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miklkit

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Everything posted by miklkit

  1. That editor thingy is only compatible up to 1.12.2 but it seems to work ok. This planes wings are at 5 degrees. It seems that holding "shift" while tilting the wing puts it there. I also got a lot of other stuff along with that mod and don't know what they do. Anyway, it does fly differently now and more flying time is needed to get used to it. So far, once the Rapiers are set to closed cycle it does better when pointed up steeply until it gets over 30,000m, then hit prograde and turn off the Rapiers. Hitting prograde earlier just has it pushing air and burning fuel. The only fairing trick I'm using is on the nose and that is for its heat resistance and pointy looks. I also had to change the tail (vertical elevator?) for heat resistance.
  2. How do you find out what the actual angle is in degrees? I read somewhere (or saw it in a video) that holding shift while clicking on the adjuster gives it fine angle adjustments and that is what it is set to. It does "feel" pretty steep. It seems to help at low altitude and speed but faster and higher it feels draggy. Dunno how to make all wings the same without snap to. Guess I will have to look into that editor gizmo. @18watt Those are NERVs that have the small cone in them. There are 5. 2 on each side and 1 in the tail. The Rapiers have cones in them also.
  3. Been testing ideas on a new plane with mixed results. One question is how to angle the wings properly. I think I got them too angled. It flies ok like this, but differently. It needs lots of altitude to do its best. This seems to be my MK3 basic design now.
  4. Lots of information. Making small changes one at a time.
  5. Been doing lots of reading. On first glance I noticed on those optimized SSTOs is that everyone likes stacked strakes. Dunno why, but can use them to balance fuel types as well as weight and aero balance. Never DLed anything and don't know how to install anything. Hope it comes with instructions. Those ascent instructions are interesting. I may be wasting fuel by keeping the Rapiers on too long. Normally I'm done burning by 38000-40000 m and just coast up to 80 from there.
  6. The 1.25m AE-FF1 protective shell has less weight, less drag, and the same heat rating. It is serving well so far.
  7. I've got a bunch of different MK3s. There are ore carriers, cargo carriers, rover carriers, and passenger carriers. I just tried to build a different style passenger ship and it ended up pretty much like the one in the 2nd screenie landed in the grass. That one is a rover carrier. I'm stuck in a rut. I took it for a spin and let it stay down in the air, and it got over 1500, but it used a lot of OX getting up to orbit. Oddly the hottest things were 3 of the NERVs. They darn near blew! Methinks I'll hold the speed slower and climb steeper next time. I also relocated some of the engines so they aren't cooking each other.
  8. I like even numbers, and odd numbers end up asymmetrical anyway. Yuck. I use landing on the Mun as the benchmark. Some of them can't overcome the gravity with only 4 NERVs and playing with the rapiers makes things get hectic really fast. One has 6 NERVS and it needs them. In another thread some people were talking about the best flight path for SSTOs and they seemed to think 1300 m/s was about the max before going closed cycle. I was timing it so they only get to 1300 for a long time and am only now letting them run up some more speed. And yes heat is a problem.
  9. Ah, so one big rocket tank with 4 rapiers is more efficient than 4 MK1 stacks? That is where I'm heading, but for clean looks more than anything else. All those stacks look cluttered. Performance isn't an issue as the last screenie shows. That one has finished burning and is coasting up to space. They can go over 1400 m/s on air and the best fuel savings are found in the most efficient ascent profile. Still working on that. I've settled on 8 rapiers and 5 nervs with 4 intakes. Now to figure out the best combination while staying away from MK2 parts. They are kinda heavy.
  10. Ok, pictures needed. Yes they are spaceplanes and I'm trying to find out if I'm going down a rabbit hole or not. This is an early design after lots of development, and it has gone to Duna and back with fuel left over. But that monoplane design is not the best. This biplane works well and also has good range, but I'm unsure if that big rocket tank is a good idea or not. Yes the balance of different fuels is a pretty basic part of design. The faster it gets out of the atmosphere, the less Ox it needs, and that is my goal. Over time this plane's performance increased to the point I needed to cut back on the Ox it carries.
  11. I'm trying to decide which is the best fuel tanks to use. The engines are NERVs and Rapiers. Is a stack of tanks for each engine better overall or is a cluster of 4 engines on a rocket tank better? I'm trying both methods and they both work, and the rocket tank looks cleaner, but I can't tell any difference in performance.
  12. Thinking about putting some fuel tanks in the unused areas of a cargo bay, but heard somewhere that they would still cause drag just like if they were mounted outside the hull. Is this true?
  13. Been working on rover carriers. Came up with 3 systems with different versions. This was the maiden voyage of system 3, version 3. The story starts after they landed on the Mun, deployed the rover, repaired a rover to complete the contract, and then stowed the repair rover away. All ready to go home. It turned out to be low on gas so an aerobrake was planned. Of course this put them on the night side of Kerbin. Landing at night would most likely end up on a mountainside so........... Nose down and trying to glide to sunlight. Made it to sunlight but ran out of ground. That was a big ocean, but this looks familiar. Alright, going in. They landed softly at around 65 m/s. They glided half way around the planet and still missed KSC by 2 continents.
  14. That is what I was saying, and why I wanted to walk away from this pointless thread. I have over 2200 hours into KSP and started with ver. 1.18.1. All of my rocket landings to date are manual and anything within 3 kilometers is fine. My worst was 31 kilometers and that was my first attempt with NERVs. Misjudged them a little bit. That one actually ended up being pretty funny in a Keystone Kops sorta way. If I expressed my opinion of these "experts" I would probably get banned.
  15. Sorry to get wound up about a game that won't be out for a long time yet. The requirements will not be as tight as the experts here expect, I hope.
  16. Clarification: I am not good enough. My all time best landing was 160 meters, and that was just plain old dumb luck. 1-2 kilometers is normal. Those who expect more are unbelievably naive. BTW, all my landings are manual. Any autopilot would be welcomed. KSP has valid landing radius? TCA?
  17. MechJeb has a landing helper built into it? Gotta look into this. Landing on a pad is not possible, and if it is a requirement of KSP2 then i need to think about buying an unplayable game.
  18. My theory about leveling off a bit after 8000m is that engines get better fuel economy there. If I let it just keep climbing then the speed would be lower when they need to switch modes and then it would need more oxidizer to make it to altitude. In that screenie the engines are off and it is coasting up to altitude where the NERVs will circularize the orbit. It is a cargo plane. This ore carrier is good enough to even scare the pilots when taking off.
  19. That is the smallest MK3 I have at 165 tons, so it gets up there faster. This is why I chose it for the first one to get this mod. I also have problems with the nose cone when coming back down too. Also, my theory is that the air breathing rapiers are the most efficient, so more speed gained with them is better in the long run. Basically the profile with these MK3s is to take off and just let them fly until they get over 8000m, level off a bit, then climb out on rockets. This seems to give them more range once in space. Oh, so that is what the Aeris is and where to find it. Never played sandbox, but career only.
  20. I will try that if I run into trouble, but so far on 2 different MK3s just the fairing itself is enough to stop the overheating.
  21. I have been doing a search and only found some sort of contest in 2014. What is a stock Aeris? And why would it not burn its nose cone off?
  22. If you are talking to me, what is an upgraded aeris?
  23. What is a precision landing? At my Mun base a great landing is within 200 meters. Most are in the 800 meter - 1 k range, but anything less than 3 k is fine. Been landing there for six months or more. Every craft is different, every orbit is different, so guessing when to lit the candles is always a little different.
  24. Still experimenting with ways to keep the nose of my MK3s from burning off. Still having the nose cones burning off. The method used to date has been a 1.25 heat shield with a nose cone buried in it. This is heavy and draggy and sometimes the nose cone overheats anyway. Just tried a 1.25 shroud. It is a little draggier but it is lighter and can take more heat. Plus it looks pointier and less boxy. First tests are encouraging. This screenie is after the point of maximum heat and that bar is the reaction wheel or cabin.
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