KSP Caveman Evolved Challenge

[Benjamin Kerman]

1 hour ago, Tattiebogle said:

Do contracts. Need money to upgrade the Tracking Station.

I dont think you can upgrade anything...  

[ManEatingApe]

@Tattiebogle Nice progress. I love the warts and all mission reporting.

Apropos of nothing, your list of things to do is almost a haiku,  tweaked it for you... 

1 hour ago, Tattiebogle said:

Rescue Val from Ike

Do contracts, need more money.

Bob is dead, sorry.

I'm kinda tempted to make all my future update in haiku form now! 

Some pesky RL stuff is getting in the way of my Kerballing, but Jool 5 mission plotting is underway and I hope to have a mission report soon.

[Superfluous J]

2 hours ago, Tattiebogle said:

Sent Val to Ike

And well done!

1 hour ago, Benjamin Kerman said:

I dont think you can upgrade anything...  

No landing on Ike counted. The last image clearly shows touchdown.

[Benjamin Kerman]

1 hour ago, 5thHorseman said:

No landing on Ike counted. The last image clearly shows touchdown.

Ah, right. Was remembering back to thr 1.2 Kaveman challange, sorry for any confusion!

[Superfluous J]

My own forays are not going quite so well as others'. I actually had a very cool and very working return mission from Moho, complete with an orbiting fuel depot acting as a relay for the lander, and then refueling the lander so it could return home as its own transfer stage, coasting most of the way with 0 communications because it itself had no antenna at all other than the probe core.

But on ejecting from Moho, the game decided to somehow TELL ME TO BURN BACKWARDS 2600 m/s and I didn't notice it until I was about halfway through the burn, and had hit F5 several times. The last alt-F9 I'd placed was well before I'd even entered Moho's SOI. And no, I didn't set up the node wrong. I've been playing long enough to know not to do that.

I gotta tell you it's disheartening. I'm not quitting, but Moho can suck it.

[Human Person]

38 minutes ago, 5thHorseman said:

had hit F5 several times. The last alt-F9 I'd placed was well before I'd even entered Moho's SO

Had a similar accident with my gilly mission.

also, I'm going for a Moho landing too. I don't want to do my Eve return without maneuver nodes.

Edited June 29, 2017 by Physics Student

[Human Person]

Meanwhile. A multi-purpose probe heads to duna!

It has Scansat equipment on board to scan Duna and Ike and It's going to land on Ike. After that, It continues being a relay.

The exact same craft will do the exact same thing for Eve and Gilly.

 

The meantime was enough for the minmus Lab to do a few suborbital hops and generate enough science to unlock everything unlockable with R&D Lv. 2.

Spoiler

Gilly landing

 

 

 

Edited June 29, 2017 by Physics Student

[Tattiebogle]

Got the money together to upgrade the Tracking Station. Lots of testing on the launch pad, dockings around Mun and Minmus .A small Base on minmus and useless satellites.Things should be easier now.

Spent 100+ years trying to get an interception with Eve. Jeb still on Minmus waiting patiently.

 

Edited June 29, 2017 by Tattiebogle

[Tattiebogle]

Drat!!!! I should of upgraded the Mission Control. Oh well!!

[Superfluous J]

5 hours ago, Physics Student said:

Meanwhile. A multi-purpose probe heads to duna!

...

The exact same craft will do the exact same thing for Eve and Gilly.

Imgur isn't playing well right now. Did you land on both Ike and Gilly? The second album implied at least that you landed on Gilly.

[Human Person]

58 minutes ago, 5thHorseman said:

Imgur isn't playing well right now. Did you land on both Ike and Gilly? The second album implied at least that you landed on Gilly.

By the time I made the post, I had only landed on Gilly.

Just did Ike, I'll post pictures tomorrow. I upgraded Mission Control and the VAB.

I decided to finish Duna SOI and do a trip to Moho before doing the Eve return.

Edited June 29, 2017 by Physics Student

[Tattiebogle]

Mission Update.

We have landed brave Barzer Kerman on Gilly on his very first flight. What a guy!

I choose to upgrade Mission Control

So far. Mission Control Level 2

           Launch Pad Level 2

          Tracking Station Level 3

Mun and back

Minmus and back

Probe on Duna

Val  on Ike

Barzer on Gilly.

Things to do

                Rescue Val on Ike

               Rescue Jeb on minmus

               Rescue Barzer on Gilly

 

Edited June 30, 2017 by Tattiebogle

[Human Person]

Jeb, Val and Bill are stranded on Moho!

 

So, I've been busy and screwed up my Moho Mission completely. 

I could just load a Quicksave but doing the rescue might be more fun.

 

First things first: IKE Landing

Spoiler

Mapping Duna, transferring from polar duna orbit to polar Ike orbit.

Landing on Ike

 

 

2

 

Next: Screwed up Apollo-style orbital Assembly 3 Kerbal Moho return mission

Spoiler

1st getting the Transfer Stage up

Spoiler

 

 

 

2nd: refueling the transfer stage and attaching 2 extra drop tanks (5 launches)

I'm especially proud of my refueling rocket, So I decided to share it. 

https://kerbalx.com/Physics_Student/Lf-only

It's easy to fly, easy to dock and it's partially reusable.

Spoiler

All 5 Launches went absolutely smooth. I simply love this craft.

 

 

 

3rd. Doing a crew rotation between Minmus Lab and the Moho ship. During this, I actually had the situation that all 4 Veterans were in the same ship. I decided to take Jeb, Bill and Val to Moho. Bob wasn't happy but he had to accept that our pilots needed training for Eve

It's the very first mission for Bill.

4th: Docking the Moho lander to the ship

Spoiler

 

 

 

5th: Screwing up the transfer.

The ship in Orbit has more than 8000 m/s of delta-v. I figured this to be enough to get to Moho and back. It's even a bit more because we don't have to get the lander back. 

Bu t: I screwed up the transfer so badly, It took just about all of that delta-v to get into a stable orbit around Moho. We can land on Moho and get back to the ship, but that's it.

Spoiler

At this point I realized I screwed up

Made it to a stable orbit

But we're almost out of fuel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5

 

So ... I guess I'll use the Moho Landing to upgrade R&D to Level 3 and sent a little mining rig to save the Kerbals.

 

I wanted to use that upgrade for the Astronaut Complex so they can go EVA on Moho ... tanning. Maybe Bob can do the Duna return in the meantime.

 

So far:

- Kerbin SOI done

- Duna- , Ike- , Eve- , Gilly- landing done.

 

Next up:

-Moho landing (already done, but I figured it makes more sense to add that to the next post)

-Moho return

-Duna return

-Eve return

 

Edited June 30, 2017 by Physics Student

[Superfluous J]

10 hours ago, Tattiebogle said:

Things to do

                Rescue Val on Ike

               Rescue Jeb on minmus

               Rescue Barzer on Gilly

Aaaaah. The Kerbal way!

5 hours ago, Physics Student said:

Next up:

-Moho landing (already done, but I figured it makes more sense to add that to the next post)

I've given you credit for it, which puts you above me on the list but I'm not changing the list order for 2 reasons:

1. It's a huge pain. Well not huge, but it's a pain.
2. I've a video coming out tomorrow morning which gives me some more unlocks, which will put me back in 3rd place. And while I don't mind going through the pain once, doing it twice to end up at the same spot...

[Superfluous J]

I did good, and got 3 unlocks in 2 missions. Dres is done and Moho is... well... it's Moho.

Spoiler

 

 

[Jetski]

@5thHorseman I'm prepping for my Eve return mission, it's proving to be (predictably) the hardest part so far.  One question though, I noticed I got moved from Stock to Modded category.  I thought I did everything in stock, but I don't have most of the screenshots still because I upgraded from 1.2 to 1.3 in mid-flight and wiped my old folder.  Did I run Kerbal Engineer or Kerbal Alarm Clock in one of the landings?  Those are the only ones I use regularly, maybe I forgot to strip them for a segment.  I hate to be in the category that looks like I used KSPI or something OP

Edit: also just watched your video, I call that Moho landing a rousing success!

 

Edited July 1, 2017 by Jetski

[Superfluous J]

16 minutes ago, Jetski said:

I noticed I got moved from Stock to Modded category.  I thought I did everything in stock

I think you did too. I also think that perhaps when I switched from putting (stock) and (modded) in there to having flags S and M and whatnot, I accidentally marked you as M. I've fixed that. I also noticed that you did a basic caveman AND a Jool 5, so I've added the C tag to you.

[Jetski]

Here's a teaser for how my Eve return is coming.  I have Vectors and Aerospikes researched, so how hard can it be? 

Hard, turns out.  After some very terrible attempts, I finally installed HyperEdit and VesselMover for the first time to try to hash out a workable craft.  Finally got something that could land (not that hard) and also enter the atmosphere without flipping over and cooking everything (much harder for me).  Discovered a sideways wing is about the only thing that has enough drag to keep the inflatable heat shield pointed the right way.  Put together a massive lifter to get it to Eve, launched, was almost to orbit and realized I still had the mods installed. Revert, because I want this to be legit

I'll try the real thing next, but have to sleep now...

 

[Human Person]

@Jetski Using drag for aerodynamic stability isn't always the best way to go. Remember aitrcraft design. Stalling your wings usually results in loosing stability, and you're stalling those wings pretty hard.

[Jetski]

4 hours ago, Physics Student said:

@Jetski Using drag for aerodynamic stability isn't always the best way to go. Remember aitrcraft design. Stalling your wings usually results in loosing stability, and you're stalling those wings pretty hard.

You would think, right?  But it works.  I tried air brakes and they burned up instantly.  I tried 4 of the largest reaction wheels and they couldn't even come close to fighting the drag of a deployed inflatable heat shield.  The sideways wings produce just enough drag sticking out past the heat shield to keep me pointed retrograde, and have very high heat tolerance.  At no point am I actually using the wings for flight, it's just a matter of slowing down from 3000 m/s to atmospheric speeds without burning up or flipping.  Think of them as very large airbrakes.  I can use physics warp x4, and no control input and she comes right in like a charm.  The trick is getting out of Kerbin's atmosphere without having the largest fairing researched

The other option that works is getting most of the weight as close to the shield as possible, or adding a very long tower to the top of the ship with some smaller wings on it, both ideas I discarded because they involved nerfing my lander.

 

Edited July 2, 2017 by Jetski

[jonny]

Today I finished my Duna mission. Jeb landed on Duna, Ike and after 5 years and 106 days safely back on Kerbin.

While Jeb was waiting for the Duna transfer window, I was busy working on a spreadsheet to calculate orbital periods and fuel requirement for the ejection burn.

Mission report:

Spoiler

The album is here

Ejection burn to Duna 48 days before the Transfer window.

I figured I had to burn my fuel until there is 100 LF left in the second drop-tank.

The ejection burn was a bit too much, a retrograde burn in solar orbit fixed that.

Measuring the angle to Duna in order to calculate a semi-major-axis, which will create a close approach the next orbit.

The semi-major-axis is set up according to my calculations. Semi-major-axis: (Ap+Pe)/2+Kerbol radius

One orbit later...

Fine tuning the Inclination...

Separating the Duna lander in LDO

Touchdown!!!

Docking, back in LDO

I used the remaining fuel in the Duna lander and the last drop-tank for the Ike transfer.

conveniently I ended up in a suborbital trajectory.

The Duna lander is going to crash into Ike

killing all orbital velocity

Touchdown!!

Back in Ike orbit I upgrade the Tracking Station in order to get patched Conics

ejecting to Kerbin directly from low Ike orbit.

Due to the 30 part limit I couldn't include a decoupler, but Jeb didn't need one.

Touchdown!!!

 

Edited July 2, 2017 by jonny

[Human Person]

@jonny Wow, great mission!

Short update:

I used the Moho Landing to unlock R&D Lv.3 and sent a little miner to rescue my Kerbals on Moho.

It took 3 launches (1 for the Miner and an empty tug, one to fuel the tug, and one to attach an extra drop Tank).

The Miner is currently on an intercept with Moho, looking good.

It's essentially a Lander with mining equipment and the ability to deliver 800 units of Liquid Fuel to Low Moho Orbit. The Tug doubles as a fuel depot and relay.

 

Before the Miner arrives at Moho, I have an Eve-Window coming up. I accepted some contracts for Eve wich will pay off over 3,000,000 Kerbucks and are a good opportunity to test my reentry design.

 

 

Edited July 2, 2017 by Physics Student

[Superfluous J]

8 hours ago, jonny said:

Today I finished my Duna mission. Jeb landed on Duna, Ike and after 5 years and 106 days safely back on Kerbin.

Very well done! That's 2 more points than I'd be willing to try for under your constraints.

Note: Your Duna mission has caused me to solidify the rules for "returned from." I've updated the first post with the following:

There are two valid ways to return from a world:
1) Bring a part of a ship that was on the surface of the planet back to Kerbin and recover it.
2) Bring a Kerbal who was in a ship that was on the surface of the planet back to Kerbin and recover him or her.

Edited July 3, 2017 by 5thHorseman

[Jetski]

Ok, it was ugly but it worked!  Eve return has been completed, and all facilities are upgraded and I have completed this challenge.

There was no room for elegance in Jeb's mission to the evil purple planet.  I worked out a lander that could enter, land, and get back to orbit, then resorted to brute force for the rest of the mission, as funds and science were plentiful.  I lifted on 7 Mammoths and 3 Twin-Boars, with a monster that vaguely resembled a flower perched on an hourglass.  Possibly the least aero-friendly ship I've built since 0.9. 

Easy transfer, got in low orbit, landed (relatively) cleanly at around 2k altitude.  No quickloads needed, which is a first for me and Eve.  Liftoff went well, although the Vectors proved to be too powerful and I had to throttle back.  I ultimately ended up just powering vertical into space, and then sideways Sounds oddly familiar to beginning KSP players I imagine.  Plenty of dV once I was out of the soup, I met up with the return ship with 300 LF left in my Terrier stage.

Annoyingly, the capsule was backwards so I had to turn off gimbal and do all my burns backwards to get home, but Jeb did make it home safe and sound.

Edit: Arrgh imgur has mixed the order of my pictures and deleted all the captions.  Oh well, sorry guys.  It's all there. If you open the album, the first few are out of order, but the rest should be OK.

 

Edited July 3, 2017 by Jetski

[Tattiebogle]

I'm out....Without reverts it's just too much for me