Pixel of Life

No, it doesn't seem to be caused by the lack of batteries. Have a look at these: (Ignore the incorrectly mounted seat) The 2 rovers are identical except for the command modules. This works: This does not:

I noticed a problem with the command seat and thought I'd let the community know as well: You can not drive a rover with the EAS-1 alone! The steering works with the seat, but you MUST have a command module or a probe core on it if you want to be able to move the rover. I found this out the hard way - by flying a rover to Mun and noticing I could only turn the wheels but not move the rover. Tried the same rover with an EAS-1 AND a probe core and it worked.

I like to plan my upcoming flights when I'm bored in school.

I went to school, did.. things. And came back home. I also installed a set of solar panels on my space station and derped around with my friends in various games.

Why do the Balka Solar Wings have 3 buttons for operating the wings, even though there are just 2 of them? Using the third (bottommost) button seems to screw up the whole thing, resulting in the panels disappearing and appearing or causing them to get stuck in a partially opened position.

Launch a small refueling ship, dock with the stranded lander, transfer some fuel and fly the whole thing back to Kerbin. Much more challenging and probably also more fun than just EVAing the kerbals to another spacecraft. You might even learn to rendezvous properly

The beginnings of a space station The little docking node thingy in the distance, that is. I'll probably send a control module up there on the next flight since the node is nothing more than space junk at the moment.

Interesting. Damn, those seats look uncomfortable Are the holes in the floor of the cockpit for docking port access?

Here's something I threw together in Photoshop real quick. (Yes, I was kind of inspired by BananaDealer's flag.)

That happens because of the booster tanks emptying more quickly than the orbiter's tanks, thus moving the C of G so that it is no longer lined up with the center of thrust. This causes asymmetric thrust and makes the shuttle flip. What we need is a plugin that makes engines drain fuel from each tank in such a way that the shuttle stays balanced. Alternatively, WAY more gimbal range and Fly-By-Wire. I've been coding a FBW system but haven't been able to get the plugin to control the craft on its own. I'll figure it out eventually (hopefully).

Thanks! I got the breakthrough I've been looking for. I tried the s.pitch = FlightInputHandler.state.pitch / 2 one to tell the game directly what to do. It worked. Then I moved the FlightInputHandler.state.pitch / 2 part to the OnFixedUpdate method, told it to store the value in a variable, then had the FlightCtrlState class take the value from that variable, divide it by 2 and then send it to the actual controls. It worked as well! Time to code a simple speed-sensitive pitch control just to be sure it works.

Well, here's the code I've got at the moment: http://pastebin.com/j07cXEfv That works. It prints the pitch control value in the debug console. What I'm trying to do now (as you can probably see) is dividing the input by 2 and then sending it out to the control surfaces. For example, pulling the stick fully back should only give 50% deflection on the elevators. Is there a way to do that? I'd imagine there is since Ferram's Aerospace Research mod has these dynamically adjusting control surfaces that move the less the faster you fly. I had a look at his source code but couldn't figure it out.

How would I make a plugin read the player's control inputs (aileron, elevator and rudder)? Also, how can I pass that information to the craft's control surfaces without having the default controls getting in the way? (Read: How do I override the default controls with a plugin and control the spacecraft through said plugin?) I'm trying to write a plugin that takes the player's input, then does some fancy stuff with it and eventually passes the values to the spacecraft.

Alternatively, you could switch on the "Allow part clipping in editor" function. It's in the debug menu. Open the menu by pressing Alt+F12.

I built this orbiter: Now, I'd like to launch it like a Space Shuttle - that is, with a large external tank mounted to the bottom of the orbiter. The problem is, I can't really get the thing balanced with the tank attached, and it always flips at some point during the ascent. My question is, how would I balance it? Should I put a more powerful, decouplable engine under the orbiter's main engine and feed fuel from the external tank into it? I'd imagine using a counterweight is not the best option since it lowers the TWR of the craft.

This is the "Cobra". I built it specifically for high altitude scenic flights. However, after noticing how well it handles, I would now like to transform it into an SSTO. In its current form, the plane can achieve an orbital velocity of around 1,3 km/s (surface velocity 1,1 km/s) and climb to 26 km before the engines flame out due to lack of oxygen. Is the design suitable for such things and what modifications should be done to get it to space?

Full power until 100 m/s, then throttle down to maintain 200 m/s until booster separation which usually happens at 10-15km, during the gravity turn. After that it's pedal to the metal again.

My first spaceplane on its first test flight. When I took the screenshot (at 80km LKO) it still had around 6500 m/s² of Delta-V left so after a bit of number crunching I came to the conclusion that it could easily achieve low orbits on Mün, Minmus, Eve and Moho and still have plenty of fuel left after the return trip