Andetch X Series Pilot Certification Test (Can you even SSTO?)

[LightBender]

Too easy...

[AeroGav]

Instruction video for voodoo ray

 

 

[Samwise Potato]

@ShadowGoat That's the silliest thing I've heard anyone say in a while, and even more surprising coming from someone who was breaking the rules of another challenge to make it easier for themselves.

[SG Aero]

CHEATIF IS JUST ALTERNATIVE WINNING

plus the jump boost backfired because I didn’t have a way to land.

[Andetch]

@Samwise Potato firstly, well done, however, due to your personal attack on us and your lack of understanding the point of the challenege or the craft, I am unable to award you anything. I have also been unable to watch the video.

For those that haven't guessed the point of this craft is a) it is hard to fly, and b) it is right on the dv limit for ssto. So actually it does what it was designed to do very well.

For those wanting a review, I've downloaded the craft files and will get onto it. Please bear with me and my terrible internet here! I will get it done ASAP.

 

As far as FAR goes, I think it will only make things harder! 

[Samwise Potato]

Personal attack? I think you're reading things I didn't type. I said it was a terrible SSTO, not that you're a doodoo-head. Furthermore, I understand the challenge and the craft perfectly well, but that still doesn't make it any fun to do. I think perhaps I might even understand the craft better than you, since it plainly has more than enough dV to reach orbit, de-orbit, AND make a powered landing. It's hardly "right on the dv limit." Finally, are you unable to watch the video, or simply unwilling? It really is too bad you're unable/unwilling to watch the video, as you'd see that orbit's possible with lots of fuel to spare.

Oh, and just one last thing:

Gold-level complete, @Andetch I even took the time to park it and clean Jeb's vomit out of the cockpit, but you can have it back now.

Quote

Perfect landing on the runway gets you Gold, plus high praise from the directors of Andetch.

ETA on that high praise?

---

If anyone wants some tips on how to get Gold the same way I did, click the spoiler below. If you're offended that I'm offering tips and/or don't want to see them... don't look?

Spoiler

So if you watch the video I put up for my first crack at this, you'll see that it's possible to achieve orbit with over 40 units of oxidizer. Since you've got a video demonstration, I don't think there's much point in covering the ascent or the orbit burn.

The landing's the only interesting bit, anyway.

It's important that you conserve as much of your oxidizer as possible when de-orbiting. Don't bother trying to hold prograde as you come down, you'll burn the nose off like I did in the video. If you're even slightly off of prograde, the craft will flip since all the weight's in the back no matter how much fuel you pump forward. Therefore, there's no point in trying to re-enter forward. Do a small burn at the right point in the orbit to bring your periapsis into atmo, then let the craft shimmy and shake it's way down. The constant wiggling will keep heating under dangerous levels. How did I know where the right spot to de-orbit was? Quicksave/quickload and a bunch of trial and error (if anyone asks, you did it all in one flight). It's incredibly hard to get an accurate prediction of how much speed you'll lose on the unorthodox re-entry, so I ballpark'd it as best I could and got a general feel for it after a couple dozen attempts. Now, I hope you saved as much of that oxidizer as possible. If you saved enough, and wiggled off enough speed while coming down, you actually have enough fuel reserve to make a tail-first powered landing and fall forward onto your wheels. I will warn you right now, one of the Whiplashes will flame-out if you go over ~2/3rds throttle with them while flying backwards, and you'll end up in a nasty spin. If you didn't manage to save enough oxidizer, you're in for a harder, but still possible maneuver. The gimbal on the rocket engine is high enough that a quick burn can pull your nose and prograde marker together, and the Whiplashes can hold you there long enough to safely fall out of the sky. You have to be really careful to keep your nose inside the prograde marker on your nav-ball, or you'll flip again. If you get a lucky wiggle like I did in the video that puts your nose back into the right general direction with no fuel expenditure, an all-out roll in one direction will keep you moving in the right direction long enough for your Whiplashes to spool up. Again, keep your nose inside the prograde marker and start slowly leveling off. Use as much of the whole flat-land around the KSC as you can for the landing, and remember that landing at high horizontal speeds is better than landing at high vertical speeds.

Bon voyage et bon chance.

 

Edited December 16, 2017 by Samwise Potato
leet tipzzzzzz

[SG Aero]

wait wait wait... You're being highly aggressive and still expecting praise? Also the rules say no reverting to launch, and I'm assuming that includes quicksaving/loading.

[Gordon Fecyk]

Andetch... you... are a monster. 

And the A E K accepts your challenge.

 

 

Edited December 17, 2017 by Gordon Fecyk
Fixed spelling. Sorry, Andetch.

[Samwise Potato]

6 hours ago, ShadowGoat said:

wait wait wait... You're being highly aggressive and still expecting praise? Also the rules say no reverting to launch, and I'm assuming that includes quicksaving/loading.

Who's being highly aggressive? Not me. Snarky, maybe.

The rules do indeed say no revert, but what's the point in boring myself to death with getting it into orbit 20 times just so I can try and land it? I've already proven orbit's easy enough and since the challenge creator's offended that I pointed out an SSTO deliberately designed to be terrible was in fact terrible, I apparently won't be getting a certification even after completing the challenge legitimately. What matters, then, is the intense personal satisfaction I'm getting. It's a warm, fuzzy feeling.

Besides, if I want a cert I'll just steal one off someone's wall and white-out the name before writing mine in. It's not like the Kerbal Resources office checks anyway. I mean, they still think Bill has a degree from KIT after all these years.

Edited December 16, 2017 by Samwise Potato