KSP Caveman Challenge 1.2

[Leafbaron]

Thank you advance for bearing along with my ignorance. Is this challenge to unlock 22 science nodes in as short of time as possible?

[IncongruousGoat]

50 minutes ago, Leafbaron said:

Thank you advance for bearing along with my ignorance. Is this challenge to unlock 22 science nodes in as short of time as possible?

Nope. The time taken is irrelevant. The challenge is to unlock as many nodes as possible without upgrading any of the space center facilities. So that means limits of 30 parts, 18 tons, bumpy runway, and, of course, no patched conics. Oh, and it's also stock (except visual mods). So, no parts/informational mods.

Edited January 24, 2017 by IncongruousGoat

[Leafbaron]

 

5 minutes ago, IncongruousGoat said:

Nope. The time taken is irrelevant. The challenge is to unlock as many nodes as possible without upgrading any of the space center facilities. So that means limits of 30 parts, 18 tons, bumpy runway, and, of course, no patched conics.

gotcha! I will be participating in this challenge ASAP.

so no mods other than visual such as EVE and things like chatterer. are parts available like MRS/ MK2 expansion?

Edited January 24, 2017 by Leafbaron

[IncongruousGoat]

35 minutes ago, Leafbaron said:

 

gotcha! I will be participating in this challenge ASAP.

so no mods other than visual such as EVE and things like chatterer. are parts available like MRS/ MK2 expansion?

Nope, no parts. And good luck with the challenge.

[JAFO]

Basically, no mods which make the game easier in any way.

[Leafbaron]

I'm loving this challenge, It is very difficult and testing the upper limits of my design abilities and knowledge of Kerbin SOI Hohman transfers. 

[Leafbaron]

Only 270 science to go!

[Leafbaron]

Ladies and Gentlemen, I believe I am a KSP caveman!

http://imgur.com/a/ebPh9 album is here. sorry the picture seem to be out of order. 

Spoiler

 

[JAFO]

Congratulations, @Leafbaron!

Ready to try Moderate level?

[GoSlash27]

Congratulations, @Leafbaron! We've got an animal hide all set up for you in the cave.

Ugug,

-Slashy

[Leafbaron]

12 hours ago, GoSlash27 said:

Congratulations, @Leafbaron! We've got an animal hide all set up for you in the cave.

Ugug,

-Slashy

 

15 hours ago, JAFO said:

Congratulations, @Leafbaron!

Ready to try Moderate level?

Thank you very much! What all pertains to moderate level? I should say what difficulty settings do I need to use?

[IncongruousGoat]

11 hours ago, Leafbaron said:

Thank you very much! What all pertains to moderate level? I should say what difficulty settings do I need to use?

Use the difficulty preset labeled "Moderate".

[GoSlash27]

All,

 There is a way to fill in the tech tree even further than the basic facilities allow. *MAJOR* spoiler...

Spoiler

Apparently, every celestial body is now home to one randomly generated green monolith. Visiting these monoliths will unlock an entire tech node, even above what your base facilities allow.  Of course... finding these monoliths will be difficult, since our best controller has only a 6% detection capability.
 For the average caveman, this would mean potentially 3 more nodes unlocked. For the hardcore caveman, who knows?

Best,
-Slashy

[JAFO]

3 hours ago, GoSlash27 said:

All,

 There is a way to fill in the tech tree even further than the basic facilities allow. *MAJOR* spoiler...

Interesting.. that motivated me to go looking for information on the discovery..

Spoiler

 

 

[galactictaco]

I've been struggling with this but managed to land a little 1 ton rover on the mun (well, .5 tons without the fuel). i was very impressed with myself. 2 'big' 1 meter tanks plus the one thats half its size ontop of a swivel with 2 smallest solid rockets for boosting to launch it. I'm having an issue loading a picture but its 2 oscar B on top of a 6 sided probe core with a thermo/bar on either side and a proper antenna, with a small structural part (for going 1.5 to .625) with 2 rover wheels and 2 front landing gears (for balance), 3 solar panels and 2 batteries along the sloped side of the structural part and a little spark engine on the bottom. this had 1700 delta v (ish) and landed on empty (scott manley could've landed with maybe 300 delta v, i came in slow and steady and used it up, but it had plenty, most of the TLI burn was done by my launch vehicle). 

 

landed in twin craters, made it thru lowlands and a headed west towards midlands, aiming for a crater, maybe, if i have the patience. its a long way away.

 

[JAFO]

3 hours ago, galactictaco said:

I've been struggling with this but managed to land a little 1 ton rover on the mun (well, .5 tons without the fuel). i was very impressed with myself.

I'm very impressed with you too.. soft-landing a rover on the Mun with caveman restrictions isn't easy at all.

3 hours ago, galactictaco said:

2 'big' 1 meter tanks plus the one thats half its size ontop of a swivel with 2 smallest solid rockets for boosting to launch it. I'm having an issue loading a picture but its 2 oscar B on top of a 6 sided probe core with a thermo/bar on either side and a proper antenna, with a small structural part (for going 1.5 to .625) with 2 rover wheels and 2 front landing gears (for balance), 3 solar panels and 2 batteries along the sloped side of the structural part and a little spark engine on the bottom.

I hope you manage to post a couple of pics of the rover and its launcher.. that's a very unorthodox sounding design.. nice going!

To embed pictures, you need to use an image hosting service like photobucket or imgur, and post the link to it, using the "insert other media" button you see at the bottom right of the post editing window.

Edited January 30, 2017 by JAFO

[galactictaco]

http://imgur.com/ilKJKSz

 

i will take a pic tomorrow of it on the launch pad, but this was snapped just after touchdown of the maiden voyage. it wont let me properly insert it, possibly because im using safari?

 

it occurs to me kerbal engineer may be against the spirit of the challenge, i accept this may have disqualified me.

Edited January 30, 2017 by galactictaco

[JAFO]

Man.. that is SO cute! I love it!

And umm, yes, using KER definitely is a disqualification, I'm sorry to say.. (KER makes the game massively easier) but don't let that deter you.. just try again without it.

I don't think your embedding problems are due to Safari.. you just need to use the direct link to the image (right-click the image on imgur, and select "copy image location"), and then use the "Insert other media -> Insert image from URL" option, like so..

 

Edit: I've built a copy of this for having a play with (I've named it the Galactictaco Rover), and if you like, you can mount the batteries underneath the structural adaptor plate, between the Spark and the front landing wheels, and it will lower the COM even more.. should be even more stable than it currently is. I'm quite impressed by how far it has to tilt from vertical before it'll fall over.

Edited January 30, 2017 by JAFO

[galactictaco]

 

i have spent my night driving it (roughly) along that squiggle towards that midlands crater, around a few craters (so it is taking forEVER) I'm just shy of that patch of highlands as of my last rage quit. will def be modifying the mk.2 destined for the northern basin to optimize COM. it does indeed have a high tolerance for tilt, i turn using Q E if it goes off track which tends to negate any tilt, but 'pebbles' between ground layers or something tend to send it flying if i go more than 8 mps.

Edited January 30, 2017 by galactictaco

[galactictaco]

im re reading the challenge,is it 1188 points PLUS filled level1 tech tree? or is it just filling the tech tree? cause I've been dreading the inevitable torture of getting to minmus if i need another thousand points (after i rerun the whole thing without KER, thankfully i don't use it for much beyond terrain ALT and as a HUD for apoapsis on launch. is it permitted in the VAB for building the craft?)

[GoSlash27]

4 hours ago, galactictaco said:

im re reading the challenge,is it 1188 points PLUS filled level1 tech tree? or is it just filling the tech tree? cause I've been dreading the inevitable torture of getting to minmus if i need another thousand points (after i rerun the whole thing without KER, thankfully i don't use it for much beyond terrain ALT and as a HUD for apoapsis on launch. is it permitted in the VAB for building the craft?)

galactictaco,

 Don't worry, you only have to fill the level 1 tech tree. And sorry, no. KER is illegal for any purpose. Any mod that alters game play is illegal. Mods that change the scenery, lighting, or sounds are fine.

Best,
-Slashy

Edited January 30, 2017 by GoSlash27

[JAFO]

15 hours ago, galactictaco said:

 'pebbles' between ground layers or something tend to send it flying if i go more than 8 mps.

This is one of the few remaining serious bugs with KSP.. terrain tile edges don't always align correctly. There's a good example on the (sealed) KSC runway.. it causes havoc with small planes. Squad are aware of some of them, but the problem is considerably more prevalent than Squad are admitting to.

Edited January 31, 2017 by JAFO

[JAFO]

15 hours ago, galactictaco said:

I've been dreading the inevitable torture of getting to minmus

Getting to Minmus isn't torture.. it's a lot easier than doing Mun landings.. even crewed return missions aren't too hard (see my first post in this thread for clues). The trick is to use @5thHorseman's very fast and simple technique for getting Minmus encounters without patched conics. See this video for details.

Edited January 31, 2017 by JAFO

[galactictaco]

well i will certainly be interested in trying

 

so far the galactic taco rover has traversed the 48ish kilometers from touchdown  on the neck of the twin craters to midlands crater i identified in the previous pic. well, i made it to the peak of the mountain on its rim (1st link), interestingly, 4500 MASL so if you are looking for a location for 'smallest delta v to orbit from lunar surface' i found your locale. I've gotten too angry trying to scale the side of this mountain into the crater, and am traversing down the southern face to enter the crater from a better angle (2nd link). its been a journey i won't ever try to reproduce lol. third link is of second rovers intended path.

http://imgur.com/yQmufGj

http://imgur.com/DLzLJmb

http://imgur.com/prhrpWk

Edited January 31, 2017 by galactictaco

[JAFO]

48 hand-steered kilometers across the Mun with a tiny rover.. I'm impressed. I'm also thinking you just qualified for "masochist of the year"..

Seriously though.. well done. That must have been hell.