Community Challenge #6: Space-Ships

[wintry sierra]

(For KSP2)

Aye Aye, Kerbonauts! 🏴‍☠️

We 'ere at the KSC been gettin' mighty tired of being surrounded by the ocean, but 'avin no ship to sail 'er with! Your task: build a seaworthy ship and use it to explore the oceans of the Kerbolar system! You can build whatever seafaring vessel you like, from a jetski to an aircraft carrier. The only rule is that it must stay in the water while moving. A tip: if you find yourself struggling to stay afloat, empty fuel tanks have great buoyancy.

• Primary: Build a boat, sail it around the Island Runway Isles and return to the KSC's port.
• Secondary: Operate your boat in the oceans of Laythe!
• Jeb Level: Operate your boat in the oceans of Eve. Keep in mind that jet engines dont work there!
• Val Level: Operate your boat in Vall's Lake.
• Kraken Level: Use your boat to circumnavigate Laythe.

Challenge submission by @cosmic venture, thanks! This challenge is intended for KSP2. KSP1 players can also attempt this challenge, but they won't be able to take on Val Level difficulty. The Challenge can be completed by completing any of the difficulty levels, after which you'll have earned the right to claim the mission patch as usual!

Fair winds and following seas, Captains!

[cosmic venture]

arrr

Time to discover kamerica

[opal cradle]

mild problem: you can’t circumnavigate Kerbin by water

[cosmic venture]

Melt some icecaps
@wintry sierra

[wintry sierra]

ah dangit, right

[cosmic venture]

Oh laythe isn’t as bad
Although still kinda hard to get to

[spice fog]

almost circumnavigate kerbin

[wintry sierra]

Until you realize you have to get there first

[cosmic venture]

Yeah that was my point

[round cipher]

While I build this boat I found some great pirate music for you guys to listen to while you do yours
https://youtu.be/pisx_Wlv8bk

[opal cradle]

oh yeah what level do you get if you put a boat on Puf

[cosmic venture]

Kope Level

[wintry sierra]

Planety Level

[paper sedge]

question, how would one get a boat to another planet

[wintry sierra]

by launching it on a rocket

[round cipher]

Easy

[paper sedge]

ok so its just, making the boat.. something ive never done before

[wintry sierra]

it's quite fun

[round cipher]

And laggy

[paper sedge]

i present to you, my first ever boat

i just realise this was a ksp2 challenge
silly me

[paper sedge]

i appear to skip most important parts of reading

[barren cape]

maybe get here then?

[cosmic venture]

does this count as a boat
just making sure so i can go to laythe with it

[wintry sierra]

Really stretching the definition of boat there

[cosmic venture]

it moves in water and can only move in water, pretty much boat

[peak trellis]

i probably should make new crafts for these challenges but here is my ships/carriers collection

[regal imp]

How long would it theoretically take to circumnavigate Laythe via boat

[wintry sierra]

5 minutes ||if you're bad at math||

[cosmic venture]

oh i totally forgot about this challenge

[magic wasp]

What do you mean “return it to the KSC’s port”? Last I checked the KSC doesn’t have a port

[wintry sierra]

This is a KSP2 challenge, it does in that game

[magic wasp]

Oh. I don’t have ksp2. Does it count if I just sail it back to the coastline of the OG KSC?

[peak trellis]

i feel why not, its practically the same. (and also ksp1 has water launch site near main ksc, but you need to discover it first, i think Matt Lowne mad a video about it "KSP: The Amphibious Spaceplane AND Stock Ocean Launch Site!")

[wintry sierra]

Sure

[magic wasp]

I know where it is, but it’s also kinda far away from the KSC

[opal cradle]

you could use the Cove launch site
but it's not close enough to the KSC for it to really work the same as the KSP2 version of the challenge

[magic wasp]

Possibly

[opal cradle]

just making sure i'm understanding this correctly: i can do this in KSP1, as long as it isn't a Primary or Val level completion?

[wintry sierra]

You can do the primary one too, just sail back to the beach (or the island launch site if you prefer) in that case. Val level is impossible because Vall doesnt have a lake in KSP1

[opal cradle]

alright, thanks
I was going to do Kraken level with electric propellers since I cant seem to come up with anything jet-powered that has enough dv to make it around Laythe

[wintry sierra]

There is a propellor mod for KSP2, but ive never tried making a boat with it

[opal cradle]

is there? Surprised I haven’t seen it yet

[wintry sierra]

Im not sure it ever officially released, it might be hidden in the modding server

#1204954872307392582 message

[opal cradle]

thanks, i'll give that a shot then
i was hoping i wouldn't have to resort to breaking ground propellers because i wouldn't be able to timewarp while using them, and that'd be one long trip without it

i can see why this mod isn't released

huh, it would only take a bit over two days straight at 4x time warp to just swim it

[wintry sierra]

Lol

[opal cradle]

and because i can't timewarp with BG props it wouldn't be any faster to use them
so unless i can come up with something better
jeb
get ready

[wintry sierra]

It is a Kraken level challenge for a reason

[opal cradle]

assembled in orbit! this took 5 launches (1 for the boat, 3 for the boat's fuel, and then one for the transfer stage)
the entire vessel is a bit under 2 kilotons, and the boat itself is 1100t
just gotta actally get this over to laythe

[opal cradle]

dammit i found another bug during this mission
apparently docking to a craft disconnects all of it's struts? anyway i'm now forced to launch 2,000t at once
otherwise the boat just keeps falling apart

[opal cradle]

and now that ive finally relaunched the thing and gotten it back on laythe the engines are still exploding
this never happened during testing what is going on

[opal cradle]

@wintry sierra is it okay if i cheat the boat over to laythe for Kraken level? no part of the challenge specifies i can't and the boat only seems to work if it is teleported over

[cosmic venture]

I apologize for your struggle Pulsar

[wintry sierra]

You’re not really supposed to, but i’ll give you a pass on account of me pittying you lol

[opal cradle]

if it still doesn't work i might actually go nuts
or just do this in KSP1 with some propeller or nukejet or something

[opal cradle]

wait guys i might have a solution that would theoratically work without cheating maybe
am i insane? no guys im fine trust me it'll work this time
just another three days and this challenge is FINISHED

[opal cradle]

i mean maybe that would have worked but i can't be bothered to make it work
i was going to try getting the boat halfway up the shore to get around the docking bug but i can't make a rover with 300t of fuel and have it be able to drive like, at all

[opal cradle]

im free
the boat actually functioned this time (minus SAS not working towards the end, fixed by deploying the control surfaces)
does kinda suck that i had to cheat it over to get it to work
tried to visit the Laythe present from challenge 3, forgot it sunk
even got to see the weird line in the water at Lon. 180°
opinion of Laythe after this mission: 7.8/10 too much water

[wintry sierra]

The fact you actually managed to do this is insane. I commend the dedication and hereby crown you the undisputed king of this challenge!

[foggy spear]

@wintry sierra can I still do these challenges, even if it’s like five months old from the past