De-orbit Like a Tree Bio-mimicry Challenge!

[KeithStone]

Gotta love rules changing on the fly. I thought the matter of the challenge was to make crafts that resemble wind-transported Earth plant seedlings. Tumbleweed is among them, even though it is not exactly aerodynamic or flying. And if there were winds on Kerbin I am pretty sure my creation would behave like one even later when on ground.

And if you make a new rule, you could at least put it in the rules part. The way it is now, my entry should be still valid as there is no rule that it cannot exceed 50 m/s, it only says such entries don't score - so 0 points.

To be honest, my opinion is that what really needed update was rather the scoring per ton and negative points per wing surface. Because these two go exactly against the spirit of the challenge. Flying seeds are usually light and use aerodynamic properties, so being light and using aerodynamic surfaces should be better, not worse in terms of the challenge.

I didnt change the rule on the fly, I re-read my original post and bolded that portion. Even you said you weren't sure if you followed all the rules in the original post, and I was so focused on scoring it took me re-reading the entire post a couple of times to see that part, hence why I bolded the rule. I guess the reason I went with tonnage is that it would be too easy to abuse the stock physics by putting a ridiculous number of wings on a tiny light probe, and the challenge would be littered with craft that could potentially abuse infiniglide without user input, as we've seen.

All in all I suppose I thought it would be nice to have a new, creative challenge on the boards, but it seems that writing something robust enough and having rules that cover every potential creative aspect when one of the points of the challenge was to see other users creative instincts, while still covering every potential abuse of the scoring system ensuring that not only only a couple of feasible "high scoring" entries get posted is a lot harder than it looks, even when one spends several hours doing just that.

I also tried to send you a PM before moving your qualification down, and though I understand that it is not expected that everyone be checking the boards every waking minute, I did wait several hours before adjusting the scoring, and only did so without your response because I noticed that one of the original rules in place was indeed broken.

I'm not trying to make anyone frustrated here, and I fully understand how much having a score get moved can be dissapointing, so in the future I will be far more careful designing a challenge to try to take more options in mind.

[KeithStone]

Went dandelion-style this time.

http://imgur.com/a/iz6Ny

Final vessel mass: 22.2t, for + 2200

Lowest speed 6.8 m/s for + 225

Completely intact + 500

Lifted to orbit + 100

48 solid wings - 480

Total: 2545

This design can easily be scaled up, so 3k points is feasible.

I didnt think it was possible with such a simple design to bring that much weight down to speed! How did you keep it from ripping itself apart?

Leaderboard updated.

[DJWizardCop]

I didnt think it was possible with such a simple design to bring that much weight down to speed! How did you keep it from ripping itself apart?

Leaderboard updated.

With multi-delta wings, the craft only spins really fast at around 6 kilometres, so it's already lost most of it's orbital speed and doesn't rip apart.

New entry, no perfect landing this time. With the 2.5 meter parts it was easy to absorb impacts via structural pylons and their ridiculous crash tolerance, but with these kerbodyne tanks it's really tough.

http://imgur.com/a/gBzDr

Deorbited vessel mass: 90.44t for +9000

Lowest speed 9.5 m/s for + 200

Probe core intact + 250

Lifted to orbit + 100

120 solid wings for - 1200

Total: 8350

[KeithStone]

With multi-delta wings, the craft only spins really fast at around 6 kilometres, so it's already lost most of it's orbital speed and doesn't rip apart.

New entry, no perfect landing this time. With the 2.5 meter parts it was easy to absorb impacts via structural pylons and their ridiculous crash tolerance, but with these kerbodyne tanks it's really tough.

http://imgur.com/a/gBzDr

Deorbited vessel mass: 90.44t for +9000

Lowest speed 9.5 m/s for + 200

Probe core intact + 250

Lifted to orbit + 100

120 solid wings for - 1200

Total: 8350

Fair enough, it appears that the challenge was a fair bit easier to max a score on than I previously thought. Apparently I need to seriously reconsider the scoring system and maybe post a more robust version sometime later.

[awsomejwags]

My thought process:

* What a creative challenge! This will be fun and not too difficult *

* I'll just whip something up real quick *

* I hate you stock KSP aerodymamics model *

* Can't be bothered to go get FAR and learn how it works *

* Frustration *

I'll try again tomorrow.

Well your a challenge seeker. Look at you signature. best of luck

[sdj64]

Well your a challenge seeker. Look at you signature. best of luck

Hey, I have an entry! Didn't do too well since it doesn't weigh much. But yes, I love forum challenges. They keep KSP fun. Sometimes ideas like this are harder than more "standard" challenges. I know how to build and fly a rocket, but I had never tried anything like this before this challenge.

[KeithStone]

Hey, I have an entry! Didn't do too well since it doesn't weigh much. But yes, I love forum challenges. They keep KSP fun. Sometimes ideas like this are harder than more "standard" challenges. I know how to build and fly a rocket, but I had never tried anything like this before this challenge.

I appreciate challenging a frequent challenger with something they haven't done before, which is why it's taken me so long to post a challenge. I've tried quite a few (but usually dont finish) and I absolutely love watching others enter challenges. I'm more of a spectator myself since I prefer to build things as opposed to flying them.

I do feel like I have done the scoring system an injustice, but I'm not really sure the best way to fix it yet.

[Master Tao]

My first completed challenge.

My probe mimics a dandelion using light, high-drag parts like a parachute. I used FAR, though it should perform at least somewhat similarly without it. Mod parts are from B9 and Procedural Fairings.

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Scoring:

Mass: 10.22 tons => 1000 points

Slowest speed: 39.6 m/s => 50 points

Damage: none => 500 points

Orbit method: SSTO => 100 points

Wing surfaces: 90 => -900 points

Control surfaces: 0

I'm counting all the 2x2 triangular structural panels as wing surfaces, since that's how they act with FAR.

[KeithStone]

My first completed challenge.

My probe mimics a dandelion using light, high-drag parts like a parachute. I used FAR, though it should perform at least somewhat similarly without it. Mod parts are from B9 and Procedural Fairings.

Scoring:

Mass: 10.22 tons => 1000 points

Slowest speed: 39.6 m/s => 50 points

Damage: none => 500 points

Orbit method: SSTO => 100 points

Wing surfaces: 90 => -900 points

Control surfaces: 0

I'm counting all the 2x2 triangular structural panels as wing surfaces, since that's how they act with FAR.

And a beautiful design at that! Looks and works beautifully. I'll put you down for 750 in FAR! Congrats on your first challenge and thanks for picking mine! XD