NoobTool

I've updated the Retriever Variant of the Wyvern and uploaded a new passenger variant. I'm hoping a few of you more seasoned helicopter engineers might be willing to put them through their paces and make an assessment. Any advice for improving performance would be very much appreciated. https://kerbalx.com/NoobTool/Wyvern-Retriever-+-Dirk (You can lose the boat. The craft may need re-balancing without it though.) https://kerbalx.com/NoobTool/Drake

@EpicSpaceTroll139 That's a shame. I figured it was something like that. Thanks for the info and the speedy reply.

I have a question for the copter gods. I'm sure it has been addressed before (I'm still working my way through this thread).Why does the wheesely not work as a blower motor? I tried replacing my panther blowers with wheeselys' and they don't seem to affect the blower wheel at all. What gives?

I have bad news. I've been experiencing computer issues of late. Increasingly frequent blue screen crashes, not just in KSP. I'm afraid it may be a ram issue. This has resulted in one corrupted save (the sandbox save that I use for craft testing) and having to re-install KSP. I had been playing this save on the 1.3 pre-release, but I currently have the current full-release version installed. This save is incompatible. This leaves me with a couple of options. Option 1: opt back in to the pre-release (with fingers crossed) to continue this save; option 2: start a new sandbox save starting with the missions currently in flight. Let me know what you think.

I added a retractable grapple to the Wyvern and promptly devised a torture test: https://kerbalx.com/NoobTool/Wyvern-Retriever-+-Dirk I was hoping to make the grapple dock in both stowed and deployed positions, but there's pretty limited space to work with between the pontoons, so it only docks while stowed for now. The boat weighs 33tons and fits snugly inside the Wyvern's cargo bay. Maybe some of you ace pilots out there could easily snag things with the grapple, but I had a pretty difficult time even with the Vernor based RCS I added. Seems to hold up pretty well. I'm not sure what the plan was after plucking the boat from the water... ...but we'll call it a successful test! Edit: the grapple now docks in both positions.

I recently built my first stock bearing for a small lifter/crane. I was so impressed by how well the mechanism worked that I decided to try my hand at building a helicopter. Thanks for reading!

No promises. I'm not sure I have the patience for that.

Thanks! I haven't tested it at Laythe. Hopefully it works just as well there. I know the rapiers will have less thrust at sea level. Now you know what I was talking about with the orbital refueling. Can you imagine docking that thing to something big enough to refuel it? It would be begging for a Kraken attack.

This will be a somewhat lengthy post. We've launched all 3 of the craft headed for Jool. All 3 are on their way to Minmus, where they will refuel before departing for their final destination. I'll give descriptions of all 3 craft, as well as their roles on this particular flight. First up is our scout craft: Next up, as promised, we have one of the big boys of the fleet: Finally, we have another heavy lifter, This one delivering our first surface outpost to the Jool system: Thanks for reading!

Another mission in the books. Our Jool transfer window is fast approaching, so things are about to get a lot more interesting. Let's not get ahead of ourselves though. This mission was primarily a training mission to season our new recruits. We did however make room to complete a few contracts along the way. A few tourists, some rescues, etc. I believe our next missions will be destined for Jool. I'm planning 3 flights for this transfer window. We'll be introducing the "Big Dogs" of the fleet. Stay tuned, and thanks for reading!

Thanks! I don't really have a lot of time to play, so I can't promise frequent updates. We're approaching a Jool transfer window, so I do have some pretty big missions planned for the near(ish) future though. Stay tuned!

I realized after flying this mission that I had done a poor job of documenting it. I took 3 screenshots, all of which were taken before leaving Kerbin's atmosphere. I thought about reverting to an earlier save, and re-flying the mission to better document it, only to realize that I hadn't created a hard save after previously posted missions. That persistent save is now no more, so I'll have to make due with what I have. Thanks for reading!

It seems to me that it might be easier to employ a variable geometry rocket nozzle on an aerospike type engine instead of a more traditional bell-shaped nozzle. You could simply extend or retract the central spike. Although one of the primary benefits of aerospike engines is efficiency along a broader range of ambient atmospheric conditions, so it's hard to say how much of a benefit could be achieved with variable geometry.

So... I took a bit of a long break from KSP. Anyway, I've done a few more contracts for this playthrough, nothing terribly interesting, but I'll do a quick run-through just to keep this thread alive. Thanks for reading!

The Locust's primary mission is finally complete. We returned enough science to unlock the rest of the tech tree and initiate the patent licensing strategy at 100%. Sadly, I didn't realize that there was a reputation requirement for the program, so that'll have to wait for a few more contracts. A few photos from the rest of the trip: Thanks for reading!

They sound a fearsome lot. We'll anxiously await your return. Until then, enjoy the frightened screams and angry fist-shaking of little old ladies.

This isn't an official entry since there is part clipping (mostly for aesthetics), but I'll post it anyway. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it's somewhat on par with what others are posting. I remember reading posts (from @GoSlash27 in particular iirc) that Mk3 spaceplanes can be capable of >50%, although those may have been old posts. It's meant to be interplanetary with lighter payloads. Payload fraction of 35.96% (must be something to do with economies of scale) P.S. Consider this a not so subtle callout, Slashy. I wanna see your entry to this challenge.

Thanks! I know it's a bit ambitious. My reasoning for using a fresh career game is that the vessel count is likely to get pretty high (as you can imagine). I wanted to be able to focus that vessel count on the goal at hand, and my other career saves already have assets spread out throughout the system. The reason for wanting to unlock the tech tree as a first step has to do with my plan for funding the program. I plan on using the patent licensing strategy (science to funds) along with a sizable science farming operation to (hopefully) provide me with a substantial, steady, and reliable source of revenue independent of contracts. This again will allow me to focus my time and resources on the end goal. As crazy as it may sound, I'm actually planning to use SSTO spaceplanes almost exclusively once I have the tech tree unlocked. Things are going to get... Bigger. I am making (slow) progress. I haven't had a lot of time to play recently. Primary science collection on the Mun is nearly complete. I think I have one more biome to collect from. I did however pick up a few data collection contracts for the Mun that I'll complete before transferring to Minmus (more tedium). Minmus should go much faster (fewer biomes, and I should be able to do more hops between refueling).

The Locust launched for the Mun and has since been happily munching away on all the science and ore that the Mun has to offer. The launch went pretty well, and we made it to the Mun with plenty of fuel to land both the Locust and the transfer stage. I was a little worried that we might wind up having to use the Locust to refuel the transfer stage in orbit. I don't have MechJeb or KER, so no handy ^V readouts, and while I could calculate the ^V myself, I typically just go with my gut (that would be too much like work). Using the Locust for this would've been a pain, since the Locust wasn't really designed for that. I'm sure it could do it in a pinch, but probably couldn't spare a lot of fuel on a trip from the Munar surface to orbit and back. Anyway, Pics!: Thanks for reading!

Here's the teaser I promised: The Super Locust is designed for multi-role exploration and science collection. Here's the launch vehicle with the Locust in the fairing on top: The transfer stage has landing legs, docking ports, its own probe core and RCS. It's meant to be reusable (I have a few uses in mind for later). The plan is to take the Locust to the Mun first, land it and the transfer stage, refuel, and then set about collecting two of each experiment from every biome on the Mun (I mentioned that it would be tedious). Once completed, the Locust and the transfer stage will rendezvous in orbit and transfer to Minmus to do the same thing there. One set of experiments will be stored in the storage container on top, to be returned to and recovered on Kerbin. The second set of experiments will remain in the command pod on the Locust on Minmus. These experiments will serve as "seed stock" for my planned science farm on Minmus' surface. I'll try to document this mission a little better than other missions have been so far.

Thanks! Glad you like it. The plane is actually pretty fun and easy to fly. Here's the reason for 500+ kerbals. Not sure if I'll make it that far, but I'm gonna give it a shot.

I started a new savegame with the end goal of colonizing the Jool system. This goal is somewhat inspired by the Jool 500 challenge (although I won't be completing all or even many of the objectives for that challenge). I thought maybe if I feel like someone's watching, I'll actually continue to work on it, so I decided to start a mission report. The early stages of the savegame will basically be powerplay (boring) aimed at unlocking the tech tree quickly. I was thinking of skipping the documentation of these early missions, but for the sake of full disclosure, I'll do a quick and dirty description. First things first. Settings: I'm playing on a full stock install. I'm using standard normal settings with the exception of the funds penalties. This slider has been placed at 10%. This is to help with hiring the several hundred Kerbals that will be required to complete the goals of this savegame. Even at 10%, hiring 500+ Kerbals will be a challenge (but I have a plan). After collecting some science from around the KSC, We were ready for our first launch. Here's the vehicle: There's a "Swivel" under the shroud above the decoupler. This craft was able to launch Jeb into an orbit just grazing "in space high" (>250km) over Kerbin. It was intended for everything above the decoupler to soft land, however the re-entry turned out to be a little too steep, and we lost everything to atmospheric heating except the command pod and parachute. This meant we weren't able to collect experiments from the lower atmosphere (They didn't get collected on the way up) or after landing back at Kerbin, so it didn't return as much science as it could have. Still, not bad for a first launch: After touching down, there were quite a few low level atmospheric focused survey and surface science collection missions available from mission control, so we picked them up: And built this in order to complete them: A couple of the contracts happened to be on the other side of Kerbin. I doubt this craft would've had the range to reach them (definitely not for a return flight), so we just left those alone for now. After picking the low hanging fruit, and picking up a few other contracts that would be incidental to our next mission's objectives, we researched the tech that would be necessary for our next launch: Our next launch would send 2 Kerbals to land in multiple biomes on the Mun in this: Imagine there are a couple of solar panels and a battery between the command pods. Apparently this picture was taken before they were added. We were able to land in 2 biomes, returning science from each, as well as plenty of orbital EVA's. We also picked up a contract for a focused observational survey of the Mun after landing there, otherwise we likely would've been able to land in at least one more biome. There was a bit of excitement on this mission. After hearing from Gene about the new contract to be completed, Jeb aligned the spacecraft using the onboard reaction wheels (and physics warp) for an easy launch into a polar orbit. After reaching the poles, Jeb decided he'd collect the EVA report, seeing as Bob had collected nearly all of the others. After releasing the controls and exiting the command pod, the craft began to spin violently, throwing Jeb into the abyss and nearly tearing Bob's command pod free. Apparently while aligning the craft on the surface, Jeb had inadvertently maxed out the trim on the roll axis. Since Bob didn't know how to set the SAS, Jeb talked him through operating the trim controls. After a few moments the craft's spinning slowed, but not to a stop (does anyone know if there's a command for resetting trim back to neutral?). Using his EVA pack, Jeb was able to rendezvous with and wrestle his way back aboard the spinning craft. The recovery crew would have their work cut out for them hosing out the interior of Bob's command pod. After collecting the data required for the contract, they burned for home. This mission returned a good amount of science and funds: With that, there was plenty of science to unlock the seismometer and the gravioli sensor: Next up, a nearly identical craft was sent to Minmus, this time also carrying a seismometer and gravioli sensor. It was able to land in 6 separate biomes (Greater Flats, Lowlands, Slopes, Midlands, Highlands, and Poles), collecting experiments from each, and returning what Gene called "a buttload" of science: We then researched the tech that would be necessary for the next phase of our program: That brings us up to speed on the current state of the program. The next mission might take a while. It'll be a bit tedious, but should unlock at least most of the rest of the tech tree. I'll try to post a teaser soon. Thanks for reading!

Thanks, The wings at the rear could definitely use some cleaning up. Previous versions used Big S main wings at the back, but they had heat tolerance issues. She's also obnoxiously over-engined, but I think that's part of her charm. It's also what allows for the high payload capacity. I have another version with a reduced part count and fewer engines, probably a more reasonable craft tbh.

I have a new submission. The Czar Galactica Mk 5: https://kerbalx.com/NoobTool/Czar-Galactica-Mk-5 and my first video submission: Starting mass is as shown in above image. Payload is 476.8 tons.

Laundry list of improvements over predecessors, blah blah etc. https://kerbalx.com/NoobTool/Czar-Galactica-Mk-5