VAB Horizontal Landing Challenge

[Dfthu]

Instead of all of the VTOL landings on the VAB, lets try something a bit harder. Landing a plane conventionally on the VAB.

Here is how points will be calculated, (Mass of craft in tons x 20) - ((Number of engines plus landing gear) x 5)    Higher means better. Also mass should rounded down if its 0-.5 tons and up if .5-1 tons.

Bonus points for

• No reverse thrust / Air Brakes, Only brakes:  +50 points
• If you can take off again:  +25 points (Included screenshot of take off)
• If your craft can carry more than 500 kerbals:  +75 points
• If your craft is a SSTO  +50 points

Rules

1. No parachutes, Rockets to slow you down. You can only use brakes, reverse thrust, and Air Brakes
2. No VTOL of any kind
3. Can't lose any parts
4. No wing spamming
5. No Alt-F12 or any sort of cheating
6. Engines must face forwards
7. Mods are ok but they somehow give you a unfair advantage then you can't use them
8. Indestructible buildings can be used for heavy planes but don't use them to stop. For example slamming your plane into a wall to stop

Submissions, Videos are preferred but if you use screenshots please include, Picture of your craft in the hanger with weight, Picture of final approach, Picture of you plane landed on the top of VAB, and a picture of the F-3 menu.

Leaderboard        

•  @AeroGav  - 780 points
•  @NightshineRecorralis  - 430 points (SSTO)
•  @hoioh    - 330 points
•  @Kuznetsov Space program  - 275 points
•  @NightshineRecorralis - 195 points (RJ)
•  @Dfthu   - 110 points     

 

Any lastly my attempt.

Spoiler

My craft in the hanger

On a shaky final approach

On landing I ended up spinning out but everything ended up fine

And lastly my F3 screenshot

My points would be (3 x 20) - ((3+2) x 5) = 35 points plus No reverse thrust and take off again, so my total would be 110 points. (I didn't have it in mind to take a picture of my take off)

 

 

Edited December 4, 2018 by Dfthu
Leaderboard

[Kuznetsov Space program]

I used my carrier based AEW plane. (2 wing connectors inside the nacelles = wing spamming?)        Take off:  Score: (14x20) - ((2+4))5 + 25 = 275.

[Dfthu]

1 hour ago, Kuznetsov Space program said:

Snip

Great job! Don't worry about the Wing connectors. I just made that rule so person doesn't add a insane amount of wings.

[roboslacker]

It's been a while since I've seen that bug.

[AeroGav]

Something i made about a year ago.   It's a bit unwieldy, 

https://kerbalx.com/AeroGav/stol

But then again, it does go to orbit.    Actually with over 2800dV to spare.

@Matt Lowne          challenge mode - can you land an ssto horizontally on the roof of the VAB,  then take off from that roof and land on Eeloo, without refuelling ?

 

[doggonemess]

500 Kerbals?! Good god, man. That's insanity!

 

I've gotta try this.

[Dfthu]

On ‎11‎/‎21‎/‎2018 at 9:07 AM, AeroGav said:

Something i made about a year ago.   It's a bit unwieldy, 

https://kerbalx.com/AeroGav/sto

Very good! I just had to give extra points for making it a SSTO. So it looks like you get 780 points!

Edited November 22, 2018 by Dfthu

[Klapaucius]

This is a great challenge, and it is really hard. I have destroyed a lot of aircraft today. I've managed to crash land with the fuselage still more or less intact, but no success yet getting a clean landing.  My own personal rule is I never use reaction wheels and I am trying with SAS off, so am making my life even more difficult. 

 

 

Edited November 27, 2018 by Klapaucius

[Rocket In My Pocket]

I'm with you @Klapaucius lol.

Lots of destroyed aircraft, and no success yet lol.

I think the problem is that I keep trying in the evening with a beer instead of in the morning with a coffee lol.  

[XLjedi]

I've declared this challenge is stupid...  Cuz I tried 2 planes, realized that I don't fly gud, and then went back to what I was doing 10 minutes earlier.

[Klapaucius]

15 minutes ago, Rocket In My Pocket said:

I'm with you @Klapaucius lol.

Lots of destroyed aircraft, and no success yet lol.

I think the problem is that I keep trying in the evening with a beer instead of in the morning with a coffee lol.  

I think the challenge in KSP in general is that you cannot finesse your control surfaces. Whatever you set them to, is all you get. It is either all or nothing.

 

9 minutes ago, XLjedi said:

I've declared this challenge is stupid...  Cuz I tried 2 planes, realized that I don't fly gud, and then went back to what I was doing 10 minutes earlier.

What were you doing 10 minutes earlier?  

[XLjedi]

7 minutes ago, Klapaucius said:

What were you doing 10 minutes earlier?  

secret important stuff...   of course...

[NightshineRecorralis]

https://youtu.be/DJiibhWRrgY

I will return with an SSTO, but right now this plane I made for the regional jet challenge worked great!

225-60+25 = 195pts if my math is correct  

[Klapaucius]

@NightshineRecorralis  Nice!   I'm glad you posted the failures as well.  I feel better :-)

 

What is the Physics Range Extender notification I kept seeing?

[NightshineRecorralis]

2 minutes ago, Klapaucius said:

@NightshineRecorralis  Nice!   I'm glad you posted the failures as well.  I feel better :-)

 

What is the Physics Range Extender notification I kept seeing?

Part of BD armory and a lifesaver for large crafts  it slows down the physics so that everything loads in smoothly and things don't explode. It sometimes freaks though and that's why sometimes the plane drops like a brick.

I hope you enjoyed the close pass I had right at the start  

Edited November 28, 2018 by NightshineRecorralis

[NightshineRecorralis]

@Klapaucius Does this count  

[NightshineRecorralis]

Depending on if you take the weight fueled or not, here's my SSTO:

Wet: 326-20+50+50+25 = 431pts

Dry: 142-20+50+50+25 = 247pts

Uncut bc I just realized I had HyperEdit installed so I wanted to make sure nobody thought I cheated

 

 

[Dfthu]

First of all @NightshineRecorralis, That first plane looks awesome. Really reminds me of a DHC-7. Also a impressive small SSTO you got! I'll add both of your scores now.

[Klapaucius]

@NightshineRecorralis  That was just awesome. I actually cheered when you touched down 

 

Who knew Bob was so strong?

 

 

[AeroGav]

Watching Bob push it back made me nervous,  I was like  "OK Bob, that's far enough, Val's in there!" ,  was expecting it to fall off the back at any minute.

[Klapaucius]

Okay, this is not really a valid entry, but after 50+ attempts in various aircraft, I had to have something to show for my efforts--I might edit together a failure compilation later on.

 

Technically, I did not lose the engines; I know where they went....  Everyone survived; the plane is on the helipad, and it is repairable.

 

 

 

Edited November 28, 2018 by Klapaucius

[hoioh]

9 minutes ago, Klapaucius said:

Technically, I did not lose the engines; I know where they went....  Everyone survived; the plane is on the helipad, and it is repairable.

That looks hylarious! Plane included 

[EvermoreAlpaca]

Certainly not the way to do this with the largest craft possible, but I did have fun getting this to work with a plane that wasn't optimized for low speed flight or landing.

https://youtu.be/Hzm6-u0YnKU?t=631

 

[Klapaucius]

2 hours ago, EvermoreAlpaca said:

Certainly not the way to do this with the largest craft possible, but I did have fun getting this to work with a plane that wasn't optimized for low speed flight or landing.

https://youtu.be/Hzm6-u0YnKU?t=631

 

Wow...just wow! 

[Klapaucius]

Not a graceful landing, but a successful one, with 20 Kerbals enjoying the fine weather.

 

If I did the math right:

just over 13,000 kg =1.3 tons x 20 = 260--or 200 if rounding (not sure why you have us rounding, as that is a fair amount of points lost)

+ 50 for no thrust reverse

+ 25 for 4 gear and 1 engine. 

I lost a flap taking off, so that nullifies any points there.

 

So either 275 with rounding or 335 without.

 I also did another with 40, but lost a part on landing. I attached it to the end of the video for fun.

 

Edited November 30, 2018 by Klapaucius