[SCENARIO] "Planetes": Kerbal Redux

[ihtoit]

The KMS Ottoman, a merchant salvage tug, has done an impressive job in cleaning up Nearspace around Kerbin, but they report some debris that they can't handle - large, empty fuel tanks left over from the early days of Kerbolar exploration still litter the LKO equatorial lanes at 80km and 200km, which they have offered to tender to other private concerns interested in large amounts of metal.

As the only bidder your company has landed the contract to remove these hazards. There are TWELVE hulks in 80km orbit and FOUR in 200km orbit. You may use any of the following methods you wish: capture and recovery, deorbiting, or blowing up.

Use the provided save package (Verified REMOTETECH download) or this one (Verified COMPLETELY STOCK WITH ADDED HAZARD (and no antennas ANYWHERE!) download) (just unpack either one into your saves folder and run from there. You'll find it pretty much stock as it stands) as your scenario primer. You will see the relative positions of all the hulks in the Tracking Station monitor. You will also be able to pinpoint the extra hazards as debris. It's all pretty small stuff (FL-T200 tanks and standard rockets, which are point scoring retrieval objects!), but it's spread across both orbital lanes and between them on some crazy orbits, so let's be careful up there

THE RULES (subject to revision):

- ANY structural or powerplant mod valid. Go nuts.

- NO exploits, hyperdit, infinite fuel or any other method of cheating known or unknown.

- NO simply deleting the flight tracks in the Tracking Station!

- You will be penalised 500 points for EVERY launch after your first one (resupply, refueling or rescue craft - there is fuel in some of the hulks, you'll have to find and recover it!). Segmented launchers (multiple payloads) count as ONE launch as long as all segments share the same lifter platform to orbit, SSTOs and Skycranes (which return to Kerbin and lift off immediately into orbit without refuelling on the ground first) also count as a single launch even if it lands and takes off multiple times.

- Refuelling only permitted in orbit via the dregs left in some of the hulks. That's *all* the fuel available to you along with what you carry in your initial launch.

- Your vessel MUST land back at/within 10km of KSC to score!

- Your Kerbal/s MUST survive!

HINTS:

KAS recommended.

MechJeb recommended.

There is no monopropellant available on any of the hulks (oops, oversight). If you plan on docking, pack PLENTY.

SCORING (subject to revision):

5 points per hulk destroyed by missile (I wanna see explosions!).

3 points per hulk destroyed by deorbiting (confirmation by orbit track is sufficient).

10 points for landing a hulk anywhere on Kerbin.

20 points per hulk RECOVERED TO WITHIN 10km OF KSC (I wanna see it *landed*).

25 points for crashing a hulk into Mun!

50 points for crashing a hulk into Minmus!

75 points for pushing a hulk to Kerbolar orbit.

100 points for landing a hulk at the runway, mainly for SSTO lovers.

150 points for landing a hulk on the VAB roof!

100 points for landing a hulk at the island runway.

200 points for landing a hulk at KSC 2.

300 points for sending a hulk on a terminal Kerbolar dive or into Kerbolar escape trajectory.

50 points for retrieving a piece of debris (consisting of an FL-T200 fuel tank with attached rocket engine) back to the KSC peninsula (that's a pretty big target to land on from orbit!). Rockets are expensive, we need to reuse as many as we can! (STOCK scenario only)

100 points for crashing a hulk into any planet other than Kerbin or any moon other than Mun or Minmus.

500 points for converting a hulk into an active manned satellite.

(Thanks to kookoo_gr for helping rebalance the scoring)

**Design needed for special award: The "Leaf Award", named for the Nissan electric-hybrid supercompact, awarded to anyone who uses the stock Rapier engine, with intakes (to fully utilise its hybrid capability), on an SSTO vehicle as the *only* source of forward propulsion and successfully brings down at least THREE hulks!**

**Design needed for the "DeLorean Award" for anyone who manages to use a KSP Interstellar 3.75m nuclear fission reactor in Basic mode alongside the requisite heatsinks and thermal generators as the sole source of electrical power for the entire vehicle. No award offered for using the smaller reactors or any of the fusion reactors.**

LEADERBOARD:

1. Claw with The Claw, pushing the elephant for 2400 points (solar escaped 8 hulks)

2. Slayer McGee with an epic 16-stage mission for 1738 points (and some very interesting and varied solutions to the challenge, including a KAS hack for adding parts)

3.

4.

5.

(Challenger's note: it just took me all night to set this one up, so my attempt won't be getting documented until tonight...)

(ADDITIONAL: I will be uploading a persistence file from a vanilla .23 installation later tonight, please bear with me if you want to wait for it, this one currently requires RemoteTech 2 to run. EDIT: done.)

INSPIRATION:

The story of Planetes follows the crew of the DS-12 "Toy Box" of the Space Debris Section, a unit of Technora Corporation. Debris Section's purpose is to prevent the damage or destruction of satellites, space stations and spacecraft from collision with debris in Earth's and the Moon's orbits. They use a number of methods to dispose of the debris (mainly by burning it via atmospheric reentry or through salvage), accomplished through the use of EVA suits.

The episodes sometimes revolve around debris collection itself, but more often the concept of collecting "trash" in space is merely a storytelling method for building character development. The members of the Debris Section are looked down upon as the lowest members of the company (and also occupy the lowest decks of the orbital station on which they live and work) and they must work hard to prove their worth to others and accomplish their dreams.

Ongoing plot elements include an upcoming exploratory mission to Jupiter on the new fusion powered ship, Von Braun, and the lead character's decision to join the mission, no matter the cost. Many other plot threads are also developed throughout the series that help to explain each character's motivations and personalities. The Space Defense Front is a terrorist organization that believes mankind is exploiting space without first curing global problems such as mass famine and the widened socio-economic divide on Earth. - Source

Edited March 19, 2014 by ihtoit
added STOCK scenario challenge bonus

[ihtoit]

OK, I'm going to try for a deorbit of all 16 hulks, with this:

Meet the "KMS Ottoman". This is a refit model, with the radially mounted cargo bays switched out for 24 KAS containers which hold:

64 radial parachutes

40 monopropellant tanks

100 linear RCS thrusters

...the idea being to deorbit the hulks and providing they survive impact, any which land near to KSC will score me even more!

Pinpointing them is going to be hard since RCS has a really sucky thrust and I'm not even sure 2 tanks per hulk is going to be enough (I'm putting three on the bigger ones just to be sure).

My target order is going to be three low orbit, one high, using 25km hops between co-orbiting intersections.

EDIT: Cracking idea, would be wonderful if Jeb didn't start tumbling uncontrollably the second I picked up a chute... slight redesign in the works, going to load up with missiles and shoot the things down.

EDIT EDIT: this is going to be redesigned as a modular launch system, basically it's going up in one piece then I'll be parking various bits in odd orbits for flyby recovery on my way round. Sounds complicated. I want to keep the physics part count down when I do my manoeuvres.

Edited March 6, 2014 by ihtoit

[SlayerMcGee]

Awesome challenge, I'm in (but it's a busy week, so I may take a while), thanks for the submission!

[kookoo_gr]

very interesting challenge but the debris crafts you have placed have some sort of a mod antenna part and they can't load. It would be nice to have them stock so everybody can use the save file. Also the scoring is not balanced in my opinion. I would go

3 points per hulk destroyed by deorbiting (confirmation by orbit track is sufficient).

5 points per hulk destroyed by missile (I wanna see explosions!).

10 for landing anywhere on Kerbin.

20 points per hulk RECOVERED TO WITHIN the flat ground radius OF KSC. (don't know its radius but if it is 10km then it's fine)

25 points for crashing one into Mun!

50 points for crashing one into Minmus!

75 points for sending at interplanetary space

100 points for landing one at the runway, mainly for SSTO lovers.

150 points for landing one on the VAB roof!

175 points for landing one at the island runway

200 points for landing at KSC 2

300 points for crashing in the Sun/sending outside the solar system debris (this may be an overkill but it would be fun).

[SlayerMcGee]

FYI, I had to load up the RemoteTech2 mod to get the save file to work. Install that and you should be good to go.

[ihtoit]

yeah, I'll have a look at the persistence file later and see if I can get it to run vanilla. Sry bout that

EDIT: OK, hold your horses, I'll redo it in vanilla and re-upload. Be a few hours :x

Edited March 6, 2014 by ihtoit

[ihtoit]

very interesting challenge but the debris crafts you have placed have some sort of a mod antenna part and they can't load. It would be nice to have them stock so everybody can use the save file. Also the scoring is not balanced in my opinion. I would go

3 points per hulk destroyed by deorbiting (confirmation by orbit track is sufficient).

5 points per hulk destroyed by missile (I wanna see explosions!).

10 for landing anywhere on Kerbin.

20 points per hulk RECOVERED TO WITHIN the flat ground radius OF KSC. (don't know its radius but if it is 10km then it's fine)

25 points for crashing one into Mun!

50 points for crashing one into Minmus!

75 points for sending at interplanetary space

100 points for landing one at the runway, mainly for SSTO lovers.

150 points for landing one on the VAB roof!

175 points for landing one at the island runway

200 points for landing at KSC 2

300 points for crashing in the Sun/sending outside the solar system debris (this may be an overkill but it would be fun).

hmmm... worth a look, I can see no problem in squirting in a bit of fuel using a KAS pipe and stapling on a couple midget engines... scoring revision to follow... thx for the suggestions

[Whirligig Girl]

I think that there should be a penalty for multiple launches, but it should still be allowed.

[ihtoit]

I think that there should be a penalty for multiple launches, but it should still be allowed.

yeah, fixing that...

[cyberklad]

What if you build an SSTO that can perform several launches without refueling ? Lets say that you go up into orbit, pick up a tank and then use the SSTO to land the tank and deposit it somewhere at the KSC and then repeat the process ? Would that be a penalty or a bonus ?

[ihtoit]

nah, that's one launch vehicle (as long as you don't do a "revert" to relaunch or whatever, 'cos that'd be a bit cheaty)... would be a sod on fuel tho. Rules updated on that one. :\

Anyhoo, updating the top post with new TESTED TOTALLY STOCK scenario file with the original sixteen Drones and a bit of added hazard >:]

Edited March 7, 2014 by ihtoit

[Itsdavyjones]

Interesting, gonna give it a try, after i re-install the game to have all the squad stuff, and hope it doesn't crash on loading.

[ihtoit]

OK, slight redesign (gone BIGGER. MUCH bigger. And a two-part ship, to boot!) Presenting, KMS Ottoman II:

Couldn't wait, straight to the pad with this SSTO parasite payload beast:

FIVE HUNDRED FIFTY THREE TONS! :x

Separating the payload in 150km circular orbit:

(hopefully well out of the way of any errant rocket stage... though I do seem to remember this thing having 24 parasite boosters attached to it at one point :x might have to send up yet another mission to clear up the small stuff... hint hint!)

The payload: all of 36 tons fully loaded:

...and as agile as a housefly on speed!

Docking approach to the first of the outer hulks. Looks fairly easy, at least it's not spinning! You might notice at some point that I've got a Clamptron port mounted radially on my ship, for some reason MechJeb has an easier time with radial mount ports than axial mounts...

...and there it is. In case you're wondering, those boxes are KAS large containers containing some (hopefully) useful kit for the work that needs doing.

Sent Bob out to fix the chutes, found out that it wasn't uncontrollable spinning last time, grabbing a chute actually changes the whole RCS control experience: WHY DOES IT DO THAT! I DON'T LIKE IT! I DON'T LIKE CHANGE! It changes from POV control (ie, normal) to objective view control and it's weird, like flying a radio controlled NBA (neutral buoyancy airship) or an RC hovercraft... Found out also that the Rockomax 24/77 engines don't work even if you attach them directly to a fuel tank which has FUEL AND OXIDISER in it (says "Oxidiser Deprived)! So those half dozen crates of them I bought along are USELESS, might as well just tip 'em over the side and save a couple tons. Not holding out much hope for the RCS gear either, might just use the crates to carry chutes. Thrusting using the tug engines is LONG and SLOW and TEDIOUS (wonder if the Rockomax 77's'd actually work on the tug?).

Had to set hard thrust limit of 20% or the sideways thrust from the pod overwhelmed the RCS' capability to counteract it and started the whole structure tumbling.

Aerocapture of the Hulk inevitable:

We'll see if this hulk makes a safe landing in the next photosode.

Note to self: save four chutes for the pod for landing at KSC.

Edited March 7, 2014 by ihtoit

[ihtoit]

ok, I got Krakened. Loaded the game just now and everything exploded - at which point the autosave decided to kick in.

Now I got to start over! >:[

[SlayerMcGee]

ok, I got Krakened. Loaded the game just now and everything exploded - at which point the autosave decided to kick in.

Now I got to start over! >:[

The kraken is finding my craft especially delicious, also, but this is saving me from having to start over:

Multiple Saves DA mod (make game saves by name): http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/multiple-saves-da/

[SlayerMcGee]

I'm still working on this challenge, this scenario has made me finally learn how to use Kerbal Attachment System, which is good.

Here's a sneak peak at my upcoming mission, regards!

[Kasuha]

Hmmm I guess I'm going to take a look at this challenge when I get home tonight. I assume inspecting all the debris before I start designing is okay with rules...?

[ihtoit]

Hmmm I guess I'm going to take a look at this challenge when I get home tonight. I assume inspecting all the debris before I start designing is okay with rules...?

yep. It's actually a sensible place to start. The inner orbiting junk has no attachment points, you'll have to use anchors or some sort of capture frame to literally push it out of orbit, the outer stuff has Clamptrons. They may or may not be spinning by the time you get there.

[Kasuha]

They may or may not be spinning by the time you get there.

I'm pretty sure none of them will be spinning. On-rails mechanics don't preserve angular momentum.

[ihtoit]

I'm pretty sure none of them will be spinning. On-rails mechanics don't preserve angular momentum.

depends if they encounter an errant rocket stage while you're making your docking/capture approach or knock it with a Kerbal on EVA (oh yeah, *that*'s fun!)

[Kasuha]

Okay... I loaded it, took a look at it and I don't have any "how" problems but I have a problem with insane amount of time doing this properly would require. Only four of hulks have docking ports so only these I can collect the "normal" way, all the remaining 12 hulks and mainly 104 (!) pieces of debris which have no docking ports and I have to collect them manually and dispose of them in real time otherwise they'll either fly away or clip through whatever container am I holding them in.

Sorry but I'm going to pass on this, I don't have the time it requires.

[Claw]

Kasuha is indeed right. It took me forever to do this. I only focused on the main tanks. And after the first mission of eight tanks, I'm calling it complete...

Here's my entry. I sent 8 (yes Eight) Drone I tanks on solar escape orbits with 1 mothership. So 8 x 300 = 2400 for me. (I'll leave the other 8 for someone else, because holy crud, I can't do that again.)

Turns out I way overplanned fuel for the mothership. I ended up on orbit with 3/4 of an orange tank MORE than I was planning. So I ended up using it to help with rejoins on the tanks that still had fuel. I planned on using small detachable probes with just enough dV to send the tanks on escape.

Turns out it was just barely enough for the fullest fueled tank. So close in fact that I had to do the burn in two parts. This was needed because I'm using nukes, and the burn time is 8 minutes. It's a bit too long and misses out on a lot of help from Oberth. The first burn was about 700 dV and put the tank into an elliptical orbit. The second burn was for the rest, and used up all but about 15dV for the heaviest tank.

By the way, this is all stock except MechJeb. This was one of the few missions I was planning on using Jeb heavily to reduce the tedium. Turns out MJ doesn't do well with stock craft smash-pushing other stock craft. So I had to control the burns by hand. 8 minute burns are fun when you're pushing an elephant.

Enjoy.

EDIT: It's a lot of pictures. Proof of 8 drones on solar escape is at the end, along with Jeb's hero shot.

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Edited March 13, 2014 by Claw

[fenderzilla]

could you post the download on mediafire or something? the link is blocked for me.

[SlayerMcGee]

Claw, really nice work mate, thanks for the album! I really like your claw system for grabbing the probes, how stable is it under acceleration? Does MJ not work because the tank moves around?

I should be completing my submission in the next 24 hrs, but I'm not going to get close to your score!

[Claw]

Claw, really nice work mate, thanks for the album! I really like your claw system for grabbing the probes, how stable is it under acceleration? Does MJ not work because the tank moves around?

I should be completing my submission in the next 24 hrs, but I'm not going to get close to your score!

Thanks! I figured the claw system was appropriate given my name. Also, I've used this technique on several rescue missions where I wanted the craft back so it seemed like a good place to start. (And I fly stock, so I'm unfamiliar with KAS which I assume would be ideal for this.)

Anyway...

It takes a bit of practice to get the docking lined up, especially since I didn't include any RCS to keep the weight down. The drones still have probe cores which made it a bit easier.

Under acceleration it's actually pretty stable, provided you get a good alignment of the payload (the tank, in this case). If the payload alignment is off too much, the center of mass is too far off to the side and it causes the whole mess to skew wildly off course. Hence, pushing the elephant. If you get a good alignment, it's all hands off.

MJ wasn't cooperating for a couple reasons.

First, I don't think it liked being ejected from the mothership. Sometimes it did a poor job of tracking dV and TWR of the nukes. Also, the dV and TWR is a lie since the payload isn't actually attached. So MJ doesn't know about this extra weight. This, in turn, caused MJ to have problems determining when to start firing the engines and they would come on way to late.

Second, I found the ships were much more stable if I just set the course, got a good payload alignment, accelerated the engines, then left it alone. If the tank alignment was a little off and the rocket wasn't pointed right at the maneuver node guidance, I just left it alone. Adding input sometimes caused too much other motion that just made the steering worse. MJ likes to keep adjusting, which can make the payload tank wiggle more.

Don't worry about the score. I sort of spotted this as the best bet for me simply because I've done the grapple design in stock before. Sending them on solar escape seemed easier to me than trying to land them safely at KSC 2, because I can't really do that in stock. Especially since they don't have docking ports.

What I didn't anticipate was just how close I shaved the dV for the tanks with fuel. I think I tried more than a dozen attempts at a single burn before I had to split it into two burns. The Kraken doesn't like having two ships like this, and time warping invariably messes everything up. Ships without fuel were eject-able with a single burn.

Edited March 13, 2014 by Claw