How to make a plane less manouverable

[Branjoman]

Hello, so I have recently made a A10-Thunderbolt based aircraft, and it does its job pretty well. However, it is a little on the twitchy side when it comes to steering (it's actually more maneuverable than any of the jet fighters I've made!), so much so that pressing hard down on the W key causes it to flip out. Is there any way I can make it more stable and less chaotic when it comes to steering? Thanks in advance.

PS: I don't have some pictures of it right now, but I can get some if you wish.

[Ketatrypt]

Add weight to the nose, or make the tail lighter. 

 

Basically it sounds like a center of gravity vs center of lift issue. For more stability put your center of mass quite far in front of the center of lift.. For more manouverability, put the CoM closer to the CoL. (but never put the CoM behind the CoL, that just doesn't work very often  )

[Rocket In My Pocket]

In stock KSP I'd try lowering the sensitivity setting in the options menu.

Also are you using Caps Lock to put the game in "Soft Control" mode which decreases the touchiness of the input?

Failing either of those, you can download Claw's Stock Bug Fixes, which among other things lets you specify authority for each control surface.

[Vanamonde]

Keyboard steering does not lend itself well to KSP aircraft. Treat yourself to a joystick. 

[Snark]

What the previous posters have said... but seriously, post a screenshot.  Ideally in the SPH with the CoM and CoL markers showing. 

It's very hard to give specific advice without a screenshot, because aircraft are complex beasties and there are lots of ways to go awry.

Edited February 18, 2016 by Snark

[Vegetal]

People sometimes see the funky look of KSP and feel it's kind of arcadey in it's aero simulation. It's actually pretty accurate to what one would expect from atmospheric flight. That said: Flying a plane with a keyboard sucks. Get at least a gamepad.

But yeah, putting the CoM further ahead helps.

[GoSlash27]

Center of mass farther forward/ center of lift  farther back. Make sure that you don't have anything forward that generates drag when not aligned to the airstream. Use minimal control surfaces and place them where they don't have much authority.

 You can "trim" the aircraft to use less control surfaces and still fly by rotating the tailplanes slightly down.

Best,
-Slashy

[Chaos_Klaus]

I don't know why people keep bashing keyboard controls. I actually got my old Sidewinder joystick out to play KSP. Got really exited but was disappointed in the end. For me, gently tapping on WSAD is way more precise then using a Joystick. I think it's because a joystick makes it so hart to give no control input when you want things to fly straight.

Other than that. It definitivly is a problem with CoM vs CoL beeing too close to each other. CoL should be a little behind CoM. That way it flys more stable.

[SSgt Baloo]

18 minutes ago, Chaos_Klaus said:

I don't know why people keep bashing keyboard controls. I actually got my old Sidewinder joystick out to play KSP. Got really exited but was disappointed in the end. For me, gently tapping on WSAD is way more precise then using a Joystick. I think it's because a joystick makes it so hart to give no control input when you want things to fly straight.

Other than that. It definitivly is a problem with CoM vs CoL beeing too close to each other. CoL should be a little behind CoM. That way it flys more stable.

A saying in the flying model airplane community goes: "Nose-heavy flies poorly. Tail heavy flies once". If the COM is behind the COL, you will find it difficult to control. At some point, if you maneuver at all, COM will try to pass COL and be in front.

Edited February 18, 2016 by SSgt Baloo

[FullMetalMachinist]

23 hours ago, Branjoman said:

Hello, so I have recently made a A10-Thunderbolt based aircraft,

Do you have the wings mounted fairly low on the fuselage like the real A-10? If so, that can also cause some stability issues. To counter that give your wings some dihedral angle (also like the real life A-10). This moves the CoL up a bit, giving you some more stability. 

[SSgt Baloo]

3 hours ago, FullMetalMachinist said:

Do you have the wings mounted fairly low on the fuselage like the real A-10? If so, that can also cause some stability issues. To counter that give your wings some dihedral angle (also like the real life A-10). This moves the CoL up a bit, giving you some more stability. 

Possibly relevant: http://www.dept.aoe.vt.edu/~mason/Mason_f/A-10Spr09.pdf

Also maybe relevant: https://prezi.com/b0lb-t60t1ih/a-10-thunderbolt/

The wings inboard of the main gear are relatively flat, while most (or all) of the dihedral is outboard of that point. I think this was done partly to maximize the weapons load. The result is that the wing's average dihedral is an average between the inboard and outboard sections.

[FullMetalMachinist]

40 minutes ago, SSgt Baloo said:

Possibly relevant: http://www.dept.aoe.vt.edu/~mason/Mason_f/A-10Spr09.pdf

Also maybe relevant: https://prezi.com/b0lb-t60t1ih/a-10-thunderbolt/

The wings inboard of the main gear are relatively flat, while most (or all) of the dihedral is outboard of that point. I think this was done partly to maximize the weapons load. The result is that the wing's average dihedral is an average between the inboard and outboard sections.

This is all true, AFAIK. Also, I think my favorite slide from the pdf was the chart that starts out "assume 1 wing shot off..."