The Career Mode !SCIENCE! Challenge - Max that Tech Tree!

[SkyRender]

It was inevitable... Here is the long-awaited tech tree science challenge!

Goal

The goal is simple as can be: max out the tech tree in as few launches as possible!

Rules

Here's what you have to do to qualify:

1. Post shots of each ship you use for this challenge.

2. Post shots of the post-mission science results after each mission, as well as detailing what science you did on them.

3. Show a shot of your completed tech tree.

And here's what you can't do:

1. No mods. This is a stock-only challenge, so everyone should be on even footing going into it.

2. If an exploit is found for farming science at some point (ie. something the devs most certainly did not intend players to use to get science points), it will be considered banned (on the grounds that it will certainly be fixed sooner than later).

3. This really goes without saying, but please don't cheat...

Let's science!

Leaderboards

1. Vector - 2 launches: return-data-focused, interplanetary plus local (3698 first launch)

2. ThreeMartiniLaunch - 3 launches, massive surplus (411 first launch)

3. SkyRender - 3 launches: local-system-only (Kerbin, Mun, and Minmus), sub-30-days (350 first launch)

4. Sirine - 11 launches

5.

Edited November 7, 2013 by SkyRender

[Francesco]

That was fast!

[kahlzun]

I am curious to see what the maximum science/mission that people can accrue is. Still having trouble with the download.

[HoY]

I didnt take screenshots of it, but my first minmus return lander carried 503.1 science home on it. I expect deeper space missions will be able to carry a Lot more if you add enough command pods and science containers.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5rwlfs3reequskx/KSP%202013-10-16%2020-00-35-19.jpg

[DrGonzo]

So, you gather science for each canister on the craft? I'm having a little trouble understanding how it works. Are you transmitting the data back or clicking "keep data"? Is there a good science tutorial out there yet? I know it's a lot of questions but the most I've gotten out of a mission, in which I orbited the mun, I only brought back like 45 science. Thanks, any help would be greatly appreciated.

[pokeman]

Holy cow just got 567 science with a 2 man Mun lander , 650+ with the data I beamed back. Off to Minmus!

[Oznerol256]

As far as i understand it, each experiment can only be done once. After you did it, the data is collected and you have to get rid of it before you can repeat the experiment. So, you can only expose your goo once. If you want to do it another time, you have to get rid of the data first. You can do that by either recovering the craft or by discarding the data or by transmitting them via an antenna.

There is one special case: If you did an experiment on EVA (including samples), your data will be saved in the next command pod you enter. If you exit the pod again, you can repeat the experiment. I once did 8 EVA crew reports and saved them all in the capsule.

[Silverchain]

Urist Starflyer cancels Sample Mystery Goo: On fire.

[Francesco]

There is one special case: If you did an experiment on EVA (including samples), your data will be saved in the next command pod you enter. If you exit the pod again, you can repeat the experiment. I once did 8 EVA crew reports and saved them all in the capsule.

I don't know what you mean by "experiment on EVA", but if you're talking about EVA reports, you can only store inside the capsule one report per "type":

that is, one EVA report above the sea, one above the mountains, one above grasslands etc.

Same thing goes for the Mun (higlands, midlands, craters)

It would be nice if someone else could confirm this.

[Oznerol256]

I don't know what you mean by "experiment on EVA", but if you're talking about EVA reports, you can only store inside the capsule one report per "type":

that is, one EVA report above the sea, one above the mountains, one above grasslands etc.

Yes indeed. You also can only store one sample from each area (highlands, mountains, polar lowlands, water, ...)

Maybe i didn't express myself correctly. By writing "repeating an experiment" i didnt mean doing the same thing again, but using the same tool again. That is, the same glee container, or the same kerbal for EVA report.

Real repeats of an experiment (same area with same result) are not possible to store in a container. The only way to to that is by recovering or transmitting the data. Note that the amount of science you get gradually decreases for every true repetition of an experiment.

[SkyRender]

It does take some serious planning to get this done in a small number of launches, it's true. EVA reports and surface samples are worth more than their weight in gold since you can apparently store an infinite number of them per capsule. It's definitely possible to get the tree maxed in very few launches, so keep trying!

[Oznerol256]

It does take some serious planning to get this done in a small number of launches, it's true. EVA reports, crew reports, and surface samples are worth more than their weight in gold since you can apparently store an infinite number of them per capsule. It's definitely possible to get the tree maxed in very few launches, so keep trying!

Listen to Scott in this Video:

He said that he figured out a way to max the tree in three launches.

[nlancaster]

I just performed a moon orbit mission and return for 128 science points. I love this game.

[Vaka_maka]

Seismic data from a probe to duna returned 400 science

[briansun1]

I might do this one

[SkyRender]

Even local-space science can be valuable. Just look at what a combined Minmus landing plus low Munar flyby mission got me with nothing more than 8 mystery goo containers combined with EVA reports, 2 surface samples, and 2 crew reports:

Of course, the real science gem will be the Jool system, I suspect...

Edited October 17, 2013 by SkyRender

[Wallace]

If you plan your return to land in a different kerbin biome each time then you can bag extra points with an eva and sample when you land. Also, EVAs in LKO takes into account the biome below you at the time, so you can keep hopping out the capsule as you go round your orbit.

[Tilion]

I was very happy to get 721 science for my first Mun landing (close orbit with EVA's over several biomes, landing with several sample pickups)- and Jeb's still sitting there waiting to travel further when I can develop a rover & bag more points all of which were gained via transmission. Wondering what the total tally might be before he gets home!

Jeb's got a wait on his hands now though - that heap of points has taken me towards building an interplanetary surveyor probe - it might not do the grand tour in one go but it'll be decent, once again departing from my actually preferred 'sample return' style and sticking with transmitting repeated readings till I have 90% or so of the full return value.

[stupid_chris]

Rookies. I did a 2900 science points mission with tier 3/4 stuff. Though I didn't document it, heh, I'll have to redo it.

[SkyRender]

So I decided to see if my suspicions about Jool would pan out.

They did. And this was without any EVA reports (stupid blocked hatch...), which would have boosted the score considerably. I also didn't take as many temperature readings as I could have. That's pretty much crew reports, goo reports, and material bay reports on deep space plus high- and low-orbit Jool and Joolian moons. 13 of each on board. That was a crazy mission.

[SkyRender]

So I've been doing some theoretical work now that the science system mechanics have been broken wide open, and have come up with a theoretical three-mission maxed tech tree plan. It mostly works by exploiting the Mun's many biomes (of which there appear to be 14).

The real trick is that you have to basically pull a Scott Manley on mission 1 (ie. do a trip out to Minmus and get a flyby of the Mun on tier 1 parts) to get enough tech for mission 2. After that, it's smooth sailing, however. Mission 2 pretty much is guaranteed to net you the necessary science to get all of the science parts that work on the Mun, plus docking ports, large rocket parts, and a basic probe body.

From there, mission 3 is actually kind of brilliant. It uses a very small lander combined with a larger fuel tank left in polar orbit to make the 14 sorties to the surface required to get all of the science for that Mun area. At 664 science per landing, that's 9,296 science for the entire trip, plus some change for experiments done in orbit. The tech tree needs around 10,500 science to unlock entirely, and at least the difference there is needed to get that particular craft off to the Mun.

So yeah. Not only can you max the tech tree in three flights, it looks like you can also do it in under a month of game time. Crazy, huh?

[Guest links123]

I had done some theoretical work that science system mechanism is open wide open.

[allmhuran]

1472 on tier 0.

Edited October 19, 2013 by allmhuran

[antbin]

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About 735 science from a Tier 1 Mun landing return. Nothing special, but it was fun! I don't see the point of doing Tier 0, since a few launch pad EVA reports and samples will give you more than enough, and decouplers aren't that bad.

[captainmatt]

I just finished a manned mission to Jool with a science return of 4836, not including the transmitted crew reports. I could probably have reached 5-6000 recovered science easily if I had brought along some more gravioli detectors, thermometers, and goo pods, but as it is, I needed to make a spreadsheet checklist to keep track of it all. This was definitely not a low-tier mission--big rockets, a nuclear engine, and some structural parts were definitely necessary, but as it stands, here was what Bill and Jeb accomplished:

Surface sample from Pol/Vall/Bop

Temperature scan from Pol/Vall/Bop surface

Seismic scan from Pol/Vall/Bop surface

Gravity scans from low orbit/high orbit for Pol, Vall, Bop, and Jool

Gravity scans for Pol/Vall surface

Gravity scans for high orbit over Laythe during flyby

EVA/crew reports for low orbit/high orbit/surface for Pol/Vall/Bop

EVA/crew reports for low/high Jool orbit

EVA/crew reports for high Laythe orbit

Mystery Goo pods for Pol/Vall surface

Honestly, I'm just happy that the single-engine robotic fuel tank probe and nuclear lander combo was able to pull all that off

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(tech tree shown is what I had access to prior to the mission)