Mr. Peabody

I remember seeing something like this done years ago in KSP 1. Really takes me back. It's very impressive, I must say.

I'm sure it's been mentioned before, but there are loads of tip-jet helicopters that are downright odd. For instance, here's the Hughs XH-17: The European designs are pretty out-there as well. This is the proposed Soviet Mil V-7: And last but not least, the Percival P.74 (never actually flew):

Looks like this one may have flown under the radar, so I'm going to drop it here for the mystery/thriller fans amongst us: If anyone hasn't seen the latest series of Poirot movies starring Kenneth Branagh, they are excellent and I absolutely recommend them to fans of the mystery genre. This movie is (apparently) a loose adaptation of Halloween Party by Dame Agatha Christie, and will be in theatres as the spooky season begins to pick up steam.

Whoa mate! I'm not taking sides. Talk to @JAFO if you want the rules changed.

But will people prefer to avoid the challenge altogether if they need to start at normal difficulty and work their way up? When I moderated very few new participants wanted to start with normal or intermediate difficulties.

The thing is that we now have D/V data during VAB assembly, a feature that wasn't available for early challenge participants. Therefore, since charts and other aids are allowed, it shouldn't really be necessary to test crafts in other games. Ideally, a new challenge participant should work their way up the difficulty levels from easy to hard, thereby gaining experience in a more forgiving environment about what works and what doesn't. It was never intended for new participants to attempt the hardest difficulty right off the bat, but that's what is happening in far too many new attempts. Does this behavior merit a rule change in order to make harder difficulties more doable for new participants? Thoughts anyone?

At one point users were using cheat menus in separate games to test the functionality of their spacecraft. (Before DV was incorporated as an in-game mechanic.)

Autopilots most certainly alter gameplay and are disallowed. (Note that mechjeb is explicitly disallowed.) Reverts are fine in lower difficulty levels. @JAFO, what do you think?

OK. This is insane. Best of luck to you!

Precisely.

We must be the KSP kings of dangerous re-entries. Who apart from a caveman would try to bring a top heavy rocket back through the atmosphere with one parachute and no reaction wheels?

Pad construction was encouraged for complex missions before my time as moderator. I think it started with @Moesly_Armlis's stint as challenge manager.

This members of this gaming community must surely be the most insane, in that they earnestly put forward such ambitious suggestions with the hope of seeing them come to fruition. Do the developers even read this forum subsection?

Hai, hai! 0.0 This will make oppressed cavemen everywhere very happy.

Quicksaving is disabled in Nano-Crystalline Diamond. (Advanced Settings) Per previous precedent, users completing hard+ difficulty levels w/o quicksaves were granted reverts after catastrophic glitches. The final decision rests with @JAFO, however.

TBH I completely forgot about mechjeb. After it crashed my lander into the munar surface I deleted it and it never returned to my data folder. I always enjoyed piloting my crafts by hand. Additionally, it was well understood that the challenge should be attempted with a "vanilla" (unmodded) version of KSP. This understanding was somewhat muddled by recent game updates and the release of expansion packs.

That comnet constellation is so nearly equilateral that it makes me feel happy just to look at it. Brilliant stuff!

@JAFO, Good luck and have fun!

Today is victory over yourself of yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men. - Musashi Miyamoto Recently my life has come apart. Eastern philosophy is helping me to reassemble the pieces.

Come on lads don't be shy.

Risetto.

Don't worry. I'll find a trusty caveman to carry the torch when I'm gone.

That might spell the end of my tenure as challenge moderator. I haven't the time at present to rework the challenge structure to any significant degree.