On how many celestial bodies can you land? .... with some restrictions

[DennisB]

I thought about several challenges in the past few months, but I don't have enough time to work on all of them. I decided to post the first one though, because I don't want to wait, until most of you switch to KSP2.

The challenge is, to land on as many different celestial bodies, as you can, and plant a flag.

BUT....

There is only a single launch allowed from the KSC, and at the end you have to return to Kerbin and land.

No ISRU allowed!

No docking or reusing of discarded parts allowed!!!

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This means, you have to land your whole ship (or the remaining part of it) on each celestial body, no landing with the personal jet pack from orbit. EVA construction is allowed to reconfigure your ship (you can even use docking ports for this purpose), but you can use only the actual parts of your ship. Once you left a part behind (over 1km distance), that part can't be used for the rest of the mission.  There must be at least one kerbal onboard, which should be able to plant a flag at each landing and climb back into the vessel. The kerbal has to survive the final landing on Kerbin together with the command pod (or chair or whatever), no landing with the personal parachute.

I think, this could be an interesting challenge, with a wide range of different approaches and strategies.

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The ranking

The major score is the number of the visited celestial bodies. Because each celestial body counts only once, and no ISRU is allowed, it doesn't make sense to land anywhere more than once, except Kerbin. The mission starts and ends on Kerbin, but it counts only for the scoring, if you land there during the mission, between landing on two other celestial bodies. To get onto the leaderboard, you have to achieve at least 3 points. I think, the simplest tour would be Mun-Minmus-Gilly or Mun-Minmus-Ike, but if you want more points.... I'm curious, which combinations will be favored.

If the major score is the same, the order depends on the highest ranked body visited, if it's the same, then the second highest, and so on. The ranking of the celestial bodies are:

Eve--Kerbin--Tylo--Laythe--Duna--Moho--Vall--Eeloo--Mun--Dres--Ike--Bop--Minmus--Pol--Gilly

If there's still a draw, that contender gets an advantage, who managed to land at the KSC at the end. There's no precision landing necessary. If your vessel (or a part of it) is still capable to transport your kerbal to the KSC, that counts too, but it doesn't count, if the kerbal just swim or walk by itself to the KSC.

If there's still a draw, the final ranking will be decided on the lower launch mass (without launch clamps).

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Stock and DLC parts and of course visual mods are allowed. I tend to allow informational mods, but not part and flight assistant mods.

Because I don't use any mods, I can't make decisions, which one should be allowed and which not. I don't want to ban mods generally, because I want to encourage people to participate. I hope, the community can decide the question, about the mods.

Edited February 5 by DennisB