Dark Lion

It's awfully still and quiet on this thread. Better gather my advanced medical equipment. Could be in shock from Bo wierdness... [Pokes thread with a stick]

Infernal RoboticsProcedural Wings=Freedom(form x function) - trying anything else for lack of necessity

In best Scottie impression: "We just can't do it Cap'n! We don't have the POWER!" In trying to find a more efficient run-up to final approach burn, I realized a huge flaw in my previous design: deltaV shortage. I got to work at once. The results were nothing short (or more) than explosive.

BY THE K R A K E N!!! I've been grossly misusing the quicksave feature this whole time!! Been playing this game since 1.0.5 and only just learned you can quicksave a (spaghettified, krakenized, and in-no-way-any-fault-of-my-own-ignorance) maneuver node! Just give me the badge please, Badie. I'm dying here LOL! @Skystorm, may the Kraken turn a blind eye to your ingenuity! I do humbly thank you for the much-needed intel... even though I'm pretty sure you only did so to encourage me to try it again and go for Plaid Speed for real, you devil! (Which might've worked if I'm swift enough. ) **Rage-quits KSP for an astounding 6 minutes before going back to the game I never closed, grumbling about hating Mun, math and my laurels...**

Yes, yes, I realize I may have redefined the term "over-engineered" with Jeb's sweet swisher rocket, but I'm more interested in knowing how to set up the burn from such an eccentric orbit and still maintaining that pinpoint accuracy of yours. Excellent run by the way! +3.5 Km/s?!?! I don't think I'd have the reaction time to beat that... I can get faster than you (faster still if I launched/transferred from Kerbin more efficiently) before flame-out, but I almost always overshoot the target. How do you time it out and how do you know you're on target so long before you can even see the target indicator? So here's the basic L.I.O.N. 10-steps to Arch-storming guide for beginners: 1. Build an enormous, over-powered, multi-stage rocket to Mun. Check! 2. Send said rocket to Mun and merely "scrape" the sphere of influence for an insertion burn for the extremely high polar orbit at Mun. Check! 3. Forget to quicksave and start all over. Check! 4. Set a course correction burn dangerously close to impacting target at periapsis. Check! 5. Ensure you have on brown pants and no shortage of snacks. Check! 6. Execute course correction burn and wait for sight on target . Check! 7. Shed all excess weight (who needs navigation and life-support equipment?!), point prograde relative to target and open 'er up-- full throttle. CHEEEEEEEEEEECK~! 8. PRAY TO THE KRAKEN. Check. Check. Check. Check. 9a. PUNCH F9 in the face and hold it down for ruining your perfect crash. Return to step 4. (Check! x 10666)/rage-fits 9b. Remember you're not actually Scott Manley, and shamelessly name a Mun arch after yourself when you swish it from orbit at Plaid Speed! Check! 10. Boast to everyone on the forums how you're the best at Arch-storming so you can feel properly one-upped when the pros show up and do it better with what seems to be less than half of your effort. *Sigh* Check... I didn't want to add number ten, but alas, it is an obligatory step of this kind of program. Besides... I want my shiny new forum badge because it's my 1st-ever shiny new forum badge. Hopefully I'll still see my name high on the speed leaderboard anyway, but I think I've had enough fun killing kerbals with this challenge. It's on my laurels I rest, @Skystorm. I really just wanted to see if I could beat 2km/s and escape Kerbin. Maybe when/if a Tylo Cave Speedrun ever happens, we shall meet again! <-- @Badie, also a wink-wink, hint-hint! I had a blast, but I don't even want to look at Mun without atmosphere between us right now! LOL! I haven't reverted this much since I started playing. Edit: @luizopiloto Can I please have your kerbal gun-cannon-shooter-thingy KerbalX link? I solemnly swear I'm up to no good!

Done. Thanks so much @Vanamonde! You guys are awesome

For the sake of consistency... I would love to change my username to "Dark Lion" please.

I did it! AGAIN! And OMG the performance this time almost merits an apology for the last attempt! @StrandedonEarth, take a ride with me and you'll have to call yourself "StrandedNowhere," because that rocket isn't coming back, my friend! Same setup as my first attempt, only from a much more eccentric orbit and equipped with the kind of over-confidence only Jeb himself knows! *Pushes F9 key while here, just once, for spite* ;P Good luck beating 2313 m/s! @Skystorm NICE!!! I see I'm not the only one sending my kerbals interstellar!

I DID IT!!! 851.8 m/s right under a Mun Arch! I basically just launched the mission as if dropping of a polar surveyor, then kept making fine adjustments to my orbit until the timing was just right. MANY MISTAKES WERE MADE! Standby for an even faster run!

Looks like some of us "wacky," but all of us fly! Guess I'll have to get my rove on... ish. How exactly might you classify a flying motorbike? Bo's not a car or truck or plane. Maybe it's wacky to think a bike could fly like a plane? IDK... Judges plz? https://kerbalx.com/DarkLion/Bo

The Batwing SSTO, as inspired by the Arkham City fast-travel jet. As it is much larger than the master she's modeled after, this spaceplane would almost certainly qualify as "heavy aircraft." She's armed with SCIENCE, ladies. Don't expect any pew-pew boom unless you can't fly like the Batman himself. https://kerbalx.com/DarkLion/Batwing-SSTO

"given how little people understand space planes" Which computer are you having problems with again? Maybe your processor isn't pushing the required hertz... Mine hertz juts trying to figure out if this is a challenge or a discussion. Maybe a challenge discussion. To be clear: I've tried this "SSTO to Eve and back" a fair few times now, with a variety of craft. The only success I've ever had left staging junk all over Eve, all the way back to Kerbin, thus, not an SSTO. The bigger spaceplanes want to burn up in atmo and the smaller ones just don't have the fuel capacity to even bother. Verdict? Face it: you're gonna lose money on Eve missions EVEry time.

And I was sick with worry I'd have to go public with Alpha... Looks like that time in testing really is paying off. So far she's still undefeated against four hardcore competitors, but the day will come that she's forcibly retired, I'm sure. Best gratification of the day right here, knowing Alpha had to pull out all the stops once again. The fatal flaw in Super Dreadnought was almost certainly her aerodynamics.

Welllll... after many errors, both user and technical, I've finally decided to trust goduranus to host the video. Thank you very much to BDArmoury taking a huge dump on my good morning, by the way, as now I need to submit an issue. I ran the fights the same as I always have, but no guns would fire at all. Only missiles would fire, regardless of my attempts to change settings about. Both Super Dreadnought and Alpha bare the GAU-8 like fangs, which experienced dogfighters know to fear that deadly purr on their six. No purr, no fair. The easiest fix is to hand Alpha over to my challenger in hopes that his older version of BDA will honor our fight, the same as we honor the challenge. Alpha versus P-1187 Super Dreadnought incoming! Take coverrrr~! @Triop If you feel some kinda way about a fight with another rules set appearing in your thread, know this: As you may well-understand, we love what we do, so we shared it with you. And I still intend to submit a craft for this competition as well, only I must wait until the issues with BDA are resolved. Reading back, it looks like that's pretty much what you're holding out for as well...

2v2 it is @goduranus ! Standby for liftoff...