Exotic Vessels [redone]

[SeventhArchitect]

Aesthetics first, safety last.

Alright. The whole goal here is to make something Exotic. Now, exotic is something REALLY hard to make functional. I know this from past experience. But, there are those who have an amazing talent for this kind of thing. In KSP terms, when building, an exotic ship would be either complicated, or very complex.

Space Stations, Spaceplanes, Probes, everything is acceptable. You could build even something massive out in orbit, instead of a single stage launch. In fact, I also encourage the use of mods, because sometimes Stock just lacks that highly detailed elegance that you can only find in high tech parts, like an antimatter drive.....But that doesn't mean that you will get better results for using mods. There are Full-Stock rewards, Semi-Stock rewards, and Full Modded rewards. Each of these will be explained and listed.

Qualifications:

the vessel must be built by you, and not someone else.

Allowed:

Stock, non-stock, modified stock, modified.

Part clipping

Vessels from different Versions of KSP

Basically anything that is a mod, but doesn't give you a cheating advantage.

Not allowed:

Replicas

Rockets you think work really well, or look kind of cool. ABSOLUTELY NO ROCKETS.

Debug anything. If it falls apart, more space tape....

Must be exotic:

This is very...hard to explain without any real examples of my own. In the purpose that it must be different from, you know, just making challenges of who can build a better rocket, it's kinda hard to find something that actually matches the criteria. Could, you know, look off of something like this, though.

Actually, this can be reached through several different ways. It could be a robot, and still be classified as an exotic vessel. At this moment, I am defining an exotic vessel as something that doesn't look like a traditional rocket or spaceplane. Here, have a

.

Awards:

Suffixes:

Full-Stock: 100% stock, modified to no degree.

Semi-Stock: A stock base with a few modded parts.

Full-Modded: All modded parts, but, can have a few stock. Abotu 90-100% modded, I'd say.

Pro: You made it in Campaign mode.

Supersonic: You've reached the speed of sound in the lower atmosphere.

Hypersonic: Reach five times the speed of sound in atmosphere. Must be in either the lowest atmosphere, or middle atmosphere, not high atmosphere or the vacuum.

Ubersonic: Reach at least mach nine or higher in atmosphere. Must be in either the lowest atmosphere, or middle atmosphere, not high atmosphere or the vacuum.

Interplanetary: The vessel can make it to another planet and back to Kerbin in one trip. Can stack, depending on how many planets it goes to. Must make Synchronous (even) Equatorial (horizontal) orbit to count.

Interplanetary SSTO: The vessel can make it to another planet and back to Kerbin in one trip. Must have only one stage. No boosters, and no decouplers or docking ports. Can stack, depending on how many planets it goes to. Must make Synchronous (even) Equatorial (horizontal) orbit to count.

Interplanetary Multi-part: The vessel can make it to another planet and back to Kerbin in one trip. Though, this award accounts only for orbit assembly vehicles. Can stack, depending on how many planets it goes to. Must make Synchronous (even) Equatorial (horizontal) orbit to count.

Minimalist Engineer: This is rewarded to those who can make small exotic vessels. Part count doesn't go above 50. (may change)

Micro Engineer: Same as Minimalist, only, instead of parts, it's size. Parts above 62.5 cm are not allowed. Wings can be allowed, if, and only if they fit well.

Maximallist Engineer: This is rewarded to those who can make large exotic vessels. part count can't go below 500, and struts don't count. >:]

Macro Engineer: Same as Maximallist, only, instead of parts, it's size. Parts below 2.5m are not allowed, all wing sizes allowed.

Colonist: An off-to-the-side achievement. Achievable only if an exotic vessel, able to carry more than 50 kerbals is launched, and put into synchronous (even) orbit of another Celestial body.

Lunar: Can make it to either the Mun, or Minmus. Must be return trip.

Lunar SSTO: Well, I have no idea where one would begin making one of these, unless you have super OP parts to use. Have at it, though.

The limits of what an exotic vessel are, are only limited to your imagination and opinion. And the fact that it can't look like a simple rocket. Add some complexity, add some pizzazz, make something.

changelog-thang (whatever it's called)

Update 1.0: Made the challenge.

Update 1.01: Actually made it a real challenge, valid to place amongst the challenge threads.

Update 1.2: Added Lunar Achievement, and [Pro] Suffix.

Update 1.3: Though a little late on part of this, Replicas are officially disqualified as a written rule. And me trying to be more specific, because people keep submitting non-exotci crafts.

Update 1.3.1: part clipping is allowed.

Update 1.4: You can submit vessels from any version of KSP

If I could request a small bit of help here, guys, please label the specifications of your craft. It doesn't need to be a list, and you can still give out your awesome stories of how it made it to jool, and it's umpteen moons, and back to Kerbin. Just, I would like to know what the part count is, weight before launch, even the parts used specific to the awards. Like if you used only 62.5 cm parts and smaller, or 2.5 m and bigger. Stuff like that. And, if you could provide a list of mods, and even a download, that would be wonderful. Piloting exotic crafts is a favorite pastime of mine, like I'm some classy wine drinking rich guy.

Hall of Class:

Pds314:

Applied Phlogistics Aerotitan

[Full Stock] Colonist

Stingray

[Full Stock] Supersonic

Arrowtip

[Full Stock] Supersonic

Ring Wing

[Full Stock] Valid Entry

Unfortunately, I came close, but was not able to get either of the VL-110's to Hypersonic speeds. But they're close....

____________________

m1sz:

Mr. Robot (need more info)

[semi-Stock] Valid Entry

Mr. Dinosaur

[Full Stock] Valid Entry

____________________

RogueMason

Libra (file(s), plz)

[Full Stock] Interplanetary

[Full Stock] Interplanetary Multi-Part

[semi-Stock] Interplanetary Multi-Part

____________________

Parallax

(Unnamed) Bipedal Walker (More info, Please)

[semi-Stock] Valid Entry

(unnamed) Ornithopter (More info, Please)

[semi-Stock] Interplanetary

____________________

Khyron42

Spider

[Full Stock] Valid Entry

____________________

gchristopher

Roller Derby (More info, Please)

[Full Stock] Valid Entry

____________________

SirJodelstein

Mighty Space Squirrel (Part count?)

[Full Stock] Valid Entry

____________________

23278

Talon Class Escort (more info please)

[Full Stock] Valid Entry

~~~

If you see something amiss or are not satisfied, let me know, mah dudes and dudettes.

Edited March 31, 2014 by SeventhArchitect

[SpaceK531]

can you provide pictures of several of these 'exotic' crafts?

[SeventhArchitect]

There are, like, two links. One shows a bipedal robot, and the other a massive 1k+ part ship. Pictures would take up a bit too much room.

Big Ship

Things that are exotic and in KSP, which are not horrible attempts to replicate everyday vehicles within KSP's limits, are hard tof ind. Like, on a rarity scale from Very common (being 1), and uber rare (being 10), these things are a strict 9, super rare.

Edited March 17, 2014 by SeventhArchitect

[Pds314]

My Aerotitan is pretty unconventional:

I present to you the Applied Phlogistics Aerotitan an entirely stock 77-passenger interplanetary spaceplane launched with FAR aerodynamics.

Nearly an SSTO. Not quite. It uses four BACC boosters to get it off the ground. It seems like taking off horizontally would be difficult if not impossible with something like this.

The first prototypes were what I call and "MSSMTO" or Mostly Single Stage, Mostly To Orbit. That is, it lost about 35 tonnes on the way up by accident but still got to orbit. Missing 12 engines assymetrically, a command pod, several intakes, some fuel lines, some wings and more normally doesn't get you to orbit, but in this case it got there even under monotonous unplanned disassembly with fuel to spare.

The thing has a surprisingly high Delta-V after reaching LKO. Under the best-case scenario with the launch, it might be able to get 2000 m/s out of all that rocket fuel.

It weighs about 330 tonnes at launch and 200-260 tonnes or so in orbit. Only about 150 tonnes dry.

It carries an amazing, maybe even unprecedented for Pseudo-SSTO Spaceplanes that use stock parts and FAR, 77 Kerbals in internal seating to orbit and beyond.

It also has two of each comms device and 7 docking ports of all in areas with no nearby obstructions. 4 are Junior, 2 are standard, the Dorsal 1 is senior.

1 note is that despite having nearly 800 kg of monoprop, it has no RCS or non-cockpit SAS. I dread to see the sort of thing that IT would dock to. What? A 2000-tonne spacestation? Does anyone even make those? Well if they do, I'm sure they can send a fuel tanker with an orange tank that happens to be docked there out to feed me fuel.

So yeah, 77-Kerbal, 330 tonne wet / 150 tonne dry pseudo-SSTO spaceplane. that can get over 100 tonnes of fuel into Orbit.

Whole thing is about 350 parts.

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Also:

My Stingray high-performance twin-engine fighter.

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.craft

Also, slightly less exotic, but considering that pretty-much everything I build is in FAR, It is still pretty exotic.

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VL-110EF "Spearhead": High performance compact blended-wing FAR SSTO fighter.

VL-110EA "Arrowtip.": High performance compact blended-wing FAR fighter jet.

A hint on the Arrowtip. Get rid of 6 of the intakes so that there are only 2 and also use the new tweakables to get rid of the 1.1 tonnes of oxidizer. It lowers the craft mass to 7.85 tonnes and also makes it capable of controlled flight at a continuous 49-degree AoA.

Edited March 17, 2014 by Pds314

[Pds314]

I've built what is possibly the most exotic FAR aircraft ever. A ring wing. The design is not exactly fast. Even if I put a turbojet on it, It has a top speed ASL of under 140 m/s in FAR. As it is, it has a top speed ASL of 100 m/s in FAR), but it is highly maneuverable in all directions at low speeds. Most anything made in KSP can exert 10 G in FAR. This thing can exert 10 G when it is only moving 100 m/s, and it can exert a continuous 4 moving at only 65 m/s. This gives for a turning radius at sea level of a mere 100-120 meters in ANY direction (most planes cannot YAW controllably in a tight circle like that) and that is with all control surfaces set to the default maximum angle. A warning: My implementation of the ring wing avoids moving at transonic or supersonic speed in FAR like the plague. It has normal drag coefficient of about 0.066 (which is still pretty brick-like considering its reference area of about 150 m^2). It has a trans/super/hyper sonic coefficient of about 0.159, which is as if 23 square meters of brick wall were on the front.

However, despite being draggy, it does make a very nice plane for swerving through the maze of commuter hovercraft that Kerbal cities are predicted to have in the near future, and it can take off and land vertically (parachute if you ever want to take off after you land, courtesy of FAR) and, at any speed over 40 m/s, easily outmaneuver most thrust-controlled hover-flight VTOLs. Additionally, the I-beams that hold the wings on also make it very survivable during a crash.

It has also been certified by the Kerbal board of safety via animal testing (which was surprisingly not protested by anyone until one of the animals crashed the prototype). They did eventually tell us to put a warning saying "Warning: small parts: not for children under the age of 3." on it.

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[m1sz]

Hi!, I was going to submit my Robot but you already did!

Anyway, here you have the 2nd video, and really soon the 3rd one featuring a mun trip (no cheats of course!)

[randomness5555]

Oh man I have to enter something now. Great work with that robot. Seriously, that robot could be used in combat reliably if ksp came to multiplayer it works so well. But what TO enter...?

[m1sz]

What is a TO? ^^

I have another really exotic vessel, featuring "flexible" parts... as I'm growing my youtube channel, I don't want to reveal it before I upload the video!, but as soon as I do, I'll post it here for your amusement

[Tidus Klein]

hmmm I would defiantly say my under 1000m speed run is exotic

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[Darren9]

Everything in the robotics challenge could also go in here, and I'm going to add a controllable helicopter with no control surfaces/engines/gimbals/reaction wheels or anything else. Just control groups actuate pairs/quads of counter-rotating fans (rotatrons with wings stuck to it).

[m1sz]

Here's the video I was talking about... you can't miss the acrobatics in low gravity !!

[SeventhArchitect]

Ms1z, your efforts to make such a thing are actually way out there. I mean, I once got the idea to make a walking quadrupedal rover, but never could do it, and gave up. Someone did already make one though. Anyway, what did you use for the parts? I wanna say that I ahve the mod, but I'm not sure...

[SeventhArchitect]

PDS3....You've won the unspoken award of "Science Major", because I have no idea what you're going on about with G's, FAR, and whatever else. If it makes it any simpler, I myself am just a simple Thrusters-make-go kind of guy. I sit there, slap a rocket together, and launch it, deciding where it needs to be improved based on how it failed. You going on about how you made something with 10 G's, I have no idea what you're going about.

[frizzank]

Anyone remember this one, its not mine but is my favorite.

[Hodo]

http://imgur.com/a/PQznE

I like that one... one minor correction in your discription though.

In one picture you are at 69.8km altitude and said you are in the atmosphere, actually you are still 700m above the stock KSP atmosphere, which is ends at 69.1km.

But that is an outstanding little craft there.

And I highly suggest you get Deadly Re-Entry Continued by Nathan Kell. 30+G turns will go away fast, your craft may survive but the Kerbal will not.

[RogueMason]

-snip-

Big Ship

-snip-

I literally yelled 'OH MY GOD' on seeing this thing; that's an Aegis Dynamics Idris Corvette from Star Citizen, seemingly perfectly replicated, albeit a little bit scaled down

Whoever built that is awesome.

Anyway, while I'm here, I may as well post one of the most 'exotic' (as you've deemed it) ships I've built, the basic design for which has been around since 0.17. The MSI Libra III class science vessel:

3 crew, and the latest variant can carry that small lander for Ike or Gilly. The first Libra to fly went to Duna orbit in 0.17 and returned home safely. Versions of the ship in 0.18 and above deployed probes primarily around Duna and Ike whilst retaining complete reusability unlike the 0.17 version.

The latest version is primarily an aesthetic update and fuel capacity increase, plus the lander. Construction takes place in the SPH before being transferred to the VAB, enabling the... unique engine configuration.

Visiting Gilly.

Looking at the awards listed on the first page, it gets Full Stock (the quantum struts in the second picture are from the lander, not the Libra), Interplanetary, and perhaps Interplanetary Multi-part too, seeing as I have to send the lander up separately and I have also sent additional disposable fuel tanks for the rear docking port for certain missions.

I'll leave the awards up to you, but hey; an 'exotic' design, the likes of which I haven't seen anywhere else on the forum.

[Parallax]

I posted this in the original exotic craft thread, but here it is again:

Bipedal walker, no rcs, 4 sas modules. The easy part of putting it together is mostly done, now I'm working turning the clunky and slow static walk into an optimised dynamic walk. I'm using a script to automate the walking motion, I'm at 5 or 6 servo groups now, just for walking, plus I need to help out manually with sas torque to help it balance. Eventually all this will also be automated and operating the walker will be no different than driving a rover.

SSTO mothership carrying an ornithopter. The goal of this mission is to test the deployment mechanism, as well as the capabilities of both aircraft.

The mothership is balanced to allow flight independently as well as while carrying the ornithopter.

The mothership+ornithopter is capable of getting into a 75k orbit around Kerbin. The ornithopter carries enough fuel to get into a low Duna orbit (to be tested).

Eventually this will go to orbit, refuel and proceed to Duna. ornithopter is to deploy to Duna surface, perform geological survey, return to orbit, refuel, return, etc

I need to tweak the mothership for more delta-v, it just barely gets into orbit when i'm carrying the ornithopter. might just build a new one entirely.

this is one of my other ornithopters. this one is also an ssto, a mediocre one at that, it just barely gets to my fuel storage/orbital kethane refinery/transfer station (if I had one, right now I just launch some fuel into orbit after the ssto, which is kind of counter productive).

once it depletes most of its fuel it can propel itself by flapping it wings. on kerbin it can take off on wing power alone. on duna, it needs a little boost to about 50m/s to get airborne, after that it is able to climb and maintain speed on wing power alone.

Edited March 18, 2014 by Parallax

[SeventhArchitect]

I'm going to try to get this updated nightly from now on.

And, if it wouldn't be too much to ask, notify me of the part count for your ship, as well as a few other things. I'll even put up a "Please Label" list.

[Taki117]

Not sure if this counts as exotic or not, but it's certainly different.

mods used (That I can remember) Deep Space Mission Pack, TAC-LS, DRE, AIES, NP, KW, Alskari's Heat Shield, KSPI

Constructed in orbit it does not have any stock parts at all (100% mod) and has just shy of 5km/s dV and a TWR of .47 as she sits.

[khyron42]

I'll try to put together an all-stock entry tomorrow.

When you say "synchronous orbit", I think you meant "circular" instead.

[SeventhArchitect]

I have posted an updated of the Hall of Class (as in Classy). If you are not listed with your achievements, then your vessel did not make specifications.

[Taki117]

I have posted an updated of the Hall of Class (as in Classy). If you are not listed with your achievements, then your vessel did not make specifications.

I'm mildly curious how my vessel did not meet specs.

[SeventhArchitect]

I'm mildly curious how my vessel did not meet specs.

Your ship looks like any regular old multi-part ship. One thing I did specify is it has to look something non-traditional. A multi-part vessel has been done many times, but as I've seen myself, a multi-part exotic vessel has never been done. It's supposed to be made for show, but as the challenge requirements go, it also has to work. Efficiently.

Don't take ti the wrong way though, I'm amazed that you could build such a thing. I've yet to make my own properly functioning multipart vessel. I once made a multipart vessel, though, and it ended up looking so cool, but the whole thing had to be scrapped because of how I oriented the left and right fuselages.

[Taki117]

Your ship looks like any regular old multi-part ship. One thing I did specify is it has to look something non-traditional. A multi-part vessel has been done many times, but as I've seen myself, a multi-part exotic vessel has never been done. It's supposed to be made for show, but as the challenge requirements go, it also has to work. Efficiently.

Don't take ti the wrong way though, I'm amazed that you could build such a thing. I've yet to make my own properly functioning multipart vessel. I once made a multipart vessel, though, and it ended up looking so cool, but the whole thing had to be scrapped because of how I oriented the left and right fuselages.

All good, I was just curious. I have some ideas once I figure out how the engines in KSPI work.

[zenmetsu]

I can attach a craft file if anyone needs to, but seriously, this thing is so simple that anyone cane make it just by looking at my video.

I used a Stayputnik pod, with a Z-200 battery just below it. I attached an FL-T200 tank to this with a tiny Rockomax 48-7S attached to the tank. I then attached 4 of the radial decouplers to the tank at a slight angle, and attached 4 delta wings to these decouplers at a matching angle.. I think that I may have used a mod to get a slightly smaller delta wing, but I forget. I then simply stuck 4 of the smaller SRBs onto the wings and a few solar panels, that was it. I managed to get into Duna orbit with this thing, and it is funny to watch take off without SAS or MechJeb.

If anyone can get to Duna orbit with something smaller, i'd be thrilled to see it.