KSP Caveman Evolved Challenge

[ManEatingApe]

Finally got around to my Jool 5 and had an absolute blast.

For this mission I continued my K.S.C. theme:

K. Kerbals for all craft.

S. Stock only.

C. Chemical engines only, none of yer' fancy nukes or ions.

The R&D building remained at level 2, however important tech upgrades were the Twin-Boar, Mainsail, Panther and Command Chair. To maximise dV the Tylo, Val, Bop and Pol landers were spartan; no luxuries such as reaction wheels. This meant that thrust had to be maintained at all times during descent to keep pointing the right way.

This mostly worked very well (especially on Tylo where you almost always want to be accelerating) however there was the occasional mishap. 

There's a fair number of photos so I've broken them into spoilers below. A high level overview of the mission was:

• Aero-brake mothership directly into Lathe capture orbit.
• Detach Laythe spaceplane, descend and return.
• Bring mothership into parking orbit just outside Tylo orbit.
• Detach Tylo lander, descend and return, rendezvous with mothership.
• Detach Val lander, descend and return, rendezvous with mothership.
• Detach combined Bop & Pol lander, you get the idea...
• Return to Kerbin using our trusty Mk1 pod and heat shield to survive a jaunty re-entry speed of 4 km/s.

Outbound

Spoiler

For this mission I decided to do something I've never tried before, aero-brake a rocket directly into Laythe orbit.

A tricky issue was balancing the mass of all the various parts. To solve this problem I added a tank solely for balance and moved fuel around.

I guessed the size of the boosters and first stage, this meant there was plenty of dV left over which proved very helpful during the ejection burn.

Laythe

Spoiler

The Laythe aero-braking went surprisingly smoothly, although judging the correct PE was tricky. We were slightly too low but were able to compensate using some spare fuel.

Valentina rashly decided to land on a tiny islet.

Stopping took half the length of the islet!

The Panther proved its worth as a low-tech spaceplane.

Tylo

Spoiler

Three mighty Sparks provided plenty of TWR.

A quick flag photo-op and change of underwear.

The back into orbit upside down! (no roll control with a single engine)

Val

Spoiler

After the stress of Tylo, Val was relatively sedate. A smaller lander with a single Spark, packing over 3,000 m/s dV was employed.

D'oh! We forgot to grab a new flag from the command pod. Don't look so glum, Val!

Bop & Pol

Spoiler

We quickly grab a fresh lander from the parked mothership and head off again. (Remembering to bring a new flag!)

Bop is no problem

Due to the imprecision caused by a lack of reaction wheel, we end up on a collision course with Pol!

No matter, it's puny gravity is no match for the might of our single Spark.

I take that back. 

Inbound

Spoiler

By chance, we got a convenient Kerbin intercept as soon as we returned from Pol.

Aero-braking at 4 km/s didn't even bother the heat shield.

Back in one piece.

Complete album available here

 

Summary

After this mission I have 6 building upgrades available, and Eve, Gilly and Moho remaining.

At some stage one of the upgrades will have to be a Level 3 R&D, as I don't fancy an Eve return without a Vector or Aerospike, but for now I think I'll try a chemical only Moho mission.

Edited July 8, 2017 by ManEatingApe

[Superfluous J]

4 hours ago, ManEatingApe said:

Jool 5

Very nicely done! Welcome to 2nd place on the leaderboard! Your plan was very similar to mine: Get to Tylo, and do most everything from there. I like going to Laythe first, though. I may do that next time. This time. Whatever

[jonny]

Bob finished the Moho mission yesterday:

here is the full album at imgur, but all  the important stuff is in the Spoiler below

Orbital assembly

Spoiler

The mission gets to LKO in 4 launches with exactly 30 parts each

The transfer stage is the first to reach orbit

the Rover made it to LKO and all the remaining fuel gets pumped in the second stage of the first launch.

The return vehicles. One for Moho ground to Moho orbit and one for Moho orbit to Kerbin

The last launch consist of two drop-tanks and a small capsule for Bob. unfortunately we have to leave the capsule in LKO.

Kerbin -> Moho Transfer

Spoiler

Time-warping to the Moho AN

Departure

Luckily the Moho AN did match up with a good transfer window

Science in a solar orbit

Moho arrivel

Landing and roving on Moho

Spoiler

A small reassembly of the craft.

And I thought only Jeb makes crazy dangerous maneuvers.  this does not look like the right place for a rover

Bob landed in the Highlands

Bob is on his rocket engine augmented downhill trip to the Midlands

I have no idea why he smiles. He should be scared to death.

Arrival in the midlands

Return to Kerbin

Spoiler

The rover is left behind

Bob is ready to head home again

Adjusting the Inclination and orbital periode do get an Kerbin encounter.

Captured in Kerbin orbit. Time for a rescue mission.

Bob landed near KSC

For the Moho landing an return I Choose to upgrade the Launch pad and the VAB
Going for MOAR Booster instead of maneuver nodes.

[ManEatingApe]

Jeb was sent off to Moho in an asparagus staged chemical only tug.

Once in Moho orbit, a tiny lander consisting of only a Command Chair, Oscar B and a pair of Spiders landed and returned to the mothership.

By chance, our re-entry just overshot the KSC by a little

 

Full album available here

 

That's another 2 building upgrades unlocked. Just Eve and Gilly left to do!

Interestingly cash has become an issue, as the career game doesn't like the order I'm visiting planets, so I'm not getting any contracts for unvisited planets. I'll probably have to do an extra cash generating mission after Eve, in order to actually afford the building upgrades.

Edited July 8, 2017 by ManEatingApe

[jonny]

10 hours ago, ManEatingApe said:

Once in Moho orbit, a tiny lander consisting of only a Command Chair, Oscar B and a pair of Spiders landed and returned to the mothership.

I really like your landers. I never considered flying without reaction wheels. as I usually have some docking involved.

[jonny]

I thought it will be a very long mission, so I sent all three (Bill Bob and Jeb) to Eeloo.
But it turned out to be a rather short trip, with 6 years and 18 days. They didn't even spent 3 hours in Eeloo orbit.

here is the Album, but as always, the important steps are in the spoiler.

Launch and Refueling

Spoiler

The refueling mission with two landing cans did complete the  "Station" contract and will rescue Viremy Kerman

the empty tanks are surprisingly stable at Supersonic speed

Kerbin -> Eeloo and Eeloo landing

Spoiler

Ejection to Eeloo

Inclination changes and adjusting the close approach

Eeloo insertion

Bob landed and made two more hops to get to a total of 3 Biomes.

Return

Spoiler

What a fancy new feature!!! We have maneuver nodes

I did totally overestimate the dV needed for the mission. At this point I just started to burn the 2500m/s I reserved for the return. I decided not to aerobrake and try to recover as much a possible.

Unfortunately i did lose the most expensive parts.

 

[Superfluous J]

On 7/8/2017 at 6:05 AM, jonny said:

Moho

19 hours ago, jonny said:

Eeloo

Well done, there. You're really trekking along even without the Kerbin SOI upgrade.

 

 

Edited July 11, 2017 by 5thHorseman

[Human Person]

It might take a while to finish, so I have a little teaser for my upcoming Jool 5. This has been 4 launches:

1 for nearly the whole thing (it took me only 2 tries to get it in orbit. The first one was a pretty spectacular failure)

1 for the crew in their return pod

1 for the tug/refueler you can see on the right

1 to refuel the tug/refueler because It was under engineered.

 

Assembly was done not in LKO, but in a highly elliptical Kerbin Orbit. This saves us 550 m/s on our final ejection, while still having full tanks.

Edited July 12, 2017 by Physics Student

[Tattiebogle]

I landed on Moho for the first time. Meant to go to Jool but changed my mind whilst in Kerbin orbit. Was thinking my solar panels weren't up to the job.

Should have researched a bit more as it must have cost about 5000 d/v to just get the encounter. That can't be right. I left at the right time. I think you must have to change your inclination while in Kerbin Orbit.Oh well!! you live and learn.

Do I qualify for an upgrade for landing on Moho or do I have to return?

http://imgur.com/a/5SqvM

 

 

[Superfluous J]

1 hour ago, Tattiebogle said:

I landed on Moho for the first time.

Yay! Congrats! Moho is no joke. I know, I just completed my return mission from it this morning. I won't have the video until tomorrow at best though.

1 hour ago, Tattiebogle said:

Do I qualify for an upgrade for landing on Moho or do I have to return?

You get an unlock for landing (i.e., right now) and another for the return, when you get it eventually.

[Tattiebogle]

I choose to upgrade the astronaut complex.

ps still playing on hard difficulty

[Superfluous J]

1 hour ago, Tattiebogle said:

I choose to upgrade the astronaut complex.

ps still playing on hard difficulty

Oh you didn't turn reverts on? Sweet. I'll update the list now

[zanie420]

I have decided to make this my next challenge  This insomniac stay at home father chooses to hinder himself in career mode, and go to the Mun, and do the others things..... because, yeah actually it is harder isn't it?

@Jetski what happened to your albums or mission log? I was hoping to revisit the only current finisher for ideas.

@5thHorseman just saying upfront that I totally plan to copy your initial 3 missions, as I see no better way to do it. Highly impressive. I would like to clarify that you feel the best strategy, would be to get to Duna/Ike before Mun/Minmus? I would love to give this a try, and have shown my willingness to completely ignore Kerbin's moons previously LOL. Also, I am eager to see your videos. I am thinking of doing some recording myself. Nobody seems to want the huge imgur albums

@Tattiebogle I tip my hat to you. You are making me seriously consider my difficulty level before starting

@Physics Student that is truly a beautiful craft. I am going to need to examine your designs as well if I am going to be forced to assemble in space as this challenge does require

@jonny you also make me want to combine this with another run at Munless night, since my goal would be to get to Duna/Ike first. Man it seems daunting however

[jonny]

4 hours ago, zanie420 said:

@jonny you also make me want to combine this with another run at Munless night

I can only encourage you to do so. It is very fun and rewarding. You really need to choose wisely which upgrade to make next. Because e.g. maneuver nodes or MOAR boosters can solve the same problem.

For the Duna mission it is a whole challenge by itself.... Wikipedia gives some formula for calculating orbital periods, and KSP wiki gives you physical characteristics of the celestial bodies. And I can tell it is a great feeling to enter Duna SOI, because the calculations were right.

As far as my own space program goes: I am testing and tuning for a Jool 5 mission with tight budget. I don't like to grind contracts for more , and a Eve return mission will be very expensive.
Taking the recovery value into account a Spacplane is very attractive, but it have to survive spawning on the launch pad  

[Superfluous J]

8 hours ago, zanie420 said:

just saying upfront that I totally plan to copy your initial 3 missions, as I see no better way to do it. Highly impressive. I would like to clarify that you feel the best strategy, would be to get to Duna/Ike before Mun/Minmus? I would love to give this a try, and have shown my willingness to completely ignore Kerbin's moons previously LOL. Also, I am eager to see your videos. I am thinking of doing some recording myself. Nobody seems to want the huge imgur albums

Oh no I didn't go to Duna first. I was just saying that was POSSIBLE. It was @jonny who actually did it.

[zanie420]

On 7/12/2017 at 1:51 PM, jonny said:

As far as my own space program goes: I am testing and tuning for a Jool 5 mission with tight budget. I don't like to grind contracts for more , and a Eve return mission will be very expensive.
Taking the recovery value into account a Spacplane is very attractive, but it have to survive spawning on the launch pad  

Yes, grinding tourists contracts is tedious. I believe this exploit of turning ore to monoprop on the launchpad/runway is still a viable way to make funds quickly. Of course you need funds to build the rig in the first place  It's not cheating it they developed it that way...... right? Besides, an Eve ship is ridiculously expensive.

The learning curve with spaceplane piloting was a steep one for me, but in the long run soooooooo rewarding. Coming back to Kerbin with some fuel/ore left, is even better. Kraken be praised.

I am going to go through everything I can find from your current run, and figure out if I want to take another stab at Munless Night combined with Caveman Evolved, perhaps on moderate with no reverts/respawning starting this morning. But that means attempting to get to Duna, at the first window, without conics or maneuvers..... all with a level 1 pilot. I am unsure this is within my capability. I need to see how someone better skilled than I has accomplished it.

[Jetski]

My Duna mission without patched conics was cost about 1100 dV extra just in futzing around to get an intercept.  Bring extra fuel or do maths

 

[zanie420]

On 7/14/2017 at 8:44 AM, Jetski said:

My Duna mission without patched conics was cost about 1100 dV extra just in futzing around to get an intercept.  Bring extra fuel or do maths

 

Where can I see this? All your albums are missing

[IncongruousGoat]

More progress! This time, we visit Gilly, in a much less ambitious, much less elegantly designed mission. Because patience and efficiency can go to the birds-I have funds coming out of ears.

No spoiler/highlights this time-the mission was as boring as can be.

Mission album (re-linked here) has been updated with screenshots.

[Jetski]

On 7/15/2017 at 0:28 PM, zanie420 said:

Where can I see this? All your albums are missing

Yikes.  forum code for imgur albums is royally borked.  I was able to retrieve my first album by wading through the HTML of the forum page and searching for the imgur HTML tag, but it's so time-consuming I can't do it for all those albums.  They worked when I posted them, but even now I cant get them to show right.  I may go for a run at this on Hard

 

[Superfluous J]

After quite some time I finally got an episode up. I'm going to Moho and back if it kills me. Which it almost did. See the exploits of "Moho 3" (all documentation about Mohos 1 and 2 were destroyed in the great fire of year 104) below

Spoiler

 

 

[Tattiebogle]

After many disasters and wrong doings on my part, I have landed 2 Kerbals on Dres. Left some fuel in Dres orbit for the return trip only to realise I had taken the docking port off of the lander while redesigning it. This, unfortunately, would cost the lives of the pilot and scientist during Kerbin reentry.

http://imgur.com/a/GTAld

For landing on Dres I choose to upgrade R&D

I noticed I had 2 extra planets in the solar system so uninstalled ModularFlightIntegrator. This caused my solar panels to stop working.Reinstalled the mod. I'll just ignore them.

Sometimes after making a manoeuvre node, the game points me in the wrong direction. Very annoying!

[Human Person]

5 hours ago, 5thHorseman said:

I timed my final periapsis with the ejection I planned with the satellite.

That's a clever solution!

@Tattiebogle Ahh, the moar boosters approach.

 

I have to set this challenge aside for a bit. Exams are coming and doing a Jool-5 in the meantime might not be good for my grades. after Exams, I'll go on Holidays so it will take a while before I pick this challenge up again. 

 

I'm I'm thinking about restarting it entirely on hard settings, with the additional restriction of not using a science lab. As @5thHorseman said, science labs feel cheaty and yes, I literally unlocked the entire Techtree with 3 or 4 Minmus biomes.

[Tattiebogle]

1 hour ago, Physics Student said:

 

@Tattiebogle Ahh, the moar boosters approach.

 

 

 

 

Apparently not enough though!

Edited July 19, 2017 by Tattiebogle

[Superfluous J]

5 hours ago, Tattiebogle said:

For landing on Dres I choose to upgrade R&D

Well done! As in, those astronauts were well done by the time they died.

5 hours ago, Tattiebogle said:

Sometimes after making a manoeuvre node, the game points me in the wrong direction. Very annoying!

Yes that's happened to me several times, and is why Moho 3 wasn't Moho 2.

5 hours ago, Physics Student said:

I have to set this challenge aside for a bit. Exams are coming and doing a Jool-5 in the meantime might not be good for my grades

I can understand that. I am putting the final touches on my not-jool-5 mission, because there's no reason to come home I just sent lander probes. With amusing results when... well I'll wait until I post it.