purpleivan

Not sure if it's a bit short or not, I've reduced the speed I'm travelling at from time to time, to 30-40m/s in an effort to improve fuel efficiency. But recently I've backed off on that and drive at a constant 50m/s. Perhaps that's reduced the length of recent legs. Some legs are going to look longer than others due to the shape of the coastline (less bumpy) and how well I've stuck to the shape of the coast. I'd assumed that the boat was doing about 300km on a tankful of fuel, so I was expecting a little more out of it than I got. Can you point out which leg number seemed longer... curious to take a look at it.

Just the facts Ma'am, just the facts... or, a tale in numbers. It was Tanford's turn to take fuel out to the Coastal Cruiser, so a fairly early morning start for this bird. After climbing over the top of the mountain wall around Woomerang, it was time to descend again for a landing at the coast, some 20km on the other side of it. With full tanks, plus a top up to emergency snack supplies (40 packs of chilli nuts and a dozen bags of cocktail sausages) it was time to head out to sea once more. Bill hasn't been much of a feature of this trip so far and that's because he's been busy dealing with the social media side of things. In particular he's been answering letters to the "Dear Bill" section of the Kerbin Gazette. Here's one example. "Dear Bill, My little kerbling Trostron would like to know how far can the Coastal Cruiser travel before it runs out of fuel? He would also like to know what your favourite colour is. Fildred Kerman." ------------------------------------------ "Dear Fildred, Here are some pictures to show you how far the Coastal Cruiser can travel on a full tank of jet fuel. For this we will be using a handy tool called Persistent Trails. This picture was taken just a few seconds after starting up the jet engines and the boat has already travelled half a kilometre. We headed away from those mountains that Bob went climbing yesterday at about 50m/s for this leg of our journey. By the time we had used up half the fuel onboard, we had travelled 125km. Finally those mountains dropped below the horizon behind us. We must have travelled pretty far, because that's a big mountain range. With 3/4 of the fuel used up we had made it a distance of 199km, so the range going will be a larger number (if I got my maths right). Bob wanted to call this place Hedgehog Island, but I told him that it's part of the mainland so it can't be an island. He said "do I get to name things or not" and went off in a sulk. Finally after 265km the fuel tanks were almost empty, so we had to come in to shore. There was still 57 units of fuel left, so probably we would have gone about 270km if we used it all up. Oh, I almost forgot your second question... tell little Troston that my favourite colour is steak. Bill Kerman."

In reverse order of seriouness (rips open golden envelope with teeth). "Do you know where the remote is?"... got shows to watch. "Cats or dogs?"... of vital importance obviously. "Are you green with tall heads and a penchant for backyard style rocketry?"... crossing fingers for a yes answer. "How long has your sprecies been capable of some form of electronic communication?"... seems a reasonable measure of how long they've had technology of a kind they use to contact us. "What sources of power do you use, with followup of can we have details of how they work please?"... would be good to know. "Has population level been a problem for you, with followup of how did you solve it if you did?"... has the benefit of practical information of the problem being asked about, but also their chosen solution is rather revealing of whether we'd want to maintain contact.

Back on the piste... or, more blinding white stuff. Bob and Jeb made an early start in the rover, as it was going to be quite a long drive, just to get to the foothills of the mountains in the distance. Foothills dead ahead. They've been heading inland and uphill for quite a while, but they're stil only abut 250m ASL. Ok, now things are moving... upward that is. 1628m and we're into the foothills now. The cloud is making things look a bit grim, hopefully there won't be any rain to spoil the trip. The way ahead isn't super steep, but the slopes are long without much a break in them, requiring a lot a recharge stops. If I ever do this whole thing again (yeah right...) I'm going to give the rover bigger batteries. Up over 2600m and there's white stuff under the wheels again. Fortunately on Kerbin, snow seems to have exactly the same traction as grass... rock, sand, asphalt... you name it. Most of the route to the top seems to be not too challenging, if a little slow, but the next step is a little tricky. Bob's got to do one of those death defying traverses of a 45 degreee plus slope, to get to their next stopping point for a recharge. Go on wheels... grip that rock. The rover keep trying to turn up into the slope, but Bob wrestles with the controls, keeping it moving horizontally across it. Finally they make it across and arrive on more friendly terrain, albeit terrain that's impossible to see changes in angle of. "But snow's soft right... shouldn't matter if we crash on it". Sorry to burst ya bubble Bob, but round these parts crashing into snow has the exact same explosive consequences as hitting granite, so best drive careful. What did I say about careful driving Bob. To keep the altitude gained in climbing up the mountain, Bob heads across some rock, instead of following the gentler snowy path down below. No use draining the batteries to go up, only to head down and then back up again. By this stage they've made it up above 3km. It doesn't look like this peak is going to be a record breaker, but it should be a respectable height. Up over 4km and the peak is just a few hndred metres above the pair and their trusty (although power capacity challenged) rover. Bob heads straight for it, but less than halfway he realises that the batteries just won't make it, so he swings right to head almost horizontally towards a a lower part of the ridge to the top. A quick charge of the batteries and a charge to the top is made. It's 4.5km on the peak, with some challenging looking terrain further inland. Bob would like to go sliding down the slope on the other side and have a crack at one of those peaks, but Jeb reminds him that it's already into the afternoon and they need to get back to the boat. The move a couple hundred metres down from the top of the mountain, then stop to take in the view towards the sea. "I hope you checked the brakes before we headed up here Bob". "Why'd you ask Jeb". "Cos' it's a long way down if you didn't" Bob thinks that might be an invitation to go careening down the near vertical slope, but Jeb puts him straight on that. Still, he did let him take a speedy (60m/s at one point) trip down a rather shorter drop. With the snow about to run out, to be replaced by something greener under the wheels, they stop for break, before heading on to rejoin the boat on the shoreline.

Keeping it brief... or, a location of convenience. The boat cried out for help and Dean was happy to oblige them. "More fuel coming your way guys... real soon". Dean's first beach takeoff went without a hitch and he was quickly in the air, heading South towards the waiting Coastal Cruiser. Well that'll be it 8.9km away... time to bank for the approach. Once connected up Dean sat in the cockpit, thumbing through a copy of Spaceflight for Dummies (he's hoping to get called up for a Duna trip sometime soon). With full tanks again, the boat's crew said so long to Dean and headed out to sea. As the they zipped along the coast, the mun rose above it. This bay needed a quick peek into to check it off the list as part of the coastline they'd seen. Popping in... hellow bay. Then popping out again. About halfway into the leg a they passed through a large area of shallows. A lot of this stretch of the coast is lined with gently sloping beaches, so shallow like this are to be expected I guess. As the boat moved North, the shoreline became more fugged, noticeably more than the coast on the eastern side of the peninsula. Certainly the coast is more varied than it was on the last leg. So I guess Val's not going to be hanging from the ceiling, sharpened pencil between her teeth, giving everyone "you better lock your cabin at night" looks. The Coastal Cruiser comes up to a small headland... so you got a name for this one Bob? "Weeellll... how about Sleeping Dragon Point". Way better than your last one Bob. As dusk approached, the mountains to the South of Woomerang came into view. Bob will be taking a crack at these in the morning, with Jeb in the passenger seat. It's a bit early to call this the end of the leg, while still about 1/4 full. However with Bob heading off in the rover tomorrow and Woomerang less than 70km away, it seemed like a good place to call in for a top up.

Well... start with zero boat making experience, then put together an entry for a challenge to return to kerbin a 20 ton vehicle with 3 kerbals in it, that's floating 10km offshore on Eve. That's where I came up with this thing. It worked pretty well, but the entry was doomed by Eve being a wheel destroying demon. That was an issue with my plan to use a transporter to drive the rescued vehicle to a launch vehicle. Shame to as all the parts worked except the wheels broke constantly. The wheeled stuff worked like this. So this whole driving around Kerbin's coatline is due to a failed challenge attempt on Eve. As for the draft of the Coastal Cruiser, it's just over 1 kerbal. It doesn't change much with seed, as the large wing area keeps the whole thing floating at the main fuselage center line all the time. I just wish I'd not bothered equiping the thing with the ISRU gear. It's so slow that it's useless (don't want to warp by weeks every time I refuel) and it added a lot of weight and size to the boat. I half thought about flying out and air dropping a new design to the crew, without ISRU, but it felt a bit of a shame not to bring the same boat all the way home. I'm about to post Leg 28 and a trip by Bob into those mountains. It is quite lumpy up there, so could be fun to fly through.

More plane and boat action in the K.S.C. Today's story Plane goes. Plane not hit mountain. Boat floats. Boat stops. THE END.

What is that smell...or, did something die round here. Ever onward in the quest to sail around Kerbin's coastline. But that trip's going nowhere without fuel, so Dean took to the air from Woomerang, in his first Juice Goose flight. Again the flightpath went over the mountains near the base, so he made a flyby of the DSN station on top of them. It was early evening when he took off, so with the boat being a little to the East of Woomerang, it was dusk by the time he arrived. In the morning the now fully fueled Coastal Cruiser was ready for another day of life on the ocean waves. Leaving Dean on the shoreline, to meet them later, further along the coast. This leg had a lot of lakes and... well... almost lakes, the type that are joined to the sea. Bob thinks there's a proper word for these, but he's not sure and goes back to playing chess against himself (it makes it easier for him to cheat). They pass through a narrow passage, separating a small island from the coastline. The water here is pretty shallow, so the engines get throttled down. Good thing too with only 3.4m of water under the cockpit. I don't know if it's the shallowness of the water or the length of time at sea, but Val looks like she's starting to seriously lose it. Further along the coast is another one of those pesky deep bays, that can't be seen fully from the main route along the coast, so it's time to divert into it for a quick peak. Ok... we've looked, now Jeb, if you please, swing the boat around and hit the throttle. This trip needs to get a move on. I've gotta say, the terrain in these parts is pretty bland and featureless, maybe that's what's making Val go a little nuts. A little further along and Jeb spots one important feature ahead. It's the tip of the peninsular they've been heading South along the coast of for the last couple of legs. Soon they'll be round it and heading North again. So Bob... care to give this geographical feature a name. "Let's see, let's see... ah... errr". Come on Bob we don't have all day, just pick something. "Errrm... ah, got it... Dead Fish Peninsular" Ok... I have to ask, why Dead Fish. "Well, it looks like one, you know... after a bit". I'm just not seeing it Bob. "If it was lying around for a while and got kinda squishy..." Ok? "... then someone stood on it.." Right, got the picture. "and the worms and creepy crawlies got at it..." We got it Bob, no need for more details. "... and the sun was drying it out.." Bob... shut it. With the boat having rounded, er... Dead Fish Peninsular, the crew ventured on North (that's the left side in that last pic). However they soon noticed that fuel was getting low enough to start looking ahead for a good place to make an acquaintance with a goose. This possible site looked good from a distance, but up close it's a bit on the bumpy side for a landing, so Jeb pushed onward. Now that looks like a good spot, a shallow beach to moor up on, and wait for the plane and some nice flat ground to put the plane down on. Plus plenty of sand for making sand castles. Time to get the buckets and spades out guys.

It was... ah, in that case I'm going to give a shameless plug to 2001: A Space Absurdity. Nope, it has nothing to do with what I did in KSP today, which was nothing, but a couple days ago this is what I did in my boat trip along Kerbin's coastline. Bob makes a run for the hills. Heading up the foothils The view over Woomerang... the refuel team is down there somewhere. Reached to top... 6.1km ASL.

Before I started this boat trip, with its use of tanker planes, I'd done very little flying in the game. I'd always been much more interested in the rocketry/interplanetary side of things. I've probably flown 3-4 times as far in the Juice Goose's (can't bring myself to call them Juice Geese) as all my other planes combined. I've also flown over a much greater variety of places.

That shouldn't be too much of a problem, as the distance is a lot short along it than it looks on the map, due to the projection of the sphere onto the rectangular image. I'd guess about 1/3 - 1/2 the distance that appears at on the map. As for fuel, I'm planning to launch one of the big fuel stores out to each of the poles, and operate the Juice Goose planes from there for as long as it takes. One thing though... I'm expecting the antractic coast to be pretty flat and boring.

Has it gone yet... or, those mountains are pretty big. Once the rover was attached to the boat, Jeb took the wheel once more and guided the boat out to sea, saying goodbye to the 6km high mountain. Heading South now, there were a couple of bays that had to be given a quick look into before heading onward. Ok... that one's been checked out, time to get back on route. Almost half tanks, so plenty more boating to be done. We've been driving for a while now and those stubborn mountains are still hogging the rear view mirror. Suddenly Jeb has something ahead that grabs his attentions... some very shallow (a handful of metres) water, that sticks out someway from the coastline. A little further along the coast, a fairly large bay comes into view, which has a tiny opening to the sea. This opening right here. Jeb brings the boat into it for a moment, before speeding along the coast once more. With the fuel down to about 10%, Jeb looks for a good place to stop and waiting for a tanker plane. This looks like it's a nice place to stop, although the Goose might have to land just the other side of those cliffs. Now to find the deck of cards, dig out the party snacks and wait for a plane load of fuel.

Bob and Val have been mountaineering in the K.S.C. rover again. Heading for the hills. Plenty of zig-zagging ahead. Up on the snow. That blindingly bright snow. The view over Woomerang Launch Site from 5km up. It's down there... somewhere... trust me. The view over the sea from the 6km high peak.

Someone call Guiness... or, it's Bob, a rover and a mountain, I think you can guess. With the boat securely moored, Bob guided the rover up from the shorline, with Val for company again. It was quite a long, but pleasant trundle up towards the foothills, with the glistening snow capped mountain, beckoning them on. They hit the foothills and the going got step straight away (this mountain does not mess about). Fuortunately there is a relatively shallow ascent for part of the route, and Bob headed for it. Bob's enjoying the mountain scenery again. Looking at it from a distance just isn't the same as driving it. But the going gets step again, and for long enough that the rover can't make it to the next plateau without stopping for more juice. Unfortuantely the slope is too steep to come to a comlete halt (and save) so juicing up is at physics warp speed, all the while the rover slides downhill. Finally the pair beak out onto a nice plateau, ending the need for the sliding recharges. They've also broken through the 2km mark. Ahead the grass is giving way to snow, but the slope is shallow at this point, so progress is good. That afternoon sun is quite bright, especially reflected off the snow. 2.8km and the going is getting a lot steeper now, requiring very requent recharges. They break through 3km and again the going is a little easier, at least for a while. But their target is beyond that wall of rock ahead... there's now way they can climb that, so a change of route is needed. Bob takes the rover over to the inland side of the mountain range and starts to guide it up along the edge, close to some steep and very tall cliffs. Bob takes the rover up to the snowy cliff edge, to take a look at the green land beyond. No pesky undead army around here, so looks like it's safe to move on... actually somewhere down there are the refuelling team at Woomerang Launch Site. The view of the snow is just blinding. It's impossible to see when a change in slope angle is coming, until you hit it. That caused a few "will they survive this" moments, as the rover flipped around, cresting unexpected ridges in the snow. Ok... so Bob and Val are on the top of the cliffs at the center of this picture. All they have to do is drive along the top of them, to the peak of the mountain on the right. Easy huh. Well from this angle, not so easy. But hey... at least they've broken through 5km. Well this is going to be a problem. The sun has dropped behind a ridge in the local terrain, and the solar panels are now blocked. With the batteries out of juice, nothing to do now except dig in for the night and wait for morning. With the morning comes precious battery life giving sunlight, and the pair continue on. Bob want's to take a closer look at the cliff edge. Val's not so keen on the idea though, as she doesn't want to try bailing out of a falling rover, to use her parachute. Bob backs the rover away for the death dealing drop and heads uphill once again. It doesn't take long to make their way up to just below the summit. The going this morning has been quite easy, with handily placed nooks and cranies, shallow enough to park the rover on, while charging at proper warp speed. Bob makes a final push for the summit, and he's really wishing that he'd packed some sunglasses, as the snow is completely blinding in the cab. At last they make it to the top and it's a new record for the trip at 6119m. Travelling up over 6km from sea level has been fun if a bit tricky in places. So... now they just need to find a good route down. Fortunately it's a lot quicker to go down than up, so it doesn't take long until they back to around 2km. With the boat in sight, Bob and Val are looking forward to some proper food (they only packed two kinds of chocolate) and continuing on along the coast.

Trip ahoy... or, Bob gets spoilt for choice. It was time for another fill up for the boat, so Staemy hit the throttles and headed for the sky. The trip from the last parking point for the Coastal Cruiser wasn't long, so it's positon soon came into sight. 19km out, time to start losing some altitiude and skim those waves. Landing was pretty straight forward, although a bit down range from where was intended, so a longer roll to the beach than planned. Val got out on top of the rover to say hi to Staemy and thanks for the fuel. With the refuel done, Staemy took off and started the short trip back to Woomerang, which is just the other side of those mountains.. Quite a tall peak. So Staemy aims for the dip in the mountain range next to it, just clearing the snow below. On the far side of the mountains the green expanse beyond, that Woomerang is located on, comes into view. First landing at the new base coming up. Staemy puts the bird down cleanly... it's certainly a lot easier to land than takeoff from here. Now it's time to get that Goose full of Juice, so Dean and Tanford do the honours in the Moose. With the morning comes the start of another leg in the boat. Bob was still at the controls, and within a couple of minutes he sees something that has him drooling. Yep... those'll do. It's a little further from the shore than the other mountains that Bob's taken a trip to, but it's not excessvely far. Ah but... there are more mountains over there. Positively surrounded by them. Decisions, decisions... In column A... this mighty beast. In column B... something that looks at least as tall, plus it looks more accessible too. So B it is. It also has a nice inlet that allows to boat to get close to the foothills. Bob guides the boat into the inlet... he's really looking forward to to having a crack at some snowy peaks. He gets so excited that he almost wipes the boat out on this nasty rock, jutting out of the water FInally he brings the boat into shore without a scratch. Still plenty of fuel left too, so a good deal more travelling when this leg continues. But next step... swap this cockpit for the rover's and get climbing.

It's just to have a narrower edge to drive the rover up onto than the wing sections they're attached to.

After a brief hiatus it was back to pushing a boat around the coastlines of Kerbin. But first my tanker support team were moved from the Dessert Airfield to Woomerang Launch Site. Hmmm... so no runway huh. Time to send out some fuel. Bill falls off the boat. Jeb and Val are loving the outdoors life.

For the Ultimate Challenge would two landers be within the rules (nothing explicitly forbids this as far as I can see)? One to land a kerbal on the water to get the sample, plus another that is the launch vehicle, that lands on solid ground.

Hold on tight... or, what was that splashing sound? Everyone except Bob, who would be piloting the boat for this leg, was out on deck enjoying the morning sun. Jeb and Val were strapped into their seats, waiting for Bob to hit the throttle, but Bill was busy clearing away the breakfast dishes. Unfortunately Bob was a little overeager to get started with his first piloting of the boat, and Bill along with the dishes end up sliding off the deck. "Guys you forgot something.... HEY GUYS!" With Bill back onboard in the cockpit, giving Bob an earfull, the boat got underway once more. It's safe to say that Val and Jeb were enjoying the morning breaze. It's not the most interesting terrain around here, certainly compared with Barbeque Bay. About 2/3 tanks left to burn through. Still enjoying the high speed, open air trip, Jeb tells Val about the time he was stuck for months in a capsule with Bob, on their way to Duna. There was a supplies loading error, so the only food onboard was baked beans, gorgonzola cheese and chilli. Jeb says by the time they reached Duna, the smell was indescribable. First interesting bit of terrain to come up so far on this leg. So Bob, you fancy naming this. "No... busy... boat". Ok Bob... I guess you're busy. Up on deck Val reminds Jeb that it's his turn to cook dinner. "So what are we having Jeb". "Chilli". The tanks are getting low enough to start thinking about looking ahead to decide on a good place to park the boat. Round this high headland Bob thinks there is a nice spot to put in. Indeed there is and with fuel looking low he bring the boat into the shore. Actually make that very low. So now to wait for Staemy to make another visit.

Welcome to Woomerang... or, so long to the scorching desert. With the Coast Cruiser now a long way North West of the Dessert Airfield, it was time to move tanking operations to the Woomerang Launch Site. As the name suggests, this is designed for the launch of rockets only. It has no runway (not too much of a problem) and deployment of the first Juice Goose brought up an issue. The pad is smaller than that at the KSC and the position the aircraft was deployed at, ended up with the rear set of gear (there to prevent tail strike on bumpy ground) on the outside of the railing. This meant that this gear had to be raised to allow the plane to get off the pad. That's better... now to roll down the ramp. Once all three Goose were deployed, it was the turn of the Juice Moose, now driven by Jonfred and Catble Kerman. Finally with all vehicles off the pad, the base was ready for tanking operations to begin. Staemy was the first to take to the air from their new home. After swinging around 180 degrees, she hit the afterburners to get an extra boost in clearing the nearby mountains. Breaking out over the top gave Staemy her first view of the sea she's be flying over to get to the boat. Leaving the mountains behind her, she headed out over the sea. After several minutes (x3 warp) the location of the boat came into view. Lined up nicely for the landing and plenty of fuel onboard for a thirsty boat. Hi boat. Staemy took theplane a little up the hill to get a better view of the sunset, before heading down to link up with the Coastal Cruiser. Val seemed to think it was Halloween already... some strange things happening with the lighting. With the boat refuelled, they'd be able to start their first leg in days.

I think that might be the way to go. Going back to the fact that Pro Pilot precludes the use of ISRU, to me that should place it in the highest category of bonus. The reason being that performance in the challenge is based on the mass of your launches, with bonuses all deductions from that. As a non ISRU vehicle will be massively heavier than one which has to haul all its fuel to the surface of Eve, that will make a big difference to the final score.

Back in the hot seat... or, lets get this thing moving again. After a short hiatus, the team is back with more boating, flying and driving antics. The break was due to Val making a cameo appearance in a high speed trip from Moho to Eeloo. First of all, the flights from the Dessert Airfield have to come to an end, at least for now. The reason for this is that the Woomerang Launch Site is now the closest base the the Coastal Cruiser, so all refuelling operations will be moving to there. But first, time to get the birds home... Hildard was the first to take to the skies for the long trip back to the desert. A decent amount of fuel in the tank for the trip, even at about 1/3 distance into it. Ahead is the desert, with a nice cold drink waiting in the pilots lounge for Hildard. She made it back to base with plenty of fuel to spare will no head back to the KSC for a well earned rest. With one bird home, it was time to bring back Gus. His flight is a little longer but Hildard made it back with only slightly more fuel. On the way back Gus decided to take a low pass through a mountain range. Pity this isn't anywhere near the ocean, I'm sure Bob would like to take a crack at that. Gus adds this location to his "been there, done that" collection. With the fun of the mountain flyby, Gus hasn't looked at the fuel gauge in a while and when he does, he sees that it's looking a little low. He's only made it to the edge desert too, still plenty of flying left to do. To try an increase range Gus shuts down the center engine. The airfield is still 28km away and with only 45 units of fuel left, Gus is thinking of putting the plane down in the desert below. 6km out and things are looking better. Now it's time to swing roung to get a better approach angle. Now swing back the other way and drop the gear. As usual the engines are cut a few seconds before landing, to loose some speed, so no more fuel being consumed. Gus makes it down with just 10 units left in the tanks. Now he too will be take a much needed vacation. From tomorrow the action moves back to the boat, plus refuelling operations out of the Woomerang Launch Site.

Sounds good.

Here's a few ideas on what to call the four moons collectively (I think that's what you've after). The fantastic 4. The leftovers. GIMM. The far flung. The four sisters (or brothers). The 4M. The cool 4 (as opposed to the Jool 5). That's all I can think of right now... might this be a challenge in the making?

Looks like an interesting challenge, one I might take a crack at. One point about the rules and bonuses. This rule... " The Kerbals cannot wait around for ISRU. If you do ISRU at any point, you must complete it before your Kerbals are launched." ... seems to preclude the Pro Pilot bonus, as the only way to use ISRU, is to launch an unmanned vehicle to generate fuel, in advance of the manned part of the mission.