NavalLacrosse

Sorry to make the justification for your craft as simple and lame as I did- I'm not punishing yet, even if i was your entry would not be cut. The rule i'm thinking of adding is along the lines of "same number of 'wings' as control surfaces. (excluding rudder)" Your thoughts?

http://i.imgur.com/Y1yTq79.jpgGreat testing apparatus. I'll have to try that now too. I learn something new every day!

I've got a spreadsheet. It calculates everything for me. changing six numbers on the page isn't a major inconvenience either. Also the rules are based on the actual competition rules, and it is how they do it. Secondly, I like increasing the payload weight and making it not torque producing. Just like the DBF competition whis is modeled after, the cargo is awkward and bulky. The lander can meets that requirement. As far as torque, I've already touched on that: The command pods that make up the packages are empty, and they cannot provide torque. I appreciate the concern, and rather detailed investigation of this issue. I'm letting their craft stand because one major thing: It is a beatable score- Looking over the images, I see proper fuel usage, and the craft flies well within the fight envelope that one would expect from a plane it's size. If it was abusing infiniglide we would see a considerably faster flight time, with much much less fuel use. There is no need to penalize a contestant when I see no evidence that there was any abuse. The plane was flown within the spirit of the game, and Therefore I'll allow it. on an off note, you sure complain a lot in a competition you're not entered in. Try a shot at it yourself. It only takes about an hour to make a plane and fly it.

fastest flight time is based on the current standing Fastest time. On that note,,, I better post it- Mine was 90s

Yep, I picked a challenging fuel, and motor combination. It's part of what makes this challenge more fun than "moar boosters to orbit" style missions. regardless, it is plenty of fuel- I managed my score with a quarter tank remaining. I could have added an additional pair or rockets to the plane and increased my score considerably. As far as the course, It's more a flight pattern than a course. It shows a general flight path that makes you turn the same amount in opposite directions prove the craft can maneuver reliably in each direction. It's not a 'must maintain a turn radius of 250ft' however If I added a paint-drawn version I could clear up much of the confusion. In other competitions, like the MachingBird challenge, if someone out flies you by .5 m/s, you would lose as well. However, this is not just a flying challenge. To off-set things like being edged out of a few seconds on a lap, or carrying one more 'package', the final score weights heavily on the RAC, or aircraft weight, as almost the most important factor. I'd be more worried about being beaten by a 1 ton plane that flies half as well as mine and carries one pod. That's where the competition gets interesting. -I'll likely have a few more goes at this with planes of differing configurations to inspire a more open minded methods of attacking a challenge. .

Modeled after the AIAA/Cessna/Raytheon Design Build Fly (DBF) competition, See www.aiaadbf.org for details on the actual competition. Design Build Fly Kerbal Space Program Edition Overview of competition: This competition is to replicate some of the challenge that is aircraft design. Balancing trade-offs in flight performances with mission scores, and score analysis makes this a nice small scale replica of the AIAA/Cessna/Raytheon international DBF competition held annually at the college level. You are tasked with the design, construction, and flight of an aircraft capable of completing a series of two flight missions. You will receive a score based off of the flight score (FS), and rated aircraft cost (RAC). General Competition Rules: -THIS IS A STOCK PARTS ONLY COMPETITION -FAR is allowed, but I'll score you in a separate category. -NO Debugging. -no infiniglide. -NO major part clipping. As brought up by a commenter, there is a fine like between infiniglide and just an agile craft. I'll leave it to interpretation, one wing with 5 ailerons on it seems a little fishy. We will see where the competition takes this rule. -no general cheating to obtain a significant advantage over others: if it's not 'in the spirit of the game' please don't do it. MISSION OVERVIEW: The goal is to have competitors build an cost, and fuel efficient cargo transport aircraft, and fly it using limited fuel, and rocket motors. This challenge will test the skill of your inner aerodynamic designer, aircraft builder, and aircraft pilot. The first mission consists of a empty weight speed flight. the faster the plane, the higher the score. The second mission consists of a payload flight, where your score will be based on how much cargo you carry, and how fast you carry it. RAC, or rated aircraft cost, will consist of the empty payload weight of the aircraft (WITHOUT FUEL) FLIGHT MISSION 1 (M1): Aircraft in the 'empty' payload configuration, take off the runway and fly one 'lap' of the flight pattern (see figure 1). Land on the runway. Obtain no 'significant damage'. Pause the game when the aircraft is stopped (surface speed less than 1 m/s) screenshots of the specific maneuvers are required for scoring (see screenshot requirements). Score will be based on seconds. M1=100 * (fastest mission time) / (your flight time) FLIGHT MISSION 2 (M2): Aircraft in the 'full' payload configuration(see payload). Take off the runway and fly one 'lap' of the flight pattern (see figure 1). Land on the runway. Obtain no 'significant damage'. Pause the game when the aircraft is stopped (surface speed less than 1 m/s). screenshots of the specific maneuvers are required for scoring (see screenshot requirements). Score will be based on seconds, and the number of packages flown. M2=6000 * (Number of packages) / (your flight time) AIRCRAFT REQUIREMENTS: All aircraft must pass both missions (and have an RAC) to receive an overall score. NO CHANGE OF THE AIRCRAFT BETWEEN MISSIONS IS ALLOWED. only payload packages may be added. Fuel: ONLY ONE (FL-T400 Fuel Tank) can be used. This provides 180 units of fuel. -Alternative is the use of four (FL-T100 Fuel Tank) can be used as a substitute. This provides 180 units of fuel. BOTTOM LINE- DON'T EXCEED 180 UNITS of FUEL PROPULSION: ONLY (LV-1 Liquid Fuel Engine) or (LV-1R Liquid Fuel Engine) can be used. You are allowed as many as you like. NO use of RCS or RCS systems is allowed. Payload: Payload packages consist of UNMANNED (Mk1 Lander Cans) docked to the aircraft via (Clamp-O-Tron Docking Port) one on the plane, one anywhere on the lander can. See my attempt (the following post) as inspiration. Flight Rules: FIGURE 1: From DBF Rules webpage http://www.aiaadbf.org/2014_files/2014_rules_draft5.html Description of the 'ideal flight plan' as I've been doing it: To optimize the score of the flight missions, shorter flight time is a must. Start mission-load in aircraft throttle up roll entire length of the runway at full throttle. don't leave the ground (clock isn't started yet) leave the ground with minimal runway remaining. 'LEVEL' flight as passing the end of the pavement. Sharp left turn start. 180 degree turn complete. fly straight. right turn. 360 degree turn. continue on. 'LEVEL' flight as passing the end of the pavement. TURN LEFT 180 and Line up for immediate landing. Touchdown ASAP on pavement. BRAKES!!!! pause with surface speed at 0.1 m/s 'stopped' no damage, Scoring: As noted before: M1 = 100 * (fastest time) / (your time) M2 = 6000 * (number of packages) / (your flight time) RAC = mass of the aircraft in TONS (NO FUEL) MANNED = .5 if drone, 1 if cockpit w/crew OVERALL SCORE SCORE = MANNED *(M1 + M2) / RAC Screenshot requirements: see my attempt for idea of what's needed. -HANGER - Empty -HANGER - Full (to confirm proper adaptation) -plane on runway in empty configuration -plane on runway in full payload configuration -Weight of the aircraft picture, screen cap of tonnage from knowledge base on map screen (MAKE SURE TO BURN/DUMP all fuel) . IN FLIGHT (BOTH MISSIONS REQUIRE THIS!: -take off roll -level past the end of the runway -banked in left turn 180 -banked right in 360 -flat and level past the end of the runway -left bank on final approach 180 -stopped on runway with flight timer visible. -confirmation of no damage image. Additional Notes: Post if something needs amending, I'll get to it when I read it! Scores: Current Fastest Time: 53 s ***note, changed penalty from .8 to .5 for drones*** VANILLA --USER-----------score 1)the_bt --(pending rule change about clipping, but will stay for now) --155.0294272 2)Fengist --- (no screenshots or landing images) ----------------------138.9717009 3)NavalLacrosse (2) ----said nothing about multiple entries! ----------- 136.5211365 4)Koolkei ------------------------------------------------------------119.1139778 5)Kasuha --RAC can be a real pain! if only your plane was lighter!--------77.10176702 6)NavalLacrosse ------------------------------------------------------50.88708174 7) 8) FAR 1) 2) 3)

Thanks everyone for your submissions! I've been a bit busy with classes, but tomorrow i'll get on updating the leaderboards.

Rocket Artillery Challenge Taking place after the events of The Fuel Crisis, tensions with the purple Kerbals has reached critical levels. Due to the strict rationing of rocket fuel, ion engines have become increasingly popular.... all up until one fateful disaster..... BREAKING NEWS FROM KNN: 20 Injured after ion-powered RoverTrain crash. - KSP safety officials noticed overheated Radioisotope reactor - Kerbals evacuated just in time as what appears to be an explosion of great magnitude rocked the country side - "The reactors are safe and harmless, and remain so." - said Ionic Protonic Electronic's president at press conference, receiving heat for apparent false claims on reactor stability. - Radioisotope cores now subject to investigation by KSP Engineers Of course the KSP engineers are going to investigate, but what was left unknown to the civilian's was KSP's one key motive: The weaponization of what was previously believed to be safe Radioisotope reactors! It is known that the purple Kerbals are developing large scale weapons of mass destruction as well. Luckily for our green Kerbals, we've stumbled across a weapon that may act as a nuclear deterrent- What remains now is to develop an intimidating delivery system! Mission: Launch test rocket towards ocean. Crash Radioisotope Core into water. Measure the ground distance traveled on impact. RULES: All STOCK (yeah because I don't use mods) Cannot have control surfaces. These are medium range rocket artillery (Think V1). Powered by ONE RT-10 Solid Fuel booster Must contain at least one Radioisotope generator (for the spirit of the competition) The only flight control allowed is the torque supplied by the command module Must launch from the ground using the Launch Stabilizers ONLY ONE STAGE- Hit the launch button. SCORING: Take a Screenshot of the missile on the runway/pad before take-off Include the staging HUD Take a screenshot of the Wreckage's Flight results. Show Ground Distance covered. LEADERBOARD: Rank ....... Distence ......... Username 1)............149,001............occar (just the MkIII) 2)............69,406..............ameseree 3)............61,593..............Johnno(2) 4)............46,846..............palker 5)............44,982..............DesertWolf(2) 6)............43,478..............Oxytropis 7)............43,143..............Johnno 8)............40,225..............ConeShot 9)............38,881..............NavalLacrosse 10)............34,698..............Captain Sierra 11)............21,233..............pedorsf 12)............17,285..............DesertWolf 13)............14,189..............searlefm 14) 15) HONORABLE MENTIONZ - frizzank ---- 68,521 ------- I wish I didn't have to, but there is a rule about staging. - Nao ------- 400,001 ------ Holy cow! if only you crashed it into the ground I would have scored you. Please comment on the topic of suggestions, and improvements. Thanks! My attempt Ignore me not posting a picture with the staging HUD visible on launch. The More You Know for those who don't know, holding 'alt' then pressing any control will adjust the trim. I set the trims to max up because my finger was tired of holding the up button during the descent.

Accepted! I'll post my results when i'm done to this comment.! Sadly after starting to build my vtol I gave up like a quitter.

Ha the longer this competition runs the more crazy flights people pull off. When I made this competition the loophole I intended was for a rover to accelerate the plane, then detach, then as fuel runs out, detach the engine, and proceed to fly the .01 ton craft to the mun somehow (of course not, but the bazinga is implied) I'll throw you up on the leader board (beating me!)

All my planes have only had two Elevrons and twin rudders. They haven't experienced the glitch.

And that's when I think a simple scoring algorithm should be implemented, relating time to splash down and distance, but to prevent things like rocket hops for 20 meters in .002 seconds. I'll see what I can come up with. Maybe I can eek out an advantage for myself ;-)

How super! Ha I sure did underestimate the time of flight. Everyone basically trippled my score! There really isn't a sure fire was to eliminate all the aero glitches, but what suspect is causing the absurd ascent is the asas rocking the plane back and forth, resulting in thrust generation by the control surfaces. I think the way to illuminate it may be remove either the front or rear control surfaces. I'll go through and enter in scores when I'm on my pc... And maybe build a better craft myself. I'm open to suggestions as to make this competition better.

My Feeble attempt, after creating two catagories (manned and unmanned) Here is my manned mission.

FUEL CRISIS BREAKING NEWS FROM KNN: Negotiations with Purple Nation continue, but long term solutions are looking less and less likely - Green Kerbal leaders have announced the opening of the national fuel reserves - Expect the price of fuel to rise sharply, and avoid unnecessary trips. Please stay tuned for more updates! The recent news of the purple Kerbal's embargo on rocket fuel still fresh in the minds of our green Kerbals. A spike in the demand for super fuel efficient transportation has gripped the nation! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In light of this, KSP has created a challenge for all Kerbal engineers- The goal: Create super efficient aircraft (drone or manned) and fly it as far as it can travel using only the allotted fuel supplies. Innovations from this challenge will be used to develop efficient civilian transportation..... and military craft for a potential conflict with the purples. MISSION: Take-Off towards water. (may use any method, I personally vertically launched from the runway) Cruise. Glide descent into water. splashdown. RULES: MUST BE ALL STOCK PARTS. TWO COMPETITION CATEGORIES- Drones (unmanned) and Piloted. Piloted missions must be flow using ONLY the Mk3 cockpit (the three seater) ONE ROUND-8 Toroidol Fuel Tank is all that is used to fuel the aircraft. No additional fuel tanks can be used, Also No Dumping or draining oxidizer out of the tank. No taking advantage of thrust generated by control surfaces. Screenshots of the craft ready for take-off, and of crash scene's flight results displaying "Total Ground Distance" required for scoring. SCORING: Straight forward distance challenge: longest land distance travelled wins. All respectable scores get a place on the leaderboard Note:Before flying your craft hours across the ocean, please confirm that your craft will not infinite glide (I recommend on an attempt, take it to cruise alt, and speed and kill the engines. if the plane slows down, and begins to descend, then you are elegable) I would hate to see people fly for 50 minutes and their plane refuse to land because of some unexpected glitching. LEADERBOARD: DRONES: RANK- - - DISTANCE - - - USERNAME 1)...........655,722...........Nao 2)...........203,133...........NoMrBond 3)...........192,926...........Coneshot 4)...........168,877...........Kappa73 5) Mk3 Cockpit MANNED: 1)............106,309..........searlefm 2)............37,437............NavalLacrosse 3) 4) 5) SILLY PLANES! (disqualified/honorable mention) - - - - Have at it! I wanted to make an easy, simple and fun challenge that doesn't take hours of our time. My flight time was 6 minutes. I can't Imagine a flight lasting more than 10 minutes.. and maybe an hour.... [ Now it looks like people have been doing these long endurence challenges are just refitting their planes with the new fuel tanks!]... -This is my first competition, and some people defiantly have this efficiency business down. I really underestimated the ingenuity of the people going to attempt this challenge! i've had both my scores tripled! -I will be creating another simple distance challenge like this, but hope to make it less time: I like short, and easy competitions that take only and hour from starting KSP to submitting screenshots

Went through a few test rings, and some abstract ones that used wings for stability. ultimantly this is the end result: All stock Max ground speed : 33.1 km/h