I still cant find a thread for general ideas for contests....but here is another idea....Self constructing ships.

Contestants start with a core consisting of 2 Large cargo containers, 1 ion thruster on each side, 1 small reactor, 1 gyro, 1 connector, 1 merge block, 1 welder, and one projector. (up to 4 blocks for timers and programming too)

The idea is that you can kick this core out of a moving vessel, turn on the first welder.....and an entire large ship unfolds/self welds.

Given the huge number of welders, and the fact that the resulting ship would be entirely self regenerative, some sort of light frigate would probably be the best option.

I like this idea because it forces competitors to design a ship to be built, instead of just to be flown.

Again feel free to dismiss the idea, Im just kicking out some of the more fun challenges I have set myself over the years (and usually failed at, with style).

Ill probably be throwing out lots of ideas, but I dont really expect any of them to be accepted any time soon, so if you dont like them then np, just ignore :D

Really? How? I thought welders only had a single block range...?

Yup, 3.5 large blocks high. Or wide. Or deep. Depends how you orient it. The large thrusters can fit through hangar doors (yes i mean the 4 high ones) with some judicious rotor use. I use small thrusters mostly, with large ions on back, and make sure that i hit atmosphere with enough speed that I dont drop too fast. By the time im low enough for atmospherics to take effect, im still going forward sufficiently fast that im not dropping above their acceleration rate. The hangar can be made with catwalks, windows, and grates for the outside, or half slopes, air vents, side fences, etc. The ships I have done that can fit inside hangar doors tend to have greebles and half slopes on the top and catwalks/windows on the bottom, with pistons or more hangar doors as landing gear.

The challenge mostly is getting all of this into something that can be stored internally with vanilla blocks. With mods you can do anything, and if the hangar were 6 high then I would just steal Pegasus, cut off a turret or two and submit that ;)

I understand you guy will have your own plans for a while, just throwing the idea out there. Thanks for your prompt response

One other note, the height restriction also means that the ship can be 3d printed with only a single piston...

My first post, and I would like to begin by saying I love this competition series. Some of the designs spawned have been breathtaking. That being said,many of them dont actually seem to involve that much complex system design or engineering. Competition entrants just slam together the right number of functional blocks and put a pretty shape around it. With that in mind I have an idea for a competition that should prove a little more challenging, be open to everyone regardless of how good or bad their computer, and keep the workshop very busy as everyone rushes to try out the entrants. So, I would like to humbly offer for consideration my competition idea:

Expeditionary Shuttle
Vanilla Only
Large blocks only.

A lot of the large exploration ships that paved the way for humanity's second diaspora were, ironically, not really designed for planets. They were big and beautiful, and would snap like a twig as soon as they hit atmosphere (ok so they wouldnt, but they SHOULD have, dammit!). To that end, many of these behemoths were equipped with hangers stacked high with small ships, or a couple of shuttles merged to the outside for planetary work. Although these worked reasonably well, It was found that fully equipping a land expedition, whilst in space, requires a certain amount of hangar space, gravity, and generally a large oxygenated environment for loading.

This meant there was a need for shuttles small enough to dock internally, yet still containing sufficient resources and machinery to support an expedition which may be cut off from the mothership for some time. The military also expressed an interest in such a design to save space and resources on long patrols, and offer rapidly deployable support for ongoing planetary operations.

Expeditionary Shuttle

Conditions:
Large ship shuttle
Must be space and atmospheric planetary capable (non-atmospheric planets a bonus)
Must be able to fit through vanilla airlock doors 17 blocks wide (explorer ships are biiiiig)
Can be up to 45 blocks long


Hangar, 3 x 3 x 2 minimum (enough for a speeder or small buggy)
Jump drive
Assembler
Refinery
Water processor
Oxygen tanks
Medbay
Remote
Laser antenna
1 weapon
Solar Panel
Ore detector
Spotlight
Batteries (3 minimum)
100k L cargo storage minimum

Entries to be judged on:
Functionality
Compactness
Equipment accessibility
Aesthetics

Bonus points for:
Cargo capacity
Welding/grinding/mining capability
Programmable Block
Projector
Cryobay
Hydrogen (if well implemented)


Thoughts? I understand if it might be a bit much, but it does present a challenge. Id love to see what the community could create with this brief.