Jool 500 Kolonization Challenge

[RA3236]

19 hours ago, eloquentJane said:

I'll take a look at those mods. I may need to test Tantares out when it gets updated to check how balanced it is.

Tantares...

*looks at mod thread

Haven't seen it before.

[quarrion]

Hey, if I start with career mode, do I need to keep count on all pre-joolian launches? I mean the one to gather up funds to upgrade KSC, unlock techs and so on?

 

Edited April 11, 2016 by quarrion
typo

[Chronin]

22 minutes ago, quarrion said:

Hey, if I start with career mode, do I need to keep count on all pre-joolian launches? I mean the one to gather up funds to upgrade KSC, unlock techs and so on?

 

Since the Pre-Joolian launches have no way of getting you points for this challenge, I don't think the funds for those are counted 

[septemberWaves]

3 hours ago, quarrion said:

Hey, if I start with career mode, do I need to keep count on all pre-joolian launches? I mean the one to gather up funds to upgrade KSC, unlock techs and so on?

 

Chronin is correct, the only funds counted are funds on things sent to Jool as part of the Jool 500 challenge (early science probes to Jool should probably be integrated in as part of the challenge).

[Jetski]

Part 3 is up, I sent up 2 robotic miners, and sent all 10 ships in my probe flotilla on their way to Jool!  First contact made by Bop/Pol ion landers who made a slightly inefficient burn and arrived 22 days ahead of the pack.  Now safely in a holding orbit above their respective target planets, waiting for the commsat network before commencing landing ops.  Science collected from high/low orbit of Jool, Bop, and Pol.

[Jetski]

Part 4 is up, the robotic flotilla has arrived, all orbits made with no casualties.  Commsats and science landers in orbit and ready to deploy, all moons scanned for ore, and miners hard at work on Pol and Bop

[Jetski]

Part 5 is up, hoovered up all the science from Laythe and Vall, hitting all biomes.  1 plane for science on Laythe, and 1 to find a good base location.  Vall NERVA lander got all the biomes on one tank of gas, and now has met back up with the orbiting tanker, ready for future ops.

Like many before me, I was unable to locate the mystery "Crescent Bay" biome, consensus on the forums is that it doesn't exist.  If anyone finds it, I have enough fuel to go anywhere on Laythe and back...

Edited April 12, 2016 by Jetski

[Noob21]

Gonna ask, are Kerbal Planetary Base Systems and Kerbal Historical Institute(literally just old versions of parts) allowed?

[RA3236]

Just now, Noob21 said:

Gonna ask, are Kerbal Planetary Base Systems and Kerbal Historical Institute(literally just old versions of parts) allowed?

Yes, and next time read the mod list.

[Noob21]

Just now, RA3236 said:

Yes, and next time read the mod list.

I read the mod list, must've just evaded my eyes.

[septemberWaves]

1 hour ago, Noob21 said:

Gonna ask, are Kerbal Planetary Base Systems and Kerbal Historical Institute(literally just old versions of parts) allowed?

Kerbal Planetary Base Systems is in the allowed mods list. Kerbal Historical Institute will be added. Also, ctrl+f (the find function) can help you to search for the mods you want to know about.

[quarrion]

Is custom barn kit allowed? Not really impacts joolian adventure but speeds up basebuilding

 

PS: almost grinded my way so I can send satellites to establish a satellite network. Playing on 1.1 prerelease

[septemberWaves]

5 hours ago, quarrion said:

Is custom barn kit allowed? Not really impacts joolian adventure but speeds up basebuilding

 

PS: almost grinded my way so I can send satellites to establish a satellite network. Playing on 1.1 prerelease

I'll look into Custom Barn Kit to make sure it's not cheaty, since I currently know nothing about it. Also, I'm looking forward to seeing your attempt at the challenge. Good luck!

[Jhawk1099]

@eloquentJane My only dislike of this challenge as far as dificulty goes is the remote tech part. I am perfectly fine with having to have comms systems but it is the delay that gets me. If I were to turn the delay off what would that do to my point multiplier thingy?

[septemberWaves]

1 hour ago, Jhawk1099 said:

@eloquentJane My only dislike of this challenge as far as dificulty goes is the remote tech part. I am perfectly fine with having to have comms systems but it is the delay that gets me. If I were to turn the delay off what would that do to my point multiplier thingy?

RemoteTech isn't required except in Hard difficulty. You can't turn off the delay if you're in Hard, but you can in Normal because it's not required for that difficulty level (I was unaware of the ability to disable the delay so I will add this rule in). I recommend installing MechJeb or kOS (about to add to the mods list) once they're updated, so that you can use the autopilot for your maneuver nodes.

[septemberWaves]

I've made some changes to the difficulty levels. The major changes are the removal of the CASUAL option and the removal of the requirement for life support in Easy difficulty. This also enables the use of the stock game for Easy difficulty (whilst attempting this in stock is not exactly recommended, there is now an option for anyone who does not want to use any mods).

Additionally, as was brought to my attention by @Jhawk1099, I have made a rule so that disabling the RemoteTech speed-of-light delay is permitted in Normal difficulty, but not in Hard as I felt that the RemoteTech requirement brings a large amount of the challenge to the highest level of difficulty.

Finally, I have made some changes to the points multipliers. Completing the challenge in career at the Normal difficulty level will now earn you a 1.4x points multiplier, and completing the challenge at the Hard difficulty level will earn you a 1.75x points multiplier. I have made the change to the Normal career playthrough because of the additional difficulties posed by playing in career as opposed to sandbox. The changes to Hard playthroughs are because of that, and also because of the requirements for both RemoteTech (with required time delay) and TAC Life Support as opposed to having the option to use USI Life Support. Both of those mods present an incredibly difficult challenge to deal with, and so completing the challenge at that level gets a far better score.

I have also made some minor changes to the mods lists, and now the only required mods are the Life Support mods (no longer required in Easy) and Kerbal Alarm Clock (which is more of a very strong suggestion than a requirement but I don't foresee anyone wanting to attempt this challenge without it).

[Jetski]

1 hour ago, eloquentJane said:

I've made some changes to the difficulty levels. The major changes are the removal of the CASUAL option and the removal of the requirement for life support in Easy difficulty. This also enables the use of the stock game for Easy difficulty (whilst attempting this in stock is not exactly recommended, there is now an option for anyone who does not want to use any mods).

Additionally, as was brought to my attention by @Jhawk1099, I have made a rule so that disabling the RemoteTech speed-of-light delay is permitted in Normal difficulty, but not in Hard as I felt that the RemoteTech requirement brings a large amount of the challenge to the highest level of difficulty.

Finally, I have made some changes to the points multipliers. Completing the challenge in career at the Normal difficulty level will now earn you a 1.4x points multiplier, and completing the challenge at the Hard difficulty level will earn you a 1.75x points multiplier. I have made the change to the Normal career playthrough because of the additional difficulties posed by playing in career as opposed to sandbox. The changes to Hard playthroughs are because of that, and also because of the requirements for both RemoteTech (with required time delay) and TAC Life Support as opposed to having the option to use USI Life Support. Both of those mods present an incredibly difficult challenge to deal with, and so completing the challenge at that level gets a far better score.

I have also made some minor changes to the mods lists, and now the only required mods are the Life Support mods (no longer required in Easy) and Kerbal Alarm Clock (which is more of a very strong suggestion than a requirement but I don't foresee anyone wanting to attempt this challenge without it).

Dang. Thinking about starting over in Career. Not that hard to collect full tech tree and the 3 million or so funds I've spent so far on ships. I started sandbox because the next level was out of reach (mods and 1.1 not ready yet) and i wanted to get started.   Just hypothetically, if I stop here and run up a career and document that I've collected the Sci and funds needed to execute the missions I've already completed, can I keep them?  Or do I have to refly them...?

 

I won't be installing RemoteTech or keepfit most likely, but I will be running life support mod as soon as that becomes an option. Waiting on manned missions until then. But I'm basically done with the unmanned portion, just working on mining rigs for Tylo Laythe and Vall (already launched waiting for window)

Edited April 14, 2016 by Jetski

[Jhawk1099]

1 hour ago, Jetski said:

Or do I have to refly them...?

I would assume no but I am not @eloquentJane. Which by the way if either of you need help with your challenges and management I would love to lend a hand (the challenge I am speaking of for you @Jetski is of course the space station)

[Jetski]

Chapter 6 is up.  I figured I would send the ships I have already put into LKO and not build anything new until I hear back on whether I'll be able to port this to a Career game and go for Normal mode.  The missions will be quite different from here on out depending on which Mode I'm allowed to score in   In a perfect world, I'll start my new Career on a fresh 1.1 drop (sneaking some hype into this thread!), run my career up until I have 5438838 funds and full science, and port all these ships into the save, and start kicking butt on a Normal mode attempt.  Either way though, it's cool.  Having a lot of fun with this challenge already.

 

[septemberWaves]

@Jetski Because you've already started the challenge before I made these major changes (they're likely to be the last changes of this magnitude that I will make, unless I overhaul the challenge for a future KSP update) you won't have to refly the missions you've already launched (so long as you continue to track the funds you've spent on them) in order to attempt the challenge at Normal difficulty in career. The same goes for anyone else who has already begun the challenge prior to these final major changes to the rules. However, it may benefit you to send some science probes to the Jool system anyway, simply for gathering the necessary science data to start the career save.

[Jetski]

2 hours ago, eloquentJane said:

@Jetski Because you've already started the challenge before I made these major changes (they're likely to be the last changes of this magnitude that I will make, unless I overhaul the challenge for a future KSP update) you won't have to refly the missions you've already launched (so long as you continue to track the funds you've spent on them) in order to attempt the challenge at Normal difficulty in career. The same goes for anyone else who has already begun the challenge prior to these final major changes to the rules. However, it may benefit you to send some science probes to the Jool system anyway, simply for gathering the necessary science data to start the career save.

Great news!  Now I just have to wait (im)patiently for 1.1 to drop...

At least I can fly around with the missions I already have up and running.

Edit: I won't use any of my existing ships to gather science or complete contracts.  Actually, I wont port them into the save until I've researched out the tech tree and made enough cash to have afforded them.  I can complete the tech tree easily in-system and acquire the necessary funds unless 1.1 proves significantly harder than 1.05

 

Edited April 15, 2016 by Jetski

[Jetski]

Part 7 is up, safely landed a mining rig and ground refueling tanker truck on Laythe with parachutes and timely decoupling, and landed a similar rig on Vall with NERVAS and brute force.  Tylo rig is still in orbit and the big orbital fuel depot is a few weeks out from Jool.

[Jetski]

Got my career up and running. Mun and Minmus landed, harvesting biomes. Normal settings, tech tree about half done. 1.1 is much faster on my laptop, but a little buggy.  Accidentally accepted the Explore Duna contract against the rules of this challenge. Rats!  Haven't flown there or anything, guess I'll just cancel and take the hit. 

[quarrion]

Hello, another request for mods:

I think that it may add some flavor for Joolian relay networks

Now to my challenge progress:
 I've finished tech tree on my career, installed Remote Tech and set up relays around Kerbin and some molniya-orbit commsats targeted at Jool system. 2,5 million funds should be enough for 1st part of the challenge I'm about to send another commsats in the Kerbol orbit between Moho and Kerbin - redundancy is my second name

 

[Jhawk1099]

On 4/4/2016 at 0:04 PM, eloquentJane said:

This is why I recommend the use of Kerbal Science Institute, because you can hire kerbals to specification, and without the massive price inflations of stock.

I can't seem to find this mod. All I can find is a fan story. Never mind but this mod is still in 1.0.5 version so I cant completly start until this gets updated

Edited April 20, 2016 by Jhawk1099