Pause of certain Team Hawk missions, and planned rank improvements.

[Marmilo]

VTOL isn't required for a shuttle but everything else is fine, the shuttle was only made to say that you can't remove subjectivity from the challenge

Oh yeah it's not required but I'm a fan

Man I love my noclip shuttles

 

[Axiom]

VTOL is cool

 

[Lemniscate Biscuit]

Can I use gliding heatshields to fly by shuttle back.

 

[Altaïr]

Can I use gliding heatshields to fly by shuttle back.

As for now it's part of the authorized mods for challenges. We are aware that it might slightly help (especially for the reusability challenge when you have to land close to the launchpad) but it was done in full awareness.

 

[Axiom]

Wouldn't the reentry trajectory mod help more? And that's allowed

 

[Altaïr]

Wouldn't the reentry trajectory mod help more? And that's allowed

Yes, especially that it can be combined with gliding heat shields. Actually many mods help. I can also mention ANAIS and ΔV calculator for navigation challenges or Image cover mod for the replica. Our philosophy when deciding this was that the help provided by mods was ok as long as it was fair. Fair in the sense "doesn't break physics". Gliding heat shields was debated since it modifies the game physics but it was considered reasonable.
On the contrary, Warpinator was forbidden. Regarding custom parts, as many of them don't take balance into account they were forbidden too.

 

[Axiom]

Yes, especially that it can be combined with gliding heat shields.

A bit off topic but has anyone combined those mods to make a guided missile?

 

[Lemniscate Biscuit]

A bit off topic but has anyone combined those mods to make a guided missile?

Cruise missiles and fly-back shuttles like my Vaquita and Vaquita² (which both use Gliding Heatshields) can all be made with these mods. However, guided missiles probably require an autopilot script of some sort in order to reach their target without any user input.

 

[Axiom]

guided missiles probably require an autopilot script of some sort in order to reach their target without any user input.

By guided I meant controlled by the player, I guess that's just 1.4 weapons me talking

 

[Marmilo]

A bit off topic but has anyone combined those mods to make a guided missile?

Fusion has made fully stock autonomous tracking missiles

 

[Altaïr]

A bit off topic but has anyone combined those mods to make a guided missile?

Not as far as I know, though the result wouldn't be great in my opinion, due to how little lift provide a heat shield.
ANAIS allows to make that kind of things in space though, I blew up a few space stations that way

Fusion has made fully stock autonomous tracking missiles

From what I remember it was based on docking ports which attraction range has been increased. It's a bit artificial when you make the target cooperative enough to attract the missile

 

[Axiom]

I have another dumb idea for a team ION mission:
Star-Conquering Traveler
This involves adding the custom asteriod 'oumuamua
The mission is simple, land on it
The problem? It's on a very fast interstellar trajectory
You have to do it in one buildscreen and all other regular rules apply
The name is a reference to how 'Oumuamua means "Wanderer", and a Kirby reference

You could make 'Oumuamua faster to make the challenge harder

 

[Marmilo]

From what I remember it was based on docking ports which attraction range has been increased. It's a bit artificial when you make the target cooperative enough to attract the missile

While it does seem like a stretch, it's worth noting than any complex weapons system is very likely going to utilise them, making it a viable target

 

[Altaïr]

I have another dumb idea for a team ION mission:
Star-Conquering Traveler
This involves adding the custom asteriod 'oumuamua
The mission is simple, land on it
The problem? It's on a very fast interstellar trajectory
You have to do it in one buildscreen and all other regular rules apply
The name is a reference to how 'Oumuamua means "Wanderer", and a Kirby reference

You could make 'Oumuamua faster to make the challenge harder

That wouldn't work, the game can't handle hyperbolic trajectories for planets. It would be weird anyway, after you create a world the object would pass once and then never more. It could eventually work if you make the orbit highly elliptic, but then players could aim for it when it's far from the Sun, when it's slower, which is not the purpose of the challenge.

While it does seem like a stretch, it's worth noting than any complex weapons system is very likely going to utilise them, making it a viable target

Sure, I'm gonna add a docking port with infinite attraction radius to my build so that somebody else can destroy it easily with a homing missile.

 

[Axiom]

That wouldn't work, the game can't handle hyperbolic trajectories for planets. It would be weird anyway, after you create a world the object would pass once and then never more. It could eventually work if you make the orbit highly elliptic, but then players could aim for it when it's far from the Sun, when it's slower, which is not the purpose of the challenge.

Maybe change it to a craft that's on a hyperbolic trajectory? Or make a planet like mercury that's really close to the sun and tell people to land on it

While it does seem like a stretch, it's worth noting than any complex weapons system is very likely going to utilise them, making it a viable target

You could very easily confuse the missile by using docking ports as flares basically

 

[Marmilo]

You could very easily confuse the missile by using docking ports as flares basically

Oh yeah, you definitely could. That's where stuff like proximity fuse shrapnel warheads could come in. The possibilities are many, but this stuff requires tons of refining and tweaking, and port based warfare is often limited by the game's quirks and sometimes buggy physics

Sure, I'm gonna add a docking port with infinite attraction radius to my build so that somebody else can destroy it easily with a homing missile.

The missile's own range might be sufficient if you fire it in the approximate direction of your target

 

[Axiom]

Maybe change it to a craft that's on a hyperbolic trajectory? Or make a planet like mercury that's really close to the sun and tell people to land on it

Potential problem, if you say "One buildscreen" base game players will be at a massive disadvantage
Maybe say a maximum mission mass of 5000t, so base gamers can do multiple launches (also solves the problem of people clipping tanks until there's no tomorrow)

 

[floatingfuel]

Maybe change it to a craft that's on a hyperbolic trajectory?

Visiting alien craft ?
The challenge would be about dV planning and orbital timing. Or about flight control, if the rendezvouz trajectories are not aligned. Quite interesting in my opinion!

Or make a planet like mercury that's really close to the sun and tell people to land on it

"Super Duper Under Intense Pressure"

 

[floatingfuel]

Several mission ideas crossed my mind:

"Garbage Man"
A quicksave is provided for the mission. There are five objects to be recovered. One in High Earth Orbit, one in LEO, one in Low Moon Orbit, one in elliptical Earth orbit, and one in between Earth and Mars Orbit. All must be recovered without breaking anything. Five launches allowed.

"Near-Realistic Reentry"
Do a Mars, Phobos, Deimos return mission, but the reentry temperature on Mars and Earth must not exceed 2000⁰C. (To be honest, I don't know how high the temperature of heat shield could be. Quick Googling found the numbers around 1500-2700ºC)

A mission that involves a spacecraft / a body that's retrograde to the orbit of planets.



I somewhat think that Reusability and Shuttle challenge can be combined with several Teams challenge. Could be a fully reusable Mars Mission, shuttle delivered space station building, etc.

Heck, maybe make a Deja Vu Club? Redo the Moon Mission, Mars Mission, Space Station, and Galilean Mission in Deja Vu fashion as the requirement. Definitely time consuming and excruciating .

 

[Darthan]

I'm attempting recoverable (i.e. just recover everything rather than reuse and relaunch) Moon,Mars and Venus missions. The Mars one (not complete yet) involved at least 5 launches and I'm using SSTO for all of them. Attempting full reuse for all of them would be rather tedious and non-SSTO might not be practical. Try to get about 500t of fuel into orbit 5t at a time!

 

[Lemniscate Biscuit]

My dad came up with this one.
No Time for Caution (in homage to the movie)
- Use a 30 ton craft in a 35x35 km earth orbit to dock to another craft in cis-Venusian, heliocentric orbit.
Show 35x35 km orbit
All maneuvers to arrive at the docking target
Both craft; docked
Mission log (if available)

 

[Marmilo]

My dad came up with this one.
No Time for Caution (in homage to the movie)
- Use a 30 ton craft in a 35x35 km earth orbit to dock to another craft in cis-Venusian, heliocentric orbit.
Show 35x35 km orbit
All maneuvers to arrive at the docking target
Both craft; docked
Mission log (if available)

Your dad plays sfs? That's awesome

 

[Altaïr]

"Garbage Man"
A quicksave is provided for the mission. There are five objects to be recovered. One in High Earth Orbit, one in LEO, one in Low Moon Orbit, one in elliptical Earth orbit, and one in between Earth and Mars Orbit. All must be recovered without breaking anything. Five launches allowed.

Yeah, I also thought about things like this, if we provide a quicksave we can allow many missions, like rescuing a craft (in orbit or at ground on another body), deflecting an asteroid before it hits Earth (the asteroid being made of fuel tanks)...

A mission that involves a spacecraft / a body that's retrograde to the orbit of planets.

Man, that's evil

My dad came up with this one.
No Time for Caution (in homage to the movie)
- Use a 30 ton craft in a 35x35 km earth orbit to dock to another craft in cis-Venusian, heliocentric orbit.
Show 35x35 km orbit
All maneuvers to arrive at the docking target
Both craft; docked
Mission log (if available)

A tricky one too. With ANAIS it would be fine, but with the original navigation system I'm not sure.

 

[Lemniscate Biscuit]

Your dad plays sfs? That's awesome

Yessir.

A tricky one too. With ANAIS it would be fine, but with the original navigation system I'm not sure.

I didn't make it a "low" Solar orbit so it shouldn't be extremely hard. Just match the orbits to be close together then rendezvous.

 

[Altaïr]

I didn't make it a "low" Solar orbit so it shouldn't be extremely hard. Just match the orbits to be close together then rendezvous.

In terms of ΔV I'm not worried. It's just that I'm not sure about how the navigation system would work. I tried long ago a rendez-vous in solar orbit, it's been very difficult. But it was under version 1.4 when we had the closest approach line. It was not that precise, and just a slightly different trajectory could mean a difference of tenths or hundreds of kilometers. It could be different now, but probably not so easy.