totm jun 2013 Kerbolar Demo Parts Extravaganza!

[TheMontgomery]

For the SSTO goals of Moon and Planet do you mean SOI or stable orbit?

I'll take SOI, since I didn't specify--and because points are awarded separately for landing and such anyway.

Here are the images from my lowest Kerbol orbit.

Me on the launch pad:

Showing Periapsis:

Showing Apoapsis:

I have also done a Munlighting challenge that I will be posting soon. On the "More the Merrier" challenge does it matter if we literally bring more Kerbals? I built a rocket with 7 capsules but am pretty sure there is no way in either the demo or full stock version to add Kerbals to the empty capsules without a mod like crew transfer. Since Kerbals don't add mass I figure it doesn't matter from a performance stand point.

Your image links seem to be on the fritz, but sounds decent. As for "The More the Merrier," you can transfer crew by launching additional flights, get as close of a rendezvous as possible, and EVA from one craft to another.

[gm537]

Let's try this again!

Not sure why simply inserting the images isn't working but here is an album on imgur.

http://imgur.com/a/fyrq8

[gm537]

Here are the screen shots of my Eeloo journey!

The part count and weight are 22 and 13.05t

http://imgur.com/a/KC2ly

Yes one image has Jeb and the other's Bill. After I completed the mission I realized I forgot to take a picture on the launch pad and it's the same rocket.

Now I just need to redo my Munlighting...

Edited June 7, 2013 by gm537

[metaphor]

Well this was fun, I did a Tylo landing and return. The ship was about 380 tons and 350 parts. It was surprisingly sturdy at launch, maybe because the smaller parts don't wobble as much. Landing on Tylo took about 10 tries to get right, because the low TWR of the LV-909 engines makes it pretty hard, and the landing legs are too short to use any other engine. Here's the 75 image album.

The rocket in the VAB with its 34 stages

Landed on Tylo

[TheMontgomery]

Never thought I'd see a successful Tylo lander. Most excellent! But that was a nice slideshow taking off, eh?

I'll update the leaderboards shortly.

Edited June 7, 2013 by TheMontgomery

[TheMontgomery]

I tried a Mun SSTO (actually a single stage to Mun surface), came ~250 m/s short of a landing.

it's really hard to pack enough delta-v without LV-Ns.

has somebody tried that as well?

Well, I'm having trouble just making a working SSTO that can reach orbit. 'Course, I'm not very skilled at building NON-demo SSTOs yet, so I'm not a good measure of aerospace engineering prowess.

[metaphor]

Never thought I'd see a successful Tylo lander. Most excellent! But that was a nice slideshow taking off, eh?

It wasn't actually that bad. 300 parts is a lot but not as much as some other rockets I've been building, like the sepratron challenge. It was lagging a lot in the VAB with Mechjeb wanting to recalculate the delta-V all the time, but it was surprisingly easy to launch after I took it off.

Well, I'm having trouble just making a working SSTO that can reach orbit.

A simple SSTO is a capsule on top of two big fuel tanks and one of the big engines. I'm pretty sure that can reach orbit.

[gm537]

Haha nicely done!!! I made a Tylo lander and return but unfortunately the land part didn't go well... Tried about 2 dozen times from a quicksave and only survived twice. Obviously I'll be back at it soon!

I think for SSTO you need two big and a small but yes my design was indeed that!!! Here are the pics! There are two missions represented here one to the Mun and one to Eve but with the same vehicle!

http://imgur.com/a/zMDWk

Also for the weight and part count I figured it was at landing / at time of feat accomplishment? Is it at take off instead? I feel the former makes more sense from an achievement standpoint but obviously it's your challenge.

[hermes47]

So, I've landed Jeb on and reorbited, in order, Tylo, Laythe Vall and Bop. Currently, I'm orbiting Vall (my base camp) waiting for a launch window to Pol to open up. Took 3 launches: a dedicated Tylo launch, a Laythe launch with my 3 man return vessel and a Val Bop and Pol launch with what was my one man return vessel but turned into rescue craft (I had to use it's fuel) due to an unfortunate encounter with Vall on the original approach to Jool. Didn't manage to get video. I tried it a little but for some reason, sound wasn't being recorded and it did just look rather bad, so screenshots it is. Bit of a sneak peek: here are my Laythe and Tylo landing sites.

Edited June 8, 2013 by hermes47
fixed pics

[hermes47]

Finally completed it. A three launch, 5 Joolian moon mission. Full album of images (151) can be found here. I'll finish writing the descriptions at some point.

A run down of what I did is:

Jeb flew the Tylo, a dedicated Tylo lander launch of 377 parts and 480.21 tons, out to Jool and into Tylo orbit.

Bill flew the Laythe, a combined Laythe lander and 3-man return vessel of 366 parts and 447.91 tons, out to Jool and into Laythe orbit.

Bob flew the Kea, a vessel carrying landers for Vall, Bop and Pol and a depreciated 1-man return ship consisting of 337 parts and 349.49 tons, out to Jool and into Vall Orbit.

All up, 1080 parts weighing 1277.61 tons were launched (and 7 parts weighing 2.85 tons returned safely to Kerbin)

Jeb landed on Tylo (took like 20 tries. Pictures in the album are from a number of different attempts) then flew out to rendezvous with Bill around Laythe. He then took the Laythe lander and landed on Laythe (again pictures are from multiple attempts) and returned to Bill in the Homebound which proceeded to met up with Bob around Vall.

Jeb then took a lander down to Vall, another out to Bop and back, and the final one out to Pol and back to the Homebound. Once all were aboard Homebound, a course was set for Kerbin and everyone returned home safe after a total mission time of 640 days 9 hours. Which was about 12 hours real time, not including the design of rockets.

[sal_vager]

Well I can't claim a place on the leaderboard as I only got about 2500 points, but I have made it!

Duna and back on demo parts!

Here's the craft.

It was a lot of fun, and not easy, I'd never tried to get to Duna with these parts before

Thanks for the challenge TheMontgomery!

[TheMontgomery]

hermes47 continues to lead the Demo charge. Impressive!

Nicely done, sal_vager! Glad you enjoyed!

[metaphor]

Wow, that is awesome hermes47!

[TheMontgomery]

I'll update the leaderboards this evening. I'm giving the SSTO another shot, as well!

[metaphor]

Since I did a Tylo return I was thinking what else I could do that's harder. Well finally did it, an Eve landing and return!

It was a monster rocket, about 900 tons, 900 parts, and 49 stages. It was guzzling fuel at the rate of two of those big tanks per second when launched. The lander itself was about 80 tons. It took about 30 min to launch at very reduced framerates. It didn't have enough delta-v to make it back to Kerbin so I had to send a rescue ship to return Jeb from Eve orbit.

Here's the album.

Rocket on the pad

Jeb on Eve

[TheMontgomery]

That is a WHOLE lot of parts. Impressive! Eve return missions are no mean feat even with the full game.

[hoojiwana]

Since I did a Tylo return I was thinking what else I could do that's harder. Well finally did it, an Eve landing and return!

It was a monster rocket, about 900 tons, 900 parts, and 49 stages. It was guzzling fuel at the rate of two of those big tanks per second when launched. The lander itself was about 80 tons. It took about 30 min to launch at very reduced framerates. It didn't have enough delta-v to make it back to Kerbin so I had to send a rescue ship to return Jeb from Eve orbit.

I didn't think it was possible to do an Eve liftoff and get back to orbit in stock. Congratulations! Are all those extra pods on the Kerbin launch for extra torque?

[metaphor]

I didn't think it was possible to do an Eve liftoff and get back to orbit in stock. Congratulations! Are all those extra pods on the Kerbin launch for extra torque?

Thanks. Yep, they're for extra torque. I was using the non-gimballing engines since they're more efficient.

[TheMontgomery]

Thanks. Yep, they're for extra torque. I was using the non-gimballing engines since they're more efficient.

I never even thought to try that. I've always just used SAS modules, with varying degrees of effectiveness.

[TheMontgomery]

Haha nicely done!!! I made a Tylo lander and return but unfortunately the land part didn't go well... Tried about 2 dozen times from a quicksave and only survived twice. Obviously I'll be back at it soon!

I think for SSTO you need two big and a small but yes my design was indeed that!!! Here are the pics! There are two missions represented here one to the Mun and one to Eve but with the same vehicle!

http://imgur.com/a/zMDWk

Also for the weight and part count I figured it was at landing / at time of feat accomplishment? Is it at take off instead? I feel the former makes more sense from an achievement standpoint but obviously it's your challenge.

It'd be the part count at launch. Nice work on the SSTO, especially getting it to Eve!

[metaphor]

I never even thought to try that. I've always just used SAS modules, with varying degrees of effectiveness.

I think SAS modules only help you stop your spin and stabilize. But command modules are the ones that can help you rotate. Not entirely sure, but that's the experience I've had with them.

[sal_vager]

I think SAS modules only help you stop your spin and stabilize. But command modules are the ones that can help you rotate. Not entirely sure, but that's the experience I've had with them.

This is how it is, with SAS helping you stop rotating, and other pods helping to actually rotate you

[TheMontgomery]

I've updated the scores as best I can.

Glad my challenge could be of service to you all!

[TheMontgomery]

And I finally got a working SSTO with a bit of patience.

Should squeak by with enough delta-V to land...

Success!

'Fraid my landings need work, however.

[mr_yogurt]

I did a whole lot of stuff here. I went to Duna, then Ike, then sent a rescue mission cause I only made it to orbit around Ike after Ike liftoff.

Documentary of flight (around 30-35 pics, too many to put on a post here) - http://imgur.com/a/HW8DP#0

Vessel stats (on launch pad)

Patton: 79.25 t, 102 parts

Patton II: 80.1 t, 103 parts

You should have an award for lightest ship. (For each achievement/landing/whatever)

Patton was the first ship to launch, and made it to Duna, and then Ike. Didn't have enough fuel to get to orbit around Ike, so I put Jeb on EVA and had him jetpack to orbit. (Got a boost from the fuel that we did have)

Patton II was the rescue vehicle. Bill went to Ike, and picked up Jeb. Brought him home safely. Yay! No dead kerbals yet!

Points:

Duna Encounter: 1,000 points

Land on Duna: 250 points

Return to Orbit: 250 points

Land on Ike: 0 points (Is this supposed to be worthless?)

Return to Orbit: 0 points

Duna Encounter: 1,000 points (This counts, right? I'm not sure if points add up to one score from seperate flights..)

Return to Kerbin: 1,000 points

Base score: 3,500 points

Achievements:

The Eisenhower: 1,500 points - Why is this less than Gee Gillikers? This is more Delta-V. Parachutes make landing on eve the easiest place to land in the game, and Gilly is the smallest moon. Escaping Gilly to then land on Eve should be easy.

Stuff We Had Lying Around: +100% (Duna) +100% (Ike) - Nobody else seems to have a part count for Duna or Ike right now.. so I guess this is mine!.. but do I have 102 parts, 103 parts, or 205 parts?

Moving Mountains: +100% (Duna) +100% (Ike) - Still, nobody has gotten to Duna or Ike. Free multipliers! The weight on Duna was 9.7 t, and the weight on Ike was 4.05 t. Next person to go to either place beats me.. XD

The More, the Merrier: +10% - I hope this counts.. I had two kerbals return home, right?

Homesick: +50% (Duna) +50% (Ike) - Once again, nobody has been to either of these places. So I guess I get more free multipliers! But next one to go to either place gets it, 'cause I never checked what my time was.

Total score: 30,500 points.

Boldy challenging yourself where nobody has challenged themselves before pays off... (I know the OP went to Duna, but I didn't see any stats. :/ - and he didn't include himself on the leaderboard)

If my scoring is wrong, will someone correct me? I was a bit confused on how scoring works for multiple flights that interfere with each other.... I find my score too good to be true, as of now. :/

Oh, and here's a pic of the Patton, mah awesome primary launch vehicle:

Edited June 27, 2013 by mr_yogurt