Newbie Central - Micro-challenges for new comers! - Closed

[Kerbalstar]

2 minutes ago, VelocityPolaris said:

What a magnificent feat of engineering! I'd add you to the ranking chart, but somehow I still can't edit that post.

Hmm... I don't know what's going on, but I summon @Vanamonde, @Snark, and @ManeTI! 

[VelocityPolaris]

1 minute ago, kerbalstar said:

Hmm... I don't know what's going on, but I summon @Vanamonde, @Snark, and @ManeTI! 

What should we do - light some candles, do some ritualistic chanting, maybe set out milk and cookies?

[Kerbalstar]

3 minutes ago, VelocityPolaris said:

What should we do - light some candles, do some ritualistic chanting, maybe set out milk and cookies?

Yup, and I hear @Vanamonde likes bananas.

[Vanamonde]

There have been some forum glitches in the last few days. ManeTI is working on it. 

[Kerbalstar]

1 hour ago, Vanamonde said:

There have been some forum glitches in the last few days. ManeTI is working on it. 

Wonderful(that ManeTI is working on it)!

[doggonemess]

On 5/27/2018 at 8:37 PM, VelocityPolaris said:

Rule 1: You should put a separate "reference object" on or next to the runway prior to takeoff, as a way of measuring roughly how far you've flown. This can be a Kerbal, a strut, a command pod, a rover, whatevs. Measure how far you fly.

Rule 3: Your source of propulsion must shut down 5 seconds or less after take-off, and no more engines may be activated in-flight. 

Is Rule 2 secret? Like Directive 4 in Robocop?

[rSSSfeed]

New to the forum! 

 

Glider with rolling launcher. I figured the easiest way to time the staging is when the vessel hits 100m/s

 

7.2 klicks measured relative to a flag planted at the start of the runway. Is that the right measurement method?

[VelocityPolaris]

5 hours ago, doggonemess said:

Is Rule 2 secret? Like Directive 4 in Robocop?

Well, rule 2 was sepratrons only, but I deleted that rule for unfairness. And now, among other issues, I can't go back and correct typos.

[Kerbalstar]

I did it! 10.5km approx.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   The kerbal had to bail out, but they survived, and I tried to not move under their 'chute. 

[VelocityPolaris]

4 hours ago, kerbalstar said:

I did it! 10.5km approx.
The kerbal had to bail out, but they survived, and I tried to not move under their 'chute. 

Congratulation!  I think this is the first time a glider was actually lost so far, but that's an issue for whoever's crazy enough to insure the space programme, not something for me to worry about.

[redacted due to cease and desist order from alpha 360]

Fun Fact: Insular Island is about 32 KM from the KSC.

Edited May 30, 2018 by VelocityPolaris

[4x4cheesecake]

The ranking let me feel the urge to redo the challenge over and over again to improve my results

[Kerbalstar]

16 minutes ago, VelocityPolaris said:

Congratulation!  I think this is the first time a glider was actually lost so far, but that's an issue for whoever's crazy enough to insure the space programme, not something for me to worry about.

Unfortunately, the challenge post is still uneditable, but I have been keeping track of the rankings.
So far, 1st place is currently held by @hoioh, range 30 km, 2nd place @Scarecrow, range 20.3 km, 3rd place @Lucast0909, range 15.2 km, your 10.5 km run currently holds 4th place, and @4x4cheesecake is last and also least in terms of distance, with a 10.1 km flight.

Fun Fact: Insular Island is about 32 KM from the KSC.

Nice fun fact, thanks!

Just now, 4x4cheesecake said:

The ranking let me feel the urge to redo the challenge over and over again to improve my results

Me too!

[VelocityPolaris]

1 hour ago, 4x4cheesecake said:

The ranking let me feel the urge to redo the challenge over and over again to improve my results

Well, I 'spose this challenge could be considered sort of like a car race. Y'know, if your time wasn't good enough in the first lap then you might go faster the next time around, and pass the competition. 

EDIT: In non-analogy form, the above two sentences mean that multiple tries of this challenge to improve your distance are completely allowed.

Edited May 30, 2018 by VelocityPolaris

[doggonemess]

I'm happy to report a silly amount of success. After doing the Juno challenge, I noticed that stacking lifting surfaces still maintains the lift of the part, even if the part is touching the surface above or below it. On top of that, I know that more mass = more inertia, and more mass (for this challenge) = bigger rockets at the start. So combining these along with much trial and error has yielded my result. Splash down at 70 KM! WOOHOO!

Behold the Kerglider BLT 2A!

(The 21 km object in the image above is my plane from the Juno challenge, landed at the island airfield.)

Final craft weight was 42 tons. Prelaunch, it weighed in at 65,313 kg. The boosters were two Vectors and provided about 1200 kn of thrust (when their power output was reduced appropriately). Almost all of the weight was lifting surfaces. The wings are five layers stacked up. To get this result, I used every inch of the runway, then pulled up to 45 degrees. After 5 seconds, I decoupled the boosters and landing gear and let the plane follow a ballistic arc up to about 2500 meters. At the apex, I leveled off and maintained a drop rate of about 1.5 m/s and kept the airspeed above 30 m/s. I did most of it at x4 speed. Right before landing, I flared the craft to lose the rest of the speed and splashed down with nothing breaking off. 

I'm going to upload my plane to KerbalX tomorrow sometime. Check out my various screenshots from planning and execution below.

Album https://imgur.com/a/Pc4jkAO will appear when post is submitted

[VelocityPolaris]

Ok, word of god (AKA @alpha360) is that challenge rankings are to cease and desist immediately. The whole idea of these challenges are things that anyone can do, not feats that require wizard-level skills for good self-esteem, so I kinda understand where he's coming from. Sorry. 

 

EDIT: Also, I feel the need to again remark upon how amazing these glider builds have been. Nice going, folks, and way to stick the water landings! 

Edited May 30, 2018 by VelocityPolaris

[SiriusRocketry]

Well, this IS tricky...

My first attempt resulted in kablooey when my rolling launcher tipped at 160 m/s... More science needed.

[SpacePanda]

I hope i completed all criteria of challenge

Edited May 30, 2018 by SpacePanda

[Elon Kerman Jr]

Hi sorry I didn't do the first like I said I would but here is my entry I hope it doesn't matter to much if I missed the required staging I don't know how to upload images

https://imgur.com/a/LQMKQZ4

Edited June 1, 2018 by Elon Kerman Jr
bhgh

[SpacePanda]

I also miss the first challenge because at that time i did not know about this topic,

But you can upload image here by going to https://imgur.com/ , get sign up, add images then copy the link here

Edited May 30, 2018 by SpacePanda

[Alpha 360]

1 hour ago, Elon Kerman Jr said:

Hi sorry I didn't do the first like I said I would but here is my entry I hope it doesn't matter to much if I missed the required staging I don't know how to upload images

Umm.... You might want to insert periods. Anyway, to upload photos go to imgur.com, and then click on the green button in the upper right corner. Click the new photo button, then drag your screenshots from the screenshot folder in your KSP folder from there to the grey box which came up. Tada! You will have uploaded your first photos, @Elon Kerman Jr. 

[rSSSfeed]

Are we looking at ground distance covered in the f3 menu? Because I don't really understand why it differed so much for mine between the distance to the flag and the ground distance covered.

Also, I thought we had 5 seconds of thrust total, which puts your max speed at ~100ms. 

[doggonemess]

4 hours ago, rSSSfeed said:

Are we looking at ground distance covered in the f3 menu? Because I don't really understand why it differed so much for mine between the distance to the flag and the ground distance covered.

Also, I thought we had 5 seconds of thrust total, which puts your max speed at ~100ms. 

That's what I thought at first, but then they made it clear in a reply that it's 5 seconds after leaving the ground. 

13 hours ago, VelocityPolaris said:

Ok, word of god (AKA @alpha360) is that challenge rankings are to cease and desist immediately. The whole idea of these challenges are things that anyone can do, not feats that require wizard-level skills for good self-esteem, so I kinda understand where he's coming from. Sorry. 

 

EDIT: Also, I feel the need to again remark upon how amazing these glider builds have been. Nice going, folks, and way to stick the water landings! 

We can still report statistics for bragging rights, though, right? 

[Kerbalstar]

I realized that I forgot to calculate the TWR for my glider. Don't give me a medal, because I'm a sub-author and forgot to calculate the T/W, I was just doing this for fun.

[VelocityPolaris]

16 minutes ago, doggonemess said:

That's what I thought at first, but then they made it clear in a reply that it's 5 seconds after leaving the ground. 

We can still report statistics for bragging rights, though, right? 

Uh, sure, I dunno, mate. I'm in emotional turmoil after season 2, episode 5 of The Expanse, so I'm in no state to make rational decisions.

[doggonemess]

2 hours ago, VelocityPolaris said:

Uh, sure, I dunno, mate. I'm in emotional turmoil after season 2, episode 5 of The Expanse, so I'm in no state to make rational decisions.

I know, right? That was a hugely huge moment in space opera history for sure.