Infinite fuel Racing

[Sillychris]

This is all about speed.

We fly to the Mun with infinite fuel.

1) Infinite fuel and clipping allowed.

1) a) Clipping shall be a separate class.

2) Mods and stock parts shall be separate classes.

3) Mechjeb and non mechjeb shall be separate classes.

Permutations of the above rules shall have unique classes

4) You must take a screenshot of a planted flag at the destination you are racing to. The time in the upper left hand corner is your score.

5) Lowest score wins.

6) Using save files is permitted.

-Also accepting races to the Northern Ice Cap on Kerbal.

Here is my entry, an obvious design:

My time is 36:29 for Mun 1-way.

Leaders:

No-Mechjeb, No Mods.

1) Scott Manley 5:00

2) Exploding_Potato 11:14

3) SillyChris 36:29

4)

5)

Mechjeb, No Mods

1) Xaiier 10:50

2) quietsamurai98 36:17

3)

4)

5)

No Mechjeb, Mods

1) xrayfishx 17:17 (FAR, DRE, KER, KJR, KW Rocketry)

Edited March 1, 2014 by Sillychris

[quietsamurai98]

Wow... 36 and a half minutes? That's incredible!

EDIT:

Beat you by 12 seconds using MechJeb.

ADDENDUM:

22m 19s.

Edited February 28, 2014 by quietsamurai98

[JacobT11]

Have to give this a shot when I get home. So no holds barred as far as size of rocket? Is it okay to use a seat instead of a command pod?

[Sillychris]

Have to give this a shot when I get home. So no holds barred as far as size of rocket? Is it okay to use a seat instead of a command pod?

It's a free for all. I will subdivide classes as demand requires.

[skykooler]

You've still got a way to go before you beat Scott Manley.

[Xaiier]

EDIT: Got ninja'd by Scott Manley

10:50

I threw this together in a couple minutes just to prove the point that given your conditions, there is a mathematical minimum time to get to the Mun, based on an optimal trajectory and a maximum acceleration attainable by say a seat and a bunch of mainsails, barring any kind of glitchy super speed things, so it's quickly going to turn into who can 'sploit the best.

Solved mathematically:

Maximum acceleration is something like 1372m/s^2 using a mass of fuelless sepatrons on a negligible weight craft.

a = 1372m/s^2

Kerbin radius = 600,000m

Mun altitude = 12,000,000m

Mun radius = 200,000m

So the minimum distance to ever possibly travel is:

12,000,000 - 600,000 - 200,000 = 11,200,000m

We will need to accelerate and decelerate for the same amount of time (lets ignore gravity and atmosphere in this case) so x for acceleration and deceleration is 5,600,000m

x = 5,600,000m

From kinematics we know that...

t = sqrt(x/(.5a))

...for constant acceleration over a distance.

So t for acceleration and deceleration is:

sqrt(5600000/(.5(1372)) = 90s

90s *2 = 180s = 3 minutes.

Funnily enough thats precisely what I guessed before doing these calculations. Granted this is assuming perfect execution, no gravity, no atmosphere, and an acceleration that is probably a bit beyond what a controllable craft like this could have, but whatever, it works.

Edited February 28, 2014 by Xaiier

[quietsamurai98]

Anybody else remember that decoupler powered rocket? That could be interesting as a lander...

[xrayfishx]

My entry. Mods that affected this run: FAR, DRE, KER, KJR, KW Rocketry.

I believe DRE entries (and according to some sources the Soviet pack, too) should be separate from other modded runs, because I was forced to stay under 5g except for very short bursts. Also, I needed a heat shield for takeoff.

The design

Landed.

When I got out to plant the flag, the mission timer reset. How do you avoid this?

My time can be seen in the second shot. I don't know how to stop the timer from resetting when you go on an EVA so this is a few seconds before planting the flag so I guess you can add some 5 sec to it if you want.

Edited February 28, 2014 by xrayfishx

[Sillychris]

xrayfish: Switch back to your capsule with ] to take a picture of capsule time. The reset timer is your KErbal's eva time.

[Sillychris]

For the geometry geeks like myself, I have introduced a no clipping category.

[xrayfishx]

xrayfish: Switch back to your capsule with ] to take a picture of capsule time. The reset timer is your KErbal's eva time.

I tried switching, but it was early in the morning and I didn't realise I switched to the flag, not the ship.

Do I have to redo the challenge, then?

[Sillychris]

No no, I trust that it took you five seconds to hit the ground. I posted your approximate time on the leaderboard.

[xrayfishx]

I hope you don't mind if I try again, 33 seconds penalty for that little mistake seems a bit too much.

Edit:

Ok, now I did it properly. Same mods, but the design is slightly different.

I had major lag (1 ingame sec = 4-5 real sec) after I passed 400000m for some reason. Control was hard as hell, but at least I had a bit more time for math.

Edited February 28, 2014 by xrayfishx

[Jodo42]

The Abyssal Lurker laughs at all your attempts, even Scott Manley's.

[Exploding_Potato]

I've only managed 11:14 with Mainsail + Probodyne OKTO2 + External Seat

And yes, i can't land that responsive spacecraft quickly enough, so i've lost a few seconds flying over surface. Mechjeb would probably get there ~30 seconds faster

Sepratrons lag too much for me (who knew over 500 parts would make any problems), also tried empty medium solid rocket booster, can get there in ~8:15 but i couldn't maneuver it quickly enough (bouncing over ground 15 m/s) so i've crashed the probe body making the time unreadable (but Jeb survived)