Elmetian

Very nice I'll take a look at it. I was shying away from using a larger liquid fuelled stage, but it would give it a much greater range. The Magnus is currently too long to fit in my launcher though, and I'm already pushing the limits of what I can consistently put into a erector launcher. Making a taller missile would make it more liable to toppling when it's being erected.

You're a funny bloke, Zekes, though you need to be a tad more observant if you want to get the jump on my Tuscan. The range is now 190 kilometres; it's beyond your visual range, quite literally The mortar bombs are unguided and have a range of 2km. The smaller battlefield-range missiles can fly up to 7km. The large missile's range is given above. This is the most descriptive reporting name so far, and a little prescient too for reasons I'll make clear later

It would need to be quite a bit larger to reach orbit. I'm actually working on increasing the theatre ballistic missile's range a bit before I release the craft. I've got it up to 190km now, though I think I can still squeeze just a little more from it. I'll release all 4 craft including the unarmed (and as yet unnamed) APC U along with the three pictured in the OP as a bundle sometime tomorrow. If anyone can think of a descriptive reporting name for the APC U in the next 12 hours or so, I might use it: [NB the APC U is a WIP and I plan to make some small changes to its appearance before I release it] Nope, they're all stock. If you're wondering how the large silo hinges, it has a docking port underneath that decouples at the same moment the sepratrons on either side are ignited. It's actually very tricky to balance it so that the sepratrons have exactly the right amount of torque to bring it vertical without causing it to rock back onto the truck. Every time I make a small change to the theatre ballistic missile, I have to spend 5 minutes rebalancing the sepratrons

Thanks They have the APC abbreviation because they started out as APCs. All three have the same cabin, more or less, but I've extended the chasis to allow for the different launchers. I'll probably release the original APC as well, for posterity's sake

Minor things really. Mostly aesthetic stuff that I'm not completely content with. I also wanted to make sure the action groups are laid out logically and that I had good launch notes for the release.

[Click the above image to view my imgur album] Included in the MEDIAFIRE DOWNLOAD are: APC M20 Jack in the Box: • Fires 4 volleys of 5 unguided mortar bombs • Mortar range approx 2km • Accurate bombing pattern (approx 50m diameter) • 1 driver, 5 passengers Action Groups: 1 - Jettisons armoured launcher cover 2 to 5 - Fire successive waves of mortar bombs APC MB4 Scorpion: • Houses 4 battlefield-range ballistic missiles in individual silos • Can fire in burst or salvo mode • Missile range 6km or 7km depending on launch mode (Legs retracted or deployed respectively) • 1 driver, 5 passengers Action Groups: 1 - Toggles forward legs for higher inclination launch 2 to 5 - Fire successive missiles 6 - Fires all four missiles in salvo mode APC MT1 Tuscan: • Houses a single tactical ballistic missile in a deployable silo • Deployed silo features photovoltaic charging system allowing forget-and-fire [sic] utility. • Ballistic missile comprised of a solid fuelled lower stage, liquid fuelled upper stage and nose-mounted warhead. • Missile range approx 260km • 1 driver, 3 passengers Action Groups: 1 - Toggles stabilising legs 2 - Ignites the erector sepratrons and decouples the silo 3 - Launches the ballistic missile 4 - Decouples the first stage and ignites the liquid fuelled rockets 5 - Decouples the second stage and ignites the final stage sepratrons Use the [ and ] keys to move to the launcher. Make sure to engage the ASAS before launch. The best launch profile I've found is a gravity turn at 85° with the solid stage, burning at 55° with the second stage, and then firing the final stage prograde at apoapsis. Also includes the APC A Turtle Firespitter mod craft pictured below: • 1 driver, 14 passengers • Unlimited range over land • 13.5km range over water Action Groups: 1 - Toggles steering on all but the front wheels 2 - Toggles motors on the all but the front wheels (useful for travelling at night as it uses a lot less power at the expense of traction) 3 - Toggles the motors on the front wheels (allows for all wheel motors to be disabled when in water) 4 - Toggles the Firespitter swamp engines (Press the spacebar to enable vectoring of the swamp engines. Press Alt+S to increase the pitch of the engines and push the front of the vehicle up to get better performance in water)

Ah ha! I see you've discovered the word 'effect'. Well done, Ser, good show Seriously though, I'm looking forward to the guided munitions being released. This bomb looks pretty swish. Can we have a craft file for the armed plane, or maybe even just a subassembley file for the bomb?

That's from Bobcat's MPSS Nautilus pack. No idea if it still works in 0.20 though. Here's one last pic of my 0.19 station (newly adorned with large solar arrays) before I move to 0.20. Think I might start afresh with something a little less CPU intensive. Anyway, click the pic to go to my imgur gallery. The mods used in my station are listed with hyperlinks in the gallery description.

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it That would be a good idea. Most of my modules already have their own balanced reaction control system so I'd only need to add chutes, though I think this would work better with smaller individual modules docked together. If I just slapped parachutes on those modules pictured, I don't think they would survive lithobraking. This was originally designed as a Munar station, and one of the tugs pictured actually dragged a smaller variant called Xaio Bai Tu (Little White Rabbit) into Munar orbit. Adding parachutes to that would have been pointless. Because I used the existing design for my LKO station, the CES was a simple bolt-on modification that made it a little safer for my Kerbals.

You mean the docks pictured here with the tugs inside them? They were meant to be something similar to the drydocks from Star Trek such as the one below, though they should really be called wetdocks (or vacdocks?) since naval drydocks take the ship out of its normal medium and place it in an environment where we can access it easily, but these just provide a secure mooring and good lighting. I was considering putting some Canadarms on them at some point in the future for refitting craft in orbit.

Click the image to go to my imgur gallery: I've just installed a new crew escape system (visible at the bottom of this image) that will allow 24 lucky Kerbals to return safely to Kerbin in the event of a catastrophe. Unfortunately, the station currently houses 40 Kerbals so there will be some casualties should this thing happen to deorbit . I'd love to put another CES up but this thing is causing some serious lag. There must be about 1500 parts docked together now. This is still running in 0.19 as I haven't got around to installing all of the mods necessary to load this in 0.20.

That's Lando's updated version of the BASE inflatable habitat. Download link. Also, 'cause I'm bored and enjoy both making gifs and gratuitous self-promotion... click it for a much bigger version:

Here's how my station's progressing. I've extended the original design by adding a new habitation module as well as a tricoupler hub. Each of the spacedocks pictured was put up in a single launch: Click the picture above to go to my imgur album. Click the pic below for a large, gratuitous gif:

Da Bai Yetu (Big White Hare, translated badly into Chinese) is a counterpart to my Munar station Xaio Bai Tu named for the famous lunar rabbit. I'm currently in the process of expanding the station to include a fuel depot, and I've recently sent up a complement of RCS tugs. Sometime in the not too distant future I plan to post the entire kit on the forums including all the craft you can see docked. Click on the picture below to visit my imgur gallery:

Launch Instructions: Use Olex's excellent calculator for finding ejection angles. Here is a persistent file saved during the Jool launch window if you're lazy. • Engage ASAS. • Press 10 to lock the gimbal on the outer engines. • Launch at full throttle, then reduce by one notch before engines overheat. • When only the last asparagus stage remains, unlock the gimbals for extra stability. • Place into a circular orbit with a minimum altitude of 200km. • After decoupling from the launch vehicle, lock stages with Alt+L • Spread your ejection burn over two or more orbits for maximum accuracy. Jool insertion Instructions: • Once inside Jool's sphere of influence, tweak your intercept using the manoeuvre nodes so that you are entering the Jool system prograde (you don't want to be orbiting retrograde to the moons). • You should also tweak your inclination so that you are on the ecliptic plane. • Drop your peripasis to approximately 120km above Jool's surface. This is a good time to quicksave in case you choose the wrong altitude for aerobraking. • Inflate the heatshield, orient the probe prograde, and watch the light show as Trickshot slams through Jool's atmosphere. Airship Drone/Atmospheric Drone Instructions: • After being captured by Jool, now is a good time to release one of each type of atmo' probe. • Decouple manually by clicking on the small decouplers when you're at apoapsis. • Press ] to switch craft, 2 to extend the solar panels, and 4 to activate ion engines. • Drop their periapsis into the day side of Jool. • Retract solar panels by pressing 2 just before re-entry. Press 1 to open parachute. Decouple heatshield manually by right-clicking on it, and quickly switch craft using ] because the camera considers the decoupled heatshield to be the root component. Microrover Notes: • Liquid fuelled engines are toggled with 3, and the parachute with 1. • Due to the lack of an ion engine, the microrovers must be released while already in orbit around the target body. • If landing on Vall, you must reduce Trickshot's semimajor axis to at most 15km before releasing. It is also recommended that you decouple the superfluous heat shield prior to the de-orbit burn. • Once landed, decouple skycrane and fly away. • Switch to docking mode whilst driving and engage SAS function for stability by pressing T. • Use the parking brake and press 7 to turn off motors while recharging batteries. • Press 5 to operate the rover via the headlamp-mounted camera. Munar Probe Notes: • Extend the solar panels by pressing 2. • The ion engine is toggled with 4. Use this for orbital manoeuvring. • Liquid fuelled engines are toggled with 3. Use these for de-orbit burn and landing. • If landing on Vall, aim for an 8km circular orbit using ion power before de-orbiting. You must use at least 100 units of Xenon gas before landing. Be sparing with the liquid fuelled rockets as the delta V surplus for Vall is very small. Action Group Bindings: 1 - Opens parachutes 2 - Toggles solar panels 3 - Toggles liquid fuelled engines on the probes 4 - Toggles ion engines on the probes 5 - Activates all cameras 6 - Switches between active cameras 7 - Toggles Microrover wheel motors. 8 - 9 - 10 -Toggles outer engine gimbal on launch booster.

This is something I've been working on for a while. The plan was to send a mission to Jool that would do everything, and most importantly, could be put up in one launch. The Trickshot probe currently requires 3 mods (Planetes Corporation Headshields, the Telescoping Hull Cam mod, and Hooligan Labs Airships mod), though I'm also considering releasing a stock version without the airship probes, and with the cameras and heatshields removed. I think the mods make it much more fun though, and none of them really constitute cheating as there are no vanilla analogues for them to be compared against. Anyway, here are some pictures of Trickshot and her daughter probes in action. Trickshot Probe Gallery MEDIAFIRE DOWNLOAD LINK Two airship microprobes designed for Jool and Laythe: Airship Probe Gallery Two standard atmospheric probes for Jool and Laythe: Atmospheric Probe Gallery Two microrover probes with skycranes that can land on every Joolian body except Jool and Tylo: Microrover Probe Gallery And two Munar probes capable of landing everywhere except Jool and Tylo: Munar Probe Gallery

Well, the thing is, I've got a few existing spaceplanes that I would like to modify with the new cockpit. Making a second Mk2 with double nodes is a great idea, but I'm not sure how to copy over the rest of the spaceplane. All I can think of is creating a new craft with the modded cockpit, and then adding the splaceplane body to the .craft file but changing the coords so that the body is not attached to the cockpit. EDIT: it worked Think the reason I got the error before was due to not changing the attn names when I changed the cockpit part name. in the .craft file.

Thanks Sal, but no joy I'm afraid Though I was able to attach the modded nosecone adaptor to the cockpit, it didn't sit flush as it would normally. Instead, it was partially embedded inside. I did try adding a second node to the mk2 cockpit, and that worked. However, my existing spaceplanes now load with the 'loaded ship missing parts' error, so this isn't really a solution either :-/ // --- node definitions --- // definition format is Position X, Position Y, Position Z, Up X, Up Y, Up Z node_stack_top01 = 0.0, 7.5, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0 node_stack_top02 = 0.0, 7.5, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0 node_stack_bottom = 0.0, -7.75, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0 node_attach = 0.0, 0.0, 5.12, 0.0, 0.0, -1.0, 1

Hi guys, Does anyone know whether it is possible to stack parts on a single node by editing the .craft file? I'm not a massive fan of the Mk2 cockpit, but it allows for the avionics package to be mounted easily unlike the Mk1 cockpit. However, I've noticed that the Mk2 looks much better if a Mk2 spaceplane adapter is attached to the front node of the cockpit so that the cockpit lies inside the adaptor (see picture). Unfortunately, that means that nothing else can be attached to the front node of the cockpit. I've tried adding the nose cone adapter in the craft file, but when I load the aircraft the nose cone is not actually attached. <b>Is there a way of doing this?</b>

<b>Co-op Corp is still recruiting!</b> We currently have 2 confirmed members, but we're looking to increase our numbers to either 4 or 6. This will allow us to democratically approve craft releases by ensuring an odd number of members vote (the person submitting the craft for approval cannot vote). We are also debating whether to change the name of the group, as well as discussing possible join missions. If you are interested in joining and you share our love of well-polished, handsome aircraft and rockets, please apply for membership by sending me a PM. I would also prefer it if you could provide an example of your work by including a screenshot of your favourite creation in your message.

I agree. I've been trying to squeeze as much out of the stock inventory as I can, but with the fuel consumption fixed I've found that some of my elaborate stock designs are now underpowered or unstable. Indeed. I'm writing up the approval process this evening, so hopefully when CO-OPCORP goes live, we can start posting new rockets more or less immediately. <b>Forgot to mention, but I'll be replying to applications by PM rather than here. I'll try to get back to everyone who expresses interest in joining.</b>

After finally getting some time to play with 0.17 I've found many of my 0.16 designs are now unbalanced, unstable or both. Because of this, I feel it's time I post a new thread and start afresh. Unfortunately my new job is eating up my time, so I've decided to start the <b>Cooperative Corporation</b>. Here's the plan: I need two, three, maybe four other like-minded engineers to help build a catalogue of excellent vehicles, post them in this thread and hopefully make a name for ourselves. I'm interested in sharing a persistent file(s) if a worthwhile mission is suggested, and also in players who are interested in using mods. I haven't had much time to install more than a few new parts, and I've never used Damned Robotics, Electrical Energy, Kethane etc, so I'd welcome a few people with prior experience so that our vehicles can begin exploiting the brilliant mod base available. Something I'm keen to impress upon prospective applicants is my focus on aesthetics. I want our aircraft and rockets to look good. I wouldn't go as far as completely sacrificing functionality, but style is important. If you want some examples of my work, please see my old thread here or click on my signature. If you want to join, it would be good if you could provide an example of your own work as well. I'm not necessarily looking for people with exactly the same tastes as me, just that you're interested in building craft that are more than a mere stack of tanks with a pair of wings slapped on. I don't mind if you prefer to build alone or work on a shared project, just as long as you embrace the Co-op ethos. If you're interested, please post here or PM me on the forums. I will reply to applications by PM only.

Some interesting designs there, but most seem to be just a few liquid fuel tanks with a cockpit and a pair of wings. Nice to see it's still possible ofc, though I'd like to see how they handle when descending to landing. Heh, <i>well</i>.... Canards, wings, control surfaces, landing gear, RCS fuel, RCS thrusters, the avionics (there are two to maintain symmetry), struts and NCS adaptors come to 7.74 tons. The rest is comprised of the cockpit, engines and fuel tanks. I think you might have underestimated the fuel tanks, because 14 small tanks and the Mk2 fuselage and the two Mk2 adaptors comes to 2.95 tons dry. I know there's a lot of dead weight, but I like my fancy wings. Anyway, after giving up on keeping it stock, I whacked on a Mk2 bicoupler and another two small tanks. It now has enough thrust and fuel to reach orbit Still encountering aerodynamic problems on reentry though

I can't see any since 0.17 was released. There are a few shuttles that use disposable stages but no SSTOs that I can see, and certainly no horizontal take off SSTOs. I know the flying wing design isn't exactly suited, but short of making a VTOL rocket with a simple pair of wings slapped on, I can't see elaborate designs ever being viable now. Hmm. The reason for the toroidal engine is its improved thrust to weight ratio, and the fact that the vectoring LV-T45 has a nasty habit of being knocked off when pitching up on take off. I've tried models with more RCS thrusters and they felt like a bodge to me. And like I said, the avionics package never had this problem in 0.16. I couldn't get it to orbit with the 0.16 fuel bug fix installed, but my suborbital attempts never ran into this stability issue. I've tried this as well. The SAS modules are designed to keep the rocket pointed in one direction, but they're as good as a chocolate fireguard for atmospheric flight. They also don't fix the other problems I'm having in 0.17. The aircraft masses 30.44 units fully fueled and 15.14 dry, and carries 3100 units of fuel. It only uses 200 units of fuel to get to 13km altitude when the rocket stage is ignited. After that, my most efficient ascent profile only gets it to 65km. I'm using small tanks so they reach their dry weight faster, but without the game being redesigned to calculate the rate of loss of mass, and without jet engines that can take me closer to 20km altitude, I don't see this working any time soon.

Thanks for the replies guys. I tried this I think. It makes it more stable on the ascent to orbit, but almost impossible to pitch the nose up in the atmosphere without the nose oscillating from side to side. Might try it again, though it's a pain in the bum to rearrange the tanks. Nope, the ordering hasn't changed either. This is just an issue with 0.17, and I have my suspicions that Grizzlol is sorta right about the gyro's force being insufficient. Thing is, it flew fine in 0.16 regardless of my fancy wing arrangement. The only problem was a slight tendency for the nose to lift when the flight surfaces became useless in the upper atmosphere. My plane doesn't glide very well now either. Before 0.17, I could bring it down unpowered with all tanks empty after a deorbit burn and it would glide smoothly. Now at about 10km up the nose drops and it goes into a steep dive even with the avionics on. It almost feels as though the efficacy of the gyro and the control surfaces has been reduced by quite a bit. Also, I know the 0.16 fuel exploit was a bit daft, but it seems that no matter how much fuel I strap on this thing it still doesn't have enough to reach orbit. The few times I've managed to manually overcome the instabilities, I run out of fuel at 50km altitude. The best I've done was a suborbital lob with an apoapsis of 65km with the SSTO pictured, and it carries 2000 units of fuel more than my original Buzzard Nk1 which could reach a 100km circular orbit with relative ease and still have enough fuel for a deorbit burn. Almost seems as though SSTOs are now impossible in KSP, except maybe an unimaginative rocket with a simple wing strapped on