Warmblood

I built some jet/rocket hybrid launchers recently, and I'm finding that I'm using them for almost all my launches now. The combination of detachable jet engines and rocket power really seems to work wonders in reducing the overall weight of the craft and improving the efficiency of its lower stage engines. Here's the sort of thing I've been using: The highest stage in this variant is a tiny lander for a Gilly landing. This one is approaching the maximum pad liftoff weight for 12 jet engines, so it has some liquid boosters for liftoff assistance. I usually kick on the main engine at around 13-14k, not amazingly high, but more than enough to get the rest of the platform into orbit without any trouble. The payload section can achieve orbits of 150-200k using only fuel from the orange tanks. The main downside is high part count due to the engines. Your payload shouldn't be too complicated or it will cause serious lag. Wobble is manageable with struts, and detaching the jet engines usually goes smoothly... usually. Ideally, they fly above the rest of the rocket and start spiraling away. Sometimes Murphy's Law intervenes. But, the failure rate is reasonably low for me. So, thoughts on hybrid rockets? Suggestions?

Heh, pretty neat compared to my efforts on Laythe so far. I just yesterday made the journey to the Jool system, only to realize too late that my ship had somehow ended up in a Jool orbit retrograde to the rotation of the moons. However, thanks to a chance Laythe encounter I was still able to launch a sub-lander, and even though it entered the atmosphere at 8000 m/s due to going the WRONG WAY in orbit, its parachutes and air drag managed to slow it enough for a soft splash down. Next time--- not ending up in an utterly strange orbit is the goal. Anyhow, nice designs you're using there, especially for the birddog and SSTO vehicles. Very neat, and functional. Excellent work on the AAR, correct forum or not.