SydneyACE

You can get more efficiency and more speed in the atmosphere if you throttle back the engines gradually as they loose intake air. If you're using RAPIERS be sure to change them to manual switching. Us a hot-key to switch RAPIERS, close intakes, and shut-down turbojets at the same time. (You said you're already using a hotkey I see.) The trick to managing asymmetrical flameouts and getting faster and higher while still in air-breathing mode is this: 1. The last engine you place on the craft will be the first to flame-out. Always. Not sure why, it's just the way the game works. So, if you're using the Mk2 Bi-coupler fuselage that puts the 2 engines in the center, place those 2 last. This way, one of those 2 will be the first to flame out. 2. Now that you know which engine will flameout first, just watch it. On ascent as you get close to flameout, right-click one of the last 2 engines, then Alt+Right-click the other. Now you will see the thrust ratings of each engine. (Zooming in will help to see the read-out better because it won't overlap.) As flameout approaches, one of those 2 engines will start to loose thrust and the reading will start to decrease. Slowly throttle back (using the Ctrl key) a little bit at a time until the thrust reading between the 2 engines is the same. 3. Just keep throttling back slowly bit by bit while climbing at a very shallow angle (around 10m/s VSI). (That's the little gauge with the arrow.) Finally when your speed stops increasing and you stop gaining altitude, this is the time to hit your hotkey and switch to rockets, pitch up to 45* and finish orbit. You leave a lot of speed and altitude on the table (and thus use way more fuel and oxidizer in rocket mode) if you switch at the first signs of flameout. Once I figured this trick out, my spaceplanes got much more efficient. (You can design them with less oxidizer and fuel, which means less weight, which means better performance, etc.) Hope that helps!! Also as someone else mentioned, your spaceplane seems to have more lift than it needs (wings are too big). The extra wings will mean more drag which will make it harder to hit a higher speed in the atmosphere. I just did a few different trial runs on my plane by adding wings until it became less efficient, then taking them back off. Good luck! Let us know how it goes!

ALT!!!! Holding Alt did the trick. ATTENTION EVERYONE!!! HOLDING "ALT" WILL MAKE BUILDING STUFF EASIER!!! LOL! Can't believe I've played the game as much as I have and I just discovered this. For the life of me, I couldn't get that docking port to couple with the other. Held "Alt" and BOOM!, snapped right into place. Thanks guys!

I'm having the exact same problem as the OP, but for the life of me, I cannot get the docking ports to attach without overlapping. I attach one port to the bulkhead, then attempt to attach the other face-to-face with the first. For some reason as I get the 2nd port close to the first, it spins around and tries to attach backwards (and overlaps the first). If I first place it in the air, then manually rotate it 180*, I can get it to go face-to-face with the first port, but it overlaps (just like in the pic above). No matter how hard I try, I cannot get it to back-up and snap into place with the first port. Very frustrating (especially considering that I was all the way into orbit before I realized the port wouldn't undock). Is there any trick to getting the ports to snap into place face-to-face (and not overlapping) so that they work properly?