ForScience6686

My only guess off the bat is the limited throttle on load. Make sure you go to full throttle before pressing the big button.

Well you've done, so now to refine it. You should fly hands off for the most part, any direction change adds a lot of drag and reduces speed. You should begin your speed run at 10km, and let the nose naturally rise off the horizon. Engage the rockets before your acceleration stops and continue to climb until above 35km, then follow prograde. What I see as most people's failure comes from excessive builds. Using many surface attachments, over building engine and fuel supplies. Bringing rcs when no docking well be performed. Not adding static incidence to wings. Basically, purpose build it, have a goal and build to accomplish it and nothing more. Start small to get a grasp of the basics, you haven't even gotten into the re entry portion, and that can ruin what you think may be a good design.

Just get kas/kis. I struggled for many days trying to make a stock contraption, but to no avail. Kas makes it so much easier while also adding a couple other gizmos to expand the game for you. It feels more real as well as you need to use a kerbal to attach the hose.

Try getting closer to them. Roughly 300 meters.

That wasn't necessary for me with my science bombers as I call them. I just needed to stay nearby. I also set the deployment so they would fully open right away. You can switch while flying, especially to something else that was just released from your current ship, I do it all the time for stratosphere launches from carrier ships. But the distance for switching is greatly reduced.

I've used ground targets with much success in the past. Generally I just use it for runway approach. But I have also used it for mining outposts, to land right next to the fuel depot, <50m. What requires you to be so precise?

I don't think so. You still have offset thrust and mass to deal with. Although the shuttle was used in RL, it was not necessarily the best method to use. Yes it worked, but they have much more sophisticated equipment. My early career shuttles are the best I've managed to make, haven't gotten a good mk3 version yet though: https://kerbalx.com/ForScience6686/STS-3 I try not to fight it on the way up and make a course correction once out of the atmosphere.

Yes they are difficult. You usually end up with offset center off thrust and mass. As well as, if you do have wings, offset control surfaces. Altogether making it difficult to control on the way up. A good design won't need much input from the pilot to avoid all the control over correction. But not having wings defeats the purpose of the shuttle which was designed for a gliding reentry and landing. So you may struggle to bring yours back down from orbit. Anything can be done, you'll just have to engineer your way through the obstacles.

The graph is fine, people's misunderstanding of it is on them. It is clearly marked and explains the procedure well.

You could do any of those options, just depends on what you want. I have each example if you want to give it a shot: Early Shuttle, controls are touchy on ascent, but understandably so with offset thrust. https://kerbalx.com/ForScience6686/STS-3 Ride along, fun way to prove the concept https://kerbalx.com/ForScience6686/Goose-x Ssto space plane, with great fuel mileage https://kerbalx.com/ForScience6686/SS-1 I don't think there is one best way, it depends on your goal, and what you enjoy.

To be honest, this is drastically over built. Unless you are planning on a long journey. But either way, the shock cones are the only intakes you should be using here. Radial intakes are only hurting you, drag is paramount in space planes. That eliminates much of the craft or gives you more space for fuel. Just for comparison, the Arrow has almost the same cargo capacity (2 full size bays) in a much smaller package: https://kerbalx.com/ForScience6686/Arrow-Network-package

They are heavy, which explains the dv loss. But you can get some great fuel economy with them. Increasing the number decreases your burn times, so you won't need as many radiators.

Not necessary when you can do it in the stock game. But to each their own.

It works out fine, the key is to get your orbital ship out of the atmosphere and on a trajectory that gives you enough time to land your carrier plane, then return and complete your orbit burn. I used this method for my goose x: https://kerbalx.com/ForScience6686/Goose-x

What are you using for pitch?

Flying just means you are in the air and your trajectory does not leave the atmosphere, that would be sub orbital.

Sandbox opens everything to you from the start. But being a new player, that may be overwhelming. I started in career so I could gradually learn each part, as well as learn to optimize my designs. You also have to worry about funding, while in sandbox everything is free. So you may fail a couple times before you learn to not over build.

You need to come within about 300 m of the craft you want to switch to. Once you've switched the range extends to normal. That's how I managed this: https://kerbalx.com/ForScience6686/B-1-Refueler-WIP

Ya I aim for the bottom of craters, however, that doesn't always guarantee anything. Plan to land on a slope and be happy if you can find flat land there.

Although this is an old thread, the trick is being no more than about 300m away to switch while flying.

I don't see a panther nerv combo working. You don't have the power to get fast enough in the atmosphere. Whiplash will actually take you faster than rapier in jet mode, so I'd start there.

Just to add to this, if too high, just roll over and pull back. That will decrease speed as well as altitude.

This is why I stick to the low orbit rescues. Easier to do and no foul ups like that. If you can rescue in low orbit you can rescue anywhere, nothing new is learned.

I recommend setting beacon at the runway. Then burn to bring my trajectory into the ocean at about the islands. Where you burn depends on your craft, but I usually do it at the continent to the west just before crossing over the ocean before the peninsula (if that made sense). Hold a high aoa in the way in, and adjust pitch to control trajectory. The key is to get below 1400 m/s at 35km. From there you, glide to the runway. If you're coming in shallow, adjust for maximum glide, if too high, roll over and pull back to decrease speed and altitude. Watch the map view, at maximum glide your ap will begin to catch back up to you. Use your beacon to control descent, I keep my prograde almost on top of the target marker, usually slightly below. I build all my space planes for this reentry, it is the most effective and fastest at getting me to the runway. I have a couple designs that can do this from a 600km orbit.

Use a top mounted horizontal stabilizer. Add the small rectangular piece behind your vertical stabilizer. Probably will still need to make it larger since you claim to have too little pitch authority. Or, you could move your col closer to com, that should improve pitch.