Zipmafia

woah, calm it down naysayers. I agree with the comment about playing stock because i hate mods breaking with every update, so anything new is extremely exciting. Good job squad, keep it up!

oooooo.... This thread has been waiting for me. Here we go. Way back in the 90's when hotmail started becoming a thing (at least for me) I realized that i had a chance to grab a really awesome one. I was able to nab "DragonMaster" Before anybody else! Then I forgot my password. I can't remember if they didn't have a good password recovery option, or I just didn't know how. But I was heart-broken. All the other cool names had been taken, so my brother decided to cheer me up by figuring out a new name. I didn't like any of his suggestions until he said "King of them all". Wham, taken. The only problem was that i couldn't use spaces (and didn't yet know about underscores). Kingofthemall. see anything wrong with that? So I settled with the title godmafia. Had a nice ring to it. But since then I kept getting hounded by religious fanatics for some reason or another. So when I got the job ziplining and became the in-house trainer, I realized I had a zip mafia. So I switched to Zipmafia, and have never looked back (until now).

I'm no professional (carpenter at least) but a few things come to mind. As far as i know WD-40 just breaks down oxidation, it doesn't lube at all. Try some dry graphite (Garage door lube), or good old olive oil. It seems to me though that it might just be impossible to back out the screws, with the threads. I can't remember the name of the tool, but it is like an awl with a flat head used for stubborn or broken screws. Use a vice to wedge that thing against the stubborn screw, then turn until it pops out. A good friend and mentor once told me "If it is giving you trouble, yell at it", for some reason this works for both of us. Give it a try, don't be afraid of offending the screw.

Bravo! Thanks a bunch, now I have no chance of beating the stock leaderboard:mad:. j/k. Guess I'm going to try to make some modded entries, I'm expecting you to blow them out of the water. Maybe a gyroscopic asteroid decelerator? Maybe ride the asteroid like out of Dr. Strangelove?

I do believe chengong is correct, unless you mean that we can only use liquid fuel ENGINES. Which means no monopropellant, xenon gas, or solid fuel. otherwise I don't think it is possible to get enough velocity to escape kerbin's SOI with air breathing engines. And if you are talking about liquid fuel engines, than this challenge is to create a spaceplane.

You can get more Gs if you attack stability enhancers, then get your rotors spinning, then let go with the stability enhancers. BTW, I cant get the rotratatrons to spin the wings at any sense of speed. I attach wings to the outside and it doesn't seem to work, what am I doing wrong?

I have been playing around with counter rotating propellers and quad rotors, havent been able to make any of them work though. Although I didn't realize that you could get the IR motors to spin that fast. Looks like I'm coming back into this challenge. I don't think the control surfaces will work that well without IR freely rotating washers, and if you do go with IR, make sure you give your probe a washer to stay straight, and turn off rotation controls for your control surfaces. :confused:DragonEG's last design was able to produce over 3 Gs of force. @DragonEG : what are the cubic struts for? Did you use them for the stability enhancers at launch? If so, next time use a washer attached to a stack decoupler. or attach to stability enhancers to the part of the craft that doesn't spin (where the control surfaces are attached).

If you are able to pull this off it would mean that your company would not need to charge KSCARP to cover costs, you would be receiving profits from their requests to give Jeb a ride, create no debris in orbit, have a perfect asteroid, and not have to lift a finger at all. I look forward to the results.

definitely! I put that rule in so that people would either be trying to get their asteroid as close as possible, or recover it themselves. And you are correct, no recovery operation bonus states that you have to land at KSC. I should have seen that coming. I don't want to discourage anybody from trying this challenge, so kraken drive and infiniglide on! I'm going to have to make a new leaderboard for you though, too much of an advantage. @ Goduranus: did you get back into your craft before it hit the asteroid? I don't know why I want to know, it just sounds cool watching your ship hit a rock, from the rock.

Engines that are pointing at the rock will just push it away from you, but will not affect your orbit. "You mean i came all this way and your just now telling me that the asteroids @!* is to fat!"

What have you done to me goduranus?! I have had a bunch of free time this weekend and I keep coming back to this challenge. Oh well, here is my entry for fastest and most Gs. It starts to slow down after 8,770 km, the dial said 72.5 m/s, the flight stats said 75 m/s. I got it up to about 10,000 km, made a small correction, and it exploded.

Hmmm, upon contemplating your request I have come to a dicision. I will start two more leaderboards, One for gameplay mods (like MechJeb, Kerbal Alarm Clock, Kerbal Engineer Redux, etc. ), and one for mods that add parts or change physics. Hope this brings more people to this challenge, I don't want to leave anybody out.

I would like to suggest that you add more sections for scoring, like fastest, most Gs, lightest, cheapest. I was able to make a stock one that didn't fly very high, but was able to go over 50 m/s with about 3 Gs.

Well I didn't read the challenge well enough, I didn't realize that there was an entry for modded crafts. My vote is that my modded craft get scored as such, even though the parts aren't overpowered, they give a huge advantage in this challenge. Those stock players are working overtime to get that high, don't let me sour their hard work. Plus, I got higher....

We could definitely do this, it would be totally unneeded and would make the mission harder in our little solar system though. The only reason they had to do so many gravity assists was because the comet had an eliptical orbit that put it out beyond pluto, which means it is moving pretty quick when it flies by earth. All of our asteroids already live pretty close to kerbin, we don't need gravity assists to catch up with them. Although I guess you could use Mun and Minimus to gain the speed needed, still seems like too much work though. Also, the kerbin solar system is something like 1/10 the size of the real one, it is a lot harder in real life.

Most definitely, feel free to complete this challenge with as many launches as needed. Just remember that each launch will increase the cost, which will decrease your score. You can even use your own craft to recover the asteroid to KSC once it has landed if you don't want to pay the 5,000 Funds per 1km away from KSC to recover it.

Here is my entry. I did end up using a single freely rotating washer from infernal robotics. Hope this doesn't disqualify me, I just could seem to make anything else that would work. It helped keep my craft straight, I had to steer the whole way but it was easy.

Well I don't know if anybody else is trying this challenge or not, but I am having a blast. Here is my second attempt, got some bonus points this time. http://imgur.com/a/MEJL1 Somehow when I took the pic for the weight I got the wrong asteroid, so I had to load, drop the rock, and take a new pic. That is why it is not next to KSC. I also wasn't paying attention and did it all on sandbox mode, D'Oh. So even though I landed closer than last time, I will use the same percentage to figure out my recovered funds. Asteroid Recovery Fee = 37,500 Funds (7.5 km) Bonuses = 85,000 Funds (Jeb gets a seat, and Pristine sample) Cost = 224,306 Craft cost + 37,500 asteroid recovery fee - 49,177 funds recovered - 85,000 bonus funds = 212,544 Funds Score = 212,544 Funds / 3.91 Tons = 54,359 FpT

Edited. Thanks for the correction.

Really!? Me thinks this challenge is a great idea, that needs a little more polish before anybody is going to take it seriously. Here is why... I was able to complete it with one engine. There is no need to bring the craft back to Kerbin. The craft does not need to survive. You don't need decouplers to remove a booster, just turn on the next one. It will blast the old one off. I did it in 20 minutes. That being said, here is my entree http://imgur.com/a/E9mCX#3rSVRxc (10 + 15) * (10 *1) 150 * 10 1500 points.

So the kerbals have come to a scary and sad realization, their planetary resources are limited! Gone is the day where they could strap on moar boosters without any worries (except catching our computers on fire), now there are only so many boosters laying around. In fact, nobody can find any parts laying on the side of the road anymore! Supply and demand have taken hold. Whats more, now they have to compete for contracts just to get the funds to fly their rockets! And you can't even get the contracts unless you prove yourself to The Kerbal World-First Record-Keeping Society, a secretive and elusive society that is somehow able to pay the kerbals for completing seemingly useless tasks. There is even talk that they are somehow smuggling secret experiments aboard those flights. Jeb can't even go anywhere without having to do a million jobs for everybody else first. It is rather depressing. There have been victims to this drastic change to funds, one of which is the Kerbal Space Center Asteroid Recovery Program. It was hard enough as it was to make a craft that was able to recover an asteroid to KSC, but now it costs a fortune! Their go-to asteroid recovery craft, the "Get It Back V" ended up costing 2,429,421 Funds! Which brings us to our current challenge... The Kerbal Space Center Asteroid Recovery Program needs new designs to recover asteroids back to KSC, and cheap ones at that! Designs will be rated by the Funds per Ton of the asteroid that their craft is able to recover to KSC. The idea is that the kerbals want asteroid samples that are inexpensive to obtain. Rules * Provide pictures of your recovery operation for scoring. Include a shot of your craft in the VAB or SPH (for cost of craft), with the asteroid (for proof), being recovered (for distance from KSC and funds recovered), and of the asteroids info after landing (for weight of asteroid). * No tweaking of any files (unless otherwise stated). * No game exploits like kraken drives or infinigliders (unless otherwise stated). * Please rate or comment on this thread if you enjoy it. Stock Scoreboard * All stock, no mods. Near Stock Scoreboard * Mods that provide information, alternate/additional GUI's, autopilot, and visualizations are allowed. * Please list the relevant mods that you are using. Modded Scoreboard * All mods are allowed * Please list the relevant mods that you are using Free For All Scoreboard * All mods are allowed * All file tweaking is allowed * All game exploits are allowed * Please list the relevant file tweaks, mods, and/or game exploit you are using. Scoring * Asteroid recovery fee = 5,000 Funds per 1km from KSC * Net Cost = cost of craft(s) + asteroid recovery fee - funds recovered (rounded down) - bonuses * Score = Net Cost / Weight of recovered asteroid (rounded down). * XXXXX FpT (Funds per Ton, rounded up) Bonus Points Pristine Sample = Don't let the asteroid touch anything (That means it has to land on ship parts, no swimming or dragging). 75,000 Funds. Now THAT is a pretty rock! Clean Recovery = Don't create any debris (In orbit). 50,000 Funds. It's nice when people don't make a mess of space! Hole in One = Land the asteroid at KSC (The lighter green grass). 20,000 Funds. We didn't even have to start up the tractors! Jeb Gets a Seat = Jeb stays with the craft until it is recovered (EVAs are allowed). 10,000 Funds. A sad Jeb is no good for the Kerbal Space Program, lets cheer him up! Here is my entry to get things started. http://imgur.com/a/6onys Score breakdown Asteroid recovery fee = 49,500 Funds (9.9 km) Net Cost = 203,772 craft cost + 49,500 asteroid recovery fee - 21,315 recovered funds = 231,957 Funds Score = Net Cost of 231,957 funds / 4.71 Tons = 49,247 FpT Stock Leaderboard 1.Goduranus @ -38,761 FpT 2.Zipmafia @ 49,247 FpT 3.Zipmafia @ 54,359 FpT 4. 5. Near Stock Leaderboard 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Modded Leaderboard 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Free For All Scoreboard 1. Goduranus @ 358 FpT (kraken drive) 2. 3. 4. 5.

!?!?!?!?!?! Now THAT is a big rock! Holy cow, what do you feed that thing!? The only ships that count against you are the ones that actually contributed to the rock being saved in that save file, so if you reverted after a failure then the ship doesn't count against you. I had to try so many times with my first rock that I would have a negative score otherwise. That being said, I am going to use the ships you provided to score you. Score Break-down: 157.44 Tons (+1574 Points), 3 ships used (-20 Points), Asteroid impacted/rolled/dragged X2 (-40 Points). Total = 1514 Points! Great job! p.s. I can't help but wonder what happened to the three brave kerbals who caught the rock. Also, I bet Frank was nervous as heck having 157 tons sitting right above his head!!

Thank you all for the input!! Man am I with you on this one! The only problem is that it costs us at least $100 just to get the place started up (we inspect everything daily as per the ACCT standards, which takes at least two people), plus the insurance bill that has four zeros attached to it. This is actually as low as we can go without losing money. $55 for 6 rides, minimum of 2 people. We have classes on the hour with a maximum of 12 people per class. $35 for 4 more cables. The only problem is that we lose money if we only take 2 people on a class, which is why some of the team have proposed to make the minimum 4. I don't want to turn anybody away, and I think the high minimum would turn away potential customers. Also, it takes us way to long to put 12 people through 6 cables and we end up being late for our next class. We could guarantee that we can put 12 people through 4 cables in time for the next class though, then only offer extras if we can handle it.

Well you should try it some time if you want! According to the ACCT (Association of Challenge Course Technology) there are over 400 business in the continental us that offer ziplines and/or challenge course elements. It is not as extreme as you might think. Thanks for the input!

Hello all! I have a question for everybody, but first let me explain. I am in the process of taking over management of the zipline resort that I have worked @ for the last 8 years. In doing so I have determined that our current price structure is losing us money, and so have decided to change it. I have asked the team, and we have come up with two options on how to offer our ziplines. The only problem is that we are divided on which one to go with. This is where you come in... All rides are on separate cables, we have 10 total. They start off low and slow, then get higher, faster, and longer. Option A: Four rides for $55, minimum of two people or you have to tag on to an existing class. You have to start at the beginning, but if you add more you can mix it up and change what cables you ride. Option B: Six rides for $55, minimum of four people or we will schedule you if we can where we can. If you want any more than the six rides it will be $35 more. No mixing it up. Thank you for any and all help!! p.s. I like option A