1.2 G-force tourism - suborbital or orbital is kinda borked

[ringerc]

Hi all

I've been playing with 1.2 and the G-force option. It's fun once you turn the tolerance down enough that you have to start actually caring about it; the defaults are very forgiving.

However, I'm pretty stuck on a contract to get two tourists to fall unconscious while sub-orbital. It doesn't accept them losing consciousness in a flight that then becomes sub-orbital, nor losing consciousness on re-entry. They must lose consciousness while sub-orbital.

The problem is that KSP doesn't consider Gs from centrifugal (go away nit-pickers) force. I built a rocket-powered centrifuge that got the tourist module out on the end of a beam spinning so fast the navball was just flashing. Nope, they didn't care, and nor did the parts, even though they would've really been turned to a thin paste on the walls before the whole thing fell apart.

So you have to use linear acceleration. But none of the reasonable-sized engines have the grunt; KSP doesn't have very high TWR short-burn engines so you have to fake it with under-fuelled big boosters. So you need lots of boosters and/or to launch a truly ridiculous engine with a teeny amount of fuel. At .5-g tolerance I could do it with 4 Hammer SRBs each fueled to 1/3 to optimise TWR, but launching that is a pain. Two S1 SRBs launching a 3rd fueled to ~20% did the job better. But it's an expensive pain relative to the utter pittance that tourism contracts pay - and "turn my brain to paste while in orbit" ones don't pay a useful amount more. If you start your blackout burn while still in high atmosphere you have to time it carefully so the lose consciousness after you reach 70k, since *being* unconscious or *regaining* consciousness when in space isn't good enough, you must *lose* consciousness in space.

Right now a player on default G-force settings will have to launch a cluster of 8 part-fueled Hammer SRBs or something absurd, which means a pretty serious vessel just to get them up there.

I really think this is a bug as it stands. Since rotational Gs don't count, either these missions should count losing consciousness in flight after sub-orbital, pay a LOT more, or just not be generated. Even if the tourists were made to have more easily squished little brains it'd still be too hard on default G tolerance.

What I really want of course is rotational G to count so I can rocket-centrifuge their little brains to mush. But I'm pretty sure that's tricky for the physics system.

Is it meant to be this tough and unrewarding, or is it just not quite baked yet?

Screenshots: http://imgur.com/a/semhA

This finally worked:

 

 

This ... I really wish this had. Or the version I originally did that launched into orbit, anyway. But no centrifugal G force = no kerbal paste at 200+ rpm:

Ignition! It's not exploding, it's meant to look like that. Really.

See the pretty green G meter?

... even though it's spinning so fast it's stretching out impossibly:

 

Oh, also, thanks for the awesome Linux support and lack of DRM. I bought a second copy just because you guys rock and I've been playing since 0.8.x. The 1.2 update fixes the Intel graphics driver issues too

Edited October 16, 2016 by ringerc
screenshots

[FancyMouse]

Use Flea with 20%~30% fuel and minimize payload. 7 such Flea can do 2 pods without problems (at 1.0 tolerance - I haven't optimized so you might be able to do with fewer). For suborbital, all you need is to lift this structure to space and fire. I imagine Vectors can also do but they're kind of late in career and more expensive, and I haven't tested it yet.

Edited October 16, 2016 by FancyMouse

[Plusck]

I (just) managed with 4 fleas, minimum fuel load, on a crew cabin. However, one of the tourists was a bit tougher than the other and that didn't quite work for him with all the nosecones, parachutes, probe core and heatshield (stupid, the heatshield, I must admit). Building lighter and caring less about his return to Kerbin worked fine.

Try it just on the launchpad - if it works or even almost works there (with drag reducing acceleration) it'll work in space.

[bewing]

I'm afraid I don't really understand. One flea + OKTO + an MK1 crew pod + a couple fins + some parachutes can hit 15+ Gs -- which is almost enough to black out Jeb, even. Get that just above 70km, traveling upward at 600 m/s, point the nose down, and light the sucker.

Edited October 16, 2016 by bewing

[ringerc]

The key here appears to be separatrons. They're KSP's only short-burn booster, offering great TWR without lugging a bunch of mostly-dry booster. Whacking 8 separatrons on almost anything gives it spectacular acceleration even in atmosphere.

I still want Kerbal centrifuges.

[StahnAileron]

Crap... I have a contract for 5 kerbals in-orbit G-LOCing... I either need one ridiculous craft or will have to do this like 5 times with something simpler. This is going to be bigger loss of time than I thought. (I don't like cancelling contracts after I accept them.) I came here hoping someone had luck with the centrifuge method... Oh well, back to the drawing and planning board.

[bewing]

I'm certain you can do it two at a time. The question is whether 4 might work -- depends what the tourists can handle.