Highest speed with simplest craft

[Emilio]

Your mission : Build a very simple craft and make it reach the highest speed possible !

Rules : Nothing particular, but no 'cheat' parts

Scoring :

Your final score is Highest speed/Number of parts + Eventual bonuses

Bonuses are :

Stock : No mod parts, +350pts

Survivor : All crew survives, +500pts

Line : Craft launches following an almost perfect line, +800pts

Ascent speed : Highest speed is achieved while climbing, +1000pts

Long travel : Land on an other place than Kerbin, but return safely on Kerbin, 4000 points

Scores :

1sr : TheMohawkNinja,

420/21 = 20

Stock, Survivor, Ascent Speed

Final score 1870

:hailprobe: Godspeed, Kerbals, and don\'t blow up !

[Themohawkninja]

Here\'s mine.

That is the highest recorded speed. The CM decoupled, and the parachute deployed right afterwards, so my ascent speed was the highest, my crew survived, and no mods were used. I didn\'t however go perfectly straight. Part count: 21.

Scoring:

420/21 = 20

Stock = 350

Survivor = 500

Ascent Speed = 1000

____________________

1870

[iSuchtel]

I don\'t really get it, does it have to be in the Atmosphere ? Or could it be in space? And does it have to land on Kerbin?

[Emilio]

@TheMohawkNinja :

Not a bad design, but i think you could do better with less LFTs.

Added you to the Scores.

I don\'t really get it, does it have to be in the Atmosphere ? Or could it be in space? And does it have to land on Kerbin?

No, you can do it in space, and you can land anywhere if crew survives. But you made me think to a new bonus :

Long travel : Land on an other place than Kerbin, but return safely on Kerbin, 4000 points

[Ziff]

Here is my entry. I turned on the Command Pod SAS and launched. No other control input until I jettisoned the parachute.

Buckled in and ready for launch.

Look at those G\'s! That is one Kerbal minus his lunch.

Totally uncontrolled launch, straight as an arrow. Just before touchdown.

Touchdown in walking distance of KSP.

Mission End stats.

Score:

869/3 = 289.7 (289.6666 repeating.)

Stock+350

Survivor+500

Line+800

Ascent+1000

Total: 2939.7

[iSuchtel]

so..... whats my score?

http://youtu.be/iEQWSe8OZcY

[maltesh]

Should probably make a rule about gratuitously exploiting the 0.16 fuel efficiency bug, or else you\'ll wind up with three-part spacecraft doing sundives.

(Yes, this spacecraft launched with exactly the number of parts it\'s shown having. I\'n guessing I could probably eke another 10km/s out of it on the fuel alone before leaving Kerbin\'s SOI.)

edit^2: Got it up to 21.3 km/s before uncontrollable Krakening made it impossible to burn harder.

Exited the Kerbin SOI in under two hours from launch. I expected to get the extra 9 km/s for leaving Kerbin\'s SOI in the prograde direction for a final velocity of roughly 30 km/s, but that didn\'t happen for some reason. Anyway...

Score: 21,397 / 4 parts = 5347.75 + 1000 ascent bonus = 6347.75 .

[MOhon]

Hello!

I can get 70660m/s.

It\'s later and I don\'t get photos in this moment. Also my rocket isn\'t be 'simple'.

Also I don\'t return to Kerbin...

Only I can tell you that: travel to the sun it\'s the key!

Ciao!!

[Ziff]

Should probably make a rule about gratuitously exploiting the 0.16 fuel efficiency bug, or else you\'ll wind up with three-part spacecraft doing sundives.

Well, the post specifically says 'No cheat parts'. I think that would kind of knock LFE\'s out if they\'re used at low throttle. Also, pretty sure you wouldn\'t get an Ascent bonus since you were technically out of atmosphere and in orbit, therefore no longer \'climbing\'.

Out of curiosity, does the crew have to return to Kerbin in order to be considered for the \'survived\' bonus, or do they just have to survive to the highest speed we obtain? That\'s a big difference right there.

-Ziff

[maltesh]

Well, the post specifically says 'No cheat parts'. I think that would kind of knock LFE\'s out if they\'re used at low throttle. Also, pretty sure you wouldn\'t get an Ascent bonus since you were technically out of atmosphere and in orbit, therefore no longer \'climbing\'.

Was burning the entire time up until max velocity was reached, and never once passed an apoapsis. With a pitch angle that was always above the horizontal, gravity was opposing the spacecraft\'s thrust and velocity, and thus the spacecraft was climbing.

I probably could have produced a higher speed by scraping the insde of the SOI and diving back towards Kerbin while burning, though likely not high enough to offset the loss of the climbing bonus. (And, of course, the spacecraft clearly pulled off enough delta-V to do a Hohmann Sundive, which would have lost the climbing bonus, but easily hit velocities in excess of 100 km/s)

I have no objections to disqualification on the grounds of shameless fuel efficiency bug abuse.

[Ziff]

Was burning the entire time up until max velocity was reached, and never once passed an apoapsis. With a pitch angle that was always above the horizontal, gravity was opposing the spacecraft\'s thrust and velocity, and thus the spacecraft was climbing.

I was referring to the fact that you said you left Kerbin\'s SOI. If you leave the SOI how could you be \'climbing\' when you are no longer under the influence of gravity? Still, very freaking impressive for one tank and engine.

-Ziff

[CanuckOverlord]

I believe this is the best possible without using the fuel exploit. Landed on KSC terrain, so I assume 'line' is a given. Three parts off the pad, three parts landed.

Awards:

Stock : No mod parts, +350pts

Survivor : All crew survives, +500pts

Line : Craft launches following an almost perfect line, +800pts

Ascent speed : Highest speed is achieved while climbing, +1000pts

Total points (using top speed from end-mission screen):

2,852.3

[maltesh]

Huh. Forgot about the 'No Mod Parts' bonus.

I was referring to the fact that you said you left Kerbin\'s SOI. If you leave the SOI how could you be \'climbing\' when you are no longer under the influence of gravity? Still, very freaking impressive for one tank and engine.

-Ziff

I hit the kraken and stopped being able to reliably point the ship at about 76,000 km above Kerbin, and that\'s where I got the submitted top speed. I tumbled across the SOI boundary something like fifteen minutes later.

Since I still had about 50L of fuel, I probably could have used time accelleration to try to stabilize the ship again, but I\'d never flown to the edge of the SOI in real time before, so I figured, 'what the heck' and let it coast.

[Hammaneggs]

Edit: Sorry, I dont really know how to get the images up, PM to tell me how maybe?

The ship

The speed

the landing

Scoring :

Speed/parts: +194.82727 (repeating)

Stock : +350pts

Survivor : +500pts

Line : Craft launches following an almost perfect line, +800pts

Ascent speed : +1000pts

Total: 2844.827 (repeating)