The KSP Caveman Challenge 1.3.x - 1.10.x [re-booted]

[Rakaydos]

26 minutes ago, Muetdhiver said:

Yes. There is one on each body, so that means quite a few rolls. One might get lucky

Caveman II Monolith Hunter. Badges for each green monolith.

[JAFO]

11 hours ago, Rakaydos said:

I keep threatening to make a caveman Eve rover, using 25 launches of a 12-antenna unit (the caveman relay antenna) to make a transmitter that can reach another 25-launch receiver sent to eve orbit, when the planets are mostly aligned.

A pair of 300-dish comms sats? Yeah, that ought to do pretty well. It would probably set new heights in masochistic grind, too...

5 hours ago, Rakaydos said:

Caveman II Monolith Hunter. Badges for each green monolith.

How come I don't see any 'like' button anymore? I think this is an excellent idea.

[Jacke]

40 minutes ago, JAFO said:

A pair of 300-dish comms sats? Yeah, that ought to do pretty well. It would probably set new heights in masochistic grind, too...

Compared to searching for Green Monoliths with only the first 5 tech levels max....

 

40 minutes ago, JAFO said:

How come I don't see any 'like' button anymore? I think this is an excellent idea.

Disabled except for moderators and staff (and they're not really using them either) until further notice.

 

[Mr. Peabody]

6 hours ago, Rakaydos said:

Caveman II Monolith Hunter. Badges for each green monolith.

There's an idea...

 

[Muetdhiver]

Well, I will for sure include delicious Greenoliths in my NCD run now

This is getting better by the hour ^^

Now, to locate the darn things...

[Rakaydos]

4 hours ago, Muetdhiver said:

Well, I will for sure include delicious Greenoliths in my NCD run now

This is getting better by the hour ^^

Now, to locate the darn things...

I've never been able to get a clear view of how Kerbnet's "Anomaly detection" works. There's a caveman part that has a "5%" chance of anomaly detection, but is that per update, per orbit, per frame? Do you have to stay focused on the part while it runs? does it detect anywhere in the field of view, or only directly below?

[dvader]

1 hour ago, Rakaydos said:

I've never been able to get a clear view of how Kerbnet's "Anomaly detection" works. There's a caveman part that has a "5%" chance of anomaly detection, but is that per update, per orbit, per frame? Do you have to stay focused on the part while it runs? does it detect anywhere in the field of view, or only directly below?

I believe it updates every 6h (from memory) and you have a 5% chance per anomaly per update. Detected anomalies also disappear during the next update if they are not detected again. So, yes, you have to watch carefully all the time.

It sounds like a fun challenge. It will get progressively harder and harder. Just imagine finding the Greenolith on Eve with Caveman tech... Maybe it isn't that hard though, no one said it has to be a return mission...

I think I might give it a go. If anyone is interested, we could open a separate thread.

[Muetdhiver]

Part A of the Duna mission of my NCD run is up. Assembly was easy as pie, but the math for the transfer was a bit harder. There are a slew of ladder rides coming up after that, two of whom are done on top of pad-assembled contraptions.

Also, I have been thinking about Eve at Caveman tech, and... with Breaking Ground we have rotors and Heli blades, so a Roton type rocket might be in the realm of the possible. (I made some prototypes, and they are hell to fly in any direction other than upward).

It would solve several problems : 1) abysmall performance from caveman available engines on EVE. If we can get to 10km, this would already help a lot. 2) reducing the return craft mass by a lot, allowing to building it from fewer parts (less Kraken).

If we can get up to say 20km with rotors, DV could become managable (??). Still, this would be completely nuts.

 

Edited September 20, 2019 by Muetdhiver

[Muetdhiver]

Reports for mission #21 and #22 are up !

Ladder rides to Mun and Minmus polar orbits. Lots of good science done, all biomes Low Orbit EVA's collected. A nice way to get hands on experience with ladder rides during transfers and mimimizing RCS usage.

Enough science to unlock aviation and general construction aka on-pad assembly !

Missions #23 and #24 are the ladder rides to Mun and Minmus surface to pick up sandstone and munstone ! Hopefully that will allow to unlock an other T5 node. I am very tempted by picking up electrics to go greenolith hunting.

[Jacke]

I've already learned a bit about the challenges of flying Kerbals outside of a spacecraft ('cause Cavemen can't EVA except before launch), but that's just around Kerbin.  Taking that outside of Kerbin orbit and especially interplanetary is a tad more challenging.

After taking the Community Cavemen Jool-5 return spacecraft through maneuvers (6 posts) to align its pass of Kerbin and then into an elliptical orbit, I've seen how hard it is.  The big issue is timewarping, when the Kerbal will drift through the spacecraft and out.  Under some circumstances, as discussed early in the Community Caveman Jool-5, it's possible to do transfer orbits, then pick up the Kerbal afterwards.  And it appears that having the Kerbal hang onto a ladder won't work.

I'd like to hear more on having the Kerbal outside on a ladder for significant missions beyond Kerbin orbit, both drifting, under thrust, and timewarping.  Right now after doing a good chunk of that, I figure any distance and timewarping is going to be at and maybe beyond my limits.  I can always have the Kerbal(s) stay in the spacecraft, which means no EVA reports.  But that may be what I have to do.

Edited December 16, 2019 by Jacke

[Jacke]

Another issue I noted from the Community Cavemen Jool-5.

Is there something in Caveman games that blocks Resource Transfer in flight?  I tried to do that during my recent flight and it wouldn't happen.

If it is possible in Caveman games, how is it done now with the current UI?  Tried right-clicking on the parts with the [Mod] key pressed (Alt in Windows) and couldn't figure it out.

Edited December 17, 2019 by Jacke

[Muetdhiver]

Yes, you need to have the R&D upgraded to level2, which you can't do in Caveman.

I found that out the hard way XD

[Jacke]

So, I should get my screenshot galleries for my parts of the Community Caveman Jool 5 mission up soon.

But while I was digging around the forums tonight, I discovered a challenge @5thHorseman created back in 2018.  And I got to thinking....

How tough a Caveman career is possible while also fulfilling the requirements of....

If regular Caveman games verge on madness, Caveman with No Contract Career must be like being kicked down a Spartan financial well, wondering how to get out.

Accept no contracts.  No gameplay mods.  No upgrade of KSP facilities.  Difficulty Levels as for Caveman Challenge (see Caveman 1st post).  Victory conditions as for Caveman Challenge: unlock all tech tree nodes possible with a Level 1 R&D facility (up to Tier 5 inclusive).

Other conditions, including possible added starting seed funds, TBD.

Is a Nanocrystaline Diamond career possible?  Could it be done with a sufficiently large added starting seed of funds?  And how big does that seed have to be?

And what Difficulty Level of Caveman game is possible without any added starting funds?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Enough interest and I'll start a Challenge topic for...the Community Caveman No Contract Career (CCNCC) and flesh out the details.

Edited January 28, 2020 by Jacke

[Muetdhiver]

No contract nanocrystaline diamond caveman. Shudders.

I mean regular difficulty caveman with no contract is probably doable. Diamond ? Seems it would be an exercise in grindy nuttery. Mabye it could be called the Granolla challenge XD.

Though it makes for a nice reason to get into caveman tech re-usable lauchers

Edited January 28, 2020 by Muetdhiver

[JAFO]

1 hour ago, Muetdhiver said:

Though it makes for a nice reason to get into caveman tech re-usable lauchers

Heh.. as if the payload limits weren't tight enough as it is!

[Muetdhiver]

Lol yeah indeed. I tried a caveman ssto, but no payload as the 30 part limit did not allow it

One could go the extra mile on fruitcake road with a pad assembled caveman reusable rocket. 

 

[IncongruousGoat]

9 hours ago, Jacke said:

Is a Nanocrystaline Diamond career possible?  Could it be done with a sufficiently large added starting seed of funds?  And how big does that seed have to be?

And what Difficulty Level of Caveman game is possible without any added starting funds?

Anything up to Hard shouldn't be too difficult to do as a no-contract career. It's already known that Moderate can be done with only 3 launches, which probably doesn't require any income, much less contracts. Hard isn't that much harder than Moderate in terms of science, and the auto-reward exploration "contract" things are so generous in normal careers that it should be well within the realm of possibility. Assuming no launches are lost to failures, of course.

As for the higher difficulties, I think I need to do some math and planning before I come back with an answer on how big the starting seed needs to be.

[Jacke]

9 hours ago, IncongruousGoat said:

It's already known that Moderate can be done with only 3 launches, which probably doesn't require any income, much less contracts.

Never thought of that.  I've played the start of a NCD career with 10% Science rewards.  Getting 9x that....  Yeah, I'd say it could be done in a few launches.  But 3...hmmm.

Anyhoo, will be interested to see what you figure out about the top 3 Difficulty levels.

[QF9E]

Is this challenge still alive?

I completed a Normal difficulty Caveman challenge with no contracts. My strategy was to gather all of Kerbin's surface (Splashed and Landed) science, as well as the Flying Low science. I completed the challenge without going more than 9000 meters above Kerbin's surface.

Mission report here:

 

Edited May 22, 2020 by QF9E

[ManEatingApe]

46 minutes ago, QF9E said:

I completed a Normal difficulty Caveman challenge with no contracts. My strategy was to gather all of Kerbin's surface (Splashed and Landed) science, as well as the Flying Low science. I completed the challenge without going more than 9000 meters above Kerbin's surface.

That is some considerable dedication and ingenuity! I don't think anyone has completed this challenge without going to space before. Nice tactic for obtaining the "landed" science on the water.

Edited May 22, 2020 by ManEatingApe

[QF9E]

18 minutes ago, ManEatingApe said:

That is some considerable dedication and ingenuity! I don't think anyone has completed this challenge without going to space before. Nice tactic for obtaining the "landed" science on the water.

Thanks! Although I'm sure I've seen a non-space Caveman before, I just cannot find it anymore... Mine started as an attempt to visit every biome on Kerbin and collect all the science. On the way I realized that it would be possible to finish a Caveman playthrough with just the surface science, if it would be possible to get the splashed science for all biomes as well as the landed science on the water. I found some old threads on this forum with possible "splashed" locations, and some of them turned out to still be valid for KSP 1.8.1.

[Mr. Peabody]

2 hours ago, QF9E said:

Is this challenge still alive?

I completed a Normal difficulty Caveman challenge with no contracts. My strategy was to gather all of Kerbin's surface (Splashed and Landed) science, as well as the Flying Low science. I completed the challenge without going more than 9000 meters above Kerbin's surface.

Mission report here:

 

Caveman congratulations @QF9E! Brilliant work!

You have been added to the completion board and may claim your badge. 

[QF9E]

6 hours ago, Mr. Peabody said:

Caveman congratulations @QF9E! Brilliant work!

You have been added to the completion board and may claim your badge. 

Thank you! One minor point: could you please correct my name in the hall of fame by replacing the 6 with a 9? 

[fourfa]

Topping this up as I’ve been playing caveman style on a laptop while the beast PC with all the mods is in storage. Great way to make the most of minimal computing!

I see DLCs are discouraged but not prohibited - interesting as the Bobcat makes an outstanding lifter engine with excellent ISP both at sea level and mid altitude. Tons of thrust and could easily carry more than 18t, if you’re assembling drop tanks on it. 
 

Speaking of assembling, I’ve been wanting to try holding a large upper stage in the air with launch clamps, then driving an 18t first stage under it, then drop-bombing the upper stage to dock on top of the booster.  Anyone tried this? Every time I’ve tried assembling things with wheels onto things held by launch clamps, kraken forces and explosions have been the result; this might be a simple way around it.  And easier to incorporate regular decouplers above the docking ports than the wobbly side-mounted tanks that don’t decouple right

[ManEatingApe]

7 hours ago, fourfa said:

Speaking of assembling, I’ve been wanting to try holding a large upper stage in the air with launch clamps, then driving an 18t first stage under it, then drop-bombing the upper stage to dock on top of the booster.  Anyone tried this? Every time I’ve tried assembling things with wheels onto things held by launch clamps, kraken forces and explosions have been the result; this might be a simple way around it.  And easier to incorporate regular decouplers above the docking ports than the wobbly side-mounted tanks that don’t decouple right

I did some lawn assembly for a Kerballed Duna mission in an older version of KSP. It's possible but tricky, especially alignment of the docking ports.

Transporter:

Top part:

Easy does it:

Quicksaving often is essential as the Kraken frequently strikes...

The final (very very wobbly) contraption

 

Full albums here and here for the interested.

Edited October 20, 2020 by ManEatingApe