The Versatility Marathon Challenge

[ThreeMartiniLaunch]

Finally got the vessel I will use for this challenge.

Mods used, B9 parts, no funky engine parts or aero lift parts, just a couple of pylons and the command capsule, it weighs 3.5 tons but has 9.5 torque and a crew of 2 instead of the larger command capsule in the stock which has 15 torque and a crew of 3. But it has a better view.

It is mostly Ion engine powered and this is what I am going to do the challenge with if it is cool.

Ion engines? Could we get some stats? Mass? TWR? etc.?

[Sirine]

@TML

Just found out another way...raise the Apoapsis to 1,500km, and make turning there. Much easier.

@Hodo

You will need to spend lots of time 'traveling'.

[Hodo]

Ion engines? Could we get some stats? Mass? TWR? etc.?

1 ton mass, power 2.5kn so REALLY weak. But with the number of batteries I have I can get approximately 5 min max burns with the sun fully on the "sails". Max with out 2 min burn at a total of 10kn.

I have found a design flaw that I may fix in a later design, but I will stick it out for this challenge. I may switch out the LV-909 engines with some LV-1N nukes for later designs and add 4 more solar panels to help cut the drain on the batteries.

@TML

Just found out another way...raise the Apoapsis to 1,500km, and make turning there. Much easier.

@Hodo

You will need to spend lots of time 'traveling'.

Oh she isn't fast, not by a day in sight, but she has a WHOLE lot of d/V. I think sitting on full xenon gas and fuel she has over 6000m/s d/V.

Edited November 18, 2013 by Hodo

[Sirine]

Update:

Mission accomplish.

Will upload the images in a moment.

Done: Image Heavy. (Spoiler: Mun, Neil Armstrong location.)

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Try to ramp the debris back to Kerbin, but no success.

Below are my points, please verify:-

1) Mission completed with 4 satellites deployed, 2 rovers on Minmus, 2 rovers on Mun. No refueling +150

2) 1 satellite on equatorial orbit, and 1 satellite on polar orbits for Minmus +10

3) 1 satellite on equatorial orbit, and 1 satellite on polar orbits for Mun +10

4) Not more than 2 satellites. +0

5) 3 Kerbals lands on a Minmus, 3 Kerbals land on Mun +30

6) Landing on equator only +0 (Not landing on polar)

7) 2 comm units on Minmus, 2 comm units on Mun +20

8) Comm units not over weight. +0

Scores that will never change

3. Littering the system - You left space junk floating around in space = -5 points per whole part (a fuel tank with other stuff on it is one whole part)

1 lifter junk, 5 TR-18D Stack Separator (I only notice this rules, after completing the build): -30

11. I know what I need - Complete a full mission without detaching any parts other than the mission critical ones = +25 points

I can't think of a situation you will actually fail this one.

12. Jet engines are for planes - Don't use jet engines to lift anything into space unless that jet engine is on an aircraft = +5 points

+5

150+10+10+30+20

-30,+5

total score 195

Edited November 18, 2013 by Sirine

[Hodo]

After some testing I found the XI-1 will not do as planned.. so staying with the Ion powered theme, we went back to the drawing board. The XI-1 completed her shakedown cruise and was found lacking in fuel and power(electrical) for the amount of work she was going to do. So I give you (if I am aloud) the XI-2.

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She is headed out on her shakedown cruise and upon return will fit her cargo bay module and the probes for the mission.

Completed shakedown cruise, with plenty of fuel to spare. Now waiting on rendezvous with KerSta-2.

Edited November 18, 2013 by Hodo

[700NitroXpress]

My internet has been offline for the last 2 days and it's still down now. Sending this from my phone. Sirine, that's fine to retry the mission, once you submit something and state that it's your final submission, then that's the one that will go on record. TML, core craft is approved, and I'll probably change the mission timing down to 1 week. I'll leave the past mission details available for anyone who wants to join the challenge. They will just have to complete the past missions if they want a competitive score. I'll hopefully be able to catch up with everyone's posts and current scores tomorrow. I like the ship designs and participation so far, keep up the good work! I have the next mission planned, but it won't be posted until Friday. I'll change the mission times so there's a new mission every Friday and that will be the new schedule.

Edited November 18, 2013 by 700NitroXpress

[Sirine]

@700NitroXpress

New mission Every Friday. Excellent! Awaiting your next mission. I may redo the 1st mission, just...if I'm free.

[Hodo]

My internet has been offline for the last 2 days and it's still down now. Sending this from my phone. Shrine, that's fine to retry the mission, once you submit something and state that it's your final submission, then that's the one that will go on record. TML, core craft is approved, and I'll probably change the mission timing down to 1 week. I'll leave the past mission details available for anyone who wants to join the challenge. They will just have to complete the past missions if they want a competitive score. I'll hopefully be able to catch up with everyone's posts and current scores tomorrow. I like the ship designs and participation so far, keep up the good work! I have the next mission planned, but it won't be posted until Friday. I'll change the mission times so there's a new mission every Friday and that will be the new schedule.

Sorry about the internet. And glad to hear the 1 week mission time.

The XI-2 is my final submission, and I am running with it. It performed excellently on its shakedown cruise, granted slowly but it did it. And it still had fuel left to head to Duna if the window were there.

[700NitroXpress]

My internet is back! Wohoo!!!

Helpful Hint for the Next Mission: Practice your precision landing skills, you'll be glad you did

Edited November 18, 2013 by 700NitroXpress

[700NitroXpress]

@700NitroXpress

New mission Every Friday. Excellent! Awaiting your next mission. I may redo the 1st mission, just...if I'm free.

Yep, let me know if you want the current score you have to be finalized or not. Once you say that the score is your final submission, that's what gets added up and put on the leaderboad. TML is correct, the Lonely Rover does NOT apply on this mission. I'm looking over your current mission screenshots and adding up your score. Scores won't be added unless you say that they're final. This will allow people to retry if they need to. We may need a limit on retries tho, maybe 3 tries, best out of 3 gets finalized? What do you think about that?

[700NitroXpress]

Sorry about the internet. And glad to hear the 1 week mission time.

The XI-2 is my final submission, and I am running with it. It performed excellently on its shakedown cruise, granted slowly but it did it. And it still had fuel left to head to Duna if the window were there.

Alright 1 week it is then since everyone likes that so far. Your craft looks good to go then. Ion engines may take a long time, but you can carry a huge amount of gas if you need to. I have an Ion powered space station myself. Currently in a polar orbit around Kerban. The funny thing is, I could attach my ship to the bottom of this thing... Not sure if I will tho. 48 Ion engines on the bottom of the 4 girders coming out from the middle. 12 per girder. 40 solar arrays, and I can attach nuclear engines to 12 docking ports on the bottom and switch to nuclear powered if I need to. Just food for thought.

Big H.O.S.S. (Helios Orbital Solar Station)

[700NitroXpress]

Update:

Mission accomplish.

Will upload the images in a moment.

Try to ramp the debris back to Kerbin, but no success.

Below are my points, please verify:-

1) Mission completed with 4 satellites deployed, 2 rovers on Minmus, 2 rovers on Mun. No refueling +150

2) 1 satellite on equatorial orbit, and 1 satellite on polar orbits for Minmus +10

3) 1 satellite on equatorial orbit, and 1 satellite on polar orbits for Mun +10

4) Not more than 2 satellites. +0

5) 3 Kerbals lands on a Minmus, 3 Kerbals land on Mun +30

6) Landing on equator only +0 (Not landing on polar)

7) 2 comm units on Minmus, 2 comm units on Mun +20

8) Comm units not over weight. +0

Scores that will never change

3. Littering the system - You left space junk floating around in space = -5 points per whole part (a fuel tank with other stuff on it is one whole part)

1 lifter junk, 5 TR-18D Stack Separator (I only notice this rules, after completing the build): -30

11. I know what I need - Complete a full mission without detaching any parts other than the mission critical ones = +25 points

I can't think of a situation you will actually fail this one.

12. Jet engines are for planes - Don't use jet engines to lift anything into space unless that jet engine is on an aircraft = +5 points

+5

150+10+10+30+20

-30,+5

total score 195

Well done on the mission! You don't get additional points for more rovers tho, only 2 rovers are required for maximum points, one on Minmus and one on Mun. But it's cool to see 4 of them anyway. For accounting for the space junk, just go to the tracking station with the debris tab shown at the end of the mission. I'll be able to see all of the debris, only the stuff in orbit is accounted for. In the scores that will never change category, #11 would be failed if you stage fuel tanks or engines on your way to the planet and back that aren't attached to the mission critical part. So if you added extra fuel tanks and dropped those spent tanks that weren't part of the mission attachment, that point would be failed. For this first mission tho, it's pretty easy and that's to offset the subtracted points from the debris, so it adds a 25 point buffer to the -5 point for debris subtraction for you guys. Also, you need to add #13 Bring the Gang along for the ride +10 since you have 3 Kerbals. For the landings, you get +10 points per moon. 1 Kerbal is required so it doesn't get added. So if 3 kerbals land, you only get the bonus for the other 2 at +5 each. So for Mun and Minmus you would get +20 total and not +30. But since you forgot Bring the Gang along for the ride, the points even out anyway and you end up with the same amount of points.

Bring the gang along for the ride only accounts for each additional Kerbal brought in addition to your starting 2. So if you have 3 kerbals, you get +10, if you have 4 you get +20. But, they all have to get back into orbit safely at the end of the mission. You could also get more points if you landed the extra kerbals at the KSC.

All that being said, your math is off for your scoring.

Subtotal for the mission is: 150 +10 +10 +30 +20 = 220

220 - 30 = 190

190 + 25 + 5 = 220

So your total score is actually 220 and not 195

You forgot to add the 25 points for #11

Mission 01: Sirine's Current Score = 220

Edited November 18, 2013 by 700NitroXpress

[Hodo]

Hopefully I can figure out what the issue is in my game.. it keeps hanging when I switch to my vessel.

[700NitroXpress]

Hopefully I can figure out what the issue is in my game.. it keeps hanging when I switch to my vessel.

Like lag or something else?

[iLlama]

HAHAHA eat your vegetables

:-D good one!

[Hodo]

Like lag or something else?

Nope, just spinning circle of death. I have tried several things, I may have lost the whole persistent file... which is mildly annoying. But easy enough to fix. Unfortunately I may have to rebuild the vessel. I can save the craft file and relaunch it, once I either reinstall the game, or restart the game mode. Sucks because I had JUST completed my communications network around Kerbin and the Mun. Now I have to RE-do that whole thing, which took 2 or 3 hours worth of designing and launching. And if you play with RemoteTech, you HAVE to have a communications network for anything not manned to work.

[700NitroXpress]

If it's on Steam, you could try to verify the integrity of the game cache and see if that fixes it.

[Hodo]

If it's on Steam, you could try to verify the integrity of the game cache and see if that fixes it.

I will give that a try.

Welp tried that, tried a quick roll back on the system. Nothing. This is not something I ever look forward to. I think it might be the number of parts, its 189 parts currently with the two probes for the mission attached in the docking bay and the lander attached.

Edited November 18, 2013 by Hodo

[700NitroXpress]

I will give that a try.

If it doesn't work, then your plan should work.

[Hodo]

Looks like I am rebuilding the career mode.

[mhoram]

I am going to take on this challenge with this core ship.

Used Add-Ons:

MechJeb

Kerbal Engineer Redux

EnhancedNavBall

TacFuelBalancer

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[700NitroXpress]

I am going to take on this challenge with this core ship.

Interesting, nice and compact, good use of multiple docking ports for lots of attachments. I wonder if you have extra engine attachments that dock to two ports at once or how you'll handle fuel for the longer missions in the future. Your ship is approved for your core craft, good luck on the missions!

[700NitroXpress]

Looks like I am rebuilding the career mode.

Oh no, is everything lost? or do you still have your ships?

[Hodo]

Oh no, is everything lost? or do you still have your ships?

I have the craft files, but I will have to spend the next day rebuilding my communications network so I can have control over any probes or non-manned craft. I am still working on trying to get the current save to work... I admit now I am messing with the persistant save file. I am deleting parts off of the craft to reduce the part count to see if that was it.

If I can't get it to work tonight, I am going to start the career mode over, and spend the next day launching communications satellites, which is never fun.

[Hodo]

Woot! Fixed it....

If you want to disqualify me I can understand, but I managed to save the career mode, and the save file, but I had to delete a section of the ship... So I am going to do the mission sans lander. This does not make me happy... but eh.. its an Ion powered ship.

Edited November 19, 2013 by Hodo