Campaigns

Official campaigns

Career mode has been overhauled with contracts, reputation, and funding as of update 0.24 (First Contract). See the Career mode page for more. However, Career Mode is still WIP. There are community-developed campaigns below if you want to be challenged with the current sandbox.

Community-developed campaigns

NOTE: These campaigns have some continuity issues, along with large difficulty fluctuations. Changes to fix these would be greatly appreciated. Until Career Mode will be developed, the KSP community offers the following logical campaign mission progression manifest to players looking to follow a near historical and future age list of mission goals and milestones that can be done in the current sandbox. These campaign ideas are listed here to help you plan your own space program. Feel free to add your own ideas to the list, or add additional missions to existing campaigns.

Intro

From solid rocket launches, to commercial spaceflight, to nuclear exploration beyond the Kerbol system, this campaign is for you! This campaign is a large series of missions designed to present a logical sequence of space development, at a pace matching historical spaceflight, modern missions, and future planned spaceflight. These campaigns are designed to be played in the order presented, up until the Kerbollo 13 campaign. After completing the Kerbollo 13 campaign, you are welcome to run neighboring campaigns simultaneously, and of course, add your own missions and goals that fit the theme of the campaigns you are running. Note that each successive campaign assumes you've acquired the necessary skills to complete the previous missions.

Rules

1. Spaceflight is expensive, and technology progressive. Challenge yourself to build the simplest and cheapest launch systems and spacecraft to accomplish the mission.
2. SAS modules don't exist until the middle of the Kerbinai Program, so don't use them until then (yes hotshot, you will need to fly using your onboard command module SAS only). Advanced SAS modules don't exist until the Kerbollo Program during the Mun Race.
3. If an advanced part exists, don't use it if an alternative exists and you can still accomplish your mission.
4. You are welcome to end any flight except where Kerbals are involved (unless it was called a test flight prior to launch), at which point you will get to launch rescue missions later.

To MechJeb or not to MechJeb, that is the question. A middle route is to challenge yourself to learning to fly simpler ships manually, learn launch profiles and orbital mechanics manually, and then using MechJeb later to perform the tedious launch routines of other missions, seeking to have it do what you've already mastered.

Difficulty Scale

The difficulties for the campaigns are represented on a one to ten scale as follows:

• 1/10 (Very Easy)- Can be done as soon as you buy the game.
• 2/10 (Easy)- Can be done once you are comfortable with the controls.
• 3/10 (Easy-Intermediate)- Can be done with some basic knowledge of game mechanics.
• 4/10 (Intermediate)- Can be done with a mild understanding of game mechanics.
• 5/10 (Intermediate-Hard)- Can be done with an advanced understanding of game mechanics.
• 6/10 (Advanced)- Requires hard-to-learn specialized skills (ie, docking).
• 7/10 (Very Advanced)- Requires several hard-to-learn specialized skills.
• 8/10 (Expert)- Requires quite a bit of game experience.
• 9/10 (Elite)- Requires a ton of game experience.
• 10/10 (Scott Manley)- Self explanatory.

Tips

• Test your staging by launching test flights (run through everything prior to reaching orbit).
• Use action groups to manage more complex launch systems and spacecraft.
• Don't forget the parachute.

Campaigns

1. Age of Rocketry - Solid fuel rockets, Liquid fuel rockets and ballistic missiles
2. Space Race - First satellite, first man in space, first manned orbit
3. Age of Satellites - Orbital mechanics 101: ComSat, KerbSat, GeoSat, SpySat
4. The Kerbinai Program - First spacewalk, rendezvous and docking
5. Probes and Rovers - Mun impact probe, orbiter, and rover
6. The Mun Race - First manned Mun orbit and return, first landing and return
7. Kerbollo 13 - Rescue missions!!
8. Kerbol System Exploration - Probes to Minmus, Duna, and Eve, and a Grand Tour program to visit Dres, Jool, and Eeloo
9. Kerbals in Space - Build Kylab and KIR, prepare them for deorbit when KSS is later built
10. The Shuttle Program - Build the first reusable space ship to land on a runway
11. Satellite Network - Comsats between Kerbin, Mun and Minmus, upgrading the orginal infrastructure from Age of Satellites
12. Kerbal Space Station - Build the KSS to house 10 Kerbals
13. Joolileo - Send a large probe to explore Jool and its moons, with a smaller probe for descent
14. Space Telescopes - Kubble Space Telescope, Mun remote observatory, and L4 Planet Finder
15. Budget Cuts - Temporarily terminate all Extra-Kerbin missions, set up an improved Deep Space Network
16. Civilian Spaceflight - Build a KerbX Space Center on an island, design and fly a runway-launched suborbital spaceplane, and test a boat-launched rocket system
17. Sample Return Missions - Land and return robotic landers from a local passing asteroid, Eve, Vall, and Eeloo
18. Danger in the Neighborhood - Deflect a rogue asteroid that is threatening Kerbin
19. Age of Expansion - Satellite relay network, Mun station, Mun base
20. Duna or Bust - Duna satellites, first manned Duna landing
21. The Spacers - Manned planetary explorations, Joolian station, Eeloo telescope
22. The Daring Few - The first extrasolar ship to return home
23. The Colony - Build space colonies of 100 Kerbals
24. Where No Kerbal Has Gone Before - Build a space ark of 150 Kerbals leaving for the stars
25. Challenges - The best of player challenges submitted on the KSP forums

Feel free to celebrate your accomplishment with player-developed ribbon awards when you reach certain milestones.