Best time (and not number of missions) to completion of tech tree?

[Mihara]

Here's a thought.

I'm well aware that one can exhaust the tree in at most two launches, most of which take years upon years of Kerbin time. However, imagine for a moment that you have a life support system mod (and no other mods installed) -- or maybe a mod that makes your kerbals die from nostalgia if they're away from home for too long, or you're pretending to have a space race, doesn't matter -- that forces you to make your missions last as little Kerbal time as kerbally possible, which leaves out the grand-tour-flyby strategy.

What would be your strategy in traversing the stock technology tree and what would be the missions you would undertake when trying to complete the tech tree in as little Kerbin years as possible, starting from day zero, i.e. assuming all the planetary transfers are upcoming when they are upcoming and not in an undetermined point in time?

[allmhuran]

I'm well aware that one can exhaust the tree in at most two launches

One, actually.

But to do it in the least time, I would gather up some quick science around KSC and then a couple of trips to the mun - maybe one to minmus, but probably not required - with newly unlocked science parts each time is probably sufficient. No need to go interplanetary.

[Mihara]

But to do it in the least time, I would gather up some quick science around KSC and then a couple of trips to the mun - maybe one to minmus, but probably not required - with newly unlocked science parts each time is probably sufficient. No need to go interplanetary.

Actually, I am pretty sure that with stock experiments only, the complete set of Mun and Minmus biomes is insufficient to max out the tech tree, though it does get you through most of it and it does do this in the least Kerbin time. But then you just have to go interplanetary.

[MR4Y]

I would only fix one statement in there. The only thing that dies of nostalgia are players that want broken features to remain, not Kerbals.

[PlonioFludrasco]

Actually, I am pretty sure that with stock experiments only, the complete set of Mun and Minmus biomes is insufficient to max out the tech tree, though it does get you through most of it and it does do this in the least Kerbin time. But then you just have to go interplanetary.

Nope, I did it(almost)!

I completed the tech tree remaining all the time in Kerbin SoI,except for one probe to Duna. But I visited only half of the biomes on Mun and Minmus, so I could get enough science from there to complete the tech tree.

[Aethon]

The entire tech tree can be easily unlocked without leaving Kerbins' SOI. I don't want to one mission it, so I drag it out a bit. (K)erbal (A)larm ©lock is a god send, allowing me to run 10 or more missions at once (I hate time warping large swaths of time away). This play through I think I was ready to go interplanetary at (Earth) day 17 with a complete tech tree and all the parts unlocked (Tho the first Jool window is still 10 days away).

[allmhuran]

The entire tech tree can be easily unlocked without leaving Kerbins' SOI. I don't want to one mission it, so I drag it out a bit.

It can be done within Kerbin's SOI, or it can be done in one mission (have fun trying that), but it certainly cannot be done in one mission within Kerbin's SOI.

[magnemoe]

The entire tech tree can be easily unlocked without leaving Kerbins' SOI. I don't want to one mission it, so I drag it out a bit. (K)erbal (A)larm ©lock is a god send, allowing me to run 10 or more missions at once (I hate time warping large swaths of time away). This play through I think I was ready to go interplanetary at (Earth) day 17 with a complete tech tree and all the parts unlocked (Tho the first Jool window is still 10 days away).

Problem with just 1-3 missions is that they will be clunky, you would need an gigantic and primitive ship.

I tend to do one suborbital, one static on pad, then another suborbital with goo and labs, then an Mun flyby followed by one with multiple Minmus landings, second Minmus landing with all the science parts, followed by two Moon missions, first is an rover too the 6 biomes at the east farside crater location.

You might want to use an second rover for the three biomes at east crater and a jump to the midland crater, these two missions can be done at once probably with one launch too.

Now you can save in-game time going to Mun over Minmus first, this however will increase complexity or number of launches a lot because of the increased dV requirements.

[cantab]

Indeed, I believe it can be done within Kerbin's SOI. So you're then mainly limited by how quickly you can run a Minmus mission. Thus I expect a key aspect of a gameclock speedrun would be to make "express" Minmus trips, with bigger LKO ejection and Minmus capture burns. For instance if you can chuck about 6000 m/s dV from LKO then you can do a Minmus round trip in about 12 hours.

[katateochi]

For me best time is also the one I did in fewest launches. I've just done a stock career run in 38 days (in Kerbin time, 10 days in Earth time ).

First mission landed on Minmus and returned to Minmus orbit, then Jeb did 7 EVA landings in different Biomes. That was followed by a transfer to Mun and a couple of orbits over different biomes before returning home. That brought in 2194 points

Second mission, now armed with all the science gear, took a science lab and a load of fuel to Mun and a small manned lander did trips down to each biome. That brought in ~9700 (was about 1000 points more than needed).

I've just put the first mission vid up, still haven't edited the footage for the second one yet.

[Caelib]

The "trick" is to use the Kerbin and the Mun to unlock the science equipment so you can visit Minmus and get 4,000 science in one manned mission. All of this can be done in less than one Kerbin month. But as other have stated, there's not really enough science in all of the biomes to unlock the entire tree -- so you would have to visit another celestial body eventually.

[SkyRender]

Best time and fewest launches for me was my 2-launch master plan: out to Minmus for EVA science on trip 1, then out to the Mun for the full deal with an ingenious lander/station combo that I cooked up back in 0.21 for science harvesting purposes. The overall time it took was about the usual for a round-trip Minmus event and a round-trip Mun event, with a little change.

[Laie]

Actually, I am pretty sure that with stock experiments only, the complete set of Mun and Minmus biomes is insufficient to max out the tech tree, though it does get you through most of it and it does do this in the least Kerbin time. But then you just have to go interplanetary.

As others have said, Mun & Minnmus provide plenty of science.

I went for Minmus first, one or two single landing, then a nuclear-powered lablander to touch off every biome in one mission. Then another lightweight lander with the two new instruments I unlocked (gravioli and seismic?), again visiting all biomes, this time "storing" the data on a single Kerbal in a command seat. Finally, a big bad lab-rover-lander-hopper sweeping out the entire Mun in a single mission. I still haven't visited another planet, but have 7000 science points and no more techs to unlock.

According to the dates on the flags I left behind, this took about 70 days. For an utter newbie.

If I had to do it in the shortest time possible, I'd follow the same basic pattern, but would start on the mun. Actually, as soon as the tech allows, one should probably hire more kerbals and launch 20+ missions at once.

[Red Iron Crown]

Definitely possible without leaving Kerbin's SOI. There is no upper limit on the amount of science available there if you are patient enough to gather it.

[magnemoe]

The "trick" is to use the Kerbin and the Mun to unlock the science equipment so you can visit Minmus and get 4,000 science in one manned mission. All of this can be done in less than one Kerbin month. But as other have stated, there's not really enough science in all of the biomes to unlock the entire tree -- so you would have to visit another celestial body eventually.

No you don't You don't even have to explore all of Mun biomes to fill it out, benefit of doing Minmus first is that you can make an lander who do material and goo studies of 8 biomes with 1.25 meter parts. This unlock the rest of the science equipment like the gravitation scan who gives lots of science.

This ugly rocket does that, yes it now uses an 2.5 meter booster as 0.235 unlock the parts earlier but it can also be launched with 1.25 meter parts.

First two stages take you up to 80 km, the two drop tanks on top takes you from where and into Minmus deorbit, it also let you collect goo and material lab science from high and low around Minmus. the lander itself will do 4 landings drop one part of the cross the other part has 4 legs and can be used after you used the 799 m/s, you drop that part too then your done and go back to Kerbin.

You can basically just use the same rocket with gravity and seismic science in a follow up trip as you still get 30 science for a follow up of goo and material labs, but drop the science and goo on the drop tanks as you have two samples of space around Minmus already, this let you move around a bit in high orbit doing gravity scans.

[problemecium]

I recently cleared the stock tech tree (with stock parts, mind you!) at day 96 [almost] entirely within Kerbin's SOI. I only left for a few minutes to get some "high over the Sun" reports before turning around and heading straight back. And the amount of leftover science (over 2000) I still have without having gone interplanetary yet has made it clear that it is indeed very possible to clear the tree without having left the SOI at all.