ihtoit

no mechjeb? I'm out.

well... I have built and successfully tested an SRB-boosted GGM/IRBM with designated targeting lock (via MechJeb and preplaced target marker), it's accurate to 20m and that's after falling over the horizon (I use RemoteTech which requires line of sight and range-capable comms back to KSC for all unmanned probes except those equipped with the 3m probe core). Maximum payload has been a tank of antimatter which pretty much vapourises everything in physics range on detonation. ABM warhead is more often than not a shroud of radial decouplers for some Kessler spam in the incoming's path. For near-infinite range, I could swap out the SRB for a stock jet and some Firespitter intakes...

Backstory: A mysterious radio signal from the Munar Nearside Arch region has prompted the Boffs to order up a mission profile to include vehicle designs and a crew manifest to investigate the area, and take whatever action necessary (and possible) to secure the area. Mission Brief: You are to take seven Kerbals to Mun in an orbiter which includes the following components: TWO 7-man landers ONE 7-man Rover (to land with (ie attached to) the first lander) ONE orbital waypoint (ie the superstructure) Land near the Munar Nearside Arch and plant no less than THREE flags around the perimeter so the area between them entirely encompasses the Arch. Yes, that's anything from 2-5km between flags. Leave the Rover underneath the Arch. Leave the first lander in orbit around Mun after recovering the Kerbals to the orbiter*. Return the Kerbals to KSC using the second lander, leaving the orbiter around Kerbin. Design limitations: - Any structural mod allowed - Chemical and nuclear rockets consume fuel. Carry fuel. "Infinite" isn't an acceptable tank capacity. - *You may opt to use the second lander to recover your Kerbals. If you do this, you must ensure the destruction of the first lander. We suspect that whatever is on Mun has the ability to transmute inert compounds into fuel, although nobody has yet witnessed this (and lived to tell about it). Therefore, we cannot leave anything behind on the surface that is likely to be used to leave by anything other than a Kerbal. (Challengers' Note: I'll be running through this on my .23.5 installation since I have a 7-man capsule there which I'll be using. For my next trick, remembering how to build a robust rover...)

hey, not a problem for me, the video series was very cool - totally didn't expect that - and pretty untoppable

yeah I think they got their teeth really cut on my Thrust KSC Landspeed Challenge, I'm not sure but I think the sound barrier was actually breached pretty late (VERY difficult to do in 2.5km including stopping distance at ground level!) - it's a similar challenge to this one except with the strict rules that the sled had to stop on the runway, it could not leave the ground - period - and it had to carry a Kerbal. Bad Enough Dudez even picked it up for a video series!

"top o' the world, ma!"

that'll be RealChutes.

Roger "Waters" Kerman is looking for inspiration for his next album. He's got the lyrics, they're kinda poetic. Let him know what you think: Little by little the night turns around Counting the leaves which tremble at dawn Lotuses lean on each other in yearning Under the eaves the swallow is resting Set the controls for the heart of the sun Over the mountain watching the watcher Breaking the darkness Waking the grapevine One inch of love is one inch of shadow Love is the shadow that ripens the wine Set the controls for the heart of the sun The heart of the sun, the heart of the sun Witness the man who raves at the wall Making the shape of his questions to Heaven Whether the sun will fall in the evening Will he remember the lesson of giving? Set the controls for the heart of the sun The heart of the sun, the heart of the sun I mean, who couldn't love that? The Challenge: Set the controls for the heart of the Sun and do it in a single stage from the pad. THE RULES: - No 'sploits. - No violating the laws of physics. - Engines which produce thrust must by definition consume fuel. - Alcubierre drives are not permitted in this challenge. - No staging. Period. Not even drop tanks. Bits falling off ends your attempt. - At least one Kerbak must be carried to within 10km of the Kerbolar surface. With aggressive cooling I have managed to get to 3.2km (albeit in a multistage vehicle while I was developing the Tube Rescue challenge). I dare you to do better. In fact... see "Scoring". SCORING: Lowest Kerbolar altitude takes the podium. -1000 for a Kerbolar graze (<10km) and safe return to Kerbin Space Centre. Note: yes, you're looking at 16someoddkm/s delta-v for this challenge, double for a return attempt. See, I already did the math for you.

SSTOSOTS is possible, I've done it.

1 stock jet, 150 fuel, 2 lasers (optional wingtip payload) and you got yourself a deadly kills-anything, fully tracking weapon platform that runs for as long as there's fuel flow. Oh, and: 2400+km range (suborbital skipping), 11.3g tested banking at mach 3, and unclassified maximum speed@21km of 1610.1m/s. TOW: 4.48t (question: how *do* you score Romfarer lasers?)

ha! Well, my internet connection is a bit dodgy these days, I didn't think this post had actually made it. That said, I'll review the videos and scores just as soon as I can find a stable connection that doesn't want to buffer every frame...

where do I sign?? Behemoth-52 Global. 28t payload, multiple hardpoints, 27km ceiling, Mach 2.

Short and sweet challenge: build an air breathing plane or helicopter for speed, fly it to the Island runway and time for a full stop safe landing. THE RULES: - Aircraft *must* consume LF and breathe air. SRBs and LFO engines (ie rockets and Rapiers in closed cycle mode) are not permitted. - All structural mods valid. - No 'sploits or violating the laws of physics. - No unbreakable joints, infinite fuel, hack gravity, flappy gliders or welding. - Aircraft must take off from the runway and land on the Island runway. Landing anywhere else does not count. - Your flight ceiling is 3,000m. - This is part speed run, part precision(ish) flying, I will NOT discriminate between FAR use and not. - Anything breaking off ends your attempt. This includes drop tanks. SCORING: STANDARD: Shortest time between takeoff and full stop on the Island runway. ALT: Shortest time between takeoff and full stop on the Island runway divided by the number of Kerbals carried. LEADERBOARDS: STANDARD: 1. 2. 3. ALT: 1. 2. 3.

eh, no problem... it'd be interesting to see you stop that thing on the runway tho... doable given a small enough fuel load (the smaller load gives a higher initial TWR). Later versions of KSP allow you to adjust the fuel load in the hangar.

no need, a Kerbal can only stand so much momentary G-force. A decoupler spam will squish the little guy. And whatever he's attached to.

hmmm... very old design, but... Luke Kerman brings relief to 20 stranded Kerbals on Mun in a true SSTM: Munbase Beta: (Alpha held 20/38 Kerbals but a bad landing meant that it couldn't take off again. Beta was sent as a rescue vehicle and actually managed to land 4km from Alpha). Both vehicles held enough fuel for a round trip with fuel to spare. In fact, Beta did a stopover on Minmus once the rescue was complete and still had fuel left after a successful return to KSC. All but the spaceplane awards. Yes, it's a VTOL, yes it uses NERVA rockets. It doesn't say anywhere that it can't be not a spaceplane nor does it restrict propulsion type.

1500m over terrain or 1500m asl? Just asking because the Great Circle route to the North pole involves some pretty high peaks. My little helicopter. It'll do it, it's got the fuel, I just can't be sitting there watching nothing happening for three hours.

yeah the clamptrons have a pretty ridiculous magnetic influence in proximity to each other - I've used it to nudge small asteroids (try it! It's a great effect, using the magnetic influence of a pair of clamptrons, you can in fact deflect an asteroid! With a large enough orbit you can even cause a Trojan to go terminal - using NO fuel)

Top 7! Oh, and regarding the challenge for all you doubters, "IT'S AAA-LIIIIIIVE!" </Frankenstein>

just had another thought, though it'll push the plane mass up to ridiculous: precoolers.

I'd say not else I could enter my Mach 8.7 plane... it was nose-down at 43km from 500km ballistic to do that. Oh, word of warning: if your engines do cut out because of altitude, switch them off until you get back below ~20km, cause even with MJ they'll overheat and 'splode otherwise. EDIT: Purpose-built plane for .23 (not tried it on .23.5 physics yet), the KD Behemoth 52: I will be trying it on .23.5 for the simple reason that in .23 it exceeded 1km/s at 27km *with 28t payload*, and entering it on this challenge. EDIT: that's a no. Got to 720m/s at 27km and that's it. No higher, and no faster. Got some weird physics going on in my install...

it might be worth pointing out that GMT (also known as UTC or Coordinated Universal Time, the tick used for shipping and astronavigation as well as GPS) is actually one hour behind British Summer/Western European Summer Time. 12am GMT is actually 1am local (BST) time for any location in the UK, Eire, Iceland, Morocco and Portugal. Central and Eastern Europe are also operating on Summer Time which is +1 the normal Winter (or GMT) offset.

sepratron on each corner. Just enough to lift the vehicle the slightest amount

I've seen some ridiculous speeds with hydrofoils recently...

yeah I think I've hit an airwall with having KSPI and a few other physics mods installed, I can't get a stable (level) flight over 21km and 1350m/s even with an airbreathing TWR of over 12! Only way I can get faster is to go into a ballistic suborbital trajectory, then I max out just before reentry - fastest so far has been 2260m/s, that's from an 80 degree climbout and drop straight back down from ap: 284km. (EDIT: there is a way of getting the stock jets to provide >0kN thrust at 35-80+km even with no intake air: with MechJeb set the max thrust in the Ascent Guidance to 0.01% at 28km, toggle to prevent overheats and throttle back with X, then throttle up. This will push your ap well up, is how I got to 284km - without that I'd've topped at 130! BTW, I only had THREE air intakes (one nose cone and two radial) and no supplemental air bottles!).