The Santa Substitute Challenge!

[Armchair Rocket Scientist]

Armchair Rocket Scientist,

Good questions. I'll clarify as best I can.

The first question is definitely legal. The rule was made so that the present-dropper-offer would not vanish mysteriously after getting too far away. While in orbit, this mysterious effect does not occur, and presents can be dropped unhindered.

Your second question is a bit trickier. I would say... no, all present propulsion must come from the sleigh itself. If presents could, at least partially, deliver themselves... then what's the purpose of even having Santa on there?

I'm adding a two-present bonus for delivering presents on the night of Christmas Eve.

Hmm... are sepatrons activated in the same stage as the decoupler, deorbiting the presents, allowed?

[mdosogne]

The engineers at KSC have already started on the 'Nog, so they revived an old SSTO designed for small payloads instead of building a sleigh. They couldn't find the wish list, but they know what's hot this year and opened up a few crates of R.A.P.I.E.R. engines!

I airdropped 4 such presents under cover of darkness (+2) to the island runway (+10), and then pulled a high-g turn to make sure they were safely landed (well, mostly for the fun of buzzing the tower) and then returned to KSC safely:

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I then redid the mission and dropped another 4 before returning in true kerbal style -- lost two engines on landing.

Question: if we do multiple delivery runs, do the bonuses count for each run? I'm going with a no, so that's 8 presents + 2 + 10 for a total of 20.

Total number of presents is now 107!

Edited December 24, 2013 by mdosogne
I can't add…

[BagelRabbit]

Total number of presents is actually at 107, right? 87+20=107.

Armchair Rocket Scientist, good thought, but I still say that present propulsion is not allowed unless if it's by Santa's sleigh.

mdosogne, you're right that bonuses don't count if you've used the same bonus more than once. If you get a different bonus than you did the first time, though, that bonus counts. (If, on my next flight, I land a present near a Mun Arch, I get the Far-Out bonus but not the Easter Egg bonus anymore. If I land on the Mun again, the Far-Out bonus is not applicable, etc.) Multipliers, however, do count over multiple runs and can be used again and again.

[mdosogne]

I caught the last counting error but can't count my own presents… d'oh!

[mdosogne]

Not to diminish your christmas spirit or anything, but on the topic of counting…

4+2 cover of darkeness=6 x5= 30 for far out

Shouldn't that be 4 presents * 5 for far out = 20 + 2 for cover of darkness = 22? I don't think bonuses get multiplied, which unfortunately drops the total to 99.

Edited December 24, 2013 by mdosogne
fix broken quote

[Armchair Rocket Scientist]

Not to diminish your christmas spirit or anything, but on the topic of counting…

Shouldn't that be 4 presents * 5 for far out = 20 + 2 for cover of darkness = 22? I don't think bonuses get multiplied, which unfortunately drops the total to 99.

Actually, I think it's 0 presents due to the single-stage rule being violated.

[mdosogne]

Well then, since refueling is allowed… I'll have to make a trip to Duna Base.

Question: do orbital stations count as pre-existing bases? I'm sure they would still prefer multi-nodes to R.A.P.I.E.R. engines.

[Sonic Young]

Hey guys! This is my first attempt at a challenge here, even though I've been playing KSP since v.0.18 something.

I have to admit I planned on bringing these presents to a base, but my base kept destroying itself on landing so... I gave up! I'm not too good at videos at the moment, but still, here's my contribution!

10 Presents, x2 (Sleigh Ride), +2 (Cover of Darkness), +5 (Reindeer Replacements)

That makes 27

+ 99 (subject to controversy )

= 126 presents delivered so far!

[BagelRabbit]

Sonic,

Welcome to the forum!

Glad you could contribute your massive plane, and thanks for your good video!

I must admit that this whole present thing is much more controversial than I thought it would be. I'll call the total number of presents 126, although I understand that that number may actually be lower.

I won't post again today, so Merry Christmas! Be sure to keep on submitting your wonderful designs!

[GraviTykillz]

Welcome to the Forums Sonic! nice plane and Drop! I think we should allow all presents delivered, I mean its Christmas and Santa works in mysterious ways:cool:

[Fleskhjerta14577]

I had kind of the same idea as Sonic when I tried this challenge... I just put some random stuff that weighed over 1 mass in the back of the B9 cargo plane and called it a sleigh. Of course with the bad planning when I ejected one present, guess what? It went right through the hull of the aircraft and destroyed it along the way. I'll attempt it again with a fully stock plane now...

[Darren9]

I have a few more to add with a "Carrier" jump-jet on a ten package delivery to the dirt runway, it can VTOL with or without the 11 ton payload of gifts and as usual, most importantly, has a red nose (and Santa has his hat on).

10 gifts (+10 to an Easter Egg) (+2 at night) (+5 Reindeer Replacements) is 27 delivered and 153 in total.

[Bizmar]

I have a few more to add with a "Carrier" jump-jet on a ten package delivery to the dirt runway, it can VTOL with or without the 11 ton payload of gifts and as usual, most importantly, has a red nose (and Santa has his hat on).

- snip

10 gifts (+10 to an Easter Egg) (+2 at night) (+5 Reindeer Replacements) is 27 delivered and 153 in total.

very nice! +1 for the KAS hat. +2 if you made your own!

[Armchair Rocket Scientist]

When I saw the "Reindeer Replacements" bonus, my first thought was: "Nine Mainsails." My second thought was: "That's a great idea, I should build this."

So here's Santa's new ride. A cluster of nine Mainsails, fueled by nearly 800 tons of holiday cheer. Its ambitious goal? Deliver 16 presents to the Big Pink Men who built the canals on Duna. Scientists say those canals were actually cobwebs on the telescope lens, which they forgot to clean, but who cares!

Each present includes two mystery goo canisters for SCIENCE!tm, communications antennae, and a structural fuselage packed full of snacks and board games. Oh yeah, and parachutes. Total mass is 1.01 tons.

And now, the mission highlights:

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To summarize: 16 presents (x20 to Duna)(+2 at night)(+5 Reindeer Replacements) = 327 presents delivered.

Total is now 480 presents.

[BagelRabbit]

Now, this is what I was thinking of when I made the challenge! Congratulations on your successful delivery of gifts to the red planet!

Three days until New Year's... I would recommend beginning some large-scale work now, if you want to deliver big things on this thread.

Again, good luck on your final push until New Year's!

[JebDynamics]

Spreading cheer with parachutes and jets!

6 Gifts (+6) delivered to the Island Runway (+10).

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No proof they landed safely last time, so I ran it again and landed to confirm the system works.

Use your judgement on points but I'm only claiming 16. Happy Holidays!

Craft File