ihtoit

my last one hit 294m/s. I reckon a takeoff from a Thrust KSC challenge car would fling a missile around the planet...!

it is, as much fun as the Thrust KSC Land Speed Challenge - except instead of brakes, you have to eject at the right time and go for distance more than speed (though a decent fling off the end of the runway helps LOADS)

did I mention the Gunstar is an SSTO VTOL with the ability to refuel?

Oerlikon Contraves, the smallest Kerbal defence contractor currently assigned by the Government, have come up with a novel missile system that requires nothing more than a launch platform to bring reality to the dream of pinpoint deployment, surgical accuracy and total destruction. THE CHALLENGE: Using the provided (STOCK) .craft file (place it into your "subassemblies" folder), build a land, sea, air or space-based mobile delivery system. THE RULES (subject to revision): - ANY structural part allowed, HOWEVER: - NO exploits, hyperedit, infiniglide, infinite fuel, or any other method of cheating known or unknown. - Launch platform *must* consist of at least one copy of the provided .craft file attached to your vehicle. - Land and sea based launchers *must* show weapon delivery outside of the main KSC complex at a designated target at least 1km away (standing ballistic range on the missile is about 4.5km). - Air based launchers *must* show weapon delivery on the Island complex *from the air*. - Space-based launchers *must* show weapon delivery at a designated target in space or on the surface *from orbit*. - Launch platform *must* carry at least one Kerbal. - Launch platform *must* return to KSC (or the shore, in the case of a sea platform), after delivery. - Your Kerbal MUST survive. SCORING: 5 points for each missile carried (you will score a minimum of 30 points). 1 point for each missile deployed. 10 points for a direct hit on your designated target PROOF: Gunstar, carries 48 missiles in 8 racks, can go pretty much anywhere in the Kerbol system. Crew of 3: Missile in terminal freefall: (it and 15 of its buddies had been fired at KSC2, all missed by a hair) LEADERBOARD: 1. ihtoit in the Gunstar Orbital and Atmospheric Missile Platform, 48 missiles, no on-target deployments but shown orbiting Mun: 240 proof carried, +24 for proof fired, total: 264

The simplest way around that is to add a probe core to your missile. It persists until it hits something. A bit like what I've got on my Gunstar: 8 racks of 6 each (such a fantastic idea I made a subassembly!) on an interplanetary bomber (can do from orbit or in atmospheric flight!) One of the missiles in the end of its reentry phase, already over 100km from the launch point and its 16 buddies are around somewhere at ranges of up to 25km: (I'd offer the craft file for the Gunstar but it's over 900 parts armed!)

The Railgun, MK.IV: MOAR rockets and BIGGER wings! Climbing... Safe splashdown: Score: 4133m

nice... I've found with this challenge and the Spirit of Kerbin I did for the KSC Land Speed Challenge, that B9 wings have a hard drag limit. Probably best to avoid those unless you're building BIG and SLOW, stock wings do very well for keeping the sled on the ground and the missile in the air (as I discovered with a 67km throw but I forgot to get screenshots! I wonder if I can repeat the feat...?)

haha! I wanna see that big orange one go!

a probe core will persist, in fact short a vertical high-speed lithobrake they're pretty indestructible.

1. yeah, 'tis why I specifically disqualified Infiniglide from the off by not allowing active control surfaces on the missile. 2. I'm considering this, depends how many more entries we get over the next few days.

no, a rail gun uses a propelled very large (usually captive) projectile to propel an unpowered smaller projectile. This is a challenge to build a large projectile to launch an unpowered smaller projectile. Using rockets and wheels (or skids) instead of utilising the Lorentz effect between two high current rails. The fact that my missile has winglets merely reflects on the fact that the US Navy has had to employ such aerodynamic stabilisers, even on their teeny little 8 pound railgun projectiles (that launch at Mach 7). (no I'm not talking about fuel-air ram accelerators or spring-piston or gas-ram airguns either. All three completely different technologies).

Short challenge: build a railgun capable of launching a Kerbal in an unpowered ballistic flight! Challenge rules here.

The "Boffs" at KSC Command want a speedlaunch platform based on a detachable powered undercarriage and a missile that detaches for unpowered ballistic flight. For some strange reason, they call it a railgun. It's a sabot, strictly speaking, since we can't harness Lorentz forces in KSP, but in principle we're talking about the same kind of effect: instead of high current rails flinging a projectile, we're using sled-mounted propulsion. THE CHALLENGE: Build a "railgun" (or "sabot", or whatever you want to call it - it's a powered sled with a detachable unpowered payload) capable of launching a Kerbal. THE RULES (subject to revision): - NO welding, unbreakable joints, or any other anti-vehicle-shattering mod. - NO infinite fuel or other exploits. - No FAR or procedural fairings. - The undercarriage may use any legal propulsion system. However, the payload (with the Kerbal on it or in it!) *must* detach *before* the undercarriage reaches the end of the runway. - The undercarriage MAY NOT leave the ground while the payload is still attached. - The payload *may not* possess any sort of propulsion or active aerodynamic control surface. Any aerodynamics *must* be completely static. - SAS/ASAS permitted. - The undercarriage doesn't have to stop safely, HOWEVER: - The Kerbal MUST survive. SCORING: The distance travelled from the West end of the runway -2km. Assuming you wait until you hit the "27" marker before you launch the payload, as would be sensible to maximise your takeoff speed... and please don't cheat it by oscillating before you launch, I can tell! LEADERBOARD: 1. sdj64 using stacked Deltas on his paper airplane looking thing, (49980m) 2. Sillychris on the Twitcher, (34601m) 3. Othuyeg doing it Richard Hammond style (video) (screenshot) (we love helmet lithobraking!), (30415m) 4. OhTehNoes in Whatevertheheckitis, (7291m) (did Bob swim a little after landing?? I make it 7941m...) 5. ihtoit in The Railgun Mk.V, (6812m) 6. ihtoit in The Railgun Mk.IV, (4133m) 7. Sillychris with an angled launcher on the Grapeshot, (2410m) 8. ihtoit in The Railgun (1000m) SPECTACULAR FAILS: SirJoab with this Trebuchet (static launcher, interesting mechanism...) (-1464m) PROOF: 1000m (subtracted 2 for debarking my Kerbal) The Railgun: Undercarriage launch: The instant before payload launch: Free flight: the two SAS units at the back did a stirling job of just about keeping it horizontal: Chutes deployed one second before impact! Score:

Done and done (.18 and STOCK!):

I got a challenge for ya: it's called "Starflight One: The Tube Rescue". DISASTER! The first stage of our new Space Colony construction has hit on one or two little snags. For a start, some dimwit forgot to attach the Clamptron Senior to the ass of the beast to allow the attachment of major station parts including science, a docking hub with escape pods, and long-term life support systems. The second crew capsule sent up with constructors including Bill and Bob also carried an unwanted passenger. A computer virus invaded the guidance system, and sent the station core on a direct course into the Sun, right before it jettisoned the entire propulsion system! The last communication we had from the crew suggested that the docking port had taken some damage when the propulsion systems were jettisoned as the rockets were still firing. The last bit of that transmission indicated that they had in fact enough air and power to survive until impact, but radio range of only about 3,000km. Suits and EVA systems are all nominal. THE CHALLENGE: Create and execute a mission to rescue the seven stranded Kerbals before the station crashes into the Sun, and return them to Kerbin. Your FIRST and ONLY priority is the crew! The station is fully expendable. See linked Forum challenge for full challenge rules and the scenario file, mod recommendations and hints (and shock horror, even a solution!) to complete this insanely *hard* challenge!

OK. Presenting "Death To Mainsail I": a 3-stage, 6 motor behemoth which was intended for multiple encounters. It actually managed two. Without Remotetech, it may well have done three. (NOTE: it does have a radio array on it, for the purposes of this challenge it's actually a huge handicap as it requires line of sight to KSC for the probe to actually function. Apart from that the lifter and payload (of precisely 1.000t) are completely stock). On the Pad: 1st Stage burn: 2nd Stage burn: 3rd Stage to Orbit: Plotting for Mun encounter: Munar flyby: Shy of Periapse: Returning for Kerbin encounter: No more screenshots after that, but I did manage to do a periapse burn that put the probe into a Kerbolar orbit at just higher than Kerbin, which meant that it started to lag behind and eventually fell out of radio range. This did mean that I was unable to do a Holmann transfer to Jool, which was the intention. Tried getting another with a larger antenna high into Kerbin orbit, but it just won't reach. Another thing I did try was a pull-thrust staging: MANY problems with this: 1. it's too heavy. Nine stages of 2.5m fuel tanks, one motor on the bottom and four more up top (all on their own tanks). 2. it's structurally weak as... soft brown stuff. I had to strut the snot out of it just for it to stay in one piece long enough to get that screenshot! 3. it's unstable as an unstable thing. No amount of RCS or fins will make the thing fly straight. I couldn't even get it to clear the atmosphere.

So... how would this score? Once in orbit, LF lifting stage, the kick motors and RCS systems are all jettisoned (in this shot booster stages have been jettisoned, kick motors and RCS remain), it's down to docked thruster units for orbital adjustment and reaction wheels for orientation at that point. Essential stats are on the screenshot. There are 13 docking ports, 5 Clamptron Seniors at the top of the sail and 8 Clamptrons (blocked by nuclear kick motors), 1 under each radial tank. (addendum: screenshot was taken the moment 150km circular orbit was achieved, so the MET clock is the actual time to orbit. Yes, it is a single-stage lift. No parts docking required)

Borg cube: (yes, gravhacked into orbit. No welding though, I ion'd it all the way up. EXTREMELY carefully). I've got a slightly modified IBS somewhere (no pics tho, sorry!), it uses supernuke engines (which brings the weight down but it does mean moar struttz!), it even has *internal* docking facilities for two of these: Sienar Fleet Systems TIE/LN starfighter. Needs a Quantum Fuel Transfer System to pick up monopropellant from an orbital facility, as the two ion engines aren't enough to get it in orbit and the tank on the back is almost entirely expended just clearing the atmosphere (and there is nowhere to put a docking port)! Sucks hard in a gravity well, comes into its own in open space. (no I didn't have to gravhack this one into orbit, it just about made it on its own).

Read the next rule: "No exploits". First rule clarified. Watch "Iron Sky", they didn't use EVA packs. Read the one-line challenge again: "Land a fleet of HTOL spaceplanes on the far side of Mun. Refueling facilities (a separate thing) should be included."

OK, working on the assumption that we've all seen the 2012 movie "Iron Sky" (in case you haven't, it basically revolves around a secret moonbase built by the Nazis during WWII): THE CHALLENGE: Land a fleet of HTOL spaceplanes on the far side of Mun. Refueling facilities should be included. RULES (subject to revision): - ANY PARTS MOD VALID. - No exploits - Your spaceplanes *must* be piloted by a Kerbal. No drones. - Your spaceplanes *must* carry at least one "missile" each (read: fuel tank with a rocket on the back, SRB or Romfarer missile or gravity bomb, or the like). - Your Munbase facilities *must* have at least one Kerbal per lander. No drone landers. - No Munbase facility may be parked further than 1km from its nearest neighbour. - No spaceplane may be parked more than 200m from its nearest neighbour. - You must land enough stock habitation cans (AKA Hitchhiker Container) to house each spaceplane Kerbal. For example, eight spaceplanes requires two Hitchhiker containers. - Your Munbase facilities *must* be lit (hence have their own independent power systems). SCORING (subject to revision): 20 points per Munbase facility. 2 points per spaceplane landed *and refueled*. An extra point for every fifth plane. 1 point per Kerbal. Example scoring: 20 spaceplanes, 5 HHCs on one lander, Kethane mining and fuel facility on another, scores a total of 44 (planes)+22 (Kerbals)+40 (Munbase landers)=106 points Leaderboard/Hall Of Fame Gallery: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. (Challenger's note: I'll be starting mine tonight on a fresh session when I get back from the ice hockey!) How Not To Do It: What did I miss? Right. LADDERS!

yes, that's what I had to do because my first ship ran out of fuel(!)* but your MET subtractor is on the MET clock on your first launch. Which is around 30 days before the Tube crashes into the Sun. It is still possible to score if this happens (as I did). Rule amended to reflect the fact that the clock starts basically when you launch your first ship (and that's needed as your time reference as the Tube is on a terminal dive!) *OYG, I just looked at the time, I just spent the last 11 hours 40 minutes on KSP without even so much as a break for coffee!

ok, completed (phew!), probably the most difficult challenge I've ever done!

OK, I'll admit - I was going for a VAB roof landing!

OK, correction: 1 crew, 12 passengers. Here's "The Tube Rescue Rescue". Same basic design as Starflight One. Top stage boost, one Poseidon's Revenge, lots of intermediate fuel stages: Liftoff! Fuel first stage sep.: "Uh... control, we heard a clang!" "Never mind that, burn for escape." "Roger." "Plotting first periapse correction." "Plotting second periapse correction..." The Beauty Shot. Prior to external Poseidon inspection. Bartdred Kerman doing laps... "Hey, you got work to do!" "It's uh... it's... it's round." "...and glowing." "Dare me to get closer?" <Beavis>"Yeah yeah! Go on, light it! Light it!"</Beavis> "GET BACK INSIDE! NOW!" ::glum:: "Uh, ok the engine is blown. Suggest we jettison." "OK, go on and do that. We'll have to adjust your plots." Low orbit Holmann intercept PERFECT! ...and across they go... ...one by one... "Uhh... I think there's a problem back there." "Specify...?" "I'll let *them* tell you." "HEEEEEEELP!!" "KRAKEN! FLEE!" Mad scramble for a berth... (flying six EVA Kerbals simultaneously is NOT easy!) "WE'S'A GOIN' HOOOOME!" Bringing the periapse back up... Happy Kerbals... Now, this might look a mess (it is), but let me tell you what's happening here: I'm coming in on a polar encounter, so first thing I need to do is get into orbit, then bring my inclination to zero (I'd like to try a KSC landing), then bring it in for a low KO and entry burn. They're all queued. NO! I'M NOT! LKO insertion Target ILS for KSC touchdown Re-entry: Chutes deployed: HAVE IT!! I did actually land on the tail, some fool decided it might be fun to add terrain to the KSC VAB track! Ten Kerbals, safe and sound! Got five out before the thing got Krakened (I knew it had followed us in!) Parade formation: 206d15h8m: Score: 7,000 (IT LANDED! Then it exploded.) Minus MET: -4959 TOTAL: 2041

ok, new plan: sending up a Poseidon's Revenge rescue boat, crew of 2+12 passenger capacity, and instead of a huge fuel tank which will end up as dead weight by the time I get back to Kerbin, I'm going to add several small detachable tanks, loads of chutes and plan for a tail landing on engines. Provided I have the fuel. I don't think any amount of strutting will give me the integrity to withstand a dozen chutes yanking back on the ship I'm planning.