Deadweasel

They very well might. Or, they might actually be looking for something to extend their own interest in it by creating more complexity and "realistic" delays in the flow of it. Plenty will (and have already) argued vehemently against this idea, but I have to give the OP credit: this actually is an interesting branch of thought at the very least. Don't agree? That's your fair right, but before you harrumph your victory and stalk away, I present you (the folks who have been forcefully against even considering this concept) with this: Remotetech. Adds realistic delay to commands issued to far-flung probes. Makes control of those probes impossible without satellite relays or at least line-of-sight to the vessel. It's a mod whose primary function is to introduce artificial blockades to vanilla gameplay, in an effort to make that play a little more immersive to those who are looking for it. Here is a mod that introduces the very thing that so many have (sometimes rudely) argued against, namely the artificial wait time aspect, and it's got a solid following. It's WHOLE initial purpose was to make comm/command delays more realistic, and people snapped it up. I wonder if that developer saw the same extreme of negative knee-jerk "NOT IN MY KSP!!" response when he/they first floated the idea...

Now I know what it looks like when a planet has explosive diarrhea. >_<

.... *plays AC/DC - Big Balls

Helos are designed to fly in one direction. They can hover in other directions, but it's the orientation of the craft that the lights indicate, not which way it's headed (which are most frequently the same thing anyway). Besides, the lights are there to notify other aircraft of their presence. Another pilot won't care one bit about the other aircraft's actual heading. What he wants to know is that aircraft's orientation (and therefore most like direction of flight) -relative to him- at a glance if possible. Quadcopters, however, may end up warranting a different scenario for lighting conventions, should they ever become officially recognized by the FAA and other air regulatory agencies around the world. Then again, maybe not. I can't imagine somebody would feel the idea requires enough sophistication as to include a cockpit that swivels to accomodate whatever direction the craft happens to be moving in. EDIT: Aaaaand just as I posted the foregoing text, I find this: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57613608-1/18-rotor-electric-helicopter-makes-maiden-flight/?part=rss&subj=news&tag=title Why, oh why? This will not end well.

Good grief... Game, set, match. You guys are making me envious in 64-bit color...

Here's an example of the layout I generally prefer when designing my planes/ships. (Also, I just had to share this one with y'all. These lights still make flying tons of fun!) This is AACT-103A, similar to the 104 but with (very wonky) engines

[TABLE=width: 800] [TR] [TD]Here are two versions of a purpose-built transport airframe I have been developing, from the program's inception (101 Javelin) to the current super flexible, super fast 105 Slipstream series. For operation in atmosphere, insanely maneuverable, lands easily and stops very quickly Operates in or out of atmosphere, is (technically) capable of landing on any planet/moon with an atmosphere Active at the runway and preparing for takeoff (similar AACT-104 tri-engine shown) "Boo" (cruise/parking/kraken repellant) lights (AACT-104) Bullet time! (AACT-105) Raping the sky (and eardrums) since 2013 (AACT-105) "Vector, It's a mathematical term, represented by an arrow with both direction and magnitude. OH YEEEEAH!" (AACT-104) MODS REQUIRED B9 Aerospace (http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/0-20-2-b9-aerospace-pack-r3-1/) NovaPunch (http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/novapunch-remix-pack/) Aviation Lights (http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/aviation-lights-v1-2/) FuelTastic (needed if you want to even get off the runway!) (http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/fueltastic/) ASSIGNED ACTION GROUPS (press "i" in-flight to review assignments) MECHANICAL: Boarding ladders MECHANICAL: Passenger cabin doors CONTROL: Nosewheel steering toggle (separate indicator strobe directly over nosewheel) CONTROL: Airbrakes LIGHTING: Passenger cabin boarding lights LIGHTING: Navigation lights LIGHTING: Strobes SYSTEMS: Engine mode toggle (jet/rocket) SYSTEMS: Fuel converters (separate amber indicator light near vertical stabilizer) LIGHTING: Cruise/park lights (sometimes referred to as "boo" lights by superstitious pilots!) DOWNLOAD AACT-104 Starlance AACT-105 Slipstream or https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2004695/KerbalSpaceProgram/AACT-104%20Starlance.craft https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2004695/KerbalSpaceProgram/AACT-105%20Slipstream.craft PRE-FLIGHT CHECKLIST Enable parking brake Switch on nav lights, landing lights and strobes (6, U & 7) for safety Enable ASAS Enable fuel converters (9) Stage (spacebar) to activate engines Throttle up and release the hounds (brakes)!! FLIGHT TIPS TAKEOFF: Leave ASAS on from the moment you reach for the engine staging, and raise the nose carefully when at speed FLIGHT: She cruises level with about 10 degree angle-of-attack. Use this to your advantage when time comes to land! FLIGHT: If your engines are on, so should the fuel converters (amber light) or you'll run dry in no time! FLIGHT: Kill the converters when no longer burning, or they'll suck your batteries down and leave you for dead! FLIGHT: Watch your air intake! If it gets too thin, switch to rocket mode quick! (8) FLIGHT: (AACT-105) Punch the throttle all you like, but watch that oxidizer! (converters are slightly too slow to keep up) LANDING: She lands like she takes off: FAST! Keep a minimum 100m/s to keep her stable LANDING: Don't forget the airbrakes! They will get her slowed-down quickly after touchdown LANDING: Kill ASAS at touchdown. It will keep the nose up and refuse to land until it has no choice, otherwise TAXIING: The landing gear are motorized! If you don't want to deal with braking against the engines all the time, right click the nosegear and enable the motor. It will now drive like a rover (assuming you've turned on steering with group 3!) [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

Good thing there's no more command pod. That would be pretty gruesome to clean up. Heeey... I wonder if that's why the old pod is out there in the Island Runway hangar!

"There is no Dana, only Shtuule!" Sorry, couldn't help it. Blame Hayoo and his Ghostbusters references. >_>

Those look pretty nifty! Just a guess, but maybe they re-size linked images to save bandwidth for free account customers? Not sure, I know Picasa did the same thing (which I have come to appreciate), but if I want to post the big enchilada, I just go to the Google+ version and copy the URL from there instead.

Nah, just as long as it, you know, ROVES!

[TABLE=width: 800] [TR] [TD]Well, I've done just about everything I can think of to tweak this puppy out. Sadly I had to go with the SABRE S engines, as they have better gimbal range and are capable of keeping the craft straight while under thrust in vacuum, despite the wonky offset of the engine layout. I say "sadly" because the SABREs are huge, and their specs feel a bit cheat-y to me (they won't pull down the fuel supply even at full throttle). Honestly, I think they make the ship look a bit uglier than it does with those sweet jet engines on the Javelin III, but hey, they do the job and make the Starlance fun to fly! Since I've worked out a means of elevating the rear gear and providing better ground clearance for the third engine, I'll be working on a slight re-design, adding a fourth engine nacelle to see if that balances things out enough to go back to other engines. UPDATE: I done did it. AACT-15 "Slipstream" is what this thing really should be, and it's crazy powerful too! Specs, pics and download for comparison below! For operation in atmosphere or vacuum. Cannot dock. No more intakes! Added docking ports and lighter, more powerful engines Active at the runway and preparing for takeoff (AACT-104) "Boo" (cruise/parking/kraken repellant) lights (AACT-104) Bullet time! (AACT-105) Raping the sky (and eardrums) since 2013 (AACT-105) "Vector, It's a mathematical term, represented by an arrow with both direction and magnitude. OH YEEEEAH!" (AACT-104) MODS REQUIRED B9 Aerospace (http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/0-20-2-b9-aerospace-pack-r3-1/) NovaPunch (http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/novapunch-remix-pack/) Aviation Lights (http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/aviation-lights-v1-2/) FuelTastic (needed if you want to even get off the runway!) (http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/fueltastic/) ASSIGNED ACTION GROUPS (press "i" in-flight to review assignments) MECHANICAL: Boarding ladders MECHANICAL: Passenger cabin doors CONTROL: Nosewheel steering toggle (separate indicator strobe directly over nosewheel) CONTROL: Airbrakes LIGHTING: Passenger cabin boarding lights LIGHTING: Navigation lights LIGHTING: Strobes SYSTEMS: Engine mode toggle (jet/rocket) SYSTEMS: Fuel converters (separate amber indicator light near vertical stabilizer) LIGHTING: Cruise/park lights (sometimes referred to as "boo" lights by superstitious pilots!) DOWNLOAD AACT-104 Starlance AACT-105 Slipstream or https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2004695/KerbalSpaceProgram/AACT-104%20Starlance.craft https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2004695/KerbalSpaceProgram/AACT-105%20Slipstream.craft PRE-FLIGHT CHECKLIST Enable parking brake Switch on nav lights, landing lights and strobes (6, U & 7) for safety Enable ASAS Enable fuel converters (9) Stage (spacebar) to activate engines Throttle up and release the hounds (brakes)!! FLIGHT TIPS TAKEOFF: Leave ASAS on from the moment you reach for the engine staging, and raise the nose carefully when at speed FLIGHT: She cruises level with about 10 degree angle-of-attack. Use this to your advantage when time comes to land! FLIGHT: If your engines are on, so should the fuel converters (amber light) or you'll run dry in no time! FLIGHT: Kill the converters when no longer burning, or they'll suck your batteries down and leave you for dead! FLIGHT: (AACT-104) Watch your air intake! If it gets too thin, switch to rocket mode quick! (8) FLIGHT: (AACT-105) Punch the throttle all you like, but watch that oxidizer! (converters are slightly too slow to keep up) LANDING: She lands like she takes off: FAST! Keep a minimum 100m/s to ensure stability LANDING: Don't forget the airbrakes! They will get her slowed-down quickly after touchdown LANDING: Kill ASAS at touchdown. It will keep the nose up and refuse to land until it has no choice, otherwise TAXIING: The landing gear are motorized! If you don't want to deal with braking against the engines all the time, right click the nosegear and enable the motor. It will now drive like a rover (assuming you've turned on steering with group 3!) EDIT: If you were too quick for me and downloaded AACT-104 before I updated, check the lower engine nacelle for a radial attachment point and decoupler. I put those on to figure out the takeoff distance but initially forgot to take them off before offering up the .craft file. Fixed now, but just know that's not part of the intended design if it's on yours! [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

Because some people are scared of change, even if it is presented as a mod they can choose to ignore.

When you have a screenshot up on another screen, and you could swear you just saw one of the numbers in the resources bar or the AP on the map twitch, out of the corner of your eye. ...I need to lay off the coffee a little bit...

No sir (ma'am?), that wasn't directed toward you. I can see you're addressing the concept as a whole, not just simply stating it should be a mod only and leaving it at that. Honestly I think the original post was more an inquiry about a potential feature for the player's own take on the game, without realizing that it could be introduced as a mod, rather than strictly as an official feature. I think Ekku's work will put the debate at large sufficiently to rest, as it will give others (including the OP of course) the ability to try it out and perhaps refine the idea further. After all, MechJeb and FAR change the game substantially in an attempt to add some complexity and give the player more to think about. Not everybody uses or even likes them, but none can deny the huge following they've gathered anyway. Who knows? Maybe this rough concept could evolve into something else that's more interesting to a broader audience once it's had a chance to evolve. Maybe the concept of artificially "wasted" time isn't the core of the question, so much as trying to focus on possible aspects to make the game a little more immersive. For my money, though like you I don't personally agree with the idea in its current state, I think there's potential for it to spawn something more down the road. Assuming it gains traction, of course.

It's amazing... Interjections about how this should just be a mod, slotted right in between posts about the development of the mod. -__- I know there are a lot of pages folks, but it's not all that hard to skim them over and get caught up on the convo...

*plays Barenaked Ladies - It's All Been Done* Woo hoo HOOOO!

That's a good point too! I'm also not seeing any of these reaction wheels previously mentioned (unless I'm just being blind...) If there's only a small probe core on there, no wonder it's unable to move when the engines aren't firing (which will aid maneuvering via their gimbal action). Also, the orange "rotation" symbol on the SAS indicator isn't just indicating dampening mode; it can also indicate "maneuvering" mode. The ASAS is only attempting to cancel rotation when the player lets go of the orientation controls (ADWS), but the indicator will show that orange symbol for both. Either way, if you're not touching the controls and ASAS is still solidly in that mode, it indicates that it simply can't effectively move the ship as it thinks is needed. Some kind of imbalance can cause the ship to want to move, even in vacuum. I have seen it happen on something that seems otherwise perfectly symmetrical, and yet it wants to rotate if I turn off the ASAS. If my maneuvering rig weren't powerful enough to compensate, I'd be seeing the same lack of control and constant damping action that you are.

Regardless of the render rate, physics is still active for both ships in range at regular time. The only case where you'll get them passing through one another is if you're time warping at that moment, at which point both ships are "on rails" and exempt from physics calculations, including maneuvering and collisions. Here, this video demonstrates the point more clearly: Only time warp can result in two ships "missing" one another when they're otherwise on a direct collision course with one another.

Nobody's asking the really obvious question: Has this ship EVER maneuvered the way you want it to? Might help to place a ring of linear thrusters at each end as well. They don't add much drain to the fuel supply, and offer some fine tuning control to the whole thing. I recently tried using a joystick and ran into the "ASAS stuck in manuever mode" as well, though my ship was constantly moving in one direction. It didn't go away until I'd removed the axis mappings in the settings. In your case, try flying a different smaller design. Does the problem persist but with actual movement? Do you have a joystick mapped in your settings? Otherwise, if this is the only ship it happens with, and has always done so, then it's probably a problem with the design, or possibly even a bug in its definition (.craft file) causing an awkward imbalance. Obviously you got it up to orbit, but what is its state once it's up there? If it's badly imbalanced it could be experiencing torsional forces so close to Kerbin's atmosphere. -Just some thoughts to help find a solution.

erm... wouldn't that mean 400 meters per frame? Either way, agreed, you could easily miss seeing what went wrong at those (relative) velocities, and course corrections to get a collision are extremely slow and arduous. Try getting properly aligned with a target going the SAME direction, but with a 200 meter per second difference between the two. RCS takes an age to make a difference in alignment.

Stand by, some tweaks are in the works. The thing isn't really maneuverable in vacuum, mostly due to the deplorable engine response with that particular layout. I'm trying out the SABRE engines again to see if there's a way to make them a little less... ugly >_<

[TABLE=width: 800] <tbody>[TR] [TD]Today, Herfurt, Merfred, Milgan and Bilster came home, having completed their portion of the Duna Explorer mission. Milgan had piloted Bruin-A, Herfurt and Merfred piloted Bruin-B, and Bilster commanded the Journeyman drive sled. In preparation for the impending crew assembly, all three Sherpa dropships were tasked to assist. DE-1, just returned from a short excursion to Ike, DE-2, standing by at the Cardinal research station, and DV-101, stationed at Bruin-B to assist with maintenance. Jeb piloted Sherpa DE-1, ferrying Herfurt in the top seat, to rendezvous with Journeyman. Unfortunately, something went badly wrong as the final docking maneuver was completed, and Herfurt found himself floating free of the dropship, still locked in his chair. He managed to free himself, but that still left Jeb's little ship with a problem. "Looks like you found a way out of ferry duty buddy," Herfurt laughed, before proceeding to join Bilster as Journeyman's copilot for the flight. Meanwhile, Sonfry was about to meet up with Bruin-A, which was being abandoned for the time-being, as its cargo of original Kurb Burner rovers had been discovered to be badly flawed. Milgan would be the last kerbal to set foot on Bruin-A's bridge for quite some time Milgan placed the ship into hibernation mode, shut down all systems, and stepped out of the airlock for the last time. He arrived at Journeyman only a few hours later, and was asked to fly over himself, as Sonfry had heard of Jeb's mishap earlier. At the same time, Charlie was approaching IPEV Venture, preparing to refuel his Sherpa and help the three crewmembers stationed there to gather their gear. He would no sooner achieve docking when the call came that Venture's computer was showing its docking mechanism missing. Confirming the bad news, Charlie was waved off by the crew, and he proceeded to Bruin-B to help Sonfry that crew instead. Herfurt had already departed when Sonfry arrived, and he took up station-keeping a short distance away to provide lighting, as Merfred performed the hibernate and shutdown procedure on his ship. A few hours later, Merfred was the last to join Journeyman, berthed with his co-pilot in the drive sled's crew quarters. "This is what those softies came out in?" Herfurt cried as Merfred doffed his suit. "Man, just look at this!" He held out handfuls of assorted snacks from a cabinet packed full of them. "Well it's our turn now," Merfred winked as he snagged a Kit Kat from Herfurt's hand and munched it gratuitously. "Gentlekerbs," came flight commander Bilster's voice on the shipwide, "we are preparing to make way for home. Assume your safety stations now, and stand by for escape burn." Once their plotted course had been verified free of traffic or debris, Bilster nodded to Milgan, giving him the honor of initiating their voyage. With the touch of a button, Journeyman roared to ferocious life for the first time in almost three years. All were glued to the viewports as Duna and Ike rapidly shrunk rearward. Weeks later, despite the comforts available in Journeyman's crew lounge and quarters, all aboard were quite ready to be done with the trip, so it was with particular excitement that Bilster's announcement was greeted. "After 1,035 days, 4 hours and 11 minutes of flight time since departure from home, this vessel has just officially returned to Kerbin's sphere of influence." The cheers were deafening in the small spaces aboard. Bilster deliberately neglected to mention the flaw in their course that he had discovered far too late in the journey to correct, but it was clear to all something wasn't quite right by the time the capture burn had begun. "Is that the south pole?" Herfurt asked, peering out one of the viewports, "because I thought we were supposed to come in right on the equatorial plane." The kat was out of the bag: though Journeyman had successfully completed the capture burn, its approach into the Kerbin system was drastically off-angle from the planned course. Worse, their fuel reserves were too low to completely correct their orbit, and the tanks were run dry before they'd made more than marginal progress in the correction. Herfurt, taking his turn in the co-pilot seat, suggested they try using Kerbin's atmosphere to help stabilize their orbit at the very least. Bilster agreed, and all aboard were soon treated to a teasingly-close flyby of home. Mission Kontrol, having already been made aware of the situation, followed developments closely as plans were made to assist. Hours later, Journeyman had completed two full orbits, shaving millions of kilometers from its apoapsis in the process, before Bilster called a halt and used Journeyman's well-fueled RCS system to raise their "lower" orbit above the atmosphere once again. It seemed the crew's anticipated return would be postponed yet longer by the awkward orbit they remained in, despite their efforts. Kontrol had a little surprise up their sleeve for the seemingly-stranded crew though. "Journeyman, stand by. We're sending an automated shuttle your way to assist." "Umm, right Kontrol," Herfurt keyed-in, only barely containing his disgust, "so we're just supposed to leave her like this, then?" "Negative," came the deadpan reply, "she'll take you home later, but for now you can make use of her fuel converters to recharge your tanks. We had her in orbit running some shakedown tests already, so you'll see her approach in about an hour." "Thanks Kontrol, we'll stand by," Bilster cut back in, at once rolling his eyes at the thought of the likely cobbled solution being sent to them, and giving Herfurt a warning side-eye to hold his tongue. An hour later, as promised, the crew spotted a glint in the distance. Milgan squinted, then reached for the binoculars. "What the ever-loving Breaker is that?" he whispered in shock. Merfred snatched the binoculars away and had a look for himself, his jaw quickly falling open in surprise. "Transponder says it's called 'Starlance', but you can bet it's probably more wishful thinking," Herfurt sneered, though he too was at least inwardly amazed at the lines of the sleek vessel approaching. The ship seemed to maneuver with a strange but accurate precision, halting its momentum only a couple of dozen meters away from Journeyman's hull, before centering on one of the ring docks and shuffling in. The gentle thud that issued throughout the ship told of Starlance's smooth and solid lock on their ship, and Bilster's eyes went wide as his displays began to scroll information rampantly, too quickly to read. A few moments later, Journeyman's computers all reset at once, startling the crew. When they returned online, instead of the usual flight dynamics information, the screens all showed a simple line of text. "ONLINE. TRAJECTORY CHANGE REQUIRED, **NO FUEL AVAILABLE**" it said. "Doy," Herfurt sniffed. A gentle but pervasive hum then issued through the hull, and the screen's message changed. "REFUEL IN PROGRESS. TIME TO COMPLETE: 20 MINUTES". The master fuel gauges on one of the secondary panels twitched, then began slowly climbing upward. "I'll be damned," Bilster uttered. Twenty minutes later as indicated, the needles were at full, and the humming stopped. "REFUEL COMPLETE. DISENGAGING CONNECTION, STARLANCE WILL RENDEZVOUS AFTER PLANNED TRAJECTORY CORRECTIONS." the screens said. Bilster smiled as the instruments resumed their normal displays, and happily continued the course corrections they'd been attempting previously, as the shuttle fell away to ostensibly follow. Hours later, Journeyman was in its intended orbit, and the crew began final shutdown and egress operations as Starlance hovered nearby. Milgan was the first to depart. "You guys are gonna love this!" he exclaimed happily when he'd gotten near the shuttle. Soon, only Bilster remained aboard, putting Journeyman to sleep. He patted a bulkhead on his way into the airlock with a sentimental sniff. "See ya around big guy," he said to the empty and darkened corridors, "it's been an honor." He exited the cockpit airlock for the last time, anticipating his retirement in the weeks following his return home. As he approached the open passenger cabin, Merfred looked his way, gesturing to the front bulkhead of the cabin. "Check this out!" he grinned, "Satellite TV!" The others were already engrossed in the multi-view screen that dominated the fore-wall of the cabin. As Bilster took his seat and secured his straps, one of the segments of the screen enlarged itself to take up the whole display. "ALL CREW ABOARD AND ACCOUNTED-FOR. CABIN SHUTTERS WILL REMAIN OPEN FOR VIEWING DURING DEPARTURE. STAND BY." Starlance turned smoothly to give the crew one last look at their ship, then began its de-orbit burn as the cabin shutters closed. Throughout the descent, the shuttle kept its passengers informed of each stage of the flight. Were it not for the display, they might not have even noticed the inferno that had begun to rage outside, so smooth and sure was the ride. The sun was low in the sky, the mountains bordering the western edge of the space center grounds beginning to cast long shadows as Starlance crossed them. The initial approach and landing were exceptionally smooth, but was marred by a tremendous impact and explosion at the rear, causing the blood to rush out of everybody's faces in shock and surprise. The crew were so instantly frightened that they almost missed the message displayed on the now-red screen before them. "**IMPACT** LOWER ENGINE NACELLE DESTROYED. LANDING PROFILE UNAFFECTED. STAND BY" The passengers were shoved forward as the shuttle's brakes took hold, slowing the ship tremendously. Afterward, views from external cameras popped up on the screen, clearly showing the damage. Starlance's lower engine pod had struck the ground and been sheared off due to its minimal clearance. Otherwise, the futuristic plane was intact, and it proceeded toward the main hangar to park. When the engines had finally quieted, the cabin shutters opened once more, and the crew were instantly assailed by the camera flashes of hundred of reporters and well-wishers that had gathered to greet them. One-by-one, they exited the shuttle and shared handshakes or hugs with the crowd. The next morning, one of the photos taken at the event monopolized the front page of every newspaper, the headline repeating what was on the lips of the enthusiastic public: -all credit for the "Bill Kerman" image goes to Rareden![/TD] [/TR] </tbody>[/TABLE]

[TABLE=width: 800] [TR] [TD]AACT-104 "Starlance" Technically, she's overqualified to be considered part of the Automated Atmospheric Crew Transport program, but she gets to share the designation anyway since she's based off existing AACT designs. AACT-101, 102 and 103 on display at the public unveiling ceremony Flies like a dream (as long as the throttle isn't jammed on full) and has just enough power onboard to keep the fuel converters alive until she reaches initial orbit altitude. Giving credence to her name Since it's completely automated, it can be deployed to wait indefinitely for returning exploration crews, and will shuttle them smoothly and easily -six at a time- back to the ground. [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

[TABLE=width: 800] <tbody>[TR] [TD] Soon! I'm still doing a little tweaking to them, mostly dealing with rollout distance after touchdown. The island strip is my testing ground for short landing capability, and so far the results are very good. It's now down to balancing the airbrakes so the plane can bleed off velocity rapidly mid-air without tumbling tail-over-teakettle. MODS you will need for these: B9 Aerospace (natch) AviationLights FuelTastic Procedural wings (for AACT-101 only) Thanks very much! Today saw the addition of a big sister to the AACT fleet, though it's a bit of an anomaly. While the rest of the planes adhere to the guidelines of the Automated Atmospheric Crew Transport, AACT-104 "Starlance" qualifies as a full SSTO. Like any powerful lady, she is forgiving, but only if handled with care. Attempt to punch the throttle right away, she will punch back! Keep it reigned in at half throttle though, and she'll show you a good time. Starlance poses pretty, making the AACT team wish she had a pilot so they could justify an inspired mission patch. Once she breaks 10km up, the throttle can be nudged higher, but only in small increments, as the imbalanced thrust will quickly overwhelm the control systems and induce a dangerous tumble. Still, even at 3/4 power, Starlance will make initial orbit altitude easily, with some power to spare. At the cruise stage, it's wise to disengage the fuel converters that have kept her well fed until this point, or she'll nom the remaining power quickly and wastefully, leaving her with far too little dV in the tanks to get her into a stable orbit. Once in a stable orbit, Starlance swivels to its parking orientation (due north/normal on this orbit), deploys the comm and telemetry arrays, and enters standby mode to await the return of the Duna Explorer mission's Journeyman drive sled/crew section. When Journeyman arrives, Starlance will serve as ground shuttle for the incoming crew, and bring their replacements back up for their turn on the Duna Explorer roster rotation. Shuttle passengers can look forward to a luxurious commute, featuring an open snack bar and access to DirekTV on the in-flight entertainment system, courtesy of a ground relay from the KSC, via Starlance's comm array. Due to the thrust imbalance inherent in its design and its effect on the plane's handling in vacuum, it's unlikely KSC will ever approve an attempt to deploy Starlance to Eve or Laythe, the only other celestial bodies capable of accommodating its method of flight.[/TD] [/TR] </tbody>[/TABLE]