hazard-ish

I'd recommend updating to version 1.0.4. Sure from a glance at the patch notes it may looks like SSTOs are nearly impossible due to the specific impulse of the RAPIER engines among other things being changed but one important thing to note is that the ceiling for which jet engines function is now increased! RAPIERs can still produce considerable thrust for me when traveling at high speeds even at 22km up where there is very little drag to slow me down. I'm in the process of taking an SSTO from Kerbin to the Mun and back right now and I'll upload a video of it later on to prove it's possible. It just takes a lot of perfecting - this design has undergone 43 iterations (ignoring the several fully-fledged prototypes that came before it). I've got several tricks to help increase the feasibility of SSTOs in the stock game but I'll talking about those more once I had provide some evidence for my point. Once the video is finished, I'll post it here and detail some of the finer aspects of the ascent profile which may help you and others when building SSTOs. I was a big an of building them in the old aerodynamics model so having to learn everything from scratch was a daunting challenge but it can be done!

The idea of a new jet engine has my support, 2.5m or not. There are loads of rocket engines to choose from, all having specialised uses helpful for varying circumstances so it makes sense to give jets, reconnaissance crafts (especially with the addition of new contracts) and SSTOs more air-breathing engines to choose from.

I would love to see Eeloo getting some love due to New Horizons. I enjoy visiting there but there really isn't much to it that separates it from other small atmosphere-less worlds like Moho and Dres so the addition of even a small moon (since KSPs engine doesn't model Barycentres) would be a fantastic addition to the game since the last time a new place to visit was added was 0.18.2 - December 2012!

Great - It really helps to make the place seem unlike any other object in the game! Also, how far through development are Neidon's moons at this point? You mentioned that you would start work on Plock after Neidon's system is finalized so I'm just wondering what sort of time-frame we're talking about. I look forward to seeing what you have in store!

I'm pretty sure that's not possible given KSPs engine. Giving a planet or moon an kind of spin axis can't really be done let alone a chaotic one.

Fantastic! Thanks for letting us know beforehand, I look forward to coming out of beta Have a good holiday!

I asked that question to CaptRobau a while ago: Which implies that there probably are but as far as I know, nothing has been found yet (I think)...

Haha, yeah, I meant a TWR greater than 1 on Vall! Sorry for the confusion! I don't have any screenshots of my lander but many other people have done it. Check out this album on imgur which was the inspiration for it: http://imgur.com/a/fPL77#106 (from image number 106 onwards)

Yeah, the ion engine is vastly more powerful than real-world counterparts. With careful engineering, I've built a craft capable of reaching Vall orbit purely with 1 ion engine with a TWR of greater than 1. I'm not saying it needs to be reduced, but by no means should it be increased further!

To be honest, I think that in order to prevent performance issues with large crafts, the best path to go down would be an optimization of that game as opposed to bigger parts. I'm not saying it's an easy task, just my favored route. A wing built of many small sections allows for a great deal of customisation and is much less restricting. Hopefully unity 5 may be able to help a little bit though, right?

I spent a day messing around with the aerodynamics system - from removing all aerodynamic forces entirely and docking to my space station in a 500 metre orbit to multiplying the drag value by over 1,500,000 for... interesting results. I complied my experiences into a light heated video that hopefully some of you will enjoy. I would appreciate it if anyone here checked it out!

Just a short comedy video in a style inspired by Danny2462, Nexter's Lab and, to some extent, SWDennis. Version 1.0 allowed us to go into the config files and edit the aerodynamic properties of drag. So I experiment with removing it entirely, creating the illusion of being in space and docking to a space station - on fire - at only a few hundred metres above ground at 2300m/s. I then experiment with increasing the drag value - multiplying it by approximately 1,500,000 and then watching helplessly as the solar system practically tears itself apart! Enjoy!

Good to see another beta release! Finally I can get a view if Tal from Wal's surface! It's also nice being able to visit Tekto properly again ;)Shame that the issue with Ovok is still yet to be fixed - I wish you/anyone involved the best of luck in resolving it quickly EDIT: I've just noticed the new banner in your signature - nice work! It helps remind me how much content has been added by the mod!

Maybe now yeah, but once moons for Neidon have been added, the first post will get quite large. Certainly is fancy though By the way, for CaptRobau, the only thing I would recommend that I would certainly find useful is the equatorial radius for each object just to get a sense of scale since the images scale to be the same size

Nice - very professional!

Good to hear! Hopefully there won't be much of a wait for the issues with the beta to be fixed Oh and, by the way, can you give away any information regarding the moons for Neidon? You've mentioned a Triton-like moon, which I am very excited for, but I'm just wondering whether Neidon will get any other 'large' moons? I am aware that Triton makes up pretty much 99% of all mass orbiting Neptune but do you think you will be adding a creative touch like with what you did by adding Slate even if it shifts from the realistic analogue? Thanks

Once the issues are fixed and this version of the mod goes out of beta will you deem the Urlum system finished? I don't recall you mentioning any more plans for an additional moon for the system and, in order to make Tal's orbit feasible, there probably isn't room for one either. Anyway, so will work on Neidon's system commence relatively soon? Also, will you be adding Urlum's moons to the OPM banner in your signature? It looks a little left out.

Oooh, it's good to finally get a good look at Tal! Its look kind of reminds me of wet clay - very interesting. I would ask if we could hear about Tal's physical characteristics but, given the time until the release, I think I'll just wait for the update It does orbit slightly further from Wal than I expected but there must only be a few stable orbits around it so I'm okay with that. I can't wait to put OPM back on my 1.0 game!

Although the customisation of the aerodynamics is good, I still feel that it doesn't actually help solve the problem. If everyone began altering the atmosphere to be exactly how they wanted, what is going to stop them from then editing the config files for engine thrust or resource fuel weight? It is frowned upon to change the thrust or efficiency of engine parts in the game because it makes launches much easier, but changing the drag model from 1.0.2 to version 1.0 will save several hundred metres per second of delta-v in order to get into kerbin orbit. To some extent, I see no difference between this and putting on infinite fuel for part of the burn. I'm not complaining about the 1.0.2 model, I just think that there should be one aero that everyone uses so craft files can be exchanged and other peoples achievements/accomplishments can be appreciated.

This mod is absolutely astounding! It brings a truly needed and well presented sense of scale to the game and, considering this is still an experimental release, is fantastically well executed!

Just as I got used to the new aerodynamics added by 1.0, they change the atmospheric drag multiplier from 0.6 to 0.8! Ah well... back to the drawing board. Despite this though, I have built an SSTO capable of landing on Minmus and returning (but I wont be happy with it until it can manage the Mun!) but my main problem with the new aerodynamics is that all that seems to matter is velocity; just strap a few rapiers on any standard plane and it will get into orbit just fine, from my experience. In 0.90, the aerodynamics rewarded giant 500+ ships that looked truly unique since the body was constructed out of wing parts giving the craft a lego-like level of customisation. Now, a large wing made up of smaller wings has a different drag model to what would be expected so the only feasible way to make SSTOs is to create generic looking ones out of only a handful of parts. It is also disappointing to see that control surfaces phased into fuel tanks still generate lift (even if it is rather handy!)

I am still getting the 'server migration' issue whenever I try to load the website. It's been several hours after the initial release so is there something I am missing?

This is a beefed up, heavy-duty version of my previous shuttle SSTO with almost twice the fuel capacity and wings that generate roughly 60% more lift! Here, I use it to make orbit and rendezvous with a class B asteroid and, using it's spacious cargo bay, attach wings and parachutes to the asteroid before landing safely at the KSC runway! Here is a photo of it in action: Both the new version - the "Emperor" - and the old version - the "Monarch" - are shown in action in my short videos below! Enjoy! CRAFT DOWNLOAD - "EMPEROR" CRAFT DOWNLOAD - "MONARCH"

I've been messing around with some of my old SSTO designs since, when the next update comes along, they are likely to become redundant... Once I work out how to link a video, I'll show you all what exactly I have been up to! - - - Updated - - - ve finally finished up a project of mine where I rendezvous with an asteroid, attach wings to it and the fly it to and land at the KSC all using and SSTO! I had to get it don't quickly before version 1.0 brings us the new aerodynamics model so I'm happy it's finally done! Getting this craft to work properly was a real pain though since, once I docked with the asteroid, my centre of mass changed dramatically which is why I added the extra wings. Enjoy!

This is what aerobraking a space shuttle SSTO attached to an asteroid-plane looks like at high speeds. As a bonus, the wings on the asteroid actually helped quite a lot! Here is the video if anyone is interested