bsalis

Taking a break this evening from a flag planting posts. Have good material coming up though. I do however, have a neat bug I found to post about. This was later on from the pics I have posted so far. It is on the edge of a cliff. I was braking as I approached the edge. However, for some bizarre wacky KSP bug related reason, the craft started to accelerate! I call it ACCELEBRAKING. Have a little vid of it. Clicky image to play...

The indicated mass value on the landing gear is wrong. They are much lighter. My suggestion is to put a docking port on the tanker, then attach plane to it in VAB with an octagonal strut.

Ok, so only a few this post. Have been busy flying a plane in RL, but mostly spent the day in frikken traffic to fly said plane. That, and i have been shifting some more assets to Laythe. More on that later. Anyhows.... 18th A small one here, a bit north of a rim island. A bit triangular. Might head for that bay. This is that bay. 19th Another main rim island. Elongated. Another nice bay. Another very nice bay here. Off again, to the south. 20th Small islands out here. Three of them. Another flag down. It's going to get dark again soon. 21st Large rim island here. This is the final island visited here. Impessive. Getting dark again. That's fine though, heading west now.

Hole in one!

Now if only the estimated burn time worked all the time.

Problem is, the docking ports are not that rigid. At least the regular ones.

I don't see how it adds any more purpose than it already has. You could argue it defeats the purpose of getting craft and materials (eg. fuel) out to where you want them, in order to achieve what you want. Personally I think mining is a bit of a wrong turn.

Big collection this post. I have been busy! These are the northern islands of the giant submerged crater. 11th A small one a bit north west of the large crater rim island Not much more than a sand bar. VTOL! - off we go. 12th Another small one. More to the north. Bit of an odd shape. Nice little bay here. 13th More north again. interesting one here. It's a double. Looking north here. Overflying. Found out here that they are actually joined, so one flag is enough. 14th Onward north as we continue this archipelago Medium one. Has a ridge on the west side. Landed at the little bay. 15th A larger one. More to the north. It's starting to get dark. Onward to the northernmost. 16th Here is the the tip of the archipelago It's a big dome. 17th Couldn't help myself. I had to land on this one on my way back south, even though it's adjoining a larger island. A little worrying here... All I need now is two palm trees, a hammock, and a koconut.

I always used the largest legs, and have landed 3 different types of SSTO Spaceplane on Duna. You can see some pics here - http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/29005-Boxkite-style-SSTO-Spaceplane However they were all heavier than 18.3 tons. Perhaps try the smaller legs and test on Mun.

I wouldn't lock yourself into thinking theres one best way. It depends what you want out of the craft. In the end, if it works and does what you want it to, then it's a good design.

Mining will be optional for those that want to do it. It's not needed now right? It also looks to be only used for consumable resources, like the different types of fuel. I don't expect it to be any more complex than that.

Well, another refueling stop, and some more islands to visit. 6th was what looks like a large sand bar. This was north east of base, just south of 2nd island i visited. Yep - it's long For some reason the game gobbled up my first flag. I had to come back again, hence the darker afternoon shades. 7th to the north west. It has a hook.. Another nice bay. Hook Bay perhaps it could be called. 8th was more to the west. This is basically due north of base. It is flat, but the terrain is rough. Another flag down. Jool visible again... however we won't be seeing much of it for a bit. Another fuel stop, then it's off once again. This time far to the east. 9th is what looks to be the remains of a deep impact crater Enjoying the view while I can. I found out that the rim islands are quite far away and cannot be seen easily at sea level. Incoming. As you can see. Rim is just on the horizon. 10th and final for the evening, to the east a little. Hmm, where to land. That is the center island in the distance.

Oh yeah. It's possible all right. however you probably want to build a smaller SSTO then work your way up. As an example, this one seats 11

If they are immediately adjoining a larger island, no. The rest, yes. Anyhow, after returning to base. I headed south to visit three island. 3rd was a medium island with a smaller one to the north Did a VTOL landing on an incline. Ah, nice spot Another flag down 4th was to the south west of the last. This was basically a mountain in the ocean! Jool, once again, beautiful. Had more fuel left than expected. So, off further to the north east. 5th was an interesting one. Squiggly one! Bath time.

I am against Transhumanism. I think it will be the end of us.

I have the assets on and around Laythe. I have flags a plenty. The time has come... Mission Objective: Plant a flag on every island on Laythe Chosen Craft: Spaceplane Mission Plan: Fly Spaceplane, plant flags. Refuel at base. Refuel Tanker at base via bigger SSTO Spaceplanes. This is base camp. On the equator. Nice and flat... ...with an amazing tidal-locked view of Jool. 1st island is a large one to the north-west. Appears to have a deep impact crater. Cliff walls on the crater edge are steep. Beach views! Expect more of these. 2nd island to the east of the last island. An old volcano perhaps? Landed. Flag is planted (see it under the craft). More updates tomorrow...

I think the delta-V is a bit under 1.5 km/s to low Duna orbit. Are you going to land on the landing gear, or a tail landing (with legs)? If the former, how will you know if you have enough lift for a safe landing, then lift the nose off the ground for ascent again?

Yes - i experienced that too. It's hard. As others have pointed out. But it is for that reason that it's enjoyable to get one working, then more enjoyment getting good at making them. I doubt I would still be an active player in this Alpha stage of the game if it was not for spaceplanes. Doesn't everyone have one of those

Not always. If the CoM is way to the back, then yes, for anti-flipping, very nose heavy is what you need. However if you have the CoM in the middle of the craft and the control surfaces far behind and in front, then it does not need to be so nose heavy.

Well, my compy is decent so I use a high resolution and high graphic settings. I play a lot, and take a lot of pics. If there is something i want to capture properly, i will rotate the view around, zoom in and out, pan with middle mouse button (if needed), in order to get a good composition. That and take several pics, then post the best. Anyhows, I have been exploring Laythe by plane... Went to Pol as well, again. Looks different since last time.

The game has a very long learning curve, with many milestones along the way. You could draw a line marking "Accomplished" at many points. For me I would say that there is no firm criteria for accomplished, but you will know it when you see it.

Well, some (many?) just find them fun. I for one am having fun exploring Laythe and planting flags on every island, in one craft. Not very practical with rockets/capsules. Even if you did, it's not quite the same experience... You just learn and understand it, then build craft to work with it, like everything else in the game.

Yes, same here. I'd say its a timing and time zone thing. I'm active on the forum in the evening, GMT+10 timezone.

The Aeris 4A is terrible. Why not try a good SSTO Spaceplane that can be launched with MechJeb? Such that you just need to get it off the runway, let MJ do the rest, and just work the engines yourself.

Personally I don't think it's needed. Would not be surprised if they drop it. If they do it, then it will be in the aero rewrite. People seems to be talking about Kerbin re entry. However Jool/Eve/Duna is where you get much higher forces. How this will be balanced I am not sure.