Evanitis

My first Mun (flyby) attempt in a horizontal launch only career game: It's one thing that it never even got near space (not to mention orbit, or Kod forgive - the Mun), but as I attached the lower wings to the jet engines, it got uncontrolable upon firing the boosters, and tore itself apart not much later. On top of that, I never managed to recover more than 30% of it - all the chutes and the full power of the engines weren't enough for even a relatively safe landing. Well, Val survived, I re-acquired the funds and even unlocked struts for it's Mk II variant.

F1 takes screens, F2 hides the hud. I bet I wasn't alone who were wondering how did your craft looked like.

Same here - already made a separate BD only KSP install to maximize performance on my potato-computer. It's ok for testing planes and the system, not so much if I tried streaming or recording too - not to mention doing so in a reasonable resolution. That's one of the reasons why this AI tourney is appealing - the outcome doesn't depend on my PC performance or piloting skills (it would be hard to decide which is worse ).

I think you missed the point somewhere. We, the participants send the craft files. BD's artificial intelligence will fly the planes, and do the fighting. Hell it even could be done on an offline computer, without any recording or streaming. We'll only watch it to cheer for our teams. I'll totally force my non-gamer GF to watch. She'll hate me, but I'll redirect that hate towards the KSP people.

Zero, zero... actually, zero on all counts. I didn't feel the need to test, as I played around much lately with turboram+swivel planes. Checked the numbers, readouts, CoM-CoL, all seems to fit. I believe it's one of the easiest planes to put into orbit and to land. As the cargo here is kerbals, their weitght is zero, so no points there. I wonder how many of them could fit in a cargobay... if someone took the effort to fill it up in the KSC, it could go into positive. I bet it could reach a station on 80-90K, though not with the 'point nose to 30' way. 100k is probably pushing it.

Ok. Built the 'Badhat' for you. Based on existing design, but I feel I improved it here and there. Yet to test it, but I have a pretty good idea how will it preform. It won't score high, but even tourists or similarly skilled people can fly it. It has a probe-core for SAS-stuff, and MJ for convenience. It can transport 3 kerbals safely, and I estimate other 3 unsafely. Varranty void if timewarping with 3+ passangers. Let me provide operating instructions: Upwards: - full throttle - point nose to 30 degrees - press 'SPACE' when it stops accelerating - press '1' when jets flameout - circularize at 70K+ Up there: - use RCS for whatever you went there for Downwards: - hold '2' to slow down - point nose down if you get too slow - land EDIT: not sure if I got the rules right - do I get to fly some poor soul's craft or will the Peitz-people test all planes?

- Have fun - Make mistakes - Limit yourself - Decide what you need, and find a mod that does it - If it's stupid but works, it's not stupid Only no. 1 matters. I only added the rest to be faithful to the thread title.

Just another thing came to my mind - aerodynamics are realistic enough these days that drag profile matters much. Since you said you have RCS, you could try locking your least aerodynamic side to face prograde with SAS. That's most likely the side of the labs. I'm pretty sure that combined with a high as possible entry PE (like 60k) should slow you down enough.

If you have mono (and kerbals), you should be able to establish a stable orbit - PE higher than 70, AP as low as possible (while still above 70). If you run out of RCS, a kerbal can EVA out and push the craft in the required direction. Than it stays here. Now you can send a rescue-craft to bring the crew home for their xp. Decide if you want to land the craft - though unless a contract asks for it, there is not much point in doing so. The lab can generate more science up there. And you can refuel it to send it on another expedition. If it has no docking ports, you can still load it up with the klaw. If you really want to land it, the klaw is the solution again - just build something that has it and a lot of parachutes, and some fuel for deorbiting if needed. EDIT: ninja'd... by a few guys. EDIT2: I think you don't need to be as slow as 250m/s to open those chutes. Did you know that if you right-click them it shows when it's safe to deploy? I have the feeling that 16 chutes can bring down -anything-.

They do? What's the matter with the Mun? It has gravity, so it can slow you down on the way home.

Made a badge - it currently links this thread until the actual challenge is up. Wish I could figure out how to show the plain code so one could just paste it anywhere, but the forum just turns it into the actual image. So it should be set manually. It's 107 px high - same as the common K-Prize one, and just a tiny bit taller than the Jool-5 badge. Link for the image: http://i.imgur.com/o37n8ol.png

I only know the ladder-force, he was fine the last time I checked it in 1.0.2. The landing-leg version sounds like pretty much the same.

Well, getting to space with a plane isn't too hard - it can be done with minimal tech too. What generally considered challenging are SSTO planes (as in 'single stage to orbit'). Taking a considerable payload too is indeed pretty hard (and enjoyable), so as landing back on the KSC runway. The K-Prize is one of the most popular challenges. Also, if you make a half-working SSTO and ask for help here, expect at least two pages of replies.

Can't care much about the present limitations, it's already amazing. Planes finally have a -purpose- in KSP besides SSTOs and flying above a dull terrain. (already DL-ed and having my share of fun with BD)

Wut? BD can do -that- these days? I always passed the thread when I saw it's about guns and rockets (well, unmanned destructive rockets). It took a while until I actually thought about what AI + dogfighting + tournament means. That's awesome! Glad I clicked here in time. I'll totally participate once the rules are finalized. Think I could also make some shiney sig-badges for the contest. People seem to like them badges. Well, at least I do. And extra publicity could wind up more contenders. I bet there are more out there who'd be interested if they knew BD Armory got such a feature.

[TABLE=class: verse] [TR] [TD]“Any of our wives who be the first arriver,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Gently we should take her, throw her in the fire,[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Mix with lime her ashes, tender ashes softly[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]For to strengthen with it Déva’s castle lofty.â€Â[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] It was an accident! I swear! I wanted to sacrifice Val to bring good fortune to my brand new career save. Like they did it in that ballad. I certainly didn't want Jeb to do it. But you know how is it with him, he sees an interesting looking craft and he climbs in when you are not looking. Now the launchpad is his burial site. I think it fits.

Those VTOL bases are beyond awesome...

I never pronounced it before. Though I'd pronounce it 'like that' - just without the 'k' and 't' at the end of syllables.

Before 1.0.4 I though that gravity assists are pretty hard and really pro things to do for conserving a bit of dV. Reentry heat made me realize that it's easy and very efficient - even if I don't count that I don't have to take tonnes of heat-shield with me for interplanetary missions.

Started a career game recently without VAB or launchpad. Gave myself some starting sci for the plane-parts, but not funds. It seems I'll need to reach orbit before unlocking turboramjets... and before getting some tarmac on the runway. I'm having a blast, just like in the first days of playing KSP. Thought I mention it here for the slim chance of inspiring a veteran.

Those two are the first, and the first successful iteration of the SSTS (single stage to space) planes in my new, VAB- and launchpadless career. Since all my funds are saved for unlocking turboramjets to get an actual orbit, takeoffs are a bit hairy. The level 1 runway is actually more bumpy than the grass surrounding it. At the first pic, I was sure that the SPH will be the third building I destroy on the first day, but I managed to pull up in the last fracture of seconds. You can see that Bill is praying. The second one veered off even more, passing -between- those burned iron-things, resulting in a double hearth attack. But it got to SPACE! Weee! I'm yet to establish an actual orbit, but I feel the O.M.G. coefficient is strong with those planes. I'm planning to do a detailed mission report once (if) I get to the Mun.

Multiple gravity assists could slow that plane enough to survive Laythe aerobraking. Than you can circularize in a few passes, land as planned and hopefully even take that beauty home. I also found that solar panels work there - just pretty slowly. An array of gigators could power either my ISRU or the mobile lab, so I bet even those small panels will keep that plane running.

Well, now I know where to imagine that line. Thanks!

I'm envy. I don't even want to look at it because I prefer to figure stuff out instead of copying - even unintentionally. Though a brief glance was enough to see solutions to problems I myself barely identified. And it's full of those. Though my Jeb would quit if I flown something of this magnitude without him piloting it.

Rovers flip? Strange, I never noticed that. Ok, I'm no expert. To answer the question - I never cheat, I even unplucked my F12 button.