Woot! Achievement unlocked!
I did that as part of the stock Mission Controller mission, Minmus II, and managed to pull it off on my first try. Minmus I on the other hand saw one failed attempt when I forgot to open the solar panels on the way there and my probe went hurtling off into interstellar space :)
Anarch: I'd like to return for a moment to our earlier discussion about operating on a budget. After playing around with it awhile this way, I must say it adds some much needed design constraints to the equation.
I heard what you were saying about the relative part balance, and to an extent, I agree. The thing is, operating on a budget really motivates custom designing spacecraft for individual missions instead of just using generic rockets, and that's a very good thing IMO. I really feel motivated to only put together just enough rocket to accomplish my mission rather than going way overboard and launching every satellite on the equivalent of a Saturn V just because I know with certainty that it will get the job done. This adds a heck of a lot more diversity to the gameplay IMO.
I think what this basically amounts to is adding an aspect of optimization to rocket design, and this is making it a lot more fun for me. It also adds much more tension to the in-flight portion, as you know that if you mess up somewhere, you're going to be out a very expensive rocket without any income from completing the mission. Completing a mission also provides a nice sense of additional accomplishment in the form of a bit of in-game candy.
Anyways, I'm finding it's becoming somewhat a game of brinkmanship where you don't want to spend money on extra fuel or equipment than you need as that cuts into your profit, but on the other hand, that reduces your margin for error dramatically.
Long and the short of it is that I'd recommend giving it a shot, as I think it really adds something special to the game, even in its limited state.
If anyone is curios, this was the rocket I used which cost me around 23K out of a budget of 96K:
