Jool 500 Kolonization Challenge

[RA3236]

Just saying, you might want to ban Kopernicus from this challenge as it can modify the Jool System.

[max_creative]

8 minutes ago, RA3236 said:

Just saying, you might want to ban Kopernicus from this challenge as it can modify the Jool System.

Oh yeah that's a good point. If you do alternis kerbol, kerbin orbits jool, so kinda unfair.

[max_creative]

10 minutes ago, RA3236 said:

Just saying, you might want to ban Kopernicus from this challenge as it can modify the Jool System.

Kerbin orbits jool in alternis kerbol, so yeah unfair. 

[septemberWaves]

29 minutes ago, RA3236 said:

Just saying, you might want to ban Kopernicus from this challenge as it can modify the Jool System.

Thanks for letting me know about that.

[Planetfall]

I'm so excited about this! I've sent a fleet of scan sats to Jool and working on a hive mother and a little scout plane for Lathe. I'll post pictures when I find the time.  I think I'm going to do the easy casual mode with focus on role play and aesthetics.

Thanks for making this challenge Jane!

[RA3236]

I would do this challenge if my laptop didn't have a 256mb graphics unit  I found that no matter if I'm in 1.1 or 0.7.3 I will get laggy over 100 parts  

[max_creative]

1 hour ago, RA3236 said:

I would do this challenge if my laptop didn't have a 256mb graphics unit  I found that no matter if I'm in 1.1 or 0.7.3 I will get laggy over 100 parts  

1.0.5 lags over 100 parts for me too. Maybe 1.1 will be better. Maybe. 

I'm going to spam a ton of communication satellites to Dres today so if that works I can do it to jool.

[septemberWaves]

2 hours ago, Planetfall said:

I'm so excited about this! I've sent a fleet of scan sats to Jool and working on a hive mother and a little scout plane for Lathe. I'll post pictures when I find the time.  I think I'm going to do the easy casual mode with focus on role play and aesthetics.

Thanks for making this challenge Jane!

I'm glad you like the idea of it. I look forward to seeing your attempt at the challenge, and to seeing the designs you make (and since you mentioned aesthetics, USI Freight Transport Technologies (at least I believe that's the name of it) has some incredibly good-looking parts for freighters, you might want to check that mod out specifically).

 

[Jetski]

Looking into network of commsats, here's a fascinating way to use 4 satellites to get full coverage.  It's called a Draim Tetrahedral Configuration, and looks to be a royal pain in the neck to set up.  Likely much simpler in terms of hours IRL to just spam coverage in the 4x4 network described in the OP.  Although RemoteTech fanatics appear to set up 3x equitorial coverage regularly, because Kerbin has no atmospheric losses or lensing effects from the ionosphere.  Come ON 1.1!  I want to get started already!

[septemberWaves]

12 minutes ago, Jetski said:

Looking into network of commsats, here's a fascinating way to use 4 satellites to get full coverage.  It's called a Draim Tetrahedral Configuration, and looks to be a royal pain in the neck to set up.  Likely much simpler in terms of hours IRL to just spam coverage in the 4x4 network described in the OP.  Although RemoteTech fanatics appear to set up 3x equitorial coverage regularly, because Kerbin has no atmospheric losses or lensing effects from the ionosphere.  Come ON 1.1!  I want to get started already!

That looks very interesting. The reason the challenge for ground coverage requires the 4-equatorial 4-polar satellites is because, as you said, it's a lot simpler. And equatorial-only coverage likely isn't an option because most places have pole biomes and part of the Jool 500 challenge is to thoroughly explore every biome of every moon.

[RA3236]

Another mod I found that should be on the optional list: Vens Stock Revamp

[septemberWaves]

4 hours ago, RA3236 said:

Another mod I found that should be on the optional list: Vens Stock Revamp

I'll check it out.

Update: I'm not familiar with that mod at all, so I'm going to wait until it gets updated to 1.1; when it does I'll test it and see if it's balanced enough. Until then though I'm not going to add it.

Edited April 8, 2016 by eloquentJane

[Jhawk1099]

@eloquentJane Perhaps add a link to the other thread for this challenge as it may fall down the list 

[Planetfall]

18 hours ago, eloquentJane said:

I'm glad you like the idea of it. I look forward to seeing your attempt at the challenge, and to seeing the designs you make (and since you mentioned aesthetics, USI Freight Transport Technologies (at least I believe that's the name of it) has some incredibly good-looking parts for freighters, you might want to check that mod out specifically).

 

Well I've been trying to play all stock parts with only KER and KAC. But I'll look into USI freight again. Roverdude certainly is a great programmer. I'm happy he's a dev now!

[RA3236]

5 hours ago, eloquentJane said:

I'll check it out.

Update: I'm not familiar with that mod at all, so I'm going to wait until it gets updated to 1.1; when it does I'll test it and see if it's balanced enough. Until then though I'm not going to add it.

AFAIK the changes to stock are:

• Added gimbals to all engines except RT-5 Flea
• Redone all models, made gimbals realistic, better textures, no glitchy colision, some new features
• New engines and parts, all in line with stock

I understand what you are saying though, while IMHO it is just a better-looking stock you might believe that the 'Nova' engine for example is too cheaty.

[septemberWaves]

4 hours ago, Jhawk1099 said:

@eloquentJane Perhaps add a link to the other thread for this challenge as it may fall down the list 

There is a link to the guide thread, it's in the original post on this thread. There is also a link to this thread in the original post on the guide thread.

 

2 hours ago, RA3236 said:

AFAIK the changes to stock are:

• Added gimbals to all engines except RT-5 Flea
• Redone all models, made gimbals realistic, better textures, no glitchy colision, some new features
• New engines and parts, all in line with stock

I understand what you are saying though, while IMHO it is just a better-looking stock you might believe that the 'Nova' engine for example is too cheaty.

I'm quite lenient on what I'm allowing for this challenge honestly. I mean I allow Atomic Age except for one engine, and I allow Karbonite Plus which has some incredibly high ISP engines (I feel like they're balanced enough because of the cost and mass, and because the only way to get karborundum without breaking challenge rules is from very low solar orbit). I just want to make sure that costs and mass and stuff like that all seem fair, and to make exceptions for what's allowed if I need to (such as with the Atomic Age turbojet). I probably will add VSR into the mod list for Jool 500, it's simply a matter of testing it a bit first.

[Jetski]

Wow.  I just spent almost 6 hours trying to get a working base using the UKS Kolonization mod and Hyperedit.  The documentation for that one is a real tangled mess, with a ton of obsolete tutorials and conflicting information on 1.1 vs. 1.05 builds and resource chains.  I STILL can't get even a clue on how to get a closed loop life support supply base working.  It requires up to 9 different resources, I have 4 different drills going, 6 modules (at least 2 seem to do nothing despite the tutorials).  I love the idea, but I don't think I'm going to be able to get it working.  Also, it appears that homesickness is now a thing, so crews have to be monitored individually to make sure they are happy, as well as fed, oxygenated, otherwise pampered.   I even tried making a config to allow stock ISRU to convert Ore into Oxygen/Waste/Water to make TAC-LS usable without all the complications (which actually works, by the way, if you include a greenhouse to make Waste/Water back into Food).   With a goal of 500 Kerbals, I fear this challenge is outside of my abilities. I'll give it a shot stock, or if I can find a working life support mod that allows any kind food production off kerbal with mining/greenhouse modules I'll use that.  The LS system FlowerChild used on Better Than Starting Manned would be ideal, you could make food but it was a huge investment in mass and power.  Wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience, or am I just slow?

[Wardstone111]

One other idea for hard is this: you must have science purchase on on the start settings. This just meens you have to pre-purchase all the parts you want to use, before you can start using them on ships.

[RA3236]

Just now, Wardstone111 said:

One other idea for hard is this: you must have science purchase on on the start settings. This just meens you have to pre-purchase all the parts you want to use, before you can start using them on ships.

Yeah... No. That would make things MUCH harder.

[March Unto Torment]

Funnily enough, my current Jool mothership is actually in the correct tonnage range for this, although as it's designed for Jool-5 operations and includes a whole bunch of excess stuff (refineries, inter-Jool transfer stages, 100,000 units of spare LF...), it has a capacity of only around a hundred Kerbals and hence won't be used for this challenge.

Still, watching this one with excitement!

[septemberWaves]

7 hours ago, Jetski said:

Wow.  I just spent almost 6 hours trying to get a working base using the UKS Kolonization mod and Hyperedit.  The documentation for that one is a real tangled mess, with a ton of obsolete tutorials and conflicting information on 1.1 vs. 1.05 builds and resource chains.  I STILL can't get even a clue on how to get a closed loop life support supply base working.  It requires up to 9 different resources, I have 4 different drills going, 6 modules (at least 2 seem to do nothing despite the tutorials).

This is why I'm making the guide (or at least I will be once everything i need is updated to 1.1). It's an incredible challenge to find information on a lot of mods that's simultaneously complete, easy to understand, and up to date, and that's largely what the guide is going to be for the mods involved in this challenge (as well as showing some ways of making mods work together and interact nicely).

[Wardstone111]

On ‎09‎/‎04‎/‎2016 at 8:15 AM, March Unto Torment said:

Funnily enough, my current Jool mothership is actually in the correct tonnage range for this, although as it's designed for Jool-5 operations and includes a whole bunch of excess stuff (refineries, inter-Jool transfer stages, 100,000 units of spare LF...), it has a capacity of only around a hundred Kerbals and hence won't be used for this challenge.

Still, watching this one with excitement!

You could just send five of them.

Also, just a couple of mods I noticed that could be good in this: Tantares (and LV) and Ampyear as it warns you if a ship starts running out of Electric Charge.

[March Unto Torment]

3 hours ago, Wardstone111 said:

You could just send five of them.

Nah, not worth it. If I do decide to do this challenge, I'll probably build a stupidly-giant 400-Kerbal habitation module and send it on its own. It'd only weigh 180 tonnes (a tiny fraction of what my main ship weighs), and I could dock it to the space station that I'm turning my mothership into. Hell, I already need to make a second trip to get another transfer stage, so I may as well send 400 folks along for the ride.

Edited April 10, 2016 by March Unto Torment

[septemberWaves]

3 hours ago, Wardstone111 said:

Also, just a couple of mods I noticed that could be good in this: Tantares (and LV) and Ampyear as it warns you if a ship starts running out of Electric Charge.

I'll take a look at those mods. I may need to test Tantares out when it gets updated to check how balanced it is.

[Jetski]

Mission started here.  Commsat network, Stock Sandbox 1.05, "Casual mode" for the moment.  I'll worry about converting to 1.1 when it drops, worst case I'll just run the missions again.

 

And Part 2 is here, robotic landers launched

Edited April 10, 2016 by Jetski