This is how Jeb plays lawn darts!

[SmallChange]

It's a lovely summer's day at the KSC. If there were birds on Kerbin, they would be chirping. Bees aren't implemented yet, but had they been, they would be buzzing. They guys flipped a Rockomax Poodle over, and as rumor had it, it does make a fine grill! Looking out at the green expanse that surrounds the KSC, Jeb gets an idea!

Solid fuel lawn darts!

Goal: To "throw" your uncontrolled "dart", and get it as close as possible to the island airstrip.

(For the new folks, it's on the island right off the coast from KSC)

Rules: There must be no means of controlling your "dart" once it has been released.

∙Fins with control surfaces are fine, but no command pods/probe cores/anything on the dart than can manipulate said control surfaces. Once you launch, it's hands-off.

∙Your "dart" must be based upon either an RT-10 or Rockomax BACC Solid Fuel Booster, attached to an aiming/lanching vehicle of your choice. (see figure 1a)

∙Each dart may not contain any means of thrust other than the single SRB. This includes all engines, liquid and solid fueled, RCS equipment, etc.

∙Throwing the dart will be accomplished by igniting said SRB and decoupling it from your launcher.

∙Your dart must be "thrown" from either the KSC runway or launch pad.

(Again, for the new folks, when you do, you will then use the [] keys to switch vessel to get to your launched dart)

∙Stock parts only. Most mods disallowed, except for those that do not effect gameplay outside of the VAB/SPH. (Think SubAssembly Saver/Loader, Crew Manifest etc. I don't use anything beside SubAssembly, so I'm not really in the best position to determine if something gives a person an edge or not. Please use your best judgement.)

∙Scoring will be in two categories. The first is based on proximity to the airstrip, and will be broken down into broad, somewhat arbitrary score zones. A second exact distance will be used for the leaderboard, and will be described below.

Figure 1a

Scoring: Scores will be determined by 1 of 2 ways

Simple: (Higher is better) A bit more informal, and a little less commitment required for this category. Just build a dart and go to work! Direct hit on the airstrip is 10 points. (See Figure 1b) Anywhere on the 'horn' of the island gets you 7 points. Anywhere else on the island is worth 5. General vicinity of the island is worth 3, and the general vicinity of the archipelago is worth 1. (See figure 2b)

Fig. 1bFig. 2b

Exact: (Lower is better) Optional exact scoring will be based on distance from a kerbal or a part that you will need to place at the front door of the observation tower at the airstrip. (See figure 1c) How the part or kerbal gets there is up to you, and is exempt from the mod restrictions. (Just being used as a marker) As your dart approaches the island, double click to select as a target so we can see your exact distance. (See figure 2c)

Fig. 1c Fig. 2c

POINTS LEADERBOARD:

10: Rastgen Kerwin

7: distanceoh, Kisel, SmallChange

5:

3:

1:

EXACT DISTANCE LEADERBOARD:

1. Rastgen Kerwin - 93.4

2 Kisel - 104.7

3. SmallChange 631.4

4. distanceoh - 692.5

5.

(∙Final additional fine print catch-all rule: The goal of this challenge is to have your dart completely uncontrolled. Please have your entry reflect this, with good faith and sportsmanship in mind. If it comes up that there is some exploit I have forgotten to explicitly forbid or an entry turns contentious, a vote amongst the challenge participants can be taken to determine an entry's eligibility.)

Edited May 16, 2013 by SmallChange
Scoreboard

[SmallChange]

Alright. Here's my go!

Launch vehicle was the simple launcher pictured above.

After multiple tries, here's my best: 631.4m (Wasn't on the ground yet with the 629.8 picture) and right on the shore of the horn, so 7 points on the informal scale.

Show me what you got!

Edited May 12, 2013 by SmallChange

[HoY]

This one looks like a lot of fun

[soranno]

streaming my efforts at this challenge now. closest so far is 952.2m.. but almost om the runway

[Rastgen Kerwin]

Brave Lemsted Kerman:

JART-ONE Professional Jart Launcher:

Exact Distance - 93.4m:

Runway 10 pts:

[SmallChange]

Holy crap Rastgen! Nice shooting there! How many tries did that take?

[Rastgen Kerwin]

about 10 tries to get the closest, i had several more after that that were in the 100m range attempting to hit the runway, probably 20 more, judging by the size of my screenshot archive, to hit the runway, it relies more on luck with the aerodynamics "simulation".

[mod1982]

Holy crap on a cracker this looks like fun

[distanceoh]

My launch vehicle at the moment of launch.

Just before impact.

After Impact. Distance of 692.5 meters.

[Kisel]

Jeb himself waiting for the darts to come.

Jeb is getting right angles. Cause its not a problem for him being in 2 places at exact same time.

Flying quiet high.

Before impact. Looks like we are not falling nose up but well who cares.

And after it. 104.7m.

[cathastail]

nice challenge, i might have a go later!