Commander Zoom

"Tell her, I feel fine."

Hm. Regarding that asteroid you landed - if you drill into that, fill up a craft with a tank, and then recover it, do you get credit for the resources?

Indeed.

2013? n00b. Yeah, I'm facing a rather stiff learning curve myself - I'm coming off a version-frozen .24 sandbox save that I was wrapping up all nice and proper. I have to learn everything - the new VAB tools, budgets, contracts, facility upgrades, crew training, and oh yeah, aerodynamics...

I lol'd at "radially attached bacon".

A touching conclusion to an epic tale, and an astonishing feat of engineering and construction.

That's the version that I started with (or possibly the one right after, .8), and I can assure you, it does support orbits. But you have to check your altitude vs. speed on a table to confirm that you are.

*salutes* Burton would be proud, indeed.

Some amazing craft in this thread. And an amazing effort, and victory, for all who participated. Bravo!

Attracting new customers is absolutely part of marketing. So is maintaining goodwill and satisfaction with existing customers. A good/smart company, IMO, does both. "We already got your money, so you don't matter" is not a message you want to be sending to customers, ever. Word-of-mouth can kill you there. Note that I'm not arguing, as some have, that SQUAD should abandon efforts to attract new customers (e.g., with videos) and devote those resources to the game. I'm saying they should do both, and keep the community informed through all available channels.

*sighs, remembering a time when Origin was a mark of quality* "We Create Worlds"

Nicely done, and with three kerbals no less! You definitely went big on this one, both with your "SSTO" launcher and your lander, which included its own launchpad. Mounting the cans low was a good, if slightly riskier, idea.

... huh. (The duplication I knew, and used it often for that purpose; the disable, I did not.)

*applauds for Kuzzter's successful mission, settles in to review the albums*

Have done so, with thanks. I'll take your word that it might be possible to bring a Bug down to a safe landing, or at least a survivable crash, on Kerbin; I don't want to try it myself, even in a "sim." And yes, if I was going to do more with this save (rather than being in the process of wrapping it up, with the release imminent), I'd probably send some others out to join Arch and Alf at the next window.

Here's my Eve station, in its final configuration: It masses 128.230 tons (12800), of which 93.793 are the station proper and 34.437 are the dedicated shuttle/tug (1000). It has a science lab (500) and a maximum occupancy of 21 (not counting the Bug's two short-term seats; 4200). It has an actual crew of 2 (200). The total mass of the launches required to put it there was 2035 tons (at least 5 of which were probes expended earlier in the course of the mission, but I'm not going to quibble; -4070). By my count, this comes to 14630 points, with a x1.5 multiplier for Eve, giving a final total of 21945 (Modded Division). I ask if I can get partial credit for a return vehicle, as the Bug is quite capable of returning Arch and Alf to Kerbin (that was one reason why it was included, in case of emergency), but cannot actually land there; given the significant infrastructure in orbit there, including another permanent station, it has no real need to. And here's how it came to be there: (album link) (album link) (album link) (album link) (album link)

Interesting. I checked, and confirmed that my own Duna Base is sited just a little east of yours, at 70 degrees E along the equator (image links 1 and 2). And I'm pretty sure that big peak that you flew past, along the north ridge of Barsoom Canyon, is the one I've named Mt. Ascendant (after ... well, check the link in my signature).

Something I do that may help (you and others) is maintain a consistent set of keys for my action groups, on all craft. 1 - Solar Panels 2 - Ladders 5 - Camera/Telescope (VDM Hullcam mod) 9 - Science 0 - Antennae (and then anything else I need is done on a craft by craft basis, or just right-clicked as necessary)

Neat design! And I'm with Chiken1880 on how nice your lander looks. I dunno if I'd have dared use such a narrow connection as your towing boom, though. Sympathies on the LV-N placement; that's why I stick mine on outriggers these days. At least you were able to salvage the mission.

Thank you for the attempt, and good luck with your own Eve mission.

Okay, the facts then: 1 - Nope. My landing point (plotted for 0° 1' 40" N, 15° 39' 40" W, actually more like 0° 1' 42" N, 15° 39' 58" W) was 5630 meters ASL, in the mountains west of the central crater sea. I make no claim to landing anywhere near sea level. Image links: 1 - 2 - 3 2 - "Inelegant" is not a word I would use. Personally, in the context of this challenge, I would tend to apply that to some of the massive one-launch-from-Kerbin craft I've seen; I tend to prefer multiple launches, orbital assembly, and (particularly for interplanetary missions) multi-ship "flotillas" or "armadas" over putting everything on one giant rocket. But that is, of course, a matter of opinion and personal taste. (I also tried to make a relatively small and light lander, rather than a large one.) I admit to being curious why you chose such a label. Please also keep in mind that the Eve-landing-and-sample-return was only part of a larger, long-term mission which also included exploration of Gilly, establishing a permanent space station in orbit of the planet, and multiple probes of both bodies. I'm quite proud of those results. If I was concerned only with fulfilling the terms of the challenge, I could have done it with just one ship (Eve 2), omitted the heat shields - purely there for RP - and stuffed a single kerbonaut into the lander can for the entire trip there and back. 3 - I cannot speculate as to Laie's reasons or motives beyond what he has so far described. He suggests that there were many ("about one hundred") technical violations for which he "should probably fail" me, but provides no further details nor opportunity to address them. This is in contrast to the original post, which lists six hard rules (which, again, I believe I have followed) and concludes with:

Yeah, I have. Left rep comments on several, in fact. Didn't feel it was my place to "clutter" the thread, though. I also, in my imgur albums, gave credit in a couple of places to those whose previous submissions and designs were influences on my own. If you don't want to administer this challenge any more, that's your prerogative. But IMO, the courteous thing would have been to say so, when you made that decision, and close the thread or at least the submissions queue. Or put out a call for someone else to take it over. Not just wandering off with a vague hope that others might eventually figure out you're not coming back, and take up the slack. I guess maybe I should be glad I at least got a (grudging) acknowledgment, along with norup; what about the five people after us? Are sephirotic, Lou, Tiaga, Perry Apsis, and Kuzzter (assuming, as seems likely, that he finishes his mission) ever going to get reviewed, or added to the OP?

... such as? Yes, I did put a lot of time and thought into this mission. And I believe I followed all of the rules of the challenge, and the submission guidelines. There shouldn't be any question whether I earned the badge (and if there was, I'd expect to be told, so that I could clarify or correct as necessary). But after doing all that, and then waiting a full month for official confirmation, only to receive it in such a backhanded and reluctant manner... Keep it. I don't want it any more.

Yes. The OP contains a misnomer. I came here to post that, IMO, if something goes wrong during your launch from Eve, the presence or lack of an LES is probably moot.

Great parts! Any images/vids of the spin hub in action yet?