Challenge: Kerbol 7-9 [Updated]

[Clockwork13]

KERBOL 7-9

This challenge is quite like the Jool-5 Challenge, but harder, and slightly different rule changes so it isn't impossible.

The goal is to travel to EVERY PLANET AND MOON.

Of course, that is impossible in a single flight, so I am making a couple rule changes from what Jool-5 uses.

You can send at most, 3 resupply ships. You can only transfer fuel though. Once you are out of mono propellant, you are out, and have to work without it for the rest of the missions. You do not have to land on Jool, however, you are required skim very close to the atmosphere. Maybe even dip into it for a moment. You are required to land and return from Eve. However, there are no real restrictions for this, except don't cheat. Along with 3 resupply ships, you also have access to 2 construction ships, which prevent your ship from pretty much being useless. You can send as much construction and resupply modules as you want, however until you leave Kerbin's, orbit.

Tips, ideas and hints:

-Use one of your construction ships for the Eve ascent.

-Try building a space station in LKO, then use it as your space cruiser.

-Try launching 3 different probes in different directions, all to go to different places. It IS allowed to launch probes to other places, but you can only send up to 3 to keep the challenge in the game.

-If you can land on Kerbin safely, you can get a free resupply there, but this is highly recommended due to how inefficient this would be.

-5 Kerbals on the ship at the most.

SCORING SYSTEM:

Amount of science you earn: = 1 point per science point

Land on Gilly without tipping over = 10 points

Skimming atleast 100 m into Jool's atmosphere = 600 points

For every Kerbal onboard (5 max) = 20 points

For every probe dispatched (3 max) = 10 points

Take off from the lowest point of Eve = 700 points

Landing on every planet and moon = 3000 points

Rules in a nutshell

3 Resupply modules at most

2 construction modules at most

Free resupplies for landing at the KSC again.

5 Kerbals used at most

NO CHEATING (-8000 points if you do, and yes this includes hyperedit.)

No using Jeb due to his resistance to explosions... well you can use him, but that's -100 points.

Land on every planet and moon (besides Jool).. or else you aren't really doing the challenge

It's OK to use mechjeb, but I prefer you not use it.

I want to see how this turns out, so please provide feedback and tips that could balance out scoring, etc.

LEADERBOARDS:

~Coming soon~

Edited June 6, 2014 by Clockwork13
Thanks to Stratzenblitz75 for the suggestions. Also, I enhanced the text to make it more attractive. And I also added 1 rule.

[Himynameisjake]

The goal is to travel to EVERY PLANET AND MOON.

Of course, that is impossible in a single flight, so I am making a couple rule changes from what Jool-5 uses.

Impossible you say? I divided the launch into two ships because my computer couldn't handle it in v0.23 (would drop to <1fps) but ARM parts make my Grand Tour (see signature) easily launchable in one shot. That being said, I'll submit my Grand Tour, to this challenge, with a final score of 9080. Anyone who completes a Grand Tour without autosaving is either desperately over-fueled or full of crap.

[Stratzenblitz75]

I'll second the notation that this challenge is possible without refueling/resupplying. Check out my grand tour for details. Now before I submit my entry, I'd like to give you some suggestions to improve your scoring system.

Here's a rundown of the scores that I believe need changing:

"Amount of science you earn (~5000 max): = 1 point per science point"

Why is 5000 science the cap? I can easily get 5000 science points on a grand tour by only gathering surface samples, EVA reports and crew reports. My suggestion is to remove the cap. Also, increase the amount of science points per point. Perhaps 10-20 science points per point? Because, as it stands, science points earn you the majority of the points in the challenge. Therefore, people who do this challenge in sandbox mode are at a significant disadvantage to those who do it in career mode. Science should be a bonus, not a necessity.

"Under 50 parts on initial ship = 250 points"

Is this considering the launch vehicle? If so, this is impossible. If not, this is also impossible. I don't see any conceivable way to keep the part count of this kind of mission that low whether considering the launch vehicle or not. I was trying to be as efficient as possible in my mission and I ended up using 424 parts with the launch vehicle (372 parts without). My suggestion is to remove this score entirely and replace it something that scores the weight of the ship without the launch vehicle. This way, you still reward the player with the smallest ship while removing the (IMHO) BS part restriction. Perhaps award the player if their ship weighs less than 60-100 tons?(for reference, my ship weighs in at 35.44 tons, which is a little less than a Jumbo 64 fuel tank)

"For every booster used in challenge (200 max) = 1 point"

Can I stick 200 boosters on my launch vehicle and receive a free 200 points? This makes no sense. Either rethink it or remove it.

"Completing without 1 explosion = 400 points"

Does exploding debris invalidate this score? Or do only explosions on your ship count? Either way, this score seems kinda unnecessary as your ship is unlikely to damaged during the mission(if you use quick-saves of course).

"Land on Gilly without tipping over = 50 points"

Oh c'mon, this is easy! Reaction wheels are good enough to prevent anything from tipping over on Gilly. Once again, this score seems unnecessary.

"Complete without autosaving once = 1250 points"

I'm with jake on this one, doing this kind of mission without quick-saving is almost impossible. Even if you get all the aerobrakes, transfers, and landings right in one go, you still have to pray the Kraken doesn't get you and given the length of mission, it almost certainly will. Remove this score entirely.

Now the rules:

"No resupplying monopropellant. Rocket fuel ONLY."

Why? Mono propellant is far less efficient than rocket fuel. If anything, you are putting yourself at a disadvantage by carrying it.

"Able to sent 3 probes in different directions to land on planets for you"

Personally, I don't think this rule is necessary. Landing on every planet in one mission is an impressive achievement, regardless of whether you bring probes or not.

Ok that's all my suggestions for now. I hope they are of some use to you!

[Himynameisjake]

I'll second the notation that this challenge is possible without refueling/resupplying. Check out my grand tour for details. Now before I submit my entry, I'd like to give you some suggestions to improve your scoring system.

Here's a rundown of the scores that I believe need changing:

Why is 5000 science the cap? I can easily get 5000 science points on a grand tour by only gathering surface samples, EVA reports and crew reports. My suggestion is to remove the cap. Also, increase the amount of science points per point. Perhaps 10-20 science points per point? Because, as it stands, science points earn you the majority of the points in the challenge. Therefore, people who do this challenge in sandbox mode are at a significant disadvantage to those who do it in career mode. Science should be a bonus, not a necessity.

Is this considering the launch vehicle? If so, this is impossible. If not, this is also impossible. I don't see any conceivable way to keep the part count of this kind of mission that low whether considering the launch vehicle or not. I was trying to be as efficient as possible in my mission and I ended up using 424 parts with the launch vehicle (372 parts without). My suggestion is to remove this score entirely and replace it something that scores the weight of the ship without the launch vehicle. This way, you still reward the player with the smallest ship while removing the (IMHO) BS part restriction. Perhaps award the player if their ship weighs less than 60-100 tons?(for reference, my ship weighs in at 35.44 tons, which is a little less than a Jumbo 64 fuel tank)

Can I stick 200 boosters on my launch vehicle and receive a free 200 points? This makes no sense. Either rethink it or remove it.

Does exploding debris invalidate this score? Or do only explosions on your ship count? Either way, this score seems kinda unnecessary as your ship is unlikely to damaged during the mission(if you use quick-saves of course).

Oh c'mon, this is easy! Reaction wheels are good enough to prevent anything from tipping over on Gilly. Once again, this score seems unnecessary.

I'm with jake on this one, doing this kind of mission without quick-saving is almost impossible. Even if you get all the aerobrakes, transfers, and landings right in one go, you still have to pray the Kraken doesn't get you and given the length of mission, it almost certainly will. Remove this score entirely.

Now the rules:

Why? Mono propellant is far less efficient than rocket fuel. If anything, you are putting yourself at a disadvantage by carrying it.

Personally, I don't think this rule is necessary. Landing on every planet in one mission is an impressive achievement, regardless of whether you bring probes or not.

Ok that's all my suggestions for now. I hope they are of some use to you!

Man, and I thought I've been tearing up OPs on the challenge forum lately. Well put.

[Sputnik's Revenge]

I already did this a while ago I like to have hard challenges and did it with 1 refueling ship.

[mythic_fci]

Need to ask a question here: What about the landers? Can we have the landers already waiting in orbit around the planets and moons, or do we have to bring them along with the mothership?

[Clockwork13]

I'll second the notation that this challenge is possible without refueling/resupplying. Check out my grand tour for details. Now before I submit my entry, I'd like to give you some suggestions to improve your scoring system.

Here's a rundown of the scores that I believe need changing:

Why is 5000 science the cap? I can easily get 5000 science points on a grand tour by only gathering surface samples, EVA reports and crew reports. My suggestion is to remove the cap. Also, increase the amount of science points per point. Perhaps 10-20 science points per point? Because, as it stands, science points earn you the majority of the points in the challenge. Therefore, people who do this challenge in sandbox mode are at a significant disadvantage to those who do it in career mode. Science should be a bonus, not a necessity.

Is this considering the launch vehicle? If so, this is impossible. If not, this is also impossible. I don't see any conceivable way to keep the part count of this kind of mission that low whether considering the launch vehicle or not. I was trying to be as efficient as possible in my mission and I ended up using 424 parts with the launch vehicle (372 parts without). My suggestion is to remove this score entirely and replace it something that scores the weight of the ship without the launch vehicle. This way, you still reward the player with the smallest ship while removing the (IMHO) BS part restriction. Perhaps award the player if their ship weighs less than 60-100 tons?(for reference, my ship weighs in at 35.44 tons, which is a little less than a Jumbo 64 fuel tank)

Can I stick 200 boosters on my launch vehicle and receive a free 200 points? This makes no sense. Either rethink it or remove it.

Does exploding debris invalidate this score? Or do only explosions on your ship count? Either way, this score seems kinda unnecessary as your ship is unlikely to damaged during the mission(if you use quick-saves of course).

Oh c'mon, this is easy! Reaction wheels are good enough to prevent anything from tipping over on Gilly. Once again, this score seems unnecessary.

I'm with jake on this one, doing this kind of mission without quick-saving is almost impossible. Even if you get all the aerobrakes, transfers, and landings right in one go, you still have to pray the Kraken doesn't get you and given the length of mission, it almost certainly will. Remove this score entirely.

Now the rules:

Why? Mono propellant is far less efficient than rocket fuel. If anything, you are putting yourself at a disadvantage by carrying it.

Personally, I don't think this rule is necessary. Landing on every planet in one mission is an impressive achievement, regardless of whether you bring probes or not.

Ok that's all my suggestions for now. I hope they are of some use to you!

Thanks for taking the time to write the suggestions. I'll add them to the thread as soon as possible.

- - - Updated - - -

Need to ask a question here: What about the landers? Can we have the landers already waiting in orbit around the planets and moons, or do we have to bring them along with the mothership?

Everything you launch except refuelers and construction ships must come from the mothership

[Clockwork13]

Also is anyone willing to make a banner or something like the Jool-5 one but showing all of the planets, and saying Kerbol 7-9?