Atmo Drag Further Reduced...and SRBs Rebalanced to Compensate?? Really??

[mikegarrison]

Well, the reduced drag is kind of a struggle right now for me.. I am on early career now again and fulfilling these tourism contracts where they want to go suborbital. I put 4 Mk-1 Pods and radial chutes on it but before landing the craft only reaches about 320m/s and the chutes get destroyed when I am already below 2000m. It doesnt slow down like I thought, do we have to think smaller before unlocking drogue and airbrakes? I kind of like the direction but this thing should aerobrake on its own to be honest and not fall like a stone in lower atmosphere..

There is a reason why we say that stones "fall like a stone" in the atmosphere....

[Streetwind]

Are you stacking those pods on top of each other, or do you attach them radially?

In the former case, you're essentially building something very dense and narrow and it'll struggle to slow down. Make the craft wider. One central FL-T100 tank, three more attached radially, and a pod on top of each of them. That ought to encounter far more drag. Just be careful that it doesn't flip (but then again you have four sets of reaction wheels).

[NathanKell]

Judging by the new curve in Physics.cfg, flat-plate drag has not changed at all from 1.0.2. Drag just got lower for highly-tapered things. In fact it looks like the curve goes from (final Cd = input Cd^2) for highly-tapered, to (final Cd = input Cd) for untapered.

(Where input Cd is the Cd number from the cube)

[mikegarrison]

Judging by the new curve in Physics.cfg, flat-plate drag has not changed at all from 1.0.2. Drag just got lower for highly-tapered things. In fact it looks like the curve goes from (final Cd = input Cd^2) for highly-tapered, to (final Cd = input Cd) for untapered.

(Where input Cd is the Cd number from the cube)

Is there some reference you can point to that will help me understand how KSP models drag? I don't need help understanding real world drag itself, just how the game models it. People keep talking about these drag cubes, for instance, and I don't know what they mean.

[NathanKell]

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/119108-Overhauls-for-1-0

[mikegarrison]

Thanks.

[Fleb]

About time, I had stopped using SRB's completely in 1.0.2.

[NecroBones]

I find it interesting in that the SRBs were technically nerfed and buffed at the same time, but it's overall a buff.

They all received an increase in propellant mass, ranging from 40% for the Flea, to only 4% in the Kickback. This means a better fuel mass ratio, but also a slightly lower starting TWR on the pad. Their ISPs were increased across the board, but for all of them except the Flea, this also resulted in a larger proportional gap between the SL and Vac ISPs, meaning the TWR is even lower on the pad. But they'll be more efficient overall, and have a longer burn time. The Flea just had its SL ISP raised, its pad TWR goes up from that, which will help offset its 40% increase in propellant mass.

[bakanando]

The flea is still overpowered, underfueled, and overweight. It's sad to see a new part with a good idea being so broken in implementation.

The squad spent time designing a part that you'll only use once per science/career play.

[mikegarrison]

The flea is still overpowered, underfueled, and overweight. It's sad to see a new part with a good idea being so broken in implementation.

The squad spent time designing a part that you'll only use once per science/career play.

Oh, I use it two or three times, usually. I don't bother cashing in my science right away when I've still got fleable contracts I could grab.

[Nich]

I used them all the time when TWR is getting too low. Just enough punch to get your main craft up to 100-200 m/s when your in the 140 ton limit range

[Sharpy]

Dat feel... when you get a contract early in the game, to test a solid booster a tier above what you have available - and you use it to complete two contracts of "test on Kerbin escape trajectory" - by building a rocket that escapes Kerbin's SOI out of solid boosters alone.

Testing the Flea. Note the speed.

Edited June 25, 2015 by Sharpy

[Laie]

I for one am glad that the sustainer thing finally works. You know, like a Skipper or KR2L, ignited on the pad, with a few SRBs on the side. By the time the SRBs run out, the sustainer engine can continue alone.

It's probhably inefficient because empty tanks are so heavy, but by now it works. In 1.0.2 it would have been necessary to wrap the rocket in SRBs, which not only looked silly, but was virtually undistinguishable from a SRB-only first stage.

(I still wish we had a bigger flea. I like to apply insane acceleration for the first few seconds... kind of what the Tiny Tim does in RO. Call it a "catapult launch" if you will).

[sal_vager]

Moved to S&DD as it's really a discussion on development

[clivman]

Dat feel... when you get a contract early in the game, to test a solid booster a tier above what you have available - and you use it to complete two contracts of "test on Kerbin escape trajectory" - by building a rocket that escapes Kerbin's SOI out of solid boosters alone.

Testing the Flea. Note the speed.

http://i.imgur.com/gAtD4XM.jpg

117 m/s vertical acceleration and 3m 12s burn time, and still at 70% fuel. I call infinite fuel cheat.