Minimal Part Mega Launch Challenge

[quasarrgames]

Simple challenge: Do as much as possible with as few parts as possible.

Scoring: amount of science collected/number of parts

Obviously you can't use any cheats/cheaty mods/alt-f12.

Other than that, Go nuts!

I will submit my entry shortly.

LEADERBOARD:

1-DoctorDavinci: 7.0 points

2-

3-

Edited June 12, 2016 by quasarrgames

[DoctorDavinci]

So I did something that qualifies for this challenge in 1.0.5 about 9 months back

I launched the CANUK 787 which consisted of 787 parts with a payload of 4 Kerbaled science rovers each contained in it's own lander

5510.1 Science returned to Kerbin

5510.1 / 787 = 7.00139

 

[Cunjo Carl]

Hi! 61.4 Points

I've got a nice mission to push this one. I used 30 parts to get 1842 science (excluding World's Firsts and contracts). It's in career mode, but so long as the science tally excludes world's firsts and contracts, it should be ok, right? In the video below, building the ship and running the mission runs from 21:45 to 55:35, and it should skip straight to the start. I needed to run the mission from the tier1 VAB, so 30 parts was my limit! This mission, with a few modifications, should be good for lots more science, because it can farm EVAs from low equatorial orbits of the Mun, Minmus and Kerbin.

Summary
This mission went to Kerbin orbit, Mun orbit, Minmus orbit and Minmus, and netted 1842 science using a craft made from 30 parts. It also made nearly 2million credits and was built from cheap/low-tech parts, which were also goals of the mission.

I'll bet you could make a hefty chunk of science from a 2 part moon lander (twin-boar + landing can). Might be a fun follow up... I'll probably check it out in a while, but the 2-part craft is exceptionally easy to design if anyone wants to beat me to it .

[tseitsei89]

12 hours ago, Cunjo Carl said:

 

I'll bet you could make a hefty chunk of science from a 2 part moon lander (twin-boar + landing can). Might be a fun follow up... I'll probably check it out in a while, but the 2-part craft is exceptionally easy to design if anyone wants to beat me to it .

How are you planning to return/transmit the science? You can't transmit because no antenna and you can't return safely with that design?

Also I think MPL should be banned for this challenge since MPL + simple mun lander + lots of time warp = (almost) infinite science. Or am I wrong? Haven't really used MPL that much because I think it's stupid but IIRC how it works it is totally OP for this challenge...

Edited June 15, 2016 by tseitsei89

[Cunjo Carl]

4 hours ago, tseitsei89 said:

How are you planning to return/transmit the science? You can't transmit because no antenna and you can't return safely with that design?

Ah, it would be all crew-report/EVA/sample science, which would be carried back to Kerbin by hand. The EVA packs have just enough to make a 50-100km orbit around Minmus, but if you invoke the word of Oberth, you can blast a Kerbal up into interplanetary space, arrange an orbital resonance ala @JacobJHC in this post Smallish SSTO to Minmus , and return them safely to Kerbin ala the crazy guy in the latter half of this challenge video https://youtu.be/7S_86eFzvoI . I've done the reentry bit on Kerbin a few times, and it should work out fine.

Were you thinking about giving it a go, Tseitsei? If so, I'll wait for your results, first!

Also, I agree about the mobile processing labs. I kindof took it for granted that the only science allowed would be collectable science. Was that the intent, Quassargames?

[KASA Space]

Would I be able to use mods like Procedural Parts and KW Rocketry that add engines and parts, but are not too cheaty? How about TweakScale?

[Bloojay]

i can get into orbit with 3 parts

[Cunjo Carl]

18 hours ago, Bloojay said:

i can get into orbit with 3 parts

Sweet! If you do a polar orbit you should be able to easily collect the 185+ science worth of EVAs to take the lead. I haven't tried them, but you might like one of the science helper mods for showing when you're over a new biome ('cause you'll need like 25 of them). I think [X]Science will show what's available at the moment and For Science collects available science automatically.

I'm also tinkering on a 3 part ship, so I'll be trying to catch up afterwards!