Hodo

One of the biggest glaring issues I notice with that craft is its wings. The wings are straight, this is not a good thing for supersonic flight, which you WILL have to achieve in order to get to orbit. Most of the large SSTO designs have quite a bit of lifting surface to get their bulk off the ground and to keep them from having absurd landing speeds. Like my current workhorse, which is only a light-medium lifter but I dont need anything larger yet. It is a bit of a pig when it goes supersonic but it isnt designed to turn well... it is a cargo craft.

LOL that is the Warhammer 40k Thunderbolt fighter. One of my favorites from that game. And I have built a few SSTO fighter and combat craft....

There once was a mod that never unloaded anything in the game. The problem is KSP isn't designed to run like that and it causes some HORRIBLE lag because the game is calculating the physics for EVERYTHING at that point. Outside of that mod which hasnt been supported since last year, I would say no.

Hell my entry had one engine, and was champ for a while. And is STILL quite capable of giving several of the aircraft a run for their money.

HOLY NECRO OF NECROS BATMAN! This challenge is from 2012!

You know what would be fun, AI ground attack mission. I wonder how the AI does vs ground targets. I may have to test.

Funny I wouldnt have thought it made that much of a difference. Meh, eitherway, adjust it as you see fit, I would love to see how the fight goes with it at 402 vs 399.

You have my permission to drop the speed limiter back 2kph. Which is not that big of a deal so I am fine with it.

Updated with the DD settings. DD settings F154

Keep forgetting to get DD. I cant remember what the stock settings would be.. Wanderfound posted them last time I posted a craft.

Well here is the latest entry from HARM Industries. download F-154 And I think it is also the first forward swept wing in the challenge.

Not always the case, those are quick fixes for poor designs. If you have a solid enough design, you dont need a great deal of struts, or elevators. Some of my most successful designs didnt have a great deal of either.

I couldnt help but rep for the video. One of the best presentations for an aircraft I have seen in a long long time! And the aircraft itself is pretty awesome too.

Really not sure if hey would work right in the current aerodynamic model. Not like real life anyway. I know in FAR they mostly work like real life but again not exactly right. 'Copters are rough to build because they are very tricky and subject to the most minor changes in fuel or load.

I know the feeling but honestly it has done it to all of us. But the issues with the AI can be sort of worked around. Wanderfound make sure the AI is set to 360deg so it can "see" someone behind it. It default is 320.

Exactly. I may have to ask to see your cfg file and possibly copy it if you dont mind.

This is something the creator of BDArmory is aware of and possibly going to fix in the next update of it. The missiles bleed off to much energy in turns. But in reality missiles are often defeated by a good sharp turn into them forcing them to burn off energy. It wasn't until later design A2A missiles came about, like the AIM-9X and the Russian thrust vectoring missile came about.

It was a hell of a shot. I think it is interesting that both single engine and twin engine aircraft have all done well in this challenge. It is actually quite exciting to watch and see how the designs are using different theories and yet still showing that they are each VERY combat capable aircraft.

I really need to work on a new design. Hmmm... maybe tonight.

Wanderfound I found a way to increase your frame rates while recording those fights. I turned off V-Sync, it doesnt look a great deal different, but it helps a great deal. I went from doing my fights at 15-20FPS to 25-35FPS.

My fighter has a 1 for strength for its wings. You would be surprised at how little you actually need if you have a lower wing loading.

This is exactly what I am saying. I have had some stupid expensive upfront cost SSTO spaceplanes. One of which comes to mind my SP-406 and later line. Those craft had a start up cost around 600-750k to launch, and an operating expense of 10-20k per launch.

Almost a mid air collision half way through that fight, they missed each other by a matter of inches.

Depends on if you are using FAR or not what will affect your fighter design. Also what you are looking for in the aircraft. To many people get locked into this concept that fighters are all turn fighters. But several fighter aircraft in the world are designed with the idea that they will kill their target long before it comes to a turn fight. The F-15C Eagle comes to mind, same for the MiG-31. Others like the F-101 Starfighter, were again designed as energy fighters, boom and zoom, if you will. Same for the MiG-21. In my designs I think of what its role is going to be before I start. Then I work from there, sometimes I can come up with some OUTSTANDING designs, other times I come up with complete absolute junk. I have a save file filled with over 50 fighter aircraft designs, this is not including my SSTO fighters, or SSTO aircraft.

The real reason for using a spaceplane SSTO design is quite simply cost. It is cheaper and easier to operate a SSTO space plane then most non-SSTO craft. Now SSTO tail lander rockets or fully recoverable SSTO rockets are cheaper still. But the biggest advantage is you can cut your operational overhead in career mode by large margins if you have a few dedicated SSTO lifters. I know when I was seriously working on my SSTO fleet, I had 4 SSTO space plane lifters. And those 4 could do anything and everything I needed including go to other orbital bodies and return.