Cancel those Contracts

RoninFrog · May 14, 2020

I decided to do a No Contracts Career. Here is the precise and meticulous record of everything that transpired. All the settings are default 'cause I just hit Start New and went for it.

Kerbin (funds earned 174287):

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Mun (funds earned 411835):

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Minmus (funds earned 543076):

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Edited May 16, 2020 by RoninFrog
Added more

xendelaar · May 15, 2020

Nice that you're also doing the no contract challenge! thanks for the interesting report. I like the way you designed your Mun lander! With the engine stuck onto the pod! very clever!

RoninFrog · May 16, 2020

Duna and Ike (current funds 246408):

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When I got back from Minmus, the first thing I did was upgrade the R&D. That meant I didn't have enough to upgrade the VAB, so I have to get to Duna and back with 30 parts. It took a while (and a lot of science hemorrhaging), but I came up with this thing.

Jeb is back in the cockpit and SAS is working great.

Both ends of the rocket are on fire!

In orbit in one stage:

Deorbiting the booster!

Four airbrakes were just enough to slow down without exploding:

Nearly flattened a radar dish upon landing!

I got a calculated 25469 funds for recovering the booster, which is more than half the cost of the whole rocket!

Forgot to take a picture of the Duna transfer, but here is the aerobrake:

Uh oh. Lookin' like I aerobraked into an Ike troll.

And my thoughts were, "If Ike's gonna troll me, I'm gonna troll Ike!" I still had fuel left in the transfer stage, so Bam! I landed. Sort of. The transfer stage didn't have landing legs, so it was tricky. Got a surface sample though! 240 science, yay!

I managed to get above horizontal through an intricate use of the airbrakes and nearly blew my flag away upon takeoff.

Ike orbit, doing the "get in, get out, get back in, get back out, get back in again" ritual science dance. I never found the Highlands.

Back on track for the Duna landing, only 60 m/s less than scheduled!

I like landing on atmospheric planets. It's essentially just deploying the airbrakes and then watching the show, except for a little squirt of fuel at the end.

I didn't have the part budget for any solar panels or batteries, so I'm gonna have to get back on 48 electric charge. Gonna be sketchy.

Flames on ascent from Duna??? Whoever heard of such a thing!

Duna orbit with more than enough to get home!

While I'm waiting for a transfer window, I want to get some funds. I think Eeloo should give some good returns.

Eeloo (current funds 246408):

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I decided to stop and have a think about my life choices, and then I realized that I think I'm supposed to return to Kerbin from the surface of Eeloo. This means that I have to bring my lander back. My previous lander was not going to work, so I loaded a quicksave and redid everything. Here is the new and improved rocket:

It's quite large for this stage in the game. I had to max out the launchpad and upgrade the VAB to level 2 to launch it.

In orbit with a lot of extra dV. Probably could've dropped that little tank on the bottom.

Gonna have to land the booster during the night. I hate that.

It's gettin' a little spicy out here!

I had no idea where I landed as I couldn't see a thing. But according to the report I nailed a landing right on the runway!

Here's the next rocket, the transfer stage.

There's a beautiful shot there of the rocket on the way up! Early morning, full Mun, faint mountains in the background.

Rendezvoused with the Ahab.

Docked! There are two transfer stages since I can't do it Apollo style. The Pequod transfer stage will burn first, and then the Captain Ahab will have enough dV to take Valentina the rest of the way and back. Hopefully.

Had a lot of trouble deorbiting the booster because it had less than 200 m/s of dV. I was coming in short so I couldn't deploy the brakes until the last moment, nearly ripping them off.

Landed further away than I would've liked, but it worked out okay.

Here is the last Eeloo launch going up. It is just a simple docking probe to get that "Dock in orbit of" money.

In orbit:

Deorbiting another booster. Boosters are such a pain to recover!

Absolutely nailed the landing right next to the pad!

Not 100% for right next to the pad? Come on!

Oooh! The actual burn itself! Here is the Pequod giving the Captain a little boost:

And then the Captain Ahab completes the transfer itself. It was difficult to undock, turn around, and switch engines in the middle of a burn.

A 180 m/s burn was required to get a good intercept. That means the Captain Ahab lander will be about 80 m/s less than scheduled in orbit, but I can grab some more fuel on the way back when I dock with the Coffin. The Coffin is the docking probe.

Speaking of the Coffin, there it goes, off to Eeloo! It is almost identical to the Pequod except it has a probe core and reaction wheel.

The adjustment burn is smaller than the Captain's, primarily because the Coffin has a much higher TWR and can execute more precise burns. I won't have connection out in the interstellar, so I have to aim at the maneuver while near Kerbin.

I actually kept having trouble with Jool messing up my trajectory, since the transfer window for Jool is open also. It's tempting to send a few probes out there, but I have other plans for Jool.

Edited May 20, 2020 by RoninFrog

RoninFrog · May 22, 2020

Finishing off Kerbin's SOI:

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Return from Duna:

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Back on track for Eeloo:

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The Captain Ahab's maneuver node was first. It went well. Got a nice equitorial Pe around 30km.

The Coffin, well, it left a lot to be desired. I had limited probe control without connection to Kerbin, so no control over throttle, steering, or thrust limiting. That meant great difficulties for a precise, 0.7 second burn. The resulting Pe was gigantic, but at least it was fairly equatorial. I can work with that since HECS can hold retrograde.

I don't really like this method of meticulously going through all of the planets one by one. It's really quite boring. I'm gonna wait for the Ahab to come home with a fat wad of funds, and then it might be time to do something out of the box.

The White Whale has been sighted! Ready the harpoons! Arr!

Coming in for a suicide burn:

The Captain Ahab has landed, and the harpoon, I mean flag, has been planted! Take that, ye big white wale!

Sacred bovine! That is a LOT of science!

I want more of that good stuff!

Back in orbit again, waiting for the Coffin to bring me some fuel:

The Coffin missed Eeloo for some reason. When it got to the encounter, the encounter disappeared. So I loaded a quicksave, went back, and 'fine tuned' the intercept using only stability/prograde/retrograde hold, X, and Z. It turned out okay.

Captured into an elliptical orbit with a decent amount of fuel left:

The Coffin has docked to the Captain Ahab. Time to bring Valentina home.

I could've timewarped to a transfer window, but Eeloo's large, inclined orbit means doing so takes forever. So I just went for it, and completely botched the timing. Let's hope I don't end up on Duna.

One orbit and 40 m/s later, I got a trajectory like this. A free Mun flyby, too!

I actually chickened out and raised my Pe to about 40km, just to be safe. The effects were surprisingly calm for the carnage that ensued. I mean, good grief! This is even faster than an Eve reentry! The rest of the lander had disintegrated well before 50km. It's a good thing I packed a heat shield.

The pod briefly went back up to space before reentering again:

The second reentry was much less chaotic.

You will not land near the KSC today.

That is a lot of funds for having spent about 45k.

Bad news. I didn't even know there was a thing about transfering crew between ships. Oh great. Gonna have to do something drastic to save this career, if it's even possible.

Edited May 23, 2020 by RoninFrog

RoninFrog · May 28, 2020

There's been a long stretch of failed Eve lander testing recently, as is usual in career mode. Eventually, I just scrapped the whole Eve plan when I realized I would get less funds than Gilly. So to Gilly Jeb will go!

Gilly:

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First launch! Very cheap orbital rocket with a docking port. Valentina is flying. Jeb wanted to fly it, but then he saw the second rocket...

Orbit! Forgot to empty the Monoprop and nearly didn't make it!

And here is Jeb's rocket, the Big Fat Mama! 89 kilofunds and 3.75m diameter, by far the biggest launch yet in this career! Why launch the pieces separately when there's MOAR BOOSTERS!!!

I just love the Mammoth. Hey... I just had a brilliant idea... Maybe later.

Jeb was sorely tempted to just abandon Valentina in Kerbin orbit and head off to Gilly without her. But he thought better of it and picked her up. The Mama launch stage had a lot of left over fuel, so I refilled the Sidekick.

Heyyyy... That one engine is technically "on the runway."

Money money money!

One of the most satisfying things in KSP is going to the tracking station and already having a perfect launch window. :wub: It makes me so happy. The other most satisfying thing is docking for the first time.

Burning for Eve! That is waaaaaaay too much dV. Maybe I'll visit the Mun on the way back or something.

Relax. It's just rocket science.

Destination reached! Lots of docking, undocking, and transferring crew was involved along the way to scrape all possible funds out of exploration.

2 km/s dV over budget? Too many boosters!

The Big Fat Mama descends. Slowly. Veeeery slowly.

It took forever to get down there!

After planting the flag, Valentina headed out for the Midlands to grab some rocks...

...while Jeb hopped over to the Lowlands.

After getting to orbit, Jeb decided to pull some unorthodox rendezvous procedures.

Docked! Time to go home, now.

The Mama pushed the Sidekick to Gilly escape velocity, and then jettisoned it. This picture is kind of like a seek-and-find.

And then they docked back together in Eve orbit to get those Eve rendezvous funds.

The process was repeated after the burn for Kerbin. This whole rendezvous dance ate through the dV a lot faster than anticipated.

Docked in orbit of Kerbol:

Valentina then climbed into the lander can and the Sidekick was sacrificed to the Kraken. The final Kerbin approach looked like this. Note the dV remaining. 2 km/s over the dV budget wasn't quite 2 km/s over the dV budget!

Jeb: "Why are the walls glowing red?"
Mission Control: "No clue. Don't touch them."

That heat shield doesn't quite cover the lander. For a second there I thought it wasn't gonna make it.

But everything turned out fine and everyone lived happily ever after.

I have big plans for the next launch. :wink:

Edited May 29, 2020 by RoninFrog

RoninFrog · May 30, 2020

All this meticulous designing and booster recovery was getting a bit tedious. Something had to be done. So I let Jeb design a rocket or two. Oh, @HansonKerman, this might interest you.

Sarumans' Leg 1: Munar refill

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Here is what Jeb came up with. He named it the HMS Saruman. It is basically a mini Sauron. I'm gonna launch two of these things.

This rocket is way, way too expensive for a No Contracts Career, but it is 100% recoverable. Even the fuel.

Jeb's only complaint so far is that the view from the Sauron's cupola gave a much better view of the flames than being locked in a lander can in a storage bay.

Once Jeb got his Saruman to orbit, it was time for Valentina to launch. She bet Jeb 5000 funds that she could pull off a better ascent profile. It was time to pull off some unconventional maneuvers.

Hmm. Valentina, aren't you supposed to stay below 200 m/s under 10km? At this point in the ascent, things weren't looking good.

Say, Val, aren't you going a little fast for being under 30km? At this point in the ascent, things really weren't looking good.

Miraculously, nothing exploded. Here's Jeb's dV:

And here's Val's. Oof! Jeb just lost 5000 funds!

The Sarumans both set out for the Mun soon after getting to orbit.

Jeb burned into a low orbit, and Valentina burned into a highly elliptical orbit to do a plane change.

Pretty decent ore. It's uncomfortable not having a Narrow Band to be able to nail down a landing site. Those Narrow Bands take a lot of science! Gonna shoot for a landing a little to the left of that little orange thingy.

Jeb was in an equatorial orbit, so he didn't have to wait to land. Sacred bovine! Look at that ore! That was definitely the right spot to pick.

Gonna try to land Val as close to Jeb's Saruman as I can.

Nearly flattened Jeb on the way down!

Flag time! This is Val's first time on the Mun.

Refueling took forever. Without an engineer, it took 25 times as long. Jeb took off first.

Valentina took off using only two engines, and somehow managed to get a higher Ap and higher ascent speed than Jeb, while using less dV. Jeb now owes Val another 5000 funds.

The only Mun funds remaining are for transferring crew. Gotta rendezvous the two Sarumans!

Docking two massive ships with no RCS and a dwindling electricity supply is "fun"! Kind of like how repeatedly whacking your head on the sidewalk while singing the Baby Shark song is "fun"!

After about half an hour, those docking ports finally stuck together, and I got the "Transfer Crew" funds.

..and then I realized I could've just used EVA. Oh well. It was good practice. Where to next? I'm thinking Moho. Or maybe do a Jool 5.

HansonKerman · May 30, 2020

On 5/30/2020 at 2:33 AM, RoninFrog said:

All this meticulous designing and booster recovery was getting a bit tedious. Something had to be done. So I let Jeb design a rocket or two. Oh, @HansonKerman, this might interest you.

Sarumans' Leg 1: Munar refill

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Here is what Jeb came up with. He named it the HMS Saruman. It is basically a mini Sauron. I'm gonna launch two of these things.

This rocket is way, way too expensive for a No Contracts Career, but it is 100% recoverable. Even the fuel.

Jeb's only complaint so far is that the view from the Sauron's cupola gave a much better view of the flames than being locked in a lander can in a storage bay.

Once Jeb got his Saruman to orbit, it was time for Valentina to launch. She bet Jeb 5000 funds that she could pull off a better ascent profile. It was time to pull off some unconventional maneuvers.

Hmm. Valentina, aren't you supposed to stay below 200 m/s under 10km? At this point in the ascent, things weren't looking good.

Say, Val, aren't you going a little fast for being under 30km? At this point in the ascent, things really weren't looking good.

Miraculously, nothing exploded. Here's Jeb's dV:

And here's Val's. Oof! Jeb just lost 5000 funds!

The Sarumans both set out for the Mun soon after getting to orbit.

Jeb burned into a low orbit, and Valentina burned into a highly elliptical orbit to do a plane change.

Pretty decent ore. It's uncomfortable not having a Narrow Band to be able to nail down a landing site. Those Narrow Bands take a lot of science! Gonna shoot for a landing a little to the left of that little orange thingy.

Jeb was in an equatorial orbit, so he didn't have to wait to land. Sacred bovine! Look at that ore! That was definitely the right spot to pick.

Gonna try to land Val as close to Jeb's Saruman as I can.

Nearly flattened Jeb on the way down!

Flag time! This is Val's first time on the Mun.

Refueling took forever. Without an engineer, it took 25 times as long. Jeb took off first.

Valentina took off using only two engines, and somehow managed to get a higher Ap and higher ascent speed than Jeb, while using less dV. Jeb now owes Val another 5000 funds.

The only Mun funds remaining are for transferring crew. Gotta rendezvous the two Sarumans!

Docking two massive ships with no RCS and a dwindling electricity supply is "fun"! Kind of like how repeatedly whacking your head on the sidewalk while singing the Baby Shark song is "fun"!

After about half an hour, those docking ports finally stuck together, and I got the "Transfer Crew" funds.

..and then I realized I could've just used EVA. Oh well. It was good practice. Where to next? I'm thinking Moho. Or maybe do a Jool 5.

Expand

Wait what the frick is this lmao. THE FROG POSTED A REPORT AND I DIDNT KNOW? In all seriousness, I already read a No Contracts Career thing, and it was RSS with stock parts, so I’m no longer inclined to read this type of stuff. But if the frog calls, the Kerbal reads. Good job! Might stick around for the next one if that’s the kinda shenanigans you’re gonna pull. I wonder about the actual (Kerbal) viability of making a fully recoverable rocket SSTA.

and now what about the real world applications?

Edited May 30, 2020 by HansonKerman

RoninFrog · May 31, 2020

Sarumans' Leg 2: Pol

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A Jool transfer window had just passed, but it was still close enough to be worth using. Gonna be a loooong trip out there.

Relax! It's only rocket science! Gonna do a Tylo gravity assist, and then two, um, Apoapsis kicks (?) to get a Pol encounter.

Hello Tylo! Low flybys are always exciting.

After zipping by Tylo, the Sarumans undocked and Jeb rammed his face into one to get them to drift apart.

Docking didn't take quite as long as last time, fortunately.

Pol is first on the Jool 5 checklist.

Ouch! 60% cutoff is the max here! Fortunately, the best ore can be found in the flat areas.

Going for an equatorial landing spot. Val is going to land first.

Oof! Val may be a master at ascent profiles, but she isn't the best at finding good ore!

Landed Jeb's Saruman to the south and had slightly better luck, although it's still not great. It's pretty level, though. Hard to find that on Pol.

So Val popped on over to Jeb's spot and the two Sarumans met up again.

Flag!

Had a lot of excitement on the way up! Nailed an intercept strait from the takeoff burn.

Got to the intercept, started the docking procedures, and then realized I had forgotten to circularize about 3km above the terrain. After a brief moment of panic trying to get SAS to focus on the maneuver node, I deleted the maneuver node, turned of SAS, and manually wrestled the crafts into a low orbit. Valentina got within 1000m of the rocky shards on the surface.

...then Valentina's Saruman ran out of batteries.

...and then Jeb couldn't figure out which way was up and kept tumbling wildly.

...and then missed the intercept.

...and then, well, you get the point. It was a complete pain to get the Sarumans docked.

The HMS Sauron's Jool 5 flight plan was successful, so following the same route, the next stop will be Tylo.

Edited June 1, 2020 by RoninFrog

RoninFrog · June 1, 2020

Sarumans' Leg 3: Tylo

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No timewarp was required for the transfer burn as Tylo was already in its transfer window!

Circularizing that orbit!

Hmm. Good ol' Tylo always seems to have good ore, but this time there is only one spot above 80% cutoff. Gonna shoot for that northern purple spot.

Night landing on Tylo is going to be exciting! It always helps to have an excellent TWR. Valentina is landing first.

Maybe I was wrong about Valentina's ore hunting skills!!! I have never seen ore above 15% on normal settings. I didn't even know it was possible! Wow! Tylo hasn't failed me!

Jeb, a little envious of Valentina's lucky find, decided to pull some stunts on landing when I decelerated too much while holding :retrograde: . He did a backflip at 200m, turned off SAS, punched the throttle at the very last moment, hit the ground at a 40 m/s skid, and slid about 150m towards Val's Saruman. There was no way he should've survived that. I didn't even know Mammoths could take that kind of a beating!

His facial expression is a mix of a cocky smile and a grimace after looking at the ore percentage. The ore is almost ten times better less than a kilometer to the south!

Gotta lob myself over towards Val's Saruman! Jeb, that doesn't look right...

Mammoths can take a serious impact! It says 20m/s, max but it survived 50. The HMS Saruman seems to be full of krakens, both good and bad. Strangely high impact tolerance, but the control point is constantly messed up. Jeb's Saruman seems to never run out of batteries, but Val's constantly uses 11 units per second even with everything off.