TheMontgomery

Impressive, hermes47! I look forward to seeing you topple the leaderboard if all goes well.

I know that feel, bro.

Best way I've found is to upload it to Imgur or some similar service. The "insert image" function will allow you to plug in the URL.

Semi-major axis is probably the best metric to judge it by, yes. In other news, I'm still trying to cobble together something capable of gliding to a landing, SSTO or otherwise. As I'm presently terrible at both bulding serviceable SSTO craft AND landing planes... it's a tall order for me.

I managed to make an SSTO--if just barely! I squeaked into orbit with but a sliver of fuel left. Conveniently, just enough fuel to deorbit to a suitable aerobraking altitude and attempt to land. ...Which itself has proven unsuccessful thus far. Moar winglets may be required to not go into an uncontrollable spin at around 10,000m and die.

I've updated the Leaderboard and Record-Holders so far, with the leaderboard scores containing descriptions for the criteria used to calculate them. Let me know if I messed anything up. I've also taken it upon myself to clarify a few of the achievements and the like, I'll try not to retcon TOO much if I need to tweak anything for practicality in the future. Very nicely done so far, everyone. I look forward to seeing more. I may try my hand at an SSTO or a gliding return vehicle in the near future, stay tuned.

Impressive, as always! Keep up the excellent work. I look forward to all of the single-stage-to-orbit goodness I'll get out of the new parts.

@sal_vager: I'm honored and flattered! Glad I could provide a worthy challenge here for the community. @angusmacbeth: If you're trying to attain some achievements, post screenshots of the relevant milestones (mass, number of parts, MET, et cetera), otherwise a few of liftoff, maybe some map screens of your trajectories, landing, return, and so on. @hermes47: Very nicely done! Seeing your screencaps, I believe I recall your Moho journey. At first glance, looks like that'll net you 2,750 points if I'm not mistaken. And of course, as the only Moho entry thus far, you'd also be entitled to the Moving Mountains, Stuff We Had Lying Around, and Homesick achievements for Moho. I'll update the leaderboards this evening.

I'm not skilled enough to attempt an Eve-capable return vehicle yet, but it has been done. I was, however, able to make a very serviceable Duna vehicle. As I've built my monstrous new computer since these screens were taken, expect any future picture quality to be dramatically better.

Greetings, Kerbonauts! As it appears my account was wiped out with the forum outage a few weeks ago, and since I posted this challenge previously... I figured with the interest it garnered when I posted it a few months ago, and as much as I enjoyed attempting a similar challenge posed in the pre-.18 days, that it's worth reposting. Of course, in the current demo version of the game (.18.3), the only available bodies are Kerbol, Kerbin, and the Mün, and a comparatively small selection of parts from which to choose. With this design constraint in mind, my challenge to you is to explore other bodies in the Kerbol system--using only demo parts. All that being said... THE RULES: Demo (.18.3) parts ONLY (list available here) Vessel construction must be in VAB only Cannot launch new flights if 3 or more are already in progress Multiple capsules/crew ARE permitted Note that as docking parts are unavailable, crew transfer will have to be accomplished with rendezvous and EVA, if desired. Plugins are not loaded in the demo, but so long as you don't use any on your craft in flight, I can't exactly stop you from, say, using MechJeb in the VAB to get an idea of the TWR and delta-V you'll be working with. UPDATE: Here's some (admittedly preliminary) scores to shoot for. Enjoy! OBJECTIVES Minmus Encounter/Orbit: 250 pts Land and return to Kerbin: 500 pts Duna Encounter/Orbit: 1000 pts Land: 250 pts Return to Orbit: 250 pts Return to Kerbin: 1000 pts Eve Encounter/Orbit: 750 pts Land: 250 pts Return to Orbit: 5000 pts Return to Kerbin: 1000 pts Dres Encounter/Orbit: 2000 pts Land: 500 pts Return to Orbit: 500 pts Return to Kerbin: 2500 pts Moho Encounter/Orbit: 2000 pts Land: 750 pts Return to Orbit: 750 pts Return to Kerbin: 1500 pts Jool Encounter/Orbit: 3000 pts Land on Laythe: 1000 pts Escape Laythe: 2500 pts Land on Vall: 2000 pts Escape Vall: 2000 pts Land on Tylo: 5000 pts Escape Tylo: 3500 pts Land on Bop: 500 pts Escape Bop: 300 pts Land on Pol: 250 pts Escape Pol: 200 pts Return to Kerbin: 4000 pts Eeloo Encounter/Orbit: 4000 pts Land: 1500 pts Return to Orbit: 1500 pts Return to Kerbin: 4000 pts ACHIEVEMENTS The More, the Merrier: +10% for each additional crew member Münlighting: Land on the Mün AND Minmus with a single flight 1000 pts The One And Only: Single-Stage-To-Orbit vehicle 3000 pts The One And Only, Professional Grade: Single-Stage-To-Moon vehicle (Mün or Minmus) 5000 pts The One And Only, Nightmare Grade: Single-State-To-Planet vehicle 10,000 pts Moving Mountains: Heaviest Vehicle* +100% (per given objective landed upon; e.g., separate awards given for the heaviest Minmus vehicle and heaviest Duna vehicle, etc.) Stuff We Had Lying Around: Fewest parts* +100% (per given objective landed upon) The Eisenhower: Land on Ike and Duna in the same flight 1500 pts Gee Gillikers: Land on Gilly and Eve in the same flight 2000 pts "I'm a little cooked, but I'm okay:" Closest stable orbit to Kerbol 8000 pts Joolienned: Jool capture orbit with aerobraking only 3000 pts Joolian Tour: Land on more than one Joolian moon in the same flight 5000 pts Falling With Style: Land intact without the assistance of parachutes or engine power +50% (Remember, you DO have access to two types of winglets!) Homesick: Shortest total mission duration with successful return to Kerbin** +50% (per given objective) *Tiebreakers to be determined; factors such as whether one craft returns to Kerbin, or has a shorter MET, et cetera may apply **Tiebreakers to be determined LEADERBOARD metaphor: 46,500 (Tylo landing and return to Kerbin, Moving Mountains, Stuff We Had Lying Around) hermes47: 34,650 (Laythe landing, 3-man return, Moving Mountains, Stuff We Had Lying Around) gm537: 33,000 (Eeloo landing and return to Kerbin, Moving Mountains, Stuff We Had Lying Around) hermes47: 24,750 (Val, Bop, Pol landings, Joolian Tour, Moving Mountains, Stuff We Had Lying Around) hermes47: 23,000 (Tylo landing/departure, Laythe Orbit, Moving Mountains) metaphor: 10,750 (Eve landing, The One And Only; Nightmare Grade) Spaceisbeautiful: 8250 (Minmus encounter, lowest Kerbolar orbit) Hermes47: 8250 (Moho landing, Moving Mountains, Stuff We Had Lying Around) gm537: 8000 (lowest Kerbolar orbit) Professorel: 5250 (Minmus landing, Münlighting, Moving Mountains, Stuff We Had Lying Around) metaphor: 1000 (Eve landing) Current Record-Holders*** "I'm a little cooked, but I'm okay" - gm537 - 20,857,895m Moving Mountains (Moho) - Hermes47 Moving Mountains (Minmus) - Professorel Moving Mountains (Jool, Tylo) - Hermes47 - 480.21 Tons Moving Mountains (Laythe) - Hermes47 - 447.91 Moving Mountains (Vall) - Hermes47 - 349.49 Moving Mountains (Bop) - Hermes47 - 349.49 Moving Mountains (Pol) - Hermes47 - 349.49 Moving Mountains (Eeloo) - gm537 Stuff We Had Lying Around (Moho) - Hermes47 Stuff We Had Lying Around (Minmus) - Professorel Stuff We Had Lying Around (Eeloo) - gm537 Stuff We Had Lying Around (Jool, Tylo, Vall, Laythe, Bop, Pol) - Hermes47 - 377 for Tylo, 366 for Laythe, 337 for Vall/Bop/Pol ***Your score on the Leaderboard will be unchanged even if your record is broken The point awards are admittedly a bit arbitrary, but hopefully they're suitable. I'm also open to suggestions for objective and achievement awards. Without further ado, here's some screencaps from my initial Minmus foray when I proposed this challenge pre-forum-meltdown a few months ago. Good hunting! On the launchpad. On approach... Landed! Don't mind the jettisoned transfer stage in the background. Home in time for supper.