[Stock] 30 sec Altitude Challenge!

[Mars90000000]

With newer versions of the game now available since the last installment of this challenge, larger fuel tanks and stronger engines, the 30 sec Altitude Challenge is back!

The rules are simple!

30 seconds, highest altitude,Stock parts only, no debug menu cheat.

Go as high as you can, and take a screenshot at exactly 30 seconds! Post the screenshot with the altitude showing! (if the screenshot is at any time longer than 30 seconds, it doesn't get counted, but no worries, launch it again! it's only 30 seconds!) (note: you're allowed less than 30 seconds but it's really just a disadvantage for you!)

Multiple entries are allowed.

Fire away!

If you prefer a version of the same challenge where everything is allowed (mods, plugins, cheats, bugs), head over to the [Free For All] 30 sec Altitude Challenge thread!

Highscore:

) Ninety-Three (44 017m)

) Ninety-Three (40 089m)

) Jason Patterson (30 623m)

Runner-ups

- robertordf (30 471m)

- metaphor (30 269)

- robertordf (30 163m)

- totalitor (29 269m)

- Ninety-Three (29 178m)

- totalitor (28 470m)

- metaphor (28 138m)

- Tachy0n (27 584m)

- Fry-kun (27 415m)

- Jason Patterson (27 343m)

- totalitor (27 264m)

- ninjaADude (25 994m)

- metaphor (25 976m)

- robertordf (25 959m)

- SmallChange (25 730m)

- totalitor (25 442m)

- Ninety-Three (24 302m)

- Climberfx (24 803m)

- Sli (23 936m)

- totalitor (23 875m)

- SmallChange (21 516m)

- Fry-kun (20 979m)

- Tachy0n (19 411m)

- SmallChange (19 284m)

- BikeKayakSki (18 529m)

- Tachy0n (17 157m)

- SketchyGalore (15 634m)

- THE WHlTE GUY (15 394m)

- Climberfx (14 751m)

- mr_yogurt (14 584m)

- mr_yogurt (14 469m)

- Ninety-Three (14 337m)

- BobTheRocketeer (14 165m)

- clapanse (13 895m)

- TurkeyXIII (13 610m)

- rabidrabbit (13 182m)

- Dr. Muttonstache (13 143m)

- clapanse (12 824m)

- Spaceisbeautifulul (12 306m)

- TheTsar52 (10 459m)

- Dr. Muttonstache (10 440m)

- info600 (10 389m)

- info600 (9 614m)

- Spaceisbeautifulul (7 977m)

- TheTsar52 (5 574m)

- Pbhead (2 285m)

Achievements:

First to break 10km mark: clapanse

First to break 25km mark: Jason Patterson

First to break 30km mark: Jason Patterson

First to break 32.5km mark: Ninety-Three

First to break 35km mark: Ninety-Three

First to break 37.5km mark: Ninety-Three

First to break 40km mark: Ninety-Three

First to break 45km mark: TBD

First to break 50km mark (if even possible): TBD

Edited June 21, 2013 by Mars90000000

[clapanse]

Here's my first quick, off-the-cuff attempt:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/33sard3nqsdodh3/1st_attempt.PNG

[Dr. Muttonstache]

I'll bite!

First attempt:

Edited May 6, 2013 by Dr. Muttonstache

[foamyesque]

With FAR:

[Dr. Muttonstache]

With FAR

thats not stock :U

EDIT: My second attempt! Got into orbit when the fuel ran out.

Edited May 6, 2013 by Dr. Muttonstache

[clapanse]

Here's a slight refinement - this is the best I can get for the moment. I don't know how 25km would be possible (though I'm sure someone will prove me wrong...)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mi66rh60d742cdm/2nd%20attempt.PNG

https://www.dropbox.com/s/en4ljbzjzbjlod7/2nd%20attempt%20spacecraft.PNG

[cragsify]

Here is my third attempt at this challenge

[soranno]

well, I`m not about to uninstall the deadly reentry plugin, so my attempts keep exploding at 4000m I`ve even tried putting heat shields on the top but to avail, methinks I`m out

[rabidrabbit]

So far...

It does seem pretty close to the limit.

[Francesco]

well, I`m not about to uninstall the deadly reentry plugin, so my attempts keep exploding at 4000m I`ve even tried putting heat shields on the top but to avail, methinks I`m out

unzip the KSP folder in another place and create a clean install

does somebody know if there's a plugin which allows to take a series of screenshots in rapid fire sequence?

[Jason Patterson]

unzip the KSP folder in another place and create a clean install

does somebody know if there's a plugin which allows to take a series of screenshots in rapid fire sequence?

I'm not aware of a plugin, but you could try something like FRAPS and then pull a screenshot from it.

[M5000]

unzip the KSP folder in another place and create a clean install

does somebody know if there's a plugin which allows to take a series of screenshots in rapid fire sequence?

If you plug your finger in to the F1 key, it will repeatedly take a bunch of screenshots.

[Ninety-Three]

does somebody know if there's a plugin which allows to take a series of screenshots in rapid fire sequence?

I've always found that just hammering F1 does a decent job for anything short of colliding with the ground at Mach N.

[Francesco]

I've always found that just hammering F1 does a decent job for anything short of colliding with the ground at Mach N.

jeez, I need to take a break from KSP. these days I'm looking for a plugin to do anything in this game, even the most trivial stuff.

[Ninety-Three]

So far...

13182

It does seem pretty close to the limit.

Oh let me tell you about the limit.

This is how you get to the limit.

The principle is that all the engines fire from the start. Fuel lines make sure the outside tanks empty first, and every couple seconds you stage out, ditching a layer of empty tanks. In this way, you can achieve 30 seconds of thrust while maintaining the TWR of a Mainsail carrying only 4 tons of fuel. If you have more time to kill in the VAB, you could even switch the fuel containers to 2 ton affairs, making it into twice as many, slightly more efficient stages. (Tip when flying this monster: Stage out just before a layer runs out of fuel. If you wait til after, that layer spontaneously converts into dead weight, which puts all sorts of unpleasant stresses on the ship).

[Francesco]

dayum. just seeing that thing makes my computer cry.

[Ninety-Three]

dayum. just seeing that thing makes my computer cry.

It actually launches pretty well (trust me, I've done some 5-1 lag time dilation launches), and load times, while noticeable, aren't too bad. It's only around 400 parts: 80 assemblies of engine, fuel tank, decoupler and fuel line, plus some number of struts.

Edited May 6, 2013 by Ninety-Three

[Jason Patterson]

27,343m

Limits... My idea could be expanded significantly, though it will suffer from diminishing returns like most any other.

[Ninety-Three]

I'm not sure what you're doing there Jason, but that has made me realize that, in the last 4.6 seconds of its life, a solid booster actually outperforms a Mainsail on an infinitesimal tank. I'll have to work that into the next version of mine.

[Francesco]

yeah I think Jason is letting the boosters run for a while on the launchpad before takeoff to get a better TWR

[Ninety-Three]

With perfect timing, I can see how partially burnt solids are strictly better than my mainsail ultrasparagus. The thing had a minimum TWR of 14.5, so solids have 11.5 seconds where they outdo it. You'd only need three layers of solids (start burns at T-22, T-11, T-0, stage at T+8, T+19) to start putting out better numbers, and unlike my mainsail build which was already getting close to its limits (carrying 4T of fuel with 6T engines), there's plenty of room to push solids, as the 11 seconds figure has them carrying 1.25 T of fuel to 0.5 dry mass.

Edited May 6, 2013 by Ninety-Three

[Ninety-Three]

I'm going to work on a partially dry solid-based ship in the morning, so I'll sign off for the night with this piece of technically stock cheesiness.

50000! And with time to spare, too!

[Jason Patterson]

30,623m

This is as far as my computer can get me with my idea. I really wanted to break 30km though, glad that happened.

ETA: Yep, nothing in the game beats an RT-10 for pure acceleration. Mainsails and sepratrons are next best, at about 25g maximum, but a nearly empty RT-10 does 50g. The difficulty is layering it so that the average TWR of the entire vessel is higher than the 15-25g that a mainsail with small tanks can put out. It's kind of surreal to hit 300 m/s before you've reached 1km.

(In all fairness, an empty sepratron blows everything else out of the water, but it's just not practical for use on something like this. 144g max though, for anyone who is clever enough to get it working...)

Edited May 6, 2013 by Jason Patterson

[JBM12G]

I decided that using fuel as a propulsion source is less than optimal.

[Francesco]

I was able to achieve something like 21-23 km with two layers of RT-10 plus a sepratrons upper stage: now I'm wondering how big your ship on the launchpad was, and how many times you had to stage