how to make an helix work

[king of nowhere]

with my rocket rover capable of going anywhere up to duna's gravity, explore everything, refuel and take off, exploring most of the system is just a matter of time. only three planets are off-limits for my rover. tylo, where i can still go if i launch a module with extra engines and fuel, and eve and laythe, because atmospheres. so, i'm thinking of missions to those two planets.

for laythe, i am envisioning a boat rover. perhaps some weird mix with retractable wheels that can go over land and water both.

for eve, i am envisioning a helicopter to take advantage of the thick atmosphere. perhaps i could even try to make an helicopter lifting a rocket, to get out of the worst part of the atmosphere. maybe it could even work as ssto on eve. probably not.

regardless, i must learn to use rotors for this plan. which is harder that it should be.

i tried a design as proof of concept. nothing fancy, just a rotor with helix blades attached, some batteries and a command module, sent on laythe to see if the thing works as intended.

it doesn't. it does not move on water. instead, the whole boat starts rotating!

i tried to add two tanks as floaters on the sides. the boat still keeps rotating, lifting the tanks out of the water. actually, this creates a kind of movement as the boat rolls over the water on those two tanks, but that's not what i'm looking at.

i tried different configurations, especially with the helixes, but nothing. i cannot produce a thrust on water. i also have no idea how to control a boat besides right-clicking on the engine to tell it to move faster or slower.

i haven't tried an helicopter. i figure i need some answers first.

[ARS]

Controlling helicopter is actually very easy once you get used to it (just like EVA). Most people can't figure how to actually increase/ decrease speed, so they added thruster for that. This is a bad idea, don't add another engine. It makes the chopper even more uncontrollable. The rotor is what provides you thrust and lift. In basic, the rotor must be placed directly on the center of mass. During takeoff, do not use full throttle, start slow, steadily raise the throttle until the chopper visibly lifting off. To move forward tilt the chopper slightly downward (slowly press W) so the rotor that provides lifting force downward can push the chopper forward. To move backward, tilt the chopper slightly upward (slowly press S) this will allow the rotor to "brake" the forward movement until it begin to push the chopper backward. Turn the chopper around with A or D before performing the same process to move forward or backward to change the heading. Adding engine for pushing forward is just asking for trouble since it means there are now 2 source of thrust on the chopper that leads to different vector, making it more difficult to control. The main rotor is your lifting engine and your main engine. It not only provides lift, but also thrust by tilting

I suggest you use stock aircraft landing gear or structural parts with high impact tolerance (with friction pads) as the landing gear. The thing is, it's very difficult to control your chopper to hover and then lower it to the ground slowly (assuming you play stock). Take note of how much throttle needed at minimum to lift your chopper, this can save you when you try to land. Landing can be done by slowing your chopper first until horizontal velocity becomes as low as possible before cutting of throttle (don't turn off the engine) when your vertical velocity start to drop, raise the throttle (don't forget to deploy your landing gear beforehand) if you think you are going down too fast, don't be shy to throttle higher until you regain some vertical velocity and your rate of descent begin slows down during which you can lower the throttle again (Repeat until you touch the ground, for small chopper, recommended safe landing speed is same like small aircraft (depend on your landing gear))

In short, the control for chopper is as follows (asssuming you're already airborne with 0 m/s horizontal velocity):

To move forward: Tilt the chopper slightly downward (W)

To move backward/ brake: Tilt the chopper slightly upward (S)

Change heading: (A/D + Forward/backward for speed adjusting)

Strafe left/right: (Q/E, to cancel strafing, just tilt on opposite direction)

Safe tilting angle is around 15-30 degrees, but in emergency can be pushed to 45 degrees. Beyond that, there's a risk of uncontrollable spin (unless the chopper is very tiny and lightweight)

[king of nowhere]

6 hours ago, ARS said:

Controlling helicopter is actually very easy once you get used to it (just like EVA). Most people can't figure how to actually increase/ decrease speed, so they added thruster for that. This is a bad idea, don't add another engine. It makes the chopper even more uncontrollable. The rotor is what provides you thrust and lift. In basic, the rotor must be placed directly on the center of mass. During takeoff, do not use full throttle, start slow, steadily raise the throttle until the chopper visibly lifting off. To move forward tilt the chopper slightly downward (slowly press W) so the rotor that provides lifting force downward can push the chopper forward. To move backward, tilt the chopper slightly upward (slowly press S) this will allow the rotor to "brake" the forward movement until it begin to push the chopper backward. Turn the chopper around with A or D before performing the same process to move forward or backward to change the heading. Adding engine for pushing forward is just asking for trouble since it means there are now 2 source of thrust on the chopper that leads to different vector, making it more difficult to control. The main rotor is your lifting engine and your main engine. It not only provides lift, but also thrust by tilting

I suggest you use stock aircraft landing gear or structural parts with high impact tolerance (with friction pads) as the landing gear. The thing is, it's very difficult to control your chopper to hover and then lower it to the ground slowly (assuming you play stock). Take note of how much throttle needed at minimum to lift your chopper, this can save you when you try to land. Landing can be done by slowing your chopper first until horizontal velocity becomes as low as possible before cutting of throttle (don't turn off the engine) when your vertical velocity start to drop, raise the throttle (don't forget to deploy your landing gear beforehand) if you think you are going down too fast, don't be shy to throttle higher until you regain some vertical velocity and your rate of descent begin slows down during which you can lower the throttle again (Repeat until you touch the ground, for small chopper, recommended safe landing speed is same like small aircraft (depend on your landing gear))

In short, the control for chopper is as follows (asssuming you're already airborne with 0 m/s horizontal velocity):

To move forward: Tilt the chopper slightly downward (W)

To move backward/ brake: Tilt the chopper slightly upward (S)

Change heading: (A/D + Forward/backward for speed adjusting)

Strafe left/right: (Q/E, to cancel strafing, just tilt on opposite direction)

Safe tilting angle is around 15-30 degrees, but in emergency can be pushed to 45 degrees. Beyond that, there's a risk of uncontrollable spin (unless the chopper is very tiny and lightweight)

thanks but that's way farther than i am.

my problems are

- putting a rotor on a boat and activating it will not propel the boat forward

- activating the rotor on the boat will cause the boat to rotate

- the rotor does not follow commands except for right-clicking on it

i have tried this very simple boat design. none of the commands i tried will activate or do anything for the rotor. when i activate it manually, the boat does not move forward, but it starts spinning on itself. what i need to understand is why this basic thing, that should work by all physical laws, is not working. and what i need to make it work.

Edited July 26, 2020 by king of nowhere

[ARS]

Are you seriously gonna use propeller boat for exploring Laythe? Not to be skeptical or what, but Laythe is like 80-90% water and it would take hours if not days going from 1 biome to another (back then my boat takes DAYS to travel around Kerbin, even with ramjet engine). You can use jets to power the boat, and it's much easier to set up

I think the main problem is that, the stock propeller blades isn't configured for water, and only intended as aircraft engine. You could try replacing the blades with wing parts with lifting surface and see what happen. You can also try rotating paddle configuration placed on the port and starboard side of the boat