nerdboy64

I've made quite a few SSTOs before. As a big fan of science fiction, I've always liked the idea of a craft that can take off from the surface and get all the way to space unassisted. Here are some of my latest models: HS-830 Hercules A monster of a craft which puts coolness before efficiency. I started with the central bit, which has a crew capacity of 15, a big orange fuel tank, ASAS, and RCS fuel. Then I added wings, engines, and more fuel tanks until it got into space. Doesn't serve much "practical" purpose, but since when was KSP about practicality? HS-210 A slightly more reasonable SSTO with a single pilot. Very stable and easy to fly (for an SSTO, that is), and quite maneuverable at low altitudes.

Even after Duna and the rest of the Kerbol system were introduced, I spent a lot of time screwing around with stations and SSTOs and other things in LKO. When I finally attempted an interplanetary mission, I sent a makeshift rover powered by ion engines and plane landing gear (because proper wheels weren't in the game yet) to Duna and tried to land it. To make a long story short: it crashed. Then I reloaded from a quicksave so it could crash again. And again. You get the idea. Now I've got two rovers and a stationary probe on Duna, but haven't attempted a manned mission. Just recently, with Macey Dean's requests for viewer-made warships, I built a cruiser and sent it to the Jool system. It's still out there orbiting Jool, on a very wide and eccentric orbit, completely devoid of all fuel reserves, patiently awaiting the development of a tanker with enough delta-V to get to it with some fuel leftover. Other than that, I haven't really bothered with the other planets.

I'm betting on 0.24. We know 0.21 is the new SAS stuff and crew system. Then .22 will probably be basic resources, and 0.23 will probably be refinements of that. At that point, pretty much everything will be ready and they can start work on career mode for 0.24. This is just speculation, but it makes sense to me.

Now that I achieved Kerbin orbit, I tried to get the Hyperion out to Laythe where it might actually be of some use. Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned... http://imgur.com/a/VfOsS#0

EDIT: VICTORY! I HAVE CONQUERED THE FORCES OF GRAVITY! Original post:

Not yet. I can get into space, but when I activate the nuclear engines the far-right one always tears off of the ship. I may have to get rid of the armor panels at that end.

Well, I have my first prototype of MS-50. I'm currently working on getting it into space, which is proving to be a challenge. It has around 350 parts, the last 50 of which are mostly struts. I finally managed to get it off the ground using 9 mainsails, 17 Jumbo-64 fuel tanks, and a spiderweb of struts and girders. The VAB was bugging out, so I had to improvise the symmetry in the SPH. Luckily, this thing has enough brute force to ignore slight differences in balance. Unfortunately, once in space the problems don't go away and I still haven't made orbit with it. To get an idea of just how ridiculous this thing is, here's a screenshot of it in the SPH. I had to flip it sideways because when vertical the top of the craft goes out the top of the building.

After seeing this thread, I started work on a nice, big battlecruiser. It's still a prototype, but here's an early screenshot: It's armed with 12 standard torpedoes (Macey's own design) and four heavy antiship missiles. Everything is fully reloadable, and I have tested to make sure that the SRBs do not incinerate the rest of the ship. Also note that the command pod is has shields on the side, to help defend against missile attacks and the like. That thing on top of the command pod in the screenshot is a torpedo; it's there so I can have a spare copy and will be removed in the final version.

It's in the "Fusion Aerospace" thread in my signature.

Oh, right. I just mistyped it.

I actually made an airliner as one of my first projects in 0.20. It's a bit laggy with all those seats, but otherwise it's quite stable. Carries 19 Kerbals including the crew and designed to look like a Boeing 727. It can go to 10km, but I don't have a picture so you don't have to count it. EDIT: By the way, it's totally stock.

Build an airliner, using the 0.20 seats for the passengers, that can carry at least 10 Kerbals (not including the crew). The first one (by MET of the plane) to fly over the ocean, land on the continent east of KSC, unload their passengers, and fly back wins. No rockets, SRBs, RCS, or infiniglide bug, and stay in the atmosphere. One stage only. Killing a Kerbal or not completing the trip is disqualification.

Right click on the engines and see where it says "Status: something." If it says "Nominal," the engines are fine and the problem is elsewhere. Otherwise, it'll say "No fuel," "No IntakeAir," etc.

"Enough." I don't do any math, I just slap some tanks and engines onto my payload until it gets into space. That's not to say I don't pay attention to efficiency, just that I don't spend my time adding up part weights and engine outputs.

There isn't an actual "launch window," per se. However, the farther away you are from the ideal phase angle you are, the more dV you will have to expend to make the trip. A difference of a few in-game days isn't that large on the planetary timescale, so it as long as you're pretty close, you should be able to get an encounter.

"Okay, we're doing fine. This is good. WAITWHAT!? Why are we spinning!? Oh god LEFT LEFT LEFT! No, wait, RIGHT RIGHT RIGHT! LEFT! RIGHT! LEFT! RIGHT! OHGODOHGODOHGOD!" *splash* --ASAS of every SSTO I've ever made.

I want more spaceplane parts. Specifically, the following: - Mk. III to 1m tri-coupler adapter - Mk. III hitchhiker container - Mk. III fuselage with rocket fuel + oxidizer - Larger version of spaceplane landing gear - Standardized wing segments, so they actually fit together properly - Dedicated flap and airbrake parts to aid with control Flaps and airbrakes might be a bit difficult, but the rest of these are just more attractive or resized versions of existing parts. I'm mostly interested in Mk. III parts, because they're the closest thing we have to space shuttles but we don't have enough of them yet.

I noticed that this version tended to roll to the right when flying level. Turned out that top air intake was slightly off-center, so I edited the ship and reuploaded the file. Everything should be fixed now.

Challenge accepted!

What the moving stairs truck you see at small airports?

I have a couple of interesting plane designs for 0.20 (craft files are in the linked threads): Kerbwith Swallow - open-topped biplane using Kerbal seat as cockpit: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/31102-Kerbwith-Swallow-Open-topped-Biplane J-30 Heron - 19-Kerbal (16 passengers + 3 crew) airliner using Kerbal seats: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/31667-J-30-Heron-16-passenger-Jet-Airliner-Using-Kerbal-Seats

I tried it that way in previous prototypes, but it was very unstable. This is actually a realistic configuration, based off the Boeing 727, which had two engines in pods at the rear of the fuselage and one more in the end of the tail, like so:

Design After much experimenting with the new Kerbal seats as open cockpits for aircraft (which resulted in the creation of the highly successful Kerbwith Swallow biplane), the idea came to me to use seats for an airliner. After many two- and four-engined prototypes of a plane called the "Condor," which had success rates ranging from "slightly flawed" to "totally unflyable," I managed to produce one reasonably effective aircraft. It was fairly stable, not difficult to fly, and easy to land as well. However, with only two standard jet engines, it wasn't exactly quick. Taking inspiration from the real-life Boeing 727, I added a third engine to the tail section with an intake in front of the rudder. This gave the aircraft the extra boost it needed to be a viable airliner, without adding too much extra weight or screwing up the center of mass. At that point, I renamed it from the "Condor" to the "Heron" and launched a full-scale test flight to try it out. It got up to over 300 m/s (1100 kph) at an altitude of 10km, and managed an intercontinental trip to across the ocean to the west of KSC, with fuel to spare. As this was a test flight, only the crew were on board, but I don't doubt that it could make the trip again with a full compliment of passengers. I chose not to include SAS because I noticed that it would flap the control surfaces around, artificially increasing its speed as a result of the infiniglide bug, which I saw as cheating. Besides, that much shaking would be very uncomfortable for the passengers. The downside of this is that it takes some careful trimming and control to keep going in the right direction. Disclaimer: This plane is very laggy when fully loaded. Use at your own risk. Trans-Kerbin Airlines is not responsible for any damage to computers, Kerbals, and/or aircraft that results from flying with lag. Images and Video Fully-loaded Test Flight Video Flyin' High: Landed at the end of the test flight: Fully loaded with Kerbals: Statistics Part count: 180 (not including passengers) Seating: 16 passengers + 3 crew Top speed: ~1200 kph (330 m/s) at 10km Cruising Altitude: 10,000 m (recommended) Propulsion: 3 x Basic Jet Engine (450 total thrust) Download J-30 Heron Mk. I

I don't have time right now, but I'll try to do it later.

Design One of the very first things I did when 0.20 came out was design an open-topped biplane. Following the typical KSP naming convention of taking something real and making it start with "K," it was called the "Kerbwith Kamel." It was quite difficult to fly, as it didn't turn very well and had a tendency, when taxiing along the ground, to lean to one side of the other and tear off the lower wings (taking the landing gear with them). If open-cockpit planes were going to be of any use, these problems would have to be fixed. After going through a few prototype aircraft and several test pilots, the Kerbwith Swallow was born. Unlike its predecessor, the Swallow has only one engine, mounted below and behind the lower wings, and half as much fuel. Despite this seeming drop in power, its top speed is still comparable to that of the Kamel. It is also much more agile, and doesn't flop about when taxiing. Pictures Compulsory perspective shot: Alan Kerman with his shiny new aeroplane: How to Fly For the most part, the Swallow is the same as any other plane. There are just a few things you need to know: First, to get into the cockpit, send your Kerbal on EVA and then right click the seat. Select "Board" and you should teleport into it. Then, press space to discard the command pod. Finally, right click the Kerbal and choose "control from here," otherwise you won't be able to yaw the plane due to a bug in the controls. Second, before taking off, press "1" twice before taking off to extend the antenna and disable the motor and steering of the front wheels. Finally, don't go over 60m/s while on the ground, or else the front wheels will break. Yes, I know I could have used actual landing gear, but these just looked so much cooler. Download Kerbwith Swallow Mk. I