Death Engineering

[NECROMANCER ALERT..] Found the T.R.A.I.L.S. Plus Gemini part pack and felt like this challenge needed a revisit using the Big G configuration of the Gemini parts. Also used this opportunity to clean up some of the wording in the challenge OP and added a note that "World's First" science points for Duna and Eve count in the score, where applicable. However, any "World's First" points scored for anything other than Duna and Eve do not count. On to the mission... In this attempt, there were only two launches instead of the four used on the previous attempt. Spent a little more time on the propulsion stages to avoid bringing way too much fuel on the Kerbin departure PPMs like last time and developed a lighter more efficient MEM. The Duna landing and return to orbit went well but once again lost one of the Duna sample return probes. Turns out the fuel margin for the probe was tighter than I thought making return to orbit from 774m impossible, but wow Duna looked amazing in the Western Canyon bottom with the latest SVE and SVT installed! Found a reasonably optimal window to transition from Duna > Eve > Kerbin by leaving Kerbin on Year 12, Day 69. This gave the crew about a year and a half at Duna before leaving for Eve. Total delta vee from Duna to Kerbin encounter was about 1200 m/s, and used Eve to help lower the Ap and re-enter Kerbin orbit. Was able to get a little bit of Eve science but lost both probes due to a design oversight. Okay, I was lazy and reused the probes from my first attempt at this challenge - turns out the reaction wheels were removed from the OKTO2. Did you know that? I did not know that so the Eve probes were a lot more like pinwheels in space when the engines lit up. Total mission time was 3 years, 164 days. There is still more science points to be had on this challenge and I'm sure someone could lighten things up to improve the mass fractions/fuel needs. However, I'll probably not submit a third entry to a challenge no one else has completed (however I've read some good attempts on this thread..). Scoring (1) Total Mission Cost: 204,907 Total Mass: 97.661 Fuel Mass: 43.367 (2) Propellant Mass Fraction: 0.444 (3) Mass per crew: 16.277 (4) Science: 2668.4 The pics or it didn't happen album

Ahh you rookies still in the 4-digit number of hours...

Am I a terrible person for showing this happening to my wife and telling her "I launched a rocket so big it melted the polar ice caps"?

Interesting conversation... When thinking about my career games, it's Mun because I always use krewed missions and I always use a life support mod. Getting to Minmus can take a long time, especially if not doing an efficient transfer, so early missions are usually to Mun to avoid all the LS expenses for a long flight to Minmus.

Hi, I'm getting crash to desktop just after load but before the 'start game' screen pops up. I've not had a problem with this mod before. On KSP 1.2.2. Using SVE by itself works fine. error.log output.log Thanks for any insight!

Did a really simple sub-orbital test from the launch site to just off the KSC coast. Splashed down but thought it might be fun to launch out of the water and fly about a bit. Couldn't land it safely, of course, KILLED JEB and then realized I am in hard mode with no reverts. Rough career start!

Took a casual 107 year tour of Jool and Eeloo. Good times had by Jeb. Thanks everyone who contributes to this great mod!

Yeah that is a steamer of a problem... Found this thread looking for a bug-thread about the problem where a maneuver node cannot be placed without quicksaving/reloading when first hitting orbit (or around a new parent body). ^-- cannot believe this bug persists...

Yeah I'm there too.. after thousands and thousands of hours (yes, really). Now at least I know what the sky looks like (although not as realistic as Scatterer + SVT is). Now if I can just get the VAB music to stop looping in my head all day and stop referring to "Mars" as "Duna" and "Moon" as "Mun" (where is Minmus up there??) then I'll be fine. That's what the doc says, anyways.

Thanks, Obama.

Interesting thought.. will post any changes by 10am tomorrow EST edit: for scoring compatibility,no changes made.

I haven't tried 1.2 yet but I don't think there is anything challenge-breaking there so no new rules for 1.2... challenge still open

Actually I usually play my career mode much as you are describing - mini and major milestones pushing the kerbs' deeper into space until they land on the Mun, Minmus and beyond. I think it does enhance the immersion/experience by playing mostly with crewed missions, life-support and KCT running as well. Almost sounds like you are describing a Race to the Moon (Mun) type playstyle which would indeed make a good challenge as well...

Rush 'penalties' are fine to use.

Yeah for sure that would be OK! In fact I was in the rough stages of designing another run at this challenge using Kerbalism. I abandoned it because the 'Quality of Life' parameter in Kerbalism was pushing designs to the almost-silly when considering missions with 10-12 crew. I'd thought about deleting QoL from the mod for the challenge but that seemed a little cheaty (although to the rules of this challenge, that would still be acceptable). Looking forward to seeing what you come up with. edit: Added 'Kerbalism' to Life Support mod list.

Is the nVidia issue that the radiation belts are not visible?

..embarrassed I didn't install it already ty!

Installed SPR by itself fine... K64 6.4x mod by itself fine.. but the two together and I can dock but I can't undock. Ideas?

Closest ever that wasn't on purpose was doing aerocapture around Duna. I had lined up the lander trajectory with the awaiting crew already in orbit while just inside Duna SOI. As it approached Duna's atmosphere, the game stuttered. It took a moment to realize it was from loading the other ship at the 2.2km point! Nothing to do but watch as we passed the crew within only 177m. With the difference in velocities, it was only a few frames. From interplanetary, that's about as close as I could come even if I'd tried. Edit: found the screenie! Not quite at the closest point but closing fast!

Curious to see how using a shuttle works out in the scope of this challenge. Unlike "real life", I suspect a shuttle would save some time and funds (overall). For me at least, the problem is getting the shuttle back down in one piece. BTW I'll be posting another Duna challenge in a week or so that will be much closer to the DPMAC (see OP) than this one, worth less dependence on mods and fewer rules for scoring.

I paid and was refunded $200 USD. Yeah major bummer.

The sage mostly fizzles out at the end. I've received a full credit and contact from the Congressman's office and USPS seemed to say that "Ya, it's gone.". Conspiracy?

Honestly, my sim needs are met with KCT and I don't have a compulsion to try another mod but since it's probably on its way out, I'll give KRASH a look..

@SmashBrown signature checks out

"We still have a problem?!?" Several months ago I used a popular online auction site to bid on and win a small piece of the interior cloth from the Apollo 13 Lunar Module. This would have been left on the moon had the mission gone to plan, but those familiar with history or the Tom Hanks film may recall that as the crew approached Earth, they needed ballast from the LM to account for missing lunar material mass. The finger-nail sized piece of cloth that I had seen and attempted to acquire was among the bits that the crew saved from the LM moments before jettisoning their "lifeboat". Currently, this item has been lost in transit, sent on a journey requiring many things to come together in order to deliver it safely to its destination and much like during its original trip to the moon it "had a problem". I thought it somewhat fitting, ironic even, that this would happen; that an artifact from Apollo 13 would make it all the way to the moon and back despite overwhelming odds only to be lost by the posties. Despite several investigations through the USPS, the package remains on the dark side of the moon. I've just received word that the US Congressman's office where the package originated is now involved in the investigation and hopefully some progress will be made in recovering this tiny although fascinating piece of American history. I'll post updates as I get them...