Nefrums

I spent several hours trying to get my, Jool-5 (low mass) challenge ship to LKO with as lite fuel as possible. And then flying the dV starved ship to Jool, taking the Kerbin->Eve->Kerbin->Kerbin->Jool route. Will be exiting to see if the ship has enough fuel to complete the challenge. I might have decreased the amount of fuel a bit to much. Getting the takeoff weight below 27t took some tweaking.

I usualy stay at sea level untill 450m/s. Then climb at 30 degrees. prograde lock at 6-7 km -> level fligh at 20km. When speed hits 1500m/s pull up and ride it out.

yep. latest prototype is 29.6t on the runway. It can get to LKO with what I think is needed for the mission, but if it can complete the challenge however... that remains to be seen.

I had this problem once while using 1.0.3. However if i went into the game folder and started the game exe, rather than using a shortcut, the problem did not appear.

I'm thinking of doing a low mass entry. What mass should i aim for? The <10t entries in the old thread don't really seem viable anymore. Edit: I managed to design a 30t ship that might be able to compleate the challange. :-)

Well done mesklin. i did not know that trick with the picking up flags. There I get for trying to write clever rules There are a few Struts in between the batteries. The Struts are offset down a bit and the chair is plaiced on top of them

Mammoth have higher twr than mainsail. The is actually a lite more to it than that. Even a one second burn will get you to ~200m/s at those speeds aerodynamic forces are more important than gravity. But you are right in that it is basically to take the engine with highest surface twr and add just enough fuel for a one second burn. And then try to make it more aerodynamic. I could get a mammoth, lander can and fuel to about 1700m, This one made 1958m:

Kermen you are now top on two of the scorebaords, well done. And anstrobond that was one good mission, I think it was better flown than mine. I think that you might be able to save some fuel by reducing drag with a fairing.

Yes, my bad. It is the Econo 2.3 not 2.1 that should be on the score board - - - Updated - - - And to give you a more challenging target to beat I give you: Smallmunhopper 5.995 kg

Nice missions all of you. astrobond, the two flags rule was partly there because that I think reentry in a command seat is silly So unfortunately that mission will not go on the scoreboard, despite it being a very well flown one. Kermen, that one will be hard to beat.

Nice one Nich. The flag planting is more of a formality, intended to force maned flights.

Vamanos Test flight: I did not like this ship Very hard to control and strange balance of LF vs OX I managed to deploy the two satellites to LKO and return safely Cost: 4148 - - - Updated - - - Neagle test flight: I liked this ship at first. It was a low drag build tat could go suopersonic at sea level. I do however believe that center of lift was a bit to far forward with made it react a bit to mush when pitching up... Cost 65,276 4 dead kerbals.

Nice one! Good to see that rockets can compete with space planes!

I have tested "Pro Builder 1.0". I cant even remember the last time i flew a non rapier SSTO. I should have read the instructions before I tested it... It handles well with a slight tendency to tilt left, Reaching orbit, docking and descending was no problem. I kind of botched the landing a bit. 5 kerbals deviled to a station in LKO Credits spent: 3693

I kind of figured that the mass would be dominated by space planes, the parts one was for rockets, and the cost could be any of them? But separate leader boards might be a better idee.

That is one nice looking ship! Cool that you used ion booster on the last stage. Here is my own entry with a space plane. more going for lowest mass than the other two. Moonhopper: mass: 16,7t parts: 23 cost: 21936

There seams to be more builders than pilots so here is a noob friendly ship: Craft file: Noobs Friend I have not tested it, but it should work. It has enough fuel to reach orbit and land twice. It even has parachutes if you don't dare to try to land it the harder way. Any flight profile will do but i recommend: accelerate to at least 1500m/s bellow 20000m before pitching up and going to orbit. accelerate to ~450m/s at sea-level before starting to climb. I'll try to fly some of the other ships posted here later tonight.

As fun as it is to design SSTOs, I don't want to make the "cheap" Category a SSTO only category. So recovery funds are not part of this challenge.

Yes. That is correct

I was planing to posting my own entry today, but i miscalculated the dv required. Will have to try again tomorrow.

As the name suggest this challenge is about making the smallest craft possible to accomplish the mission. The mission: Takeoff from KSC Land ship and plant flags on Mun and Minmus Return all Crew safely to Kerbin Scoring: There will be three categories (with separate scoreboards) to compete in. Lightweight. (Mass) Simple. (Part count) Cheap. (Cost) Additional rules: No cheating, including alt-f12, HyperEdit, or config file editing. No part-clipping. No clipping of functional parts (fuel tanks, batteries, crew pods, engines, science parts, SAS) into each other. It is okay to clip structural and non-functional parts. Weight/part count is counted before launch from KSC. Multiple launches are allowed, Sum up wight/parts/cost of all launches. All launches helping the mission must be counted. No use of unbalanced mods No mining on Kerbin. Use at least normal difficulty on relevant settings Scoreboards: Lightweight: [TABLE=class: grid, width: 500] [TR] [TD]Mesklin[/TD] [TD]Small Kerbin 2[/TD] [TD]4,76[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]astrobond[/TD] [TD]MM-104-New-2[/TD] [TD]5,85[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Nefrums[/TD] [TD]Smallmunhopper[/TD] [TD]6,00[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]astrobond[/TD] [TD]MM-104-New[/TD] [TD]6,23[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Nich[/TD] [TD]Econo 2.3[/TD] [TD]8,60[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Nefrums[/TD] [TD]Munhopper[/TD] [TD]16,7[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] Simple: [TABLE=class: grid, width: 500] [TR] [TD]Red Iron Crown[/TD] [TD]Munsurfer[/TD] [TD]5[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Kermen[/TD] [TD]munminmuspartschallange[/TD] [TD]6[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Red Iron Crown[/TD] [TD]Munmus[/TD] [TD]9[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Kermen[/TD] [TD]munminmuscostchallange[/TD] [TD]22[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Nefrums[/TD] [TD]Munhopper[/TD] [TD]23[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] Cheap: [TABLE=class: grid, width: 500] [TR] [TD]Red Iron Crown[/TD] [TD]Moons4Less[/TD] [TD]7,925[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Mesklin[/TD] [TD]Small Kerbin 2 (minimal cost)[/TD] [TD]8.108[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Kermen[/TD] [TD]munminmuscostchallange[/TD] [TD]15,122[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]purpleivan[/TD] [TD]Small Kerbin - Cheap[/TD] [TD]16,081[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Foxster[/TD] [TD]M&M2[/TD] [TD]19,716[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Nefrums[/TD] [TD]Munhopper[/TD] [TD]21,963[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

Yes.. The scoring system might need a cap on nr of kerbals.. I mean there is nothing stopping making a craft twice as big and getting twice as many points..

Awww.. You bet me to it by 5 min...

Nope. Stock.

This was actually a lot more fun than i thought it would be. Making maneuver nodes is a bit more tricky when you have fixed dV for each burn. Well here is my entry. To mun and back.