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Kerpollo with 30 parts


Majk

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This is my take on the Kerpollo challenge in an attempt to finally visit all bodies in the Kerbol system.

A quick calculation suggests that I can have the whole science tree unlocked before Joolollo and Evepollo (maybe missing a couple nodes, but nothing unsolvable by Surface samples, EVA and Crew reports in the Joolian system, meaning I don't need to bring any science experiments on the later missions. I originally intended to do this in a career mode (without any contracts) instead of science, but trying to figure out how to do the Minmus mission with two command pods (there was no Mk2 pod yet, and I wanted to have both scientist and pilot present), all available science experiments, only 30 parts and limited funds seemed rather hard. It gave me another idea - let's just limit myself to 30 parts on each mission. Given that I'm fairly new to KSP, it felt at times like I've bitten more than I can chew. 

My settings are mostly hard difficulty with Science set to 100%, reentry heating to 120% and Kerbal G-force limits on. The challenge forbids using probe cores, and I interpret this as forbidding command chair builds. This means that the missions will not be very low mass.

I expected the part count limit to be a serious issue in the earlier missions due to the lack of large fuel tanks, but I was mistaken. The early missions even had things like heat shields and landing legs, which were simply too expensive in the later ones.

Kerpollo

After getting just enough science from the launchpad to unlock the first tier of tech tree, let's build an orbiter.

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Minmuspollo

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Munpollo

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Drespollo

Avoiding the docking port any longer is too costly, let's bite the bullet and accept the extra complexity in lander-orbiter design. I picked the closest single world target - Dres.

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Dunpollo

Thanks to successful Dres mission, we now have a seismometer and variometer. These two experiments were one of the reasons I went to Dres first, as the atmospheric scan is quite juicy in terms of science.

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Eelpollo

With all science experiments unlocked, it's time to go to Eeloo to collect another huge chunk of data.

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Mohpollo

Moho was the only time this felt a bit grindy. Not much needed to be changed from the Eeloo mission.

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Joolpollo

The part count limit meant that a single lander has to be reused on all bodies. As this was my first Jool 5, I didn't have a good feeling for how much delta-v is needed for orbital maneuvers, so I budgeted 6000 m/s for everything in Jool SOI. I expected the orbiter to stay at fairly eccentric orbits with the exception of Tylo, where the budget was just too tight. I budgeted meager 500 m/s to brake when coming back to Kerbin.

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Evepollo

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Edited by Majk
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  On 1/4/2021 at 8:50 PM, Majk said:

This posed a challenge -- the Mac shortcut for screenshot contains a shift key, which controls throttle. Jebediah was almost stranded in orbit because of this. For Dres I switched to Steam, and now the screenshot hotkey just toggled aeroforces display.

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If you hit F1 it takes a screenshot in \[your ksp dir]\screenshots\

Otherwise, yeah I know how that works. My record button (F10) used to cycle the heat display, so I'd randomly have it on or not depending on exactly when and how many times I'd started and stopped recording :D

  On 1/4/2021 at 8:50 PM, Majk said:

Boosters might not be the most weight efficient, but they certainly are parts-efficient at this stage.

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I'm enjoying so far seeing you make choices based on the number of parts and not the mass of the ship. Great examples of, as you so aptly put it *-efficiency. The word "efficiency" really doesn't mean anything on its own without a clarifier.

  On 1/4/2021 at 8:50 PM, Majk said:

how to encounter Ike?

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...a question I've never needed to ask. In my space programs, I don't encounter Ike. Ike encounters me.

So far so FANTASTIC. Great read and a great set of missions. Can't wait to see how you tackle Eve with 30 parts. I'm pretty sure my lifters off Kerbin for my Eve ships have more than 30 parts.

  On 1/4/2021 at 8:50 PM, Majk said:

Do you have a good way of getting a randevouz from low orbit to a highly eccentric one? I typically need hundreds of skipped orbits to get a reasonable separation.

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Basically put a maneuver right after periapsis and set it to burn up almost to the target's orbit. Ideally that will give you encounter markers that you can tweak to match up on the very next pass around. It's been several versions since I've done this and I don't know if it still works exactly that way (and some of my trips to Minmus make me question how they display information these days) but on paper it should work just fine.

 

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