Rakaydos

So is it possible to warp out of a gravity well when you dont have escape velocity to start with?

It would mean people would have to scroll UP the VAB for a change, not just stack outward! Gasp!

But then Red Crown (who doesnt use mods) cant make rockets like the one I just posted. (which uses balanced engines instead of the default unbalanced ones)

If you love fiddling woth rockets and using all the parts, I suggest checking out the Stock Rebalance mod.

Would the Stock Rebalance mod be permitted in this challange? It lowers the ISP of the arm parts, while making stuff like the Mk 55 more powerful.

Well, I just zeroed in on a 250 ton to low orbit launcher. Took my Dres-pollo launcher with a bit more fuel in the upper stge to increase the payload, and threw on Mk55s to the booster stages to raise the TWR. Ended up circularized with only a few hundred m/s in the booster.

I'm currently playing using Stupchris's rebalance mod (which is exactly what people are arguing should be stock) and I just returned from an Apollo style mission using the new parts... to Dres. Without a single fuel line, entirely serial staged. This was the "saturn 5" with this mod.

But is that because solids are weak, or because the liquids are bigger? I'm pretty sure Solids have a higher Thrust to Cross section ratio- how powerful they are compared to the cross section they displace. (in other words, the highest thrust of the 1m parts, since all SRBs are 1m) EDIT: long SRB is 650 thrust, vs Lv30's 215 thrust SRBs are SRBs. There's a limit to how much you can fix them while still maintaining the distinction between solids and liquids. A Solid will never be a primary orbital maneuver engine. They have their niche as a liftoff assist, but they dont compete with liquids.

Unfortunately, it's not "close to the planet" you want, it's "at highest velocity." Combining Munar transfer with orbital insertion means you're fighting kerbin's gravity the whole time you're making the transfer burn, and you're making the transfer burn while at lower velocity. By waiting until you've made orbit, you can burn sideways, ignoring kerbin gravity, while oberthing at kerbin orbital velocity.

SRBs have a lot of drawbacks. They can only be used once, and burn completely. They also have no gimbal, and dont scale up the way liquid engines do. (Where are the 2m space shuttle solids?) This makes them a niche engine. They're good at one thing- improving the TWR of launch stages. Saying they're underpowered is like saying the Aerospike is underpowered because it only gets used for Eve return vehicals.

Dont need to underpower the Lv series if budgets prevent you from making an SRB tower. Actually, I'd prefer if it was ~slightly~ the other way around- The Lv30 being the best engine (combinaion of TWR, ISP, and cost-for-scale) in the game, but without cluster adaptors (or cubic struts) it's utility is limited to 1m rockets, and once you get the ability to cluster them you have to deal with lack of gimbal on large rockets.

Apollo style to Dres, using "nerfed" SLS parts. Waiting for an alignment to hopefully get back on the leftover service module fuel.

I'm not seeing anything here about having parts that render other parts obsolite if you can afford them.

Isnt that just mainsail overthrust? I mean, I'm in the middle of waiting for a planet to come to a good transfer orentation, but I would want to test it before I modified any parts.

Why? Why not change it now, and price it appropriate for the new stats when money appears?

The problem with warp is that it doesnt provide siderial velocity. Sure, you might be able to get over 100 KM over the surface, but you're still moving at surface velocities.

Why dont you take the Money discussion to the appropriate thread? http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/76001-How-will-budgets-work

Had a bit of fun with the Stock Rebalance Project. It's super Serial.

This was done using the Stock Rebalance project. 150 tons to orbit with over 1200m/s left in the boosters. No onions, no Asparagus, no vegtable matter of any kind. It's Super Serial.

I thought SpaceX's stuff wasnt as big (at least for the block 2) but could be launched for a 10th the price?

The Stock Rebalance Project was put together by Stupid_Chris, for all the people who were annoyed by the ARM parts OP stats. In addition to rebalancing the ARM engines, it also tweaks the performance of other under and overperforming engines, such as the 48-7s (on the high side) and the Poodle and Mk55 (on the low side), and a few utility items, in order to give every part a moment to shine. Anyway, here's my heavy lifter. Carries 150 tons to low kerbin with over 1000 m/s left in the booster's tanks. It's no single stage to laythe, but I consider it a pretty solid launcher, showing what the mod is capable of.

test

In my opinion, Cost should be a measure of the general scale of a rocket. "I landed on Tylo with a 100k dollar rocket!" should be met with "How did you do it?" Currently an Orange tank is listed as costing 10500, while the oilbarrel (half an orange tank) is only 2600. This obvously means people are going to spam oilbarrel unless their computers start complaining at them- the orange tank would never be seen. But if the Oilbarrel instead cost, say, 4500, and the Orange tank cost 8000, you would take an orange tank over 2 oilbarrels... unless you didnt actually need all that fuel, in which case you would take the lighter (and individually cheaper) tank.

That doesnt sound like the "tweakables" you were implying earlier...

Notice that every engine over 11% on your list is being complained about, including the 48-7, which was complained about before arm even dropped. And your low % engines like the 909 and the Poodle are not meant as kerbin asent engines- they're normally space and lander engines. Your LV30, Aerospike, and Mainsail are all very close together.