Austerity - A Rocket Made of Red Tape

[Danger Will Kerbinson!]

CHALLENGE CLOSED (suspended at least)

Accounting software issues.

The good times can not roll forever and even on Kerbin it has come time to pay the piper.

Just days after launching a new station into LKO the government accounting firm announced an error in the nations budget, something about a decimal point in the wrong place and no way to move it to the right place.

A mounting economic crisis is sweeping the nation and unfortunately during the most recent session of Kongress the politician who yelled AUSTERITY! had the loudest voice, now cost cutting fervor has gripped even the pride of Kerbalkind...the beloved space program.

Before the crisis this is how we planned to swap out crews to our new station.

This ship is well balanced for manual or autopilot flight, precise in fuel usage with nearly zero waste, has excellent docking maneuver behavior, redundant systems for lighting, power, recovery and leaves not a single speck of waste in orbit. And it costs nearly $27000.

During the debate Kerbal politicians of all stripes were able to reach across the aisle and agree on one major point. Leaving the first crew of the new station in orbit to die would look very bad come election time so that option was OFF the table. What they decided instead was to issue a mandate to the space program to re-tool the crew supply/relief ship to be a little less expensive. About 30% less expensive actually. All agreed this was a fine idea, congratulations and cheers rang out through the capitol.

So it falls to you, the new head of the space agency to design and fly this last mission of the fiscal year to at least exchange crew if not rescue them outright till more money comes in next year.

After the budget vote several high level officials took you aside for some special interest talk. As much as they don't want to spend money they also want everything that normally requires spending money to get. Imagine that.

The Corporatists want you to let a couple of private companies sleaze a toehold into the program, er..., I mean, help out. Mechjeb and Kerbal Engineering have agreed to supply their wares in exchange for prominent placement on the rocket for publicity shots. The KER people claim their software can be the budget hawk for the program so that one has been made clear its not optional.

Do Gooders Union, the public safety nannies are demanding parachutes instead of the just aiming for the softest part of the planet and crossing fingers plan you were sketching on a napkin during the hearing. They would also like to see some redundant safety gear, maybe some lighting too. If you could bring that guy in the station home alive that would be swell! They promise to get some more money in next years budget if you make a show for the safety of the Kerbinauts.

The Really Green party are very adamant about keeping space clean, leaving no debris at all if possible. They don't have any pull with the budget committee but they will sure fine your sorry butt if you litter in space.

The Science! lobby is hoping you can squeeze out a minor miracle to get some last minute experiments run before the program bites the dust, promises to remember your efforts at the next round of budget hearings.

And finally your own launch crew has fired up a Kickstarter to help with next years program but will only let it fund if you promise to use launch clamps and not "risk killing all of us with fiery death on the pad when that train wreck of yours falls over" as they so delicately put it.

So off you go, napkin drawings in hand and $18k in your wallet to do what you know in your responsible heart should cost 50% more to do right...and, Oh, BTW, try to cram in some stuff you didn't even plan on to begin with.

What could be easier?

RED TAPE CHALLENGE

Basic Conditions -

Flight Must take a kerbal, INSIDE a capsule, to DOCK with a station/vessel at or above 160km. Exchange crew or populate spare seats for return, re-enter and land in one piece at 6.8m/s or less at the time of touchdown.

No orbital debris of any kind, debris is not a fail but it is a $300 fine. Penalty is one time, not per littering offense. All debris must have PE less than 69.5km.

No refueling at any point...you have no money for that!

KER (Kerbal Engineering Redux) unit is required in order to show cost in VAB, All KER and MechJeb units are deductible IF they show in both vab and launch pictures.

Please use the ER-7500 flight recorder ($500) KER unit for visibility on the rocket and uniformity of cost deductions. Mechjeb 2 module that I use is $550

Mods Allowed - ONLY Mechjeb (optional) and Kerbal Engieering Redux (Required to view cost info) are permitted. Goes without saying

that editing parts is forbidden.

Ship/station for docking portion is unrestricted, put it in a 160x160km orbit with Hyperedit or fairy dust if you want but don't top up the fuel tanks while there.

No matter how you set up the target station or ship the challenge ship MUST do the docking. You can pitch/roll/yaw to aim the target ship but no thrust.

In addition to claim the no Mechjeb bonus (50) and thus be elgible for the Full Ride bonus (500) as well there can be no MJ use on the docking station either. I've added this restriction after my own recent test ship was able to make a no RCS docking far to easily just by having the target ship hold TGT + as I flew at it with a no MJ and no rcs ship.

The budget is capped at a strict $18000, not including Mechjeb or KER unit costs, use as many as you like as long as they show you can deduct the cost.

Screen shots required for submission -

In VAB of flight ready rocket with KER full window open to see the bottom line cost of the rocket as it will fly, clamps, MJ and KER units..everything.

Launch + 1 second to show launch clamps for bonus and to show it still has all the bonus gear from the VAB on it.

(optional) Last stage to be cast off in/near orbit debris showing a de-orbiting PE of 69.5 or less. Optional because its not an easy screenshot to get. Just be honest.

Docked with station/ship at 160km or higher.

Landing shot showing all capsules being claimed for score are surviving, so either landed close together or after chute deployment while still descending. Prior to landing to show a less than 6.8m/s landing speed is the prefered screenshot. Granted, if you have 2 chutes on a lander can with no other parts that speed is a non issue BUT if its an iffy design be prepared to show your work.

Score calculation-

Total must be less than $18000 after deducting for Mechjeb and KER units.

Units must be shown on the craft in VAB during the cost screenshot to be deducted.

((18000) - (as flown cost - KER and MJ)) + (bonus - penalties)) = total score

Bonus Structure -

Bonus only counts if base total is less than or equal to budget. Base total greater than budget is a Fail

Extra empty seat, inside a capsule, must also land safely + $2500 Can be extra pod(s) or empty seats on larger capsule. (No limit to this bonus, take as many as you can)

Docking Lighting, must illuminate the docking target + $300

Solar Charging ability + $200

Backup Battery power for lights + $150

Redundant Parachute + $1000 (per capsule that has 2 chutes so can be claimed more than once)

Docking Clamps + $500

Telling the Mechjeb corp to shove it and fly manually + $50

Scientific instruments up to one of each type, does not include antennae - $300 each, 300 bonus for ALL 4, $1500 possible

*Full Ride Bonus*

If ALL bonus conditions are met there is an extra $500 bonus.

All science units required as well as redundant chutes on every capsule to qualify.

Bonus items are one time bonus except for extra empty seats, science packages (1500pt max)

and redundant parachutes for extra capsules.

For example, 4 docking clamps is still only a $500 bonus the same as 2.

Flying a Solo capsule with MJ or probe core does not count for the empty seat bonus, this must be a manned mission.

I will post an example mission that meets the criteria but is not nearly squeezed to full potential. The budget ceiling is not hard at all to make the basic mission, this will not be a most people fail challenge. I really enjoy efficiency type challenges and thats what this is. Who can pull the most rabbits out of a hat for the fewest bucks while dotting i's and crossing t's for the powers that be?

Good luck to all who enter...and don't die wading through the boredom of bureaucracy.

SCORECARD

1 - Metaphor 18498

2 - me No points due to massive, though unintentional, cheating!!!!

3 - Tarmenius 13767

4 - Kappa73 13635

5 - Kelmoir 12676*

6 - RussPixie 9120

Edited July 12, 2013 by Danger Will Kerbinson!

[Ninety-Three]

This was an interesting challenge, stuff is costed really weirdly (mainsails cost as much as other engines, the 1.125 and 9 ton tanks are far and away the most cost-efficient ones, and so on) which makes optimizing different. Here's my attempt to come up with as much of a budget surplus as possible, having tested it I could afford to carry less fuel in general, and more on the second stage, but I'm too lazy to relaunch the same basic build. A more detailed account of the mission (including staging, which deorbits cleanly) can be found here.

The ship in the hangar:

Notable budget features include drogue chutes mounted on octo-struts, tiny stack separators, and no SAS. I would've used less RCS (the entire docking used a mere 1.89 units), only there's no symmetrical way to attach a less expensive amount of the stuff. The 2 person capsule would've been cheaper, but heavier, and disallows a second science/parachute bonus, so I went with two small capsules.

Minus the 240 for KER, it comes out to 19380. I earned every bonus item, and my second capsule had a full science suite and its own redundant parachute, earning those bonuses a second time. The budget adds up to 27200, 7820 unspent.

Mission photos:

As I understand it, the extra capsule (and associated extra science and extra parachute) bonuses can be claimed for an arbitrarily large number of capsules, given that the whole capsule affair weighs under a ton, it seems like you could run the budget up a lot higher, and claim a net profit, by sticking on half a dozen capsules and just a bit more fuel. If no one else does that, I'll give it a go just to see how silly it gets.

Edited July 10, 2013 by Ninety-Three

[Danger Will Kerbinson!]

Thanks 93 for having a crack at my challenge! I didn't expect anyone to actually beat me to posting my example but the thread took so long to post I had to go to sleep before I could respond to my first post.

There is one little hitch with your submission.

Minus the 240 for KER, it comes out to 19380. I earned every bonus item, and my second capsule had a full science suite and its own redundant parachute, earning those bonuses a second time. The budget adds up to 27200, 7820 unspent.

After deductions for KER and MJ units the total budget is $18000, putting you $1380 over budget.

I do like the creativity for the chutes, the standard radials are very expensive and add up quickly. I'm going to go play now to test out the descent speed offered by using 2 large drogues.

Hope you get your accounting pencil sharpended up for another entry!

[Ninety-Three]

Ah, that's what I get for skimming, I thought the bonus items counted towards my budget. I suppose I'll have to do up a fuel-efficient take on it after all.

[Danger Will Kerbinson!]

Ah, that's what I get for skimming, I thought the bonus items counted towards my budget. I suppose I'll have to do up a fuel-efficient take on it after all.

Not to worry, that was quite a wall of text to grind through. But yeah, the bonus points are dollars toward next years program, but only available IF you get this mission done while staying under budget.

A very easy savings on your ship I spotted was that both capsules were identical. You only need, and can only benefit from, science packages once each so thats $800 back in your wallet right there if you take them off the second capsule, not to mention the little bit of weight savings.

Re-reading my description of the bonus its not very clear. You can get the science bonus multiple times ONLY up to all 4 different unit, but its a 1500 max with the "use all 4" bonus.

Here is my example mission. This is not intended to be my serious entry just a simple proof that is can be done by the rules and without much difficulty, even getting the majority of bonus points at this dollar level is not exceedingly hard. The challenge is going to be wringing out every last dollar of cost to see which cost cutting rocketeer gets to keep their job with the agency next year.

My cost review picture showing a pre-deduction total of $19002

One KER ($500)and one MJ ($550) used, adjusted total is $17952 for a base score of $48

Launch picture

Attempting to show my last stage to orbit after firing the seperatrons for a skin of my teeth 64.5 PE

Docked at 160km to rescue Geneford

Chutes depoyed! Everyone lives!

19002 - 1050 MJ and KER credit = 17952 Net cost for a

Base Score of

$48 under the $18000 budget cap

+

Bonus points

Extra empty seat + 2500

Docking light + 300

Solar panel + 200

Battery + 150

Second Parachute for main capsule + 1000

Docking Clamp + 500

All 4 Science modules + 4 x 300 + 300 bonus for all = 1500

No redundant chute on second capsule and used MJ = no Full Ride bonus

Final stage de-orbited (barely) = no penalties

6150Bonus + 48 Base = 6198 Total score

My serious effort will come soon. I imagine the real problems come when you have cut so close to the bone that using MJ to reduce fuel usage by making exact burns becomes nearly mandatory but then you miss out on the Full Ride bonus.

Happy budgeting!

Edited July 10, 2013 by Danger Will Kerbinson!

[McFarnsworth]

Right, I've also had a go at constructing a rocket that meets the requirements. Largely coming to the same conclusions as Nintey-Three. Couldn't be arsed to do the actual docking yet but I've got plenty of fuel and rcs to achieve it, just me being lazy.

So far it costs $17829 total, and that's with mechjeb, KER and all bonus objectives included (I think anyway) so I think I'm good there.

But I'm a bit unclear as to when a parachute becomes redundant. My probe for instance has a single chute, but can technically land without deploying it. My launcher (single stage, decouplers cost money) can come down to earth on three chutes, would adding a fourth one count as being redundant, or would I need to add three more?

Also, first post, yay etc...

[Ninety-Three]

So here's a proper entry. I got a little more into trying to game the scoring system, though I still brought along more fuel than needed. I don't care for relaunches of the same ship, and it's just a few hundred points (it'd be really easy to swap 1 fuel tank for a battery, solar panel and light), so this'll do.

Five capsules, five! Also, one asymetrical parachute.

Launch

Docking

Oops, I hit just a liiittle too hard. It actaully bounced, it was positively cartoonish.

No No No!

Well, each of the capsules is individually intact...

With 2500*4 for the extra capsules, 50 for no Mechjeb, and a 240 deducation for the KER module, my score comes to 9982.

[metaphor]

I built one of these for the Mission Controller mod. It has a big solid rocket first stage, and no RCS. It's easy enough to dock without RCS since it's so small and nimble. It can get up to around a 600km orbit and back to the ground.

Kerbal Engineer says 4180 but I added the parts and got 5180 including the KER part.

[Danger Will Kerbinson!]

But I'm a bit unclear as to when a parachute becomes redundant. My probe for instance has a single chute, but can technically land without deploying it. My launcher (single stage, decouplers cost money) can come down to earth on three chutes, would adding a fourth one count as being redundant, or would I need to add three more?

Parachutes are only required on capsules that can carry live cargo. To get a bonus for a redundant chute for the safety bonus it must have 2 chutes PER crew capsule, its in case the first fails to deploy. Putting a chute on your booster stage is worth nothing. Putting more than 2 on any individual crew capsule does not score an extra bonus. Having 4 chutes attached to a capsule that is attached to a second capsule DOES count as long as the force of deployment does not rip off the second capsule. It seems a little dangerous for no benefit unless you really need the space on the capsule walls for something though.

As for a probe that can land without a chute, thats fine, I guess...but there is no points for probes so it sounds like extra weight and expense for no benefit. In fact, if you can land your crew capsule with no chutes that is just fine...but the touchdown limit is 6.8m/s for safety reasons.

On that subject about 93's latest entry. Does that single chute bring that whole 5 capsule group down to less than 6.8m/s at landing time?

I just noticed that I accidently cut the line about landing speeds...it was 2 AM. Off to edit that.

Edited July 10, 2013 by Danger Will Kerbinson!

[Kelmoir]

So, this is my Entry:

Inside the VAB, as you see:

-docking

-Light, solar, battery

-2 capsules, 2 times full sci equipment (baro, temp, acc, gravi)

-no Mechjeb

-4 Parachutes

-16738 Credits in total (after deducting the enigneer)

The pre-launch

Closing in on the Station (the standard scenario one, just lifted it's orbit- had noone ready at that heigt)

Docked... I'm going to pick... Jebediah

Back home - Bob doesn't show up in the bottom right, so I clicked the crew hatch to prove, he is in there.

The engine was used for the Deorbit burn, and also hit Kerbin.

18000

-16738

= 1262

+ 2500 extra cap

+ 300 Lighting

+ 200 Solar

+ 150 Battery

+ 1000 Red. Para

+ 500 Docking

+ 50 noMechJeb

+ 1500 Full science

+ 500 Full thing Bonus

= 7962

[Ninety-Three]

On that subject about 93's latest entry. Does that single chute bring that whole 5 capsule group down to less than 6.8m/s at landing time?

I just noticed that I accidently cut the line about landing speeds...it was 2 AM. Off to edit that.

It brings it to 11.9 m/s. If you use the RCS, and point straight up. I cut it a little close.

I was unaware there was a landing speed requirement, apparently I'll have to redo this again. 6.8 m/s seems like an oddly low number; while I admit that 11.9 is pushing it, I regularly make landings at worse than 6.8.

[Danger Will Kerbinson!]

18000

-16738

= 1262

+ 2500 extra cap

+ 300 Lighting

+ 200 Solar

+ 150 Battery

+ 1000 Red. Para

+ 500 Docking

+ 50 noMechJeb

+ 1500 Full science

+ 500 Full thing Bonus

= 7962

Good job sticking to the rules, but I saw on your post you said 2x science gear though I didn't really look to see if it was there. You did the bonus right as you can only get the 1500 once but if you put on a second set of gear that just cost you 800 bucks you didn't need to spend.

[McFarnsworth]

Parachutes are only required on capsules that can carry live cargo. To get a bonus for a redundant chute for the safety bonus it must have 2 chutes PER crew capsule, its in case the first fails to deploy. Putting a chute on your booster stage is worth nothing. Putting more than 2 on any individual crew capsule does not score an extra bonus. Having 4 chutes attached to a capsule that is attached to a second capsule DOES count as long as the force of deployment does not rip off the second capsule. It seems a little dangerous for no benefit unless you really need the space on the capsule walls for something though.

As for a probe that can land without a chute, thats fine, I guess...but there is no points for probes so it sounds like extra weight and expense for no benefit. In fact, if you can land your crew capsule with no chutes that is just fine...but the touchdown limit is 6.8m/s for safety reasons.

On that subject about 93's latest entry. Does that single chute bring that whole 5 capsule group down to less than 6.8m/s at landing time?

I just noticed that I accidently cut the line about landing speeds...it was 2 AM. Off to edit that.

Ok thanks, that saves me about three parachutes since I was also trying to recover the ascent stage. Or would you be able to maybe add it as an extra achievement? Being able to reuse the whole thing seems to be in the spirit of the challenge.

And I was a bit unclear about the probe part, I meant my crew capsule module. It has (just about) enough fuel and rcs left to do a controlled landing.

[Danger Will Kerbinson!]

I was unaware there was a landing speed requirement, apparently I'll have to redo this again. 6.8 m/s seems like an oddly low number; while I admit that 11.9 is pushing it, I regularly make landings at worse than 6.8.

Yeah, that omission is my fault. It was late late late and I clipped the landing speed rule out without noticing until just now. I based it on the rate of landing for a very vanilla 1 man capsule with the standard single chute with a little bit of wiggle room for extra parts. The point was to discourage cramming every possible piece of hardware onto the capsule with one chute and no decouplers provided to detach stuff before landing and driving the poor kerbal spines into the dirt at just shy off capsule breakup speed. Remember, this is an exercise in pleasing all the people, all the time with no resources to do it

6.8m/s is roughly 15mph for us science challenged. To make it tangible consider this similar to a 150lb human taking a swan dive from a 7 foot ladder. Even with shag carpet and a bag of cheetos to land on its going to hurt come morning. I think thats plenty of punishment...even if you use Bill. 11.9m/s is about 24mph or having that same guy falling off a 24ft ladder, I won't even do that to Shelbles.

Edited July 10, 2013 by Danger Will Kerbinson!

[Tarmenius]

Fun Challenge! This is the first time I've participated in a budgeting restriction, so it was nice to do something different. Normally, I engineer for fuel efficiency, not cost efficiency

And now, for the pictures!

Here, we see the "Budget Rescue" in the VAB, with a total cost of $16,766.

And here it is, lifting off from the pad with Launch Clamps released:

Just after rendezvous, but before docking, the orbital fuel and engine were de-orbited successfully. The other pieces of debris in the screenshot are from other missions and totally unrelated to the "Budget Rescue."

Docking with the Science Station was relatively uneventful, but I was a little worried about whether I'd have enough fuel to de-orbit.

Thankfully, I managed to get the Periapsis below 30,000m for a direct re-entry, with a small amount of fuel in reserve for final braking.

And the Budget Rescue splashes down at a comfortable 5.6 m/s thanks to the fumes left in the fuel tanks!

No parts were lost, and both crew members survived! Corberry looks surprised... or confused. Maybe both?

And now for the breakdown of score:

Total Cost: $16,766

Bonuses:

Extra Capsule +2500

Lighting: +300

Solar Panels: +200

Batteries: +150

Redundant Chutes: +1000

Docking Clamp: +500

No MechJeb: +50

Scientific Instruments (4): +1500

Full Ride: +500

Total Bonus: +6700

Final Score: 8174

((18000) - (16,766 - 240)) + 6700 = 8174

That adjusted score is less than half the allowed budget! Woo!

I completely forgot to use the $500 Engineer part instead of the cheaper $240 one. But the one I used is still clearly visible, so I hope that's okay. Let me know if I've left something out or did the math incorrectly.

Edited July 10, 2013 by Tarmenius
Spelling... whoops

[RussPixie]

That was a lot of fun

And yes, this is apparently my first post on the Forums, so Hi

The challenge - I went for a solid booster powered design - jeb was very pleased when he saw the rocket

Screens here http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198030037423/screenshots/?appid=sc_243432&sort=newestfirst&browsefilter=myfiles&view=grid

and I realised that when I was uploading them after the mission I hadn't included one that shows the orbit of the station and ship. I'll have to go back and refly the mission to get the requested picture - consider the score unconfirmed until I can provide proof of the orbits.

score:

18000 - 17080 = 920

+500 Engineer Part

+550 Mechjeb Part

+2500 extra capsule

+300 lighting

+200 solar panels

+150 battery

+1000 extra chute per capsule = 2000

+500 launch clamps

+1500 full science package

+0 did use mechjeb, though I could fly it without

Does the full ride also include the use mechjeb? in which case I'll fly again manually. I'll need to fly it again to get the correct pictures anyway.

Which is, if my maths is correct, 9120. Does that seem correct?

RussPixie

eta - I've run the challenge a 2nd time without using mechjeb. vessel was identical, apart from I moved the battery from the top of the pod to the bottom, so you can tell which set of pictures came from which mission.

Same score plus no mechjeb +50 and full ride +500 = 9670

it was late when I did the second attempt, and I seemed to have misunderstood the rules... I'll try again later

Edited July 11, 2013 by RussPixie
removed mechjeb 'attempt'

[Danger Will Kerbinson!]

Full Ride: +500

Total Bonus: +6700

Final Score: 8174

((18000) - (16,766 - 240)) + 6700 = 8174

That adjusted score is less than half the allowed budget! Woo!

I completely forgot to use the $500 Engineer part instead of the cheaper $240 one. But the one I used is still clearly visible, so I hope that's okay. Let me know if I've left something out or did the math incorrectly.

Good show Tarmenius. I like how you did it, documented exactly right...maybe I should have just made proper documentation a bonus scoring event in the spirit of bureaucracy, maybe next time.

But no full ride bonus for you I'm sorry to say, there are 2 capsules and only one has redundant chutes. You get the 1000 bonus for one of them but you have to have all crew capsules safely rigged with dual chutes to qualify. Seems nitpicky for sure but you know that someone will stick 2 chutes on 10 capsules at some point and try for the full bonus so I have to stick to the rules. You totally have the budget to tack on another chute to the first capsule though, getting the Full Ride AND a second redundant chute bonus which along with extra capsules bonus is allowed to keep getting scored. So thats a low hanging 1500 with the same design and only another couple hundred bucks out of pocket.

So for now Ill just revoke the 500 and post you to the leader board. Good job!

Another edit : You may have only used the $240 part but you didn't bother to deduct it...they are free ya know, so I will add that to your score.

Edited July 11, 2013 by Danger Will Kerbinson!

[Danger Will Kerbinson!]

and I realised that when I was uploading them after the mission I hadn't included one that shows the orbit of the station and ship. I'll have to go back and refly the mission to get the requested picture - consider the score unconfirmed until I can provide proof of the orbits.

The screen shots I saw of you docked had the altimeter showing 160km so you are good to go. I did note you had solar panels on both crew capsules, thats some free money to take back if you try again. The only things that need to be more than one to get a bonus is parachutes, 2 per crew capsule to get the bonus and science bits, one of each type up to 4. So spare solar panels, batteries, lights etc are just weight and money. Unless you need the symmetry to pull off flying it its a waste. Quick hint is that the small battery and the small solar panel are the same mass to perfectly offset each other.

Full Ride bonus means no Mechjeb, on either the challenge ship or the docking target. RCS is expensive and a good budget cut to make but docking is harder. With MJ its a piece of cake if you have it on either or both is why.

Will post your score momentarily. Well done.

Edited July 11, 2013 by Danger Will Kerbinson!

[Danger Will Kerbinson!]

Ok thanks, that saves me about three parachutes since I was also trying to recover the ascent stage. Or would you be able to maybe add it as an extra achievement? Being able to reuse the whole thing seems to be in the spirit of the challenge.

And I was a bit unclear about the probe part, I meant my crew capsule module. It has (just about) enough fuel and rcs left to do a controlled landing.

Im unwilling to change the scoring around this late in the game unless someone points out a glaring goof on my part. Ive already had to edit for missing the critical condition of a safe, slow-ish landing which has already messed up some folks.

As for landing your ship on its own power I don't see why not. You are tossing out the chance for a redundant chute bonus (unless you stick them on and just don't use them for some insane reason) and the Full Ride bonus and I guess you need to show a nearly landed screenshot at 6.8m/s or less to qualify at all but far be it from me to stop the determined for working harder for less reward

[Danger Will Kerbinson!]

Here is my first entry, I would like to thank 93 for opening my eyes to the large drogue chute possibility which I have blatantly stolen. Its the same design I was going to use but I didn't consider using these instead of small cone shaped chutes...saved me 88 bucks, thanks!

Our lowly penalty box rocket awaiting its big day!

13495 as flown - 500 for KER, no MJ so a base price of $12995

18000 - 12995 = 5005 base score

All systems GO!

No junk in this trunk

Docked at 160km

Splashdown imminent, nice and slow...like Bill.

Base Score is 5005

Bonus -

Extra seat + 2500

Docking light + 300

Solar Panel +200

Battery + 150

Redundant Chutes on both capsules + 1000 x 2 = 2000

Docking clamp used +500

No Mechjeb + 50

Full science kit + 300 x 4 and 300 bonus = 1500

All bonus points captured, FULL RIDE bonus + 500

Total Bonus 7700

+ Base 5005

Grand Total 12705

Please let me know if I cheated or my math sucks.

[Tarmenius]

Seems nitpicky for sure but you know that someone will stick 2 chutes on 10 capsules at some point and try for the full bonus so I have to stick to the rules.

No worries, I'd expect nothing less. I would suggest adding a "(per capsule)" to the Bonus listing to make it totally clear. At any rate, this gives me the opportunity to do it again, and with the proper KER unit, even! Maybe I can even find some ways to cut costs further.

[Danger Will Kerbinson!]

No worries, I'd expect nothing less. I would suggest adding a "(per capsule)" to the Bonus listing to make it totally clear. At any rate, this gives me the opportunity to do it again, and with the proper KER unit, even! Maybe I can even find some ways to cut costs further.

Clarifications to rules added in first post.

The thing with the KER unit is just because that little green one has a tendancy to clip through things and remain unseen. I guess if I can't see the unit but see the KER info panel then I would just have to default to calling it a $240 credit instead of $500. So its in your interest to have it be seen unless you specify that you used the cheap one and the math checks out.

Diminishing returns are setting in for me. I ran another variant with 3 capules (2 bonus) with 6 chutes. Didn't bother to post it because of A) I noticed in the screenshot that my station has moved orbit due to multiple dockings and is down to 15974 so its a DQ right there but also Its only another 100 points net gain. Should have done my math before flying, I would have done something more fun

[Tarmenius]

Well, I wrapped up my second attempt, and I think I got everything this time. Plus, I shaved off a bunch of cost!

Total, unadjusted cost: $12,433.

In the details, I removed three of the solar panels, one of the batteries, one of the seperatrons, and added the large KER unit, but it's mostly obscured by the ant engine. It can be seen more clearly in the docking picture.

Liftoff as normal:

Again, the orbital maneuver stage is jettisoned and de-orbited.

And I must say, this is a serious personal achievement for me: Docking without RCS! I sent up another station into a lower orbit to reduce the fuel I'd have to take with me, though the orbital maneuver stage still had plenty left when I sent it back to Kerbin.

And here the craft sits in the desert south of KSC. Touchdown was at about 3.5 m/s. Nice and gentle. All parts and crew survived.

So, if I've done everything right, the Bonus score should now be 7700. Making the Grand Total:

((18000) - (12,433 - 500)) + 7700 = 13,767!

I still have crew in that station, just waiting to be picked up... in case I've forgotten anything

Edited July 11, 2013 by Tarmenius

[Kappa73]

Here's my entry for the challenge:

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Please don't mind the poor quality screenshots, i have the whole mission on video, i'll post it as soon as i get it rendered and uploaded.

Now i will attempt to calculate the score.

extra seats 2 x 2500 = 5000

docking lighting 300

solar charging 200

backup battery 150

redundant parachute 3 x 1000 = 3000

docking clamps 500

no mechjeb 50

science! 1500

total = 10700

((18000) - (16065 - 500)) + (10700 - 0)) = 13135

E: Here's the youtube video i promised.

Edited July 11, 2013 by Kappa73
YT-link

[Danger Will Kerbinson!]

So, if I've done everything right, the Bonus score should now be 7700. Making the Grand Total:

((18000) - (12,433 - 500)) + 7700 = 13,767!

I still have crew in that station, just waiting to be picked up... in case I've forgotten anything

You are the new leader!