Jupiterized!

[Altaïr]

This morning you woke up... And realized that something was unusual... But you couldn't say what. The only sure thing is that you're not really fine. You're quite weak, nauseous... and you feel extremely heavy. Strange, you were perfectly fine yesterday...

Then you decide to have a breath of fresh air. You painfully walk toward the window, open it and... The landscape has completely changed! The sky is now red! All buildings have disappeared! But you notice the launchpad is still there:


What the Hell could happen this night?! Then the phone rings. Even that phone seems to weigh a ton! It's Danny, he's calling from the Moon base:
- Hey Man, you're ok?
- Well... Not really to be fair... I don't know what's going on here.
- Something huge happened this night, wait let me send you a photo took from our base.

You discover the photo, and you can't believe your eyes:

Spoiler: Photo from the Moon base

You have no idea about how this happened, but it seems that the Earth has been jupiterized this night!

That may explain some things... You hope this is a nightmare, but the pain you suffer from gravity is so strong that it has to be real.

Hell, you're gonna die if you stay here! You have to find a way to escape that place!
Danny: - If at least you could reach orbit, we could send you a rescue vehicle...
You: - I have to find a way to escape!
Danny: - But I don't see how you could escape Jupiter!
You: - I have to try! Even if I fail I'm doomed anyway!

Desperate for your life, you start building a rocket to attempt the impossible. Even if you don't reach orbit, at least you'll have tried! Luckily, unlike the real Jupiter, there seems to be no drag here, which lets you a small chance...

The challenge for you is to build a rocket, and if you can't reach orbit, you have to go the highest possible! And if it has to be your last performance then so be it! For glory!

As said, you can use the "no drag" cheat (though you can try with drag if you like really insane experiences). Unbreakable parts is tolerated, but you can't use infinite fuel, no gravity or any glitch.

I've attached the Jupiterized Earth file (and the original Earth aswell, though I recommend you make a backup by yourself, especially if you use a modded Earth).

Just rename it "Earth.txt" and replace the original file with it.
Make a save of your game before! All objects in Earth orbit will be deorbited!

Remember that gravity on Jupiter is 2.5 g, take it into account when building your rocket: The TWR displayed should be at least 2.5 to allow a lift-off.

Instructions will follow in the next post to make your rocket spawn on the launchpad. Otherwise the rocket naturally spawns in "Jupiter".

Good luck, impress me!

 

[Altaïr]

Here are the instructions to make your rocket spawn on the launchpad.

For information, the original Earth radius is 315000 meters, the Jupiterized Earth radius is 3500000. Values are displayed that way in the planet files.

First, open the Earth.txt file (the "Jupiterized" one), and change its radius to the normal Earth radius, 315000:
=>
This value appears at the very beggining of the file.


Save, then open the game, build your rocket normally, and click "launch" to spawn your rocket:


Then I strongly suggest that you delete all other rockets (it will make save editing much easier), and save your game:

Now close your game.

Next, go to your quicksaves directory, rename your save into ".txt", and open it in a text editor:


At the very beginning of the file, you can see the y coordinate of your vessel's global position. Its value should be 315xxx.xxxx.
Simply replace "315" by "3500", and leave the rest unchanged:
=>
Save your file, and rename it to ".qks".

Now back to the planet file, change the planet radius from 315000 to 3500000:
=>
Save your file.

Now you can start your game, and load your save:


Activate "No drag", and you're ready to go!

 

[Blazer Ayanami]

This morning you woke up... And realized that something was unusual... But you couldn't say what. The only sure thing is that you're not really fine. You're quite weak, nauseous... and you feel extremely heavy. Strange, you were perfectly fine yesterday...

Then you decide to have a breath of fresh air. You painfully walk toward the window, open it and... The landscape has completely changed! The sky is now red! All buildings have disappeared! But you notice the launchpad is still there:
View attachment 34491

What the Hell could happen this night?! Then the phone rings. Even that phone seems to weigh a ton! It's Danny, he's calling from the Moon base:
- Hey Man, you're ok?
- Well... Not really to be fair... I don't know what's going on here.
- Something huge happened this night, wait let me send you a photo took from our base.

You discover the photo, and you can't believe your eyes:

Spoiler: Photo from the Moon base

View attachment 34492

You have no idea about how this happened, but it seems that the Earth has been jupiterized this night!

That may explain some things... You hope this is a nightmare, but the pain you suffer from gravity is so strong that it has to be real.

Hell, you're gonna die if you stay here! You have to find a way to escape that place!
Danny: - If at least you could reach orbit, we could send you a rescue vehicle...
You: - I have to find a way to escape!
Danny: - But I don't see how you could escape Jupiter!
You: - I have to try! Even if I fail I'm doomed anyway!

Desperate for your life, you start building a rocket to attempt the impossible. Even if you don't reach orbit, at least you'll have tried! Luckily, unlike the real Jupiter, there seems to be no drag here, which lets you a small chance...

The challenge for you is to build a rocket, and if you can't reach orbit, you have to go the highest possible! And if it has to be your last performance then so be it! For glory!

As said, you can use the "no drag" cheat (though you can try with drag if you like really insane experiences). Unbreakable parts is tolerated, but you can't use infinite fuel, no gravity or any glitch.

I've attached the Jupiterized Earth file (and the original Earth aswell, though I recommend you make a backup by yourself, especially if you use a modded Earth).

Just rename it "Earth.txt" and replace the original file with it.
Make a save of your game before! All objects in Earth orbit will be deorbited!

Remember that gravity on Jupiter is 2.5 g, take it into account when building your rocket: The TWR displayed should be at least 2.5 to allow a lift-off.

Instructions will follow in the next post to make your rocket spawn on the launchpad. Otherwise the rocket naturally spawns in "Jupiter".

Good luck, impress me!

This is the challenge I need.

 

[Altaïr]

Allow me to set the first performance with that launcher that served as an example:

It should be easy to beat

 

[Blazer Ayanami]

Here are the instructions to make your rocket spawn on the launchpad.

For information, the original Earth radius is 315000 meters, the Jupiterized Earth radius is 3500000. Values are displayed that way in the planet files.

First, open the Earth.txt file (the "Jupiterized" one), and change its radius to the normal Earth radius, 315000:
View attachment 34496 => View attachment 34497
This value appears at the very beggining of the file.


Save, then open the game, build your rocket normally, and click "launch" to spawn your rocket:
View attachment 34498 View attachment 34499

Then I strongly suggest that you delete all other rockets (it will make save editing much easier), and save your game:
View attachment 34500
Now close your game.

Next, go to your quicksaves directory, rename your save into ".txt", and open it in a text editor:
View attachment 34501

At the very beginning of the file, you can see the y coordinate of your vessel's global position. Its value should be 315xxx.xxxx.
Simply replace "315" by "3500", and leave the rest unchanged:
View attachment 34502 => View attachment 34503
Save your file, and rename it to ".qks".

Now back to the planet file, change the planet radius from 315000 to 3500000:
View attachment 34504 => View attachment 34505
Save your file.

Now you can start your game, and load your save:
View attachment 34507 View attachment 34508

Activate "No drag", and you're ready to go!
View attachment 34509

I've used this in the past, to spawn from Titan, the Moon, Phobos...

Its very easy to launch a Saturn V from Phobos.

 

[Altaïr]

I've used this in the past, to spawn from Titan, the Moon, Phobos...

Its very easy to launch a Saturn V from Phobos.

A Saturn V from Phobos?! That's complete overkill!
But that will surely come in handy here.

 

[Blazer Ayanami]

View attachment 34510
It should be easy to beat

That he says...

You went vertical up to 1200m/s.
I went almost horizontal till just 3200m/s.

That's almost the same...

 

[TtTOtW]

I've used this in the past, to spawn from Titan, the Moon, Phobos...

Its very easy to launch a Saturn V from Phobos.

Phobos... fears the beast, lol.

 

[Horus Lupercal]

You have no idea about how this happened, but it seems that the Earth has been jupiterized this night!

I know exactly how this happened.

Space Stig needed a challenge so manipulated an entire planet to suit his needs.

 

[Altaïr]

That he says...

You went vertical up to 1200m/s.
I went almost horizontal till just 3200m/s.

That's almost the same...

No seriously, it's not that hard.
The launcher I used was this one:

If I go horizontal I end up with 3475 m/s.
Now there's a lot of margin to go bigger.

I know exactly how this happened.

Space Stig needed a challenge so manipulated an entire planet to suit his needs.

Damn, spotted

 

[TtTOtW]

I know exactly how this happened.

Space Stig needed a challenge so manipulated an entire planet to suit his needs.

Some say, he is actually weightless at sea level, and that the turbulence of Jupiter's red spot... bores him to sleep. All we really know is...

 

[TtTOtW]

So Stiggy, ya think Ariane could make it?

 

[Altaïr]

So Stiggy, ya think Ariane could make it?

Oof! Even with its high TWR, Ariane 5 wouldn't manage to lift-off. If it doesn't break before launch under its own weight by the way. It would probably lift-off a bit at the end of the booster phase, but it would be pathetic.

 

[Blazer Ayanami]

Ok, here's my attempt:

Final position and velocity:

5753 m/'s not bad, but I would still need 6000 more m/'s to reach orbit.

The whole problem is the gravity of 25. I'm sure I could do a lot better without all that extra TWR required...

 

[Horus Lupercal]

You know, this looks hideous by the way.

I'm just running some numbers, Jupiter orbital velocity at 10km above the atmosphere is 9210m/s. Which means even without drag and zero g on, you'll need that as a minimum to break orbit.

Numbers below, TWR is rated for Jupiter for ease

But this is with zero g on. Which is against the rules.

What about with gravity loss? Well, I'm gonna take a guess at needing in the region of 12,000m/s+ of ΔV to make orbit...

Yeah. A 20,000t launch vehicle. The real hassle is TWR. Engines like frontier just do not pull its own weight and the number of engines just got silly, which is why I've had to use Hawk and Titan despite the Isp.

And no, don't even think about Ions. It doesn't work in Earths gravity well and won't work in Jupiters either.

This can be reduced a bit by asparagus staging or something similar to my Komodo system and sharing engines inbetween multiple stages to save weight.

However this is also with just a probe core and an absolute minimum of docking ports to hold the stages together (you're gonna need a lot more if you're assembling a 15,000ton, 5 build screen in size first stage).

To paraphrase the old man. You're gonna need a much bigger boat.



Also, cos I'm thorough, what about if you're gonna do it fully legal, drag enabled?

Good luck.

If you have Earths atmosphere density and a 30km Karman line so the rough ΔV loss is similar, you're gonna need at least double your usual budget to get orbit (usually 3000/3400m/s ΔV to reach 1655m/s orbital velocity).

That means you'll need a minimum of about 19,000m/s ΔV. And that's on a smooth build as well. If it becomes draggy (which it will be), then you're gonna need 3 times your orbital velocity (in this case about 27,000-29,000m/s ΔV).

Now, a word from our sponsors at the SFS University.
Because of the turd Isp of SFS engines, each engine type/stage has a maximum ΔV cap of roughly 5000-5500m/s with infinite fuel mass to burn.
Which is nice. But in real terms, that cap is closer to 3,000 - 3,500m/s per stage. After that, although you can still raise the ΔV of a stage, you are in the realms of diminishing returns and need enormous amounts of extra fuel for very little actual gain.
So to attain between 19,000 and 29,000m/s ΔV, you're gonna need between 6 and 10 stages, of which the ones shown above are going to be the top 4 stages (as that's the lightest combination for 3000m/s a stage).
Next, TWR.
SFS engines also have turd naked TWR ratios. Only Hawk and Titan are capable of lifting themselves as a single engine with minimum fuel and control and there comes a point where the dry mass of engines is so enormous that they stop being able to lift themselves.
For example a naked Titan, the most powerful and highest rated TWR engine in game can only attain a maximum speed of 30.61m/s2 acceleration in vacuum, regardless of how many of them you tie together.
That's great on Earth, but on Jupiter you're trying to beat 25m/s of gravity, giving you very, very little TWR to play with and divide out amongst fuel, control parts and docking ports.

Once you get past 5 stages or so (at 3000m/s a stage. At 3500m/s it's 3 stages and at 4000m/s it is 1 stage) then even Titan isn't capable of lifting its own mass, even with infinite engines.

SFS just isn't designed for jobs that require more than 4 figure numbers of ΔV without purely ion engine powerpacks.

 

[Horus Lupercal]

Edit.

Once you get past 5 stages or so (at 3000m/s a stage. At 3500m/s it's 3 stages and at 4000m/s it is 1 stage) then even Titan isn't capable of lifting its own mass, even with infinite engines.

It's not quite true. You just need lots of engines...

 

[Blazer Ayanami]

The problem is that launchpad assembly is off the options cause you can't have two vehicles on the launchpad (a game glitch caused by the way we edited Earth), that leaves only with the option of bp editing.

How about if I edit some engines to increase their TWR? It doesn't says is against the rules.

 

[Horus Lupercal]

The problem is that launchpad assembly is off the options cause you can't have two vehicles on the launchpad (a game glitch caused by the way we edited Earth), that leaves only with the option of bp editing.

How about if I edit some engines to increase their TWR? It doesn't says is against the rules.

Yeah, you could make the engines more powerful which would mean you'd need less engines. But the fuel requirements for the ΔV budget won't change and the rocket equation still humps you for a maximum ΔV per stage.

 

[Altaïr]

The problem is that launchpad assembly is off the options cause you can't have two vehicles on the launchpad (a game glitch caused by the way we edited Earth), that leaves only with the option of bp editing.

How about if I edit some engines to increase their TWR? It doesn't says is against the rules.

I'm not against giving it a try, but if you edit engines it won't count for the ranking as it would be unfair for the others. Bp editing or pad assembly (is it really impossible?!) are fine to me, but editing engines would be too unfair.
Nice performance by the way

 

[Altaïr]

Here is my best launcher so far:


By flying horizontally, here's the best I could achieve:

7912 m/s. I'm not that far from reaching orbit! I would need to reach 9353 m/s at ground level.

If I fly vertically, here is my performance:

729.9 km of apoapsis! Looks high? Well, not really:

Oops...

 

[Blazer Ayanami]

(is it really impossible?!)

Yes, you can't load two things, if you want to give a new try I you have to close the game, delete your Persistant.qks, and launch the game again.

 

[TtTOtW]

Move it off to the very edge of the launchpad then launch another part. With all the parts launched, make the changes to the planet and .qks.

 

[Horus Lupercal]

Or assemble it under normal conditions then copy the build from there to this quicksave...

 

[Altaïr]

Or assemble it under normal conditions then copy the build from there to this quicksave...

That's what I will attempt I think. My build space is full, and I need MOAR BOOSTERS!!!
What's hard at some point is to light all engines fast enough after a sepatation. There are tons of them on the first stages, and the strong gravity pulls your rocket back very fast. So I try to start lighting the second stage engines before the first stage runs out of fuel, but obviously that's not optimal either.

 

[Blazer Ayanami]

Move it off to the very edge of the launchpad then launch another part. With all the parts launched, make the changes to the planet and .qks.

A very complicated way to say this:

Or assemble it under normal conditions then copy the build from there to this quicksave...