xtoro

You can also use mods like KAS and InfernalRobotics to create cranes and other building machines to either carry loads or stack things using moving parts and winches. I had a nice crane truck built back in 0.20 that could lift fuel tanks and tanker rockets that were landed on Duna, and bring them back to the main base to refuel things.

Landed and left. Trick is to bring your peri down to around 2k. Keep an eye on your descent rate (the dial next to the altimeter) and try to keep it around -50 as you get closer the ground. If you start to fall faster, get your ship more vertical to kill off your descent rate. Keep doing this untli your horizontal speed is "landable". It's a fine balance between slowing your horizontal and vertical speeds.

Cool, ok then, I like challenges with no rules. Here's my entry: Ready to take off Liftoff 70k orbit Landed runway to 70k orbit to runway in 10 seconds! yay I win!

The title of the thread says "SPACEPLANE"

Uh, I'm not competing here, but felt the need to comment... This isn't a "spaceplane". 1) It has no wings, which defines a plane. 2) It can't glide, which is also the very definition of a plane. I understand there were no rules posted, however, the title itself states "Spaceplanes" which implies that rule. I say this gets disqualified. If not, them I'm going to submit a rocket in the spaceplane challenge....

I agree with him though. I do planes once in a blue moon, but for the most part, I have no use for them. Take off, fly somewhere and land again isn't really an accomplishment for me. Now leaving Kerbin and landing somewhere else is a different story. I have done this with spaceplanes, but it just doesn't seem as fun.

Looks good Glad you're enjoying it!

Cool thanks for the links! I usually just use http://ksp.olex.biz/ to calculate phase angles which is really all I need at this point, but the link you sent has much more info! The flowchart is cool too, but, I have some storyline which will determine the order of planets and change things up to make it more interesting. Spoiler: The next planet on the trip is very green..... Ya I figured that, but it's ok, I don't actually move the crew around except for to/from the landers, and I use CrewXfer. And a note here on the realism aspect, is that I allowed myself to use CrewXfer because I designed the ship to have living spaces attached to eachother, including the hub to get in and out of the landers without having to EVA. Haha, help yourself man, I didn't copyright it or anything

I go a few days at a time not playing just because I'm busy with life stuff, but the longest I went in recent memory was 15 days when I was in the hospital for a week recovering from surgery and then came home and was unable to sit at the computer for very long. Been over a month now and I'm not fully recovered but I'm back to KSP!

@TimberWolffe nice, not sure how many times I've gone all the way around but its at least one that I saw... Figured i could calculate it by flight time but then realized that the planet is also spinning so I'm not sure... I figure I'm on my 2nd or 3rd go around...

Haha no, autopilot then alt-tab and did other stuff running another copy of ksp. Then went to bed and left the plane fly overnight. Its still flying now....

This is not only today, but yesterday too since it flew all night Still going using only solar panels and electric propellers... Probably going to be doing this tomorrow too

I also think there should be a search function. For those times when you have a part in the VAB/SPH that you want to use again, but don't want to copy the one already on the ship because too much is attached to it. So you search and search for the part... maybe an option to type in the name of the part, or, right click on a part in the VAB/SPH and have a "show me" icon that will bring you to the right part page and highlight the part for you...

By flight I mean IN ATMOSPHERE, not rockets... Currently doing a challenge on chasing the sun for as long as possible and I'm on day 2 now using solar power and electric engines. I did have to use Rapier engines just to catch up to the sun because I launched at night, and then once I caught up, I ditched them. A rule is you can't use batteries or engines that produce electricity. Before launch Catching up to the sunset Caught up Going to sleep now Next morning Sun is in the same position as last night So far: And the flight is still in progress. Note that one of the rules is that you can't go above 11,000 meters. Looking to see if anyone else has flown this long. And you know the rule, pics or it didn't happen

Ok so I left it on autopilot and went to bed last night (note the time) [click for larger images] I caught up to the sun so I ditched my Rapier engines and extra 2 tanks. Now running only on electric propellers. Woke up this morning and it's still going Position of the sun is in the same spot, so it looks like I can indeed fly forever with this plane... Again, notice the time So it's been flying now for 2 days, 3 hours and 37 minutes. Stats so far: So, how do you want to calculate points on an infinite flight distance? Anyways, here's what I got so far... 3,238,392 meters = 323,839 +75 points for have 5 power consuming parts Double points for using electric engines Triple points for being faster than the sunset (I caught up to it and I'm slowly overtaking it) 1,943,484 Points But this number will continue to climb because the flight is still going... EDIT: Have now passed KSC again and going for another flight around Kerbin. Not sure how many times I've gone around the planet so far...

Quicksave, often. If need be, do a mod+F5 and name them so that you can have different points to recover to. When that happens though and things just explode, just do a quickload... FYI, I too had issues with gigantic stations and ships exploding when timewarping and loading until I installed this -> Kerbal Joint Reinforcement. Does wonders. When you come out of timewarp or when you load the station, it disables physics and then slowly brings it back up so things don't suddenly explode when physics kicks in.

Ok, so after my last post, I saw the new rule about leaving at 1:15, which left me in the dark. So I added some Rapier engines and I'm on my way again. Starting Sun is in sight Well caught up to the sun, enough to run all my electric props Should be able to make it directly under the sun. After that, my electric props and solar panels will leave me directly under the sun, forever. 2.5 Kerbal hours in so far and 470km covered.

EDIT: Saw the new rules, have to reconfigure to take off at night...

Err, don't forget about Linux... runs in 64-bit no problems...

Alright, here you go: https://www.dropbox.com/s/zeivyc17hhdrds5/Lifter%2C%20150t.craft?dl=0 It's a subassembly so drop it in your subassemblies folder and attach it to a pod or something to work on it.

I've got a great one that can lift 150t into LKO with fuel to spare, but, it's not stock, you need NovaPunch2... If you're interested I can upload it...

My ship, the Avalon. 740 tons of interplanetary exploration-ness. Crewed by 7 Kerbals. Click images for high res: Features nuclear engines to go that distance, living quarters with centrifuge so that the Kerbals can enjoy some gravity, a Karbonite miner in tow, and 3 landers, one of which is designed for Eve. I've even gone and designed the interior: Centrifuge living quarters Maintenance workshop (between the living quarters and the landers) The other end of the workshop

Where can we find this squadcast?

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/76273-Stand-Alone-Map-View-Multi-monitor-KSP-0-23-5-WIP-Plugin However, be aware that your computer will be running 2 copies of KSP to run this mod.

And I just posted this same thing yesterday about 15 hours before your post..... http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/94442-Pitch-black-lighting Using AmbientLightShifter, much better now...