Floating Wall Crashtest

[SirJodelstein]

KSC Command has expressed the need for planes and rockets that can take a beating. Build a crewed vessel that can crash through the wall floating over the launchpad and land safe(ish) on the runway.

Skyhook wall segment (Tutorial here)

Simple as that. Launch, fly through the wall. Land on the runway (to demonstrate that your vessel is still maneuverable). All crew must survive. Your entry will be rated by the final vessel mass landed at the runway (use KER/MechJeb or map-view info to know the mass of your ship).

Debug menu is forbidden, anything else is allowed (but will be entered different scoreboards stock/mod balanced/SciFi). Information-only mods and retextures can enter in the stock category. I reserve myself the right to disqualify entries that do not stay with the spirit of this challenge, but for now i'm fine with creative approaches. Lets see what you can come up with.

Participate by scenario file ("unzip here" in saves/scenarios) or by launching the (unmodified!) craft file yourself.

Please give your entry vessels a name (or i will come up with one ). Video entries welcome, alternatively show screenshots just before/after wall crash and back on the runway. Or record the track ingame using my Persistent Trails mod.

Happy crash testing! Take care to not crash into the metal frame, that's really sturdy If this challenge turns out to be too easy i will provide a "hard mode" with a wall made out of 2x2 metal plates.

Demo Vessel: "Spear Mk2"

Leaderboard:

1. 44.37t SirJodelstein with the "Butterfly Koi"

2. 24.43t Clouds with the VTOL "The Doorknocker"

3. 21.24t MeticulousMitch with the VTOL "The Puncher"

Gate Crashers:

- WhatShtisthis presents his massive wall-destroyer WT-25CR-1 (did not land on the runway)

- Von Gobble flies a jumbo-jet-sized plane into the wall and creates a very satisfying explosion.

Edited October 10, 2013 by SirJodelstein
leaderboard update

[GraviTykillz]

that is very cool man..who would have thought?..i guess you

[Bobnova]

I like this concept. I'm going to give it a shot at some point here. So far I've only managed to make two planes that I could actually land in the first place, so we'll see how it goes

[SirJodelstein]

@Bobnova: You don't need to land like a plane, any method is fine as long as the pilot survives. Use Parachutes/retrorockets/lithobraking/whatever to stop on the runway - just keep in mind that any part you lose in a crash won't be able to contribute to the final weight-based score.

[Bobnova]

Lol OK! I'll take a whack at this tonight.

[Bobnova]

OK here's whack #1, things could have gone better

I had one that breezed right through except for the minor issue of loosing the wings (That was jeb). This one had other issues (bye bye, Bill). I'm out of time for tonight, but this was fun

Javascript is disabled. View full album

[MeticulousMitch]

I'm attempting this now. Should have a decent result to show pretty soon.

[Whatshtisthis]

I think one of my crafts will be very very suitable for such challenges.

EDIT: Done.

I present to you, the WT-25CR-1! It's 57 tons at launch. I'm going for how much of the wall I destroy, so I didn't care much about the weight of the surviving craft.

Didn't get a screenshot at the time of impact though.

PURGE

Flew a few rounds before landing, the damn thing wouldn't turn to the runway. Landed on the grass.

Was difficult to do proper aiming, and somehow the target marker didn't appear on my navball... so I hit the side of the floating wall.

Edited October 8, 2013 by Whatshtisthis

[MeticulousMitch]

OK, here's my result: 21.24 tons.

I lost one part after the collision, but gained another from the wall, so I did break even

[Clouds]

OK, here's my result: 21.24 tons.

Ahhh, you're a much better VTOL pilot than I am.

Interesting that we had similar ideas for what would be a successful craft, though.

I started with an orange fuel tank, thinking in terms of craft weight. A lot got used during careful/wasteful flying, but all my attempts to fly it more efficiently ended in complete destruction... (However, in the pictured result, no parts were lost.)

There are no moment-of-impact screenshots due to aforementioned poor VTOL skills - I'm pressing 99 buttons but screenshot ain't one...

-------------------------

For laughs science, I also tried this with a few of my old airplane designs. (No pictures.)

- For sheer weight, I tried the Bekemoth - which did not succeed due to being wider than the wall's frame, and also because it can't land regardless.

- Thinking out of the box, I tried my Kerb-15, which packs 6 sepratron-decoupler missiles that I hoped would blow up the wall at a distance and make flying through it a breeze. Result: my aim was so poor that I never even hit the wall.

[Von Gobble]

Worth it.

I can't yet into editing so you might wanna skip a bit of the flight.

I could upload the other video of the craft actually making it through, a MUCH smaller craft, but I thought that this would be a better allotment of my very limited upload bandwidth. Mate.

On a side note bandicam is baaad, does anyone know what else I could use to record?

[SirJodelstein]

Fixed my upload. Thanks for all the entertaining entries, i have created the leaderboard and added a "Gate Crashers" section to link to entries that did not quite make it (or did not even try) but are worth checking out anyway.

Here is my entry 4.3t demo entry "Spear Mk 2" flying through the wall and doing a stunt flatspin landing

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vwhlqhf7qzvzav2/FloatingWallCrashtestDemo.wmv

@Von Gobble: I can totally recommend (Microsoft Expression Screen Capture + Expression Encoder) for video recording and simple editing

Stay tuned for my next entry, i have something big coming up soon

[Scorpi15]

Is it just me or does the save not load when leaving the SPH?

[SirJodelstein]

Is it just me or does the save not load when leaving the SPH?

I have just checked the scenario file with a stock installation and have confirmed that everything loads just fine. If you start the scenario, the wall will be on the launchpad, so your vessel must start from the runway. I threw some parts together in the SPH and launched it without problems, and the wall was visible in the distance. Maybe a mod related problem? Did you also try the alternative (i.e. getting the craft file and launch that one on the launchpad manually)?

[Von Gobble]

@Von Gobble: I can totally recommend (Microsoft Expression Screen Capture + Expression Encoder) for video recording and simple editing

Thanks, will look into it. Never really recorded stuff but even with my horrid upload speed I find It much easier to just make a video rather than deal with innumerous screenshots.

[GraviTykillz]

the destruction of your plane in that vid was epic Von Gobble!!

Edited October 10, 2013 by GraviTykillz

[BostLabs]

Worth it.

I can't yet into editing so you might wanna skip a bit of the flight.

I could upload the other video of the craft actually making it through, a MUCH smaller craft, but I thought that this would be a better allotment of my very limited upload bandwidth. Mate.

On a side note bandicam is baaad, does anyone know what else I could use to record?

LOL! That was full of awesome-sauce.

[SirJodelstein]

Ladies and Gentlemen, meet the "Butterfly Koi"

(click image to see video).

turns like a lazy old walrus, and needs VTOL engines at low speeds, but it can take a hit. Landing was very sketchy and almost destroyed the whole plane, but i was lucky and lost just some wings.

44.37 tons landed at the runway. Yeehaw!