Wanderfound

Kerbodyne Liftjet.The reusable SRB. Flight test at http://s1378.photobucket.com/user/craigmotbey/Kerbal/Beta/Kerbodyne%20Showroom/Liftjet/story Alternate format at http://s1378.photobucket.com/user/craigmotbey/slideshow/Kerbal/Beta/Kerbodyne%20Showroom/Liftjet Craft file at https://www.dropbox.com/s/p0gk4e4u4crmv67/Kerbodyne%20Liftjet.craft?dl=0

How does it come out if you turn those dihedral wingtips into vertical fins (winglets)? It might allow a bit more tailfin dihedral.

Well, the red showing is all in the "pitch up" and "not enough lift" areas. Not surprising; most things show some red at 30,000m unless they're very light or have a lot of wing. But by the time you hit 30km, you're probably on a ballistic trajectory (i.e. not really "flying": your wings aren't holding you up) anyway, which makes the "not enough wing" stuff irrelevant. And, as you noticed, a bit of pitch up at altitude can be quite helpful during ascent (albeit potentially lethal during reentry...). You've got plenty of vertical stabiliser, plenty of horizontal stabiliser, and adequate wing area. That's three of the main issues sorted. What do the numbers look like at 25km/Mach4? That's where I usually focus my efforts in the SPH.

* Building upgrades are way too expensive. * Building stages (in both costs and capabilities) are much too coarsely grained. Split it into about ten upgrade stages, with moderate and even capability jumps between them. * Money -> science strategy is grotesquely overpowered; nerf by at least a factor of ten, probably more. * Anything -> money strategies are underpowered. Again, a tenfold buff would be a good start. * Limitations on action group use are unrealistic, limiting and not fun. * 100% recovery for spaceplanes is overpowered. Add some maintenance/building costs. Ideally, introduce a hangar mechanic to make re-use vs build-new a significant gameplay decision. * Nukes should be much more expensive. Include the cost of the necessary PR campaign and insurance in the price.

Vote tally so far: Major Jim: 11 Overfloater: 4 Wanderfound: 2 Roguemason: 2 Chronosheep: 1 Upsilon: 1 Volcanix: 1 Reistlyn: 1 Whistlehead: 1 Close it off at the end of the month? Or would y'all like something sooner?

A thin-atmosphere no-oxygen rough-landing specialist: Kerbodyne Dunaflyer. Just the thing for your first Duna flight. Flight demo at http://s1378.photobucket.com/user/craigmotbey/Kerbal/Beta/Kerbodyne%20Showroom/Dunaflyer/story Alternate format at http://s1378.photobucket.com/user/craigmotbey/slideshow/Kerbal/Beta/Kerbodyne%20Showroom/Dunaflyer Craft file at https://www.dropbox.com/s/7m1av8dmgf5o32x/Kerbodyne%20Dunaflyer.craft?dl=0

I'm another who'll happily ignore contracts that I don't like, and I enjoy most of the contracts that are available anyway. But it's still grindy as hell. I like doing satellite launch contracts; I find them easy but interesting, and self-imposed challenges (Can I launch three satellites to three different SOIs off one SRB? How many contracts can I fulfil with just one satellite? Etc.) add to that. But when it came time to upgrade the R&D building so that I could access spaceplane parts, I found myself having to do twenty satellite missions in a row in order to raise the needed cash. By number 20, the novelty had definitely worn off. Could I have added more variety to the missions? Sure...at the cost of making the fundraising process even more protracted and grindy. And by the time I finally had the cash to upgrade R&D, there was so much science banked up that I immediately unlocked every node possible and found myself once again needing to raise a squillion √ to proceed further. I've abandoned career mode until they get it sorted. It just stopped being fun.

Just getting there, or there and back? The first is easy, the second is probably doable but trickier.

A robotic probe can hit any body in the Kerbin system for < √20,000, with early-game tech. It's much easier to do than sending a Kerballed mission.

As well as the money -> science strategy being overpowered, the anything -> money strategies are underpowered. They're all off by about a factor of ten.

Success or excess? Kerbodyne V-Storm. Flight demo at http://s1378.photobucket.com/user/craigmotbey/Kerbal/Beta/Kerbodyne%20Showroom/V-Storm/story Alternate format at http://s1378.photobucket.com/user/craigmotbey/slideshow/Kerbal/Beta/Kerbodyne%20Showroom/V-Storm Craft file at https://www.dropbox.com/s/3f6ind3rfwtdj4m/Kerbodyne%20V-Storm.craft?dl=0

Tried landing 'em yet? The Seal looks like it might be challenging to get down intact...

Kerbodyne Astrotrout. Orbit and back without any fuss. Flight test at http://s1378.photobucket.com/user/craigmotbey/Kerbal/Beta/Kerbodyne%20Showroom/Astrotrout/story Alternate format at http://s1378.photobucket.com/user/craigmotbey/slideshow/Kerbal/Beta/Kerbodyne%20Showroom/Astrotrout Craft file at https://www.dropbox.com/s/ogjyiwcjnpi4439/Kerbodyne%20Astrotrout.craft?dl=0

You did see the name of it, right?

Here y'go... An update of the classic: Kerbodyne Dementia Nova. We accept no responsibility for the consequences of incautious use of the main engine at low altitude. Flight demonstration at http://s1378.photobucket.com/user/craigmotbey/Kerbal/Beta/Kerbodyne%20Showroom/Dementia%20Nova/story Alternate format at http://s1378.photobucket.com/user/craigmotbey/slideshow/Kerbal/Beta/Kerbodyne%20Showroom/Dementia%20Nova Craft file at https://www.dropbox.com/s/axe5dwqc8xim5cd/Kerbodyne%20Dementia%20Nova.craft?dl=0

The absurdities of the stock drag model are particularly punishing to large spaceplanes. While it is possible to make alarge spaceplane in stock, it ain't gonna be easy, and it won't be very useful when you're done.

Post a screenshot of the reentry capsule, and tell us exactly what your Ap/Pe are when you reenter. We can't diagnose what we can't see. At reentry, your periapsis should be around 20,000m.

More fun with SRBs: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/90747-Kerbodyne-SSTO-Division-Omnibus-Thread?p=1699318&viewfull=1#post1699318 - - - Updated - - - Or this one: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/90747-Kerbodyne-SSTO-Division-Omnibus-Thread?p=1721422&viewfull=1#post1721422

Like this... Full demo at http://s1378.photobucket.com/user/craigmotbey/Kerbal/Beta/Kerbodyne%20Showroom/Satshot/story

Kerbal Flight Data​.

Kerbodyne Harpoon. Fast, fun and useful. Flight test at http://s1378.photobucket.com/user/craigmotbey/Kerbal/Beta/Kerbodyne%20Showroom/Harpoon/story Alternate format at http://s1378.photobucket.com/user/craigmotbey/slideshow/Kerbal/Beta/Kerbodyne%20Showroom/Harpoon Craft file at https://www.dropbox.com/s/saznws5n3diahlm/Kerbodyne%20Harpoon.craft?dl=0

Non-traditional SRB use has been a theme lately; for example... &

Fixed & spatted gear says "prop plane" to me. Stock prop engines on the way?

The flight test album doesn't go beyond LKO, but flying on Duna really doesn't require any more wing than Kerbin; Duna sea level is equivalent to moderate altitude Kerbin, and if you can fly in one you can fly in the other. More wing will allow you to land more slowly, but not by all that much, and increases the chance of a wingtip groundstrike during landing. As demonstrated in my Interplanetary Spaceplanery series (on Youtube), the key to spaceplaning on Duna is mostly about maintaining control during post-touchdown braking. A sufficently good pilot could land most things there, but to make it easier you want highly stable wide-set landing gear, a hint of VTOL thrust to soften the touchdown (and to reduce the AoA required for level flight immediately pre-touchdown), and some retrothrust to enhance braking. The Farlander has most of that already, but you might want to add some tailstrike guards to protect the nuke during an overly bouncy landing. It's also worth remembering that the tailplane and canards are wings in their own right. Spreading the lifting duties over the three surfaces reduces the amount of primary wing area required.

Rovers. Not an inability to build them, an unwillingness to drive them. Every time I take a rover somewhere I end up driving it for ten minutes before giving up and just flying to the destination instead.