Unfawkable

The game already has more plane parts than rocket parts. I'd sooner see something done about that first.

I see you also used it for the lander. Is it possible to to make the lander even more minimalistic with a spark engine? It works for Minmus and Mun landings, but Duna is a far fetch.

That's really compact, nice work. Almost hard to believe that final stage can make it back.

That's a pretty compact lander, I built a lot bigger. should try this smaller stuff, it would make transportation easier. Though my interplanetary vessel has 7500 delta v, so I didn't even had to bother xD

In preparations for my Minmus base construction, I've made a mini landing probe to scan Ore amounts on surface (Command pod for scale, not the part of the design), and hopefully find the best place to mine on Minmus (I don't have nearly enough science to unlock the Narrow Band scanner yet). Has around 1500 Delta/v, so it should be able to cover some nice ground before expiring. And of course, so I don't needlessly repeat the trip, I am sending out 12 of these babies.

You can have a skill like this without having classes though. I'd personally like to see something like this.

I have played this game since 0.20, and haven't built a single plane yet. I just don't find them fun. But to my joy, I decided to try out KW rocketry addon today, and boy am I glad.

Never had this happen to me before. Might be cause I always pack a 1000 energy battery on everything I build. That and I don't really drive around Kerbin much.

Meh, function over form :-)

Okay, so after my previous attempt was a series of flops one after another, I patiently waited to unlock more tech, and made a new design with Mk3 liqud fuel only plane parts, and I have to say it turned out a lot leener and more aesthetic than I thought it would: Has 7500 Delta/v with a 28 ton Payload, and is on route to Duna as we speak. I did no Orbital docking, I lifted it up without fuel (40 tons), and refueled it in orbit instead. The entire process cost about 1.000.000 funds, out of which 600.000 alone was spent refueling the damn thing (Which I intend to remedy for future launches by building a minmus refueling Ore station) Comments/Suggestions?

This looks massive. It's quite a feat, but somehow I think it could have been done more elegantly if you constructed it orbitally instead of lifting that whole monster into Orbit. Nevertheless great job, I still didn't find the courage to try an Eve landing in any version let alone this one.

This is not a half bad idea, would open up more orbital construction options. Would also need an upgrade for the jetpack fuel amount though. Engineers are already useful though, so let's focus on pilots, we have to be missing something. How about pilot skills (Or just a skill if classes are abolished) of conservative flight, where highest level pilot would decrease fuel usage by 10% or so?

That looks expensive. You are sandbox right? Looks cool, pretty aesthetic. No Nervs though?

All very nice ideas, but it will need more skills than just those of current engineers. Something really good that can't be (at least not all of them) achieved through tech, like Pilots being replaceable by probes. It would require pilot and scientist skills that wouldn't make a Kerbal obsolete when you reach a certain tech level, but make him remain special and useful. There are options for science skills, such as training a high end specialist (or several) which would unlock a special tech branch that can't be otherwise researched, and it could contain special parts that are unavailable otherwise. Such as more efficient/better engines, solar panels, batteries, etc. (if it were up to me, it would have sci fi parts such as star gates, but people oppose that notion greatly, so meh) But I really don't know how to make pilot skills more useful than probes, I have no clue.

Still can't get this up. Any tips?

I kind of built it to work, and thought of an idea to sent the entire craft into the orbit in one piece by emptying the fuel tanks entirely making it 48 tons in total. How ever it's still way too long, and it tilts over before the solid boosters expire. I'm going to have to come up with a better lifter that fits my funds. Still, I think this is a success already.

That's not where the problem ends, I can manage to make it stick, but I can't for the life of me put the second docking port and make it allign. I did manage something unelegant though, I constructed the entire side piece starting from the top docking port, forcing it to become an attachment. The second docking port still won't attach (I don't think KSP even support dual attaching), but I just leave it hanging above, and when tested in real conditions it will dock. Somehow I think this is the only way to do this.

Okay, I still can't figure out how to build this thing, the attachment points are driving me crazy. When I put a radial attachment point, and a docking port on the side of the fuel tank, it won't recognize it as an attachment point and I can't place it. Like so: Please help, I'm losing my mind, I tried EVERYTHING.

Awww, they don't collide? Well, might as well scrap it now then. Trial and failure I guess. I'll actually just leave it in orbit and re-purpose it as a refueling station xD Or move it to the Mun to serve that purpose. I actually did try to place them up right at first, but had some placing issues. I'll give it another go. The craft you did looks lean and nice, however I still can't get it into Orbit in one piece (Even the side engines by themselves). I'll try grinding some more science and cash, and in the meantime I might try a non-return trip to Duna just so I don't have to wait as long. And double docking is... Surprisingly obvious, I feel stupid now. Thanks a lot.

I'm well into Hard difficulty Career mode in 1.0, and having load of fun. Didn't visit other planets yet, barely had 2 mil funds stocked up, and I've concluded that sending one way crafts would be expensive and hard to get into atmosphere with my current tech level, and with big lifters being too expensive. So I decided to make a reusable return Starship that can refuel in Orbit. This is my first attempt at something like this ever (Since I only ever play career mode), so here is my progress so far, and how I planned it to look like: This is what I have built so far, the base in orbit, and the side docking ports for Nuclear Engines and liquid fuel tanks. A Duna lander/return craft is also ready and docked in this picture. This is how I hope it will look like when I finish it. With all these Nerv Engines, it has around 0.25 TWR, and a total of 7000 Delta/v with a 25 ton payload (Approximate weight of the Duna lander) Here comes the tricky part for me, this is how the engine part (One out of 12) looks like, and currently I'm having trouble lifting it into Orbit. Its mass is completely uneven, and has a lot of drag. The Mk2 fairing can't close up the entire thing, and I haven't yet unlocked fairings Mk3, but even so I don't know if fairings help with uneven mass (I'm guessing no). So if you have any suggestions how to get these things into the orbit, any advice is welcome. This is the look of my tech tree at the time of building/designing this vessel. Thanks for viewing

Completely agreed, I don't even carry more science equipment with me anymore. Contracts need to give no science, or just have separate contracts that give science only.

Indeed, it does look just like a proof of concept, and I know it will be made into bigger stuff. But, the sooner we start suggesting, the better chance they can make that stuff even more awesome.

I have no problem with it coming too early, the problem is the rewards for it are nothing special. Often the craft I use for the rescue becomes almost as expensive as the reward itself.

Currently done EXP system serves greatly as proof of concept, and of course it will get broader further into beta. So, it's never too early to start suggesting. First, the way Kerbals gain EXP is quite generic, and currently repetitive. What if each specific class gained EXP in a different way? Pilots would gain EXP for flight times (Not the afk orbiting time, but only time when you actually burn fuel and turn your rocket), scientists would gain EXP from doing experiments and returning science, and similar. (I'm not sure how to go about Engineers though). There could even be EXP as rewards for completing some bigger contracts such as completely exploring a celestial body. Second, more functions and uses. As of now, only pilots serve a considerably good and somewhat complete role, whereas scientists and especially engineers are quite lacking. Especially on levels 5. Engineers for instance, in addition to being able to repair more parts, could even manufacture some simple parts at high levels by breaking apart other parts. Suddenly found yourself in need of an antenna? A good engineer will scrap one of your solar panels, and make one. An experienced engineer in a craft would maximize the efficiency of electricity/fuel usage, reducing total consumption by a percentage. This effect could be stackable for multiple engineers (up to a point, or diminishingly). For that glorified day when and if resources come into game, we could have a mining station of sorts on another planet that would produce fuel periodically, whether on a planet or in orbit of a gas giant, but would require one or more level 5 Engineers to operate. The mining facility on the ground would be more efficient, sine you have to actually lift the fuel up from it. Scientists other than granting an extra percentage of science could be used in a similar fashion to engineers on specialized stations on specific places of interest to periodically produce science. Having a scientist on board would make life support system (if any ever gets added) be more efficient and last longer Certain places on some planets that grant huge amounts of prestige and science, and which can only be detected (and researched) by a level 5 scientist surveying the planet in orbit. A level 5 scientist could even detect biomes as someone already suggested somewhere. This could lead to science becoming more and more abundant, and there is only so much you can use in the tech tree. So, the game could have some specialized parts that cost science to build every time (Returning the part to Kerbal doesn't refund the science, but you can use it again), and which would also require a number of high skilled Engineers/scientists/Pilots, or a combination of those. These parts could be anything like more efficient engines and fuel cells, solar panels, wings and fuselages for space-planes, or some brand new parts with completely new functions. Such as the aforementioned mining facilities/satellites. (and for those of you who like that sort of thing, warp engines and stargates, though I doubt that will ever happen. Though, a terraforming device for a planet to make it habitable and thus make it able to host another space center there would be awesome) I haven't given much thought to Pilots, because it would be hard to make them more useful without turning them into MechJeb. I don't mind people who use it, but I despise it. Thoughts?

I saw something what looks like a secondary space plane hangar on a small island about 20 Km away from Kerbal Space Center. I could have sworn it wasn't there before. Tried landing there with a spaceplane, but I suck at spaceplanes, and I am too lazy tonight to try to land with a rocket. Edit: Here's an ingame shot: