The Eve SSTO challenge [Balanced mods allowed]

[blitz2190]

So here goes my first challenge. So simple as the title says let's see who can build a SSTO capable of landing and returning from Eve.

Mods are not only allowed they are pretty much required. Any mod that is reasonably balanced is allowed, I believe interstellar is included in this, warp drive and antimatter excluded, as the heat management and shear weight make it a challenge. Far is allowed but there will be significant bonus points for not using it.

Also must return and land on kerbin. And mechjeb is allowed as its really not gonna help with landing or take off.

Edit, also no orion mod just no challenge in it.

Points are as follows:

+100 for every kerbal

+200 for every ton of cargo capacity

+50 for VTOL capability on kerbin

+150 for VTOL capability on eve

+400 no FAR

+200 for every 1km you start your accent under 10km

+100 for being able to fly around eve ( not literally around but just touring as not all ssto have to be planes)

After adding up your points multiply by

(Total fuel / total fuel used) this includes refueling so keep track to give a bonus for efficiency.

Post all this and vessel stats and mods used

Before anyone says not possible , I've done this without modding CFGs, except for a patch to procedural tanks to make them carry the same as stock parts(because I really like these tanks) which I can upload

Edited May 17, 2014 by blitz2190

[cyberklad]

Here are a kerbin -> Eve -> Orbit SSTO. Curtesy of the orion pulse rocket. Witch I guess is a balance mod for this challenge.

The cargo capacity of this thing is probably something like a couple of 100 ton of eve.

So I guess that is a score of:

300 Kerbals

200 * 200 = 40 000 cargo

200 vtol on both planets.

400 no far

2000 for starting from the liquid.

SO a total of:

42900 points.

I have 159 nukes left. From spending 29 days from kerbin to eve and back into orbit of eve.

Started with 239 nukes on eve surface and spent 80 getting into orbit.

42900 * (239/80) = 128163,75 In score. I think that has to be a new personal best.

Getting to the serious side of this challenge: Please take a look trough the list of challenges before you post something. The EVE SSTO challenge has been done a lot of times. And every single time a lot of people have said that it's just not possible without using something as stupid as blowing up nuclear devices to get you off a planet. Please read the challenge submition guide before you post your next one.

Edited May 16, 2014 by cyberklad

[blitz2190]

yea no thats incredibly unbalanced, that makes interstellar engines look like ions, but i did always get a kick out of those "engines" haha very kerbal'esk to strap fuel and kerbals to a bomb.

Edited May 16, 2014 by blitz2190

[cyberklad]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_pulse_propulsion

Might read up on that one. The tech the engine is basec upon is a lot more achievable with todays tech then a lot of the stuff in the interstellar pack.

[cantab]

I'd venture that almost any mod that lets you make an Eve SSTO is by definition unbalanced. With the possible exception of scaled-up PB-IONs, xenon tanks, and solar panels/RTGs, but then I'm not even sure if that'd reach Eve orbit - it's tough to get an ion glider into Kerbin orbit.

Remember that unbalanced does not mean unrealistic. Competing in the Tour de France on a motorcycle would be unbalanced, for example.

[blitz2190]

actually the Interstellar D/T Fusion engine is a more realistic attempt at that very type of engine, read further into that very link you posted http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inertial_confinement_fusion, most of the inststellar stuff is based off real world ideas ( the description of the D/T engine is almost the same description), if you havent gone through their wiki its a good read.

Edited May 16, 2014 by blitz2190

[cyberklad]

Cant say that I agree with that assessment. That thing had problems with efficiency and ignition. The orion engine was fully calculated and even back decades ago they had both the knowledge and possibilties to calculate yields and make a full design for a proposed engine. The only problem is that detonating a bunch of nukes is a bit iffy even in orbit above the planet.

[blitz2190]

Cant say that I agree with that assessment. That thing had problems with efficiency and ignition. The orion engine was fully calculated and even back decades ago they had both the knowledge and possibilties to calculate yields and make a full design for a proposed engine. The only problem is that detonating a bunch of nukes is a bit iffy even in orbit above the planet.

and anyplace theres life for that matter haha. But Inertial confinement fusion is still reasearched and developing today which is the process of super heating detrium and tritium pellets which is exactly what the D/T engine does just much much larger scales.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Longshot a good example of development in 1980's towards exaclty what the Interstellar mod is

not to mention the Author of the Interstellar mod put imense effort into balancing the mod by ofsetting the good isp and thrust with the need for very heavy components ie Reactors and radiators which weight more than you entire craft.

most of the weight in this was from the reactors

and this thing is a painful climb on eve 30 minutes in game with horrible DV usage, very inefiiecient design but I like the HSH mod.

Edited May 16, 2014 by blitz2190

[Captain Sierra]

I'd venture that almost any mod that lets you make an Eve SSTO is by definition unbalanced. With the possible exception of scaled-up PB-IONs, xenon tanks, and solar panels/RTGs, but then I'm not even sure if that'd reach Eve orbit - it's tough to get an ion glider into Kerbin orbit.

Remember that unbalanced does not mean unrealistic. Competing in the Tour de France on a motorcycle would be unbalanced, for example.

I think this post sums up nicely what the outcome of this thread will be. Remember, you are asking for something that is impossible in the stock game, therefore it's highly unlikely that anything balanced against stock will be able to do this. Interstellar is not balanced against stock so thermal turbojets and thermal rockets may make this possible, bust that's still asking a lot considering the not-insignificant penalty for utilizing a transfer stage (which would be almost required since again, you are technically asking the impossible here).

[blitz2190]

valid point i want this to be more about the actual atempt at eve, i've removed the interplanatary penalty, also as a side note i've tried with the thermojet and they fail miserably once above 30km the rate they drop off compared to atmo is terrible for eve, i get this is very hard to do but i was hoping for some unique attempts, i realize this has been done as a challenge before but it always says stock which as we know is impossible.

Edited May 16, 2014 by blitz2190

[Nedal]

I designed a sweet science plane for eve with interplanetary.. but haven't launched the mission as the lag of the craft with all the accompanying power/relay flights is not satisfactory.. but I might launch it and see how it goes.

Also I think doing this with far as I have been using and designing for will be more challenging actually, as the drag from the microwave receivers is terrible, especially pointing them with infernal robotics. Anyways..

All in good fun.

[blitz2190]

I designed a sweet science plane for eve with interplanetary.. but haven't launched the mission as the lag of the craft with all the accompanying power/relay flights is not satisfactory.. but I might launch it and see how it goes.

Also I think doing this with far as I have been using and designing for will be more challenging actually, as the drag from the microwave receivers is terrible, especially pointing them with infernal robotics. Anyways..

All in good fun.

would definitely like to see it, post it up here and see how it stacks up like i said mine works but is horribly inefficient.

[rtxoff]

At some point you can unlock an upgrade to the thermal turbine from interstellar, you can switch it then to use fuel, it is not much of a challenge then, i already did this with such a plane.

[blitz2190]

At some point you can unlock an upgrade to the thermal turbine from interstellar, you can switch it then to use fuel, it is not much of a challenge then, i already did this with such a plane.

The 2.5 only produces 100 thrust in LFO mode I wanna see this

Edited May 16, 2014 by blitz2190

[rtxoff]

I have not many screenshots of EVE but in this Gallery the 2nd one you can see me landed on EVE. Also the rest of the shots show me visiting other bodies.

edit: Also 100 thrust is more then enough because turbine build up extreme speed while in the atmosphere but think i also have more then that.

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Edited May 16, 2014 by gpisic

[Nedal]

The 2.5 only produces 100 thrust in LFO mode I wanna see this

The thrust I get with mine using a thermal receiver is around 500kn in atmospheric, which is enough to fly my huge ship. But my power network was designed to support 2 2.5 plasma thrusters... so switching to liquid fuel mode without throttle limiting and throttling way down explodes my craft as I'm receiving around 500 gigawatts.. and it produces uh I forget, but it was something like 50000kn of thrust.. lols

[Nedal]

At some point you can unlock an upgrade to the thermal turbine from interstellar, you can switch it then to use fuel, it is not much of a challenge then, i already did this with such a plane.

Pretty cool little plane. Is that a 1.25 fusion reactor, supported by a little .6 reactor generator combo on the top? Sounds solid as you can toggle the fusion reactor to dissipate the heat.

The philosophy I was going for on my plane was to use plasmas mostly and the thermal/receiver just for atmosphere cruising. All with relayed power. I haven't unlocked the antimatter stuffs yet.

[rtxoff]

It is an 1.25 antimatter reactor supported by a small fission one to power the AM containment.

Well i overlooked that the challenge description says no AM, however i believe i can do a similiar design with a 1.25 fusion reactor. Will try this today when i come home.

The AM design is really somewhat OP, after reaching stable orbit my plane has still 18k dV to burn and while flying through atmospheres you are only using antimatter which can last very long time with a full containment device.

[blitz2190]

yea i was trying to make this challenge possible while still trying to be challenging, although i do like that plane you made. I might make a separate category for the op ones like the orion and the antimatter

[TeeGee]

Here are a kerbin -> Eve -> Orbit SSTO. Curtesy of the orion pulse rocket. Witch I guess is a balance mod for this challenge.

http://s14.postimg.org/rth8dochd/ksp47.jpghttp://s14.postimg.org/53i3kot9t/ksp48.jpghttp://s14.postimg.org/cm18tbkmp/ksp49.jpg

The cargo capacity of this thing is probably something like a couple of 100 ton of eve.

So I guess that is a score of:

300 Kerbals

200 * 200 = 40 000 cargo

200 vtol on both planets.

400 no far

2000 for starting from the liquid.

SO a total of:

42900 points.

I have 159 nukes left. From spending 29 days from kerbin to eve and back into orbit of eve.

Started with 239 nukes on eve surface and spent 80 getting into orbit.

42900 * (239/80) = 128163,75 In score. I think that has to be a new personal best.

Getting to the serious side of this challenge: Please take a look trough the list of challenges before you post something. The EVE SSTO challenge has been done a lot of times. And every single time a lot of people have said that it's just not possible without using something as stupid as blowing up nuclear devices to get you off a planet. Please read the challenge submition guide before you post your next one.

I second this as being the best option! Project Orion would have been the most revolutionary thing to happen to space travel since the invention of the rocket. It was a craft capable of taking LARGE payloads into space as an SSTO AND get to planets like Saturn and beyond in a reasonable amount of time.

As of right now, it is the best idea for interplanetary travel that we have. And it's more than possible.

[nli2work]

http://imgur.com/a/Luwcz

What is that ring thing in the first pic?

[Nedal]

What is that ring thing in the first pic?

Yeah really. It looks like a stargate XD

[Nedal]

Here's my plane. I found out remotetech2 was a big part of my lag. So I disabled it :<

Not too worried about score, this was just a plane i was making to get science anyway.

Mods interstellar/b9/kw/novapunch/deadlyrentry/taclifesupport/FAR/ and some other unimportant to ship performance mods.

still had LOADs of dv left.. like enough to fly back to kerbin, then back to eve surface, then back again.. hehehe

When I arrived it was more convenient to land on the dark side to maintain power line of sight. So I did, plane is equip for it anyhow.

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Edited May 18, 2014 by Nedal

[rtxoff]

What is that ring thing in the first pic?

It is a Stargate, on Spaceport you can download it when you search for jumpgate. However you will need to tweak the parts because they are outdated.

[rtxoff]

Here's my plane. I found out remotetech2 was a big part of my lag. So I disabled it :<

Not too worried about score, this was just a plane i was making to get science anyway.

Mods interstellar/b9/kw/novapunch/deadlyrentry/taclifesupport/FAR/ and some other unimportant to ship performance mods.

still had LOADs of dv left.. like enough to fly back to kerbin, then back to eve surface, then back again.. hehehe

When I arrived it was more convenient to land on the dark side to maintain power line of sight. So I did, plane is equip for it anyhow.

http://imgur.com/a/YAl1t

Looks very nice, good work.