Magzimum

The challenge is open: HERE. I am going to ask the moderators to close this thread, to avoid confusion. Thank you all for the input!

How far can Jeb get with a Flea? It's your first craft in any career game: a Kerbal strapped onto a Flea. Have you ever wondered how far such a plucky engine can travel? This is the continuation of an old challenge by @Jetski (found here), albeit with a few small changes in the rules. Get Jeb (or any other Kerbal) as far as possible using only 1 Flea rocket engine as means of propulsion. No other fuel tanks, engines or even RCS are allowed to be used on this challenge. Jeb also cannot push with his jetpack. You launch from the runway or the launchpad (up to you). We count only the "Ground Distance Covered" as counted by pressing F3 when the craft came to a full stop. Scoring Your score is your "Ground Distance Covered" after a safe landing on Kerbin in which the Kerbal survives the landing while still being inside his pod or seat. In the discussion, someone bragged that achieving orbit would be possible in this challenge... since we measure Ground Distance Covered after landing, it is strongly advised that the orbit is NOT stable (Pe < 70 km), so you can at least return to Kerbin, land, and read out the Ground Distance Covered. It's all still in the same scoring, same category. Mods Because this challenge will depend a lot on balancing aerodynamics, mass and optionally lift, it will only be fair if we all use stock parts. Mods that enhance visuals are allowed, and so are mods that give useful data such as KER. MechJeb is not allowed, because while I am not sure it gives players any real benefits, I cannot see why you could possibly need it on such a simple mission. Regarding mods: It's stock parts, and stock flying (or driving/boating). Rules Parts: All stock parts are allowed, except: Decouplers cannot be used because some crazy people can fly using decouplers alone. That includes docking ports. Launch Stability Enhancers (launch clamps) cannot be used because they can be abused to launch from hundreds of meters altitude. Command seats: Allowed, but the craft that launches must be standing free on the launchpad or the runway, and the pod which initially contained your Kerbal must be visible. Kerbals: Your Kerbal must survive the landing at the end of the Flea Jump. Craft integrity: It is acceptable if parts of the craft break upon landing. As long as the command pod or command seat survive, and the Kerbal is still inside it. If you use a command seat and your Kerbal is thrown out because of a violent landing, you need to retry because that disqualifies the attempt. Electric propulsion: Obviously, electric propulsion is NOT allowed. I know helicopters and propeller planes are possible using stock parts. Kraken drives are also not allowed. This challenge is not where you can showcase these. Also, rover wheels with their engines turned on count as electric propulsion. If the engines are off, I see no objections. Obviously, cheating (e.g. F12) and stuff like infinite fuel are not allowed. Submission At a bare minimum, a picture before launch with the Kerbal already inside the craft (in case you're using a command seat), a picture during flight (preferably at the apoapsis of your jump), a picture after landing and coming to a full stop and a picture of the Flight Results. More elaborate submissions and videos are of course welcome. Design The design is entirely free. This is the key part of the challenge. Use the VAB or SPH, use wings or not. You can even make a rover or a boat. Go fast and high, or low and slow. Rockets, planes and even rocket-assisted gliders are allowed. You can play with the setting of the Flea itself too. Challenge opening and duration The challenge is closed... This challenge was open until December 14th, 18:00 UTC. Maintaining a challenge for more than a week is just not possible for me (life gets busy). You are however free to post your attempts. We'll see how popular this remains. No promises, but updating the leaderboard is not too difficult either. Leaderboard @Marschig, with a command seat inside a fairing, and only a reaction wheel for control got to an almost unbelievable 371,825m !! @swjr-swis, with a glider with many many basic fins got to 138,133m. @qzgy, with a rather uncontrollable glider made of 26 basic fins which despite lack of control got to 92,030m. @Magzimum, with a glider that got to 84,782m. @James Kerman, with a glider with a command seat that got to 60,291m. @sevenperforce, with a glider that flew to 48,009m. @Pro100kerbonaut, with something in between a rocket and a glider, with 29,633m. @Andetch, with a two-seater that got to 26,116m. Badge Marschig gets to wear this badge, if desired:

Rover wheels are only disallowed with engines turned on. With engines off, it's fine. " Also, rover wheels with their engines turned on count as electric propulsion. If the engines are off, I see no objections. "

I also have some doubts, but I don't mind explaining how such a theoretical mission would be scored.

You're right. Rules are adjusted accordingly. Thanks for the tip (even though I don't fully understand the tone of the post, which seemed to judge something which is still a work in progress).

My Jool-5 mission got me 26,387.7 points. All stock. My favorite picture of that mission: 25 Kerbals on Pol. And the Science points:

Thanks! Added to the rules. Agreed. Thanks! Excellent! Then you have a good chance to win! Ground Distance Covered after a safe landing is still the way to score.

This thread is meant to iron out any issues with a challenge idea that I've had for a little while now. I want to open the challenge soon... but since there are almost always questions and comments (I expect to overlook something), better first fix those before we get discussions and possibly disappointed participants. So, please comment, but don't submit yet. How far can Jeb get with a Flea? It's your first craft in any career game: a Kerbal strapped onto a Flea. Have you ever wondered how far such a plucky engine can travel? This is the continuation of an old challenge by @Jetski (found here), albeit with a few small changes in the rules. Get Jeb (or any other Kerbal) as far as possible using only 1 Flea rocket engine as means of propulsion. No other fuel tanks, engines or even RCS are allowed to be used on this challenge. Jeb also cannot push with his jetpack. You launch from the runway or the launchpad (up to you). We count only the "Ground Distance Covered" as counted by pressing F3 when the craft came to a full stop. Scoring Your score is your "Ground Distance Covered" after a safe landing on Kerbin in which the Kerbal survives the landing while still being inside his pod or seat. In the discussion, some brave engineer ( @HeroBrian_333 ) bragged that achieving orbit would be possible in this challenge... since we measure Ground Distance Covered after landing, it is strongly advised that the orbit is NOT stable (Pe < 70 km), so you can at least return to Kerbin, land, and read out the Ground Distance Covered. It's all still in the same category. Mods Because this challenge will depend a lot on balancing aerodynamics, mass and optionally lift, it will only be fair if we all use stock parts. Mods that enhance visuals are allowed, and so are mods that give useful data such as KER. MechJeb is not allowed, because while I am not sure it gives players any real benefits, I cannot see why you could possibly need it on such a simple mission. Regarding mods: It's stock parts, and stock flying (or driving/boating). Rules Parts: All stock parts are allowed, except: Decouplers cannot be used because some crazy people can fly using decouplers alone. That includes docking ports. Launch Stability Enhancers (launch clamps) cannot be used because they can be abused to launch from hundreds of meters altitude. Command seats: Allowed, but the craft that launches must be standing free on the launchpad or the runway, so and the pod which initially contained your Kerbal must be visible. Kerbals: Your Kerbal must survive the landing at the end of the Flea Jump. Craft integrity: It is acceptable if parts of the craft break upon landing. As long as the command pod or command seat survive, and the Kerbal is still inside it. If you use a command seat and your Kerbal is thrown out because of a violent landing, you need to retry because that disqualifies the attempt. Electric propulsion: Obviously, electric propulsion is NOT allowed. I know helicopters and propeller planes are possible using stock parts. Kraken drives are also not allowed. This challenge is not where you can showcase these. Also, rover wheels with their engines turned on count as electric propulsion. If the engines are off, I see no objections. Obviously, cheating (e.g. F12) and stuff like infinite fuel are not allowed. Submission At a bare minimum, a picture before launch with the Kerbal already inside the craft (in case you're using a command seat), a picture during flight, a picture after landing and coming to a full stop and a picture of the Flight Results. More elaborate submissions are of course welcome. Design The design is entirely free. This is the key part of the challenge. Use the VAB or SPH, use wings or not. You can even make a rover or a boat. Go fast and high, or low and slow. Rockets, planes and even rocket-assisted gliders are allowed. You can play with the setting of the Flea itself too. Challenge opening and duration I want to open the challenge some time this week (somewhere 6-8 Dec. 2017) for just 1 week. Maintaining a challenge for more than a week is just not possible for me (life gets busy). So... Please comment! I am curious if this challenge has already once existed Perhaps something very similar? It seems so obvious to do something like this, but I wasn't able to find it. (it has, found it, link included). Also, if you can all be so kind as to try to find ways to cheat in this challenge, then I can add some rules to prevent cheating. I think that the spirit of the challenge is clear.

A ship has a "Root" part. That root part cannot be part of the subassembly. So, in other words, you can only save a subassembly of the ship, not the whole ship - even if you plan to make that a sub-part of a future ship. The solution is that you attach 1 extra part, and make that the root. I typically take a fuel tank. Then press "4" to change the Root part of the ship, and make that tank the root part. Now, you can disconnect that entire subassembly from the tank, and save it as a subassembly. NOTE: Your subassembly can now only be attached to the new ship at the point where it was attached to that tank. So, in your case, if you want to attach it by the engine, then put the new tank (the new root part) on the engine. If you want to attach it by the top, then attach the tank to the top.

I just assemble the whole thing in the VAB, then strap Moar Boosters on it, and launch in one go. That's still the largest I have launched: The Dres Resort, part of the much larger Dres Awareness mission. (Yes, yes, it's getting a little dated... almost a year ago now that I built this)

With a direct download from the website, you just get the files. The Linux game requires just an unzip, and no additional installs. Your PC does not connect to the internet when you launch the game. There are no notifications... but frankly, if you are a member of this forum, all it takes is a quick look at the Announcements subsection of the forum! Btw, many many many many compliments to Squad for not giving in to the common misconception that gamers like to be monitored, spammed and treated like thieves and hackers. If they keep treating their customers this way, they have a customer for life in me. The way I can "install" this game is absolutely golden.

I think you won the challenge. Congrats!

I installed Galileo's Planet Pack, and now I am discovering a bunch of new planets and moons. I am going completely stock (other than the planet pack I mentioned, and KER, which should be stock). Because I am NOT reading up on the planets, it feels like real exploration. I am sending small probes to the nearest planets now, so that I can get a feel for how large they are, and if they have moons, or perhaps an atmosphere. I don't want to find out these things when I am sending in the Kerbals Gaelans. I landed successfully on one planet, but completely failed on another when I found out that my periapsis was well within an atmosphere that I didn't expect. All antennas and solar panels broke, so that was the end of that mission! Oh well, that's what you get for going (relatively) cheap. I could have overdimensioned the craft to anticipate for everything, but instead, I will just launch another one now that the lesson is learned...

You can be as advanced as you like, but if you don't have a little checklist that you use before launching, then something WILL go wrong. My checklist includes: solar/batteries, RCS/rings, docking ports, parachutes, crew, ladders, hatches free, landing legs/wheels, science, staging, enough dV. I have forgotten all of these things at least once, which is why they made it onto my checklist! Regarding the original question, I believe it has been answered professionally, so no need to add to that.

Haikus don't have to rhyme, but I set myself the challenge to make it rhyme as well. I came up with these two. I won't Twitter this. I just post because I like the idea. Glorious persuits Medals await the space suits Forgot parachutes Lander is on Bop Brave Kerbal jumped off the top No more monoprop

Oh, you're absolutely right. Kerbalism just requires more studying than I had anticipated, and as a result I am dropping out a little disappointed. I think your comment hit the nail on the head, @Zombie_Striker: This is a mod that takes things so serious that a player who wants to travel beyond Minmus should expect to invest serious amounts of time to test, retest any part of the mission. Then launch a trial run, and expect to fail that too because you either overlooked a piece of info, or it's not available. And perhaps after 4 attempts you may succeed. If you set off with such an expectation, the disappointment with failures will not be as big as in my experience. To put it simply: a Duna mission on Kerbalism is MUCH harder than a Jool-5 mission or even a grand tour with a regular stock game. On a brighter note, does anyone know of a successful Duna mission which uses Kerbalism? After spending hundreds of hours trying myself (and failing), I'd be curious to see how others did it.

Yes, of course plants that receive only 12/24 hours light grow slower than the ones that receive 24/24 light. But as I said, my Kerbals die, and I want the ship and station to stop wasting electricity on plants when the Kerbals need some too for life support. From here on this post is gonna be a bit of a complaint... as I am a little disappointed now. Mostly with myself for failing again (after having invested a LOT of time again), but also a little with Kerbalism for just being too hard. I am a pretty decent player at KSP, but I just cannot get 4 Kerbals to visit Duna and return safely. I tried 4 times now, with various ships. I think I got the right formula now, but I also think I am tired of trying. Radiation killed them twice (2nd time with a ship with maxed out shields btw, just orbited with the ship at or just outside the radiation belt... rather than inside). Also made a mistake once with greenhouses & supplies... And this time my ship just suffered so many critical failures that it cannot return. If people feel like trying: I recommend that you at first turn off the radiation and critical failures. You will enjoy it more. And even then: use plenty of save games. Sometimes you warp to 100,000x, and the intervals that the game checks on your ships can happen to be chosen such that the ship is in the shadow a few orbits / days in a row, and the Kerbals die of freezing (life support failure). The solution is that you warp a little at lower speed, and the warp faster again.

My Kerbals have been to Dres. ... Nothing else matters, really. p.s. All stock. Already a while ago, but still an epic mission.

Order it online, cheat it into orbit, then time-warp it to the flag?

A good name depends a bit on the business model: Tour Bus. Hope on Hop off. ... of if the ship is a bit of a dump, and rather cheap, and nobody really wants to be on it but some Kerbals had no other choice, you can call of the Greyhound.

Pity. I would love to use them on my Duna base. Plants can survive in the dark just fine, and greenhouses don't need light 24/7. I wish I could just turn the lights off, and suffer a penalty in food production. Right now, the greenhouse eats up all the EC, and after that my poor Kerbals freeze to death after life support fails. Thanks for the feedback anyway. I do have an orbital Duna station too, but I had hoped to leave my Kerbals on the surface a little longer before the long trip back. Hopefully the radiation will not be too much. I would really like to have a succesful Duna mission with Kerbalism once. Too many have failed already (radiation, more radiation, and critical system failures).

Can your scientist go on an EVA, and manually restore the experiment? (He or she has to get close to the experiment, then you right click on the science experiment, and it should say "Restore")?

Is there any way to force greenhouses to only use natural light? Their EC consumption is huge, and I just do not want to stack so many batteries onto the greenhouses to make them last through the night (a test in Sandbox revealed that a greenhouse on the launchpad will consume about 30000 EC per Kerbin night). I love the greenhouses, but at such a cost, I might as well just stack more food onto the rocket. Plus it feels to me that it is just not correct. Does anyone perhaps know where to find the file where the EC consumption of the greenhouses is determined? I'd almost like to take a peek, to ensure there is no typo in the file. Pictured: what it takes for a greenhouse to get through the night on the Launchpad. My problem is that the nights on Duna are 3 times as long. --- Unrelated to the above: @BlitzThomas, Click on the Kerbalism icon when in the game, then click on a particular ship, then at the bottom, there is a little menu. You need "cfg" (configure), and disable the message popping up. As far as I know, the game will always pause for a warning, but if you don't want to see the warning, it won't pause either.

If you decide to drive around, you should definitely make screenshots and post them in the Elcano challenge (although it would appear that the challenge is currently not moderated/maintained). Driving around will however take a LONG time (think: days of playing time) and a good rover, because crashes are almost inevitable. Visiting all the biomes with a single ship by flying around will require a LOT of dV. For a single suborbital flight on the Mun (so from one biome to the next), you probably will need around 500-800 m/s worth of dV, and there are 17 biomes I believe... But you could at least visit two or three of them on a single mission. Just make a good lander (wide base), and add enough drop tanks. If your hopper can process ore into fuel, it could continue hopping around indefinitely... but that technology is available quite late in the career, and it's probably not available if you haven't been to the Mun yet in the career game.

Good luck with the Engineering degree! Don't be afraid when it gets really heavy on math early on. The engineering degrees typically put all the really tough stuff in the first few years. You gotta survive those before the juicy stuff is given to you!