR mission profile with multiple launches. The only requirements are:

"Three kerbal crew; separate CM and LM; two stage LM. Two kerbals must land on the Mun and all kerbals must survive."

Ok. Here's my Official "Team Effort"

I accomplished this with a testing lander. Unfortunately, it's a single-stage lander, so it's not going to be used for the mun landing. (that's what testing is about, right?)

The lander was left in orbit, as planned, and Dodbin joined Jeb for reentry in the Command Module.

Also, it just so happened that Jeb saw KSP from orbit, and decided to go in for a KSP landing. It was a bit tricky, ended up with an accent angle somewhere around 70 degrees, but fortunately, it was from low orbit and low speed.

He also nearly crashed the Command Pod with the detached engines. Sweaty moment there.

Sacrificed another eight prototype solar panels to the gods of the upper atmosphere. Hope they're not too expensive because we're going through them like hot cakes.

http://imgur.com/a/1X2wN

Very interesting solar panel layout! Nice bit of work there with the "Team Effort" mission.

[flipmcf]

Not that I want to make my life any more difficult than it has become...

I was looking at RemoteTech:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/83305-Development-Resumed-RemoteTech-2

http://remotetechnologiesgroup.github.io/RemoteTech/

Adding this to BTSM would add an additional layer of realism and pain.

Anyone looked at it? Anyone tried it with BTSM?

[flipmcf]

I'm really not sure if it's possible to do the Apollo Style Landing with the mass restrictions. I can do it now that I have the 1000ton, but at 500 ton, I haven't figured it out.

[Death Engineering]

I'm really not sure if it's possible to do the Apollo Style Landing with the mass restrictions. I can do it now that I have the 1000ton, but at 500 ton, I haven't figured it out.

Should be doable.. mine was 583t in the VAB (note the limit at T6 is 600t not 500t). Try doing a two-launch mission with Kerbin orbit rendezvous - one launch for the LM and Munar transfer stage and another launch with the crew/CM.