Stock Space Race Challenge (Starting Nov. 2020) (Now with MODS!)

[NH04]

Would you like to prove your ability to be the best at career mode? Would you like to earn an awesome badge as well? Then join the Stock Space Race Challenge! This challenge begins on November 14th, 2020, so make sure to sign up fast! To sign up, PM me with the following: Your account name, your faction and faction type  (company, country, organization, etc.) name, and any extra info relating to your faction (optional). Each in-game week, an "Operations Summary" will be released by the players, detailing all of the mission progress in that time. The final goal: get as many points as possible. The challenge will end on December 31st, 2020. Please follow a historic-ish flight timeline (probes first to the destination, then Kerbals exploring it, then a permanent base for exploring the location).

Rules:

The following settings will adjusted made to a new career save:

• Kerbin time: On
• Revert Flights: Off
• Kerbal re-spawns: Off
• Re-entry heating: 120%
• Funds rewards: 110%
• Science rewards: 110%
• Funds penalties: 50%
• Science penalties: 50%
• Kerbal G-Force Limits: On
• Part G-Force Limits: On
• Part Temperature Limits: On
• Part Pressure Limits: On
• DO NOT EDIT ANYTHING ELSE

The following rules are for functionality:

• No prior achievements that work for the challenge (before Nov. 14th) will be accepted.
• Pure Stock is defined as no mods except visual mods and DLCs.
  • Must-have mods for extra realism (+10 points): TAC Life Support, Kerbal Construction Time. If you don't have one of these mods, but intend to use mods, YOU WILL NOT BE FEATURED ON THE LEADERBOARD, but under a modded catogory!
• No cheats
• No K-Drives, etc.
• No finding loopholes in rules
• If two factions reach the same destination at the same (in-game)day, then whoever got there quicker (Hrs, mins, sec)

If you break these rules, you will be removed from the leader-board.

Pictures and videos are not needed to show proof, however, it is encouraged.

Missions:

Reach space: +5 pts

Reach orbit: +10 pts

Probe network (Kerbin): +15 pts

Orbit the Mun/Minmus: +15 pts

Land on the Mun/Minmus: +20 pts

Mun/Minmus Return Mission: +25 pts

Escape Kerbin's SOI: +20 pts

Dock/Rendevous: +25 pts

Asteroid Rendevous: +30 pts

Orbit Duna: +45 pts

Land on Duna: +50 pts

Duna Return Mission: +60 pts

Asteroid Redirect: +75 pts

Jool flyby: +65 pts

Jool orbit: +70 pts

Jool 5: +100 pts

Kerbol Grand Tour: 150 pts

Kerbol Grand Tour (+ Kerbol Escape): +175 pts

Kerbol Grand Tour (+Kerbin Return): +200 pts

Largest/Smallest (Weight and Size) Spacecraft: + 10 pts, and +10 additional pts for every player you pass

Largest Space Base/Station (Size): 15 pts, and +10 additional pts for every player you pass

Note: a 25-point bonus will be added if you are the first to do something

Note: If you have accomplished something before in the challenge, no points will be added.

Current Factions:

• New Horizon Aerospace Division [NH Aero] (@NH04 's stock aerospace company)
• APEX Orbital (@Shinikitty 's modded organization)
• Kerbinational Aeronautics and Space Administration [KASA]  (@AeroSky 's stock space program)

Modded Leader-Board:

1. APEX Orbital (Shinikitty)- 65 PTS

Pure Stock Leader-Board:

1. KASA (AeroSky)- 30 PTS
2. NH Aero (NH04)- 5 PTS

 

Edited November 15, 2020 by NH04
Leaderboard update

[T-20000]

Does quick save are allowed

If allowed, i'll accept challenge

[NH04]

Quicksave is allowed. Did you see "Don't edit anything else"?  Quicksave is on by default in most career game modes. Try not to rely on it too much, though. The entire point of this challenge is that it is as realistic as possible.

[TitiKSP]

Can I quicksave on the launchpad?

[NH04]

No, since that is essentially a "Revert To Launch". Revert to launch is not allowed.

[T-20000]

Challenge accepted 

[T-20000]

...

Edited October 21, 2020 by T-20000
Wrong date...

[NH04]

The challenge starts in November... and besides, you need to PM (Private Message) me with your "faction" name, so I can input that. Read through the top section for more info. 

Edited October 21, 2020 by NH04

[T-20000]

Okay, that's kinda embarrassed 

Edited October 21, 2020 by T-20000

[AeroSky]

Hello! I have some questions regarding some of the guidelines:

1. Can we sign up on November 13 itself?

2. Will you give guidelines on how we will format/layout/do the Operations Summary?

3. Will we do the Operations Summary only in the editor? (like where I made this message)

4. When will we create the new career save? Can we make it whenever we want? (we will just leave it alone until the start date)

5. By factions, do you mean NASA, ESA, Roscosmos, etc.? If so, will we just use those names or can we "kerbalize" them if we wanted? Also, what do you mean by extra info (relating to your faction).

6. Finally, can we only choose real life organizations or can we also make our own?

7. Are we allowed to use mods like Kerbal Engineer Redux or not?

I apologize if I have too many questions! I just want to be sure with a few things. Thank you!

P.S. I am very interested in joining!  

[NH04]

Hi there! I have some answers for you.

1. Yes, you can even sign up now, if you are willing.
2. I will make that edit as soon as I can.
3. Yes.
4. You can start NOW, if you leave it alone until the 13th.
5. Sort of. You can make Kerbalized versions of real-life space orgs.
6. You are supposed to make your own.
7. Yes, KER and visual edit mods are allowed, just no part-adding mods (DLCs are fine).

Thank you for your interest in joining! Please Private Message me with the following details:

On 10/20/2020 at 7:04 PM, NH04 said:

Your account name, your faction and faction type  (company, country, organization, etc.) name, and any extra info relating to your faction (optional).

 

[T-20000]

opps...

Edited November 3, 2020 by T-20000
Wrong place

[AeroSky]

Hi again!

Are we allowed to use Restock (not Restock+) or not?

17 hours ago, NH04 said:

Hi there! I have some answers for you.

1. Yes, you can even sign up now, if you are willing.
2. I will make that edit as soon as I can.
3. Yes.
4. You can start NOW, if you leave it alone until the 13th.
5. Sort of. You can make Kerbalized versions of real-life space orgs.
6. You are supposed to make your own.
7. Yes, KER and visual edit mods are allowed, just no part-adding mods (DLCs are fine).

Thank you for your interest in joining! Please Private Message me with the following details:

 

Also, what do you mean by 6. You are supposed to make your own.? Are we allowed to create imaginary space organizations/companies/etc.?

Thank you again!

[NH04]

As Restock adds only new textures, yes you can use it. You cannot use Restock+, as it adds new parts. You are supposed to create your own space orginiztions/companies/etc. 

Thank you for your interest in joining!

[AeroSky]

Thanks once again! I hope to be joining by this weekend!

Also, the Operations Summary will be released every in game week, right?

[NH04]

1 hour ago, AeroSky said:

Also, the Operations Summary will be released every in game week, right?

No, it will be released every week IRL, starting on the 14th of November. Please include a list of everything you accomplished during that time and the IN-GAME time and date that it was accomplished. Again, video/photo proof is not required, but it is highly encouraged.

Thank you for joining!

[AeroSky]

So, it will be every Saturday? If so, that'll be amazing!

Thanks for the clarifications!

[Shinikitty]

So additional questions from those that have already been asked. I know the intention is stock only for parts but can I join the challenge with mods that add parts but make it harder? I currently have a playthrough that includes TAC life support, Remote Tech, and kOS. These all add parts but also add layers of difficulty with the need to carry additional weight for supplies or time delay on remote ships etc. kOS is mostly for my remote probes so I can setup burns outside comm network or when the delay would be to high to make any useful control of my ships. I would like to compete with the spirit of the challenge but don't really want to setup an easier playthrough.

[NH04]

@Shinikitty, you can use them, but you will not be featured on the leaderboard. Or, if you want to be featured, just use the TACLS mod and install a mod that adds construction time. You will gain points that way for "extra realism".

@AeroSky, the mission reports will be released every Saturday. Playthrough happens Sunday-Friday.

[Shinikitty]

One additional follow up then about scoring. Is it an actual race? For example get to space is worth 5 points. Is that only for the person that reaches space with the lowest kerbin time? If that is the case I feel like the additional realism requirement of construction time is a significant disadvantage overall. It can add days on the front end of some missions. With some proper management and some good generic rockets for lift vehicles you can reduce the time. Overall though it would preclude me from any early achievements such as reaching space that can be done within an hour without build times.

I have done construction time in the past but found it made me just have to wait on the ground more. The Life support mod is more of a time constraint that kills more rescue missions than construction time. 

Ill send you my info for the challenge, but probably end up just chilling in a modded category. Not sure I want to do construction time again. 

[NH04]

1 hour ago, Shinikitty said:

Is it an actual race?

Yes. 

1 hour ago, Shinikitty said:

Is that only for the person that reaches space with the lowest kerbin time?

No, but the person who reaches it first with the lowest time does get a +25 point bonus.

1 hour ago, Shinikitty said:

Ill send you my info for the challenge, but probably end up just chilling in a modded category. Not sure I want to do construction time again. 

That's fine. You can still request the badge. Enjoy the challenge.

[AeroSky]

I have a slight problem. I can only play KSP on the weekends (Saturday-Sunday). Can I still do my playthrough on Saturday?

As an extra note, my timezone is Philippine Standard Time (should be the same as SGT), meaning it will be Saturday for me when it's Friday for (most) of the world.

Also, I will not be using TAC Life Support or KCT. (I only started KSP a few months ago, so I'm not that experienced.)

I'll be sending my info very soon.  

Edited November 7, 2020 by AeroSky

[NH04]

Ok! Welcome to the challenge!

[AeroSky]

Hello again!

I just need to clarify a few things again.

1. I can still do my playthrough on Saturday, right? (I can only play KSP on Saturday and Sunday)

2. I made a new KSP save with Restock (NOT THE SAVE FOR THIS CHALLENGE) and found the first probe core is in Basic Science, which means our first few launches will be manned. Do you have anything to comment on the fact that we might possibly reach space with Kerbals before probes because the Stayputnik is I think 3 nodes away?

3. Will we release our first Operations Summary on November 14 or the next Saturday (November 21)?

P.S. Restock did not affect the tech tree whatsoever and did not move the Stayputnik.

Thanks again for the clarifications

Edited November 8, 2020 by AeroSky

[NH04]

1. Yes, however, I would recommend having a ops summary template ready so that it isn't so rushed on Sunday. 
2. No comment. This is fine, however, I would recommend saving orbital launches for probes, as revert flight and Kerbal respawns are off, and a no-turn orbital flight is normally cheaper than a return to Kerbin orbital flight (that is, if the same launcher is used). 
3. The first summary will be released on the 14th.