Handicap Yourself (for historical reasons) and See how far you get

[Halsfury]

The KSP faction which is modelled in game has much in common with the american space program during the cold war (or at least so we tend to think)

Anyway I have also noticed that players skill level has vastly increased making anything possible for the experienced player

So my challenge is quite simple, put yourself in the shoes of the Soviets rival faction which we will can the kermunists in the KSP iteration. The less funny, scarier and intensely ideological rivals of the kerbals of KSC, who also have even more limited rocket technology due to their isolationism.

So without further ado the challenge:

Certain missions have been approved by central planning.

But first I have to list the parts which are not approved for use in any rocket by CPCPBB (That is the Centeral Planning, of Central Planning Bureau...Bureau...Bureau...)

Parts Restrictions [MUST READ]:

-Mk 1-2 Command Pod (2m CM)

-All 2m Engines (Mainsail & Poodle, "Development of large rocket motors is really beyond us" says CPCPBB)

-All JET ENGINES (Not permitted on rocket designs due to flameout potential and cheatyness of air hogging)

-ASAS of any kind (SAS allowed however, "KSC engineers won't let a rocket fly without ASAS but that's because they are ideologically flawed" claims CPCPBB)

-Micro Radial Mount engines ("Since micro radial engines don't fit in the stack they are deemed a) embarrassingly small and aerodynamically flawed" says CPCPBB, "The Larger Version is fine though")

-NO MECHJEB and no mods (The Planning Committee can't figure out how to make anything so sophisticated)

No Fuel Lines ("Because we said so" - CPCPBB)

NOTE: Space Plane Hangar; KEEP OUT! This belongs to the Aircraft Planning Committee (APC), Mikoyan, Sukhoi and Ilyushin Design Bureaus. This means that you are not allowed to make any spaceplanes

End of Rules

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MISSIONS

1) Stayputnik

Send a probe into orbit

Bonus Challenges:

Molniya Orbit - Orient the Probe into a Molniya Orbit

No debris - Use seperatrons to deorbit all spent stages

2) Gagarin

Send a kerbal into orbit and return him in a Mk 1-1m CM

Bonus Challenges for this mission:

Vostok - Make it look like the real thing, be original and don't just go on the spaceport for it

Authentic - Don't allow yourself to know anything about your orbit by not using the map view, get out your pen and paper instead and use a super high tech slide rule (calculator is fine) in order to determine your orbital parameters

Meteor - Enter the atmosphere with a max G force on reentry of 9-10

3) Rendez-vous

Use 2 of the same rocket from mission 2 with the addition of a docking port and RCS if you didn't have it already, remember NO ASAS or MECHJEB

4) 2 Man Capsule

Develop a Launcher using the Landercan for orbital operations

Bonus:

R-7 - Make it look like an R-7 Family Rocket (Soyuz)

5) Muns

Go to one of the two Moons of Kerbin using the mission 4 capsule, make a purpose built 1 man lander

Bonus:

Nothing like Apollo - Use the flowing staging (And don't turn around and dock with the lander like apollo)

Capsule

Lander

Lunar Capture stage (slows the rocket into a lunar orbit and deorbits the lander)

Lunar Injection stage

N1 Block C (final stage bringing the ship to kerbin orbit)

N1 Block B

N1 Block A

Largest Fireworks - Have your mun Rocket fail 4 times in a row

You can also choose to not follow these missions and just follow the parts restrictions, in which case I'd like to see just how far you can go into space without the blacklisted parts, without fuel lines which are instrumental in Asparagus Staging and without delving into the SPH.

I've already begun this challenge but I'm keeping it to myself I want to see what you come up with, It gets pretty funny, I suggest that you always make yourself some kind of launch escape tower

[Jason Patterson]

Depending on your intent, you might want to restrict the use of ion engines as well. As the rules stand, it seems like it would be relatively straightforward to send a probe on a grand tour in a single launch without too terribly much trouble.

[Halsfury]

I didn't want to restrict high ISP engines or make probes more difficult to send, it really isn't fair to say that the Soviets couldn't have made an ion engine, moreover I don't have the historical background to say that they didn't, though I suspect that they would have been unreliable like everything else, so this challenge is somewhat of a what if scenario.

but mainly it's because more advanced players will shrug off the part handicaps easily. My experience of my own challenge is that I have found that it has caused me to make different design choices in order to bend the limited parts list to my will, Having no mainsails to work with for example has forced me towards engine bundles using the radial attachment point to attach several engines to 2m tanks, The lack of the Mk 1-2 Command pod created a radical shift in how I make my escape towers and in my attempt to make my own heat-shield with the rockomax short adapter has altered my service module design and the reduction in crew has had an impact on mission planning as well

Also the lack of ASAS it has actually made it such that there is a very important reason to have a Launch Escape System

I have also discovered a trick where you can use parts clipping in order to embed a stackable parachute in the top of a CM with a docking port, this has been the first time that I have used parts clipping to reduce part count

[Temstar]

Any no ASAS? Soviet guidance technology was pretty good during the early days of the space race. All that money and effort going into figuring out how to accurately place nuclear warheads on American soil showed. They managed to shoot a probe around the Moon before Alan Shepard even left the ground.

The other restrictions I agree with, makes for a pretty good "realistic" rocket challenge. I particularly like the "no 2.5m engine" restriction as the Soviets have always had problems making big combustion chambers and nozzles. In typical Soviet problem solving fashion Glusko just said "why go to the effort of developing big engines when we can just make MOAR of them instead?"

[Jason Patterson]

Are avionics allowed? They're sort of ASAS light.

[Halsfury]

Temstar!

I'm looking forward to your version of the N1!

As for the ASAS It's more of a hardcore mode thing, perhaps it's not as enjoyable as I think it is though feel free to use ASAS or avionics if you like

I personally find that the ASAS is fancy capitalist nonsense these days, My N1 replica has all the engines of the real thing and I steer the first stage by using the SAS torque to bend my rocket slightly and change my direction of travel