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The Ultimate Challange

Just Jim

By Just Jim
in KSP1 Challenges & Mission ideas

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Superfluous J

Superfluous J

Posted
Posted (edited)

Thanks to @Just Jim providing me the contract snippet out of his save file, I was able to create a persistent.sfs with the following features:

  • Time 0 (new save)
  • Normal Career Mode (so you have the contract)
  • $10,000,000 (Oughta be enough for anybody ;) and it shows up in the funds amount ticker)
  • 0 Science (Makes it easy to see how much science you get on the mission, if you want to track that)
  • 100% rep (Because even attempting this means you deserve it)
  • Full tech tree unlock (You're welcome)
  • All bodies marked as visited (as I didn't want any wonkiness with the contract. Probably unnecessary)
  • The Ultimate Challenge contract, already accepted and ready to attempt (the whole purpose of this)

To use this, just start a brand new game, exit out of that game (back to the main menu) and then replace the "persistent.sfs" file with the one in the zip. Go back in and you should have a new game with all of the above settings.

This should work with any mods except those that move planets around, as it's a default vanilla save file. And even if it doesn't work it won't hurt anything as it's its own save. The only thing it can break is itself.

If you want to put this challenge into your own save game, the zip file below also has just the contract itself. I suggest when editing your save file to delete a single currently OFFERED contract, and then replacing it with the text in grandtour.txt

DOWNLOAD ultimate_challenge.zip

I release this file with no restrictions. Feel free to use it for any (legal) purpose. Print it out and eat it with a nice curry, if you so desire.

Oh, and @Just Jim if you'd like feel free to put this in the first post. The file will be available for all time. If you'd like to download it yourself and put it on another server to link to, that's totally fine by me as well.

Edited by 5thHorseman
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Kergarin

Kergarin

Posted
Posted

Really great challenge!:)

I wish I would have more time... But just two comments: 

 

I did an ultimate challenge of the same kind, but with just 5 celestial bodies: 

- i used the same pod for every landing and for return

- i had multiple launches, refueled and reassembled the lander many times (since I'm playing stock without any changes and have nothing that calculates deltaV for me) 

- the contract system accepted this as success.

 

 

Someone already did this in an old ksp version in a single launch, but with separate landers. (which is impressive but will count as failure) 

But if you need inspiration, look out for "ksp: let's go to all the planets" on YouTube.

 

Good luck to everyone!:D

 

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parzr

parzr

Posted
Posted

Thanks for making the save, this will get more use by me than this one challenge. It falls short of experienced crew for my 12 man ship but, I'm not complaining, just if you're looking for a tad more perfect.

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Rynder Plays

Rynder Plays

Posted
Posted
On 1/27/2016 at 10:55 AM, SpaceplaneAddict said:

Now, to over engineer that ISRU Eve lander....

No! @Just Jim, this is a perfectly fine challenge, if you tweak it! Besides, it's different in that it asks for a SINGLE ship

Eve lander? SpaceplaneAddict, your better than that, how about an ISRU Eve spaceplane? 

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Superfluous J

Superfluous J

Posted
Posted
16 minutes ago, parzr said:

Thanks for making the save, this will get more use by me than this one challenge. It falls short of experienced crew for my 12 man ship but, I'm not complaining, just if you're looking for a tad more perfect.

I won't be making that change, this wasn't really to make a "sandbox career" save but to eliminate the stuff you *needed* to have to just start a fresh game and do this.

For the crew, I'd just install Field Experience and by the time you're done with the first planet your guys should be totally leveled up.

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parzr

parzr

Posted
Posted (edited)

For the record Jim, I'm glad you came with this. The Jool 5 challenge has been the de facto place to post a grand tour, but it deserves its own.

 

Field exp is a good idea, thanks again for making the save.

Edited by parzr
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  • 3 weeks later...
DustInTheWind

DustInTheWind

Posted
Posted (edited)

I just might have to try this in my career game with a Mk1 pod. I have an Eve lander that has 8,424 delta v without docking ports, and 8,156 with a clamp-o-tron on the bottom covered by a faring and a Jr on the top. If I drop the faring, my delta v goes up to 8,312, but I am not sure how much that will affect drag on ascent. I already have a small fuel stash in orbit of Laythe (1,495 LF + 440 Ox), and 34.7 million Kredits.

Does one mothership have to do the entire voyage in one go, or can I break it up into several missions?

Edit: What about approved Jool 5 mods?

Edited by DustInTheWind
Clarification
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RA3236

RA3236

Posted
Posted

 

I'm gonna try this challenge. Although I'll need a few things.

1. @Kuzzter's Eve lander. As in, the design so I can reverse engineer it to put it on top of a launcher.

2. Mod suggestions. I want it to be as stock as possible, but enhancements are great (KER, KAS, KIS e.t.c.)

Current list:

KER, KJR, KAS, KIS, KAC, Field Experience, Procedural Fairings.

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Mister Dilsby

Mister Dilsby

Posted
Posted (edited)
10 minutes ago, RA3236 said:

I'm gonna try this challenge. Although I'll need a few things.

1. @Kuzzter's Eve lander. As in, the design so I can reverse engineer it to put it on top of a launcher.

Well remember, the M7 lander was its own launcher--it SSTO'd from KSC2, right? Basic construction is 6x Mammoth engines with lots of fuel, staged around a core with a 7th Mammoth (hence "M7"). Atop that core engine was a stack finishing with a 5-seater (crew cab+ Mk1 cockpit) powered by 2x aerospikes. Of course you can get away with a lot less if you only have one Kerbal to transport. 

ETA: This page shows the layout pretty clearly I think. Note additional elements such as landing wheels, not legs, and some "appearance" aerodynamics :) 

31POLxt.png

To get down to the surface M7 used a goodly quantity of AIRBRAKES, chutes, and finally engine thrust to land in one piece. Recall that after all this it needed refueling from a separate vehicle (having no ISRU of its own) to fill the tanks and be able to reach orbit.

I think you should be able to reverse-engineer the M7 based on the pictures in the Eve comic (link in the sig, of course :)), and of course if you have any specific questions just ask. Good luck!

Edited by Kuzzter
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RA3236

RA3236

Posted
Posted
11 minutes ago, Kuzzter said:

Well remember, the M7 lander was its own launcher--it SSTO'd from KSC2, right? Basic construction is 6x Mammoth engines with lots of fuel, staged around a core with a 7th Mammoth (hence "M7"). Atop that core engine was a stack finishing with a 5-seater (crew cab+ Mk1 cockpit) powered by 2x aerospikes. Of course you can get away with a lot less if you only have one Kerbal to transport. 

To get down to the surface M7 used a goodly quantity of AIRBRAKES, chutes, and finally engine thrust to land in one piece. Recall that after all this it needed refueling from a separate vehicle (having no ISRU of its own) to fill the tanks and be able to reach orbit.

I think you should be able to reverse-engineer the M7 based on the pictures in the Eve comic (link in the sig, of course :)), and of course if you have any specific questions just ask. Good luck!

Rather than bothering with refueling I want it to go straight to Eve.

But anyway, Mun completed, pics coming soon!

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Jetski

Jetski

Posted
Posted

KIS I think would be an amazing addition for this challenge.  I wished for removable struts many times over the course of my attempt :) 

 

This was the Eve lander that worked for me, but only for a single command pod, aerospikes and a terrier final stage.

 

One thing I learned since then about Eve landers went like this:

  1. Tumbling into the atmosphere is invariably fatal.
  2.  AIRBRAKES burn up quickly, lets try fins
  3. Bigger fins work better
  4. Big wings even better (this is where the lander above came from)
  5. Wings turned SIDEWAYS (instead of edge on) work amazingly well

A few Type E wings turned sideways and placed at the top of the ship (peeking out from behind heat shielding) have an insane heat tolerance and drag for slowing you down and pointing you the right way.  Also ablator is not needed ever as far as I can tell.  Maybe if you play with the heat at 120% or something, but an empty heat shield works great and doesn't burn up.

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Superfluous J

Superfluous J

Posted
Posted (edited)

I have - I think - all the pieces in place to attempt this. I did a 4-hour Twitch stream of testing all the pieces. If you want to watch 3 very long videos I also uploaded them to YouTube.

I don't know when I'll be starting this, but I'll be starting the actual mission soon. Mission parameters for me are:

  • Orbital construction, but after that the whole mission is (mostly) one ship.
  • The ship always enters and leaves a PLANET'S sphere of influence in one piece.
  • The only thing that need land on every world is the Mk1 Lander Can that has 2 docking ports on it, one on top and one on the bottom.
  • Ideally no resupply missions at any point during the mission, but if necessary so be it. I'm not starting this over after I'm 90% of the way done!

My current plan is to go to Eve, Moho, (back to Eve if necessary), Kerbin (for Mun and Minmus), Duna, Dres, Eeloo, and finally Jool. I can also do Eeloo last but would like to slingshot home so I have lots of fuel to slow down at Kerbin on the way back.

The reason I'd go to Eve twice is to refuel at Gilly if necessary, and the reason I'm going to Mun and Minmus second is that the Mk1 Lander Can is inside a fairing on my Eve lifter, so the Eve part of the mission must be the very first thing I do.

Edited by 5thHorseman
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Superfluous J

Superfluous J

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 3/3/2016 at 9:01 PM, 5thHorseman said:

I have - I think - all the pieces in place to attempt this. I did a 4-hour Twitch stream of testing all the pieces. If you want to watch 3 very long videos I also uploaded them to YouTube.

I don't know when I'll be starting this, but I'll be starting the actual mission soon.

After much work and testing, I can now narrow down when I'll start: Some time (shortly I suspect) after 1.1 comes out. Probably within days of KER working on 1.1.

My in-space constructed ship that will leave LKO for Eve is over 500 parts. The first 300-part ship runs in-game at about half speed: 2 seconds of real time for 1 second of game time. I don't even want to know what it'll be like when I hook the other 200-part section to it.

I could optimize parts of it but am choosing not to, considering the imminent arrival of 1.1 and the hopeful optimizations that will allow me to do this with only minor slowdowns. I'm not expecting U5 to be a panacea or anything, but I am hoping for at least 0.90 speed levels.

Edited by 5thHorseman
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Jetski

Jetski

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, TheEpicSquared said:

 

Thats one of my favorites. A number of grand tours have been done, more since ISRU came out. This particular challenge is easier since it isn't necessarily single launch if you stage doc king right, and harder as you have to haul the same piece of hardware with you

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DustInTheWind

DustInTheWind

Posted
Posted

For clarification: Is the challenge completed if the terms of the contract are met, or do you need to do one mothership/grand tour mission?

I want to do this, the Eve 1.05, and Jool 5, but want to do different motherships for Eve and Jool. The command pod will be left in Kerbin orbit in between missions.

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Spheniscine

Spheniscine

Posted
Posted (edited)

Yes, stock now has defined "grand tour" contracts that ask you to visit the SOIs of several worlds at once. (examples I've gotten include "Duna 3" [Mun, Minmus, Duna] and "Ike 3" [Minmus, Duna, Ike]) You don't need a manned vessel nor a return to Kerbin to complete the contract, and you only need to perform flybys within the SOI; you don't have to orbit nor land. Of course, since this is a challenge thread though, we shan't be satisfied with merely minimum requirements :P

Edited by Spheniscine
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John FX

John FX

Posted
Posted (edited)

So you make an octo core, a RSC tank, a battery, some RCS and a couple of docking ports as your `pod` and you put it onto your various landers, each designed either as a multipurpose lander for low G airless bodies or ones for Eve, Tylo and Laythe.

Then you have a mothership/refuel orbital craft that never sees the ground and can drop off the right lander for wherever you are. If there is an ISRU lander it can land most places and refuel your mothership on the way.

Then you land and launch from all the bodies with the same pod without having to balance an Eve lander on a tylo lander or vice versa.

Might give this a go at some point but RO has engulfed my life to such an extent it`s like I bought the game yesterday.

Edited by John FX
spelling etc
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DustInTheWind

DustInTheWind

Posted
Posted

Okay, so I'll run my Eve mission first, then I'll work on the other sections. I might have several albums, and might not finish it until 1.1 comes out.
I will be using modular fuel tanks to swap out LOx for LF in a couple of tanks.

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Superfluous J

Superfluous J

Posted
Posted
8 hours ago, John FX said:

So you make an octo core, a RSC tank, a battery, some RCS and a couple of docking ports as your `pod` and you put it onto your various landers, each designed either as a multipurpose lander for low G airless bodies or ones for Eve, Tylo and Laythe.

I'm doing essentially this, only with a lander can. The core of my mission is this lander can with Jr. docking ports top and bottom, and 4 OX-STAT solar panels for safety.

It was really fun designing my 4 different landers (Eve dedicated, Laythe plane*, ISRU Anywhere**, and Land Anywhere***) to each work with the core lander can. Especially the plane :)

* Not strictly needed, but you (or at least I) can't go to Laythe and NOT bring a plane.
** "Anywhere" here is defined as "Can land on Moho empty, and can lift 3 orange tanks of fuel from Moho to Orbit." Anywhere else it'll land and need to get back up with fuel is smaller than Moho.
*** "Anywhere" here is defined as "Can SSTO anywhere it needs to but Tylo (Vall, specifically), and with drop tanks can land and return from Tylo". I'll be using it on Tylo last :)

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