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The Mobile Base Challenge


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The Mobile Base Challenge

Not open yet, looking for feedback on rules before going live

I've always been fascinated by large mobile bases and the even larger rockets needed to launch them. To this end, I've decided to have a go at creating a challenge involving them. The rules are designed to create large, self-sufficient mobile bases.

Preliminary Rules

1. Stock parts only. This includes any part editing via ModuleManager or otherwise except for as defined below with adding approved modules to capsules.

As much as I love mods, it's much simpler to score and share craft files if everything is stock. If there's enough interest, I might consider adding a modded craft category later since there are some pretty cool wheels/tracks/etc in mods.

2. Information and autopilot mods are allowed.

MechJeb, Kerbal Engineer, Throttle Controlled Avionics, and other information/autopilot mods that don't alter the parts are fine. If using MechJeb (or other information mods that require parts to function), please use a module manager config (like MechJeb and Engineer For All) to add it to the command pods instead of using the MechJeb parts.

3. Stock solar system only.

There's some cool alternative solar systems out there that provide a lot more challenge, but I don't want to have to come up with planet score multipliers for all of them. If someone else wants to extend this challenge to include modded planets, go for it.

4. Mobile base must be able to drive on the surface of a planet using electric rover wheels. Additional rockets/jet engines/landing gear are fine if you want your base to be capable of higher speeds on appropriate terrain or be amphibious.

5. Mobile base must be self-sufficient and include power generation, ISRU, drills, ore tanks, and at least one of each fuel tank type (for refuelling other craft if the base doesn't make use of the fuel itself). There should be enough energy generation/batteries to allow 24/7 operation (drilling, refining, science research) on the target planet. If you need to use fuel cells to get through the night, that's fine.

6. Mobile base must include the following parts:

  1. At least four electric rover wheels
  2. At least one science lab
  3. At least one ISRU refinery module
  4. At least one drill
  5. Enough space for at least 8 kerbals
  6. At least one of each fuel tank type
    1. LOX capacity should be at least equivalent to the 1.25m long tank
    2. Monoprop capacity should be equivalent to 1.25m inline tank
    3. Ore capacity should be at least equivalent to one 2.5m tank
    4. Xenon capacity should be at least equivalent to one 1.25m tank
  7. At least one probe core
  8. At least one of the largest comm antennas

7. Mobile base must be launched into orbit, flown to the planet, and landed on the planet. No hyperedit/cheat menu shenanigans outside of testing. Orbital and in-situ assembly is acceptable for very large bases.

 

Preliminary Scoring (Please help with this based on relative difficulty)

Point multipliers based on target planet:

Minmus: 0.5x

Mun: 1.0x

Eve/Duna/Ike/Dres: 1.5x

Laythe/Eeloo/Moho: 2.0x

Tylo: 3.0x

Bonus points:

Base is capable of short range powered hops on target world:

Multiplier based on world (help with this)

Base is amphibious on Eve/Laythe:

Help me determine this

Base is capable of launching into orbit from target world and flying to another planet:

Lots of bonus points, based on world (if you manage this on Eve, you win).

 

Submission Requirements:

Pictures of your craft in a VAB, on the launchpad, after each staging event to orbit, doing the interplanetary transfer, doing the landing deorbit burn, just before landing, and once the rover has landed. Extra pictures and video are always welcome. If your rover is built using multiple launches, have pictures at each of the above stages for each distinct craft up until they're added to the main base.

Craft file is also required to validate entry. If you rover requires multiple launches, include all craft files.

 

As you can see, this challenge is still a WIP. Any and all help is appreciated with ironing out these rules. Later this weekend I'll put together my own craft to demonstrate the challenge.

Edited by Lord Aurelius
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Mun should be in the same point class as Eve and Duna IMO, atmospheric planets are way easier for landing rovers. Should be 1 point for Minmus, 2 for Mun/Gilly/Ike/Duna/Eve, 2.5 for Laythe/pol/bop/Dres, 3 for Vall, 3.5 for Eeloo, 4 for Moho, 5 for Tylo. 

Also, why the heck does a mobile base require one of every fuel tank? Or any fuel capacity at all for that matter. This rule means that every mobile base I've ever made wouldn't qualify. There's far too much stipulation on what modules are required. Give people a little creative freedom here.

Edited by Matt Lowne
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6 hours ago, Lord Aurelius said:

4. Mobile base must be able to drive on the surface of a planet using electric rover wheels

IMHO, Laythe should be an exception to this. So, a mobile base on Laythe should be able to move around, but not necessarily on the surface. Bonus points could be added for dual capabilities.

Also, bonus points for landing near or around Easter eggs? (Might spoil them for some though)

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I have a mobile base on Moho that covers all of your stipulations except that I think it only seats 5 or 7. I didn't document the journey, as it wasn't for a challenge, but I can easily make it a bit bigger to seat the extra Kerbals and send it again. Also, I just realized it doesn't have a xenon tank, because I don't use Ion vessels (or nukes, for that matter). It has lf/o and monopropellent though, because it is also a mobile refueler for Moho landers. The entire reason I built it was to refuel missions going to and from Moho. I build and fly without delta v information, so travels to Moho became a bit frustrating. It became my personal nemesis for awhile. The huge difference in speed from its Ap to its Pe were giving me fits. I twice stranded ships there and finally decided to send an all-in-one base there to refuel any failed missions until I got the hang of the place. It's worked out well and I really like the concept; mostly for cool-factor.

And as far as point-modifiers. I would definitely not put Mun in the same class as Eve, as was suggested above. Traveling to another planet should actually count for something. Not to mention that, to land a ship large enough to hold 8 Kerbals (and not in command seats), plus the lab, the drills, the converter, and everything else needed, would not be something equal to launching and landing an identical base on Mun. Not even close. The same could be said for Duna and Ike for that matter.

Edited by Cpt Kerbalkrunch
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A short hop could mean 5 minutes (or some time) of flight time at 1.0 TWR or higher (or lower, if using wings?) for that world.  Amphibious could mean it can travel 20km (or some distance) across water before needing to refuel.

I agree that the tank capacity for fuels is sort of arbitrary?  For example, I usually don't transport ore in a mining operation - all of my mining ships also have a converter, so I only put the smallest ore tank on.  Also on Laythe, Eve, or Tylo, there's no chance that an ion craft will need to be refueled at the base - it can't get there in the first place.

 

I'm sure everyone will disagree on what multipliers are best, but what number is being multiplied?  Do you start with a score of 1 for meeting the requirements?

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Thanks for the feedback guys.

When I thought about what I was trying to accomplish with this challenge some more, I realized that I not only want to see gigantic mobile bases, but also practical ones (which is where I was going with all the arbitrary part requirements). So I was thinking that maybe it would be a good idea to split this up into two separate challenges. One would be focused on building a "practical" mobile base that would be a useful mobile lab in career mode, the other would be more of an anything goes, with bigger the better.

The practical science bases would use lowest mass as their base score. Bonus points would be awarded for features like suborbital hop ability, being amphibious, or having a dockable smaller science rover/hopper to go out and grab samples. This challenge would have required parts of a science lab, space for 3 kerbals (engineer plus two scientists for the lab), one of each science experiment, and the ability to be self-sufficient. If it's purely electric driven, then ISRU and fuel is unnecessary. If the base is powered by jet engines or rockets (like an amphibious base, or one capable of very high speeds using landing gear), or capable of suborbital hops or has a dockable vehicle that uses the fuel, then it needs to have ISRU so it can be fully self-sufficient.

The anything goes challenge would be more about building big, with different categories for single-launch and assembled-in-orbit. In this case, the larger base wins with bonus points for aesthetics (not sure how to objectively score this though) and features like the ability to pack up and fly back into orbit. Think Atlantis from Stargate.

All bases should have electric wheels they can use for low-speed maneuvering. This goes for amphibious bases as well so they can drive out of the water. I'm willing to make an exception for Laythe where the base doesn't have to have wheels if it has a dockable vehicle that does since the islands are fairly small.

Any dockable companion vehicles that go with these bases would also be worth bonus points (any suggestions on how to score this?).

As far as score multiplier for each planet goes, I was thinking that maybe as a side project (maybe even in a different thread) we could come up with a formula for calculating the difficulty of landing an object on a given planet. It would combine the dV to get to the planet (from the KSP dV maps) with the planet's surface gravity and atmosphere. Additionally, it would consider the difficulty of navigating to the planet. Kerbin's moon are relatively very easy to navigate to and wouldn't get any navigation bonus, any of the planets beyond Kerbin would get a respectable bonus, and a moon of another planet would get even a larger bonus. Whatever multipliers come out of the formula could be adjusted and used with other challenges, not necessary just this one.

What do you guys think?

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On 27.10.2017 at 9:14 AM, Earthlinger said:

IMHO, Laythe should be an exception to this. So, a mobile base on Laythe should be able to move around, but not necessarily on the surface. Bonus points could be added for dual capabilities.

Also, bonus points for landing near or around Easter eggs? (Might spoil them for some though)

Why only Laythe? You could also use chemical Propulsion or Stock Propellers to fly around on Duna or Eve. I‘ve always wanted to build a Eve Glider that could fuel up with IRSU, lift off to get as high and fast as possible and then glide to a new location.

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9 hours ago, Physics Student said:

Why only Laythe? You could also use chemical Propulsion or Stock Propellers to fly around on Duna or Eve. I‘ve always wanted to build a Eve Glider that could fuel up with IRSU, lift off to get as high and fast as possible and then glide to a new location.

I see your point, and making flying bases opens up a bunch of cool alternatives.

In fact, I could see "hovercraft" style bases on Laythe where the only wheels are landing gear, and it uses jet engines for propulsion to push itself up on land, with a similar thing being done for Eve with stock propellers.

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