The Mission Control Challenge

[acalculus]

I needed a personal challenge to force me to learn more about the game. Wow, did it.

This is a mission control and planning challenge. It doesn't require exotic spaceships.

• Unlock all tech, level 6 and lower in 24 in game hours (Use the clock in the KSP tracking center).
  
• Start with a fresh career mode.
  
• Vehicle weight limit of 100 tons at launch
  
• Stock KSP + information or guidance mods only
  
• Iron-man. No loading, no reverting.
  

If you do it in less than 24 hours, you are a winner.

If you do it in less than 17 hours, you've beaten me. (I accidentally left it in game overnight, wasting seven of these hours, then crashed too many ships at one point, blowing through my safety margin, and forcing another couple hours of in game time to send more ships.)

You should be able to do this less than 8 hours without any fancy tricks, just a good plan and good execution.

---

How did it go for me? I was jumping back and forth between a more than a half dozen spacecraft, each of which would be doomed if I wasn't there at the right time. Often I had to spend some delta-v to speed up or delay a ships next actions so that it did not conflict with when I needed to be driving another ship. It was crazyville.

I learned just how much science there is within spitting distance of KSC - the early game will never be the same again.

And of course, I crashed lots of space craft. Jeb is dead, as is Bill. And Bob, and Sherbert, and Lofrod.

[skykooler]

• Stock KSP + information or guidance mods only
  

Does this allow Kerbal Alarm Clock?

[acalculus]

Kerbal Alarm Clock is definitely allowed!

[MarvinKitFox]

By tech 6, you mean the level than includes the nuke rocket?

Edited March 25, 2014 by MarvinKitFox

[MarvinKitFox]

dunno why, duplicated my post.. I i figure how to, i willd elete this one.

Edited March 25, 2014 by MarvinKitFox
dupe

[DaPatman]

I think I'll try this. I'll be using Kerbal Alarm Clock, Flight Engineer Redux and Enhanced Navball. (I have other mods installed, but I won't use them for this.)

EDIT: All tier 3 tech unlocked at 00:14.

Edited March 26, 2014 by DaPatman

[acalculus]

I'm going by the wiki Technology tree page for the tech level numbers. Level 6 is the 160 science techs, which is the level before Nuke engines. Of course, you can still research nukes if you like, it just doesn't count toward victory.

[acalculus]

DaPatman, nice!

It's amazing how fast you can get the early tech once you know how.

[DaPatman]

I'm going by the wiki Technology tree page for the tech level numbers. Level 6 is the 160 science techs, which is the level before Nuke engines.

In that case, I actually unlocked all tier 3 tech in that first 11 minute mission (I was calling Start tier 0.)

Anyway, I'm now at 01:11, and I've unlocked two tier 4 nodes and one tier 5 node, with two ships on their way to close Munar fly-bys. (One has loads of Goo cannisters, the other one has as many materials bays.) That's as much as I'm doing for now though - I need sleep.

[DaPatman]

02:13, and I've unlocked one more tier 4 node and two more tier 5 nodes, and sent two more ships to the Mun - one to do a close fly-by with a thermometer, the other to actually land. I've also launched a ship that will leave Kerbin's SoI to do some high over Kerbol science sometime around 09:45.

[acalculus]

I'd not thought of quickly dropping into Kerbol's SOI for the nearby science. Nice.

So have you preplanned all your missions? Or are you winging it, in the best tradition of the Kerbals?

[DaPatman]

I wouldn't say preplanned, as such,* but I certainly knew there were things I wanted to do. Some of the missions were winging it, though.

Incidentally, if you're going for science from every biome on Kerbin, build a rover and drive it west/southwest. There's an anomalous patch of tundra there that you can get to quicker in a rover than the poles in a rocket.

*Except the first mission, which was the one I do every time I start a new career mode save. I have that mission planned to the second.