EdFred

That would be interesting to see how he lands safely on Kerbin. Or even leaves Eve's SOI.

.005 is "massless." Add 100 of them to your craft and see if the mass changes. Same goes for ladders and a bunch of other parts.

Kerbin Time is what I use and what should be used for this challenge.

They do count against your engine type. RCS does not - mostly because RCS would be useless for Eve.

you can start with 1005 points instead of 1000.

In the upper left corner of the screens there is a clock. It will show MET (mission time) and UT (universal/game time). The reading of UT is the date to use. (Click on the clock to change between MET/UT) I suppose if you want your Kerbal to ride outside in a chair to Eve, I suppose you can do that. But I'm betting he's going to be pretty p.o'ed being made to ride Aunt Edna style while there's an empty capsule he could be riding in. (bonus points to the first person that gets the Aunt Edna reference)

Rules edited. Isn't everything arbitrary?

I posted a similar challenge yesterday. Depart from any elevation you want but there's a bonus for being under 500m and a penalty for being above it - along with w few other things.

I look at stages as the number of orange groups on the right side of the VAB and the left side while flying, numbered 0 - (in my case) 18 Docking ports don't show up there. So it is not a stage. Imagine this scenario: Someone puts all of their engines and decouplers (TT-38s/Rockomax,TR-18/etc. ) into a single stage and controls every jettison/new engine group firing with action groups, or manually right clicks the decoupler to avoid taking a stage penalty, or to declare their vehicle as an SSTO.

Finished up my Single Launch Eve mission and came up with the Single Launch Eve Challenge.

That would be legal, as docking ports are not staged. Unless you used a decoupler to separate the craft...which makes it difficult to re-dock. I edited the rules to clarify.

Here is the challenge: Depart Kerbin, land on Eve, plant a flag, depart Eve, and return to Kerbin - in a single launch from KSC Here are the rules: Rules You get a single launch from KSC No docking with any bases or refueling orbiters already in orbit, on the Mun, Minmus, around Eve etc... Everything on this mission is contained to a single launch from KSC. Interpret this as you start a brand new sandbox scenario and this is the only launch from Kerbin you can perform for the challenge. In fact, start a new Sandbox mode for this. (see points for why) No longer necessary. Mods allowed Kerbal Engineer, MechJeb, Kerbal Alarm Clock Why? That's all I've used, and I don't want someone modding up an engine with a TWR of 1000 with an Atmo ISP of 100,000 No hacks/cheats This includes infiniglide, part clipping, infinite fuel, hacking gravity, Hyperedit, etc. No editing of your save files to refuel your craft, etc. The over use of massless parts to power your craft is prohibited. (i.e. massless batteries plus massless solar panels plus xenon engines is not allowed) You may use them to maintain electrical charge for your module(s)/SAS, however. Anything else that I think is circumventing normal operations. Subjective? Yes, but it's my challenge. Your Kerbal must be in an enclosed vessel for the descent and ascent to Eve No strapping your Kerbal(s) to the EAS-1 Command seat for this challenge. No action groups or manual decoupling allowed in lieu of staging Why? See scoring for details Docking ports may not be used in lieu of decouplers. Docking ports are allowed for an Apollo style descent, landing, and ascent. Not for jettisoning spent fuel tanks/boosters/engines/landing gear, etc... ALL Kerbal(s) must return alive to the surface of Kerbin No rescues allowed - remember you only get a single launch to do this mission. Screenshots *highly* suggested On launchpad at Kerbin showing vehicle weight. On the surface of Eve with your Kerbal(s) on the surface of Eve, showing the flag, the elevation, and your craft. Back on the surface of Kerbin. Any other screenshots you care to show for various parts of the mission. If your claim sounds outlandish, screenshots will be required. That should just about cover the rules, now on to the scoring. Scoring Start with 1000pts For every stage above Stage 0 deduct 5 points If you can make a SSTELABTK (Single Stage to Eve Landing and Back to Kerbin) you are amazing, or cheated. You may move stages around, but you may not create or delete any stages once you leave the VAB/SPH For each different model engine beyond one, deduct 10 points If you used all aerospikes to get there and back - deduct nothing (Engines used -1)*10 = pts deducted Part Count Deduct 1 point for every 10 parts. 324 parts used = 32.4 point deduction Elevation Departure Points You may land anywhere you want and relocate for departure but... Departing from: 0m-500m: Add 5 point for every 10m below 500m If you landed at 312m (500-312)/10 = 18.8 * 5 = 94 point addition 500m+ Deduct 2 points for every 10m above 500 If you departed from 4567m (4567-500 = 4067/10 = 406.7*2 = 813.4 point deduction Yeah, you want to land under 500m for this one. Weight Penalty What does your craft weigh pre-launch at KSC? Deduct 1 point for every 10t If MechJeb/KER/KSP show different values, the lowest one is the one you may use. Year 4 Day 140 Remember sandbox mode and starting fresh? Want to get some points back? Arrive back on Kerbin before this date, and add 5 points per day, deduct 5 for every day afterwards. Why this date? It was close to my baseline test date return for minimum dV spent - and I wasted some time in Eve orbit aerobraking If you want to spend extra dV to not wait for ideal phase angle, go right ahead. But that's a lot of extra fuel to burn... This is in Kerbin time. (1d = 6h, 1y = 400ish days) This section removed after it was pointed out that getting there faster would cancel out every other part of the challenge. Bonus points for more Kerbals. For each additional Kerbal that plants a flag on Eve add 125 points Also, no dropping off 10 Kerbals on Eve, to get 1250 points back and leaving them there. Remember, if they leave KSC, they must return alive to Kerbin's surface. Yep, it's possible to score over 1000 or under 0. I think that should just about cover it, and an open to any other suggestions for the challenge. There are two categories: Pure Rockets Use no lifting surfaces of any kind. Winglets may be used to help keep directional control for launches 1. Morlock 1034.0285 2. EdFred 882.8835 3. Emod 875.5 4. 5. Hybrid Anything that uses lifting surfaces to increase altitude for any part of the mission. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. I did a test run on it minus the screen shots, and would have scored as follows: Pure Rockets 18 stages beyond 0: -90pts 6 different engine models: (6-1)*10 = -50 Part count: 468 parts -46.8pts Elevation: 72m (500-72)/10 * 5 = +214 Weight at KSC departure 3674.1t 3674.1/10 = -367.41Time Frame: I returned to Kerbin's surface on Y4 D148 -40pts Extra Kerbals planting flags besides Jeb: 0 * 125 = 0 points Total: 1000 - 90 - 50 - 46.8 + 214 - 367.41 - 40 + 0: 659.79 overall pts I am planning a couple tweaks to my craft, so I am not placing myself on the leaderboard yet. Good Luck, none of us are counting on you!

I got the tanks to drain correctly...sort of... You shuttle engines empty out the tanks on the other side first though...and if you dont run the shuttle engines, it wont fly straight. I think you need to start from scratch....even getting all tanks to drain correctly, and pulling equally from 2 and 6 after jettisoning LE and RE...major major imbalance. Unless you like doing loops.

Yes, the problem is C4 also feeding to other tanks, completely changing the fuel tree. Remove the fuel lines LEAVING C4 to any other fuel tanks to see if everything but the O tanks drain correctly. I thought C4 only fed the shuttle engines.

I've also had it so it is stuck extended in the VAB no matter what I do. I extend it to make sure it reaches the ground, and then it's in perma-extend mode no matter how many times I click retract in the VAB. And when I go to launch...yep, extended.

Upon further review, just send R1 to C2 as well. They are both further away from C4 than C6, so they should empty before fuel gets pulled from C6. With no fuel lines your center tanks (oustide of C1) should empty like this C6 --> C5 --> C4 <-- C3 <-- C2 which seems to be what you want. By adding the fuel lines as I described your system should empty like this: C6 --> C5 --> C4 <-- C3 <--C2 <--L/R1 <--L/R2 <-- L/R3 <-- C1+L/RB1 RE and LE will also pull from L1/R1 but not from C2 through 6. C4 then feeds your shuttle engines, and it always pulls from the furthest tanks away, so that should solve the problem.

That just seems like a hot mess. Any reason why you want 2 and 6 emptying before 3 4 and 5? There's no advantage to doing so since they aren't being jettisoned. Were it me, I would only run lines from C1 to L3/R3 and RB1/LB1 to L3/R3 and see if R/L1,2,3 empty before the center tanks. If not run a line from R1 to C6 and L1 to C2 - and that's it for fuel lines. it *should* then empty as you want....should.

I'm going to reference your tanks as follows L for left, R for right. LB1/RB1 - the small fuel tank on top of your SRB packs L1/R1 - Bottom most tank connected to the 4-pack rocket engine L2/R2 - Tank above L1/R1 L3/R3 - Tank above L2/R2 C1 - bottom most center tank and as we go up the center C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 L1 has two fuel lines going to C2, R2 has two fuel lines going to C2. If you removed all your fuel lines, the fuel would drain from R3 --> R2--> R1 --> R-Engine and L3 --> L2 --> L1 --> L-Engine it appears you are trying to empty R1 and L1 into C2 which feeds C4 which feeds C6 which presumably dumps into C5 which dumps into C4 which feeds C6 which dumps into C5 which dumps into C4 which feed C6, which...(loop) In addition to that C3 is apparently dumping into C2, which goes to C4 which goes to C6....(loop) Meanwhile, you are feeding R3 and L3 from C1. R3 and L3 dump into R2 and L2 and then R1 and L1 respectively. And of course L1 and R1 are feeding C2 which feeds into C4 which feeds to C6 (loop) I don't know how RB1 and LB1 fit into the mix. How do you want your tanks to empty using the naming convention I'm using?

How many parts are you putting on your ships that you are getting lag? I have not run into it while piloting.

Looks like you have some sort of recursive fuel lines happening. Why do you have two fuel lines running from each bottom outside tanks to the center tank? And why are you drawing fuel away from the bottom tanks?

Attempting to build a Kerbin --> Eve landing (less than 1000m elevation) --> LEO vehicle that requires no docking or refueling going to Eve. (I may have to make this a challenge) I need to get another 1200dV out of it.

What if I have an *actual* real-life plane?

Yeah, the reason those modules are 200m away is because that is about the distance I found to be good for the light stacks to be away so the habitation complex isn't blindingly red, green, white, or whatever other color lights there are - and I even knocked them down to 50% intensity. And structural panels never work for me. I wish they had a good "edge snap" to them. Anything I try to build with them looks like Picasso was the architect.

So far: 32 Kerbal inhabitants 2 unmanned rovers that have 4030charge (unsure if they can travel all night) 1 rover cable of unmanned or manned operation that carries up to 4 Kerbals - also 4030charge and can upright itself if flipped over. 1 science lab 1 communications tower 3 light stations - 1 with fuel depot and docking gantry Electrical Energy storage at main complex: 40390 Electrical Energy storage at light towers: 200330 Rocket fuel available for refueling: 1440 units I use no mods, so building a hangar/garage isn't happening. http://www.sidnaw.org/kerbal/

I still call it cheating if you aren't departing from under 1000m elevation.