How High Can You Get Without Engines In Kerbal Space Program?

[@ReidCaptain]

Def would like to come back and try this challenge out allowing glitches, controller manipulation, and part clipping, but I figure I'd keep it fairly legit this time around. Anyone else want to see a multi-planet mission video soon?

[@PartisDiabolica-d6d]

MEEEEEEE!!!

[@animosa8963]

Vibration based engine would go hard

[@zutaca2825]

Stratzenblitz did a challenge like this a while back if you want to check out what he did

[@hatman4818]

If you don't use the robotics parts for your bearing, but instead build a bearing using pre-robotics parts like landing gear wheels, I think you can break the fundamental RPM limit in the game. Stratzenblitz75 made a spin launcher for a minmus city that used old fashioned pre-robotics bearings, and a very very long launch arm. Also using explosives and riding the shockwave was done IRL with the Orion project. If you search up KSP Orion drive, you can find fireworks powered ships that are well optimized.

[@thedemontwins8024]

Yes.

[@michaelwoodby5261]

"I figured I should try to make some kind of helicopter" 10 minutes later "I figured I'd do better with helicopter blades!" Truly, genius.

[@DecidedlyNinja]

I once posted a comment saying Reid was smart. People have been correcting me for years.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

I had my fair share of attempts at building a Triebflügel, just because the idea is so kerbal. But the fact that his wing helicopter went higher than a typical jetplane should already be considered a success.

[@NoSubsWithContent]

@@DecidedlyNinja it seems like he acts stupid on purpose just to make the video long enough, this is especially noticeable if you watch a lot of his besiege videos in a row

[@oasntet]

Stratzenblitz has a video from a few years ago wherein he makes it to orbit using only jet engines and electric motors. It seems like maybe a similar approach could be used with an electric plane rather than a helicopter, but it does mean building up a ton of speed in the mid-atmosphere in order to get over 70k on mostly momentum alone, and then using his spinning catapult idea to put a small thing in orbit once there...

[@DarkSpark_]

"without engines"

[@beanny39]

​@@DarkSpark_ Good thing it's an electric motor, not an electric engine.

[@Nelo390]

@@beanny39 "Jet engine"

[@larrywhitney]

@@DarkSpark_ props?

[@furriesinouterspaceUnited]

​@@beanny39***Jet engine***

[@CharlesPkp2]

you managed to make my two neurons connect, yet again.

[@AGuyWhoDosentKnow]

Make a automatic tea maker in the Herbal Spice program

[@DavidEdwards9801]

Wouldn't that be a thing for the Spiffing Brit?

[@SorenN2011]

@@DavidEdwards9801 Lmao.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

If you use different herbs and spices you don't even need a space program to get high.

[@simonbales5590]

@@HappyBeezerStudios yup

[@thehobbist5544]

You sound so much like NileRed its crazy

[@pizza_.]

Nilereid

[@twaffleproductions]

he really doesn't

[@nukewurld]

I must be deaf and dumb because it ain't close

[@baljot414]

I never thought of that but true 😂

[@davidaugustofc2574]

KerbileRed

[@Tommygunn776]

6:05 the bitrate 💀

[@G-Cole-01]

pixel reducer (real)

[@reclinedpartygaming3774]

"lets see how far i can launch them without motors" 3 seconds later "ok im gonna place this motor here"

[@LyndseyAfton]

I will do one push-up for every like this comment gets in the next 7 days. Edit: it has been 7 days, and this comment got 1.1k likes. Proof will be uploaded soon Edit #2: The first part is on my channel now

[@evilsillyhill]

slacker do at least 2x the amount

[@ThatsOneNiceKitty]

What happens if I downvote?

[@WhyDoIHaveAHandle517]

🤖

[@ado1f181]

​@@ThatsOneNiceKitty For each downvote you are doing pushups

[@TNTONIC]

Your fucked

[@LuckyEcho]

I love how he says, "It's a pretty simple game, just slap an engine and launch whereever you want.", I think we can all agree that's enough to get to even the mun.

[@roboticgamer8990]

A plane based design could potentially work better for electric motors since if you can balance electricity consumption with solar panels you could have unlimited endurance and so max altitude would be solely dictated by performance at increasingly thinner atmospheric pressures.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

I think if I would try an orbital plane using electric engines I would have a huge compartment with enough RTGs to irradiate entire planets.

[@roboticgamer8990]

@@HappyBeezerStudios problem with RTGs is they have a terrible power to weight ratio and so long as the plane can move faster then the planet rotates they have no problem staying in the sun 24/7.

[@rafox66]

It's NileReid, NileRed's gaming channel.

[@Brain_Damaged_Fella]

Hes basically made an orion drive with the fireworks.

[@CaptainAOrange]

I commented the same thing then saw this. A fellow Cold War history appreciator I see.

[@-SpaceFrog-]

I was thinking of an orion drive too!!!

[@TheHaddonfieldRegistry]

First I'm hearing of this, sounds metal

[@ctdaniels7049]

Me as a kid: What if you just used a nuke to propel a rocket Time-travelling government agents: Write that down, write that down!

[@nicholaszonenberg8023]

Nice :D You might want to look into KSP Kraken Drives. They are controllable KSP physic abuse engines that let you accelerate purely from some parts pressing against each other. Usually involving landing gear and or landing legs.

[@Prince_Slimey]

Or use docking ports

[@Weretyu7777]

So...basically a Clang drive from Space Engineers

[@garyslayton8340]

​@@Weretyu7777 same idea

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

@@Weretyu7777 or good old source engine propflying. Or even the troll physics flying chair. Just pick up the chair you sit in. And now I am reminded of the fact that transferring fuel doesn't move your spaceship. So you just have two tanks on a long arm, transfer all the fuel in the upper tank, than rotate around the center of mass. Which is in the tank. Then you transfer fuel in the second tank and rotate around that.

[@dojelnotmyrealname4018]

@@HappyBeezerStudios Transfering fuel isn't instant though. So you'd need a really long arm.

[@glassramen]

6:01 oh gods he gave the kraken a physical form. This does not bode well.

[@lunar0129]

Glitchless vehicles in KSP without engines is such an interesting idea, especially since the game has such little support for it by default. You've earned my sub, and I might even try this myself.

[@vector_7]

This guy has the same cadence as nile red

[@1mariomaniac]

oh my god he does lmao

[@Massivecarcrash]

This guy talks in sinewaves.

[@tjken33]

Vibes

[@Younis_DD5]

Man talks like a sine-wave..

[@CassidyHansen]

Yeah I can't. My misophonia is done lol

[@Younis_DD5]

@@CassidyHansen Same, once i noticed it i couldn’t continue the video 🤣, MileRed does the same but not as repetitive, only when he’s trying to explain something.

[@zokushatech]

Im so glad im not the only one. Im 1 minute into the video and so irritated. I want to watch, it looks like its really interesting, but i seriously cant deal with that speech pattern. 😕

[@huwale]

that's so accurate

[@Whiskypapa]

this video have had a negative impact on my enjoyment of NileRed videos. I never noticed Nile's speech pattern until it was turned up to 11 here.

[@Flightkitten]

Tamming Kerman while getting strapped into the final contraption:

[@lukehanson7554]

11:40 THE Z FIGHTING HELICOPTER BLADES🤣🤣🤣 of all the things where collision would be a very bad day, opposing sets of helicopter blades... I'm just imagining this monstrosity getting built irl

[@Pentross]

The fireworks launchers aren’t really in the spirit of the challenge - a rocket is just a slowly exploding firework

[@Golfbob]

I see what you’re saying, but a rocket most definitely isn’t just a big firework.

[@riri-tu5oi]

5:50 looks like a crazy steel monster

[@kevinoliquiano2426]

"Can a firework get to the moon in KSP?"

[@liliya_aseeva]

Some engineers at Lockheed recently tried to catapult something into the space, but yeah, the problem of timing is really important. They built a closed centrifugue with a hatch on side closer to top which when open will "guide" the payload way up.

[@mysterymeat6460]

I love watching Cap' here climb down the tech tree to get into space

[@Sell-anything]

Reid you should check out Stormworks: Build and Rescue, it’s one of the most complex vehicle building games I have ever seen. It has weapons, space, and complex microcontrollers.

[@kevin2125]

now this is quality content i love. wish you uploaded more

[@notreallya_gamer653]

You can get extremely high by attaching a launch clamp to a control surface, then use the move tool to raise the control surface, the launch clamp means that you can launch a craft from around 100,000m in the air.

[@asialsky]

The main issue with rotors is that the game uses floating-point integers for velocity, and spinning causes all of the rounding errors to quickly stack. The end result is speed being lost. Also, if you go over the maximum speed, it will convert to NaN (not-a-number), and corrupt the game as it spreads to every calculation that touches it. (currentFuel + NaN = NaN, for example)

[@DevilsWolves]

Always amazed by what you’re able to come up with.

[@DaedalusRaistlin]

I love that you push these physics engines way past what they were designed to do, and yet it still somehow works.

[@sugarrookieart]

Thanks NileRed, very cool video!(actually)

[@CookinUpTheGoodStuff]

This feels like the Nile red of KSP

[@SadSmash547]

I feel like I just found NileRed's secret gaming channel. You sound exactly like him.

[@ConsumerOfBEANS]

I have an idea, a rocket, but its stages are horizontal, i.e. a rocket engine, cone, and fuel pod, but like 25 stacked horizontally

[@DacuberTM]

I remember in the old days you could just spam control surfaces on your airplane, and then pitching up and down would gain speed

[@SteamCraftOfficial]

one could argue that a firework launcher is a type of engine.

[@Yoitscaivaxthemolotovfox]

Normal people: makes cool plane or rocket Reid: let’s make a fucking spinning catapult for shits and giggles

[@htomerif]

IIRC, there's a zero drag glitch using a faring pulled back over the entire craft that it's attached to. Might help. Also, at some point with batteries its just better to use RTGs. -edit: or fuel cells.

[@NoenD_io]

Now create vr target missle in plasma

[@thatsstoguy]

the extremely handsome, amazing, awe-inspiring, staggering, tremendous, prodigious, fabulous, magnificent, pulchritudinous, not overcompensating person that has the record for space% used fireworks and a kal controller for it

[@terrydeschenes7850]

next time set the pitch of the props to your main throttle control in the action groups and then just have the motors spin at a fixed rate, kinda like how a constant RPM propeller works in real life. this is what i did for a 4 engine prop plane i made

[@thegamesforreal1673]

I took a prop plane to Eve to scout out a nice spot for a colony. It used that same design, constant RPM with blade angle tied to throttle. Works great in any atmosphere, regardless of composition! Eve, Kerbin, Jool, Laythe, it can work anywhere! Even Duna, though that one is challenging to design for considering its low atmospheric pressure.

[@Miki-s2e]

"Caused some *minor* stability problems" *rocket proceeds to head straight down in a under a second*

[@Murd0cz-xe3yi]

you are the reason i started playing kerbal. you made my singular little braincell function enough to comprehend basic physics

[@Known_as_The_Ghost]

There's a glitch utilizing docking ports, which allows for infinite acceleration. There's a glitch using the kal controller, which you can overcharge the fireworks velocity, thereby giving more knockback/recoil(might explode your craft if you make the velocity too high) Hope this helps for next time :)

[@fugbisch6983]

If you want to try again, you can move your parts into a fairing to completely eliminate Drag

[@kennyxkazuki713]

You can use heat shield as really really good helicopter blades

[@floppa_nature9840]

You should try doing a mission to the Mun or smth, with only using the interior view for piloting it. (press C when there's a kerbal in a vessel)

[@thatoneyoutuberofohio]

Make the P-8 Poseidon in Besiege!

[@FlyingPigeon-00001]

Most normal Reid Captain video:

[@matsv201]

There is a youtube that got all the way out to space with out using rockets by combining a helicopter like thingy with a enormus arm to sling it the last bit

[@zekejanczewski7275]

What if you packed fuel and used a fuel cell array to generate electricity on your flight? You cab get 18 charge per second using the array, and they are pretty light to pack. The FL-T400 fueltank converts into 71111 charge per ton of weight, while the Z-4K battery pack holds only 20 charge per tone. Fuel is over 3 and a half times more energy dence then batteries on the ground, and it only gets better once you consider fuel tanks get lighter when the charge inside of them is used up. The only downside is you can only acsess this energy at a limited rate. (Which is a VERY little consern, because adding fuel cells to suit your needs more then make up for the weight savings in a trip longer than 3 seconds.) and it can't be recharged. These are both non-issues for your mission. Go nuts.

[@verebellus]

weird game experiments and synthesizers. love it

[@mariosonicfan2010]

5:58 oh that's creepy. makes me think of some deep sea creature or something.

[@societl]

off topic: I was at the kennedy space center and ran on the landing strip for a 5k race. seeing the VAB in person is absolutely insane, it’s like aliens dropped a cube down on earth and just left. i’d say the game does not do it justice for its size. Think if you stacked 4 walmarts on top of eachother and turned it sideways.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

I have no idea how to relate to that description, but by data it's about halfway between our local cathedral and the TV tower.

[@n3k0lein]

I modded an engine once but accidentally added an extra 0.. It exploded on launch but my kerbal went to outer space.

[@CaptainAOrange]

6:40 This is basically Project Orion from the Cold War

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

the nuclear pulse engine?

[@themetheme4368]

use solar panels and cut batteries, also use heat shields for lift after clipping out the drag

[@ladyzogs]

im getting pumpkin chunkin flashbacks

[@joehelland1635]

You can break lightspeed with a nosecone and three landing gear….. a few other structural elements are needed of course, but with the kracken all can be achieved.

[@wObBlE73]

Timestamps: Start- 0:00 Sponsor- 2:03 - 2:18 Half time: 7:44 End- 15:28

[@alphapotato_gd9597]

I dunno. It feels like using electric motors and props is just a more elaborate engine! The ship is in some form of continuous powered flight.

[@michaelminecraftplays7773]

You know something crazy is going to happen in the most dangerous way When he post a video lol😂

[@PartisDiabolica-d6d]

0:27 boom

[@thebonethief]

this game is great, its too bad they never made a sequel

[@calebelliottguitar]

They sorta did, until the studio got liquidated and now it’s permanently in pre-release, but you can buy it.

[@thebonethief]

@@calebelliottguitar Poe's law, invoked once more

[@hexadoxical3949]

From my experience you can get far enough that Kerbal God tells you to stop. Happened to me.

[@FailRaceFan]

There are multiple potential solutions to this idea, but basically all of them suffer from the extreme connection wobbliness. So glad they decided to purposfully add it in KSP ̵2̶ Ripoff

[@Art_Of_Fischl]

Can we get much higher? ......... so high

[@Cane4092]

1:15 i guess you could say the motor has rocketile dysfunction

[@00nothingxD]

For the heli idea you should add motors to the blades to allow variable angle adjustment

[@flimph]

Now you need to do this in space flight simulator 2

[@InDzienInTampa]

Scott Manley accomplished this feat no more than 7 years ago.

[@someone-o9d3k]

My nickname for you is now officially *NileReid*

[@zymosan99]

"kerbal space program is a simple enough game" it's not rocket science mfs when its rocket science

[@lalifunziy]

7:39 Imagine Kerbals looking at the sky and seeing a second sun

[@theendofemeralds]

Idea, how high can you get in kerbal space program without powered flight (only acceleration is while grounded)

[@Smorb42]

I am pretty sure you can reach escape velocity. The main challenge is actually staying on the ground.

[@theendofemeralds]

@@Smorb42 That, in my opinion, would be interesting, no?

[@catlilface]

Kraken effect maybe?

[@nithsk]

why is your ksp so de-saturated?

[@blockoboi5941]

What a silly question. You don't need engines to get high, you only need a certain plant

[@OnIine_Gamer]

you should get to all planets using a single fuel tank (dunno how that would work though, but nothing's impossible)

[@Aldrasio]

The Twin Boar with a command seat under a fairing is able to get into orbit on its own, though I don't know if it has enough dV to leave Kerbin's SOI after that. If it does, doing a flyby grand tour using gravity assists should be possible, though it might take 1,000 years or so.

[@DoggosGames]

Already been done. 3 part missions

[@butre.]

@@Aldrasio it can get out of kerbin's soi and into Eve's with plenty of fuel left with a double mun assist. once you make it to eve anywhere in the system is cheap with gravity assists

[@4k_ace]

you dont need engines, just a lighter and some grassoline

[@Palmtop_User]

No even half way through and hes taking the route of project orion

[@raguusauce]

Ok, now make a Kerbal particle accelerator

[@Olivieranseau]

Hey Reid :) will it be able to ship that synth to the UK?

[@theendofemeralds]

3000 views, no wonder I have not been recommended hid videos recently

[@da_hexx]

reid captain posted, day successed

[@pikooo.]

this man cant stop cooking

[@RADIS370]

THOSE ARE DAMN ENGINES!

[@Dodener]

they arent, they are motors. by definition engine is combustion, motor is electric. He said no engines

[@RADIS370]

@@Dodener Ksp wiki defies it as "An engine is a part that can accelerate a craft."

[@Dodener]

@@RADIS370 dont use the KSP wiki for definitions, im talking about real definitions. If that was the case then the reaction wheel letting you roll your pod would be an engine

[@pavesomsk908]

he technically made an engine that runs on shooting out mass.

[@Dodener]

thats not an engine

[@burak1660]

Nilered of gaming

[@thatguybrody4819]

NileReid

[@lukehanson7554]

It's like watching learn to fly

[@Gunnar-i6d]

You should make the oldest car possible in siege

[@Klint_Izwudd]

You ever just attach angled wings to a command pod and spin it? It's surprising how high that alone can get.

[@bogus69]

As I was watching this I thought damn this dude sounds like NileRed.. lo and behold someone else thought the same thing 😂

[@Kim_gaming8]

Are you going to try sfs 2?

[@BrSFS]

If you overclocked the firework launchers with the Kal-1000 controllers you could probably get to space.

[@wp0]

use the kraken engine and you can escape the kerbal system

[@Marines_Memelevolent]

Wonder if KSP accurately models increased tip speeds of a propeller. If so you could just make longer rotors to get higher speed at the tip (where the cargo is) regardless of the engine speed.

[@Bernd69420]

I find when it comes to getting high, the best alternative to engines is drugs