Island tourist challenge

[Klapaucius]

It's the school holidays, and the KSP engineers, scientists and pilots are taking themselves and their families to the islands for a getaway.  Alas, these are small islands and all VTOL-qualified pilots are attending a professional conference on Duna.  Help these overworked Kerbals get there with your plane!

There are three small islands just south of the Island runway.  Your task is to drop off as many Kerbal tourists as you can on all three of the islands in one trip.  1 point is awarded for every trio of Kerbals landed--a trio is defined as 1 Kerbal on each island.  So, if you land 15 Kerbals in three groups of 5, you get five points. If, for example,  you land the same number but have 8 one one island, 6 on another and 2 on the third, you only get 2 points. 

 

LEADERBOARD:

437 @Dfthu (second aircraft) 1,296 Passengers, 432 points plus 5 for no SAS.

389 @neistridlar (second attempt) 1152 passengers/3 = 384 with 2 remaining plus 5 points for not using SAS.

69 @hoioh (second attempt) 192 passengers + 5 for no SAS.

58 @Dfthu (first aircraft flight) 160 passengers = 53 with 2 remaining plus 5 for no SAS.

42 @hoioh  128 passengers.

 

5 @neistridlar (first attempt) 32 passengers/3 = 10 with 2 remaining plus 5 points for not using SAS. 

 

 

RULES:

*  The plane must have a pilot. No probe cores ferrying passengers.

* You may take off and land from either the Space Center runway or the Island Runway or use a combination of both.

*  No excessive clipping of passenger compartments (though minor clipping to create, for example, curves, is fine).  The Kerbals should be comfortable. If you go into view mode and the Kerbal has a bulkhead passing through its body, you've overclipped.

* No VTOL. (VTOL pilots are all off Kerbin).

* This is not a skydiving holiday. The Kerbals must get out of a landed aircraft.

*  Drag chutes, obscene numbers of airbrakes and reverse thrust (including engines facing forward) are allowed.  However, major kudos if you manage without.

* Mods are fine, but just list what you used.

*  SAVES:  The object is to fly to all three islands in one go.  However, if you crash you have two options:

1. Return to your starting point and begin again.

2.  Revert to a saved game (if you have saved) and start again. Each use of the save button to do a redo will be a 20 point penalty.  So, for example, you land 300 Kerbals, but you had two do overs, you get 60 points. (300/3 = 100 -40 = 60)

* If you cannot complete the challenge in one session (kids, work, dinner etc) you may save a game without penalty as long as you are not using the save as a redo.

* You must takeoff from the Island Runway (or Space Center), successfully land on all three islands and return your empty (except for pilot) aircraft to the your runway of choice.

*  The challenge is complete when you have dropped off all your Kerbals and returned to the runway.

* 2 point penalty for every added reaction wheel.

* 5 bonus points for completing mission with SAS off.

 

The inspiration for this was a very inefficient passenger jet I created on a whim just to be different. I was trying to find a justification for its existence. Unfortunately, I'm not sure it is up to the job.   I've managed to land  various planes on all these islands, but I am still working on doing all three in a row, and I crash more than I succeed.  So I am as much a contestant as anyone else.

 

Edited June 28, 2018 by Klapaucius

[Andetch]

@Klapaucius I have a question. Must I actually disembark all the Kerbals? I have actually landed on all 3 islands before with some pretty large planes, albeit not it one trip. Thing is, mostly to disembark it involves transferring crew and this is tedious and creates a lot of la for me especially when filming. It is bad enough just dropping off 2 Kerbals on each island, let alone if I do it with my massive Mr Tiddles which has a passenger count of several 100! (Kerbals express airlines count is 800, not sure what the true count is)

[Klapaucius]

5 minutes ago, Andetch said:

@Klapaucius I have a question. Must I actually disembark all the Kerbals? I have actually landed on all 3 islands before with some pretty large planes, albeit not it one trip. Thing is, mostly to disembark it involves transferring crew and this is tedious and creates a lot of la for me especially when filming. It is bad enough just dropping off 2 Kerbals on each island, let alone if I do it with my massive Mr Tiddles which has a passenger count of several 100! (Kerbals express airlines count is 800, not sure what the true count is)

Fair question.  So, I think we will do this. You have the option to disembark Kerbals OR fly a whole lot of them and land on each island.  If you carry 30 Kerbals to all three islands, you would get 10 points.  But at least disembark a few for a photo op 

I was assuming (and I may be wrong here) that Kerbals add weight so you may want to land on the easier island first and get rid of a few before attempting the smaller one? But, yes, no need to disembark several hundred.  (Come to think of it, if I knew how to code, automatic mass disembarkation would make a good mod.)

[Andetch]

I am not sure if they do. I think lose Kerbals on Eva add something, as was found out with a submission on KEA, the free floating Kerbals in the cargo hold kept messing with the CoM/CoL alignments. 

Anyway, I'm gonna give this another shot. I keep messing up my landing at the northernmost island. Maybe I should go for the beach to land instead of the nice not flat top...

Edited June 24, 2018 by Andetch

[RealKerbal3x]

57 minutes ago, Klapaucius said:

Fair question.  So, I think we will do this. You have the option to disembark Kerbals OR fly a whole lot of them and land on each island.  If you carry 30 Kerbals to all three islands, you would get 10 points.  But at least disembark a few for a photo op 

I was assuming (and I may be wrong here) that Kerbals add weight so you may want to land on the easier island first and get rid of a few before attempting the smaller one? But, yes, no need to disembark several hundred.  (Come to think of it, if I knew how to code, automatic mass disembarkation would make a good mod.)

Kerbals inside pods do not change the weight of the vessel but in command seats they do. Just to tell you.

[Klapaucius]

3 minutes ago, RealKerbal3x said:

Kerbals inside pods do not change the weight of the vessel but in command seats they do. Just to tell you.

Thanks!  Still much to learn...

[Aetharan]

To be specific, each Kerbal not in a pod weighs 0.09375 tons.  When building a vessel that uses command seats, you can use an assembly consisting of 4 Cubic Octagonal Struts, 2 OKTO2s, and 2 thermometers, accelerometers, barometers, etc. to approximate a command-seated Kerbal for the sake of managing your craft's balance, twr, delta-V calculations by Mechjeb or KER, and whatnot.  Said assembly weighs 0.094, so it's a touch heavy, but close enough for most purposes.

[Laie]

Wing and cockpit are SXT. The concept is stolen from @sevenperforce; for what flying wings are capable of in stock aero, see Cupcake's excellent video. Alas, I have to rely on the MJ clicky-thingy for control... I could confirm that even this large and heavy beast can flare and come to a full stop on a dime, but I would have to plan my approach from like 10 miles out. So, I didn't do this and probably won't. Want to show off my idea, though.

However... after having had a look at the islands, with two of them I wonder if I can even stand there with brakes engaged, or if i would simply slip off.

 

Edited June 25, 2018 by Laie

[neistridlar]

Looks like I am going to have the first submission.

I only disembarked 16 of the 32 passengers on board, because I did not feel like Spending all that time moving kerbals around. Mods used: Airplane Plus

 

[Klapaucius]

4 hours ago, Laie said:

Wing and cockpit are SXT. The concept is stolen from @sevenperforce; for what flying wings are capable of in stock aero, see Cupcake's excellent video. Alas, I have to rely on the MJ clicky-thingy for control... I could confirm that even this large and heavy beast can flare and come to a full stop on a dime, but I would have to plan my approach from like 10 miles out.

However... after having had a look at the islands, with two of them I wonder if I can even stand there with brakes engaged, or if i would simply slip off.

 

That's really funny. I had that same idea and never saw this craft, though I never got mine to work well in this configuration.  The picture below is a ditched project, both figuratively and literally. It's a horrendous plane, but it did lead to the crazy thing in the second photo, which actually works pretty well, all things considered.  That one is up on KerbalX.

Edited June 24, 2018 by Klapaucius

[Klapaucius]

@neistridlar

That is an impressive plane.  That's what I like about these challenges; I learn a lot from others about design.

8:08 was particularly entertaining. 

[qzgy]

hmm..... does VTOL include helicopters? O_o

In any case, any helicopter submission from me would be heavily penalized cause of the large use of reaction wheels.....

[Klapaucius]

2 hours ago, qzgy said:

hmm..... does VTOL include helicopters? O_o

In any case, any helicopter submission from me would be heavily penalized cause of the large use of reaction wheels.....

I thought about creating a VTOL category and did not, because I wanted to see how people designed their craft. Having said that, since it is obvious you skipped the conference on Duna, go for it :-)

[Dfthu]

Capacity for 160 passengers. One extra kerbal so 53 points plus 5 extra for no SAS. Total of 88 points then! Also no reverse thrust or airbrakes. (Sorry for the laggy video) Ok, apparently my submission was never recorded. So I swear that I did everything and I will also include a video of a failed run.

 

Edited June 25, 2018 by Dfthu

[Klapaucius]

1 minute ago, Dfthu said:

Capacity for 160 passengers. One extra kerbal so 53 points plus 5 extra for no SAS. Total of 88 points then! Also no reverse thrust or airbrakes. (Sorry for the laggy video) Ok, apparently my submission was never recorded. So I swear that I did everything and I will also include a video of a failed run.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4yBNjNOWrc&t=5s

I hate it when that happens. We work on the honor system here so all good, but look forward to seeing your other video.

[hoioh]

Presenting FatBoy3!

This one carries 128 passengers, but I can't be bothered to fly without SAS, too much of a hassle. Does not require thrust reversers because of awesome Airplane plus flaps. Other than that I used a bit of tweakscale for the engines, because they were too big originally and the tail fin, which I thought was too small originally:

Link to craft file: https://kerbalx.com/hoioh/Skaled-Komposites-FatBoy-3

128/3 = 42 2/3 = 42 points

[neistridlar]

Hm, my initial attempt does not seem so impressive anymore. Let's see how far I can actually push it. This aircraft started out as a super jumbo for the KEA challenge, namely the NA Slab 2592. Well, I even with nearly empty tanks it just wanted to fall to pieces when I tried to land on the rough terrain, and the low frame rates did not help either. So I chopped of a bit of the length. It now holds 1152 passengers and 2 pilots. Though the flight was done with only 2 pilots for demonstrations. It just takes ludicrously long to get that many kerbals into the craft (The game really slows down when dealing with more than ~50 kerbals, and gets exponentially worse, in the hangar that is). This also uses Airplane Plus

389 points (1152 passengers/3 = 384 with 2 remaining) plus 5 points for not using SAS.

Also did a smaller attempt with only stock parts:

Maybe there should be a separate leader board for stock, since some mods make things much easier.

[hoioh]

18 minutes ago, neistridlar said:

Hm, my initial attempt does not seem so impressive anymore. Let's see how far I can actually push it. This aircraft started out as a super jumbo for the KEA challenge, namely the NA Slab 2592. Well, I even with nearly empty tanks it just wanted to fall to pieces when I tried to land on the rough terrain, and the low frame rates did not help either. So I chopped of a bit of the length. It now holds 1152 passengers and 2 pilots. Though the flight was done with only 2 pilots for demonstrations. It just takes ludicrously long to get that many kerbals into the craft (The game really slows down when dealing with more than ~50 kerbals, and gets exponentially worse, in the hangar that is). This also uses Airplane Plus

389 points (1152 passengers/3 = 384 with 2 remaining) plus 5 points for not using SAS.

-- snip --

Also did a smaller attempt with only stock parts:

-- snip --

Maybe there should be a separate leader board for stock, since some mods make things much easier.

Ok, you are now officially designated MAD! I can see what you did, but how you even manage to fly that thing is beyond me

[neistridlar]

46 minutes ago, hoioh said:

Ok, you are now officially designated MAD! I can see what you did, but how you even manage to fly that thing is beyond me

It practically flies itself actually. Just some small adjustments here and there is all it needs.

[hoioh]

1 hour ago, neistridlar said:

It practically flies itself actually. Just some small adjustments here and there is all it needs.

Well, yeah, I get it's like that when it's finished, but building it primarily and flying such a big thing with the lag, I don't know...

I managed to expand my FatBoy design though:

 

[Dfthu]

1,296 Passengers, 432 points plus 5 for no SAS. This brick was surprisingly easy to fly, just along you don't turn hard. I didn't load any people because that would take forever. Craft is completely stock with no airbrakes or thrust reversers. And here is a video of the run.

 

[neistridlar]

5 hours ago, hoioh said:

Well, yeah, I get it's like that when it's finished, but building it primarily and flying such a big thing with the lag, I don't know...

Ok, I will admit, the first few days of developing the Slab 2592 consisted mostly of exploding on the runway, or shortly after takeoff, but apart from that it always flew great. Love your new flag b.t.w.

1 hour ago, Dfthu said:

1,296 Passengers, 432 points plus 5 for no SAS

That was quite the exiting flight I must say. Guess I have to dream up something bigger tonight.

[hoioh]

21 hours ago, neistridlar said:

Ok, I will admit, the first few days of developing the Slab 2592 consisted mostly of exploding on the runway, or shortly after takeoff, but apart from that it always flew great. Love your new flag b.t.w.

That was quite the exiting flight I must say. Guess I have to dream up something bigger tonight.

I get annoyed looking at exploding planes after about an hour, I know, no patience, kudos on your persistence!

Thanks for the compliment on the flag! (I'ts kind of a copy of the Scaled Composites logo, where I've derived the name from, but I added my own twist to it)

 

@Dfthu I agree with Neist, that is one exciting flight! Not the most stable plane in the world I imagine? Also, what a monster! Over 1200 passengers and stil usable as a VSTOL, I take my hat of to you too!

[Andetch]

I keep crashing on a certain island, and it is frustrating after having landed on the others - big plane or small plane..... So, I'm out!

[Dfthu]

19 hours ago, hoioh said:

@Dfthu I agree with Neist, that is one exciting flight! Not the most stable plane in the world I imagine? Also, what a monster! Over 1200 passengers and stil usable as a VSTOL, I take my hat of to you too!

Actually very easy to fly. Just don't turn hard or else you'll stall out and enter a flat spin. With all of the Panthers and control surfaces everywhere, it's great! Very strong too, I can slam it down or take some high Gs but it never falls apart. Also has a very low stall speed of around 30-40 m/s. And thanks for the compliment 

Edited June 27, 2018 by Dfthu