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@swjr-swis:Never wrote anywhere this was a "first" in any field. It is a craft that I built while commuting that does not need a 250k$ rig to fly. And man, I read many of your threads around here and you go like "not my craft" "not my craft either" and so on. I am impressed. Should I answer with Manley's videos? This community does not feel like a healthy one anymore: it feels like a safe space for people playing with miniponies. I hope people around here enjoy their soy milk. Goodbye. EDIT: Just in case, I first published this craft on a "country" forum in 2016. Just for your love of "firsts".

I can see your point - endgame career is just a sandbox. I forgot to tell you "cool craft". Whiplash was my first choice but than I had issues in lifting power and top speed. I switched to rapiers while fiddling with this one that had several drag issues by design because the nervs where inside the back ramp.

Same With Rapiers in closed cycle you are actually carrying a lot of dead weight. You can lift a lot but your craft is almost "done" just in LKO. LF only crafts are a flying tank, anything you carry that is not "payload" is either fuel or a tank you actually need.

Shame for the pics. Good suggestion tho. I cannot really save on engines here since I have just one airbreather. Keep in mind that a single Kickback will bring the total weight to 60t so the TWR will be less than 1 at take off. I can not strap them without adding radial decouplers because there are no open nodes on the craft so I will try with a couple under the wings. No more SSTO tho. LF only because of dead weight and autonomy. Rapier on LF only because it is the best airbreather available: top thrust and flame out altitude. Rapiers on mixed cycle are thirsty.

@Sitting Duck I think you are the First to notice the avatar. Precision landings are not so easy w/o mods, that Is why I designed the rover at that time. You found your very kerbal solution anyway.

It depends on the settings you are playing your career I suppose. 2k of funds are a good investment for a tourist contract to jool SOI. Do you want to see an infiniminer, a Bat Wing, a Mk3 cargo, a Flying saucer? Do you have a picture of an interesting craft made by you? How much can you lift with a single rapier? You said It Is easy, show us.

Surely we've seen many. But since @GoSlash27 seems not being around I am not so sure many people can lift 35+t with a single rapier. However, nvm. I was just faking a rant as an excuse to add pics

Just send a new one. (easy) Or build a kind of skycrane with a claw to grab the stranded one. (average) Or build a skycrane with a docking port instead of a claw (harder) Or build a huge rover with a ISRU and a claw to connect sideways to refuel your lander and make the rover the first step on Mun colonization. (can't say if harder than docking precisely from above, it depends on the rover I guess) Once upon a time I had a silly rover like that.

The craft in Duna's orbit is not a station, it is a "cycler" of some sort, Martian style. The engine is clearly visible.

No love for a SSTO that can go to Duna and back? No love for such a simple craft that can go to Jool SOI? Not even a little bit of love for a craft that can go Laythe - direct (and back to orbit to refuel) that you can actually "fly" there, even from the cockpit, and could run on your mobile? Sheesh, we became pretentious...

Oi mates, here we have an easy and full stock (no expansions) LF-only Mk1 SSTO, useful for sightseeing and more. Just 51 pieces, for any PC. Name is CoMF, acronym for "Crack O' Ma Face". 3 Kerbals on board, dockable, can easily land on minor bodies (sorry for the dark pic of the craft on Mun below). The craft is powered by 1 rapier and 2 nervs and weights more than 35t at take off. Ascent profile as follows: eat up all the strip to reach 90+ m/s then pitch 5° till you reach 6000m. At 6000 level to 0° and build up your speed till you reach 15000. Now you should be well over 1200m/s. Pitch 5° again and climb to 19000 before powering up the nervs. The rapier will flame out at 28000m. When your Ap will be around 35000 level to 0° and push until your desired final altitude. You will need less than 100m/s to circularize. If carefully piloted to orbit you should have around 4500m/s @0.44 TWR to exploit from LKO to reach your destination. I use it to ferry crews around. Cheap trips for your careers. Action buttons below: 1 - toggle rapier 2 - toggle nervs 5 - toggle bays 6 - toggle solar panel WARNING: the 80 units of LF in the nosecone are locked and are there as a ballast, so you should use them as your last resort/final approach. No ladders here, you need to raise the front gear and climb up the wing strake to reach the hatch. If you name a dirty trick to reduce atmo drag maybe you can find it here. Nothing really fancy but it works and your F12 overlay will show you. It is not what you really see, but it is what KSP really feels. Get the Crack O'Ma Face here (KerbalX link)

"this craft was built in the VAB using 1.7.2" We are currently using 1.7.3

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to fly. Which are the best players you remember and which are the best tricks they pulled out you could remember? I remember @Kasuha that was last seen around in 2016. What about you? EDIT: I remember @Sirine too, she was last seen around in 2016 like @Kasuha. They were usually the end of any debate with the smartest solution possible to any kerbal problem.

NVM about the "like". I am aware I am not @Kasuha (that was imo among the five best ever, his Jool-5 with a plane was a matter of pure genius) or Scott Manley in the flesh or an airplane scientist like @GoSlash27. We are just midgets on the shoulders of giants.

The weight at take off was 93.5t, oxidizer was almost absent, I had a few spare for the fuel cells and just in case for that extra TWR burn with rapiers in closed cycle. It's been a long time since I've seen the SSTOs topic popping around. I usually went for a K-prize or anything similar and then, depending on the feedback, I used to add the single thread. But that was just my way. And you know what? Useless flying saucers were more popular than crafts you could use during a career game. My flying saucer was "craft of the week" The Ajax maybe got 3 likes. Beware of the AYYs.

From now on I will propose "my own opinion" and not the truth. KSP is the game we love because there are many ways to reach the same target. So, after this disclaimer I will try to point out what I think could be "different" in your craft and in your post. Well then, here we go. The design is subjective as you say, obviously if it looks cool it will be more popular but imo operativity overrides coolness. I like the way you tried to address any issue you could find around with the proper onboard system. The 4250m/s range looks appropriate to reach Minmus for your first pit stop. But we miss a picture of it. You may be aware of the LAW: pic or it didn't happen. Moreover, if I may, "anywhere" is a bold statement and in this case it may look like a clickbait of some sort. From a "technical" point of view, I think you have too many rapiers and too few nervs. I usually build LF-only spaceplanes to save on dead weight. My old Ajax 122 had a very similar concept but I had 3 rapiers and 5 nervs. Pics below. (sorry for squatting, but you know, pic or it did not happen ) Last but not least, there was a thread completely devoted to SSTOs, maybe you could post this craft there instead of giving it a single thread. Nevertheless I really appreciate the way you tried to explain the decision making process behind the craft. Cheers. EDIT: precoolers ARE the intakes (at least to me) but sometimes you need just that little extra.

@Fierce Wolf: thank you for the chronicle, it was really fun - almost like being there.

@tseitsei89: are you sure we need a debate on what is clipping? I think you can find several threads on that. Now I am going to hyperedit myself to the pub and I will clip myself to the bar.

No clipping, just the tools. Nothing was changed in the alt+f12 settings. EDIT: I used an old old old building trick involving the powerful cubic octagonal strut.

You can not see it but there is a heat shield (somewhere, any chef got his secrets)

No mods, however it does not work for this challenge. I need to "pilot" for it to be effective over 1600m/s. It goes everywhere but straight. This was the first "candidate"

There are 5 craters located "inland" more or less at the center of the continent. I suppose they are the "craters" you are looking for. About the lake, there is the "Alcatraz" lake as I call it, the round one with the small island at the center and there is the bigger one just west of that, so big you could think it is a sea. I suppose one of them could be the Akatsuki lake you are looking for. All the features I am describing are however pretty "big", so i guess I could be wrong. I will try to have a look myself, maybe I could be lucky. You may want to try lat -18.6328 lng 147.8320 for one of the craters. About the lake I am still searching.I need to check lat 48.8671 lng 99.8437. It is a small lake almost at the pole.

You need something draggy to deploy at the back to keep your attitude while reentering.

Do you have "open nodes" on your craft?

I do not think so. I can still lift the same amount of weight as before. Single rapier craft pic below.