Search the Community

Once, I forgot the KER chip on a rescue contract ship going out to a pod near the Mun on an early hardmode career. I had no maneuver nodes, so instead of looking for an option to reenable reverts in alt-F12, I spent two hours learning how to calculate a Hohmann transfer by hand. This gave me an idea, and now I present: THE TIER 1 TRACKING STATION CHALLENGE! The premise of this challenge is to try to get as far as possible in KSP using only the Tier 1 tracking station. That means no maneuver nodes, no apoapsis/periapsis markers, and no visual confirmation of planetary encounters! Which leads to this important point: If you're not willing to do a fair amount of math, TURN BACK NOW!! You have been warned. Now, any good challenge needs some rules, so here they are: Start a new save game in career mode* **. You may not upgrade the tracking station at all. It must stay at Tier 1. You may upgrade the other buildings however you like. If you want to hack your save file to give you lots of funds and max out the tech tree, feel free to do so. Gradual career progression is not the point of this challenge. You may not have any informational mods (KER, Mechjeb, VOID, RPM, etc.) installed. The point of the challenge is to accomplish as much as possible with as little information as possible. Please provide some pics/video of your travels, so you can be awarded your bragging rights. Have fun! *Is there a way to get non-fully upgraded buildings in Sandbox? Let me know if there is. **You can use any save where the tracking station is not yet upgraded to Tier 2. Let's see, this challenge could use some awards! Here, in more or less most easy to most difficult order: Give It A Munshot Award: Get an encounter with the Mun. Home Award: Go somewhere, then make it back to Kerbin safely. Neil Kerman Award: Land on the Mun. Far Away Award: Land on Duna or Ike. Mark Kerman Award: Rescue the crew of a failed mission and bring them back to Kerbin safely. Ice Cream Award: Land on Minmus. Pinpoint Award: Dock two spacecraft together in orbit. Space Potato Award: Dock with a near-Kerbin asteroid and redirect it. Middle Of Nowhere Award: Land on Dres. Tight Margins Award: Land on Gilly. Edge of the Universe Award: Land on Eeloo. House Award: Go somewhere, then land at the KSC. I might add more awards if you do different things. Surprise me, you don't have to do just what's up here. Hall of Fame: @Spaceception gets the Give It A Munshot Award, and the Home Award for returning! @MircoMars gets the Give It A Munshot Award, the Neil Kerman Award, the Pinpoint Award, and the Home Award with an Apollo-style Mun mission! @Batmanpuncher gets the Far Away Award with a Duna mission and a tipped lander! I'm excited to see how far you can get with only the Tier 1 Tracking Station! If you do much math (as is pretty much required for more distant destinations), you should post a picture of your work to see your calculations! Also post recommendations and questions, I'm happy to answer! This challenge involves a lot of eyeballing, but you won't know for sure if you got your burns right unless you calculate your orbit!