The Caveman Completionist no-Contract Unlock Everything Career

[QF9E]

In this thread I am going to document my career mode game in which I attempt to

1. Finish the Caveman challenge.
2. Perform all tier 1 experiments (i.e., those experiments that can be unlocked in a Caveman game - Crew Report, EVA Report, Goo, Pressure, Temperature, Materials) in all situations in all biomes of selected bodies to gather enough science points to unlock the entire tech tree. I will not actually unlock the entire tech tree, because I will do all this according to Caveman rules - so no upgradess of KSC buildings and hence no unlocking the tech tree beyond tech level 5.
3. Complete the no-contract challenge, also under the Caveman constraint. In other words: I will attempt to gather enough credits, just from automatic contracts, to be able to upgrade the entire KSC to tier 3, without actually doing so.

I will play this career at Normal difficulty in a KSP 1.8.1 game with no mods whatsoever and no DLC, that I specifically prepared a while back for the Caveman challenge.

 

So far I have completed 1, and without going above 9000 meters above Kerbin's sea level. I visited all of Kerbin's biomes, including all mini-biomes (the KSC ones, the Island Airfield and both Baikerbanur mini-biomes) and performed all the tier 1 experiments in all possible situations up to Low-level atmospheric flight (except splashed down on the Southern Ice Shelf, as it turns out you don't need absolutely everything to complete the Caveman challenge).

Full report here: https://imgur.com/a/1hHxkGr

Some highlights:

Proof that I started a Normal Difficulty campaign in an unmodded KSP 1.8.1 install with no DLC

The infamous tech level 1 science roller - which I absolutely detest even though I recognize it can come in quite handy.

My way of getting the Landed on Water science: I drove a barge into the water with a science lander attached. Once in the water I detached the lander, which gained the Landed situation due to being landed on top of a barge. That the barge is Splashed does not matter as far as the game is concerned. Other people on this forum suggest "landing" on the sea floor with a submarine or finding a small piece of ice shelf that is inside the Water biome, but I think the current solution is much more practical.

Visiting remote locations by plane and landing in the water to get the Splashed science. Many thanks to the KSP forumites who scoured Kerbin in its entirety, in search for places where you can land on water in all the different biomes of Kerbin. See this forum thread for a list:

The Caveman challenge completed: all tech up to level 5 unlocked.

 

The next step will be to complete my investigation of Kerbin (visit the aforementioned Southern Ice Shelf, and repeat Goo and Materials in a couple of biomes to get the maximum science from those experiments). After that I plan to visit Kerbin's upper atmosphere and Kerbin orbit (using the Caveman ladder trick to get the EVA reports) to unlock all remaining Kerbin science. If I am still motivated after that I plan to visit Minmus and the Mun next, harvesting all science from those under Caveman rules. And after that, who knows? I might visit Gilly, Duna, and/or Ike. I don't think I will do Jool - judging by the awesome Community Caveman Jool-5  mission on this forum, doing this by myself may be a bit too much. Landing on and returning from Eve under Caveman rules has a certain charm as well...

Edited May 22, 2020 by QF9E

[QF9E]

I have since completed all remaining surface experiments (mainly the Splashed science in the Southern Ice Shelf biome), as well as collected all Flying High science. This has netted me about 115 additional science. In itself this is not very noteworthy, but it implies that completing a Moderate difficulty Caveman challenge should be possible without entering space.

My current science status. I cannot unlock any further nodes in the tech tree under Caveman rules, but I can still gather more science points. This excess of 164 science points would be enough to unlock all tier 1 science in a Moderate difficulty setting.

 

[xendelaar]

holy crap that's  a damn impressive challenge!

[Duke Leto]

Good to see my lunacy is helping others on their "doomed voyage of the obsessivo-compulsivo"...

[QF9E]

Some progress: I have reached LKO and gathered all In Space {Low | High} science from Kerbin. I have also designed a rocket that is capable of reaching the Mun, although that one has not yet been successful: I have reached the Mun's SOI, but was unable to harvest any science as my craft had run out of electricity... Next time don't forget to switch on hibernation on my probe core. Space is hard, especially for Cavemen.

My LKO craft. Piloted by Jeb, with Bob in the second capsule. Before launch, Bob performs an EVA and relocates to a ladder inside the structural tube directly below his capsule. Note the gap: I haven't found a way to keep Bob safe without leaving a gap. The gap itself is made simply by first connecting the structural tube to the capsule and then moving it down.

Bob doing the science dance in LKO.

My current science archive. I have gathered all possible science from Kerbin. Next up: the Mun and Minmus

My Munar rocket. I have substituted Jeb with a probe core, which lightens the craft considerably, for a significant increase in delta-v (and a much harder ascent, as the best probe core available to Cavemen lacks a prograde hold autopilot - I learned that I am not very good at flying rockets manually). I have ascertained that this craft is capable of reaching the Mun's SOI, but I haven't done any science with it yet.

 

Edited May 24, 2020 by QF9E

[QF9E]

I finally finished a rocket capable of taking Bob to low Munar orbit. It hasn't been easy to build a rocket within the 18 ton limit that

• Can take all tier 1 science equipment to the Mun (note that this must include a crew capsule, in order to be able to do crew reports)
• Can do this with Bob not inside a capsule. Bob on the outside generates a lot of drag, even when he would in real life be shielded by stuff above him.
• Avoids vapourizing Bob on the way up. I've found that I have to fly a much more lofted - and hence less efficient - trajectory than I normally would to avoid overheating poor Bob
• Avoids accidental ladder drives. I had a really strange one where, with Bob on a ladder, its PE and AP would continuously vary. I eventually found that this was due to Bob clipping into a Goo canister underneath the ladder. I did not have enough clearance between the ladder and the Goo canister, apparently. I would not dream of cheating by way of ladder drive, but avoiding accidental ones was a new one for me.

And when I had a design that worked, I forgot to include an antenna, which means that without crew onboard it was not controllable at Munar distances. I am not used at all to tier 1 facilities: in my mind the Mun is close enough to Kerbin to not need extra antennas.

That said, here's the design. Note that I no longer use the structural tube to house Bob: I found that a decoupler at a strategic point pervents Bob from flying out of his cubbyhole during launch. This saved a component, and more crucially, made the rocket a bit less tall, so that it (just!) clears the 20 meter limit without needing 2.5 meter parts. I found a single Reliant engine on the 1st stage combined with 2 sparks on the second stage, in pods so that they can fire in conjunction with the Reliant, to be an excellent combination that gives ample thrust at lift-off (TWR = 1.35), is relatively light and has good TWR on the second stage without adding undue mass or drag.

 

Edited May 26, 2020 by QF9E

[QF9E]

I got back from the MUN! And with all science that a Caveman can gather from Munar orbit! Well... I forgot a crew report high above the Mun, but I can do that one during the next Mun mission.

It took a few attempts to get my Mun rocket design from the previous post into orbit. Sending it to the Mun turned out to be easy: start burning prograde once you see the Mun above the horizon in LKO and you will get a retrograde encounter with the Mun. I then had to wait until I entered Munar SOI before I was able to do a course correction to get onto a polar Munar trajectory, and after that I entered low Munar orbit. There I gathered all orbital science; this took a while because I wanted to gather EVA reports for all of the Mun's biomes. It turned out I did not have enough fuel to get back to Kerbin: whatever I tried I could not get the Kerbin periapse below 160 km. I therefore launched a rescue mission, which gently pushed my craft until its periapse was inside Kerbin's atmosphere. I then proceeded to land both craft.

Full report: https://imgur.com/a/1hHxkGr. Some highlights:

Liftoff! My victim passenger has the worst best seat in the house!

Bob riding his rocket inside the Mun's SOI

Munar escape trajectory. I did not have quite enough delta-v to get my periapse inside Kerbin's atmosphere. I even used my craft's decoupler to give an extra push, but it was not enough.

Jeb giving Bob a gentle push to get his periapse inside Kerbin's atmosphere.

My science haul. I completed all "in space" science around the Mun, except the crew report high above the Mun.

Edited May 28, 2020 by QF9E