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Earn energy points.
The number of energy points you must accumulate to earn badges range from 10,000 to 10,000,000. 5 badges of this kind are named after influential people.
You must earn 5,000 points to start discussions. That requirement brings you close to earning the first badge in this category: Ten to the Fourth (Meteorite badge, 10,000). After that, you must push your effort and earn way more energy points to get to Benjamin Franklin (Meteorite badge, 50,000). Once you have secured the Ten to the Fifth badge (Moon badge, 100,000), you are out of the starter zone, and the next badges are more distant.
Getting to Frederick Douglass (Moon badge, 250,000) is the next achievement, and then the next three badges are spaced out by that number of points. Focusing on earning 250,000 more energy points each time, and you will get to Five Times Ten to the Fifth (Earth badge, retired, 500,000), Helen Keller (Earth badge, retired, 750,000), and eventually Millionaire (Sun badge, retired, 1,000,000). After that, things will start being counted in millions.
Once you've gone into the Sun category, double the amount of energy points to earn Ramanujan (Sun badge, retired, 2,000,000). And then comes the biggest part: you must cross an 8,000,000-point-wide gap. Crossing the gap will move you from epic to legendary. You will have earned Tesla (Black Hole badge, 10,000,000), and then it will be over for badges. After that, the next milestones I would recommend aiming for are 20,000,000, then 50,000,000, then 100,000,000, then 500,000,000, and eventually 1,000,000,000. The 8,000,000-point-wide gap between Ramanujan and Tesla might seem impossible to cross, but 145 users have made it through.
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Achieve proficiency/mastery in a number of skills.
This is the harder option to do. Many of the mastery badges here are accompanied by level badges. 7 of the badges of this kind are named after influential people, and 3 are named after Greek gods, goddesses, and titans.
First, you must earn Just Getting Started (Meteorite badge, 3). This is easier said and done. Then, master a few more skills and you're Making Progress (Meteorite badge, 7). After that, you will have accompanied the first level badge, Droplet (Meteorite badge, 10). Once you've secured Productive (Moon badge, 15), you are out of the starter zone.
Hard at Work (Moon badge, 25) is followed by Ripple (Moon badge, 45) and Work Horse (Earth badge, 50). Then, you jump into the hundreds. Magellan (Sun badge, 100), Wave (Moon badge, 105), Sally Ride (Sun badge, 150), and Copernicus (Sun badge, 200) are the first to go. Kepler (Sun badge, 300) and Torrent (Moon badge, 300) both require the same number of skills. Then come Hypatia (Sun badge, 350) and Newton (Sun badge, 400).
Once you've managed to earn Da Vinci (Sun badge, retired, 500), you are ready for the biggest challenge yet: crossing a 4,500-skill-gap between the Sun badges and the Black Hole badges. This gap is much harder to cross than the 8,000,000-point-wide gap between Ramanujan and Tesla, and most users get lost in this gap and go inactive. This means that you are much less likely to make it to the Black Hole category along this route than the energy point route. Fortunately, there are a few stops on this gap: Cascade (Earth badge, 1,225) and Tempest (Sun badge, 2,775).
There is an enormous checkpoint after this: Maelstrom (Black Hole badge, 4,950). This badge signals that you've almost made it past the 4,500-skill-gap between Da Vinci and the Black Hole category. Once you've completely crossed the gap, you've made it and earned Atlas (Black Hole badge, 5,000). But the job doesn't stop there. Get more skills mastered and soon enough you will have earned Artemis (Black Hole badge, 7,500). Once that is done, switch again to proficiency and start completing as many skills as you can find. If you can manage to do this, you will earn Herculean (Black Hole badge, every skill on the website) and become a true legend.
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