Munless Night 1.3 Career Challenge

[Jetski]

I have always been a big fan of Career Mode, especially as a way to get some direction and goals in an otherwise open ended game. Lately I've been finding my playthroughs have been very similar - simple Kerbin science followed by maxing the tech tree on Mun and Minmus science before ever going interplanetary.  If you are looking for something a bit different, I present the Munless Night Challenge for 1.3!

Following the invention of the extremely long range Kubble Telescope, Kerbals have decided to reach for other planets!  Unfortunately due to a minor focus issue on the telescope, they have somehow overlooked the nearby moons of Kerbin, and can only locate planets far away.  Your challenge is to run a space program from the beginning without visiting or obtaining science or cash from the Mun or Minmus in any way.  The rules are fairly loose (although I may amend them if any really ridiculous exploits appear) - you must start a new Career in Normal (or harder) mode and complete the tech tree any way you choose without using Kerbin's moons as quickly as possible.

You can try for speed in real time - get some kind of timestamp for when you start playing, and a timestamp when the tree is complete.  Video documentation or some kind of picture is requested for this, but to a certain extent like all challenges we are on the honor system.  A notation will be made for whether you are playing in Normal or Hard mode (Moderate or any custom modes that are easier than Hard will be scored as Normal).

Since not all of us have the time to make a run in one go, you can also try for speed in game time (this is how I'm making my attempt).  Highest score will be the fewest days elapsed on the game clock when your tech tree is complete.  Epic props for anyone who can do this on Hard mode at all, much less in a reasonable length of time

Badge Link:

Informational and visual mods are permitted, as is Mechjeb or similar.  Parts or planet mods that disrupt the balance of the game to make this challenge easier are not.  Kerbal Alarm Clock will help a lot, or the excellent launch window planner here by alexmoon.

This will take a while to complete - post your mission as you go and your name will be added to the leaderboard with current status.

Leaderboard:

Completed:

@Mesklin year 2 day 253 well balanced missions and extensive data mining on Duna.  Shortest in-game time so far!

 @jonny year 35 day 343 for completing this challenge in combination with the Caveman Evolved - surprisingly difficult combination of challenges!

 @zanie420 year 5 day 354 hour 4 and 2 minutes our first winner!  Excellent interplanetary explorer, and great utilization of local KSC sci and MPL

 

Currently in Progress:

@SlimyGufBawl working on Kerbin local science, some good airplane action

@The Space Dino prepping for Duna mission, local Kerbin sci completed

@Jetski Normal Mode Y4d285 landed Moho/Gilly/Ike/Dres, flyby Duna/Eve, en route to Jool and Eeloo, 3/4 tech tree filled

Below is my attempt on Normal mode, still incomplete

 

Edited July 29, 2017 by Jetski

[The Space Dino]

Well this is going to take me forever....

[Jetski]

8 hours ago, The Space Dino said:

Well this is going to take me forever....

It doesn't have to   You'll make it on to the board with any interplanetary science, just post some pics

[The Space Dino]

42 minutes ago, Jetski said:

It doesn't have to   You'll make it on to the board with any interplanetary science, just post some pics

Oh so basically any attempts will be here...well now I guess I have something to do with my career mode hehe

Time to do an insane amount of suborbital flights to everywhere on Kerbin...once I get those 2.5m parts I might as well start going outside Kerbin SOI 

Although note that I have only ever got interplanetary twice and I've never even completed a career... well the leaderboard will be long full before I'm even halfway lol

Guess I'll have to wait for 'Participation'

[armegeddon]

This might be interesting. I haven't tried a stock career game since I started modding the hell out of KSP a month after I bought it back in 0.9# days.  Will have to give it a try after I do a couple more steps of the shuttle challenge.

[Jetski]

1 hour ago, armegeddon said:

This might be interesting. I haven't tried a stock career game since I started modding the hell out of KSP a month after I bought it back in 0.9# days.  Will have to give it a try after I do a couple more steps of the shuttle challenge.

Yes, you clearly need to add more Shuttle badges

In other news added a badge for this challenge here

[armegeddon]

3 hours ago, Jetski said:

Yes, you clearly need to add more Shuttle badges

In other news added a badge for this challenge here

They are starting to fill up a little aren't they. After the station missions I'll just leave the most recent one, plus any others.  I need something to tide me over until the mods I use for my normal career game are updated.

 

[The Space Dino]

Oooh yes me get shiny badge

I've currently only managed to launch an orbital mission or two, going to go farm Kerbin biomes for the 2.5m engines.

Its actually the correct time I saw this thread, I was about to do a Mun flyby

[Jetski]

12 hours ago, The Space Dino said:

Oooh yes me get shiny badge

I've currently only managed to launch an orbital mission or two, going to go farm Kerbin biomes for the 2.5m engines.

Its actually the correct time I saw this thread, I was about to do a Mun flyby

Perfect!  If you go for the node that has fuel lines and 2.5 tanks instead of the bigger engines, you can do at least flybys/orbits of any planet in the game with Terriers and careful fuel flow management.  Enable crossfeed on radial decouplers or use fuel lines, and an asparagus Terrier can get a surprising amount of dV, comparable to LV-N engines available later.  Take a look at the low tech Moho flyby ship I used in my save

Edited June 9, 2017 by Jetski

[SlimyGufBawl]

Hey can I do this on 1.2 since I have my mods on that there's not really any difference in 1.3? And also, is reverting and quicksaves etc. allowed?

[The Space Dino]

I'm actually doing this on 1.0.5, becuase Ike too lazy to update lol, but to make it fair becuase 1.3 has relays, I will not be launching any probes and all the ships will be Kerbaled.

Now that's hard, I've never sent a Kerbal interplanetary before...

10 hours ago, Jetski said:

Perfect!  If you go for the node that has fuel lines and 2.5 tanks instead of the bigger engines, you can do at least flybys/orbits of any planet in the game with Terriers and careful fuel flow management.  Enable crossfeed on radial decouplers or use fuel lines, and an asparagus Terrier can get a surprising amount of dV, comparable to LV-N engines available later.  Take a look at the low tech Moho flyby ship I used in my save

That Moho ship, just by looking at it I know it has craptons of delta v

Oh and actually I have got both the basic 2.5 tanks and the skipper engine, a couple SRBs will be enough to boost it. By the looks of it I have a Duna launch window coming up and I'm planning to send a Kerbal there, and probably use some funky way to get him/her back

[Jetski]

19 hours ago, SlimyGufBawl said:

Hey can I do this on 1.2 since I have my mods on that there's not really any difference in 1.3? And also, is reverting and quicksaves etc. allowed?

No problem, pretty much any version is OK by me.  Only thought would be to provide comms if you have any unmanned missions (relay or decent size antenna setup)

[SlimyGufBawl]

On 6/10/2017 at 9:34 PM, Jetski said:

No problem, pretty much any version is OK by me.  Only thought would be to provide comms if you have any unmanned missions (relay or decent size antenna setup)

Oh and can I use mods like procedural fairings and tweakscale? No, I guess? What about mods that help building like RCSBuildAid and KerbalJointReinforcement? And for instance Trajectories, which would significantly help in aerobraking on other planets.

And is reverting allowed? I was thinking it shouldn't be to make it challenging and fair for everyone especially given that we are doing it with kerbal time taken.

[SlimyGufBawl]

Alrighty then, here's my attempt so far:

https://www.flickr.com/gp/155601946@N05/90Hci6

[nascarlaser1]

are we allowed to land stuff on the mun and such, just so long as I don't bring home science?

[Jetski]

22 hours ago, SlimyGufBawl said:

Oh and can I use mods like procedural fairings and tweakscale? No, I guess? What about mods that help building like RCSBuildAid and KerbalJointReinforcement? And for instance Trajectories, which would significantly help in aerobraking on other planets.

And is reverting allowed? I was thinking it shouldn't be to make it challenging and fair for everyone especially given that we are doing it with kerbal time taken.

Procedural fairings are fine, tweakscale is not, as you can get much better ISP/TWR than stock by adjusting large engines down to smaller sizes.  Trajectories/RCS build aid/KJR also OK.  General mod guidelines are similar to Jool5, basically if its a parts mod that gives you an advantage over stock it's not permitted.

11 minutes ago, nascarlaser1 said:

are we allowed to land stuff on the mun and such, just so long as I don't bring home science?

The point of the challenge is that you can't get funds or science in any way from the Mun or Minmus - this would include the World's First prizes that come from orbiting/landing/flybys/EVAs near the Mun/Minmus, and also any contract awards.  I don't know of a way to visit Kerbin's moons in career mode without getting those awards, so best to stay away from them altogether.

7 hours ago, SlimyGufBawl said:

Alrighty then, here's my attempt so far:

https://www.flickr.com/gp/155601946@N05/90Hci6

So far so good!  Tough luck on that first water landing

 

[The Space Dino]

23 hours ago, SlimyGufBawl said:

Alrighty then, here's my attempt so far:

https://www.flickr.com/gp/155601946@N05/90Hci6

Probably the reason why I don't build planes. Ever.

[zanie420]

Thinking I will give this a go. Why this much effort seems fun to me is immaterial! There was a question of reverting or not, however.... but if that were against the rules, I think it would be in the suggested difficulty setting right? I choose to start with the premade craft files so I can get stuff up into the atmosphere quickly. I do have Hyperedit installed because I seem to run into a issue with deboarding Kerbals from a craft that locks up the keyboard. Can't even press ESC. Have to use ship lander to move the kerbal to another SOI which brings back the keyboard and allows you to quickload. Other than that, I only have MechJeb, KER, KAC, KIS/KAS installed. Haven't taken time to do visual upgrades yet.

@Jetski, from your album I wasn't sure what your strategy was. Did you do Kerbin biome science before sending the ship to Moho? Or did you just do the science at the Space Center? Nice haul from Moho btw

[The Space Dino]

Update: Forget Duna, I have a Moho encounter. I have the adequate parts to get a Kerbal there (probably Jeb) but one big hitch, I know how to do interplanetary transfer, but I have no idea how to get to Moho.

@Jetski you've already done a Moho mission, any tips? 

Btw I can still unlock some extra nodes, about to launch a hop out of Kerbin SOI and back

[zanie420]

@The Space Dino I have heard getting to Moho is far easier with a gravity slow assist from Eve. I have never attempt this myself, however
 

 

[zanie420]

Ok, I gave it a shot today:
 

 

[Jetski]

On 6/13/2017 at 6:06 PM, zanie420 said:

Thinking I will give this a go. Why this much effort seems fun to me is immaterial! There was a question of reverting or not, however.... but if that were against the rules, I think it would be in the suggested difficulty setting right? I choose to start with the premade craft files so I can get stuff up into the atmosphere quickly. I do have Hyperedit installed because I seem to run into a issue with deboarding Kerbals from a craft that locks up the keyboard. Can't even press ESC. Have to use ship lander to move the kerbal to another SOI which brings back the keyboard and allows you to quickload. Other than that, I only have MechJeb, KER, KAC, KIS/KAS installed. Haven't taken time to do visual upgrades yet.

@Jetski, from your album I wasn't sure what your strategy was. Did you do Kerbin biome science before sending the ship to Moho? Or did you just do the science at the Space Center? Nice haul from Moho btw

Imgur keeps mixing up the order of images, hard to figure it out.  Basically, I did the easy Kerbin sci first (KSC, atmosphere, low space), then a quick pop out into solar SOI.  Moho transfer window is pretty early, so I got a ship with as much dV as possible out there to get a Moho flyby.  It's not that hard to get to Moho and back if you aren't trying to stop   My flyby was at something like 5k m/s, and an easy return to Kerbin.

 

On 6/14/2017 at 9:00 AM, The Space Dino said:

Update: Forget Duna, I have a Moho encounter. I have the adequate parts to get a Kerbal there (probably Jeb) but one big hitch, I know how to do interplanetary transfer, but I have no idea how to get to Moho.

@Jetski you've already done a Moho mission, any tips? 

Btw I can still unlock some extra nodes, about to launch a hop out of Kerbin SOI and back

See above   Just use KAC or transfer window planner for timing, or pack some extra fuel.  FLyby is easy, orbit is hard.  But if you can orbit, then landing is easy.

 

 

9 hours ago, zanie420 said:

Ok, I gave it a shot today:
 

 

Nice job!  Looks like you have all the local sci you can get unless you want to grind contracts - ready for interplanetary?

[zanie420]

2 minutes ago, Jetski said:

Nice job!  Looks like you have all the local sci you can get unless you want to grind contracts - ready for interplanetary?

I have to thank you for making me actually want to play again. I am uncertain why I want this under my belt so badly, but I do! I found making the imgur album last night enjoyable as well. I have never shared my adventures really   I guess this may be my first badge. I definitely want the Jool 5 and might even try to accomplish it in this playthrough. Are there any other badges/challenges I should be aware of?

The first thing I did was use the planner to get transfers for KAC. However, during my Kerbol orbit, the KAC data got wiped and I had to redo them. I think my window for Moho is later than it was, but I am getting ready. I found that the tourist contracts, when done together, to be quite lucrative and fairly quick. I am doing as many as I can to get funds to upgrade the KSC while I wait in game for the transfer window. This gave me EVA's, flag planting, and most importantly SURFACE SAMPLES! I also found out that when you upgrade a building, there exist some smaller 'biomes' within each of the upgradeable sections. So there is MOAR science to be had at KSC. Have you seen this?

I am back on it this morning. Currently trying to combine 2 tourist contracts with 3 LKO rescues Should give me enough to upgrade R&D if I can pull it off. I want to see what other nodes in the 4th tier I can unlock with the time I have before the Moho window. Still thinking about ship design. I don't want to outright copy you. I figured the only way I had of surpassing you in this challenge was to do it in less in-game time. So I am getting in as much science at home before I go interplanetary. That's my strategy for now

 

[Jetski]

4 hours ago, zanie420 said:

I have to thank you for making me actually want to play again. I am uncertain why I want this under my belt so badly, but I do! I found making the imgur album last night enjoyable as well. I have never shared my adventures really   I guess this may be my first badge. I definitely want the Jool 5 and might even try to accomplish it in this playthrough. Are there any other badges/challenges I should be aware of?

The first thing I did was use the planner to get transfers for KAC. However, during my Kerbol orbit, the KAC data got wiped and I had to redo them. I think my window for Moho is later than it was, but I am getting ready. I found that the tourist contracts, when done together, to be quite lucrative and fairly quick. I am doing as many as I can to get funds to upgrade the KSC while I wait in game for the transfer window. This gave me EVA's, flag planting, and most importantly SURFACE SAMPLES! I also found out that when you upgrade a building, there exist some smaller 'biomes' within each of the upgradeable sections. So there is MOAR science to be had at KSC. Have you seen this?

I am back on it this morning. Currently trying to combine 2 tourist contracts with 3 LKO rescues Should give me enough to upgrade R&D if I can pull it off. I want to see what other nodes in the 4th tier I can unlock with the time I have before the Moho window. Still thinking about ship design. I don't want to outright copy you. I figured the only way I had of surpassing you in this challenge was to do it in less in-game time. So I am getting in as much science at home before I go interplanetary. That's my strategy for now

 

Looking good!  Yes, each time you upgrade some buildings it unlocks a few extra biomes.  I seldom hit them all, because generally by the time I have the funds for level 3 buildings I'm not particularly needing sci.  This is a great use for them, though!  If you are trying for shortest in-game time, good idea to focus on the inner planets and avoid those years-long transfers.  Also it's worth noting that if you just want to make a monster rocket you can do some very quick "high-energy" transfers by ignoring launch windows and just burning hard.  Again, like Moho, it's much easier when doing this to do a flyby than an orbit/landing/return unless you have a ton of dV to stop at the other end

 

[The Space Dino]

8 hours ago, Jetski said:

See above   Just use KAC or transfer window planner for timing, or pack some extra fuel.  FLyby is easy, orbit is hard.  But if you can orbit, then landing is easy.

Ohh so your flyby only took 5k m/s? Well I certainly freaked myself out, I designed a rocket with TWICE as much delta v haha

But the launch pad doesn't want to launch it anyway

When my craft goes to Moho I'll do tons of tourist contracts for funds in the meantime