bsalis

Yeah - great community and forum. Or more that many others set a low bar. Still plenty of disagreement and argument for those who think that is important. Personally it's the mod enforced G rating on this forum that saddens me. Fortunately there's the KSP subreddit.

I'm not seeing any explosions.

Neat. Though I think listing the actual degree numbers somewhere would help.

Nice XB-70 Valkyrie replica there. Looks like your flight will end the same way as the real ones.

The game needs a measure of difficulty though. It's actually part of the appeal of the game really. Compared to many mainstream games watered down for broad appeal. The issue is around some wanting to see the game changed so that all must conform to their personal hard-mode view of things. Which is silly.

Deleted stock parts? HERESY! (i voted no)

Crate work there! Every decent and proper computer game needs crates. Perhaps they will be a stock part sometime (for science stuffs perhaps).

I found that mixing drogue chutes and regular ones together works quite well. Been there. It's not that great. THere are cooler islands about.

Damn it, when I saw this on page #1 I thought part #14 was posted. But it was just a bump.

First sea docking on Laythe

That's not true. You can build multi-craft ships in orbit, using just ports and no fancy quantum struts. Below I have a pic of three crafts with additional fuel tank, where all four were launched separately. From left to right, a seven seater command craft, the jumbo tank for extra range, a one seat lander, and a two seat lander with a small rover buggy that can be re-attached. Using x4 and x2 symmetry, I can run all the LT-Ns at once.

In my opinion SSTO Spaceplanes are not very practical for lifting payloads to orbit. I think of them more like cars, not trucks. More accurately they are orbiter/capsules that can get themselves to orbit. They are good for moving Kerbals around efficiently and safely. You can also reliably land them back at KSC (without guidance from a mod, like MechJeb landing autopilot). Put some legs on the back and you can also land on bodies that have no atmosphere. A docking port will let you refuel them for deep space travel... as I said, they are just like an orbiter when in space.

Possibly smallest island on Laythe... possibly.

As others have said, best use the SPH to build a glider, or any plane for that matter. Be mindful that landing gear does not have any mass when flown, but the SPH includes it in the CoM marker. Which is why I removed the landing gear to take this pic of a working glider... So yes, I have found that for a stable glider with no trim, you should have the CoL slightly in front of the CoM. However, if you have something you want to bring down from orbit, you probably still want to have the CoL slightly behind, then use trim to pitch up. You also want some of this for full hands-free flight... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dihedral_(aircraft) Then you can have some fun chasing your glider in another plane...

Trim should allow you to get a stable level flight. Pitch should be easy, but I would say getting a stable heading would be near impossible. So... MechJeb it is I think.

Will happen eventually if you fly enough planes. Snapped this when switching a couple over at a fuel tanker...

Perhaps when there is Kerbonaut Training, you can teach them to do just that. Then they can attempt to fly the ascent profile for you - if you trust them. Not sure I would would trust the stupid ones! Personally I would be happy with fixing the need to switch to map view to see your predicted Ap. That, and some audio and/or visual cues so you don't have to spend the whole ascent looking at the navball. Perhaps the volume and tone of the wind rushing by can tell you if you are pushing past terminal velocity and should slow down. Or if the wind roar dies down in the thin air higher up you know you can turn more. Visual cues like contrails could be used as well perhaps.

There are many things I enjoy doing in this game. Navigation/transfers, rendezvous, docking, aerobraking, landing, and flying spaceplanes. Ascents I do not enjoy - and I think I figured out why... All ascents are the same You start at the same place and end up at the same place. The ascent trajectory you are aiming for will also be much the same, no matter what rocket it is. By contrast, rendezvous and docking for example is always a little different. Tedious navball mini-game If you think exactly about what you are doing for an ascent, it is basically this: You spend the whole time looking at the navball playing tug-the-prograde-marker mini-game, while occasionally checking altitude to help guide the turn. When the engine roar dies down, you mash the spacebar. You also have to keep switching to map view to find your predicted Ap. The whole process is, i'm guessing, alarmingly like the tests the chimps did during first Mercury flights. You never really get a chance to look "out the window" at the actual rocket and Kerbin below. Again, by contrast, landing involves looking out at the ground for situational awareness, and guidance on positioning and rate of descent. Rather then just looking at instruments the whole time in an ascent. So anyone else feel the same? Anyone like ascents? If so, why?

Nothing is controlling the first plane. It just has some throttle and trim set, so just flies (mostly) straight and level. To get them in the air together, I docked them on the ground first. After undocking them in the air, I was able to switch back and forth between them so as to keep them close (within 2.2km physics sphere) while I stabilized the target plane.

So I thought I would tackle air-to-air docking again. This time with two powered planes. Did not quite get there, however the attempts are entertaining! Clicky pic to play (it's on Skydrive)

Interesting I never know that. The connection is obvious though for anyone who has watched enough Star Trek.

Backflips can happen from the CoM drifting to be behind the CoL. The CoT being lower than the CoM can cause pitching up too, that may be kept under control from the control surfaces until you get to thin air... where they will not. I suspect it's just CoM drift though. If you're building a VTOL plane that you intend to take off and land vertically then you need to make sure the CoM stays in the same place... at least for when you are needing to use the vertical lift.

CONIC_PATCH_DRAW_MODE = derp ^ that's my theory. Check yer config.

How are you losing control? Pitching? You want ample torque to control it in a hover. Avoid moving backwards because the control surfaces will start to work against the torque. Also the CoL will generally be where the CoD is. So if that is far from the CoM, if you ascend or descent to quickly, you will get pitching from the drag.

100 m/s in a loaded spaceplane is way too fast for any kind of predictably safe landing on Laythe. If you just want to finish that mission, then I say just keep trying on the flat areas around the equator. This island here, right on the equator, both East and West coasts have good flat areas for landing... Next spaceplane, use more wings. Lots more. That or a VTOL.