Jump to content

KSP Caveman Challenge!


Recommended Posts

OK with my first try to do an epic caveman mission only getting 50% of fuel to orbit I decided to try again with the mark 2 lifter.

Javascript is disabled. View full album

I docked these 3 in orbit and tried a Duna mission and ran out of fuel... maybe I'm not a good pilot(its hard under caveman conditions) or maybe the craft just didn't have the fuel for what I'm trying.

So I reloaded and started work on the mark 3:

Javascript is disabled. View full album

PS anyone reading this and thinking this is a really hard challenge do worry this is what crazy caveman do after they done the challenge. you can complete this challenge with out any docking, in fact one crazy caveman did it with out making orbit. This challenge it really good at testing you to see what you can do with less.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All these tough challenges for us tough caveman.

Next somebody will suggest that you have to build a rocket on the lawn and fly it to some far off place and return it to kerbin all without using a quicksave.

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Sheesh!

0Roa63H.png

Rocket kit available here.

Caveman ttnarg that is impressive work. Have you tried using external fuel ducts on the docking ports? That is how I am achieving true asparagus staging. Now if only the staging would work as designed.

Edited by MoeslyArmlis
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks good. Your keeping with a more in keeping with the caveman style doing a lot with less where as I when with the kerbal more boosters style. I look forward to seeing where you go with this mission.

"The question is why does the undock change vessel focus."

I know, you set control from here on the center part but when you stage you end up controlling one of the boosters and have to quickly hit the '[' or ']' keys to switch back.

I don't use 'external fuel ducts' because I'm part limited on the lower middle part. It would be nice and is something I thought about on the mk2 but dismissed it as I was not sure it would work. If I was using a less powerful engine or the booster had more fuel and I needed to run all my engines at full power then then true asparagus staging would of been worth looking into more.

I find it interesting that you used both jet engines and the Spark engine on the cart. I just used the Spark. The lack of action groups or powered wheels really makes it a pain to control. Does the the slow power up on the jet give you the option to go both forward and backwards with out having to right click the engines and turn them on and off?

I had to lower the power of my brakes on my cart as it can fall over if I brake too quick I'm guessing this is not as big of a problem for you as your carts are carrying less? or maybe it is as your wheels are closer together.

IRL commitments means I don't have a lot of time to work on this but Val will got to Duna soon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Through Bob and Bill experimenting I am close to understanding or at least dealing with the "Vessel lose of focus".

I had the same issues with decelerating when loaded with a 36 tonne booster train. So instead I reduce braking force on the wheels and use the Sparks and Wheesley to reduce momentum.

The combination of Spark and Wheesley allows for cruising and quick deceleration by closing the intake and then opening the oxidizer. Also the Sparks are used to back away from the docking port the magnetic attraction can be quite strong. I shut the Wheesley down after the cart is moving and use RCS thrusters to inch my way forward.

I tried using both at once but the jet continues to spool up and eventually you go now where fast. I did experiment and with a short throttle duration the vehicle will inch backwards.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I find it intresting how we come up with different solutions to the same problem. your ground docking to make a biger launcher so you can send more stuff up in a single go. My approach is multipule launches, First sending up a lightweight core thats just engiens, lots of docking port attachments/booms and fuel lines to draw from the docking ports to the engiens. I then send up a lander module that attaches in front of the core, it is setup so it can draw from fuel tanks docked onto the sides. Then I send up as many fuel tank and sience modules as needed over many launches. Those just hang off the back side of the core from the outriger booms.

Once I finish assembling it I'll launch it off to duna and the lander will go up and down hiting ike bioms, swaping out fuel canisters and science moduels as they get used.

also like you this is post challenge shinanigans hopeing to see if I can get enough points for the rest of the tech tree without unlocking anything.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i am attemptung this challenge and i am 3/4 away from finishing it. It is a real challenge to make a rocket with 18t/30 parts but it's a lot of fun. A question though in order to get to Minmus form Kerbin at which point do i need to burn, when i see it rising form the horizon?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i am attemptung this challenge and i am 3/4 away from finishing it. It is a real challenge to make a rocket with 18t/30 parts but it's a lot of fun. A question though in order to get to Minmus form Kerbin at which point do i need to burn, when i see it rising form the horizon?

IME if you wait until you see it rising, you're already too late.

MoeslyArmlis has a good graphical representation of the alignment here:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/127795-KSP-Caveman-Challenge!?p=2070705&viewfull=1#post2070705

Also, refer to 5thHorseman's videos.

Good luck!

-Slashy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A question though in order to get to Minmus form Kerbin at which point do i need to burn, when i see it rising form the horizon?

That's what I did and it worked well enough. The hard part was to actually spot it -- it's so small.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i am attemptung this challenge and i am 3/4 away from finishing it. It is a real challenge to make a rocket with 18t/30 parts but it's a lot of fun. A question though in order to get to Minmus form Kerbin at which point do i need to burn, when i see it rising form the horizon?

It can work but you'll probably be ariving a tad early and want to go a bit past minmus's orbit so you linger for a bit. Idealy you want to burn a bit before it comes over the horizon by about 30s to a minute. for the easiest intercept asumeing an equitorial orbit pan the map so you see mun's orbit as a flat ring and see where minmus's orbit crosses it, this tells you where you want to burn from. If you consider those two intersection points 12:00 and 6:00 wait till minmus reaches about 1:30 and burn from 6:00. you'll probably still have to correct a bit at your AP to catch the SOI but you'll be close.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lander - (6 Part Launched)

- Lander Payload

- "poodle" upper stage Core

- 4x "skipper" boosters

Science module - (1 Part Launched)

- Standard caveman 18ton launch

Space tug 1 (8 part Launched)

- Space Tug Payload

- "poodle" upper stage Core

- 6x "skipper" boosters

Space tug 2 (8 part Launched)

- Space Tug Payload

- "poodle" upper stage Core

- 6x "skipper" boosters

23 launched parts total

- 1x combined payload and launch vehicle

- 3x dedicated payload

- 3x "poodle" upper stage Cores

- 16x "skipper" boosters

+ 7 Carts used for building, recovered after used.

*Lifted 40 tons into orbit.*

Javascript is disabled. View full album

With hindsight I think I could of done this with 1/2 the launched parts. I didn't need 3 cores on my Lander I could have done it with one which would have meant it could be launch without its 4 boosters and only needed 1 space Tug.

I've started work on my mk4, Carts now only use liquid fuel engines to go forwards and now use RCS for reverse which means I don't have to mess around turning engines on and off. I got 3 parts back from the core upper stage part by removing SAS, one of the launch clamps and combining the 2 fuel tanks into one big one (even if I don’t have the mass to fill it) and I'm using these 3 parts to try to do cross feeding.

Also I've now named my launch vehicle: Raven, I was calling it epic (because of the size not how cool I think it was) I want to make 3 types:

Raven 3 - 1 core + 2 boosters, (maybe with kicker stage in the payload)

Raven 5 - 1 core + 4 boosters

Raven 7 - 1 core + 6 boosters

Once I got them working I'll share them with build and launch instructions.

Thanks to MoeslyArmlis for suggesting RCS on the carts and fuel ducts on docking ports to get asparagus staging. (I'll let you know if it works)

And Thanks to GoSlash27 for posting this challenge.

PS:

42 docking events:

on Kerbin:

16: docking boosters onto carts

3: docking core stage onto carts

3: docking core stage onto payload

16: docking boosters onto core stage

In low Kerbin orbit:

3: docking 4 parts together.

In Duna orbit:

1: docking lander back to mothership.

Edited by ttnarg
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi GoSlash27 and All :)

I hope there is still a little place in "The cave painting of honor"

I'm a little late on this Challenge, but i enjoyed it a lot !!!

Harder than i thought to make a ship of less than 30 parts and 18t., with all available science parts, without KER and without Precise node to find the Mun or Minmus... pfff...

But very funny :)

Here is the album, with some comments :)

Javascript is disabled. View full album

I hope i can add the badge !

Fly safe with Val :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This thread is quite old. Please consider starting a new thread rather than reviving this one.

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...