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Shuttle Challenge v5 - The STS thread [Stock and Mod Friendly] - MAJOR CHALLENGE ANNOUNCEMENT! - 30.3.2020


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3 hours ago, Kerbolitto said:

I think I'll restart this challenge from scratch, I've made a larger / better / faster / morebooster shuttle some weeks ago and I may have the time to fly a few missions here and there..

Go for it!
Will be interesting if your collected experience will result in different approaches for the missions :)

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6 months ago, after weeks of tackling with this, dozens of design changes, hundreds of explosions, I decided to give up

Now coming back with more experience, I've decided to take one more and now it's actually promising

Should expect this to be active in a week or so

OPV3Nfy.png

Edited by TM31D2475
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16 minutes ago, TM31D2475 said:

6 months ago, after weeks of tackling with this, dozens of design changes, hundreds of explosions, I decided to give up

Now coming back with more experience, I've decided to take one more and now it's actually promising

Should expect this to be active in a week or so

Will look forward to seeing your entries.

Did you realize you posted the same picture 2x above?

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Looking good! My Munmoth mission has been delayed due to RL concerns, such as my kid starting kindergarten. I was also having extreme lag on launch (like 2-3 FPS!), but I finally figured out it was due to the Trajectories mod being enabled. I disabled it on launch and ascent and enabled it again for descent and it seemed fine. Maybe the combination of highish part count, all the extra physics that entails, Trajectories' own calculations, and my potato computer just couldn't handle it all.

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My first ever "successful" space shuttle, the Atlantis.

https://imgur.com/a/xQugP5PI

Why name it the Atlantis, you may ask? I am truly horrible at naming stuff, and I watched Aquaman the day before making this. No relation to the real life shuttle Atlantis or the underwater empire of Atlantis.

Edited by DRAG0Nmon
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3 hours ago, 4x4cheesecake said:

@Kerbolitto Truly, some amazing work and a very capable shuttle. Thanks for sharing your second run on these mission :)

Thanks a lot, glad you like it :). I've already designed a special deep space and a Tylo capable variants !

I might fly STS 5-8 space station this weekend, I can also make a presentation of my standard shuttle and the small tricks I learned.

Edited by Kerbolitto
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23 minutes ago, Kerbolitto said:

a Tylo capable variants

WIth or without refuelling?^^

25 minutes ago, DRAG0Nmon said:

My first ever "successful" space shuttle, the Atlantis.

https://imgur.com/a/xQugP5P

Welcome to the challenge :)

I'm always glad to see some new pilots here and you even build a MK2 shuttle...we had just a few of them so far :)

Your flight looks very controlled from the launch until the landing, well done!

Before I can reward you a badge, I'll need a complete mod list from you (if you have any installed). Also, while screenshots without the UI look very nice, they are not the best choice to actually prove your achievements during a mission. Right now, I have absolute no idea if you actually reached an orbit (can be an suborbital flight as well) or if you have used an autopilot or an infinite fuel cheat. I'm always inclined to trust everyone who submits an entry but sometimes someone missed or misinterpreted a rule or mission requirements, so I need a way to check this. The UI and sometimes a screenshot of the map view (in this case to show an actual orbit) would be nice to see ;)
So, if you want to submit even more mission reports, please keep this in mind :)

This time, like I said, I'll just trust you but if you have a quicksave after your orbiter reached space, it would be also nice to post another screenshot of the orbit in your map view ;)

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11 hours ago, 4x4cheesecake said:

WIth or without refuelling?^^

With refuelling, Mk3 bays and tanks are too much of a dead weight to get enough thrust and the required dV on Tylo. It should have 1.3 / 1.4TWR on Tylo with something like 2k8k dV on double Vectors + 400m/s on nukes for orbital maneuvers!

 

Here is a presentation of my Standard ShOrPa, I've highlighted a few details of its design :

 

Base stats with no cargo : 570dV / 0.95TWR on 6 Rapiers then 2900dV / 0.26TWR on 4 Nervs, tons of monoprop, can land on bad surfaces, is SSTO capable from Kerbin & Laythe. Each short Mk3 fuel fuselages are modulable (Lf or Lf/Ox) depending on the situation. It is also possible to add 1.25m. tanks along the main fuselage between the engine pods, I will see if some missions requires more dV or a different set of engines! =) 

 

DTyiHy2.jpg

Red circles : double set of landing gears the big ones are used for take-off / landing and can be retracted to use the smaller ones, which have turning capability. Also the aft set can be utilised for more stability when landing on crappy surfaces (high speed across Duna's hills).

Blue line : I've placed a large reaction wheel in the Mk3, then a 2.5 fairing with interstage nodes active and a Sr dock. Inside the wheel are placed a few battery and a probe and the fairing adds many nodes to install cargo in the first part of the bay.

Green circle : I've put fairings to close the Mk3 > 2.5m. adapter, they have better aerodynamics and heat resistance than 2.5 > 1.25m. fuel tanks, and I use the empty space to put more batteries and a pre-cooler.

Also solar panels are installed on a telescopic cylinder, so they are farther from the shadow of the shuttle!

Jqs5zFW.jpg

Light blue circle : aft landing gear.

Orange circles : I put tail connectors to install Rapiers, they are heat resitant and provide a node at the end. Only problem is that the engines are not very well protected during re-entry. Also you can get a glimpse of the small nose cones I put on the aft nodes of the Rapiers & Nervs engines, to reduce drag.

Purple circle : Monoprop tanks on the ceiling of the cargo ramp, and more solar panels which can be use while the craft is on the ground. There are also 2 radial parachutes under the tanks.

Green boxes : Double elevator, tons of pitch!

Edited by Kerbolitto
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4 hours ago, 4x4cheesecake said:

WIth or without refuelling?^^

Welcome to the challenge :)

I'm always glad to see some new pilots here and you even build a MK2 shuttle...we had just a few of them so far :)

Your flight looks very controlled from the launch until the landing, well done!

Before I can reward you a badge, I'll need a complete mod list from you (if you have any installed). Also, while screenshots without the UI look very nice, they are not the best choice to actually prove your achievements during a mission. Right now, I have absolute no idea if you actually reached an orbit (can be an suborbital flight as well) or if you have used an autopilot or an infinite fuel cheat. I'm always inclined to trust everyone who submits an entry but sometimes someone missed or misinterpreted a rule or mission requirements, so I need a way to check this. The UI and sometimes a screenshot of the map view (in this case to show an actual orbit) would be nice to see ;)
So, if you want to submit even more mission reports, please keep this in mind :)

This time, like I said, I'll just trust you but if you have a quicksave after your orbiter reached space, it would be also nice to post another screenshot of the orbit in your map view ;)

The craft is entirely stock, and it wasn’t too stable of a landing. To avoid the cabin heating up, i had to eep gently pitching up and down. I accidentally Pitched up too far at about 20k up, and Bill passed out. Val had to keep the craft under control until 5k altitude when Bill woke up again. He asked Valentina to keep it a secret, but I found out. Also, if you need I  can post another 1 or 2 pictures with the UI up, though I’m not sure how many of those I have.

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6 hours ago, Kerbolitto said:

Here is a presentation of my Standard ShOrPa, I've highlighted a few details of its design :

I noticed a few things already in your reports but I missed the double gears and other small details like the fairings. It's definitely noticeable you did these missions before and thought a lot steps ahead in for your design, just brilliant :) 

Do you plan to land on Tylo during the Jool STS - 1or did you just try to build a shuttle which theoretically can land there?^^

 

1 hour ago, DRAG0Nmon said:

The craft is entirely stock, and it wasn’t too stable of a landing. To avoid the cabin heating up, i had to eep gently pitching up and down. I accidentally Pitched up too far at about 20k up, and Bill passed out. Val had to keep the craft under control until 5k altitude when Bill woke up again. He asked Valentina to keep it a secret, but I found out. Also, if you need I  can post another 1 or 2 pictures with the UI up, though I’m not sure how many of those I have.

Yeah, the heating can be an issue on MK2 parts. Haven't used them for quiet some time for a spaceplane or shuttle but if I remember correctly, a shallow reentry trajectory should help ;) 

Don't worry about additional screenshots this time. If you have one from the map view or with a mission time above > 30min, feel free to add it anyway for the sake of completeness but I'll trust you in this case. Just keep it in mind for the next mission and I really hope, there will be one ;)

So congratulations to your first badge :)

YgXYW8T.jpg?1

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2 hours ago, 4x4cheesecake said:

 

Yeah, the heating can be an issue on MK2 parts. Haven't used them for quiet some time for a spaceplane or shuttle but if I remember correctly, a shallow reentry trajectory should help ;) 

Don't worry about additional screenshots this time. If you have one from the map view or with a mission time above > 30min, feel free to add it anyway for the sake of completeness but I'll trust you in this case. Just keep it in mind for the next mission and I really hope, there will be one ;)

So congratulations to your first badge :)

YgXYW8T.jpg?1

Thanks, next mission will have more information!

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4 hours ago, 4x4cheesecake said:

I noticed a few things already in your reports but I missed the double gears and other small details like the fairings. It's definitely noticeable you did these missions before and thought a lot steps ahead in for your design, just brilliant :) 

Do you plan to land on Tylo during the Jool STS - 1or did you just try to build a shuttle which theoretically can land there?^^

Thank you :)

The second set of gears is very helpfull to land on Duna because it greatly mitigates bumps when landing at high speed, and of course to easily turn the craft on the ground before take off :p

Fairings were a eureka moment :p It just looks cooler than the stubby conic fuel tank, + it's empty and I can put various stuff inside (non SSTO variants will likely hold more batteries for Jool's missions) : D

I've designed 2 or 3 shuttles since the last time I played this challenge, and I just wanted to pack everything I've learned into this design, to avoid building a dozen of variants. As of now, there are only the Standard (Rapiers SSTO), the DeepSpace (Wolfhounds) and Hi-Thrust (Vectors) versions which should cover every missions. :)

I'll probably fly another Jool5 along Laythe's outpost mission, it was so much fun last time !

Edited by Kerbolitto
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2 hours ago, DRAG0Nmon said:

https://imgur.com/a/rcXSzZH

Complete stock craft, only mod used was Kerbal Alarm Clock to warp to a maneuver.

Glad to see you back so soon but unfortunately, I have some bad news for you.

First of all, you are not qualified to submit an entry for STS - 4/4R yet, because of rule #10:

Quote

10.  Missions must be completed in the logical order unless you are certified from either STS v1, v2, v3 or v4 challenges to the relevant level, except for the "Test pilot" missions.

You have to do STS - 2a and STS - 3 first.

Beside of that, I wouldn't allow another report which misses pictures of critical phases of the mission, in this case, the launches of both shuttles. When you get distracted by the phone, you can still pause the game ;) (I personally like to record my flights, so I can take screenshots after everything is done.)

Finally, I'm a bit disappointed to see so many mod icons on your screenshots, after I've asked for a complete mod list the last time and you didn't mention any of them. While you are probably technically correct and you only used kerbal alarm clock, I would love to see the whole list anyway so I can put you in the correct category. All the mods I can see so far, would still allow you to earn the stock badge though but not every mod has an icon...

You may want to consider to setup a separate install for the challenge and install just the mods you actually need and want to use. Since it looks like you're having a little performance issue (yellow clock), this would probably even increase your FPS :)

 

17 minutes ago, ZZetho said:
Spoiler

64eCmQL.jpg

i will try this challenge as well. 

Wow, that's a huge, great looking shuttle! Looking forward to see your first mission report :)

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