The I <3 the ROUND-8 Challenge!

[Mister Dilsby]

ROUND-8: A GREAT LITTLE TANK

No part in KSP is perfect, and some are downright useless. But none is as unique as the ROUND-8 fuel tank. This challenge is given to raise awareness of this awesome little part and give us what may be... *SNIFF* one last chance to build stock ships with it.

FUN FACTS ABOUT THE ROUND-8: (all stolen from the wiki, or just made up)

• It is the only toroidal fuel tank currently available!
  
• The ROUND-8 is one of the few parts in Kerbal Space Program that is covered in multi-layer insulation!
  
• Though it's called the ROUND-8, it has six segments!
  
• It's less orange than the Rockomax-64 fuel tank, and also somewhat smaller!
  
• It carries 174.368% of the fuel capacity of the Oscar-B Fuel Tank, despite having a smaller apparent size!
  
  
• Despite the above, there are some who believe it to be redundant with the Oscar-B! Can you believe it?
  

And now, the CHALLENGE!

It's quite simple: Build the most awesome mission you can think of using only ROUND-8 tanks to carry liquid fuel and oxidant. Please avoid using solid fuel motors except for stage separation, and don't abuse monopropellant. Mods are OK, however any entry that carries xenon fuel (booooo!!) for any reason will be disqualified with extreme prejudice! Hyperedit to get your ship to the interesting part of the mission is OK, but think how much more awesome your mission will be if you lift that 200 ton monster off Kerbin using nothing but ROUND-8 boosters. No other cheats (glitch abuse, infinite fuel, etc, etc) please.

I know what some some of you are thinking: "But Kuzzter, this challenge is pointless! The ROUND-8 is so awesome that I have literally never used any other liquid fuel tank, ever!" But some others might be thinking "ROUND-8? I never figured out how to use the ROUND-6!" So here are some ideas:

• SSTO with ROUND-8! (you can drain the oxidant)
  
• Eve Ascent with ROUND8! (What's the only thing more awesome than a pancake? A pancake MADE OF DONUTS!)
  
• Huge Ships!
  
• Fast Ships!
  
• Jool Ships!
  
• Blue Ships!
  

Scoring!

What, scoring? You're actually serious about this? OK, OK, let me think of something... right, here we go. As entries appear I will make categories. I will put your entries into these categories arbitrarily and I will rank them arbitrarily on the leaderboard. Peer feedback on the thread will be taken into account. You will not get bent out of shape about any of this. Please? The whole point is to shower love upon the Great ROUND-8 and show all of Kerbin the versatility of this Great Little Tank.

LEADERBOARD:

#1 in Tearjerker Category: Kerdinand, ROUND-8 Memorial Gravestone

#1 in Single Stage To(roidal) Orbit Category: Kuzzter, ROUND-SSTO

#1 in Room with a View Category: n.b.z., ROUND8Trip **

#1 in I Broke the Universe Category: UpsilonAerospace

#1 in Not Single Stage To(roidal) Orbit Category: Argon

#1 in To Mun and Back in a Donut Category: Yukon0009, Apollo-Style

#1 in LFO Capsule Painting Category: Mad Rocket Scientist, Minmus mission**

#1 in Beachballs on Eve Category: Badsector, Eve 10k Lifter

#1 in Single Stage To(roidal) Laythe and Back Category: Juzeris, Donutzer

#1 in Swarming Satellites Category, Mallock

#1 in Kerbal Coast Guard Category, BoobyTrapGaming, Save Jeb From Drowning!

HONORED GATECRASHERS:

#1 in Compact Satellite Deployment, GoSlash27, Satellite Launch Bus **

#1 in Toroidal Landing Shock Absorbers, UpslionAerospace, Porthole Springy Lander **

#1 in Nested Tanks For A Very Cute Skycrane, Octa, Duna mini probe lander **

**awarded Knight of the Order of the Golden Toroid for demonstrating A Job No Other Tank Can do

The motto of the Order comes from the Wiki text that this is an "undoubtedly handy" tank. That, and Google Translate.

Edited April 19, 2015 by Kuzzter

[jake9039]

to make a blue ship, you wilol have to cover ship in landing gears. any blue ships will have sad computers.

[Guest]

Well, I´m not a 100% sure if you wanted us to build things like this, but here´s my "entry":

The ROUND-8 memorial gravestone!

It´s build of ROUND-8s, looks like a ROUND-8 and can do .... nothing!

OK, it has lightings and RTGs. And it tells you the dates of the ROUND-8´s birth and predictable death.

And you can stand in front of it to say goodbye. So do Jeb, Bill and Bob.

Goodbye, ROUND-8!

[Mister Dilsby]

I'm teary now. At first I thought, "Why is his ROUND-8 ribbed?" and then I thought, "Why is his so much bigger than mine?" I didn't like where that was going so I looked again and WOW! Now I see it! +1!

[Deutherius]

to make a blue ship, you wilol have to cover ship in landing gears. any blue ships will have sad computers.

We have lights...

*snip*

Goodbye, ROUND-8!

That is beautiful.

*salutes the ROUND-8 memorial*

[NBZ]

Why not a scoring based on number of Round-8s used or their percentage of total vessel weight?

[Mister Dilsby]

Why not a scoring based on number of Round-8s used or their percentage of total vessel weight?

Good plan, even if we don't rank like that the # of ROUND-8 used is a very vital statistic. I am currently trying to use so many I cannot get to the launch pad.

[Guest]

Why not a scoring based on number of Round-8s used or their percentage of total vessel weight?

I think because its not actually a contest at all. It´s a proof why the ROUND-8 should be kept, a showcase of what it can do, a last hooray for that great tank.

(And if you use the first idea it gets a spamming challenge and with the second idea the first one who launches a single ROUND-8 has won.)

[Mister Dilsby]

^He's got it right.

[NBZ]

OK, then [bodies visited]/[Number of Round-8s used]

[Xannari Ferrows]

Wouldn't it just be possible to edit them into the official release? I've taken Alpha parts from a long time ago and got them to work in .90

[Mister Dilsby]

Wouldn't it just be possible to edit them into the official release? I've taken Alpha parts from a long time ago and got them to work in .90

Yes, of course. I think there's a thread for discussing the decision and its workarounds, this one is not that thread. This one is about using ROUND-8s to fling things into space

- - - Updated - - -

OK, then [bodies visited]/[Number of Round-8s used]

Yes, multiplied by the number of ROUND-8s pictured in your avatar (nice, BTW!) and divided by 174.368%.

[jake9039]

I need to do this. I didn't use it much, but I always liked it, for its looks. it spiced up my parts catalog. I need to make a rocket.

[Mister Dilsby]

Here's my entry, in which I claim a K-PRIZE with TOROIDAL DISTINCTION!

The Round-SSTO lifting off. It's got, I dunno, wanna say about 12 tanks for the jet and 5 each for the rockets?

Only the ROUND-8's unique insulation can survive these high temperatures. Really!

Cruising at Mach Stupid...

You know, I maybe they SHOULD get rid of the ROUND-8. It's FAR TOO POWERFUL! In orbit...

Coming in for a landing...

And safe on the runway.

[NBZ]

Here is my entry. It has 7.336 m/s Delta-V, so it should be able to go quite some places. All stock. 75 Round-8s. I'll try it out tomorrow.

[GoSlash27]

The beauty part of the round-8 isn't that it's adequate to use in any situation, but rather that it's *perfect* for use in certain situations.

A more illustrative challenge would be one where the round-8 fills a mission-critical role where it can't be replaced with something else.

Best,

-Slashy

[Mister Dilsby]

A more illustrative challenge would be one where the round-8 fills a mission-critical role where it can't be replaced with something else.

Excellent point, Slashy. How about I award "Order of the Toroid" honors to challenges that do exactly that? I'll even make a medal. Bonus 'points' (note quotes) for the ROUND-8 doing a job that the Oscar-B cannot do.

[Steambirds]

Excellent point, Slashy. How about I award "Order of the Toroid" honors to challenges that do exactly that? I'll even make a medal. Bonus 'points' (note quotes) for the ROUND-8 doing a job that the Oscar-B cannot do.

Hold more fuel.

Be shorter in height.

Look cool.

Do I win?

[GoSlash27]

Excellent point, Slashy. How about I award "Order of the Toroid" honors to challenges that do exactly that? I'll even make a medal. Bonus 'points' (note quotes) for the ROUND-8 doing a job that the Oscar-B cannot do.

Sounds good. Here's one to get the ball rolling: A compact multiple satellite launch bus.

SatBus with 3 comm satellites during injection burn

CommSat 1 of 3 during circularization

Sat1 deployment.

This sort of packaging doesn't work without the life preserver.

Best,

-Slashy

[Mister Dilsby]

Do I win?

Yes, just like you should get an Eve Rocks badge for saying, "11,000 dV! Launch from a mountain!"

[Whackjob]

I wonder how big a thing I could build with these. Have used them myself. Like 'em.

[Mister Dilsby]

This sort of packaging doesn't work without the life preserver.

Well done. I make you a Knight of the Order of the Golden Toroid!

ETA: Whoops, but I have to move you to 'gatecrasher' since of course all your tanks are not ROUND-8, sorry.

- - - Updated - - -

I wonder how big a thing I could build with these. Have used them myself. Like 'em.

Well, I tried to make a Mun ship that ended up about 300 parts, it took 40 minutes to load from VAB and then it exploded the pad. If anyone can make something like that fly, it's you!

Edited April 16, 2015 by Kuzzter

[GoSlash27]

Well done. I make you a Knight of the Order of the Golden Toroid!

I will wear it with pride. The objective in my mind isn't to showcase what the Round-8 can do, but rather to showcase what nothing else *except* the round-8 can do.

Thanks,

-Slashy

[n.b.z.]

I shamelessly hyperedited to Minmus orbit, but from there I journeyed using exclusively the exceptional ROUND-8 tank. You won't get a view like that with any other tank.

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[Mister Dilsby]

You won't get a view like that with any other tank.

Nor a tank that you can stick a lander leg through! Well done, you are clearly #1 on the Fuel Tank As Minmus Porthole leaderboard and I make you a Knight of the Order of the Golden Toroid for demonstrating yet another unique property of this amazing tank.