Munless Night 1.3 Career Challenge

[zanie420]

16 minutes ago, The Space Dino said:

Ohh so your flyby only took 5k m/s? Well I certainly freaked myself out, I designed a rocket with TWICE as much delta v haha

MOAR deltaV!

16 minutes ago, The Space Dino said:

But the launch pad doesn't want to launch it anyway

Is it unstable? I didn't even know about advanced tweakables until waaaaay too late. Are you autostrutting?

16 minutes ago, The Space Dino said:

When my craft goes to Moho I'll do tons of tourist contracts for funds in the meantime 

Feel free to steal my ship design. Better yet, make it better so I can steal that! It can get 10 tourists into orbit at a very early tech level.... but it is a beast to handle after mach 2. It has enough gimbal and fuel to make one good midcouse correction, however. Even pulled out of a complete 180 flip, and still got to orbit on 2 separate occasions. The contracts for tourist seem to eventually stagnate. I am just using them, and the administration building strategies to give myself the early science bonus. I have nearly completed the 4th tier in the tech tree, and I am still awaiting Bob's return with all his collected Sun science I have squeezed all I can from the KSC I think. It took a good chunk of time today. Currently cleaning up what I missing in the biomes immediately around the space center. Maybe I can get enough science to finish up the tier before Bob's homecoming

 

Edited June 16, 2017 by zanie420
typos

[zanie420]

My continuing story:

NOW it is time to go interplanetary!

Edited June 16, 2017 by zanie420
flair

[Jetski]

4 hours ago, The Space Dino said:

Ohh so your flyby only took 5k m/s? Well I certainly freaked myself out, I designed a rocket with TWICE as much delta v haha

But the launch pad doesn't want to launch it anyway

When my craft goes to Moho I'll do tons of tourist contracts for funds in the meantime 

Sorry, my answer was unclear.  I flew past Moho going about 5000 m/s.  The ship used around 2500 to get headed for Moho, 1000 for an adjustment burn, and another 1000 to get back to Kerbin.  Smarter people than me have already written about this, but here's my quick Moho tutorial for a low tech, decent TWR  limited dV craft, Poodle or Terrier ship ideally. Low TWR high dV craft like ions or LV-N should do lots of their burns in deep space, so this doesn't work for them

Get to LKO, and figure out when your window is.  A perfect window will be at the Ascending or Descending node of Moho's orbit.  For a flyby it doesn't matter, but if you're going to try to stop there also you need to be intercepting Moho at its Ap or farthest point from the sun.

Burn hard and fast here, the shorter your burn time and the closer to Kerbin, the less dV is needed.  Even if you brick it though, you should be able to get close for around 2500 dV.  If you want to do an Eve flyby that gets you to Moho for half that, but it's tricky to get the timing right.

Once out in the solar SOI, if you nailed your window, you should already have an intercept, and won't need a halfway burn to adjust your inclination.  Otherwise make your adjustments and try to fly very close to Moho surface (15k is pretty safe).  Don't fly over the poles, as it will mess up your flyby orbit and make it more expensive to catch Kerbin again.

If you are good, you can play with nodes until you get a free return to Kerbin after the flyby, but it's hard.  I just flew past, gathered sci, and waited until I got back out to Kerbin's orbit again before making a burn to catch Kerbin on the next orbit.  About another 1000 dV.

You will be catching up to Kerbin going fairly fast, so pack another 1000 dV to slow down, or a plan to ditch the ship and bring the goods home behind a heat shield.

4500 is plenty for a flyby if you can manage this.  Of course if you want to stop and enjoy the scenery, it's around double that.  You would need to correct your inclination in deep space (1500ish), then bring your orbit down to close to Mohos (1800ish), then intercept and try frantically to stop (another 1800 maybe).  It can be done for less, these are very rough numbers with lots of fudging.  I think someone did a Moho trip complete for less than 2000 dV by playing games with flybys, like 9 total or something.  But that's a different challenge

 

[The Space Dino]

6 hours ago, zanie420 said:

My continuing story:

NOW it is time to go interplanetary!

That's lots and lots of science! I've been playing more than ever before but I'm already behind you haha 

Thanks @Jetski for that guide! Moho is the hardest planet to get to anyway

Meanwhile I shall follow @zanie420 and your science collecting skills to farm everything, although I have a trick up my sleeve hehehehehehehehe

[zanie420]

5 hours ago, The Space Dino said:

That's lots and lots of science! I've been playing more than ever before but I'm already behind you haha 

Thanks @Jetski for that guide! Moho is the hardest planet to get to anyway

Meanwhile I shall follow @zanie420 and your science collecting skills to farm everything, although I have a trick up my sleeve hehehehehehehehe

I DO probably have more time to play on my hands, being a stay at home dad with kids in school. I just unlocked the MPL this morning, so you two better watch out Stay tuned for another album today

[zanie420]

3rd installment

 

[zanie420]

Here is another album

 

[Jetski]

Great progress so far @zanie420, you are milking KSC buildings for all they are worth Glad the Moho flyby and Duna mission are going well.

[zanie420]

My obsession continues....

 

[The Space Dino]

Wow @zanie420 you have lightspeed progress, you're making me lazy to complete this challenge...

Meanwhile using the hour or two I have my Moho design isn't going well..

 

[zanie420]

Forgot to mention that I also suffer from insomnia.... so I have a clear advantage, if you see it that way. Don't give up! I look forward to seeing you progress as much as making my own.

[zanie420]

19 hours ago, The Space Dino said:

Wow @zanie420 you have lightspeed progress, you're making me lazy to complete this challenge...

Meanwhile using the hour or two I have my Moho design isn't going well..

 

You need struts! The in-game part and the menu option. Consider upgrading to 1.3 and enabling advanced tweakables. Then right-click every part and choose a parent part to strut. Can even do it on the fly. It made a huge difference to me. I am on Ubuntu 16 however. KSP became unplayable on Win10. Try to shorten your overall height  and strap more SRB to the bottom while limiting their thrust so that your ground stage has a TWR at sea level of around 1.3

[zanie420]

I made a ton of progress

 

[zanie420]

I am having a great time doing this it that matters

 

[Jetski]

18 minutes ago, zanie420 said:

I am having a great time doing this it that matters

 

Woo Hoo! LV-Ns now you are unstoppable.  Updating the board

[zanie420]

1 minute ago, Jetski said:

Woo Hoo! LV-Ns now you are unstoppable.  Updating the board

I've got a decent Dres window now. I just MIGHT be able to design a lander that can slow down in time. The lack of liquid fuel tanks at this point is so frustrating. Playing around with MK1 and MK2 tanks to see if I kind find something that works

[The Space Dino]

@zanie420 you are progressing at the speed of light, literally

Now that I think of it I don't want to give up on this challenge, but this is going to literally take me months to complete

[Jetski]

17 hours ago, zanie420 said:

I've got a decent Dres window now. I just MIGHT be able to design a lander that can slow down in time. The lack of liquid fuel tanks at this point is so frustrating. Playing around with MK1 and MK2 tanks to see if I kind find something that works

I always use the 1.25 tanks that hold 400 each.  A little higher on the part count than I like, but a simple lander with 1 LV-N offset up a bit and 4 of those tanks has around 7k dV and can land on every planet except Tylo/Laythe/Eve.  If you give it a nice asparagus fuel pod (10 more tanks) and a docking port, you can get to and from anywhere in the system, something like 17k dV.  Be sure to autostrut everything and remove the engine shroud in the VAB. Just get used to some longer burns...

Edited June 20, 2017 by Jetski

[zanie420]

6 minutes ago, Jetski said:

I always use the 1.25 tanks that hold 400 each.  A little higher on the part count than I like, but a simple lander with 1 LV-N offset up a bit and 4 of those tanks has around 7k dV and can land on every planet except Tylo/Laythe/Eve.  If you give it a nice asparagus fuel pod (10 more tanks) and a docking port, you can get to and from anywhere in the system, something like 17k dV.

 

I am thoroughly impressed sir! I intuitively went with a similar, yet far inferior design. As you will see I used 3 LV-Ns and that was probably overkill. But I was unsure of the thrust I would need to land, because I am coming in very fast! I am going to just barely be able to pull it off however with a burn of nearly all the fuel at a periapsis JUST higher than the tallest mountain on Dres. I did the math and I should have enough fuel to land on fumes and start my first mining operation

[zanie420]

Fruit of my labor finally come ripe....

 

[Jetski]

@zanie420 you are making great progress here - looks like a Moho mission complete, Duna waiting for return window, and Dres outbound.  It's possible the MPL you have in orbit will knock down the rest of the tech tree while you wait for windows, but fair enough I don't have any limitations on its use.  I hope you will give Jool a run either way

I can see I'm going to need to get some work done here on my attempt.

 

[zanie420]

48 minutes ago, Jetski said:

@zanie420 you are making great progress here - looks like a Moho mission complete, Duna waiting for return window, and Dres outbound.  It's possible the MPL you have in orbit will knock down the rest of the tech tree while you wait for windows, but fair enough I don't have any limitations on its use.  I hope you will give Jool a run either way

I can see I'm going to need to get some work done here on my attempt.

 

Whether I complete the tree first or not, I am still headed to Jool and Eeloo, as I have never made it that far before. Maybe I'll just get there with superior equipment. Maybe there should be a Jool 5 badge with a Munless Night tag or something. It's definitely a harder challenge to complete without going to either moon of Kerbin first!

[zanie420]

I want all the badges you have @Jetski, pray tell me how I may best acquire them please? I have a ship designed for the ultimate challenge once I have unlocked the prerequisites. As I have mentioned, I want to try for a Jool5 in my current playthrough. The K-prize intrigues me. Battery life challenge not as much. Have I completed a challenge without knowing it already? Would I be able to submit one of my albums as proof if so?

[Mesklin]

I also decided to participate in this competition as Normal mode player, also I am trying to finish to opening science three as fast as possibly.

 Here is first steps in career:  

 

[zanie420]

4 minutes ago, Mesklin said:

I also decided to participate in this competition as Normal mode player, also I am trying to finish to opening science three as fast as possibly.

 Here is first steps in career:  

 

Excelent start! You get extra points for g-limits and blackouts. I look forward to seeing your progress.