Angelo Kerman's Gold Rush!

[JadeOfMaar]

There's AURUM in them thar hills!

This challenge (to anyone interested) is an evolution of a mission plan I had in the (I don't recall well) late KSP 1.0.5 days, but abandoned as a resource scarcity (before I knew about making mods or changing the seed of a save) fundamentally wasted my efforts and my many intricate crafts.  Short and sweet: it was a grand Duna colonization plan involving MKS Lite, USI life support, NF Tech mods, old SSPX, and SpaceY Heavy Lifters.

How it works

Deploy SCANsats (or at least the T.E.R.R.A.I.N. Geo Scanner device which is equivalent to the M700 stock orbital scanner but with some added features) and infrastructure at a target planet supporting a crew of at least 4 (life support recommended but not absolutely required). Once the scans are done and the infrastructure is far enough along or finished, send a manned mission to this planet and execute an intensive mining and exploration mission between arrival date and the first return transfer window. The intent is also to potentially have fun making your castle on the planet you're rushing at it.

The mining mechanic is familiar to MKS users but to everyone else it's like this: The precious resource can't be located just by running a scan and dropping a waypoint on it. You must operate a rover or any other capable land vehicle equipped with a Buffalo cabin or any Pathfinder enabled Geology Labs. Every 3km (default setting) you must use the Prospecting tool and test for a resource lode. If you uncover a lode, deploy only WBI's drills and mine it dry.

A resource lode is a finite and dense concentration of a resource like Kethane or the giant kidney stones unknown-type scatter objects that appear on the terrain in MKS. It is pure so its yield is massive and the containers will fill the fastest from it. Be prepared to have to haul way over 9,000 units back to the KSC!

Crew are required to prepare and (most likely) occupy these parts while they need to be used.

Gold!

The mission objective

Treasure Quest using Wild Blue Industries: GoldStrike. With any number of the yellow Gold Digger Portable Mini-Drill or the rover-body Buffalo Drill, mine at least one resource lode dry and bring home the bounty.
Terms of engagement™:

• Wild Blue mods (Buffalo rover and Pathfinder bases) required.
• USI kontainers not allowed. WBI provides many tanks for holding the treasure. (Aurum also only exists in WBI. USI kontainers will not support it.)
  The best storage parts in WBI are the MC-6000 Buckboard, Mule MLM, Chuckwagon IMW.
• No rescue missions. No missed window. No kerbal left behind (I hope). Bring the full bounty or none at all.
• Resource must be one of the 4 GoldStrike resources: Aurum, ExoticMienrals, Karborundum, RareMetals. But Aurum is #1.
• Your report must at least include screenshots of:
  • The location(s) with a GoldStrike waypoint marker and showing how much is in it before mining.
  • The mothership that returns the bounty to Kerbin/Gael/whatever... with the resource panel open, showing GoldStrike tankage.
  • The ascent vehicle, capable of carrying any significant amount of treasure.
• You need not actually reply in this thread. Feel free to use this in your own mission report/kerbal story and let me know you did so.
• Any OP engine mod is allowed if desired, but as Karborundum is a propellant, and can be scooped in space, you're not allowed to pick this for the treasure and have engines from its mod on any ship. (You can mine Karborundum with the WBI drills and without the Karbonite mod(s) installed)
• Any other USI mod is allowed.

The levels

• Easy mode:
  Perform challenge at the nearest low-gee world: Duna; Niven in GPP; the moon(s) of The Atlas™ in Gameslinx's Before Kerbin; and whatever applies in Gameslinx Planet Overhaul.  
• Normal mode:
  Perform challenge at a nearby planet except Niven or Duna. If using life support, this is any planet near enough that DeepFreeze is not required to help the crew and the food to last longer.
• Hard mode:
  If using life support, perform challenge at any distant planet without the use of DeepFreeze. 
  If not, perform challenge at any high-gee world such as Eve or Tylo; Tellumo or Catullus in GPP; or in Gameslinx's planet mods: Fume, Sonus, Tillos, Thalius, Reaper.
• Very Hard mode:
  Mine at least 2 lodes. Perform challenge at Thalia or Icarus in Galileo's Planet Pack, or any lava planet in Gameslinx's planet mods.
  Otherwise, do Hard Mode (just 1 lode and the previous planets) with BARIS installed. Let me see your Equipment boxes.
• Super Mode:
  Impress me.

I'm shamelessly directing hype towards @Angel-125 @Galileo @Gameslinx. Problem? 

Edited February 25, 2018 by JadeOfMaar

[Angelo Kerman]

This looks like fun! Thanks for putting together the challenge.

[Gameslinx]

7 hours ago, JadeOfMaar said:

shamelessly directing hype towards @Angel-125 @Galileo @Gameslinx. Problem

Definitely not from a totally UNbiased point of view!

[cratercracker]

Here is a patch for this challenge!

@JadeOfMaar

/redone

-------------------------------------------------------

100 - 90 - 70
------------------------

Your welcome.

Edited February 26, 2018 by cratercracker

[Galileo]

16 minutes ago, cratercracker said:

Your welcome.

As someone that works in the graphic design field, and teaches it at a collegiate level, this patch would need some alterations, if I am to be frank.

The readability of the typeface chosen, is lacking, especially with the gold color, touching the gold bars, while the negative space remains white, is hard to look at. Also, the gold bars are a bit too intricate for something as simple as a “ribbon”. I would think about a simpler design. 

We know the mission is about gathering resources, but not just gold, so this gives you some wiggle room in your design. You can go a lot of different directions, without being too literal with it. 

Your you’re welcome.  

Edited February 26, 2018 by Galileo

[cratercracker]

17 minutes ago, Galileo said:

As someone that works in the graphic design field, and teaches it at a collegiate level, this patch would need some alterations, if I am to be frank.

The readability of the typeface chosen, is lacking, especially with the gold color, touching the gold bars, while the negative space remains white, is hard to look at. Also, the gold bars are a bit too intricate for something as simple as a “ribbon”. I would think about a simpler design. 

We know the mission is about gathering resources, but not just gold, so this gives you some wiggle room in your design. You can go a lot of different directions, without being too literal with it. 

Your welcome.  

ikr i just couldn't find a proper pic for a golden bar or a crystal.

Plus i am using my mouse not the touchpad, i was used to.

I'm removing it, sorry for torturing your eyes.

[Galileo]

13 minutes ago, cratercracker said:

ikr i just couldn't find a proper pic for a golden bar or a crystal.

Plus i am using my mouse not the touchpad, i was used to.

I'm removing it, sorry for torturing your eyes.

I didn’t mean to discourage you, I just thought I could give you some feedback, and hopefully make you think about a design that represents the challenge a little more. Like I said, it doesn’t need to be so literal, and finding an image of gold or crystal isn’t necessary to convey the idea of the challenge. Something as simple as color scheme, in context, can be effective. You could also look to explore some simple symbols, like maybe a pick axe, or something along those lines. 

I’m looking forward to seeing your reworked patch!

Edited February 26, 2018 by Galileo

[cratercracker]

35 minutes ago, Galileo said:

I didn’t mean to discourage you, I just thought I could give you some feedback, and hopefully make you think about a design that represents the challenge a little more. Like I said, it doesn’t need to be so literal, and finding an image of gold or crystal isn’t necessary to convey the idea of the challenge. Something as simple as color scheme, in context, can be effective. You could also look to explore some simple symbols, like maybe a pick axe, or something along those lines. 

I’m looking forward to seeing your reworked patch!

You did exactly the opposite.