[Scenario Challenge] Help J. Korleone Escape from Alkatraz

[SuperSeniorComicGuy]

Listen up Korleones, the boss of our family, J. Korleone, has been nabbed by the feds. He got caught picking up a few of those priceless Xenon tanks that have been dropping out of the sky for the last few months. Right now he’s stuck in Alkatraz Prison on Minmus:

Here's plan to get him out:

Stage 5: Have Karmine enter the Korleone Cruiser’s turret and take out the ComSat by destroying as many solar panels as possible.

Stage 4: Launch Karlito from the Korleone Catapult over the prison walls.

Stage 3: Break into the prison control room and lift the cage around J. Korleone’s cell.

Stage 2: Get J. and Karlito into the Escape Pod and rendezvous with the Cruiser.

Stage 1: Get everybody inside the Cruiser and burn hard for Dres.

Stage 0: Get everyone inside the Cruiser’s lander and land at the Korleone Hideout.

We've got some more information about the plan here: http://imgur.com/a/lLsMx

Stage Achievements

Phun with Physics: Lift the cage off of J. Korleone's Jail Cell.

Achieved by: smokie

Freedom is Good Enough: Get J. Korleone and Karlito onto the escape pod and launch away from Alkatraz!

Achieved by: smokie

One Big Happy Family: Get all three Koreleones into the Cruiser.

Achieved by: smokie

Home Sweet Home: Land all three Korleones on Dres.

Achieved by: smokie

Challenges

Eagle Eye: Destroy all 8 of the ComSat solar panels.

Achieved by:

Kilometer King: Launch the Catapult more than 1 km from the prison and still land within the walls (RCS course corrections are allowed).

Achieved by:

Brute Force is the Best Force: Use the Catapult as a battering ram to break down the prison walls.

Achieved by:

It Looked Kinda Risky Anyway: Get Karlito over the prison walls without firing the Catapult.

Achieved by:

Leave No Evidence: Crash the cruiser into Dres but still land the lander safely with all three Korleones onboard.

Achieved by:

Textbook Landing: Dock the Korleone Cruiser Lander with the Korleone Hideout by landing on top of it.

Achieved by:

Rules & Notes

• SAVE EARLY AND OFTEN. The catapult was made by cousin Vinny and he's told us that it's a bit unreliable but is awesome when it works. Accidentally ending flights or early staging is also a great concern.
  
• No mods or special are needed for this challenge.
  
• You don't need to launch any new craft to complete this challenge, but you can if you want to for whatever reason.
  
• No Dirty Cheating Alpacas (no debug menu)!
  

FAQ

Q: How do I load this?

A: Here's how you load this scenario:

Download the "EscapeFromAlkatraz.sfs" text file here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ecdhcitg7kr3y59/EscapeFromAlkatraz.sfs

Copy the EscapeFromAlkatraz.sfs file into your <KSP>/saves/scenarios folder

Start KSP and load the scenario.

Q: I want to start over. Can I restart?

A: Yes! Just hit the "Restart" button in the scenario menu.

Q: What about an achievement where <your idea here>?

A: Post it and I might add it to the list!

Q: I have this AMAZING idea for a new scenario challenge. Can you make it?

A: Send it to me and I'll see what I can do!

Special Bragging Rightsâ„¢ to all those who played the last challenge: http://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/1el0eh/scenario_challenge_asteroid_mining/

More discussion can be found in this Reddit thread:

http://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/1fexh4/scenario_challenge_use_a_rocketpowered_catapult/

Edited June 4, 2013 by SuperSeniorComicGuy

[Baron_von_Fluffy]

Okay... this is freakin' sweet. I'm definitely going to try this. Will probably post results soon ^^ unless I fail horribly that is.

[ZingidyZongxxx]

Definitely trying this out.

[sal_vager]

My gods, this is genius

[sparty48]

OH MAH GOD! This is.... incredible.

[The Deep Space Kraken]

challenge accepted!

Edit: KSP is refusing to load the scenario:(

Edited June 1, 2013 by The Deep Space Kraken

[1096bimu]

incredibly made, but too restrictive, you don't even get to use the best part about KSP, building your own stuff.

[SuperSeniorComicGuy]

challenge accepted!

Edit: KSP is refusing to load the scenario:(

Things to try:

• Update to the latest version of KSP
  
• Ensure the extension is .sfs and not .txt
  
• Copy one of your existing game saves to the /scenarios folder and try to load that
  
• Quit and restart KSP after you have moved the file to the folder
  

incredibly made, but too restrictive, you don't even get to use the best part about KSP, building your own stuff.

Very true! No building in this scenario, but I've posted a few others you may want to check out:

http://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/19iu7c/scenario_challenge_a_meteor_is_headed_for_kerbin/

http://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/1b97hb/scenario_challenge_bring_voyager_home_inspired_by/

http://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/1dk9z6/scenario_challenge_kergyver_is_stranded_at_a/

http://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/1el0eh/scenario_challenge_asteroid_mining

Edited June 1, 2013 by SuperSeniorComicGuy

[SmallChange]

Hmmm.... I too am unable to get this to work. KSP doesn't seem to see your challenge after copying it into the scenario directory. Tried moving a save file over, but it only loaded that save.

Anybody been able to take a whack at this? I'm really looking forward to it!

[soranno]

Also unable to make it work when I tried it, and looking at the scenario file it looks... massively different to the other scenario files in there

[SirJodelstein]

Got it working for me, using 0.20.2 (0.20 is required for the cupola element i guess).

BUT: I managed to go into the prison control room, but cannot find a way to lift the cell. The controls show a horizontal decoupler stage which is not visible and won't trigger. Hint/PM please? Or is this not working as intended?

[SuperSeniorComicGuy]

Hmmm.... I too am unable to get this to work. KSP doesn't seem to see your challenge after copying it into the scenario directory. Tried moving a save file over, but it only loaded that save.

Anybody been able to take a whack at this? I'm really looking forward to it!

Strange y'all are having trouble with this. Several people on Reddit have gotten it working:

http://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/1fexh4/scenario_challenge_use_a_rocketpowered_catapult/

One person had a bit of trouble at first but did get it working after an update to the latest version (It needs 0.20.1 or later).

Also, if the scenario menu is open when you move the file into the scenario directory, it won't see the file. You need to go back to the main menu, move the file, then open the scenario menu again.

If you still have problems, please post:

1) Your OS

2) Version of KSP

3) Full file name of the file that was downloaded (Dropbox sometimes adds a .txt extension)

One additional thing to try:

1) Make a new game called "Alkatraz"

2) Copy the "Escape from Alkatraz.sfs" file into the new "Alkatraz" save folder.

3) Delete the existing "persistent.sfs" file

4) Rename the "Escape from Alkatraz.sfs" file to "persistent.sfs"

5) Load that game.

As far as it looking different, it's probably because it's so much larger. All of the existing scenarios have 1-2 simple craft, this has a bunch of complicated ones. Otherwise KSP should load it up just like a normal save file.

[SuperSeniorComicGuy]

Got it working for me, using 0.20.2 (0.20 is required for the cupola element i guess).

BUT: I managed to go into the prison control room, but cannot find a way to lift the cell. The controls show a horizontal decoupler stage which is not visible and won't trigger. Hint/PM please? Or is this not working as intended?

Everything is working as intended. Once you are inside the control room, take a closer look at the prison and click around a bit. You'll see it. Good luck!

[smokie]

Just completed the challenge. It's truly amazing how the turret and the catapult works!

Here are my 3 happy Korleones at their Xenon-filled hideout.

How did you get all the stuff in their places? I mean, the catapult just can't be flown up like that...

[SuperSeniorComicGuy]

Just completed the challenge. It's truly amazing how the turret and the catapult works!

How did you get all the stuff in their places? I mean, the catapult just can't be flown up like that...

Well done smokie! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Well technically the catapult could be flown up there, but I'd rather spend that time making the next scenario. I used HyperEdit to get everything in place.

[SmallChange]

Quick update on the load problem: I'm up and running.

Looks like the problem was the scenario file. The first one I downloaded was only 28.6 Kilobytes. Not sure if it got swapped out, or if something got corrupted somewhere along the way.

SuperSeniorComicGuy, seriously, this is awesome. So far, I'm still messing around with Stage 5, but I love it! You put a ton of work in on this, and it's appreciated!

[Cooly568]

Expect a video from me on this tonight.

I'm nearly done editing it.

Any ways, is it fine if I replaced all the Korleone's with The Kerman Bros? (Bill, Jeb, and Bob?)

[SuperSeniorComicGuy]

Expect a video from me on this tonight.

I'm nearly done editing it.

Any ways, is it fine if I replaced all the Korleone's with The Kerman Bros? (Bill, Jeb, and Bob?)

I'm glad you enjoyed it! Sure, feel free to change the names of the Kerbals and/or craft. Just put a link somewhere back to this thread so viewers can find it easily.

Thanks!

SSCG

[Cooly568]

And, my video is up.

I got the challenges Kilometer King, Leave No Evidence, and Textbook Landing.

There should of been a challenge for landing 4 kerbals with a 3 man lander.

Because that was hard.

[SuperSeniorComicGuy]

And, my video is up.

I got the challenges Kilometer King, Leave No Evidence, and Textbook Landing.

There should of been a challenge for landing 4 kerbals with a 3 man lander.

Because that was hard.

I love the video! My favorite part was that cinematic shot at 7:00. And Jeb appearing out of nowhere and sticking to the lander. Never once while designing this scenario did I ever think to include space for a fourth Kerbal on the lander, and you still got them all down, perfectly, on the hideout.

Well done Cooly568, you win this round, but will you be ready for the next challenge?

[Cooly568]

Thanks. Jeb had actually jumped out of the cruiser after it had done its burn (it only had to cancel out 30 M/s) and flew back to the lander. (I cut that out for videos sake)

It was a pretty hard landing because Jeb kept slipping on the ladder, so at max I could only do a 15 second burn at full power.

It was a fun challenge, and I'm ready for the next one.