Magzimum

Duna Orbital Station got a bunch of visitors. Career game, and I have 7 missions on and around Duna. All stock, and tech-tree nearly complete.

I am on 1.4.5. The only mod is KER (an old version though, but I that shouldn' t affect this issue, I think?). Btw, sorry for a late reply. Haevn' t had time to play for a couple of days.

I want to build a base, that consists of multiple parts. Always a tricky business, so I figured out a "standardized" way to make sure all docking ports are at the same height. I use the Mk1 (1.25 m) wide parts, and put the LT-2 Struts on them. Those always snap to the exact same position, so those tubular parts of the station are then always at the same height. In the picture above, the docking port is not yet connected. But once I lower the Struts of the section on the left, it will. The first unforeseen problem is: The whole structure jumps into the air as soon as the docking ports dock. KSP probably recalculates the force on each LT-2 strut. But it's quite a violent jump! On Minmus a jump with the same force would jump quite high, potentially giving the whole structure time to rotate as well. The real problem occurs after the base landed again. Both parts were now docked and stable, but I want to remove the little cart that is designed to move parts of the base around. It's hanging free off the junior docking port, very close to the ground (so close that a fall shouldn't break anything). The first part was placed that way: the cart decoupled and drove off. (It's still in the background - a little bit upside down due to some frivolous driving). So, you' d expect the little cart to fall to the ground, and to be able to drive off. However, instead, all 8 LT-2 Struts blow up, the whole base flies around a bit, and the base finally crashes onto the cart which is now stuck underneath. It is quite a reproducible problem too. It occurred multiple times. Is this considered a bug? I really cannot see what I am doing wrong. Any tips would be appreciated. p.s. Skipping the struts, and just leaving all the base parts on wheels is NOT an option. It's a base, not a vehicle.

Just a warning to the reviewers: If you honor this request, then you are making us all beggars. We will all start asking if we can get a little priority. Just saying, not everybody who is active on the forum is posting a lot.

Yes, this bug must not be related to the Goliaths. I had a ship in the Biggest Plane with a Juno challenge (hence no Goliaths). It was a simple tubular hull, with 4-double gigantic wings. The wings were strutted at the very ends. It rotated clockwise without any engines on. Rotated about 90 degrees in an estimated 10-15 seconds.

I managed to land 24.040 tons at the Island airport. I went with my Go-to solution if stuff needs to be heavy in KSP: Ore tanks! It's a real beauty. It was a little struggle to align it with the runway... I have to admit: A few attempts were needed before it landed without losing the outer parts of the wings. Full Imgur album in the spoiler (8 images):

Hahaha, awesome challenge! Reminds me of this 10-year-old Youtube video: p.s. 10 years old, explains the quality. No need for full screen, looks better if you don't, hehe. p.s.p.s. working on my entry. Just thought I'd put this up as inspiration.

I made a Kerriswheel. * beams brightly, cackles gleefully * It is jet powered. So Kerbals get barf bags. Stock except for Airplane Plus mod for the cabins.

You just get the mods that this challenge suggests? Airplane Plus contains lots of propellers.

MAD TART-1b Sparrow The MAD bureau would like to submit the MAD TART-1b Sparrow (Magzimum Aerospace Design - Twin-engine Aerial Regional Transporter-1b Sparrow) , a highly maneuverable passenger plane in the Turpoprop category. It seats 24 brave Kerbals, who are allowed hand luggage as long as it's barf bags. Next to the criteria demanded by the customer, the plane was designed with one additional design criteria: It must be the first passenger plane to fly under the KSC's bridge at the R&D center. While the MAD bureau's own test pilot promises that this has indeed been achieved, photographic evidence is unfortunately not available, as the photographer failed several times to press the button on the camera at the right moment... Regular take off distance is about 300 meters, at a speed of just below 50 m/s. This is mostly due to the back wheel which is placed quite far to the back. Daring pilots could pull in the back wheel, or all wheels, and make for an even shorter take off. Landing can be done at speeds as low as 27 m/s, and because the propellors are equipped with a reverse thrust setting (test-pilots press 2, while briefly going full-throttle), the stopping distance is measured in centimeters. To make a point, Val landed the Sparrow on top of the SPH. The plane was definitely not designed with comfort in mind. Two large propellors in pusher configuration rotate directly next to the passenger cabin. However, we expect that the passengers are far more occupied with the challenges of breathing and trying to not have their vital organs turn into a goo, and will hardly notice these propellors. The plane can pull turns of anywhere between 6-12 Gees on horizontal flight, and easily pulls 19 Gees when coming out of a dive. If Kerbal Express Airlines would like to sell a special passenger acrobatics flight, it is recommended to fill all tanks only 10%. The plane can then turn circles between the runway and the control tower. The short take-off and landing distances, coupled with the high maneuverability therefore make this a plane that can land in almost any field, ranging from tiny remote islands to inner-city airfields with a short runway. Since this is a serious submission in the Turpoprop category, the boffins at the MAD bureau ensured that it checks all the boxes. Cruising speed at 2000 m altitude is a comfy 135 m/s, and the estimated range is 1600 km when taking off with tanks at 50%, and when the pilots will fly in a straight line which (we admit) is boring, and not what this plane was designed for. While the customer is free to fill the tanks up to any level (the plane will fly just fine), the added weight will make the plane slightly less maneuverable. Some may even say it becomes slightly comfortable. We say it becomes boring. The Kerbal Express Airlines can have all this lovely aerial acrobatics, airline flexibility and of course copious barf for the meager price of 15,787,000 (fuel not included). Perhaps the MAD bureau should have done a market research whether there is a large enough passenger market for aerial acrobatics... The test plane is available for purchase immediately, and production can commence immediately. Download link: https://kerbalx.com/Magzimum/MAD-TART-1b-Sparrow Finally, the MAD (Magzimum Aerospace Design) bureau would like to thank Kerbal Express Airlines for its review ( @neistridlar ) and subsequent purchase of 8 of the MAD TF-3a Swift planes. Delivery will be as fast as possible, and production has already started. Studies on the handling issues are also in the planning, although some previous studies show that some issues are rather inherent to the triple-fuselage design. As wise Kerbals say: "Every advantage comes with a disadvantage".

Congrats on the continuation of the challenge! Great to see you're (re-)organizing yourselves. Compliments on all the work. I just wanna say hi - as I still lurk around here almost every day, reading the reviews and hoping you are getting close to page 20 of the old thread, where the "MAD TF-3a Swift" was posted (my only contribution so far). The MAD bureau has a new submission called the MAD PAPA-1b Duckling, but it's delayed until we get some feedback on the previous tender.

I think that KSP treats water like very thick air or gas. And since the pontoons (fuel tanks and nose cones) have no lift, they don't act like you expect. The only thing that probably happens is that you suddenly hit an enormous amount of drag which seems to "suck you in". All that really happens is that you slow down very quickly due to drag, while gravity pulls you to down until the buoyancy balances it out. If you add small winglets onto the pontoons, and you place them at an angle, then the velocity will most definitely cause the plane to slowly rise out of the water. If you tell yourself that it's a hydrofoil (link to wiki), then it's not even too far away from something real.

I finally got a Spaceplane into orbit and back using Mk3 parts! Since its purpose is to ferry groups of Kerbals to and from space stations and motherships, I called it the Spacebus. I didn't have an entry in the v1.3 Spaceplane challenge yet, so this is my entry. (I already proudly display the badge from a 1.2.1 entry though). I'll be putting the whole mission up here in spoilers, with a few key pictures in the main post. At about 24 km altitude, the plane switches to rocket-mode (RAPIER Closed Cycle). Once in orbit, the Space plane had a little rendezvous with a lost Kerbal. Final approach. Not really aligned with the runway, but whatever... At least it's heading towards it! And back home, with 1 new crew member. Thanks @boolybooly for keeping this challenge alive for so long. It's a great source for inspiration to see what all the other people have created.

You cannot necropost in a heritage challenge! Dres needs love!

I'm a fan of a squat rocket with a central taller structure, so that those Airbrakes can be mounted a bit higher up (and thus further away from the CoM). This isn't on Eve, but on Tellumo (Galileo's Planet Pack). Personally, I really enjoyed discovering all the new planets, so I will put specific numbers into a Spoiler. They're not too relevant for this thread...

Finally managed a landing on Tellumo (Galileo's Planet Pack)!! Next time I'll try take off as well. Turns out taking off at 46.7 degrees does not work so well. Still, progress!! 10 iterations before this one all blew up in the atmosphere... This is at least as hard as Eve.

I proudly present you all the SepatrEgg. It's a Kerbal in an egg-shaped box, powered by a single Sepatron. (Details of the flight in the spoiler) Total ground distance covered: 6,526 m. Great challenge.

We're working on it! We're working on it! Need to get a little further for a soft water landing!!

Inspired by a toy airplane of a 6 year old, I built this: Which to my surprise actually flies!

This game was the best 40 euro I ever spent. And personally, I love the funky junkyard textures of the parts. The physics engine is real, and the challenge that the game gives you is real. But the Kerbals and the parts just look funny, and personally I love that. The graphics does not give me the impression that the game is unfinished... on the contrary, I think that the game is quite polished by now. But rather than giving the game a layer of blingbling graphics, the devs improved the VAB and SPH, so you can get fuel overlays and generally more options to put stuff together. They created autostruts, so we can use less normal struts. Sure, some people hate it... haters gonna hate. I just love it, and I use autostrut all the time. And most importantly, they made the game stable. I know no other game where you can slap together some random parts, and throw it into the universe.

The winner! This challenge was meant to run for 1 week. In that period, we have found a clear winner: @Marschig, with 371,825m! My limited graphics skills gives you this gorgeous badge. Wear it with pride (or ignore it - it's up to you ). (higher resolution here) Continuation I notice some people like the challenge (i.e. @LightBender). I propose that people just keep submitting their attempts. First of all, it's not always about winning. But if there is someone who can beat the current winning distance of 371,825m, then it's probably interesting for all of us. The main reason that this challenge ran just 1 week is that I have little time to make updates after today. But I will take a peek every now and then. If the challenge gets enough new submissions, then we may have to keep updating the leaderboard... But none of that will ever take away the victory of Marschig, who won this challenge according to the rules as posted. Other comments @purpleivan, I have no issues with a 45 degree launch. The main issue I would have with your submission is that you start at a higher elevation. Using just 1 big tank and some rails doesn't do much in terms of elevation, but I drew the line at zero. In the previous challenge, some smart people launched from 100m up. And that obviously helps with the results. If you somehow manage to build it so that the craft itself touches the runway, it's good to go. Still, thanks for the post! It looked nice! @Marschig, it is ridiculous you got a Flea above 70 km. It was unmanned unkerballed, but still... wow. That plucky engine does have a kick in it. Finally, my own submission: 84,782m And for fun, I already made an attempt myself last week already - just to see if the challenge was fun. I didn't come near the winner though.

I believe we have a new leader for our challenge. Gonna be hard to top this. I'm actually surprised how high Marschig got with that Flea (nearly 32 km altitude vs. 6-8 km max altitude for other attempts)! I didn't know they had it in them! @Marschig, Do you mind sharing the craft file? Just to ensure all is fair: the screenshot says that there are 12 parts, but I only see 10 in the picture.

@qzgy, Impressive! Seems all legit, so you're the new leader in the challenge.

The Magzimum Aerospace Design (MAD) bureau would like to submit the "MAD TF-3a Swift" as the finest choice for a supersonic jet for any airline on Kerbin. Designed to exceed all the quality expectations of even the grumpiest critics, this jet combines speed, range and comfort, while keeping the price very reasonable. The triple fuselage design ensures that there is enough room for the passengers. Also, passengers can wave at each other from one fuselage to another. Anyone who has every travelled on any moving vehicle knows that passengers appreciate it greatly when they are given the opportunity to wave at someone through a window. We expect that window seats can be sold at premium prices. Your airline can fly up to 40 passengers to any location on Kerbin for as little as $26,721,000. In fact, this supersonic jet can circumnavigate the planet on a non-stop flight, and in the blink of an eye! Our boffins at the MAD bureau ensure that while most passengers want to fly from A to B, there is an upcoming market for A-to-A-flights. This plane can service both these markets. Take-off speed (fully loaded) is 69 m/s. We recommend that pilots set their throttle to 80% while cruising at an altitude of 23,000m and a speed of 1250 m/s. Going full-throttle at altitudes of below 16,000 m can cause the revolutionary triple fuselage to get a little warm. Actually, it will get a little warm at almost any altitude. With two Whiplash engines, this plane has no shortage of power! Since the addition of the communotron-16 at the nose of the plane, the cockpit has not melted anymore. Our boffins say that the price this additional part is well worth it. The plane is designed to carry live passengers. As a result, agility at speeds of Mach 4 and up was not a design consideration. The marketing department of the MAD bureau ensured that most passengers just want to go straight at these speeds. However, the plane performs quite well at lower speeds, which is convenient when attempting things like landing on a runway. Contrary to the passengers, the plane will not break at high-G turns. The plane is designed to be most nimble when the fuel tanks are not completely full, which occurs mostly when landing. In order to test this feature, potential buyers are encouraged not to fuel up the plane completely when taking it out for a short test flight. Obviously, if the plane is fully fueled, it will still handle well, but just a teeny tiny bit slower. The MAD bureau has so far built one prototype which we will make available for testing. Production of the plane can be started as soon as tomorrow.

I see no problem with that. So, yes, go ahead. I wasn't aware that mod existed... will get it myself some time soon! Excellent. No problems with such use of decouplers. The plane that eventually launches has no decouplers, and the act of decoupling didn't move the plane by any significant distance. I agree you gave yourself some unfair advantage in the 1st attempt. The 2nd looks all legal. @invision, Great attempt. I am sure that if someone makes a Hammer Hop challenge, it will be accepted. Unfortunately, this is the Flea Jump, so using a Hammer engine will (no surprise) lead to disqualification. Congrats on the attempt though.