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The quest for the ultimate plane in KSP (Stock or modded)


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I am on a quest to fly the perfect plane in KSP, currently i have made 4 planes that i think come close but i have been wondering if anyone has made better planes than i have.

Post what you have made up and lets get some flying happening.

Not after SSTO planes here, looking for what people have made for in the atmosphere and why you think it is the ultimate plane at what it does, all kinds of planes are fine, does not have to be the best flyer, "Looks like this awesome plane" is a claim to fame in itself, or you might have a plane capable of circumnavigating 100 kerbals, anything goes.

If you really want to post your SSTO planes feel free, they are planes after all, and i know how hard it can be to make them.

Feel free to post modded planes, just make sure you let us know what mods we will need to fly them thanks :)

Here are my 4

Mini beast

Cz3Ph75.jpg

The mini beast is capable of 15g+ turns reliably and will also fly at 20km in the atmosphere at 1500m/s. my best plane when it comes to acrobatics.

The Beast mk6 (There is a mk 7 of this plane that is about as maneuverable as the mini beast)

vz4YXhw.jpg

The beast was designed to be capable of high altitude flight without sacrificing maneuverability, capable of 12g turns reliably.

HA Mongrel mk2

dNGhiqO.jpg

This thing was designed for one thing, high altitude flight, capable of circumnavigation and mach 6 at a cruising altitude of 30km.

The HA Super Beast mk3

yRod7FB.jpg

All the features of the Beast and the HA mongrel with the added bonus of being unstallable.

Not designed to be pretty, designed to be functional.

if you want try these out (made in and for v.24)

Link to the first 3 planes

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/90964-Roflcopterkklol-Industries-Super-glider-pack

Link to the super beast

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/91177-Roflcopterkklol-Industries-H-A-Super-Beast-%28mk-3%29

So show us what you have, keen to get some new planes in my hanger :)

Edited by Roflcopterkklol
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All of them are garbage. Can't lift large XL fuel tank onto the orbit.

Seriously though: There's no such thing as ultimate plane. And if you want to show off your own designs - general discussion is a wrong section to do so.

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The criteria of something being an "ultimate plane" are very subjective. What's ultimate for you may not be ultimate for others. If you're striving for your ultimate, you need to share your criteria. And perhaps share what problems are you facing. Then you may get some help here.

In other cases I suggest you using The Spacecraft Exchange subforum.

By the way, your planes have some totally ineffective wings, they only serve as ballast or visual candy. KSP wings only generate lift if they're passing through the air in the correct direction. Place them perpendicular and you lose all lift.

Edited by Kasuha
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You'll have to be a bit more specific than "ultimate plane" I'm afraid. Do you mean purely atmospheric or spaceplane? What constitutes "ultimate"? Does that mean speed? manouverability? Climbing capability? max height? etc.

There are many different definitions of a "good" plane. Mostly it depends on what you want said plane to do.

I'm quite the spaceplane fan myself and would happily share some of my designs, but I'd need to know which ones you'd like to see.

for example: I have an orbital bus that looks pretty nice and transports 11 kerbals to LKO with a very comfortable fuel margin (with the latest upgrades to rapier engines it probably performs a lot better now) but it wouldn't ever get to the Mun. On the other hand, I also have a design that does runway - Duna surface - runway without refuel or staging, but which only carries 3 kerbals.

I've been meaning to make a fuel hauler for LKO refuel runs too, but that might be put on hold until 0.25 depending on how impatient I get.

What makes a good plane depends on what criteria you set for it.

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Wow, someone really smacked those last two hard with the ugly stick. In other words, whilst you may think they are close to ultimate, I wouldn't give them room in my hangar. As others have already said, 'ultimate' is purely subjective, and will vary differently depending on what the craft is expected to do or achieve, and each individual player's individual requirements and aesthetics.

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Your planes look like the typical "it flies for 5 minutes and then it starts to act uncontrollable" type of plane. Hard to believe that can be attributed "ultimate". Also agree with the previous posters that ultimate is really a matter of taste.

Other than that, my current fav is this

ex_ssn_kolibri_vw_03_00_02.jpg

But if you want to see something going to the limits, that could perhaps be attributed "ultimate", this is a 92t max payload space transporter featuring 17 engines with a Kerbodyne S3-14400 based tug attached.

ex_spt_leviathan_tug_hoshi_01.jpg

Delivering the tug.

leviathan_04.jpg

And tug attached at the final space station.

duna_einstein_station_assembly_03.jpg

All of them fly well from first to last unit of fuel with and without SAS because they are correctly built and balanced.

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My plane is the ultimate plane. Nobody can deny it. Conveniently, I have no screenshots to prove it.

I suck at making planes. I only made my first SSTO after SP+ came out. Even then, it only just had enough fuel to circularize and de-orbit. Couldn't carry anything at all so it was entirely pointless.

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You'll have to be a bit more specific than "ultimate plane" I'm afraid. Do you mean purely atmospheric or spaceplane? What constitutes "ultimate"? Does that mean speed? manouverability? Climbing capability? max height? etc.

There are many different definitions of a "good" plane. Mostly it depends on what you want said plane to do.

I'm quite the spaceplane fan myself and would happily share some of my designs, but I'd need to know which ones you'd like to see.

.

Oh sorry i thought that was pretty obvious, planes not SSTO, something you think is awesome in general for flying around in the atmosphere.

Not many people seem to want much in the way of non SSTO's so i want to see what people have made that has gone under the table.

And all i can say is that Tug, that thing is glorious.

Wow, someone really smacked those last two hard with the ugly stick. In other words, whilst you may think they are close to ultimate, I wouldn't give them room in my hangar. As others have already said, 'ultimate' is purely subjective, and will vary differently depending on what the craft is expected to do or achieve, and each individual player's individual requirements and aesthetics.

Yeah the Mongrel is called that for a reason and the beast was never supposed to be pretty, just functional.

As far as ultimate being subjective i will agree i should have elaborated.

These planes for an example, the mini beast is the ultimate in handling, the beast is not the best handling or the highest flyer it is a cross between the two, the HA mongrel is a high altitude flyer (flies at 30km at mach 6) and the super beast was designed to be all of those things, which it is pretty good at, the mini beast still out maneuvers it though.

Did get it to be completely unstallable though.

In other words say why you think what ever craft you post is the ultimate craft

Edited by Roflcopterkklol
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Here's the perfect plane:

I wasn't actually hoping to accomplish anything, but this plane is easily maneuverable, glides well, lands well,

and most importantly, it looks absolutely badass >:-) lol

Q3racZd.png

8pg9mDI.png

I know landing gear is too far behind... i made this quite a while ago.

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Eve SSTO. If it's ever accomplished (and that's a big if) it is as good a candidate as any for the ultimate KSP plane.

An SSTO doesn't have to be a plane at all. Most of my SSTOs are not planes.

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One day, KSP.... One day, I will build you....

http://i49.tinypic.com/25kjt3n.jpg

I have actually tried building something like that when I made one of my fist attempts at a heavy refuel SSTO plane. Basically I was going for something like a Hercules C-130 which could go into space (though granted, a hercules would be much, MUCH smaller than the monstrosity you're showing there). I gave up after a while because in stock, the wings get so wobbly you can never fly straight. I've learned a few new tricks sice then though, might give it another bash.

Also, I don't think I actually have designs for purely atmospheric planes. I'll see what I can whip up in the next few days.

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An SSTO doesn't have to be a plane at all. Most of my SSTOs are not planes.

Be quite hard to make a non plane SSTO no?

I have actually tried building something like that when I made one of my fist attempts at a heavy refuel SSTO plane. Basically I was going for something like a Hercules C-130 which could go into space (though granted, a hercules would be much, MUCH smaller than the monstrosity you're showing there). I gave up after a while because in stock, the wings get so wobbly you can never fly straight. I've learned a few new tricks sice then though, might give it another bash.

Also, I don't think I actually have designs for purely atmospheric planes. I'll see what I can whip up in the next few days.

Look forward to it, I ended up spending more time than id like to admit on making good planes lol, took about 20 rebuilds to get to the 4 i have up on here but it was fun testing the limits in the atmosphere, learned a lot.

(If you look the 4th plane i posted is basically the second plane with 4 wings and extra engines, made it with the 4 wings so it could have tail fins on both sides, makes it unstallable)

Edited by Roflcopterkklol
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Be quite hard to make a non plane SSTO no?

Actually, no, it is actually easier ( since you don't need to care with all the issues about moving center of gravity vs center of lift that planes are plagued with if you're not careful in design ). In KSP you can add some jet engines to your rocket with ease and get all the advantages of a jet plane while in the atmosphere without having to care about the fine details of the aerodynamics ... and it is actually not hard to make a fully chemical rocket SSTO as well ( just strap a OKTO2, a FL-T200, a 48-7S and assorted batteries/solar panels/landing legs ).

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Actually, no, it is actually easier ( since you don't need to care with all the issues about moving center of gravity vs center of lift that planes are plagued with if you're not careful in design ). In KSP you can add some jet engines to your rocket with ease and get all the advantages of a jet plane while in the atmosphere without having to care about the fine details of the aerodynamics ... and it is actually not hard to make a fully chemical rocket SSTO as well ( just strap a OKTO2, a FL-T200, a 48-7S and assorted batteries/solar panels/landing legs ).

Yes, back in 0.235 I made an 120 ton cargo to LKO, simply 7 25x4 and the largest tanks, like a classical asparagus but nothing was decoupled except cargo before it returned and landed.

Don't use it in 0.24 as the fuel cost is a killer, far cheaper to add bunch of SRB to a single stack.

Benefit of planes is that they uses very lite fuel, benefits of rockets is that the payload can be any size and shape as long as center of mass is roughly above the center of booster.

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Hey guys, impressive crafts. Personally, I prefer the really maneuverable planes over anything else, that being said, my brother and I don't usually build things together, but when we do, impressive things happen :)

Here is our HailStram_K_Comet, Built under FAR.

Javascript is disabled. View full album

yeah.... we don`t understand how it works either :P

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Hey guys, impressive crafts. Personally, I prefer the really maneuverable planes over anything else, that being said, my brother and I don't usually build things together, but when we do, impressive things happen :)

Here is our HailStram_K_Comet, Built under FAR.

yeah.... we don`t understand how it works either :P

Damn that is awesome

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FAR can actually be easy to use... to a degree, here read this: https://github.com/ferram4/Ferram-Aerospace-Research/wiki

personally it didn't teach me much that I did not already know, but there is still some valuable info to be learnt from it.

Yeah idk, even the stock planes that come with FAR seem to just get ripped to pieces when i fly them, go through a corner and the wings fall off kinda thing no matter how many struts i use.

Admitted i do like making planes that would probably kill a person if they flew it in real life.

But yeah hardly touch my FAR version of KSP

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