Ker-Bull Air Race (New Update to Better Gates)

[Darren9]

Nice lap zombiphylax, a couple of those gates looked a little risky, it's OK though - It's important to scare your Kerb's. You're number 1 at the moment, I'll put you in the OP.

I haven't tried it in a stock craft yet the_bT, I probably have the same lift and less than 1/3 the weight but I'm finding gate 4 as hard as gate 2. I'll take a look at that add-on, I'm not sure why the gates glitch though - I didn't use any "magic" to place them, just decoupled the wheel on each corner and they fell on to the ground. Maybe I should have them on landing legs, I'm not sure that should make a difference though. Anyway, I was expecting a fast lap from you - well done

[the_bT]

I'm not sure if landing legs make a great difference, I suspect (speculation!) the terrain is very slightly different for everyone because it probably has procedurally generated detail applied to it. I noticed that on the old course in the last version (which I speculate further) didn't have that added detail, that all gates would break when you had the terrain detail set to anything but default (thus altering the terrain slightly). On the other hand, if this is the case, maybe rover wheels and landing legs have something in place to compensate for that...

Anyway, already did a little test of the plugin. A few things are apparent:

1. Things set up like that behave more or less exactly like the KSC Buildings. You can see them from very far away (10km+), they don't ever move. Which is good.

2. As they are no longer vessels, they do not show up with the purple markers, which is bad. But I don't know, maybe that can be fixed. How do you make the blue markers in the new Scenario? (for the short course)

3. They show up in all saves as I feared. Which is bad.

4. Setting stuff up is more or less straight forward once you have the assets in place. It's all explained in detail in a manual.

I'm going to ask the plugin creator if he thinks there could be a way to limit some objects to a single scenario

[Darren9]

Unfortunately I just changed the vessel type to base from ship IIRC in the rename vessel options to get the different colour. The speculation seems reasonable because I've not had a gate glitch yet so it looks like they'll work perfectly for me in my terrain and not for others . They'll be a bit more learning involved without markers on the gates, it'll still be possible to drop a probe on/near them though and if the probe glitches the gate will remain at least. For me once I've been around a couple of times I'm OK without markers.

Edit - I'm thinking if the gate part asset doesn't move irrespective of terrain settings just drop a probe on top of it? - a good excuse for a VTOL/Helicopter mission.

Edited August 2, 2013 by Darren9

[zombiphylax]

Nice lap zombiphylax, a couple of those gates looked a little risky, it's OK though - It's important to scare your Kerb's. You're number 1 at the moment, I'll put you in the OP.

Thank you, I couldn't do it with free cam, and the chase cam was too twitchy with keyboard, so it was a lot of fun trying this with a controller for the first time. Look forward to more people cutting the time down a bit!

[the_bT]

I found out the KerbTown plugin can add launch sites. That would obviously make races far away from KSC a lot easier as there could be a runway next to the start.

I figured Kerbull Racing doesn't want to build Runways all over the planet. We need some sort of Aircraft Carrier...

Now I can't quite decide if this is awesome or silly:

I think Kerbull Racing needs some sort of flag or logo

[BahamutoD]

I eagerly tried this out, but when I got to the first gate, it broke in half, tipped over and smacked into my plane. Is this the "glitch gates" you were talking about? Is there any way around this on my end?

On a side note, I get a huge FPS drop (down to 5-10 fps) while looking towards the horizon, which you are forced to do for this race... Looking straight up or down I can get 30-60 fps. Any info on this would be helpful too. Until then... I'll stick with space!

[zombiphylax]

I found out the KerbTown plugin can add launch sites. That would obviously make races far away from KSC a lot easier as there could be a runway next to the start.

I figured Kerbull Racing doesn't want to build Runways all over the planet. We need some sort of Aircraft Carrier...

Now I can't quite decide if this is awesome or silly:

I think Kerbull Racing needs some sort of flag or logo

That's pretty damned awesome!

[thirstyemu]

I think Kerbull Racing needs some sort of flag or logo

Just a brief mockup of the RedBull air race logo, changed in obvious aspects.

[the_bT]

Ok, news from the Ker-Bull Track Technology Laboratories:

A KerbTown powered Track high up in the mountains. I would say it's moderately hard, the gates are pretty close together and the turn at the summit is nasty

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Took a while to make the new Gates and Signs (and the carrier is still WIP) but setting the actual track up was pretty smooth... So smooth in fact, I think I might have overdone it a little with the signs

Anyway, the download contains the plugin and the gates. All you need to do is extract the archive into your KSP folder. The Track will then show up in any and all saves you have! (KerbTown limitation for now) Shouldn't be a problem though, it's pretty far off to the north-west. The Track has it's own Launch Site which you can select in the SPH in the top right corner.

Here's the download

Extra points for everybody who can land on the carrier after doing a lap...

I made it around in ~2:40 but forgot to take screenshots and crashed right after going over the finish line.

PS: I have just noticed my gates look like frogs... can't be unseen argh...

Edited August 8, 2013 by the_bT

[Darren9]

That's a great course the_bT, better than anything I could of created. I do have a couple of suggestions, put the aircraft carrier on the straight'ish line between the last gate and the start/finish and not too high so you launch pointing at the first gate. Also I'd like to see a probe core on the gates, I'm guessing putting one on the gate overcomes the terrain issue? How easy is it to change the model? A flat area on top of the gate in the middle would allow one to be dropped/landed and we could still have a scenario with the probes in place so the course is a bit easier to understand. Nice job.

@ thirstyemu, looks good. Could you swap the Extra 300s (or whatever it is) for a more "Kerbal" type contraption of an aircraft but in the same style? I really like it, can I use it as a flag please?

[thirstyemu]

@ thirstyemu, looks good. Could you swap the Extra 300s (or whatever it is) for a more "Kerbal" type contraption of an aircraft but in the same style? I really like it, can I use it as a flag please?

Feel free to use it for whatever, i'll give the craft a shot tomorrow when i've got a bit more free time.

[the_bT]

You could land a probe core on the board at the base of each gate...

Edit: Just had an idea, you can plant flags instead of landing probe cores.

The carrier position was more or less chosen for looks, but with probe cores in place that would not be much of an issue right?

Edited August 8, 2013 by the_bT

[Darren9]

I actually haven't ever bothered to plant a flag , I'm guessing they get a coloured marker similar to probe/ship/base? - I'll have to try one.

[Tyren]

Exactly, the flag will be a landsmark as for ships/stations/base/rover etc.

[searlefm]

the mouton map is beautiful,

i'll be loading it up and trying it soon with and with out ferram aerospace later today.

[veio]

My go at the Kerball air challenge. I claim a time 3:36 which I am happy with. I did it using my Ultra micro plane which was ridiculously fun so props to the OP for making this challenge. I completed the standard course and all stock. This plane is so much fun I am off to do the high speed run with it too

[Limit]

Managed 2 minutes and 41 seconds on the basic course in a stock craft. I reckon I could go faster, because I had to cut the power to make the turn between gate 3 and 4!

Start

Finish

The Craft

[Darren9]

^ Nice laps, I'll put you both in the OP. That's a new record for the standard loop Limit, I have been around at 300m/s but not in a stock craft. Have you tried the_bT's new Kerbtown made course? It seems to solve the gate glitching issues. Hopefully the plugin will eventually allow the courses to be only in a scenario.

[Limit]

Managed to trim the fat a little, and squeeze a slightly better time of 2 mins and 35 seconds on the basic course. Top speed of just over 400m/s between gate 5 and 6.

Start

Finish

Craft mk2

[Fox62]

Are there points removed for engine spam? Cuz the guy above me used a good amount of it.

[the_bT]

Are there points removed for engine spam? Cuz the guy above me used a good amount of it.

I think as long as you can get it through the gates anything is legal. It's more or less the Kerbal equivalent of 70s formula 1.

It's also about as lethal. The only difference is that Kerbal pilots never complain about that

[Limit]

Are there points removed for engine spam? Cuz the guy above me used a good amount of it.

you call THAT engine spam?

[SpaceK531]

I was trying the challenge and on the way from my quicksave point I lost a tailfin. No problem, I thought, I'll just attempt the challenge without it:

[togatown]

Moving and placing these gates has got to be a bitch, I can't even join two of them! I decided to add my humble efforts to help perpetuate more of these challenges in the future.

I present for your approval the Kerbull Self Contained Flight Ring:

It's a command module

It's a reaction wheel

It has integrated RCS thrusters

It has electricity

It has it's own supply of monopropellant

It's one part!!

It flys and can be moved independantly!

If you like it, let me know and I'll upload it for future courses!

Edited September 3, 2013 by togatown

[Darren9]

^ It looks good Togatown, where is its CoM and does it stand well on slopes/uneven ground? Have you tried it in the mountains? My gates are having glitch issues and tend to fly away sometimes, have you had that problem with that one piece ring yet?