The Amazing Race: Interplanetary Edition Season 1

[mangekyou-sama]

Well first of all, I would like to thank Scarecrow88 for making this project/challenge a reality.

It was just an idea, but he was extremely kind enough to set things up!

OVERVIEW:

For Season 1, Jebediah is the only Kerbonaut available to complete the following set of missions, which need to be completed in one flight. Landing back at Kerbin at any time counts as the end of the flight. All orbiting stations that need to be visited are fitted with refuelling facilities, and there are two refuelling depots orbiting around Duna. All of these are fitted with at least one of each type of docking port - junior, standard and senior - and in most cases, more than one of each type is fitted.

TASKS:

• Collect Bill Kerman and one other Kerbal Scientist from the station in Kerbin Orbit
  
• Deliver the Kerbin scientist to Mun station and pick up Mun Technician
  
• Visit the flag that has been placed at the Armstrong Memorial on Mun
  
• Visit the flag that has been placed at one of the arches on Mun
  
• Bob is on the station orbiting Minmus, and needs to deliver the lander that is docked to the station to the surface
  
• Jebediah and Bill need to deliver the technician to the station orbiting Minmus
  
• Bob needs to be retrieved from the surface of Minmus once he has delivered the lander
  
• A flag needs to be planted on the surface of Duna
  
• A lander that is currently on the surface of Laythe needs a pilot so that it can be returned to Laythe orbit
  
• Jebediah, Bill and Bob need to return to Kerbin alive
  

NOTE: These tasks can be completed in whatever order the player deems preferable. Strategy and careful planning is key!

POINTS WILL BE AWARDED AS FOLLOWS:

Collect Bill and one other from Kerbin station 10pts

Visit Armstrong flag 10pts

Visit arch flag 10pts

Deliver scientist to Mun station 10pts

Deliver technician to Minmus station 10pts

Deliver Minmus lander to Minmus surface 10pts

Deliver lander to <5km from Minmus base +10pts bonus

Deliver lander to <1km from Minmus base +15pts bonus

--(delivery points are accumulative, so all three can be claimed if the lander is delivered <1km from the base)

Plant a flag on surface of Duna 10pts

--Bonus points if flag is placed on Duna 'face' +15pts

Return Laythe lander to Laythe orbit 10pts

--Bonus for docking lander to Laythe station +10pts

Land back at Kerbin 10pts

--bonus if <10km from KSC +10pts

--bonus if <2km from KSC +20pts

*Lose 10pts for any of Jebediah, Bill or Bob that do not make it back to Kerbin.

*Maximum score that can be accumulated is 170pts for all tasks and bonuses and without incurring a penalty.

SCREENSHOTS FOR PROOF ARE REQUIRED AS FOLLOWS:

• Craft on launch pad with just Jebediah on board
  
• Screenshot showing Jebediah, Bill and one other on board after undocking from Kerbin station
  
• Plaque on Armstrong flag
  
• Plaque on Arch flag
  
• Scientist from Kerbin station on board Mun station
  
• Technician from Mun station on Minmus station
  
• Minmus lander on surface of Minmus, with distance to Minmus base if claiming spot landing bonuses
  
• Flag on surface of Duna, clearly showing Duna 'face' if claiming face bonus
  
• Laythe lander in orbit or docked to Laythe station if claiming docking bonus
  
• Craft on Kerbin showing distance to KSC if claiming spot landing bonus, and showing Jebediah, Bill and Bob for no penalty.
  
• Mission elapsed time
  

TO MOD OR NOT TO MOD:

• Stock craft with no mods for docking or pinpoint landing - visual docking aids are allowed providing they do not control the craft
  
• Modified craft with no mods for docking or pinpoint landing - visual docking aids are allowed providing they do not control the craft
  
• Stock craft with mods that perform docking and/or landing
  

DOWNLOAD THE PERSISTENCE FILE HERE!

GET THE FLAG HERE!

Right now I'm still in the process of making the achievement ribbons for this challenge. But right now, what matters is that you all complete this challenge and if it's successful enough, we might soon see Season 2 Goodluck to all!

Edited October 2, 2013 by mangekyou-sama

[Scarecrow88]

The persistent file link above doesn't appear to be working. The file can be downloaded here.

Edited October 4, 2013 by Scarecrow88

[Scarecrow88]

As it was me that created the persistent file so that this challenge could take place, I suppose that it's only fair that I post my attempt to show that it can be done.

Craft was all stock, and all flights/landing/docking were conducted manually. Only mods used were Kerbal alarm clock to avoid missing manoeuvre nodes, docking indicator to give additional visual clues for docking, and protractor to give information for transfer windows.

I claim points for:

Collecting Bill and Ripley from Kerbin station (Jeb had to go back to Kerbin from the Mun as when he dropped Ripley off, he suddenly twigged that Bill should have been with him as well! Not sure if that would incur a loss of points for not collecting both at the same time. As Jeb incurred a time penalty by having to retrace his steps to Kerbin I would ask for leniency from the judges.)

Visiting the Armstrong Memorial flag

Visiting the Arch flag

Delivering Ripley to Mun station

Transferring Buzz from Mun station to Minmus station

Delivering the lander to Minmus base, with bonus points for landing <5km and <1km away

Plant a flag on Duna with bonus points for planting it on the face (Jeb had a bit of a walk for that one because he couldn't remember exactly where the face was and landed just over 1km away)

Returning the Laythe lander to orbit with bonus points for docking it back with Laythe station

Spot landing back at KSC 215.6 metres from the launch pad with all three top guys in one piece.

For maximum 170 points

Mission time on the f3 popup shows as 319 days 19hrs 26mins 48secs though I have a sneaky feeling this may not be accurate for the entire mission, but just the elapsed time for the final flight from Laythe. Be interested to see what others post up.

ETA: I have just been checking the tracking station details at the end of my mission, and that is showing the mission time for an engine stage that I jettisoned between Minmus and Duna that is still floating around as debris as 2yr 71d 7h so the info in the flight log on the craft that landed back at KSC can only be keeping track of it's last flight and not the entire mission. Thought it looked wrong. May need to speak to the OP on amending something within the scenario that can stay in orbit somewhere and be used as a timekeeper. Maybe a small satellite attached to Kerbin station that has to be detached in to it's own orbit, which the tracking station will keep time for. Proof of mission start would be a screenshot of your own craft docked at Kerbin station with the satellite being deployed.

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Edited October 3, 2013 by Scarecrow88

[Mesklin]

It is my mission on SSTO Grizzly. I claimed points for all tasks, with no exceptions (total points is 170).

Craft is almost stock, except one detail: Engineer Redux flight computer.

I used next mod only for information and useabilty: Alarm Clock from Trigger Tech, V.O.I.D. (very usefull HUD near altimeter) and Engineer Redux.

I tryed to use Redux for see my dV pool, but it is work incorrect: calculate dV based on all my engines. MJ in same situation work better: it makes dV calculation based on only active engines.

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[Scarecrow88]

Nice going Mesklin - I didn't even think of trying with a SSTO.

For anyone wanting to try this challenge I've made a small amendment to Kerbin station and attached a small satellite. If this is detached before undocking your own craft after picking up Bill and the scientist, and a screenshot taken to show that you were still in Kerbin orbit at that point, the satellite can be used as a timer for your mission in case you have the same problem that I ran in to.

Edited October 4, 2013 by Scarecrow88

[Scarecrow88]

As I wasn't happy not having a definitive mission time, I had another go at the task, and recorded a time of 2y 188d 18h 13m 31s, with all tasks completed and full bonus with no penalties.

Rather than post the mission screenshots here, I created a thread in the mission forum, and put them in there. I've linked back to this thread so hopefully It might encourage a few more people to have a go.

Edited October 5, 2013 by Scarecrow88