Hodo

That is outstanding! I wish I had the patience for something like that. But I really don't. One of the things I can't wait for is for them to update B9 to the new fuselage style or make an adapter.

It isn't that bad when you assign the fire key to number "2" or "3". because it is right above your W key and easy to get to while working the WASD keys. I learned this trick a long time ago from FPS games where I would use it for my quick needed swaps.

Where did you get that cargobay? It looks like a B9 bay but all of those open from the top and it fits the lightning cockpit so it is the older mk2 fuselage setup.

In normal atmospheric subsonic flight yeah you will want your CoL a bit further back from your CoM. But if the craft is going to be an SSTO and thus a hypersonic aircraft, you will want your CoL closer to your CoM, this is because FAR models the shift in the CoL on the wings as you go transonic. The CoL moves back on the wings as you hit supersonic speeds, moving your CoL back on the craft.

Most people have issues when transitioning from stock souposphere KSP to a bit more realistic aerodynamic atmosphere FAR. The key is setting up you CoL and your CoM. This would include your Dry CoM. For your DCoM I would suggest getting RCS build aide, it help a GREAT deal with spaceplanes and FAR. Most of my spaceplanes, which is a GREAT many over the past 3 years, is to have my CoM just ahead of my CoL. About like this... granted this one was a bit closer than I would like but it handles well at supersonic speeds. This one isnt that bad. The other thing is to try and avoid having a great deal of drag on the aircraft. The less cD the more range it will have, and the faster it can go, within limits of its engines. The ideal SSTO setup is a SABRE or RAPIER engine, on a simple airframe for your first SSTO. This is a very simple design it can achieve a low orbit when flown right and it is easy to fly. Also you will want to set some control surfaces to act as spoilers or use the B9 airbrakes on the design to slow down. Because bringing in a slick SSTO with a low cD is going to be a pain to land at half the speed of sound because you cant get it slowed down. Like this one, it has a bunch of airbrakes

I second this.... Put a ring on it!

I just assign mine to an action key. Really simple. Usually 3, because it is right about the W-E keys and pretty easy to get to. None of my combat aircraft are that complex to operate and they are pretty easy to fly. As for making an ICBM, you can do it with BDArmory, you just have to edit the cfgs for a part and add the bomb explosives part of the file to it, then increase the blast on it by oh.... A LOT! And the MIRV part of it is the bigger challenge and that is only because of KSPs loading distance. I love building military craft, and SSTOs, but still dont understand the want for a nuclear weapon or even a daisy cutter FAB.

I will hire those that are bravery disinclined. They at least keep me entertained when they are going places.

I have abort systems on all of my non-combat craft, and the Vanguard ejection system and EVA chutes for my combat craft. Not an entry But it is QUITE rare.

Good looking aircraft, is it FAR compatible? I am looking forward to this mission, but I find it funny that attack aircraft can only have 1 gun. Most of my fighters have 2 20mm vulcans mounted under the nose. I think my Akula is the only fighter I have that does not have a pair of guns.

Why? When your typical ICBM can have up to 13 MIRV warheads each amounting to around 5MT of explosive force. Your smaller Trident ICBMs can mount 7 warheads and each can target a city and each can level several square miles.

A TWR of 1.5:1 with FAR+DRE is a bit excessive. Most you want is around 1.2:1. The trick is keep your throttle pretty low till about 10-12km, then you can start to throttle up to full. I generally start my gravity turn at 100m/s or 1000m AGL. If my TWR is around 1.2:1 I start at 100% throttle then throttle back once I hit the target speed to about 80-90%. After I hit 10-12km I throttle back up.

Unless you use AJE and RO it is doubtful you will have problems flying to the other continent on 1 fuel tank of liquid fuel. I think when I flew around Kerbin I did with around 60 Kebals and 400 fuel and never climbed above 20km. I did a test flight earlier today in the F-119 Akula and stayed below 1.5km and did it using the RAPIER engine on it and never used more than 40 fuel. And that was going supersonic the whole way with a load of ordnance.

It is possible, just VERY difficult. You can do it but you will need a few mods and a lot of patience. The biggest thing is you will need engines that have a large gimble range that let you control the YAW with them. And you will need a fuel balancer mod to let you keep the CoM EXACTLY where you need it at all speeds. I would also suggest a PID tuner which will let you adjust the SAS torque and control surfaces torque.

With some minor modifications it would look like a Union class Dropship from Battletech.

Or at least not Jeb. Granted Jeb would have got him back faster... but his chances of survival maybe a bit less than 1 in 5.

I tested my Akula and the Thundergod both worked just fine below 1.5km and were quite able to complete any mission at such low alts.

Those craft primarily use three mods b9, procedural wings and procedural fuel tanks. These are to cut down on parts count.

With ease and that is not even using their SSTO abilities.

At what altitude are you performing your de-orbit burn? Are you using air brakes to slow down at above 30km? What is your PE after you perform your de-orbital burn? These are important bits of information. I use DRE and FAR and the trick is to have an AP of 100km and a PE of around 5-10km. You should be going less than mach 6 before you drop below 25km ASL.

One word, 3 letters.... F A R Nuff said.

I said yes to this. The reason is, they have succeeded in all of their goals for the games basic package. Now anything they add after this will be things that were suggested or added after the initial goals were written for the game. At this point the game is more than playable more complete then most games released out on the market for twice the price by much larger companies and this game is still in "beta". For those who think the game isnt ready obviously dont understand that because they hit "release" status doesn't mean they are done with it. It just means they are no longer going to re-write the game code because of a minor issue.

That was a light load for it and the cargo was only 18 tons. It was the base part for the space station. It could haul up to 40-60 tons. It is in my medium class of lifters, my heavy lifter which I dont use much anymore is the SP-406 and SP-409. It was more than capable of hauling over a 120tons to an orbit of 125-100km. It could haul 120tons to a 200km orbit. And all of my mods are not to make the game easier but harder and more realistic. I even built a SSTO in RO.

I watched this video to see what you are doing differently than me in my designs. I noticed you were talking about the small wings on that craft, you have to remember that body style is also a lifting body design so the body of the craft acts as a wing in itself. I REALLY liked your probe though, I may use a few mods and make it a bit more compact and copy the design.

This is my very light lifter I use it for science experiments in orbit. And it is CHEAP, I think it is around 300-500 per mission. Meanwhile this was my medium to heavy lifter for the last version and it was about 1000-2000 per mission. But I haven't launched anything heavy in a LONG while. Mostly I have been concentrating on my military arm of development.