Kerbal Foundries vs KerbinSide Air-Race: Antigrav race near KSC

[AlphaAsh]

Next race at Black Krags sounds awesome! Dunno if I will stick to FAR though, 2 control surfaces only is harsh.

In any case... Race you there! Everything that qualified for round one goes. Last one at Krags buys the Food.

I'm serious, my time is 19 Minutes 14 Seconds from KSC Runway to Black Krags Start Gate.

PS:

Don't

http://cdn.meme.li/i/ii18e.jpg

Love.

Good news is the latest Air-Race I put out this morning has launchpoints near the race starts now, so you don't even need KerbinSide.

Still very tempted to repulsor there from KSC though. Don't fly you fools, indeed.

[Jatwaa]

I tried...and tried and this one kept getting the better of me.

5 mins is the best I got

But...stay tuned for a Maritime version of Fast and the Kerbalus...soooon

[the_bT]

I just found out that I will not likely be able to compete in next weeks race

However, I already built a craft that is legal within the drafted rules and tried how fast it will go. Made it through the Black Krags course in 3:23 using stock Aero.

I present, the R3b-SC Land-Speeder:

As I may no longer use fairings to hide the repulsors away, I had to get creative. I tried to avoid clipping parts into each other as much as possible while still make it look good. Red paint is to make it faster.

Additional speed enhancements include but are not limited to playing

to the pilot continuously.

[greydragon70]

I just found out that I will not likely be able to compete in next weeks race

However, I already built a craft that is legal within the drafted rules and tried how fast it will go. Made it through the Black Krags course in 3:23 using stock Aero.

Sorry to hear that as you were the one I've been trying to beat. That is a pretty craft, I like it. My current best run at Black Crag is 2:07.12. Still hoping you'll be able to enter part 2.

[the_bT]

Damn you're quick.

Had to build a new speeder, the red one has to much crap hanging all over it, no way it could go that fast...

Took some inspiration from one of your earlier videos, seems there is not much room for design at this level. To beat that time the craft has to go up to 400m/s without problem and much faster on the straight. Could not find a general design that would fit the bill better than yours.

The result is this:

I tried my best to get as much ground contact as possible, but it was pointless. Could barely make sure to touch down once between gates.

I made it through in 1:38 (0:22 to 2:00) like this... (see edit below)

Top speed across the plains towards the finish line got up to 834 m/s, this design of yours is crazy fast

Just to clarify: I'm leaving town on Thursday morning early and will not return until the 9th of August or so. No access to a computer that can run KSP during the trip unfortunately. So if the challenge goes up next weekend, I can't be in it. If it goes up in the first half of the week I think I can work something out.

Edit: Tried to reproduce the time of 1:38 and couldn't, the craft simply won't go as fast as it did in my earlier attempt. It tops out at 440m/s when it went beyond 800 before.

I'm not sure why but I suspect the cheat menu to be involved. In the video I took, the infinite fuel cheat seems to be active.

In any case, did 2 more laps confirmed cheat free and made it through in 2:02 and 1:58. Both laps were legal within the drafted rules, with at least one ground contact between each gate and passing the gates lower than the line between the tips of the pylons.

One more Edit:

I figured out why the infinite fuel cheat made the craft go faster, the engine was not getting enough air without it. I have fixed that and got my time down to 1:41 again. BTW how did you time yourself to a tenth of a second?

Video:

Now I realize I'm airborne like half the time, but what can a Kerbal do?

Edited July 20, 2015 by the_bT

[greydragon70]

Damn you're quick.

Took some inspiration from one of your earlier videos, seems there is not much room for design at this level. To beat that time the craft has to go up to 400m/s without problem and much faster on the straight. Could not find a general design that would fit the bill better than yours.

...this design of yours is crazy fast

Just to clarify: I'm leaving town on Thursday morning early and will not return until the 9th of August or so. No access to a computer that can run KSP during the trip unfortunately. So if the challenge goes up next weekend, I can't be in it. If it goes up in the first half of the week I think I can work something out.

In any case, did 2 more laps confirmed cheat free and made it through in 2:02 and 1:58. Both laps were legal within the drafted rules, with at least one ground contact between each gate and passing the gates lower than the line between the tips of the pylons.

I figured out why the infinite fuel cheat made the craft go faster, the engine was not getting enough air without it. I have fixed that and got my time down to 1:41 again. BTW how did you time yourself to a tenth of a second?

Thanks, but you know you can't use my design in a race right? This is not meant to be a cool design, it was meant to be the most basic stripped down craft I could make. What is your aero settings? I don't get the mach effects like you do, might be one of my mods. Sorry to hear you'll be out of town.

The Air Race mod has been updated with a timer and launch sites by the start points. So you no longer need to either hyper edit or fly all the way there from KSC.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ij9s3ez6bkf53rg/black%20ridge%202m7.12s.mp4?dl=0

[AlphaAsh]

I've tried the twin but can't keep the damn thing grounded so I'm back to quad designs. I'm trying a diamond setup with twin hulls on top of each other which is proving... novel. Still in testing. No way is it going to be in the same league as the twin repulsors though.

She's called the Fat Belly.

I've also got the Twindy on standby. Similar concept but with a more traditional quad setup.

Edited July 20, 2015 by AlphaAsh

[greydragon70]

I've tried the twin but can't keep the damn thing grounded so I'm back to quad designs. I'm trying a diamond setup with twin hulls on top of each other which is proving... novel. Still in testing. No way is it going to be in the same league as the twin repulsors though.

Aaaaaaaallllllphaaaa!???!! Why you make tracks harder??? LOL Just updated.

Wow so much drag... too many things sticking out.

Yes my "Lawn Dart" is pretty quick but kinda hard to control.(not happy about someone copying my design buuuuuut.....) You have to hit the hills just right or BOOM. If you would like I could give you some secrets of my craft... hit me up on facebook. https://www.facebook.com/GreyDragon70?fref=nf I'm down around 22 parts and ran a 1:49 to day at Black Krags.

Edited July 21, 2015 by greydragon70
poor spelling

[Signo]

The diamond setup works wonders to me.

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I think this is going to be a very fun race.

[the_bT]

Aaaaaaaallllllphaaaa!???!! Why you make tracks harder??? LOL Just updated.

Wow so much drag... too many things sticking out.

Yes my "Lawn Dart" is pretty quick but kinda hard to control.(not happy about someone copying my design buuuuuut.....) You have to hit the hills just right or BOOM. If you would like I could give you some secrets of my craft... hit me up on facebook. https://www.facebook.com/GreyDragon70?fref=nf I'm down around 22 parts and ran a 1:49 to day at Black Krags.

Well I did not technically copy your design, I merely used the same basic formula that is cockpit, fuel, engine, two repulsors somewhere, air intakes as needed, nothing else. In any case, I would not have felt comfortable entering a race in it anyway.

I had some trouble balancing the intakes after I went from one to three. I had them fairly far back, which as it turns out makes them act as stabilizers due to the lift force they generate when at high speed. This was a problem with just one at the top, keeping me from turning tight. I did not realize it was the air intakes fault though, thinking it to be an inevitable result of being very fast. With 3 at 120° around the craft however, it kept the thing dead straight, yaw and pitch, when at speed.

As this had not been the case with just one I realized this was related to the body lift of the intakes. Moving them forward so this force has less of a lever around the CoM reduces their stabilizing effect to near zero, instead, they limit drifting, which is nice.

Additionally, if you look closely, you will notice that my intakes are placed backwards, which does limit their intake a bit, but reduces air resistance to almost nothing. If oriented this way, their air resistance is even lower then when they are closed. The limited air intake seems negligible compared to the lowered drag, at least at or near sea level.

Finally, the repulsor configuration follows from the simple fact that there is no other place to stick them easily. At least not without adding extra parts which will add drag and weight.

Additionally, it seems that the wing configuration increases the shock your craft can take because it is easier to hit the ground with both at the same time. With a bicycle configuration, you will usually hit the ground back first. Also of concern is hitting a bump only with the back repulsor because this can lead to an inconvenient front flip. Objectively, between the two cardinal twin configuration, wing is just better. It might be harder to fly and balance out, but if you manage to it will be faster.

In the end, there is bound to be an optimal design and it is bound to consist of a very limited number of parts. There are only so many ways to stick them together

My craft is made up from 12 parts:

1 cockpit

1 battery pack

2 small tanks

2 sas units

1 whiplash turbojet

2 repulsors

3 structural intakes

I probably could exchange the small rocket fuel tanks for one liquid only tank but it would entail a complete rebalancing so why bother...

[greydragon70]

hmmm never knew intakes had lift. That explains a few things, with 4 intakes in handles like a dream. With 3 it won't turn as tight but goes faster. Went back to the KSC track last night and ran a blistering 2:15 with a top speed just over 800m/s. Did'nt have my recorder on though.

[LitaAlto]

I'm probably not starting the race until next week at the earliest. Work has been destroying my brain, and I'm having a weird CKAN issue that's complicating my KSP play.

Also, I'm worried that you all will have polished designs and test runs well under your belt before I announce, were I to stick with the draft rules. I'm trying to figure out how to make the challenge more challenging, and at the same time discourage things like hidden repulsors or an over-reliance on anything but the repulsors.

So--expect curve balls.

Edited July 22, 2015 by LitaAlto

[HafCoJoe]

This reminds me an awful lot of a game called Tribes Ascend...

[Soda Popinski]

Here is the promised Podracer Crash Compilation and Build Process video. It's a bit long, but a lot of it is the race that you'll likely skip.

PS, LitaAlto, since Podracers are in a class all their own. A stupidly slow class, I want to see how well other players can do. I'm planning on totally ripping off this challenge, but making it Podracer specific.

Edited July 22, 2015 by Soda Popinski

[LitaAlto]

IT HAS BEGUN.

Details at http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/130403