Box of Stardust

Nothing is still working. I have tried with ProceduralDynamics PWings installed, I have tried with B9 PWings installed, and those come up with errors that require something from the other. With both installed, it says it's missing 'ProceduralWingBac9', so I'd say we have two different versions of the B9 PWings. I would contest fairness of the fights based on formation tightness differing significantly between the two groups. Now, other people can interpret the fairness of the battles differently, but that's what bringing up discussion is for. I think this is something worth discussing with the rest of the people in the thread if contesting results for a position lowering of their own craft is something that would be reasonable, if some sort of basis for such is found. Competitions have ways to overrule initial results, so I think that would be fair here if done correctly in a way that everyone agrees with.

Can we instate some sort of rule/process to request a position lowering of your own aircraft on the leaderboard? Maybe like having other people verify that it deserves a position lowering? I'm testing VS vs Gunbrick and I'm not getting 2 out of 3 to Gunbrick at all.

If it's the incompatibility between PWings and B9 PWings, then I'm sure that's all I need to do for the craft to load. Which is weird, since I remember being able to load the P-5 before without touching my mods at all, having PWings and B9 PWings installed.

wait that wasn't supposed to happen i need to verify if that really happens because i don't ever remember testing VS vs Gunbrick ... dammit

Just beat the Viper and I'll be back down to two on the board. Then there's a whole queue to get to before my two next entries. I haven't even submitted VulcanStar because I already have a few in queue.

There's no reason it isn't, except that no one usually has it installed. My first entries were all tested with KJR on my end, but forgot how wobbly stock was. You can look back in the thread in the page 40 range for Viper vs Wasp. My solution now is just Editor Extensions Redux (which frankly, everyone should use), and use its toggle 'All rigid' and 'Autostrut: Root part' feature. I'd say it's about 95% effective as KJR. I think something like 60% of PEGASys's lift comes from control surfaces lol.

That seems more normal. Did you try testing against your VG without touching HP though? It's nuts. Still doesn't open, and I reinstalled the mods. It's noting a PWings issue.

Still does not open, and I reinstalled PWings and also have B9 PWings installed. Your craft also never seems to download correctly and gets downloaded as two files: 1. a file with no type 2. what seems to be a temporary file with 0 kb data and doesn't actually register as a file and can't be deleted normally (which was a source of minor frustration until I figured out how to)

Well, the weird thing is I was actually able to load it before, but my recent download... uh, broke it?

Awesome! I believe that could be just what we're looking for, at least partially. Will test later. Many thanks. I understand it's just in its first release, but I suggest also adding a way to assign HP by percentage of default part HP. And yes, I definitely would like to see the craft-wide HP balancer happen, I think that would be a good dynamic.

Hey all, figured it's a good time for an update on the current state of the leaderboard and the queue. 1 PEGASys-D3 2 Vampire Squirrel 3 TFD mod A 4 Viper-ASP MkIIc 5 Gunbrick (testing to be continued) Queue: @Box of Stardust Gunbrick (in testing) @prgmTrouble X-15 Exoneratis Hirundo @Earthlinger Berzerker 2.1 @ZLM-Master V-TEK (replaces VG-D3.4-PG in queue, as far as I understood) @53miner53 P-5 Flash (but I seem to have problems with ProcWings because it won't load despite having it installed) @Wolf5698 Lynx @Wolf5698 Cheetah @GillyMonster Dart II @dundun93 TFD 2.1 @Box of Stardust Basilisk -C3 @Box of Stardust CShRAID @goduranus Vampire Squirrel B @dundun92 Du-5Rs @dundun92 Du-6S "Diode" @dundun93 A26 @dundun92 Du-8C Current leaderboard and non-exhaustive selections from the queue:

Yeah. Because right now in BDAc 1.1, parts feel like they have overbuffed default hitpoints. Like, it feels like 20mm Vulcans are actually just .30cal machine guns. I think they need to add some small splash damage to the Vulcans too. It's illogical that these planes are eating 50+ 20mm cannon shells and are surviving. And as for Sidewinder hits, they're not as devastating as they used to be, which isn't bad, but the survivability of parts right now is too much. Default hitpoints for parts need to be lowered to maybe even 1/3 of what they currently are. These planes should be fragile, 'realisitically'. You all should try fighting ZLM's VG-D3.4 in BDAc 1.1. It's ludicrous how that thing doesn't die. It can survive I think almost 2-3 seconds under fire from 6 Vulcans, just because it has so many wing sections to damage. So as it is, as mentioned earlier, we're gonna be sticking with BDAc 1.0 until there's a better solution to damage sponge aircraft. And if there's none, I'm going to switch over to Aviator Arsenal 30mm-40mm once they get a BDAc 1.1 version up.

To be honest, your VG is really annoying me (in a good way). Also, even though we're not going to be using BDAc 1.1, it's ridiculously overpowered in BDAc 1.1, because of how it's designed with so many wing panels. I'll take a look at what the V-TEK is like tho.

I haven't touched armor; they're all at their lowest values. The default hitpoints to weapon damage ratio seem too much. Time-to-kill between aircraft is too long. I have 6 Vulcans (20mm cannon shells!) on my aircraft and against another aircraft they feel like WWII-era .30 cals. Not just that, but hitpoint values shown in the SPH editor don't match the hitpoints on the parts when the aircraft is launched; a Big-S Wing Strake is shown to have 1000 hp in the editor, but it spawns with 500. Unless I messed something up in my install, or it's maybe bad inter-mod compatibility with another mod. Maybe this is something for the GitHub tracker, but I'm holding off for now. Whatever was done to the flight AI seems to have made it a bit wonkier too, but I'll reserve a firm opinion until I've tested that more.

After a bit of testing, I have to report that I think parts might be too tanky now. Aircraft are surviving near-direct Sidewinder hits and unrealistic durations of Vulcan fire (read: 1 second or more). pls buff damage pls / pls nerf hitpoints Also, I think the AI is too liberal with afterburner usage now... not sure if intended.

I'm still testing, but it's bizarre seeing a plane stay under a full second of Vulcan fire and only lose 5 parts or so. Also the flight AI is a bit different and I run out of fuel now... seems to be more liberal with afterburner usage.

Okay, so Newsflash everyone: Aircraft, are like, pretty tanky now. They survive Sidewinder hits. Vulcan insta-kills are practically non-existent now. And this is with no added armor at all. I'm not sure whether this is a good or bad thing, but I can tell you that it... doesn't feel right.

Well, I guess there's only one way to find out. I know, and it's a fun little thing that I've messed around with a lot. It's the second-lightest aircraft in the competition as far as I know. Feels weird that it has to punch up against high-performance hyper-drones twice its weight though. I tune the Lynx when I get bored; I'll figure out a way for it to do just that. Can confirm, increasing thickness doesn't affect weight. Would be really OP.

Does this include the removal of the 300m/s afterburner limit or no? Not in changelog, but it was addressed on Github.

oooooooo looking for changelog now

The rules I have come up with are: -4t maximum dry weight; unloaded of all fuel, ammo, missiles, and chaff+flares (because they pile up in weight) -5.5t maximum combat load/takeoff weight In this competition, 'optimal' balanced aircraft designs seem to be hovering around 6-7.5t on the runway. Partially thanks to the new MLRS trend that adds I think at least ~0.7t to an aircraft at launch. My aircraft have only been getting heavier (like real life, lol); PEGASys started out at 6.5t at takeoff, new design D6 is at 6.8 I think. Basilisk comes in a 'monstrous' 8.7t takeoff thanks to the MLRS, 7.5t without it. The one plane that continues to kinda baffle me is the Squirrel, which is practically a light drone masquerading as a medium drone; it still comes in under 6t, but above 5.5t. Fully empty, the thing weighs 3.4t. But yeah. There's been a few ultra-light designs here and there that are really cool, but they're starting to get out-paced by drones in the 6-7t range, so those light drones don't really get to shine.

Honestly, I'm thinking of making a 'light drone' competition because there's some really cool drones here around ~5.5t. Maybe when we move to 1.4.1. Good way to force balance of weapon, engines, and aircraft parts.

*Human impatience

My tactical strategy has always been missile-usage focused. Even Viper. Mind you, not missile-focused, but missile-usage focused. There are a lot of instances when planes are coming in for a head-on pass, but whereas most planes will be on their Vulcans, PEGASys will be on Sidewinders, and will usually get the missile off, causing the other plane to break off. This reduces the instances of the sorta-random-outcome head-on fights, and instead leads to a stage of who can turn around faster, more maneuverable aircraft wins. Plus, of course, it's just more missiles to use, so it has higher potential for missile kills when the dogfights start and put planes in all sorts of positions. Now, the difference with Viper, aside from flight tuning, is weapon range tuning. Viper is set to 1700m, which is still too long on the guns. This was me still figuring out how to deal with the leaderboard and the 2500m gun ranges and the merge meta. 1700m was good enough for Sidewinders in the initial merge, but it hampered missile usage in the dogfight. PEGASys currently has the shortest gun range in this competition yet, at a 'mere' 1450m range hard-set on the Vulcans. This ensures that it'll keep its missiles as an active weapon option as long as possible without being slow to switch to Vulcans when it needs to. It also makes it really weak in the initial merge, but the slim profile and speed of the plane was enough to get it through the merge with okay survival rates, with help from the routing Sidewinder. I've been testing shorter and shorter ranges, but around 1100m, I feel like the AI doesn't switch to guns fast enough. And exbyde questioned shorter gun range and 2 extra Sidewinders. Aw, you're not submitting the V-TEK? It looked really cool, like a sci-fi fighter. Also I wanted to make 'V-TEC just kicked in yo!' jokes. ... wait, is that a nuke?

PEGASys don't care bout your newfangled fancy devices. it just fites like men