Mister_Spaceman

Pictured: An R-22 outfitted for news broadcasting prepares for a publicity flight at the Kerbal Launch Complex helipad. Kerbal Standard is now accepting production contracts for their first rotary-wing aircraft, the R-22. A dig through an abandoned airfield in West Kerbin uncovered a curious paradigm of aircraft design that KS had never considered: combining the forces of thrust and lift! The contrarotating propellers cancel out each other’s torque. In addition, reaction wheel technology pioneered by Kerbin’s space program have been incorporated into the design. The result was an unparalleled stability that does not sacrifice maneuverability. KS are eager to expand upon this new platform, with several iterations intended to fill many more roles on the way. Pictured: An R-22 flies over the R&D complex as it performs a test of its camera system. Pictured: The R-22 as it buzzes the SPH tower during a publicity flight. Don’t mind the missing tail fin. Those test pilots…

I typically build LV1-2 stations, though I haven't built many in general. I'd consider my most common configuration LV1.5; two to three linearly docked modules, and another module or two docked orthogonal to the long axis. I rarely find the need to make them bigger, in favor of larger single vehicles. I've somewhat recently started playing with KCT and TACLS, though. Although slight, the higher mass requirements of LS and significantly longer build times for mammoth vehicles make it more viable to use these smaller stations. I also like the familiar aesthetic of relatively simple, utilitarian design. The largest "station" I've built was really an orbitally-constructed spacecraft. It was an explorative vessel for Duna, built linearly out of three modules: hab/control, science/utility, and fuel/propulsion; pictured below with an autonomous resupply vessel close by. This is one of those LV1.5 stations, SRP-1 'Testament', a small research station from my most recent career save. It consists of four modules, the core/utility and hab modules comprise the linear section, and a lab is docked perpendicular to those. Docked to the lab is the Orbital Station Module Tug, a construction tug and control point for modules which lack one. How do y'all go about the construction of your stations? Do you keep a dedicated construction tug like mine? Do you make your insertion stages capable of completing rendezvous/docking with no need for tugs? Those were my primary methods, but I'm curious to hear about other ways of doing it.

Kerbal Standard proudly presents the latest airframe to roll off the line- the JP-11! Pictured: JP-11/S "Curio" returning to the KSC from a biome study, with a beautiful view of the sunset below. The JP-11 is Kerbal Standard's first foray into jet-propelled airliners. It is powered by two J-31 Turbofans (J-33 Wheesleys downsized to 0.938m via tweakscale), has a top speed of 327m/s ASL, and cruises between 4-6km at 0.50-0.66 throttle. The angled nacelles ensure low torque at all altitudes and thrusts, and a suite of control surfaces afford the pilot fine attitude control in any situation (including physics warp!). Test pilots have testified that the plane is remarkably stable; even without stability assist, pilots can keep the J-11 level with only slight trim to counter a port roll. The large wings provide ample lift during takeoff, which comes in handy where prepared runways are lacking. A somewhat high stall speed of 130m/s can complicate landings for novice pilots; Kerbal Standard's test pilots recommend descending early and braking late. Due to issues that occurred during testing of KS's Mk1 Cockpit (a bug that causes an uncontrollable roll), the cockpit and avionics are built by C7's Aerospace Division. Kerbal Standard offers three versions of the airframe for various tasks. The /S and /SL feature science packages with room for expansion, and the /SL includes space for two crew; the /P is a small airliner version with space for 6 passengers. The /S has a verified range of 1260km, but ranges of the /SL and /P have yet to be confirmed. More deets:

Behold! The KMR C-6 series. Simple but well-optimized seaplane designs from Kerlington Model Rockets, Etc.. With low stall speeds and powerful 'Reaper' turboprops from Kerbal Standard (Airplane Plus), the 6S 'Krohpal' and her long-range brother, the 6SL 'Kropell' are perfect island-hopping specimens! Although they're fairly basic in design, I'm quite proud of the C-6 series. I've been using them in a moderately modded career save to conduct local surveys and ferry small flights between the KSC and Island Airfield. Until these, seaplanes have always eluded me in KSP. They wanted to tip over nose-first upon landing, or would refuse to build enough speed to take off if I did manage to land them. This design is quite stable in both the sea and air; the turboprops give it plenty of thrust to overcome the water's drag, and it's capable of staying level with no SAS and only minor trim. When stock trim is too finicky, AP+ Elevon 0s on the tail allow me to fine-adjust the pitch trim. cruises comfortably around 120m/s at 1800m and 2/3 throttle. All-in-all it's a great early-career plane (highest tech nodes are Aerodynamics/Landing). I'll gladly upload a craft file if anyone's interested.

Today, I realized that my HDD is failing. So I’ve taken the first steps in upgrading my PC by buying a new HDD as well as an SSD. Once they arrive, I’ll hopefully be able to migrate my OS to a smaller SSD I have lying around, and keep KSP on the big one for faster load times and maybe better performance. I did manage to finish a Minmar flyby mission, as well as a survey flight while that was en route. A Minmus orbital mission was launched soon after, and inspection flights performed to open up commercial flights to the island airfield. All but 2 of the 90 and 4 of the 160 nodes have been researched.

Despite having 2750+ hours in the game, I've never built a successful SSTO spaceplane. (SSTO boosters, on the other hand, are a common accident in sandbox.) I don't clean up my orbital debris. In fact, I silently hope to be struck by a stray booster at orbital velocity, to create an accident to react to. I've also never seen a career through to completion, often losing motivation after Munar missions become routine. I was pretty far into a career save, but lost the save to a glitch after the update.

Today, I lost my career mode save. Went to activate the > strategy, game crashed, and upon restarting, the save will not load. Tried removing the strategy in the game files to no effect. A moment of silence for Chill Career Take 5: Tokyo Drift... Its legacy shall live on in Chill Career Take 6: Krakenbait Edition. What I would have done today is launch OAEV-1 (Orbitally Assembled Exploration Vehicle) to take advantage of the Duna transfer window.

Game Version: KSP 1.7.3 Mod Version: KK 1.7.3.2 Issue: Bases added by Kerbin Side Remastered do not appear in the tracking station. If you mouse-over its location in the tracking station, the name will appear. Additions to the KSC will appear in the flight scene, but not in the Space Center scene. GUIs appear completely transparent, where some icons appear. The mouseover text that should appear for the GUIs all show when moused over. Only mods installed are KK, KerbinSideRemastered, OSSNTR, AdvancedTextures, and CustomPreLaunchChecks. Maybe a texture problem? Log Edit: A couple of things I've done to try to resolve: Steam file verification, removed and re-installed KK and KSR.

Good points. I didn't realize that the particle effects are so resource intensive. I'll try turning them down when I get home and see how that goes. Is there a way to only turn off specific particle effects, i.e. the splashes? What do you folks recommend for BG Rotor-powered propellers? I imagine that they're fairly simple, a few stacked rotors for maximum RPM, and slightly angled control surfaces?

Well, unfortunately, I've discovered that this form recovery is not an option. The game is far too laggy for anyhing seaborne. A testbed I'd made with <30 parts had my game running at less than 10 FPS. Thanks for your help, folks. Perhaps it will come in handy when I save up enough for a decent computer.

These are all good points. I'm already learning a bit about Kerbal watercraft. I'm considering a either a hydrofoil design with hydrofoils that can fold back into the hull during recovery for hi-speed fun, or a screw-prop design for a challenge. What I'm most unclear on is how to go about the hull. Do traditional "Vee" hulls really work in KSP? Stock ships I've seen tend to look like flat-bottom ships, but perhaps I haven't had a good enough look. From what I understand, MK-2 parts generate the most drag in water, and are thus the most ineffecient for water travel. Is this simply hearsay, ir is it best to build with MK1 and/or MK3 parts? The small radial ore tanks are the most dense ones, right?

With the SM Marine mod seemingly defunct, a lack of other civvie ship mods, and a burning desire to bring "Death to the Green Button" (Credit to @RealKerbal3x for the idea), I've decided to start building ships capable of bringing crew capsules back to the KSC. However, I haven't a clue wher to start. I've never built any stock vessels capable of water transportation (not well, anyway), much less pick up a capsule and carry it home. I have an idea of the basic requirements: Bouyant parts (for floating) Non-bouyant parts (far not floating too much) Engines and air intakes (for moving while you float) Some sort of crane system, most likely modded (so the thing can pick up a capsule) My question is, how does one build a ship with a large enough cargo deck for a crew capsule? What are some tips for proper balance, effecient construction (low part count), and general things to keep in mind for seagoing vessels? I've noticed a thread or two that may help greatly with this, namely some of @Triop's circumnavigation threads. Any threads that may serve for good inspiration? Are there any mods I'm missing that may help with the whole ship thing? Moderators- Feel free to relocate this thread if it belongs elsewhere. I can't tell if it's at home in the questions subforum, or the spacecraft exchange.

Most of this does appear to be the biggest problem, and a lot of it is due to my experience with smaller craft. Most of my planes have been smaller craft for completing contracts on the other side of Space-Africa. With the smaller craft, I've always thought less is more. I often don't even include rudders on them, since I very rarely use yaw. Next time I'm in need of a cargo plane, I'll be sure to consider all of this. The large-ish "ailerons" that are so close to the fuselage are actually flaps, courtesy of @blackheart612's Airplane Plus mod. A few parts are from his mod, actually. If I recall correctly, I have some admittedly tiny Elevon 2s in charge of roll authority. I'll upgrade those to the FAT control surfaces in the future. I haven't considered adding canards to such large craft before, but should other attempts fail to energize my planes' turning speed, you bet there will be some up there. Thank you very much for your help, Snark and others, I'll hopefully be able to apply these tips to future aircraft!

Since imgur is being uncooperative, I'll post links to the images. I don't post images often, so I'm not sure if you'll have access to the images straightaway. If I do need to make the images publicly viewable, just let me know and I'll be glad to. In SPH: https://imgur.com/U4ZRfl2 In flight, with engine data: https://imgur.com/m25Y5LI This example took off just fine, for its size. In flight, however, it's extraordinarily sluggish, almost stubborn. I simple turn 90 degrees might take well over a minute, if you're trying to keep it banked at a reasonable angle.

Iäve never reall thought about engine to mass ratio like that, I normally look at TWR, but I'm aware that a plane doesn't necessarily need 1+ TWR to fly. I think that looking at the Engine to Mass ratio like that may be helpful. I'm almost done cobbling together a arge (by my standards) cargo plane. I'll get back to you when I'm done.

I don't have any pictures readily available, because I don't typically keep unsuccessful files. When you say use as few stacks, do you mean horizontal stacks, say, a central fuselage, with two fuselages radially attached, or "vertical", like a 1.25m, with 2.5 behind it, and so on? I typically use a typical cargo plane setup, see a C-5 or C-130. By large craft, I mean the general size of a Mk3 Cargo plane. I mean to haul typically cars/rovers around Kerbin for contracts. Opening KSP now, and I'll throw together a typical example of one to get some pictures.

So, I've been playing KSP for a while. Close to two-thousand hours, in fact. Yet I still can't seem to make a functional cargo plane. All large craft that I build seem to be practically unable to fly, no matter how much thrust it has. I always take care to make sure to generally follow this guide when making aircraft, and I don't believe that aircraft size would change any of these basic principles. Large crafts are always sluggish, most likely do to weight, slow or unable to take off, due possibly to weight, TWR, or lack of lift. However, I normally have plenty of control surfaces, wing area, and engines. What could I be missing? How do I get my big planes to take off? Are there any tips or tricks you have?

Empty of fuel, crew, or both? Sorry, I'm quite new to the many features and mechanics of KK.

Not sure if this is a KK thing or OSS Alpha thing, but I had a plane parked directly inside of a hangar (the small ones that come with the mod), and the hangar said that there were no nearby vehicles to store, or something along those lines. Is there somewhere that I can set the radius that it detects crafts in, or is it not ready yet? I doubt it, but perhaps a bug? Was there simply something I missed? I'm sure that I'm just doing something wrong, but whatever the case may be, thanks for your time and have a good day, night, or whatever time it may be for the reader of this.

I'm so excited! I wish I could give it two likes! Or even three! Downloading now, and hoping that KK is up-to-date. I hope you had a good holiday season, and that Santa treated you well. You certainly treated us with the alpha release.

I'll drum up some activity, too. It's been a minute since the last update. Is the new update setting you back any? Any new buildings? I've noticed a lot of VAB and construction buildings, but not many pads. Any plans for launch pads?

What size will it be? What dimensions /weight will it be able to support?

I made myself a little custom flag for a certain "phase" of my career. It's somewhat minimalistic and simple, but I like it nonetheless.

Thank you! I'll be sure to check it out once I get home.

Another tasty update from this big tease. Can't wait for release, but I understand the need for further development first. Also, is the flag on this structure available for us to use? I like the way it looks and would like to use it in one of my saves.