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[KSP 1.12] Firework Propulsion Challenge!


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KSP 1.12 

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FIREWORK PROPULSION CHALLENGE

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Fireworks are here, and that means new parts and physics to exploit! Here's how this works:

Every time a firework is launched, it exerts a recoil force on the firework launcher. This force is enough to propel itself into the air, along with a little bit of extra mass. You know what that means! We can use it to travel through the air.

RULES

1. ONLY FIREWORKS MAY BE USED TO PROPEL YOUR CRAFT. Decouplers may be used, but their deploy force must be set to zero. 

1a. If you would like to use decoupler force in your craft, you may do so. However, you must make a note of this and your run will be put in a separate category. KAL overclocking will also be placed in a separate category.

2. Post a screenshot of your post-flight results. These may be accessed by pressing F3 in game. You may also post a video or as many screenshots of your design as you'd like, but make sure to include that F3 menu! Note that this menu is often inaccurate in its velocity reading, so you should try to measure velocity in another way.

 

CHALLENGERS

Fastest recorded speed

1. @jimmymcgoochie220 m/s

2. @jimmymcgoochie188 m/s

3.  @Stamp20 175 m/s

4. @cubinator175 m/s

5. @Sivako Aerospace~90 m/s

 

Highest recorded altitude

1. @jimmymcgoochie1251 m

2. @jimmymcgoochie 1063 m (Over 1 kilometer!)

3. @Sivako Aerospace632 m (using 2x physwarp)

4. @Stamp20 565 m

5. @cubinator533 m

 

Records with additional exploits:

@Stamp20 5991 m, 412 m/s (KAL 1000 overclock exploit)

@Stamp20Impacted the Mun using KAL 1000 overclock

 

SPECIAL BADGES OF EXPLOSIVE CELEBRATORY HONOR

FIRST FIREWORK-PROPELLED AIRPLANE

@Klapaucius

FIREWORK KERBAL CANNON

@Klapaucius a whopping 20 meter flight!

FIRST TO SPACE ON FIREWORKS: 

 

FIRST TO ORBIT KERBIN ON FIREWORKS:

 

FIRST TO IMPACT THE MUN ON FIREWORKS:

 

FIRST TO TOUCH THE MUN AND RETURN ON FIREWORKS:

 

 

 

Edited by cubinator
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Here are some of my first attempts:

Spoiler

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Highest altitude achieved: 287 m

Highest speed achieved:  175 m/s

After adding an SAS, battery, and nosecone to the previous design pictured, I achieved a new altitude of 514m.

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However, it still seems like the max speed is 175 m/s. I wonder what is causing this and if it is possible to go faster...

Edit: now up to 533 m.

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Edited by cubinator
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Interesting! I’ll have a crack at this when I get back from my trip near July 8th!

2 hours ago, peridoot said:

oh no

i found a exploit

you rember engine overclocking using the KAL controller?

welllll....... it works on the eject speed

Oh no…

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Okay, I am not beating you, but I think this may be the first horizontal takeoff craft.  I got a whopping 49 m/s and an altitude of 83 meters, which considering the KSC runway is at 69 meters above sea level, that is not much to brag about.  I've named it Wilbur.

I also noticed the F3 velocity is often inaccurate. While on this flight it reads correctly, most of the time it claimed I was doing 175 m/s, which is nonsense.

https://kerbalx.com/Klapaucius/Wilbur-Firework-powered-plane

 

 

Edited by Klapaucius
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I attempted this challenge and set a new height record.

Spoiler

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I went with the tried and true strategy of moar boosters fireworks to get more height.

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My final height just barely beat the old record at 565m.

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The firework explosions were so laggy Steam's FPS counter disappeared for some of the flight.

I also tried using the KAL overclock exploit for more height.

Spoiler

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I set the launch velocity much higher for more height, and increased the explosion delay to hopefully save my PC from frying. I had to angle the craft slightly because the fireworks kept bouncing back up and destroying the lower stages.

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Unfortunately the increased delay didn't save my PC, but I got much more height. I think the speed display is glitched when using fireworks for propulsion, as both of my attempts say 175m/s.

Edit: Did another run with even more ludicrous KAL settings, got even more height.

Spoiler

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This time, the F3 menu showed a speed higher than 175 m/s.

 

Edited by Stamp20
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I did another attempt with the KAL exploit and went all the way to the Mun.

Spoiler

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I set the launch speed to an insane value, and had to add a heat shield and fairing.

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I set each firework launcher to a separate action group so I could make it further while using less rockets.

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I had a go at this, threw together a 4 stage design and fired both fireworks and decouplers with action groups. I forgot to set the bottom stage's launchers to 100 launch speed so it took a while to lift off, I can definitely improve this result!

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Altitude- 841m, speed- 188m/s. The 175m/s is just the speed that Kerbin rotates around its own axis.

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Bumping the bottom "stage" to full launch force meant I managed to crack 1000m altitude:

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I also discovered that the terminal velocity of the top stage with 8x firework launchers is a mere 32m/s- those things are extremely draggy!

Last post, I promise! Even faster and higher than before by setting each launcher to two adjacent action groups so I could double button-mash to fire them even faster.

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Speed- 200m/s, altitude- 1251m.

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14 minutes ago, peridoot said:

i would like to say that the KAL exploit is wierd

I am definitely counting it as separate from regular runs, since it appears you could use it to generate unlimited thrust from any propulsive element. 

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if you spam it is can change your direction in an instant

in my limited testing i found spamming launch through a action group can make you shoot up and down really fast and slam you 200m into the ground at 20km/s

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The 175 m/s reading on the F3 is not accurate. I had several runs with that indicated as well, despite never getting over 40.  It must be reading the ejection velocity of the fireworks.  You have to get a screenshot of the velocity indicator on the navball instead.

 

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Edited by Klapaucius
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I think I found another exploit. Does anyone remember the decoupler  rocket challenge? Remember how they had to use physics time warp to amplify the effect of the decoupler to lift a capsule without using mods. It turns out the same theory is true for firework rockets. Using this technique I was able to achieve an altitude of 632m with a speed of around 90 m/s in a single stage design.

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Spoiler

I ended up using eight of the Starshot-8 launchers clipped on to a small probe core with nothing else attached to keep the weight down. Although I thought aerodynamics play a big factor in this, I ran a test run with  the aerodynamics overlay on and it revealed that the speed was low enough that the aerodynamic aspect didn't play much of a role. Finally, to be more specific on the time warp setting, I used 2x physics time warp. This seemed to be the optimum setting on my design, but other designs may vary.

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sitting on the launch pad prior to launch

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early flight

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midflight 

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seconds before end of flight

 

Edited by Sivako Aerospace
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Does it have to be a craft, or can it just be a Kerbal?  I've just developed this Kerbal Kannon.  This was the first time I used it on Kerbin. I only made it 20 meters.  However, it works brilliantly on Minmus. 

 

Edited by Klapaucius
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On 6/24/2021 at 2:05 PM, cubinator said:

KSP 1.12 

FIREWORK PROPULSION CHALLENGEs

Darn it, I was going to announce a challenge for this today! :P

Congratulations for beating me to the punch! And I'm amazed at everyone who's managed to far outstrip what I managed to do!

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I just saw this today and thought to share. 

All credit where credit is due 

video by Vaos

 

man he took this idea to the right place in my opinion. Use it in this way works well in space and allows for limited (as a real Orion drive would be) amount of massive potential energy 

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Woah. My Orion drive can finally be put to use.

On 6/27/2021 at 11:26 AM, NBDesigns said:

I just saw this today and thought to share. 

All credit where credit is due 

video by Vaos

 

man he took this idea to the right place in my opinion. Use it in this way works well in space and allows for limited (as a real Orion drive would be) amount of massive potential energy 

Inspired by this video, funny that we found it independently :D

On 6/25/2021 at 12:45 PM, cubinator said:

I am definitely counting it as separate from regular runs, since it appears you could use it to generate unlimited thrust from any propulsive element. 

That’s a good idea

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