Gaarst

BZ-52 (I think) Radial attachement point, Advanced Nosecone, a cubic strut... Basically any part that you can attach radially and that has a node at one end. Then move your engines where you want using the offset/rotate tools.

I know they added at least one suggestion put on the forums:

What is the correct inclination and LAN for a probe in Earth orbit to be aligned with the ecliptic? I remember reading that it was fixed at 23.5° and 0° respectively but I can't find the reference. My current probe is off by a small amount and it's driving me mad.

Other: USA is not the only country in the world.

From a previous similar challenge back in 1.2 (rules were about the same with a few additional constraints): A few people have reached over 240km, while still keeping the pilot alive.

Everything you need is up there.

Did you know the world ended in December 2012? Seriously now, there is already a thread discussing the issue; and long story short, Take-Two would most likely not have any interest in implementing microtransactions in KSP or forbid modding, and effectively enforcing either of these would require a complete rewrite of the game.

I did not miss your point (and I pretty much agree), I am just not able to make proper sentences to express myself. :| Edited my previous post for clarity.

@Kerbart KSP has no DRM at all, so I guess that does it for DRM limitations.

Made another big plane, for "oversized" payloads. Previous plane had a large cargo bay made of opened Mk2 cargo bays: it looked OK but the cargo bay itself was very draggy and it did not shield the payload from drag, plus due to the wings, fuel tanks and gear structures in the middle it was too narrow to fit a 3.75m tank all the way through. So I removed the cargo bay, and got what is essentially an airborne flatbed: I can now lift pretty much anything up to 200t over 1500km (range with the three empty rocket cores weighing 160t overall, cut that down to 1000km for a heavier and draggier payload).

No. I am not concerned, I am part of everyone, therefore everyone is not so concerned. KSP was built since the beginning with the idea of making modding easy, which is why it is so easy to mod (kind of the point). Installing a DRM or any anti-modding software would pretty much require a complete rewrite of the game. As for MM, I don't know the details of its functioning, I'm pretty sure it fits within the EULA. Also yeah, unless TakeTwo are really stupid they won't take down KSP modding since it is one of the main selling point of the game. GTA has other means of monetisation which could justify taking down modding from a business point of view, KSP doesn't.

As you noticed, since KSP doesn't simulate ground effect, a true ekranoplan is not doable. You could simulate one by: Making a true plane that can fly on its own, just keep it close to the surface. Seeing as your craft weighs over 700t and has 800 parts (surprised that my laptop could run it without melting BTW), I don't think this is a reasonable option because it would require much greater surface area and reduced drag. Making a fast boat: using buoyancy to minimise contact with water. This is quite similar to what you currently have, you'd just need to add some more floats to make it have a lower waterline. Although this means that you will always be in contact with water: your ship will not "fly" like an ekranoplan, and the hydrodynamic drag will reduce your efficiency and top speed a fair bit. Finally, what I consider the best option: making a hydrofoil. By sticking a few (many, actually, since your craft is quite heavy) hydrofoils under the ship could provide enough lift for your GEV to rise above water (at least the hull, you'll still have the foils underwater). Pros of this concept: since only the foils touch the water you have very little drag compared to a regular boat allowing for greater efficiency and top speed, your ship would look like an ekranoplan being able to take off the surface of water, you already have wings which could help (a little bit) with the lift and control. Cons: hydrofoils are a pain to make: they require a lot of tweaking, especially at higher speeds when aerodynamic lift becomes significant; KSP's water physics can be a bit dodgy so it would require a lot of monitoring: even when well built a hydrofoil is twitchy and a tad of pitch or yaw could send the whole thing to the abyss, it's not guaranteed to survive time warp especially if it requires active control (SAS) to keep it going (and it will); your craft is heavy so you'd need a lot of hydrofoil surfaces, making it even more complex. Either way making this beast take off is not going to be an easy task.

Spaceplanes are more efficient on Kerbin because they can use very-efficient jet engines with TWR below 1, which make up for the additional mass and drag of the wings and structure. You can't use jet engines on Eve, and the increased drag require higher TWR. You're left with a spaceplane with none of the advantages but all of the flaws of the design. It's not going to be magically more efficient than a rocket with minimal dead-mass. Theories can have some limitations, but the theory that says you can't have magical energy out of nowhere (a.k.a. maths) is pretty accurate. You are free to try it yourself but unless you use some sort of Kraken drive (which probably could be fitted on a rocket anyway), I can guarantee that you won't be able to get better performance than with a VTVL.

As other said above, KSP depends a lot on single thread performance, especially clock speed. So much that a highly revved dual-core i3 may get better performance than your 3.0 GHz 8 cores i7.

@Kerbal101 What you wrote is really interesting, a lot of good ideas there, and some good remarks on the different problems. I don't know yet exactly how I would handle a spreadsheet for the mod library, mostly because I have no experience in managing community projects besides this list, and so far is has been quite closed (with only 2 people maintaining it). I'm not sure I got everything you said, but it'll definitely be useful. Based on what you wrote, I think I'll go for a MS Excel online spreadsheet (mostly because that's the software I have experience with). I also like the idea of keeping the spreadsheet locked for everyone and having a clone (or "development") spreadsheet opened to everyone, with the changes being ported from the clone to the main list by trusted people only; I don't think keeping everything open would be a good idea. I'll have to think a bit further into it, and see how we can track changes reliably. I have no idea how to write/manage a website, and am not planning on learning anytime soon, so I don't think this will happen. At least not from me. For the layout, instead of handling translations by column, I think it would be better to have separate pages of the spreadsheet for different languages. It may be a bit more complicated to keep every language synchronised this way, but it will avoid have tens of columns for the many languages KSP is supposed to be translated into. Again, I'll have to think about it, and we'll probably change things on the go as the problems get apparent. I'll try to get started on the spreadsheet by the end of the week, but I still have quite a few things to do (adding mods released after the end of April to the list, as well as sorting some things out in my personal life), so I don't guarantee it'll be done by then. I'll keep you informed on what I'm doing.

Because storms are known to last for 5 years... Contract deadlines are a joke, unless you are supposed to do a grand tour of the entire solar system, they don't matter. Weather would have no impact on gameplay on Kerbin: you'd just need to timewarp a day or two and launch then. On the other side, having to deal with a storm on your Duna/Laythe landing could be interesting since it would be harder to get around. Either way, KSP is too simplistic/easy for weather to actually matter. Temperatures? Parts work flawlessly from 0 to 2000K. Lightning? Maybe, but RNG difficulty is not good difficulty, and you can get around it; besides lightning is not that much of a concern IRL: Apollo 12 was fine, and KSP doesn't simulate part failures at all. Winds? A rocket can flip at max-Q without any consequence besides losing some dV. As much as I like realism, weather wouldn't make sense in the stock game on its own. It would fit in a RO-type game, but not in stock. The only thing left for weather is making the game more beautiful, I personally don't wish for it since my laptop can't handle graphical mods in KSP, but I can get that argument.

Gimbal or compactness. Since the Vector is the only well-made engine in the game (no tank-butt + surface-attachable) you can use it however you want. I don't know of any other way to put 4MN under a 2.5m core, useful for large liquid boosters.

OK, sorry I didn't get that your removed it. In this case since you have a lot of mods we need more information. Please read the thread that Starman linked a few posts above and upload the relevant logs.

So you run KSP 1.2 with a mod for 1.3? Retro-compatibility is not a thing for KSP mods, unless you're very lucky, your mod isn't going to work. There's nothing to do other than using the 1.2 version of your mod or updating KSP to 1.3.

1 - Wrong section 2 -

Added! I've edited the description! (And condensed it into a single sentence, even let some margin for future updates )

I don't know, I don't use these mods. Best is to ask directly on the release thread.

DECQ's Space Shuttle System is drawn straight from Orbiter, that's about as realistic as you'll get. RO configs can be found somewhere in the last pages of the thread. Cormorant Aeronology adds Space Shuttle parts as well, with RO configs available. RN Misc Parts adds a replica of SpaceLab: Shuttle Payload Technologies adds payloads for the Space Shuttle (the mod is made to work with Cormorant Aeronology).

Added! Updated! Thanks for the kind words! I like being useful by co-maintaining this list and giving players a way to help them improving their game, while still having absolutely no coding skills whatsoever. People thanking us for the library is the cherry on the cake!