SofusRud

Ask yourself: what sounds better, "Commander Jebediah Kerman, has landed on Duna" or "Bleep-Blorp the trashcan has landed on duna"?

I disagree. They'd only be underpowered if the Kerbal universe wasn't scaled (1/10th scale I think) compared to our universe. The scaling means that you have significantly lower delta-v requirements to do stuff, like getting into orbit for example, and necessitates the engines in the game being nerfed compared to real-world engines, simply to preserve gameplay challenge. Also, that right there is a clear-cut case of an Oberoni fallacy (http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Oberoni_Fallacy). It is never the responsibility of the player to compensate for shoddy work on the part of the game designer. To me it is more about gameplay balance, with the new engines being significantly better in terms of TWR and ISP compared to the older engines. It reflects bad design when an engine has absolutely no advantages over any other engine or when a single engine is better than any other engines for a given purpose. The LFB KR-1x2 is the clearest example of this, the Mainsail is basically only better in the event that you want to either mount something below or put less than a Jumbo above it, both of which are extremely rare cases.

I may of course be biased, since i've played KSP for quite a while, so it may just be that my skills have caught up. The last few updates have made it much less likely that things are gonna disassemble, and the maneuver nodes are more intuitive, however I wouldn't want to see the game go back on those improvements. I only think this is worth discussing because what I have understood from the devs is that the game is all about failure and learning from it, and some of the recent changes seem to make failure easier to avoid. The way I see it, the best way to keep the game from becoming "too easy" would be to add some celestial bodies that push the limits of how much delta-v and or TWR you need to get to them. Something out beyond Jool, a tiny body closer to the sun than Moho, an object with an extremely eccentric and incline orbit, a body orbiting retrograde, or something like that. When it comes to adjusting difficulty I say "add not subtract". Another thing that I can think of that would keep the game from becoming too easy would be a slight adjustment of scale. Currently, KSP is about 1/10th or 1/11th the scale of the real solar system. Maybe making it 1/8th or something scale might tweak the difficulty appropriately. Just a thought

Free time?! Not in my space program! Its non-stop balls to the wall from the moment you get accepted till the moment we scrape you off the pavement. Thats how its always been since Grandpa Kerman lit his first firecracker inside his momma's gas oven and thats how we liked it! Ain't no lazy kerbals gonna lay around photosynthesizing all day on my watch!!!!!

Why? What happens?

I would like to present this SSTO for your consideration

I had been putting off posting this here, but I might as well do it now. This is what the prototype/mockup/testing version of the base looks like. Its basically where I tested and perfected the various modules before I shipped them all out to Laythe. As you can see it consists of various habitation modules, a platform, a Lab, fuel tanks, a solar array, tunnel segments, an airplane and a nuclear lander thing for low-grav worlds (has not been used outside testing). Everything was assembled using those two small rovers. And here is what i currently have sitting on Laythe. One of the assembly rovers had a serious malfunction, so until I get around to shipping out a replacement I am only able to assemble it partially, as quite a few of the components require two rovers.

Today I did some orbital construction, and some other stuff but lets talk about the orbital construction first. This is what my space-station, Cloudbase Kerbin, looked like when I last left it. Everything under the Lander Can are parts of the Docking array, but parts were missing. Under normal circumstances I would have just launched the whole docking array in one piece, but the big-shots at KSC Administration had decided that Kerbal space program was going green (going green, geddit?), and so "complete reusablility" suddenly appeared on every-kerbals word-of-the-day calendar. And so, everything must be launched in a reuseable vehicle, which means: SSTOs! The docking array needed four girders in order to space out the X200-8s with the Snr docking ports, so a mission was prepared. Unfortunatly it turned out that the girders could not fit into the Kylon SSTO (http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/79535-The-Kylon-my-best-high-capacity-SSTO-so-far) cargo hold, at least not in the arrangement I had in mind, so I put an older SSTO, the Thunderlane Mk-5, onto the job (http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/65968-Thunderlane-Mk-5-Becausethe-old-one-needed-an-upgrade). In retrospect they might have fitted into the Kylon if I had been a bit creative with how I affixed them. As you can no doubt guess, this arrangement of cargo had the nasty result of shifting the COM just enough out of line of the COT that it became problematic. I won't sugarcoat it, it was an absolute b@#ch to fly, when making the rocket boost to give it a decent apoapsis I had to use most of the onboard monoprop, and everything had to be done at 10% thrust until the girders got dropped off. But it still worked, so I count it as a win. Here we have Jebediah putting the girders into their intended positions. I do love that little MMU type thing that he's in, so useful (although some would argue that its not a true MMU, Jeb has a strict "No listening to killjoys" policy). Here we have our proud Thunderlane Mk-5 back on the runway, having completed the mission with flying colors (the colors being primarily white, grey, black with a small dash of lightish blue) Another Kylon is sent up with the remaining docking array components as well as some additional crew. The final part of the docking array is then slotted into place, the MMU-thing is wedged in between it and the rest of the space station for the time being, as there are no other standard docking ports. How the station looks after today's efforts. Just need a science lab and a docking segment for standard ports. But thats not all folks I also did some work on a new high-capacity SSTO. This one is still very much a work in progess, but I am very happy with how the main body has turned out. I present the Orthros Mk-2 It still needs a lot of work, but I hope to eventually be able to ship a full Jumbo into orbit. That's all folks!

The second iteration of a craft that I have previously shared on this thread, the Orthros Mk-2. The first version was an atmospheric plane, the purpose of which was to improve my airframe making skills (I basically nicked the main body from that). This version is going to be a full-on SSTO, with the hope that it can carry a full Jumbo into LKO. So far I have been fiddling with it and gotten it to be relatively stable and managed to keep the COM from moving too much after the cargo has been dropped. However, it has problems with maneuverability when it has cargo in the hold, and it starts to loose attitude control at around 6 km up. I can only get it to about 7 km before it starts going down. I'm probably just going to have to keep throwing engines, fuel and wing parts at it until it works, but if anybody has some useful advice on how to make it work better I'd be happy to hear it.

869 hours according to Steam, but this may be misleading, as I have a tendency to sometimes leave the game running when I leave the room. So best guess is around 700-750 hours

I started a brand new save, with the intention of making a fully reuse-able space program. In order to do this, I will make use of the various cargo SSTOs that I have built. The first step of this new enterprise is going to be the construction of a space station in LKO, to serve as a fuel depot and to allow me to keep the skies above Kerbin from being too cluttered. The first part of my new space station, Cloudbase Kerbin. The second cargo I launched consisted of three of the five tanks that I'll be using in my Snr docking port array and an assembly droid. Another flight will be required to get the girders up there to attach to the sides of the top tank (the one with four regular ports, the others only have one). The Kylon SSTO performed perfectly and landed safely and without incidence in at the end of both flights.

A little while ago I designed a heavy cargo SSTO. I named it the Kylon, owing to it being inspired by the Skylon SSTO (http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/79535-The-Kylon-my-best-high-capacity-SSTO-so-far). Unfortunately, the process of getting it to work was long and difficult, and when it was finally complete it no longer looked much like the real Skylon. So, when I decided that it was time to replace my light cargo SSTO, the Thunderlane Mk-3 (http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/65174-Thunderlane-Mk-3-the-cargo-SSTO) I decided that I had to make things right and design the replacement to look more like what the Kylon was supposed to, so as to not offend reality. Therefore I present the latest iteration of the Thunderlane cargo SSTO family: the Thunderlane Mk-6! Making orbit in orbit So far I have carried around 3.7 tons into orbit with it. It can probably carry more, but I have yet to find the real limit. It has 80 parts (17 less than the Mk-3). Part clipping was not enabled. The ship is a subassembly. Action groups 1- toggle engines 2- switch RAPIER mode 3- toggle intakes This craft was built using the Stock Rebalancing mod, which adds fuel to the adapters and nosecones. It should still work in a stock install, but this does mean that it has less fuel. If it is not compatible with Stock, then please tell me so I can put out a vanilla version It and all the other craft I have posted (and some that I havn't) can be downloaded here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/g5toine4cjtxh3q/AAAO2nZhBP6Ei4aJ6CIl_nYDa

I finally completed my heavy cargo SSTO, the Kylon, capable of lifting at least 19 tons into LKO get all the details and the download here: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/79535-The-Kylon-my-best-high-capacity-SSTO-so-far

Just gonna put this in here as well. I feel belongs, and I am quite pleased with it. I present the Kylon! A cargo SSTO capable of at least a 19 ton payload (maybe more). A full breakdown here: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/79535-The-Kylon-my-best-high-capacity-SSTO-so-far

There are no control surfaces clipped inside the the ship. What you see is what's there. All of the reaction wheels are there for three reasons: 1) the COM is slightly lower than the center or thrust, so the torque helps keep it straight whilst in orbit. 2) it spaces the fuel tanks on the wing blocks, giving more control over the COM when shifting fuel around before reentry, and 3) it helps make the wing blocks look nicer

I know, it used to, but then Mr.Functionality kicked Mr.Aesthetics in the head and threw him in a river.

I finally got it to work! I give you: Kylon. 19 tons to orbit! my personal record for an SSTO The rest of the details here: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/79535-The-Kylon-my-best-high-capacity-SSTO-so-far

Well, after a long and troubled development, with many misses, failures and suchlike, it has finally arrived! Rejoice ladies and gentlemen, for here it is, the Kylon cargo SSTO: after the previous version, which was only tested with a 5.78 ton science payload, has been substantially reworked, and most, if not all, outstanding design flaws have been fixed. This new Kylon has proven itself capable of lifting up to 19 tons of cargo into LKO. Weight reductions and wing optimizations mean that it now flies significantly better in atmosphere as well. It gets up to around 1400-1450 m/s before the RAPIERS switch mode on their own (love that feature). The turbos can keep up a little longer now that they're not using the intakes. The spacious cargo bay lets me take large (2.5m) parts into orbit, something with which i have previously struggled. I do have SSTOs that would have been able to carry the weight of your standard space station parts into orbit (http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/65968-Thunderlane-Mk-5-Becausethe-old-one-needed-an-upgrade) but for the longest time I was unable to design a craft with a large enough cargo bay. The Kylon solves that problem quite nicely. (note that canards at the back of the cargo bay have been moved slightly back since I took the picture) It is very stable on reentry and handles very well in atmo once most of the weight is gone. The craft has slightly more Liquid fuel than it needs in order to get into orbit, this was a deliberate decision, as I sometimes undershoot KSC and I prefer to have the cross-range capability. A tip for you if you if you want to fly it: The center of mass moves a further back than i the center of lift once you are in orbit. To correct this, after you have done your deorbit burn, transfer the liquid fuel in the wing engine segments forward (but still in their wing segments), and then transfer all oxidizer into the foremost tank in the middle. This unevenly distributes the oxidizer among your engines, but by this point you shouldn't be running on rocket mode anymore. coming in for landing and landed As with all of the other SSTOs that I have shared, the fuel is pumped in such a way that it first drains symmetrically from the middle into the wings, preventing the COM from moving around much during flight and making it very stable. I admit that it doesn't look much like the real Skylon, what with the wings being as large as they are. In my defense, it did look a lot more like the Skylon in the early versions, but the aesthetics had to be compromised in order to make it work, and I never got around to changing the name (in retrospect it wasn't that original a name anyway). The whole thing is a Subassembly, since I find it easier to fit the craft onto a payload than putting the payload in (annoying tendency to not attach where you want it to inside the cargo bay). Some specs: Part count: 201 Engines: 8 RAPIERS, 2 Turbojets Payload: over 21 tons Action groups: 1: toggle Turbojets 2: toggle RAPIERS 3: switch mode on RAPIERS 4: toggle some intakes (12/20) 5: toggle all intakes (20) Part clipping was not enabled for the construction of this craft There are no lifting surfaces hidden inside the body of the craft. While I did have the Stock Rebalance mod when I made it this makes very little difference, since it only means that the adapters and nosecones have fuel in them which I tweaked out anyway. In fact it may fly even better stock, since the structural components wouldn't be lugging around empty tanks. The parts themselves are stock. If this becomes a compatibility issue when downloading the craft, please tell me and I'll make a totally stock version. The Kylon, and all of the other cargo SSTOs that I have previously shared can be downloaded here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/g5toine4cjtxh3q/AAAO2nZhBP6Ei4aJ6CIl_nYDa Feedback is much appreciated

I made this thing: the Super High Intensity Thing Experiment It is an SSTO that doesn't use rockets, just turbojet and RCS

This is a stock SSTO that manages to achieve orbit without any form of rocket Propulsion. Just a can of jet fuel, a turbojet, some wings, 8 ram intakes and some RCS thrusters. Reaching orbital speed in orbit back on kerma firma a better pilot could have put it back on the runway, but as it was i did manage to get it onto the same continent. I did have some flipouts, but that was more to do with me doing attitude control manouvers at high speed and with physics warp on. Probably also doesn't help that the center of drag is so far forward, but that's what all the yaw control is for. I did recover from all the flipouts and bad (and somewhat intoxicated) piloting will not stop me from declaring this mission a success. I seem to have lost the craft file. ...whoops

Here's an SSTO I whipped up that has no rocket engines or RAPIERS, just a Turbojet and some RCS thrusters. It is a testament to what can be accomplished with the power of, or in spite of, a few drinks. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, the Super High Intensity Thing Experiment!:

Well, this is awkward. My latest SSTO, also called Kylon (it hasn't got a "The" in the name so i guess it's different) finally managed a successful mission. A massive improvement over previous designs which flopped out at around 6km due to excessive mass. To be fair it did look a lot more like a Skylon in the initial desings, but I had to sacrifice the faithfulness of the aesthetics in order to make it flyable. Its still a work in progress

Did a major reworking of my "Kylon" heavy cargo SSTO. I replaced the S3-7200s and replaced them with an X200-32 and an adapter, cutting weight by a significant amount. Old version: New version This one actually made it into orbit Its really stable, and handles reentry like a champ. Landing was a little rougher than I would have liked, maybe because my framerate started chugging once I got close to the KSC. I really ought to get rid of the clutter I have lying around, flying a 200 part spaceplane is hard enough without a prototype modular surface base tanking the processor at the same time. It's still very much a WIP as there are a number of flaws in the current design

A few updates ago Moho, EVE, Mun and Duna got some major terrain overhauls. Besides the biomes for a larger number of celestial bodies, I would like to see Dres, Ike and the moons of Jool get a similar overhaul. Especially Laythe

I went back to my large cargo SSTO that i posted about earlier this week and did some major reworking. Here's what I've got so far: As you can see, i decided to get rid of the Kerbodyne S3-7200 tanks in favor of the large adapter and some good old-fashioned X200-32s. with this reduction in mass it flew much better than the previous version, and it means that i can keep the cargo bay, which I am quite fond of. And yes, this one can actually make it into orbit. It handles reentry quite well. It is very stable overall and I have had no flip-outs or the like, something which i attribute to the way fuel is routed. Each end of the middle fuselage pumps to a separate engine block on the wings. I also am quite thankful for the tweakables system that allows me to see how my COM is going to move during flight, that has saved me a lot of grief. I did manage to land it on it's maiden voyage. However, touchdown was a little rougher than I would have liked, and as you can see, one of my wings got a little damaged. The craft is still very much a WIP. It runs out of air very quickly, and I had to ride the RAPIER on rocket mode from 1300m/s and up. I probably have a sub-optimal amount of fuel and oxidizer on board, and I still worry if I have too much mass in general. This worries me as it might mean that i cant carry as heavy cargo into orbit as I would like. Also I am having trouble with the landing gear, in that in order to space them out horizontally I have put them on the wings, which means that they are quite far forward. This increases chances of a tail-strike and therefore reduces my ability to flair properly during landing. This is part of the reason why the landing on maiden voyage was so rough and why part of the right wing is missing. Another issue is that i had quite a bit of trouble getting the cargo out of the hold while in orbit. This was due to the delta-canards at the back of the cargo bay. In the end I had to use Time Warp to get it out, so that something I need to fix. The craft uses the Stock Rebalance mod, but this only means that the nosecones and adapters have fuel in them. At any rate I think it might fly better without the fuel in those parts, so future versions will for all practical purposes be stock. I should also mention that the whole thing, apart from the generic test payload that it put into orbit, is a subassembly. For ease of use you understand. Any helpful advice would be appreciated.