moogoob

Yeah, not too hard if you keep it light and efficient. It's when you've already got like 8/10ths of the tree done that these types of things are at the most valuable - if all you have left are 1000+ science unlocks, that saves you some grinding when one gets unlocked.

Someone has been playing Planet Coaster, it seems. It has the best terrain editing I've EVER used in a game, but one that I'm sure would be a bit hard to handle at KSP scale. If you use a Minecraft-like density of 1m cubed/voxel then Kerbin alone would need... *googles* 905 million voxels. Assuming that voxels are like pixels (my expertise) say 32 bits each to depict colour/texture would not be out of the question, and may even be a low estimate. 32/8=4 bytes per voxel, or in other words a 3.616 GB file, MINIMUM. That's just for Kerbin - you'd need equivalent amounts of data for the other planets, moons etc too. That's one good reason to not use voxels. If anyone with more specific info had input, I'm all ears.

As said, you're gonna need more intakes:

This thread's been going forever. I like. I still use the Tarot naming scheme - half my launches are by Fool, Magician or Strength rockets, with Emperors only being used if I REALLY can't get it up there any other way. The Empress (Rhino-based) has been mostly relegated to super-heavy upper stage status since the adjustment that halved sea-level TWR, but once in a while I'll make a boosted version of it. My shuttles all have the name -bird somewhere. Nastybird, Angrybird, Cargobird, Bigbird, etc.

Because the extra bits at the side are wing segments, not tanks. It's why the Mk 2 parts generate lift. If you look in the middle of an unattached mk 2 tank, you'll see a mk-1 sized circle where presumably the tank is located.

This. If I want to use TGT mode on the navball, I have a craft targeted. If I don't, I un-target it. TGT is excellent for docking too - that's what I mostly use it for - it lets you see which way you're drifting when on approach, and if it's off to one side or too high or low you can easily and efficiently correct with RCS.

I landed within a few kilometers of the one on the north rim of the Eastern crater once - saw it upon descent and hopped over to get a closer look with the fuel I had remaining.

Can't forget that he was a founding member of the Planetary Society. And wrote the only thing that can get me to cry on queue - Pale Blue Dot.

Added some quick awards to the end of the first post for those who've entered so far.

I'm glad to see that a dorsal/ventral drop tank arrangement is being used. Makes a lot more sense than the typical STS asymmetrical arrangement if you don't have plumbing and pumps to wrangle with.

VTOL is as VTOL does.

Your dedication to a tower landing was certainly commendable! I like your participant roster idea - if this thread gets a few participants, I'll add it. What's your craft called?

My favourite shakedown mission for new aircraft is one I'm sure I share with a lot of you - fly to the island airport, then fly back. If it can accomplish all that, it's a pretty good sigh that it might just be a usable vehicle! As I've been playing around with vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) craft recently, I've had the opportunity to do the same with those craft, and it's not just A) fun but B) a bit of a challenge, too, and I thought I'd share. So, the rules! 1. Make a craft. 2. Take off vertically from KSC - your choice to use the runway or launch pad. 3. Fly to the Island. 4. Land vertically at the airport. Take a picture! 5. Take off, fly back, and land at KSC. Take another picture! Refueling, ISRU are prohibited. Wings and chutes are allowed so long as you don't use them to land. Mods: sure! Go ahead! Knock yourselves out! Just let me know if it's modded. As to scoring... no idea. This is more of a "mission idea" for now. If anyone has any ideas other than judging on looks alone (which, would disqualify mine, let's face it. ) I'm all ears. Here's my own entry to kick stuff off: (from two successful attempts - thus the varying times of day) So- Participant Awards! Here goes: @Eidahlil gets the "I said BUZZ the tower, not land on it!" award. @foamyesque gets the "Just like balancing a broom on your finger!" award. @Speeding Mullet gets the "What if the Jumbo Jet needs to land on a helipad? What then!?!" award. @Nicole gets the "Seaside dinner cruise for four." award. @Element4ry gets the "Who in their right mind would land using jets?!?" award. @MunGazer gets the "Osprey XL" award. @RonnieThePotato gets 3/4ths of the "Drop Tank Extravaganza" award.

So... I've been playing with VTOLs a lot recently. Here are two: First one, the SpaveM VtolBus. 3 kerbals to the island and back - with no wings, just a single fighter jet engine and a whole lot of intakes. The secret to landing (in one piece) when your main source of vertical lift is something that requires spool up is... Vernors! I knew those parts had a reason for being! I use them to bolster vertical thrust when landing - that way I keep the main engine at a single throttle setting and use the Vernors to trim. Second is its predecessor - though without the Vernors, landing is a lot more hairy. Those parachutes can be used to slow down, but so far I tend to blow up a landing leg every time I attempt to touch down.

Sometimes you get dumb ideas. Sometimes those dumb ideas end up working out. If by "working out" you mean making Jeb a parasailer thing that cruises at 35 m/s, of course. EDIT: Why waste a bad idea? This one cruises at about 95 m/s so is a tad more fuel efficient.

Skyrim Special Edition just dropped, so I'm playing that. It's mainly an upgrade to lighting and effects, through supposedly some of the models and textures were tweaked, too.

That's ingenious! I only use them with the Nuke - but since the big Nuke heat buff in 1.0 it's been gradually nerfed to need steadily less and less radiator so they're less crucial.

The SpaceM Tower-XL, with 30 Thuds: And its second stage, the Tower-L with six thuds. Massed Thuds are a great way to get some high TWR on a cheap tech level.

I can verify that the "heat shield, science container and parachute" combo does not qualify for "return a vessel to Kerbin from orbit of X" contracts.

Soo, first of all I've been playing career, and not taking many screenshots so that's why I haven't uploaded much. D'oh! Anyway, I've started my customary "take advantage of Minmus' science" phase. While Val waited for Minmustation 1 to receive a fuel depot, she started reading the spec manual for the Munbus that brought her station's resident scientist and rescue adopttee Leie Kerman. There was a contract to put a flag on Minmus dang it, and she wasn't going to wait for a dang lander to get designed! So... this happened: Later on after a few more Mun probes, SpaceM finally got a contract to send a probe to Duna. I seriously overbuilt this thing - it can certainly go on to Ike next. But even with that massive antenna, it still only gets two bars at Duna! Maybe once I upgrade my ground stations...

Nice! All I'm seeing right now is a close-up of Canadarm's hand. Oh! Nevermenind! There's an astronaut! EDIT: I think I've memorized all the details of Canadarm's hand by now.

That's what I do. Start with about 3000 science - enough to get about half the tree (once you upgrade R&D of course), then late-game you have to work for the rest. It simulates starting from a position more like SpaceX than NASA - the pioneering work has been done, now it's about refinement of space flight.

Thanks for running the tests! Justifies my love of interstage fairings.

IIRC Mechjeb handles like this if you use the maneuver planner - or at least it does with the settings I use. It's performed maneuvers on the far side of the mun for me before I was able to get up relays.

On, multiple ground stations, default occlusion and other settings. Oh, and no plasma black out or full control loss, cuz I'm not that concerned about "realism" and those settings didn't sound fun. Didja know that with default occlusion there's no dead spot during launch to LKO? Like it was tuned for that or somethin!