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Post by lawson on Oct 28, 2016 14:46:57 GMT
I've now managed to build ships with over 100Km/s delta-v and useful thrust. Meet the fastest ship in my Courier class, the "H" model. Fully fueled, a Courier H has 137Km/s delta-v and space for 48 passengers! Weighing in at only 690 tons, it slips easily into any spare space-ship bay so it's always ready for weekend trips to the tropical Venusian Trojan asteroids! A steal at just 10.3 mega-credits! (other uses for the Courier H include: lighting small moons, or powering large cities!) So I propose a race. Who can do the Homecoming mission in the least amount of time! So far my best is 6M 10D.
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Post by wafflestoo on Oct 28, 2016 14:49:26 GMT
Let the interplanetary yacht races begin!
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Post by lawson on Nov 14, 2016 6:57:05 GMT
Well, just ran this mission again. The Courier H got the transit down to 4 months and 28 days. Setting up the rendezvous burn with Mars is a challenge. Ideally, you's be able to adjust the start of the burn earlier or later. But until that feature is added, I've found that splitting the burn in half makes it easier to get the timing right. Also made an NTR design to try to see if a slingshot close to the sun is faster.
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Post by wafflestoo on Nov 14, 2016 15:52:30 GMT
Arrgh! I totally meant to try this over the weekend... but got caught up in coil-gun designs (current winner; "The Hammer", a 110kw 140mm gun with a 100^2 accuracy of over 25km). Busy tonight... maybe tomorrow I can start chasing after you
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Post by jageriv on Nov 15, 2016 18:01:21 GMT
I still have to get around to finishing this mission normally.... really need to get on that.
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Post by wafflestoo on Nov 27, 2016 23:43:29 GMT
Christ! Finally got a gold-star on this mission using a 1GW methane resistojet ship. It's hard to go fast on this mission because of celestial mechanics! I have a lot of work to go to even start competing It's amazing how quickly dV requirements escalate the further from a Hohmann transfer you get
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Post by tukuro on Nov 28, 2016 2:07:17 GMT
4 months and 18 days.
Theoretically it should be possible to do it in under 4 months. But that would require some very efficient and tight maneuvering. This took me a few tries, and even then I am still wasting a lot of deltaV. The "shuttle" has 437 km/s DeltaV and little over 5 mG of acceleration when the tanks are full. The thruster has an exhaust velocity of 200km/s and is powered by 7 modified 24.7 GW Apophy's reactors ( 173 GW total). The first version had more deltaV but slower acceleration. If you're building ships with a lot of deltaV I recommend keeping the burn time at around 1 month. I sacrificed about 50km/s deltaV, but I compensated that by pulling more Gs, which in this case means I reach max velocity twice as fast and have an easier time making the insertion burns.
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Post by lawson on Nov 28, 2016 9:13:25 GMT
Upgraded to the racing spec Courier H-RX ship and ran the tanks nearly dry. Managed to get a bit faster time Courier H-RX ship, Trajectory with mars in the bottom right. When the Delta-V of a ship gets over 100Km/s, you can pretty much ignore orbital mechanics and burn strait for your destination.
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Post by jageriv on Dec 9, 2016 3:47:56 GMT
And I used to think 35 km/s was a lot of delta-v to pay around with. Now, lets see if anyone can break the three month barrier.
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Post by newageofpower on Dec 9, 2016 4:05:46 GMT
When the Delta-V of a ship gets over 100Km/s, you can pretty much ignore orbital mechanics and burn strait for your destination. When you get to Torch-ship levels of dV, just use a Brachistochrone Transfer. However, since MPD's have terrible thrust, you have to start the reverse burn a little earlier.
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Post by jageriv on Dec 26, 2016 3:22:14 GMT
So, now that we have drop tanks, can anyone make an even faster ship? Or do those drop tanks not have a meaningful effect when your design is already this extreme?
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Post by lawson on Dec 26, 2016 6:19:56 GMT
So, now that we have drop tanks, can anyone make an even faster ship? Or do those drop tanks not have a meaningful effect when your design is already this extreme? Drop tanks should help, They'll make it easier and cheaper to get a large mass-ratio. May also make the braking burn easier due to higher acceleration after dropping the tanks. That said, Tukuro could already shatter my 3M 4D record with the ship he posted. He just needs a better trajectory. (which is why I posted my trajectory with my last record)
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Post by Kitten on Dec 26, 2016 10:42:20 GMT
How do you keep your monster powerplants with 100+ GW within the mission's budget? Or is there really no cost that matters other than the fuel?
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Post by apophys on Dec 26, 2016 14:16:49 GMT
Trajectory: Ship stats: That's 400GW of power on it, using my new 25GW reactors.
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Post by jageriv on Dec 26, 2016 17:50:02 GMT
Bravo Apophys, bravo. You crushed the 3 month limit, and gave us a very nice picture of your trip and ship to boot. Excellent showing sir Apophys. Someone clearly felt, and delivered, the need for speed. Remind me to call you next time I need to get anywhere fast.
Well, 2 months 13 days is the record, and it seems to have been achieved on a fairly good rout. It looks like you already are thrusting along almost the entire length of the trip, which seems to suggest whoever the next winner is will need higher thrust, possibly more so than they will need higher delta v.
But, enough of that, everyone give a hand and thumbs up to Apophys for the greatness he's already achieved.
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