colmo

This mod pack looks to be the best set of KSP plane parts since C7's. Can't wait to try them. P.S. where did that track from the hangar come from?

I'm guessing not requiring cooling rods, and thus saving a load of weight, is another advantage.

I built a helicopter that can take a 100 (one hundred) metre drop...in Kerbin gravity (link in sig). It would be easy to adapt the suspension for use in a radially symmetrical rover. Using the Katerpillar wheels, this also solves the business of roving, as they are self-powered. P.S. You can fix that 5 degree angle on the rockets using Shift + WASD to straighten them up.

One of the main nice things about MSRs is the passive safety - the reactor contents drain off in the event of an emergency. I'm not sure how this would work in zero gravity.

HSTW Pontoons and Damned Aerospace props make for fast boats. There's a prop in Gaby's Submarine mod that is designed for underwater use, but I imagine it will lead to all sorts of calamity!

I like to think my planes are pretty polished now, so give them a go. I spend most of the time making sure they don't need in-flight trim, at least around take-off. You'll notice that the distribution of mass and control surfaces make big differences to the way a plane handles. Deltawings work so well because the mass is centralised, making them very manoeuvrable, whereas if you start to space the engines out on the wings, you'll notice the response is slower and 'safer'. If you want a really safe plane, use dihedral wings (they sweep up) which will self-right the plane. Canards too close to the nose will cause those fatal nose-up flips, shift them back a touch. If the standard canard gives too much lift, switch to the winglet, and vice-versa (handy for balancing the lift of tail-fins). Adding 5 or 10 degrees angle of attack to wings and canards increases their lift, good for planes designed for high speeds. Slower planes are best relying on innate wing lift.

That would just be a matter of editing your persistence file with 'ships' consisting of a single part (so they're 'landed' instead of crash debris), the light. Just a matter of working out orientation and coordinates.

I don't have an exact figure, probably less than the deltawing as it has 2 engines for the same amount of fuel, and less overall lift. I suspect it could cruise at a higher altitude though. Would need extensive testing, probably using MechJeb's ILS.

Preferably, but anything that would be of interest to a KSP player is fine, and it's up to your discretion anyway. No, I'm definitely interested in non-fiction also.

I was looking for a way to gimp the props once they go above sea-level - much in the same way as atmospheric engines run out of puff at altitude, but a rather more sudden response. Those bad boys do terrible things in the atmosphere! I note there are efficiencyASL and efficiency parameters (in the Damned Aerospace engines, not so the latest 0.16 parts) - does anyone know of similar parameters to affect part behaviour at below sea-level?

It was mentioned, by Endeavour I can't believe I forgot Dune - I've been told more than once to read it. Discworld is a little bit of a departure from the theme of space-faring sci-fi, but it's a must read regardless of your favourite genre.

"Hatch is obstructed, can't exit" when attempting exit. "Cannot board a full module" when attempting entry.

Tidied up the opening post. I have no idea why the last spoiler does not work.

I've been playing with them...now we just need larger landing gear and swept wings to go with them! (The old C7 packs have a set of really huge swept wings, and a rescaleFactor around 2.5 upsizes the regular swept wings adequately - now it's just a matter of balancing their stats. You can upsize the landing gear too, but they have issues that won't be fixed until 0.17 :/ )

Brilliant - I thought I'd downloaded these files and was going to do the same thing, but couldn't find them.

Please don't - if there are so many, batch them under certain themes to make the lists more accessible. If you think orbital mechanics is the only thing that pushes a KSP player's buttons, you are mistaken - I just had the idea for a sea-bed station...

This thread has a single purpose - to collate book recommendations that would be of interest to your average KSP player. I'll start: 2001: A Space Odyssey (and sequels) - Arthur C. Clarke The Rama series - Arthur C. Clarke again Red/Green/Blue Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson The Algebraist - Iain M. Banks (this is the best sci-fi I have ever read) The Culture series (including original novella, The State of the Art) - Iain M. Banks. (I've read a few, plenty more to go!) Of the authors above, I would describe Arthur C. Clarke as a painter with words; his descriptions of the sometimes mind-boggling places and objects he writes of are detailed and enthralling; one feels he almost inserts humans into them as an afterthought. Kin Stanley Robinson's trilogy was obviously highly researched, has informed me greatly on the business of colonising another terrestrial planet, and had some quite weird spiritual elements. Iain M. Banks is a master at setting the stage, then taking you for a thrilling ride to the stunning finale, while occasionally letting rip with attacks on the barmier elements of the human condition.

Just a little tip - powered hinges and rotatrons can be used as part of a suspension. This helicopter can take a 100m dead drop. http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/showthread.php/14894-0-16-Damned-Aerospace-Colmo-Korp-Aeronautics?p=233890&viewfull=1#post233890

The performance of landing gear in 0.16 is a concern. I have played around with torsion bar suspensions using Damned Robotics rotatrons, and the Katerpillar wheels have impressive shock absorbing capabilities, so I went all-out to make a helicopter I could drop like a stone. CK H230L Heli MkI - "The Hopper" Requirements: 0.16, Damned Aerospace & Robotics, Katerpillar wheels. During testing, I was using the 1m trusses and found that I was bottoming out long before I broke anything, so I switched to the 2m trusses to improve clearance, and the increase in wheel track also helped prevent rollover on the bounce. And boy can it bounce - I have confirmed in testing that this helicopter can land in a dead drop of over 100m!!! - You'll have to be very careful with your pitch and roll on the descent, but with a 4 wheel touchdown it is possible. Note that the Damned Robotics powered hinges are not intended for use, they are their to act as part of the suspension.

I've released my first 0.16 helicopters. Of special interest is the handling characteristics of tail-fins. http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/showthread.php/14894-0-16-Damned-Aerospace-Colmo-Korp-Aeronautics?p=233838&viewfull=1#post233838

I finally got some helicopters sorted in 0.16. The changed flight model means helicopters handle in a substantially different way. I've done away with most of the control surfaces, as the lift they generated was messing up handling and landing. I note that tail fins have a drastic effect on helicopter flight - it appears the angular drag of a tail-fin makes them easier to fly, as the chopper will naturally line up with it's direction of travel, but it ruins any chance of hovered landing - any rearward movement will cause a spin and loss of control, a bad thing to happen when you're close to the ground! Thus, I have released two variants of the same model, one with a tail-fin and one without. Note: There is a visual bug in the coaxial rotors, and indeed all the Damned Aerospace engines. To fix, open the part.cfg file and change all instances of rotorBlur, rotoe1Blur, rotor2Blur etc to "1". Currently, they are set to "2". Requirements: 0.16, Damned Aerospace and Bigtrak floodlights. CK H145 Scout MkI Helicopter Though small, the three Mk1 fuel tanks give plenty of range, the ASAS unit is useful as an autopilot and for locking in your horizon for landing. As mentioned, the tailfin means landings are best performed with slight forward velocity, and will make for pleasant flight as you can easily turn simply by banking. Floodlights make landings much, much easier to judge. CK H145 Scout MkII Helicopter Like the MkI, plenty of range, but exchanging the ASAS unit for a SAS as this was found to work better in a craft completely without control surfaces, maintaining a locked heading while still allowing some manual override, useful on landings. Lack of a tailfin means that true hovered landings are possible. As in the MkI, floodlights make landings much, much easier to judge.

It depends on what you like building. I'd recommend Damned Aerospace (including Crewtank) and Damned Robotics, Bigtrak (which needs the Cart mod), Katerpillar wheels, HSTW Pontoons and the Truss pack. I tend to avoid the really enormous mod packs, as they make finding parts in the SPH or VAB like a needle in a haystack!

Crew hatches and capacity should be near the top of your To Do list. This pack lends itself very well to EVA scenarios, so good idea to maximise that.

I tried that, and got this photo. I'm surprised - the camera on the iPhone 3G is truly awful.

It's common to use a cheap webcam with a small sensor - as planets will not be large in the viewfinder, and resolution is limited visually, not by sensor resolution, no need to have a physically large or high resolution sensor. There are plenty of How Tos out there. I'll let you know if these bloody clouds ever clear. Seeing conditions have been appalling all summer.