Chairborneranger

Gotta love the T-tail design. If placed well it gives you just enough extra roll to make turning seem natural.

My most stable craft is like Quote\'s, only a little wider and has the SR-71 like rudders. T-24 SHRIKE: EDIT: Specifications revised after further flight testing! - Centerline basic jet engine for low altitude flight and landing - Two high powered turbojets for high altitude cruising - Top speed ~600m/s (mach 1.7) - Fly by wire avionics package for stable flight - Service ceiling >= 15,000M - one way range of 650KM Takeoff: Keep all three engines on, SAS on, thrust up, and press S at about 100M/S and she\'ll gently rise. Low altitude: Deactivate outboard turbojets for fuel savings and fly level at about 10 degrees elevation. High altitude: Climb slow on your basic jet to about 5000M, activate outboard turbo jets, and climb to cruising altitude between 13KM-15KM Landing: Line up 5-10KM out, make sure SAS is on, and touch her down up to 10M/S drop rate. (Even Jeb can do this!) Enjoy!

And the BUFF keeps on truckin\'! Gold star for you, sir. Now I\'ll have to modify my bomber with actual bombs as well!

*Outside the brand new KSC spaceplane hanger* Jeb: Hey Bill, you got any Beeman\'s? Bill: I might just have me a stick. Jeb: Well lend me some, I\'ll pay you back later! Bill: Fair enough. Jeb:...Go grab Bob. I think there\'s a plane over there with our names on it. Bill: Now you\'re talkin\'! The NASA/USAF buff in me couldn\'t resist, so I present my stock mockups of the F-104 and NF-104 Starfighters. Craft files down below! The tail tank is a necessity on the NF-104 due to the rocket requirement, and I decided to leave it in as she\'s very unruly when lacking an avionics package. I had to downgrade to the LV-909 due to excessive pitch caused by the aerospike rocket. Still, the NF will push over 24,000M if handled properly. Some flying tips: 1. She needs the ENTIRE runway. She\'ll also be very squirrely on takeoff, so I recommend setting SAS on until you just run out of tarmac. Make SLIGHT adjustments using precision controls. Right before she reaches the end, pull back hard and keep it level. 2. Once airborne, pick up speed and point her skyward. Both aircraft will start accelerating into a 30 degree climb around 1500M. Operating altitude is 12,000M to 15,000M, and when half the fuel is gone you\'ll make mach 1.5 at 14,000-15,000M. 3. Flying with SAS on constantly is STRONGLY encouraged. She\'ll fly level and true at low altitude and maneuvers well. 4. Exceeding the flight envelope at high mach WILL KILL YOU! Many crews have met their fate falling in a flat spin. 5. Keep in mind that the NF is equipped with a RCS system for orientation in high atmosphere. That said, go out there and break some records! My altitude record in the NF is 24,986M. Here\'s an album with some of my flying shots: http://imgur.com/a/lLmAy EDIT: blah, spelling.

I\'m using 0.14 and it\'s quite reproducible under all circumstances. The ship is rock solid at launch but the yaw grows as RCS is drained from the second stage tanks. It could be that because I didn\'t use symmetry to build the outer stages, that it won\'t place the RCS tanks using that. Guess I\'m going to have to do a complete overhaul of the second stage to truly test this. Thanks for the replies.

To my understanding the farther away from center of mass you place them, the more rotational torque they will create. Kinda like moving a mass on a seesaw lever. The farther you are from the fulcrum, the less force it takes to move the same mass. Just be careful, as without proper supports or solid design you can create some nasty vibrations if your craft is too long or too wide.

In the process of getting my mun ships to rendezvous more reliably I\'ve been doing some fine tuning. I found that I was actually lugging more fuel than I needed on my second stages, so I decided to replace the half-tanks at the top with some RCS tanks, and add outward RCS thrusters for better mobility. During testing, and about halfway through atmo, I kinda fudged my accent vector and had to correct with RCS. After this I started noticing a large amount of natural yaw while at full engine throttle. With SCS and RCS on to correct, I finally hit apogee but by this time my yaw problem was outside my craft\'s flight envelope. After scrubbing the mission, it dawned on me that the RCS tanks must not be draining in a uniform manner. The exact same design with LFE tanks instead of RCS tanks doesn\'t manifest this instability. I know I\'ve seen someone on a youtube video (orbital garbage collector I think) have the tanks drain at the same time. Is this possible stock, or is it a game file tweak? S:|

Howdy everyone! After having found this game about 3 weeks ago (and not playing anything else since then ;D ) I decided to stop lurking and introduce myself along with my latest mission. First, a big thanks to the folks at Squad for making such an awesome game. So far I think it has that beautiful mix of fun and over-the-top style with just enough pseudo-realism to produce plenty of challenges and rewards. I\'d also like to thank the modders and community who have made some outstanding things to play with. Project Lonestar may have been stock, but I really enjoy the mod packs that have been available thus far. I just consider Kerbin-made parts to be a little more challenging. That being said, I give you Project Lonestar! TL;DR version: I made a three craft rendezvous in Kerbin orbit, Burned two to the mun, landed 1, crashed the other ~400m away, and returned. I also landed within a few hundred klicks of the KSA and landed the third craft 21km from the first. The following is somewhat fictional, but based on a true story. A bit of history is in order. After the latest patch (0.14 stable) I decided to start clean and make a serious Mun shot and return platform. The previous attempts usually ended up with fuel problems, but with the addition of the half-tanks and LV-909 LFE I felt the efficiency was there now. Truth be told, I believe the Kerbal scientists finally convinced the engineers and Col. Jeb that it wasn\'t half as much power, but actually just a little bit more! Thus began the Muna III project. Sadly, the Muna design never produced a >=50% (good by Kerbal standards) success rate. MUNA MISSION STATS: Muna III A-D: 5 pad explosions, 4 decoupler/booster collisions on accent, 2 missed Munar burns, and 1 failed Munar landing Of note, and not listed, is Col. Jeb\'s mission Muna IIID-4. He was able to land, make accent, and, with fuel empty, somehow use RCS thrusters to set a return orbit. Unfortunately reentry happened in mountainous terrain and the command capsule landed hard. Major Bob is in traction with a broken spine and LtCol. Bill is still in a coma in the burn ward. Col. Jeb was relatively unharmed, but was administratively grounded when mission logs showed that his 'triple loop-de-loop' maneuver during Munar decent burned off the scheduled fuel for the return trip. At this point the KSA decided to can the Muna project. With lessons (somewhat) learned the mission planners had a split over the next proposed project. The majority group decided that the Muna lacked enough power, and since the engineers discovered a way to radially mount 8 fueltanks/boosters on a center spine, it was given the go ahead. This turned into project HADES with the aim of a direct Munar trajectory and direct return. The minority (actually just 1 scientist, Mort D. Kermen) advocated a kerbin orbit rendezvous with a resupply and command craft, before using a trans-munar orbital insertion. KSA leadership, unsurprisingly, selected project HADES and shuffled Mort into a secluded lab to work on his crazy project. Mort decided to call his project LONESTAR being that he was alone in his idea, but knew it would rise to greatness someday. Luck was with him in fact, as project HADES met with disaster: HADES MISSION STATS: HADES IA-B: 3 pad explosions, 4 overheats in Kebin accent, and 1 Munar 'landing' ( announced at the press release so project HADES personnel could save face. Munar module 'landed' at 500m/s.) Faced with 2 failed mun projects, the KSA then turned to their last hope. Mort and his Project LONESTAR. Initial testing of the craft went better than expected. After orbital tests and a munar orbit without landing, the project was given the full go ahead for mission LONESTAR IB-2 & 3. During development, project ICARUS was devised as a way to restock the main ships in orbit with extra supplies. LONESTAR IB-2 Alpha Crew: LtCol. Harby Kerman, Commander Major Ludgel Kerman, Lander Pilot Major Anrim Kerman, Scientist and Backup Pilot LONESTAR IB-3 Beta Crew: Col. Macdred Kerman, Commander Major Gusrim Kerman, Lander Pilot Capt. Calfrey Kerman, Mission Paylod Specialist and Backup Pilot ICARUS I-2 Crew: LtCol. Erbin Kerman, Commander Major Shelsel Kerman, Rendezvous Pilot Capt. Joesby Kerman, Mission Paylod\CnC Specialist LONESTAR IB (ICARUS I) Mission Log: (follow along here with pictures! ------> http://imgur.com/a/Jholr 1.) Both LONESTAR craft launch into orbit at ~200km orbits and perform rendezvous (honestly I only achieved stationkeeping (<20m distance) with Beta Team and ICARUS. Alpha team only got within 150m because the LONESTAR IB flies like a grain silo filled with concrete until the second stage is jettisoned) 2.) ICARUS craft launches and performs rendezvous for restock (I\'m gonna say food here since fuel isn\'t an option yet) 3.) Alpha and Beta teams perform TMI burn in sequence 4.) Alpha and Beta teams perform TMI retro in sequence 5.) Alpha and Beta teams establish stable Munar orbits 6.) Alpha descends and lands at predetermined landing site. begin science EVA and collects mun rock samples 7.) Beta makes orbital corrections (+1 orbit) and attempts to lands as close as possible to Alpha 8.) During landing LT-2 strut #4 on Beta lander shears away and causes lander to topple. Major Gusrim claims shoddy engineering, while Mission Director Krantz asserts that he shouldn\'t have overshot his landing site. Command module is intact and all members in good health. 9.) Beta team performs Munar EVA to Alpha lander 500m away while Alpha team unloads collected mun rocks and prepares for accent. Mission planers prepared for this, and the extra stocks from ICARUS were enough for an immediate return. 10.) With both teams loaded, Alpha lander makes their accent. 11.) LM and service module are jettisoned, and LONESTAR crew makes their TKI burn 12.) Mid-course burn for landing near KSA 13.) Atmospheric Retro and splashdown 300km from KSA 14.) ICARUS crew confirms splashdown and transmits coordinates to Kerbin Naval Recovery Task Force. 15.) ICARUS performs deorbit retro and splashdown 21km from LONESTAR CM. 16.) Recovery and Debrief. Mission Success! Don\'t know if I\'ll ever put together another one of these, but I just wanted to share that mission. I\'m hoping with the new persistence feature we\'ll get more cool missions like this. Took me most of a day to pull this off and write all this. All in all, I think even Col. Jeb has to admit that the LONESTAR boys had 'The right stuff'.