Kerbal Dynamics: Precision Helicopter Drops

[ihtoit]

Almost exactly what it says on the tin: build and fly a helicopter or VTOL aircraft (to launch from the RUNWAY), and use it to drop one Kerbal on each specified roof of the KSC complex (the high roof of the VAB, the curved roof of the SPH, the centre roof of the Tracking Station, Astronaut Complex, Mission Control, and any roof of the Research Complex), and one each on the Island Tower roof and the Island Hangar Museum (the one with the legacy pod in it) roof. Aircraft must then return to the Start Point with all Kerbals deployed.

THE RULES:

- Your aircraft must be a VTOL or helicopter design.

- Any parts mod valid except OP propulsion.

- No violating the laws of physics.

- Vehicle must have sufficient capacity to carry all Kerbals on one flight (ie occupied space for minimum of 8 + pilot). This may be chair or capsule, however your aircraft must be piloted by a Kerbal in a capsule. NO probe core pilots. You may not return to fill up on Kerbals once you launch.

- Vehicle must land on each roof before Kerbals can be deployed.

- Scoring will only be counted ONCE per Kerbal/roof. Dumping ten Kerbals on the VAB roof will NOT get you 20 points. However please note that there are technically three main roof levels on the VAB in particular, I will count the high flat roof and the helipads as one roof and the half-height side building roof as an alternative. I will consider no other horizontal surface of the VAB as roofs.

SCORING:

For each Kerbal deployed on a specified roof: 2pt

BONUS: for deploying a Kerbal on top of the launchpad hydro tower: 5pt

BONUS: for deploying one additional Kerbal on top of the Research Complex reactor: 3pt

BONUS: for deploying each additional Kerbal on a nonspecified roof: 1pt

(Challenger's Note: I shouldn't have to do a map indicating what a roof is, should I?)

[Darren9]

The first thing I thought when I read the title was a Kerbal exits pod/seat/compartment onto a ladder/flat surface, grabs a KAS winch and is lowered safely/slowly onto the target. It seems possible, is this allowable?

[ihtoit]

hmmm... I will allow that for the SPH, reactor and hydro tower roofs, no other - they're all big and flat enough for a horizontal landing.

Edited May 22, 2014 by ihtoit

[xrayfishx]

I might even try this, I see Infernal Robotics is allowed so I will probably try an actual helicopter (although one with rocket powered rotors).

[Voculus]

So that's a total of eight Kerbals deployed, right?

EDIT: Oh, yeah, you said that. I R STOOPID!

Edited May 22, 2014 by Voculus

[ihtoit]

I might even try this, I see Infernal Robotics is allowed so I will probably try an actual helicopter (although one with rocket powered rotors).

um... yeah, might be tricky but I'd love to see an IR entry... I'm going with Firespitter 'cos that's got the Bear rotor (though the regular rotor *might* have enough lift to move the aircraft, we'll see) and I've another mod which has a 6-man passenger fuselage (might even be another Firespitter part, can't remember exactly) which my plan is to run one either side of an LF tank.

[Voculus]

OK, tons of huge pics inbound, and I hope I landed on all the right rooftops!

I really wanted to use this, but the game crashed, my Kerbals vanished, and I began again with a simpler design.

I was going to lower them with winches, but it was not meant to be.

Settled on this 10-Kerbal ship. They all egressed, except for the pilot.

Landed with just the pilot left.

[Darren9]

What are all the mods to get the internal HUD and camera's Voculus, and do you notice a performance hit with them running? I managed to get a quite small one together that can carry 11 but the KAX rotors have collision and I clipped one - I'll have to try again.

[Voculus]

Darren, that's the Raster Prop Monitor Mod. For the external camera, you'll need the ALCOR Pod, which is a phenomenal piece of work. Prior to upgrading my computer, recently, I didn't have any performance issued with those mods. They're a lot of fun and worth the download!

[Darren9]

^ Thanks, I'll see if I can fit them into my install.

[Darren9]

I ended up with a reasonably compact transport chopper using 5 of the Firespitter 1m, 2 man parts, and, thanks to Voculus a rather nice modified MK2 pod to fly the whole thing in IVA (except kicking out the Kerbals). I had 2 left when I finished but it'd already been nearly an hour and I didn't rate my chances with skids on a dome so I ended there.

Javascript is disabled. View full album