What is the obsession with cockpits on SSTOs?

[fourfa]

4 hours ago, Yakuzi said:

Here's a couple of my stock SSTO spaceplanes (some crewed, but all without the standard role cockpits):

NB: The only mods used were visual ones... and KER most likely

Really cool ships!  ... but that nosepiece is not stock (Mk2 Expansion)

Edited June 9, 2017 by fourfa

[Overfloater]

So somebody flies to space.

[Yakuzi]

5 hours ago, fourfa said:

Really cool ships!  ... but that nosepiece is not stock (Mk2 Expansion)

Thanks mate!

The nosepiece is an upside-down Mk2 cockpit... they're all fully stock, I promise

EDIT: hold on, I'll get you a pic

Edited June 9, 2017 by Yakuzi

[fourfa]

Haha, nice! Very creative

[Whisky Tango Foxtrot]

Of the SSTOs I've uploaded to KerbalX, only the Gnat (an experimental low-tech passenger SSTO) uses a cockpit, and there it was mostly because I needed a part with an EVA hatch. Both my standard passenger SSTO, the Grasshopper, and my cargo SSTO, the Beetle, are probe-controlled. Since I only use SSTOs to get passengers and payloads into Kerbin orbit (where they get transferred to space-only vehicles for the rest of their journeys) and back signal loss isn't much of a factor, and probe cores give me more flexibility in crew assignments and allow me to ensure that the craft remains controllable even if nobody's on board.