If this end starts pointing towards space, you will STILL go to space today

[Valanthe]

Wouldn't have thought that the trons alone could actually lift such a beast 300m high.

"Bow down ye mortals, before the might of the booster, though this one may be small, it only needeth many friends to turn the impossible, upside down." - Jebediah Kerman

seriously though, I'm loving this challenge, the creativity being displayed is astounding and inspiring, I'm gonna have to take a whack at this one when I get my game back up and running (New computer, haven't gotten round to reinstalling everything.)

[1096bimu]

Here's my new moded entry:kiss:

581 tonnes to a 120x240 orbit. The Normandy SR-2 is a crew pod+fuel tank+engine. I don't know how much the engines and wings and weapons etc weight, if you want to subtract them out you'll have to pick your own assumption.

I used the firespitter water launch to launch from water instead of launch pad. which enables me to simply turn around and launch upwards. And yes, this whole thing does fit into the VAB, barely.

And this is not MechJeb, It runs slightly different code, and that thing which looks like Smart A.S.S is not Smart A.S.S, I changed its name to GodMode. And since it only maintains a certain rotation, it does not count as an autopilot.

Mods:

FireSpitter mod

Hakari's Normandy SR-2

Hakari's MAGIC resources

Hakali's MechaJeb!

Edited June 17, 2013 by 1096bimu

[Mekan1k]

...

What... I don't... What?

[SirJodelstein]

@bimu: um yeah, i guess you don't object if i put this thing into the "science fiction" category. I'll give you 50% of the ships weight in payload mass, resulting in 290t to orbit. Does this thing fly with magic or how come no resources have been drained after the flight? Anyhow, interesting idea to use a water launch. I'll update the leaderboard

[fireblade42]

Finally got a heavy roller to work. Got 3 full X200-32 fuel tanks and the 3 man command pod to orbit. I believe that is 58 tons to >80km periapsis.

In the VAB

Going the right way

In orbit

Payload in orbit

Link to album for no extra pictures

[Tiron]

Flying a ship out of an upside-down start is mostly about piloting, MechJeb defeats the point.

I think, based on the entries I've seen, that it's more about ingenuity than piloting. A fair portion of the entries do it by somehow flipping the rocket upright before igniting the engines, not flying at all.

And once you've got it flipped over pointed upright and going upwards, it's not about piloting anymore, because it's the exact same ascent so many people have done dozens and dozens of times, and there's no valid reason NOT to use Mechjeb to finish it off.

Saying you can't have it flip you back over is one thing, but after that, it's just inflicting pointless tedium.

[Nutbag Deluxe]

Saying you can't have it flip you back over is one thing, but after that, it's just inflicting pointless tedium.

That 'pointless tedium' is 50% of the game. But let's not turn this in a Mechjeb debate. The OP was quite clear with the rules: no Mechjeb. Why do you people still feel the need to argue with that rule? Make your own challenge is you disagree, but stop arguing here.

[Fel]

What about abusing "kind of" unbreakable parts?

i.e. Struts and Wheels

http://imgur.com/a/zM5lI

(Really, I put this together in like 20 min XD, just proof that struts and wheels will absorb almost any shock)

And then Abusing super powered Turbo-Fanjet Engines that can lift themselves and more (That's currently only 40Mg, I need to test it but computer crashed when I tried to alt tab out and accidentally pressed alt-f4)... afterwards it is just a matter of using rocket engines to circularize.

Also, what about attaching probe cores to the engines, docking them upside down, then moving said engines each "upside down" right side up on the rocket?

Edited June 24, 2013 by Fel

[Ekku Zakku]

(Really, I put this together in like 20 min XD, just proof that struts and wheels will absorb almost any shock)

How about 400 tons? Because that's what I've been trying to flip over =P

[Fel]

How about 400 tons? Because that's what I've been trying to flip over =P

Did a few sloppy tests just now. It failed because they were "sloppy" tests, but the proof of concept was sound.

Moved it up 1 more girder struct thingy... added another struct cage layer, added another wheel set for the first "tilt" and then put on an additional ~80Mg load (Bunch of fuel tanks really). It walked over a few paces, first tilt was sound, second tilt was sound but since there is no strutting in the design (that 40Mg was really a proof of concept), the struts will bend on the final leg because they're not supported to anything, (even then, they don't break... just a matter of supporting them propperly and building the cage with less stupidity.)

Generally I'd say that really, you could just use rover wheels and girder strut thingies as cushioning fairly easily. They really do absorb a LARGE amount of shock.

[SirJodelstein]

What about abusing "kind of" unbreakable parts?

i.e. Struts and Wheels

looks like a valid technique, cannot see an "abuse" here, just creative cushioning to break the fall. Go ahead and show us a flying entry, and how good that design scales with heavier payloads

Also, what about attaching probe cores to the engines, docking them upside down, then moving said engines each "upside down" right side up on the rocket?

not totally sure what you mean with that, but anything that leaves the VAB/SPH upside-down is fair game. In fact, i am currently experimenting with a "modular rocket" that flips and docks just the engine parts.

[Fel]

Well, I want a PURE gravity assist, because I find the flip more interesting than the launch.

Small problem... I cannot get a lever big enough to move the world

Already violating one of the rules with launch clamps being too high, but I just cannot get that last tiny bloody 90 degrees :S

http://imgur.com/a/6vF4U

Still scaled well when I went upto 500

http://imgur.com/a/ujtLJ#3

(That had a small collision and lost 1 tank, but extending the mesh would work, just that I still am fighting to actually get it to flip purely on gravity (thought more mass would make that "motion" continue).

Those girders are really extremely strong and flexible... I had several occasions where they didn't bend enough and actually supported the whole 300Mgs. 600Mgs (500 + 3 extra tanks)

http://imgur.com/a/kNEr7#0

YES... NOOOOOO

(using a few tanks to increase my pivot). Except it seems to be a fluke that the girders snapped at exactly the times they did, providing the torque to complete the spin, and then not providing the support needed to stop the whole thing from flipping over

At this rate, I may have to actually *whisper* use math *shudder*.

*bahh, Analysis says it is impossible to go further than 90 deg. (At least as this spring loaded pendulum thing.) In order to turn that final bit, I need to have enough tension in the lines; but to get enough tension I need gravity to push down; but gravity needs to etc...

Edited June 25, 2013 by Fel

[SirJodelstein]

Presenting: A new record and another new solution to the challenge: Modular Rockets! These require a little bit of preparation before the rocket can fly

Javascript is disabled. View full album

90 tons of fuel to orbit (barely).

This design has quite some issues that prevent further upscaling. Docking ports tend to break if you push too hard (read: more than 50% thrust of a Mainsail), making the ascend really slow and inefficient (liftoff TWR 1.4, last stage TWR 0.6). Also, the part count of the individual hover rovers is quite high, bringing the part count from ~200 for the rocket to 950 total. Lag bomb. Also, the rovers don't turn that good, maneuvering between all those launch clamps is quite challenging. But still, it was a lot of fun designing and assembling this beast.

Fast-Forward (6x) video compilation of assembly&flight

Edited June 27, 2013 by SirJodelstein
video link

[KinkyFerrets]

o.O

tencharacters

[Francesco]

I ran out of creativity some time ago, but this challenge keeps getting better and better.

some crazy stuff here

should be stickied for next month.

[Fel]

Aww, sirJolderstien; I told you docking ports would be a blatant hack ;p

You really could get much more out of them than that though, (although, I'm not familiar with the "crazy excessive launch profiles" that people abuse in ksp; shouldn't you use more efficient engines as you go up? (those atlas engines do nothing but bleed fuel past 10km))

I'll have to revisit this, I like the lunacy over the "just get it done,"

Perhaps some kind of launch ramp ;p (Better yet, build a giant ball and roll it downhill XD)

Edited June 27, 2013 by Fel

[SirJodelstein]

You really could get much more out of them than that though, (although, I'm not familiar with the "crazy excessive launch profiles" that people abuse in ksp; shouldn't you use more efficient engines as you go up? (those atlas engines do nothing but bleed fuel past 10km))

Actually, its the lack of thrust in the first 15km that makes this rocket use way more fuel than standard rockets. But Mainsail thrust kills the ports, so i went with Skippers all the way through. They are fairly efficient and provide (at least from my experiments) the maximum thrust that the ports can handle. I could not find a hover-rover design that allowed me to dock clusters of more efficient engines to the bottom of the central last-stage port. I am sure that this rocket could be optimized in fuel efficiency and part count, but currently i am not sure how to go about it. For now, this design goes to the "rejected for beeing way to complicated to set up" pile. Two hours of driving rovers at low FPS was interesting but only because i wanted to prove to myself that this could actually work. I'll have to find another technique to breach the 100 tons mark

Fast-Forward (6x) video compilation of the assembly

Edited June 27, 2013 by SirJodelstein