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The Tier 1 Tracking Station Challenge!

cubinator
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cubinator

cubinator

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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:

  1. Start a new save game in career mode* **.
  2. You may not upgrade the tracking station at all. It must stay at Tier 1.
  3. You may upgrade the other buildings however you like.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. Please provide some pics/video of your travels, so you can be awarded your bragging rights.
  7. 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!

Edited by cubinator
Added Batmanpuncher's mission, added more award options
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  • 2 weeks later...
cubinator

cubinator

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5 minutes ago, Spaceception said:

@cubinator

I think I've been to the Mun enough times to not have to do math, can I still give it a shot?

Sure, go right ahead! The Mun is probably the easiest to do. If you want a bigger challenge, try getting to Duna or Jool! Or do as I did, and rendezvous two vessels in a high orbit! This challenge involves a lot of eyeballing, but you can only be sure you've got it right if you do the math.

1 minute ago, FCISuperGuy said:

Can we 'eyeball' our attempts as well? You can get to orbit and to the Mun with eyeballing; Minmus and Duna might be possible, especially the latter due to the lack of need for major inclination changes.

Yes, eyeballing is fine. You might need some math if you are going to someplace in an eccentric orbit, though.

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Spaceception

Spaceception

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So uh.... I didn't realize "Tier 1" is only the Mk1 pod, flea, basic fin, and some science, this is gonna take awhile, I thought it was the parts you unlock after you've done a couple flights.

As you can clearly see, this was my first time in career mode.

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cubinator

cubinator

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25 minutes ago, Spaceception said:

So uh.... I didn't realize "Tier 1" is only the Mk1 pod, flea, basic fin, and some science, this is gonna take awhile, I thought it was the parts you unlock after you've done a couple flights.

As you can clearly see, this was my first time in career mode.

No, you can use whatever parts you want. The only constraint is that the tracking station not be upgraded.

If you have a particular mission you want to do, but don't have enough funds/science to do it, I'm fine with you editing the .sfs file so that you can do your mission. That's not what this challenge is about. I'll edit the rules to reflect that.

Edited by cubinator
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Spaceception

Spaceception

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2 minutes ago, cubinator said:

No, you can use whatever parts you want. The only constraint is that the tracking station not be upgraded.

If you have a particular mission you want to do, but don't have enough funds/science to do it, I'm fine with you editing the .sfs file so that you can do your mission. That's not what this challenge is about. I'll edit the rules to reflect that.

Oh :D Then I just need to get batteries, and I'll be good.

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cubinator

cubinator

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7 minutes ago, MircoMars said:

Any news on sandbox with tier 1 buildings?

I checked the persistent.sfs file for one of my sandbox games, and didn't find the tier setting for the buildings. Based on that, I don't think it's possible to change that in sandbox. The best option would be a hacked career game; upgrade all the buildings except the tracking station, hold the [9] button down awhile in the funds and science values, load it up, and go somewhere.

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Spaceception

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Just now, cubinator said:

@Spaceception great! I gather you didn't use the map view at all?

I used it 4 times, to make sure I was in orbit, to make sure my apoapsis was just above the Mun's orbit, when I was next to the Mun to see how far I was, and to make sure my periapsis was in the atmosphere.

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cubinator

cubinator

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1 minute ago, Spaceception said:

I used it 4 times, to make sure I was in orbit, to make sure my apoapsis was just above the Mun's orbit, when I was next to the Mun to see how far I was, and to make sure my periapsis was in the atmosphere.

Cool! I'll give you the Give It A Munshot Award, but pictures of important trajectories would be appreciated next time.

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