New Career with Self-Imposed Challenges

[Chequers]

Well, my break from KSP lasted about a month. I just can't quit these Kerbals.

Now I've finished my first career (and by that, I mean I unlocked the tech tree and upgraded all buildings), I'd like to start a new one, with a few self-imposed challenges to freshen the experience.

I already don't use quick-saves or reverts, so I'll continue to do that. But beyond setting the difficulty to reduce resources, is there anything a little more creative that I could consider?

I don't use mods, so this'll have to be stock.

A few thoughts:

• Not allowed to leave any debris in space. If that happens 'by accident', then a mission must be launched to retrieve it.
• Any landing site must be 'scoped out' by a probe first. 
• Data from all biomes of a celestial body must be collected, before moving onto the next body. (Might be a bit tedious...)

Any other ideas?

Edited December 15, 2020 by Chequers

[The Aziz]

15 minutes ago, Chequers said:

Data from all biomes of a celestial body must be collected, before moving onto the next body. (Might be a bit tedious...)

That will be tedious, and unless you reduce science rewards significantly, you'll complete the tech tree before landing on Duna.

 

For other ideas, I suppose you could try launching your interplanetary ships the day you go for a transfer, no waiting in orbit for days before transfer window comes.

And maybe don't use the main KSC as launch site? Launching and expanding your orbital station from Woomerang is much more interesting.

[theJesuit]

Flag and footprints on all celestial bodies except the sun and Jool.

Complete a Jool 5 as part of the playthrough.

Along with this,  don't upgrade the VAB, SPH, launchpad or runway past level 2.

That means a hard limit of 255 parts and 140 tons per launch vehicle.  No overbuilt monstrosities.

[N_Danger]

1 hour ago, theJesuit said:

Flag and footprints on all celestial bodies except the sun and Jool.

This is a fun one to do.

[bayesian_acolyte]

Here are some I've had fun with, although they aren't great fits with your no-revert style:

• You can't accept any contracts or set admin strategies. The only way to get funds is world first bonuses.
• Double gravity for all bodies (be warned this messes with orbital mechanics, also more of a setting than self-imposed).
• Limit the total number of launches allowed. If you want an extreme challenge, it's possible to complete either of the above careers in just 3 launches.
• Start your career on a more difficult body like Eve, or do RSS with stock parts (requires mods, but you can leave everything else unchanged).

[Superfluous J]

I just started a new career where all ground and water science on Kerbin is worth 1/1000th normal, which is the lowest I can make it, it seems. This not only forces you to launch something every time you want science, it also eliminates one huge early-game crutch: KSC science biomes.

If you want to go that way install Celestial Body Science Editor from this thread:

And then you have to edit - in your persistence file - the values down to 0.001. The in-game gui won't do it. It's a bit squirrely but worth it because hoo boy does it make early career tougher, especially on Hard mode.

Edited December 16, 2020 by Superfluous J

[Corona688]

16 hours ago, bayesian_acolyte said:

Here are some I've had fun with, although they aren't great fits with your no-revert style:

• You can't accept any contracts or set admin strategies. The only way to get funds is world first bonuses.

Can't say I've ever seen a worlds-first bonus which pays more than it took to get there, except for little grindy things like ocean depths.

Which is why there's an admin strategy specifically for making the challenge you suggest playable.

Edited December 16, 2020 by Corona688

[Chequers]

Great ideas everyone. Thanks!

I like the idea of having to really think about my designs to maximise efficiency. I think i'll take the idea onboard of not upgrading the VAB at all, to force a small number of parts. I'll see if that gets too frustrating too quickly.

In line with the 'plant a flag on all the bodies', that's a good idea. But I think I'll also add that I'm only allowed to collect science from one biome per body. In my recent career, I only visited Mun, Minmus, Duna, Ike and landed a probe on Eve (with a flyby of Gilly). Most of my science actually came from about 20-30 landings to Mun and Minmus, so this'll force me to explore further afield! Challenge!

[Superfluous J]

On 12/16/2020 at 2:55 PM, Corona688 said:

Can't say I've ever seen a worlds-first bonus which pays more than it took to get there, except for little grindy things like ocean depths.

Which is why there's an admin strategy specifically for making the challenge you suggest playable.

Not only is it doable, but many have done it. I myself did it with the help of strategies but others dared otherwise.

 

On 12/16/2020 at 4:55 PM, Chequers said:

In line with the 'plant a flag on all the bodies', that's a good idea. But I think I'll also add that I'm only allowed to collect science from one biome per body. In my recent career, I only visited Mun, Minmus, Duna, Ike and landed a probe on Eve (with a flyby of Gilly). Most of my science actually came from about 20-30 landings to Mun and Minmus, so this'll force me to explore further afield! Challenge!

Not to pimp all of my challenges, but you got very close to describing Kerpollo, my Science Mode challenge.

 

Edited December 18, 2020 by Superfluous J