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part of the inspiration actually comes from my Kerbolar rescue I did a while ago. There was a bit of direct burning and a LOT fo coasting in that one. Not my most efficient mission, but almost certainly my most spectacular! I will say... use your own judgement on this one. My preference is to use a SSTO with dry LF tanks on the ascent, refuel in Kerbin orbit then use what I have (hopefully I'll be able to get the dV high enough to do the challenge without subsequent refuels). As for landing the thing back on Kerbin: a capsule escape system is always handy - stack separator and chutes for the win.

it is, in fact it's encouraged as encounters can do weird things to trajectories and completely wreck fuel plans. Just as long as you can manoeuvre to intercept the station rather than move the station to meet the ship (which is specifically not allowed).

it's an alternative for actually soft-landing your craft on Kerbin. 1. MET for the challenge begins at liftoff, ergo launchpad. 2. Yes. 3. Yes. Placing them after the run has started is however prohibited. IF you run out of fuel mid-burn for Duna, tough noogies. Actually, refer to the rules (just about to update) for an escape clause. 4. Yes.

long time ago I launched a 1/1000 scale Spacedock (as in the spindly thing in Star Trek: The Search For Spock), that was a single boosted stage with capacity for 40 Kerbals, 4 docking ports and a 53m wide tophat. Later on I put up a Torus with capacity for 192 Kerbals with 16 standard docking ports and two large ports - and then I parked a power plant on the lower one with some additional parts for the station (ladders, solar panels, chairs...), and two of the standard ports were taken up with a missile armed spaceplane and a supply shuttle. The only one I can actually find an image for right now is Ragnar Fuel Station. 431 tons on orbit. The largest almost-single-stage launch I've tried so far. Start mass: 526 tons. It's missing eight liquid fuel parasite boosters (Luvodicus Super Atomic engines) off the sides of the orange tanks, because the thing would not lift off without them. This shot taken at the moment the intended 150km orbit was achieved, 95 tons lighter than on the pad thirty flight-minutes ago. This station went up uncrewed, and was going to be left as a waypoint station for high-orbiting and interplanetary missions. As I was about to park spaceplane #9 on a spur docking hub off the top of the spire, I watched the thing explode from 100km away... pretty sight, but all that hard work... Once I get my Core2 Duo sorted out I'll have a go at getting an even bigger beastie up in stock.

1. There are bonuses for soft-landing probes, but since the challenge is for a mere flyby I don't think it'll be such a smart idea to land a crew anywhere. 2. no, once they're on station they're on rails: you can dock with them and drain them, but actively shifting their orbits off station is a no. Aside from the Pendulum effect of transferring fuel, of course (Manley did a video where he moved fuel from one end of a spindle to the other and moved the structure from orbit to a Munar lithobrake without firing a single engine).

I have always and always will challenge this restriction by saying that even Apollo used computers!

This is why I decided on an aggregate score. If you take 26 years outward and visit every SOI, fail to dock or land, don't refuel and don't deploy any probes, you'll score exactly 3. If you take 12 years, you'll score 17. If you take 8, you'll score 20. Or something. It's nearly 2am and my brain's just gone to sleep. sure thing

Inspired by a few comments about the greatest feat ever accomplished in a Correlian tramp freighter. The Challenge: Achieve an encounter (fly through the SOI) with every major body in the Kerbolar system. FYI, that's Moho, Eve, Kerbin, Duna, Dres, Jool, and Eeloo. Do it with just ONE crewed craft. Do it either in order of increasing orbit from Kerbol (innermost to outermost), or in decreasing order of orbit (outermost to innermost). Make as many refuelling stops as you want, but your refuelling pods must be on station prior to launching your challenge craft. Land safely back on Kerbin or dock with a station in orbit of the planet. Do the entire challenge in twelve Kerbin years MET on the challenge craft. The Rules: Fuel pods must be on rails. No manoeuvering of them once they're on station. Docking manoeuvres must be performed solely by the challenge craft. No OP engines. Use your own judgement and try not to cheat the challenge by using quantum vacuum thrust or warp drive. In fact, QVT and warp drive are the only methods prohibited. There ya go. All other parts and mods are valid. No Hyperedit* or infinite anything. *You may Hyperedit the fuel pods into place *before* launching your challenge craft, but once you do launch that ship, no more Hyperedit! **ESCAPE CLAUSE: Running out of fuel mid-burn isn't necessarily a run-ender. You MAY launch a CREWED fuel pod to rendezvous with your challenge craft and refuel it. HOWEVER, the clock does NOT stop and you are NOT allowed to launch your crewed fuel pod in anticipation of running out of fuel to beat the Fuel Stop penalty. And your crewed fuel pod MUST return to Kerbin. No unbreakable joints, part welding or any of that malarky. You have 12 years to complete the challenge. On the tick of 12 Kerbin years, your attempt is over. Scoring: Each year MET elapsed: -1 Each refuelling stop: -1 Each verified encounter: +2 Safe landing on Kerbin: +2 Docked in Kerbin orbit: +1 Did it in increasing order: +3 Did it in decreasing order: +5 SURPRISE BONUS: Drop a probe into low orbit of each body: +2 each SURPRISE BONUS: Soft land a probe on any body in each planetary system: +3 each Other points additions TBD by discussion. Badge: (Challenger's Note: I've done a swan dive from Kerbin orbit to the surface of the Sun, it took 27.8 game-days. I do not consider this challenge impossible. Just really, really tricky.) Note: Using the following map, I've napkinned the total dV requirement using orbital transfers (not overburning or using slingshots) at around 27km/s. Aside from getting into Kerbin orbit, I believe this *is* possible using ion drive (but I'm not brave enough to test this theory). It's certainly possible using nuclear engines in the transfer burns (plus the fact that the LF tanks are lighter than the LFO ones, kinda makes it a no-brainer as far as reaction mass efficiency goes). The Luvodicus Super Atomic engines and the Poseidon's Revenge, even though they both use oxidiser, would ace this challenge on just eight FL-T800 tanks. If only I could get them working in 1.x. Leaderboard: 1. Nefrums in his stock "Falcon": 4Y 61D and some amazing manoeuvering (orbital capture!) for a score of 13.

I'm guessing RemoteTech would be both an advantage (visualising network connections) and a disadvantage (robot probes need relays to KSC) in this one. For the record, I've deployed a 36-bird LKO (as in 71km 80 degree staggered 6-per orbit, 60 degrees apart) cloud network which offers 100% Kerbin coverage with zero gaps at any point, from the surface out to 5,071km. The relays back to KSC can get interestingly complex. On top of which, three birds at KSO 120 degrees apart which offer continuous comms out to the orbit of Minmus (apart from, obviously, the blind side). Of course, this was all back in 0.24. Once I get RemoteTech working in 1.0.x (hopefully on this laptop which has 8GB RAM and a rock solid platform rather than my Core2 Duo which falls over if you exhale too hard), I'll be repeating the feat on whatever version I happen to be using.

WELL, I built a fuel pod to start, because I thought to myself that I wouldn't have enough in a SSTO to do everything at once. Jettisoned the engines too early, stranded it in an utterly useless eccentric orbit. Launched my SSTO anyway, launched its payload (a small comsat in a 71km circular equatorial orbit) took it to a rendezvous and ran out of fuel on the approach. Tried to slow using RCS for docking but overshot by several km before running out of monoprop. SO, I launched another robot tanker for rendezvous/docking, drained the first one using it (dock event 1), them shifted orbits for a rendezvous and dock (event 2) with the spaceplane. Successfully refuelled the spaceplane. Parked spaceplane (now with 1194m/s dV plus LF for terminal approach/landing) in a 297km circular orbit. Drained the fuel from the pod engine tanks and jettisoned those. Fuel pod 2 is now stuck in orbit. Note: Apart from MechJeb and BDArmoury (thought I'd give myself a bit of a challenge by putting the fuel pod in Guardian Mode with lasers, that didn't quite go according to plan!), everything is Vanilla 1.0.4. My SSTO Beauty Shot:

Good thing this challenge isn't about working with FAR, then...

yes: I can mount control surfaces on the pods instead of having to offset them from the fuel tank and make everything look messy (not to mention screwing up the aerodynamics) [EDIT]: I've been running some drone tests (10 degree climb, full throttle with minimal payload) and found that the Rapier outperforms the stock Turbojet in airbreathing mode by a WIDE margin. Engine performance envelopes Criterion RAPIER Whiplash Wheesley Ceiling 29km 22.4km Didn't make it past 3.8km Top speed @20km, level flight ~1750m/s ~1540m/s 651m/s in a 30 degree power dive from 3.8km (excuse the shoddy formatting, first time playing with tables on this forum). Drone build: Shock cone intake, RC001S RGU, MK.I Liquid Fuel Fuselage, engine. Wings are Type A panels with Elevon 3 control surfaces, rudder is Type D panel with Elevon 4 CS. Gear is LightYear Fixed. Rotation at 170m/s.

it's a model after the Russian production SU-47 Berkut. Unique in that it is a supercruiser with forward swept wings. That just happens to be able to completely outclass the F35. Not bad for a twenty year old design, eh? (yes, mine will supercruise out of the box, and the slight redesign (brought the canards ever so slightly forward and the tailplane ever so slightly back) means the takeoff roll is now 38m/s!)

There's a mess of AI missile challenges about, so I think it's time for something a little different. This'll also help your part counts! This is a build-it-and-let-rip challenge. The Setup Your aircraft starts on the runway. Mine starts off the runway facing North on the grass. The Rules Stock parts only. BDArmory fixed 20mm guns (same as what's on the challenge plane) only, maximum of TWO guns. No missiles, rotating turrets, lasers or rocket pods. Countermeasures not needed. ECM not allowed. Two planes enter, one plane leaves. GO! (Challenger's note: I'll take volunteers to run video, my laptop is not up to it being a farty little Core2 Duo. As such, this thread stands to be updated with my .craft file) (NOTE: This is the 1.0.2 variant, it will be updated for 1.0.4 with the missiles and countermeasures removed).

since the atomic motors don't need oxidiser, nobody's particularly bothered about you using nukes in space anyway (like they'd know??), throwing up LF tanks (ie the jet fuel ones) is the way to go here. You're getting more fuel for the payload mass as opposed using combined tanks.

I run entirely stock. No parts packs whatsoever.

I ran an experiment a while ago (I'm sure it was a challenge already, actually) seeing how hard I could plant a capsule yet survive. With a stock MK.I capsule and 16 stock landing gears, I managed 530someoddm/s. Clue stick: those stock gears are actually indestructible. One broke off and landed on the island, while the capsule came to rest beside(!) the launchpad, from a test power dive from 10km with an SRB and a stack of decouplers for that extra kick. I think Scott Manley did a Munar lithobrake from orbit a few versions ago with stock gear as well.

pretty sure the rule says no Rapiers... Oh, looky, right there: " 3. No rapier engines "

This is a bit like the old challenge that brought so many of you such joy and much video, but updated for the new stock aero model and the new default engine settings, and some rule changes. That said... Following the continuing failure of Werner von Kerman to design and build a supersonic airbreathing jet that didn't use the still highly experimental and shockingly expensive Procedural Fairing technology, it was decided that the developments he did come up with were to be put to a more sporting pursuit: that of land speed records. The Challenge: Build a car for a speed run along the length of the KSC runway. Rules: - MUST start and finish on the runway. - MUST have at least one Kerbal on board. Probe cores permitted, but you better have a Kerbal in an armchair if you do. - MUST use a liquid fuel rocket (nukes allowed this time round) as your primary method of thrust. - MUST NOT at any point leave the runway surface. The instant it does, your run is over. - MUST NOT go off the end of the runway - your speed run must leave enough runway to slow to a stop while still on the tarmac. You may use retro rockets, however these MUST be the solid fuel rockets that burn until they run out. - Your speed run MUST finish with your car fully intact: no jettisoning parts (if you armchair your Kerbal, launch him in another vehicle and park him off the runway first, launch your sled and then move him to his seat), no clamps. - NO welding, unbreakable joints, or any other anti-vehicle-shattering mod. Bits falling off is a run-ender, welding them together is cheating. - NO infinite fuel. - No physicsless parts with the exception of stock (eg cubic octagonal struts) and MechJeb. Almost everything else is golden. If in doubt, ask. - NO procedural fairings. Mach 4.stupid dragsters is not the idea here, unless you can achieve this without artificially zeroing parts drag AND stop before you fly off the planet. - Please indicate if you use MechJeb or any other active flight control system. - I am aware that FAR drastically alters drag characteristics, I am also aware that it alters lift characteristics to a similar degree. Both advantages in flight, total disadvantages on wheels. Or skids. Hence I will NOT be running separate scoreboards this time. The rule here is: NO FAR. Stock aero model ONLY. Scoring: Post-run F3 screenshot and a shot of your vehicle at the start and end of its run. Video would be nice, especially if you have a spectacular run. Bonus 100 points if you make an immediate turnaround and successful return run of at least 75% of your West/East (outward) run speed. Speed in m/s. LEADERBOARDS! One-Way: 1. Kirrim_K in the Unnamed (409m/s) 2. Gojira in the Monkeywrench Engineering Dragster Mk.II (365m/s) Return: 1. Honourable Mentions: 1. Gojira in the Monkeywrench Engineering Dragster Mk.I (218m/s but only 104 on the return)

nope, that's me out, I don't use FAR.

I'd like to enter my Berkut (based on the Russian SU-47 production model NATO: Firkin), screenies and .craft file from 1.0.2 here, I'll update and rejigger the weaponry for 1.0.4 'cos I don't have 1.0.5 and getting 1.0.4 to work was fun to say the least as for some reason the only computer I've got now that'll run KSP in its current state only has 3GB RAM. I might also switch from Rapiers to turbojets. Example screenshot: Shot from Jane's:

SPOILER ALERT! "Oh, this is the Falcon? This is the ship that made the Kessel Run in fourteen parsecs?" "TWELVE! ::Fourteen...!::"

air breathing jets have no chance above 2km/sec. I can't even get above 1340 (stock everything, including aero model). When you take Rapier to rocket mode, it's no longer a jet - it's a ROCKET.

those engines look like they're set too high, all that thing's gonna want to do is pitch down.

I need to tune the x-wing. Does great in a straight line, fantastically, in fact. Has the turning circle of a small moon, though.