KRL-KerbalRacingLeague-Event organizer tools

[DrunkenKerbalnaut]

The aim, scope, intentions of this thread:

Spoiler

TL;DR:

this is just a place to eventually come for a quick set of guidelines to get a race up and going. I'm not the boss. Nobody is. Any and all opinions welcome and equal. 

 

Wall of text:

Some misconceptions about the basis for this thread have arisen, and with this edit I'd like to clarify my own personal attentions as well as I can. This thread, and it's future contents, will be a tool for Race organizers (forum members, any of us) to quickly layout the rules for a ground-based race. Not air based, and likely not water based. In participating, and soon competing in, a particularly busy race thread I've seen an over-tasked OP try to make rules and regs that fit everyone's tastes in what a race can be. Our personal lives trump our gaming lives, and so he has seen difficulty keeping up with the rapidly growing field of competitors. When this thread bares fruit, a future event organizer will be able to copy and paste from a spoilered list of race guidelines that best suit his/her event, and get in with worrying about the event itself. 

THIS IS NOT A METHOD OF LEGISLATING FUTURE RACES IN THIS FORUM. This is a place where we, the racers, will do our best to make a general-use guideline for the rapid and painless setup of a race event. 

ANY AND ALL FORUM USERS, MODERATORS, ADMIN, AND SQUAD STAFF ARE WELCOME. This thread assumes no jurisdiction above forum rules, or social graces in general. No user has appointment or say over another, as this thread only seeks consensus of opinion. Where this particular point doesn't jive with forum rules, just ignore it. Really, just be cordial and respectful. Your opinion is welcome and needed. You don't have to agree with someone, but be respectful. Try to express your opinion concisely. 

I AM NOT THE FINAL SAY ON THESE MATTERS. Really. While I will express my opinion where I deem prudent or humorous, I am -in effect- a servant of your consensus on the matter at hand. 

Want to start a rover-based race, but dont want the headache of managing it? Hopefully we can help. Heres a few cookie-cutter even formats you can use to rapidly start a Kerbal Racing League-style event. By the way, feel free to use that moniker, should you use any of these tools.

Just keep in mind, KRL is a distinction that denotes a race that follows certain guidelines. Those guidelines that define a KRL event will be emboldened for visibility, and accompanied by a small note to that effect. 

You could, ideally, copy/paste the following outlines into your thread, change the necessary fields, and get the race started. Have fun!

EVENT FORMAT
Most will fall under the categories Sprint, Circuit, Staged, or Survival. Heres a a few format headers for your race thread:

SPRINT (Drag races, Hill Climbs, one stage rally, etc...)

Spoiler

Players will start at Point A, and finish at Point B. Players will be timed by means of screenshots at both, showing the rover at 0.0m/s at Point A, and hopefully 100m/s as they blast by the flag/terrain marker/structure/pre-made craft at Point B. Videos are welcome, just be sure to include the screenshots in your submission post, for ease of validation.

Pretty straightforward, right? lets go ahead and flesh out the others:

CIRCUIT (KSC Technical, Meat Grinder, Baton Pass) 

Spoiler

Players will start at Point A, and follow the designated route to complete (#) Laps of the circuit. The necessary route is marked by flag/terrain marker/structure/pre-made craft  along the way, and great attention should be paid so as not to 'cut corners'. Here's a map/video/desription of the route as intended, with acceptable alternate bypasses and shortcuts (if any).
 The player must, at a minimum, submit a screenshot for the following:
[1]Start at Point A, showing the vehicle at 0.0m/s. 
[2]Every time a Lap is completed, and the player passes Point A.
[3]Anytime the player passes any designated Points of Interest. (Try not to go crazy here, but may be helpful for circuit routes that could be easily 'cut'.
[4]As the player crosses the line at Point A for their finish.
Videos are great, but screenshots at a minimum.

 

STAGED (Dakar, Targa, TSD, N. Pole to S. Pole - anything best subdivided)

Spoiler

Players will start at Point A and drive to Point B. This is a stage. The player is expected to submit screenshots of both the start and finish of the stage, as they pass the flag/terrain marker/structure/pre-made craft at Point B . At the start, the vehicles should be stopped at 0.0m/s. At the finish, you should be approaching re-entry speed . Videos are great, but screenshots required for proof, at a minimum.
Upon a stages completion/When the route for the next stage is released/When the race schedules permits, the player will then begin the following stage. Stages will be timed individually for granularity of record-keeping, and general bragging rights, but Class/Event winners are determined by total-event performance and standing. (You may be interested to offer trophies for individual stages, should they offer a particularly unique challenge like vaulting a chasm, or climbing a particularly steep obstacle, or completing it with a kerbal on a ladder).

one more...

SURVIVAL (Easter egg hunt, Fuel efficiency challenge, Stabbing Westward (heh))

Spoiler

Players will start at point A, and drive to the East/towards the compass heading of the day/any way they want/along a determined route. Screenshots are required every hour/day/checkpoint to assess the condition of your vehicle, and the distance travelled. (You may require that the info panel be visible in the screenshot)(Keep in mind that when a Kerbal dismounts a craft, it resets the MET Timer). Videos are welcome, but screenshots are required at a minimum.
The Survival race standings will be decided by whoever travels the farthest/most time/collects the most objects(Easter and KAS/KIS, anyone?)/retains the highest mass fraction after (#) kilometers/Completes the most laps.....(theres alot of options here, and I look forward to what you guys come up with).

 

 

CLASSES:
It will become eveident that placing certain players and vehicles in the same league within your event is a bit unfair. At a minimum, players will choose to play completely stock, as the game is released from SQUAD - or they will want to use various mods to offer them options during the event. This is a good place to start with Classes. It may be necessary to disallow modded vehicles in your race, but realize that will have a drastic effect on the number of entrants. Anyways, heres a few ideas for class division:

Spoiler

Stock/Modded

Solar / Fuel Cell / Jet Propulsion / Hybrid

(with Hybrid classes, its best to round up to their most capable component. For example, a jet propelled train with solar cells strapped to it's fuselage is a Hybrid of Solar and Jet. But it will likely perform much more like other Jet propelled craft, and should be classified as such.)

Terrain Detail Settings
(This can be a source of soreness with potential participants, as some prefer a certain setting. The truth is, it makes for a different course, where cross-country is concerned. Be sure to describe in the OP what level(s) are acceptable, and as a compromise, use it as a way to determine vehicle class.)

Truck/Car/Trike/Motorcycle/Other
A potential way to pay homage to a real-world event is to mimic it's classes. While doing this may allow both Jet and Solar entries in the same class, it may be the right choice for your event. Consider the options.

WHAT MODS ARE ALLOWED?
You are likely to allow modded entries in your event. The question of what is legal is likely to arise. A few permissive levels described below (you may want to mix and match, this is more so you dont miss something). GIVEN A SMALL ENOUGH FIELD OF ENTRANTS, YOU MAY FIND IT EASIER TO APPROVE MODS ON A CASE-BY-CASE BASIS. BEWARE DRAGONS, AS THIS WILL MAKE PLENTY OF WIRK FOR YOU. 

Spoiler

Fully Permissive: any and all mods allowed, refer to class division to understand it's effects on your entry.

Highly Permissive: any and all PUBLICLY AVAILABLE MODS allowed, refer to class division to understand it's effects on your entry.

Moderately Permissive: any mod that closely mimics stock capabilities, like fuel to mass ratios, crash tolerance, EC generation per unit of fuel consumed...

Slightly Restrictive: Mods that add functionality to the game, like KIS/KAS or Infernal Robotics are not allowed. Only Stock-Alike parts and visual mods.

Restrictive: Only mods that add non-performance effecting enhancements. No parts mods unless they serve only to enable visual enhancements or UI features. Keep in mind that this could be an area of interest if you are starting an IVA-only race (you better invite me).

Highly Restrictive: Only visual mods. No HUD/UI enhancements. Scatterer/EVE/Chatterer...

 

Ultimately, you will end up fielding a few questions in this category, as new mods come along and players think outside the box. It's good to be prepared in your OP, but you can t be 100% question-proof. 

 

YOUR RESPONSIBILITY AS EVENT HOST/ORGANIZER

Spoiler

Some of the following may go without saying, but it's easy to overlook things when planning an event. Furthermore, this section will stand as a resource of Good Tips from those who have hosted an event on these forums:

-Is your event actually possible? Prove it. Run it yourself beforehand, if for nothing else but bug-testing. 

-Keep it simple. Where you don't need complexity, don't add it. The race can and will big down on extraneous details. 

-Adding insane levels of difficulty to the event will just scare off competitors. 

OTHER RULES
This will likely become a catch-all section as this thread grows, but we'll use it as a place to discuss other areas of your race you may not have considered. Keep in mind, the less rules the better. This doesnt mean just start an event and expect it to go off without  a hitch because it has #NoRulez. Just try not to be heavy-handed. That will turn away potential competitors.

Spoiler

-Azimechs Boost flaps on jet engines. Required?

-Non-KSC start point. How are players getting to the start point?

-No repairs (maybe no engineer tire repairs? maybe no KAS repairs?

-Replacement vehicles (when is this legal? is it ever?)

-Route recon (can a player scout the route with another vehicle, or test the route before?)

-Team play (can players trade save files in between stages?)

-Deadline for submission (is your event indefinite, or closed on the 5th of next month?)

 

-Can a single person make multiple entries? Can they be entries in the same class? Can this rule be broken for the sake of defending a title (Gold, Silver, Bronze)?

 

MODS THAT MAY HELP YOU MANAGE THE RACE

Spoiler

There's a mod or two around that could help you in time-keeping, route enforcement, and that sort of thing. This will be a list of those.

Races! - It is a Kerbal Space Program mod in which You can build and share air, land and water racetracks and compete to complete them in the shortest possible time. This mod, as decided by co census in this thread, is a requirement of KRL events. It's more convenient than flags, and provides accurate time and route management. 

Stock Visual Terrain - depends on Kopernicus, but adds (among other things) colliders for ground-scatter objects. Ie.: Trees for your rover to kiss @ 40 m/s. 

Watch this space for future edits, ammendments, & pointers.

 

 

Edited December 23, 2016 by DrunkenKerbalnaut

[Triop]

Tips for upcoming organizers:

- Keep it simple so new players won't be scared away.

- Try to use as less rules as you can to avoid discussions.

- Don't make it too hard or long.

- Always test your track first.

[DrunkenKerbalnaut]

It may merge this with the OP, but I'll start: classes. 

I feel that classes should be kept to a minimum so as not to dilute the field of competitors. No less than stock or modded (2).

classes should depict a difference in a vehicles ability to cope with the race conditions. In the case of an event that seeks to copy a real world race (ie.: Dakar), a balance should be made with an eye to not split the competitors too much. If it seems a class will have too few participants, it should be merged with it's nearest class (in both character and performance). 

 

Edited December 22, 2016 by DrunkenKerbalnaut

[mrmcp1]

16 minutes ago, DrunkenKerbalnaut said:

It may merge this with the OP, but I'll start: classes. 

I feel that classes should be kept to a minimum so as not to dilute the field of competitors. No less than stock or modded (2).

classes should depict a drastic difference in either a vehicles ability to cope with the race conditions. In the case of an event that seeks to copy a real world race (ie.: Dakar), a balance should be made with an eye to not split the competitors too much. If it seems a class will have too few participants, it should be merged with it's nearest class (in both character and performance). 

 

I think there should be a few broad classes

Electric, jet, and modded versions of both

I think apart from that design decisions should free

Maybe the same person can enter multiple vehicles in each class so long as they are sufficiently different

[DrunkenKerbalnaut]

1 minute ago, mrmcp1 said:

I think there should be a few broad classes

Electric, jet, and modded versions of both

I think apart from that design decisions should free

Maybe the same person can enter multiple vehicles in each class so long as they are sufficiently different

I agree, but what if we left that third part as event-specific? A short time trial would see 10 participants with like 50 entries. 

[DarkOwl57]

Don't forget about the tier discussion

[mrmcp1]

1 minute ago, DrunkenKerbalnaut said:

I agree, but what if we left that third part as event-specific? A short time trial would see 10 participants with like 50 entries. 

True, didn't think of that. For things of the scale of the dakar it should be ok though

Also events like hill climbs would be interesting 

[DrunkenKerbalnaut]

Just now, DarkOwl57 said:

Don't forget about the tier discussion

I'm getting there. Between this and the other thread, my phone is vibrating like...   Well it's going off a lot haha. 

1 minute ago, mrmcp1 said:

True, didn't think of that. For things of the scale of the dakar it should be ok though

Also events like hill climbs would be interesting 

Ahh, yes. Hill climbs! Haha. 

[DarkOwl57]

3 minutes ago, DrunkenKerbalnaut said:

I'm getting there. Between this and the other thread, my phone is vibrating like...   Well it's going off a lot haha. 

XD

3 minutes ago, DrunkenKerbalnaut said:

Ahh, yes. Hill climbs! Haha. 

Count me... OUT

[mrmcp1]

3 minutes ago, DarkOwl57 said:

Count me... OUT

Most explosions wins?

[DrunkenKerbalnaut]

Keep the convo going, discuss! I'll update the OP as suggestions are made. But I'd like to see people agreeing on a certain matter before it push it, obviously. If you don't care to comment in support of a suggestion, feel free to use the like button. 

[DarkOwl57]

2 minutes ago, mrmcp1 said:

Most explosions wins?

hahahahahha

[regex]

So, for broad vehicle categories, maybe something like the following:

• Electric (solar, fuel cell, direct wheel driven)
• Powered (jets, rockets, what-not, free-spinning wheels)
• Stock Parts
• Modded Parts (for these we focus on parts or part modifications to indicate that beautification and info mods are just UI candy)

Depending on the race it might also be important to note the terrain detail that is required or used by the participant.

[DrunkenKerbalnaut]

Just now, regex said:

So, for broad vehicle categories, maybe something like the following:

• Electric (solar, fuel cell, direct wheel driven)
• Powered (jets, rockets, what-not, free-spinning wheels)
• Stock Parts
• Modded Parts (for these we focus on parts or part modifications to indicate that beautification and info mods are just UI candy)

Depending on the race it might also be important to note the terrain detail that is required or used by the participant.

I'm glad you mentioned terrain. In one if the other threads I mentioned that I felt it should be a divisor for bloated classes, as some people don't have the computer horsepower for this. How do you feel about that?

[DarkOwl57]

Well for the tiers, I was thinking this:

Rally Concept: Holds the Dakar Rally, the KSC 2 to Desert Temple Rally (Desert Dunes Challenge (Subject to change)) and any other long-distance rallies.

Track Concept: Holds the KSCRC (My personal invention) and the Azimech Race Challenge and any other race-track ideas.

The Track Concept is a sort of training league to the Rally Concept (Like GP2 is to F1).

[regex]

For the races themselves, denoting the format would be important.

• Rally
• Track
• Hill Climb
• Survival (Did you finish)
• Time Attack (Best time)
• TSD format (be warned, this might be very hard to pull off in KSP, but there might be mods that can be used)

8 minutes ago, DrunkenKerbalnaut said:

I'm glad you mentioned terrain. In one if the other threads I mentioned that I felt it should be a divisor for bloated classes, as some people don't have the computer horsepower for this. How do you feel about that?

vOv I think it really depends on the race. For track races terrain detail may not matter at all, but a rally or hill climb might require a certain terrain detail (despite computer horsepower). Nothing demands that every race should be for everyone, even if we'd like that. If a more inclusive run is desired then the organizer might want to split the categories for that.

7 minutes ago, DarkOwl57 said:

The Track Concept is a sort of training league to the Rally Concept (Like GP2 is to F1).

Eh, I don't necessarily think that, Track and Rally are different formats, the build skills are different.

Edited December 22, 2016 by regex

[DarkOwl57]

Exactly why there are the tiers; GP2 cars and F1 cars each look different, but they are still part of the same racing type.

Also, this is the Kerbal Racing League; Not the Kerbal Rally League or the Kerbal Driving League.

[DrunkenKerbalnaut]

1 minute ago, regex said:

For the races themselves, denoting the format would be important.

• Rally
• Track
• Hill Climb
• Survival (Did you finish)
• Time Attack (Best time)
• TSD format

vOv I think it really depends on the race. For track races terrain detail may not matter at all, but a rally or hill climb might require a certain terrain detail (despite computer horsepower). Nothing demands that every race should be for everyone, even if we'd like that. If a more inclusive run is desired then the organizer might want to split the categories for that.

Nice. I agree. 

Non Sequitur. : It will be sometime late before I can amend the OP. Trying to keep up with the other threads. 

[Slam_Jones]

Feel free to check out my old go-kart challenge for rule or track ideas.  I have several tracks laid out in KSC, and perhaps a few of the rules may bring up things not previously considered.

My challenge was for very modded rovers, so not all rules need apply!  But feel free to use what's there as something to consider

[regex]

Just now, DarkOwl57 said:

Also, this is the Kerbal Racing League; Not the Kerbal Rally League or the Kerbal Driving League.

Oh, well, I'll just take my leave then, thanks. o/

[DarkOwl57]

Just now, regex said:

Oh, well, I'll just take my leave then, thanks. o/

?

[DrunkenKerbalnaut]

1 minute ago, DarkOwl57 said:

 

Also, this is the Kerbal Racing League; Not the Kerbal Rally League or the Kerbal Driving League.

Wholeheartedly agree

[DoctorDavinci]

3 minutes ago, DarkOwl57 said:

Exactly why there are the tiers; GP2 cars and F1 cars each look different, but they are still part of the same racing type.

Also, this is the Kerbal Racing League; Not the Kerbal Rally League or the Kerbal Driving League.

 

1 minute ago, regex said:

Oh, well, I'll just take my leave then, thanks. o/

I'm with you ...... enjoy the races

Later

Edited December 22, 2016 by DoctorDavinci

[mrmcp1]

7 minutes ago, DarkOwl57 said:

The Track Concept is a sort of training league to the Rally Concept (Like GP2 is to F1).

Different techniques required I would say.

As a sort of training league maybe shprt off road races around the KSC (lots of quite rough sections if you look carefully)

[DarkOwl57]

Just now, mrmcp1 said:

Different techniques required I would say.

As a sort of training league maybe shprt off road races around the KSC (lots of quite rough sections if you look carefully)

Well in the KSCRC and the Azimech challenge, there are some off-road bits. (Look at flags 1 and 2 of Azimech and the Rally/All-Star courses in the KSCRC)