Cruzan

I wonder if this is the same type of error that Scott Manley made a video of. I don't remember off-hand what the name of the failure was, but it involved planes getting ripped apart at low altitudes. I still haven't messed around with FAR, but I need to! I'm glad my vids were still able to help you out even without FAR

I loaded up the latest version and it is working great! The lights are gone as well Are there any plans for recording the smoke/exhaust trails from rockets/planes in future updates? I imagine that would be a fairly large feature to add, but it would be really flippin' sweet!

It definitely does! It needs some ducted fans instead of jets, but it's still pretty close Thanks! And ya I actually used that video to help get a better feel for the design of the ship. Most of what I found were blurry screencaps and concept art. That model is soo sweet

A quick note: I updated the OP with an album to show off the looks a little bit better

Hehe thanks! The part count got a little high by adding in all the smaller details, but I figured it was worth it

Oblivion Bubble Ship Powered by Infernal Robotics I had made a 100% stock version of the Bubble Ship before, but I got a lot of requests to update it with the Infernal Robotics mod. The result turned out pretty well! I love how the legs can fold up behind the body now instead of hanging in front. The rotating engines are somewhat useful, but they can get you in to trouble since there isn't any lift coming from wings. It takes some getting used to, but it isn't too bad The overall design is pretty similar to the stock version aside from the landing legs and vtol engines. ALBUM VIDEO If stock KSP is more your speed, check out the stock version I made a while back! This new update has two different files. One design uses a 90 degree hinge and the other uses the full 180 degree hinge for the VTOL engines. Feel free to take your pick! CRAFT FILES: IR-90: http://www./view/xu0qdm0gjy6assm/Bubble_Ship_IR-90.craft Part Count: 260 IR-180: http://www./view/vr4al2w8ikarhac/Bubble_Ship_IR-180.craft Part Count: 243 The 180 is lighter and uses less parts. Those reaction wheels on the spheres weigh a lot and the 180 has about half as many as the IR-90. In-game craft file description: Take them for a spin and let me know what you think!

Ah ya that's the tough part I'd recommend using a plane that has a fair amount of lift on it to give a better glide ratio. This will let you hang in the air a little longer to correct the alignment if you need to. For the most part I'm about 90% lined up with the runway by the time I'm 1km away and then do minor adjustments with the rudder and a little roll to line up as best i can before committing to a landing. What is the design of the plane you've been using to try and do this with? I could maybe whip up a training design with good handling to make landing easier to practice. Grats on getting your SSTO to orbit! You can send your craft file to me here in a PM or email it to [email protected]. Just tell me what you want me to look at on it!

Alright, time to get to work on this challenge BTW, your download link doesn't actually link to anywhere. Copy/pasting the text of the link works though. This link works: Fixed Link

That's sweet! I might have to take the KSO for a spin one of these days As for lining up...there was a trick I saw on reddit once by Sattorin. He planted a flag at either end of the runway and would line up the two markers on approach so they'd overlap. When they line up like that you'll know that you are coming in fairly straight. I haven't tried it myself, but it sounds like it should work pretty well!

This video is just to showcase some easy rocket configurations using the new parts. They're powerful and efficient enough to be SSTO's mathematically, so I put the to the test! P.S. Not sure if this is the right place, but it's not my usual tutorial/craft file type of video

Hmm that's an interesting idea. I'll see if I can come up with something! No problem! That's great to hear How do you like the KSO?

Cool! And congratulations on taking 2nd btw

The new parts are pretty powerful! here's a LFB SSTO Only 8 parts if you don't count the launch clamps! Not efficient by any means, but it's cool these new parts can be standalone SSTOs lol

A little late on the video, but here's a quick summary of the finalists. A little redundant at this point I guess Thanks again Xeldrak! See you guys at the next challenge Side note: If either Giggleplex or Filthy would prefer not to have their design in this video just let me know and I'll take it down. I forgot to ask, sorry!

Mine would definitely have to be building/flying planes/SSTOs!

Good work everyone! This was a lot of fun Grats to Giggleplex for a truly awesome SSTO! Maybe we'll get you next time

This is a tough call. Ran out of time to breakdown and do an objective spreadsheet so I'll just go by my gut for this one Giggleplex 777: R-2 As far as what I feel is the best SSTO out of the group, it's hands down the R-2. For this contest though I think the R-2 is...too refined for a stock craft. It's like giving someone a brand new Audi R-8 or something when a stock craft should probably be more along the lines of a '98 Blazer haha. There's no room to tinker with the design or even a need to improve anything. The way the side intakes are mounted is also a little beyond the design level of a stock craft. MiniMatt: Mallard This is a very busy design. The core of the design is good, but all the added features might be a little over the top for a stock craft. Outside of the competition the abort stage and everything else are top-notch design elements, but for this contest they aren't really needed. Pretty close to being a top pick though. Heagar: HOTOL While I don't like the aesthetics, the HOTOL is extremely user-friendly as far as construction goes. Rebuilding it or removing pieces and adding new stuff would be very easy to do with this as a base design. Doesn't have a ton of range, but that's okay. O-Doc: Gecko Similar to the Mallard in that this is a fairly busy design. The middle tanks are also a pain to click on for refueling. The base design is very good and performs well, but I feel like the whole thing needs to be toned down in order to be a stock craft. oo0Filthy0oo: Wolphine Similar to the R-2 in aesthetics and overall design. Room for improvement, but pulling it apart and putting it back together might be difficult for a beginner. Using multiple tank sizes is odd and it'd be better to simplify it and combine them in to larger tanks. WaRi: Peregrino Not much in the way of aesthetics, but for a stock craft it is a very good candidate. Easy to reconstruct, take apart and add on to. All of the vital components are easily visible and it doesn't try to hide anything which is good for a stock design. It is missing some components that I would have liked to see (batteries, slightly more monoprop). The handling is a little too stable, but that could easily be adjusted by the player with this design. VERDICT..... WaRi's Peregrino! On top of what I mentioned, I really think that something that needs to be showcased to newer players with SSTOs is that simplicity is key. You can make it to orbit with very few parts and a small design! Starting players off with a large design might send them down a dark road of adding more fuel and engines, just compounding the complexity. I know when I first started out my SSTOs were way too big. If I had been given a stock craft that was smaller like the Peregrino I might have put 2 and 2 together to figure out that I needed to start much smaller. Small, simple, easy to build and fly. The Peregrino does all that very well. The player can fiddle with the aesthetics and the handling on their own

I would have used those winglets, but in the redesign I slid the main delta wings forward quite a ways which took away the extra room for the fairly big winglets. I couldn't find any other config that looked decent without putting them under the wings. Since it isn't for the contest though I said screw it and went with the small control surfaces The GIF I created in photoshop, but you can make them a lot more easily by using GifCam. And I've never liked the shielded port on spaceplanes personally. Partly because it is heavier, but mostly because it just feels more like a part design for a shuttle/station. It would make the nose look more aerodynamic though I suppose

Confession: I've been tinkering with my Bolt's redesign instead of doing more in-depth testing of the finalists' designs I'll probably do my testing tonight after classes. Although, Giggleplex may have stolen the show already!

That abort stage was outstanding! I think in my notes I even used two explamation marks when talking about it haha In the end I had to rate it lower because it was way too advanced for a stock/beginner craft. Outside of the competition though it is a great SSTO

All of your 50+ votes came from judges who scored using a 1-10 or 1-15 system for ranking, with all entries ranking lower than that receiving a 53. I wouldn't take it as a hit to your design or that the judge actually thought your submission should be DQed or anything like that

Ya I was surprised not to see you make the finals since you scored 2nd on my sheet! I'll have to test out your new design when I get a chance. I plan to revise my Bolt once this is all over to fix it's overly stable flight characteristics.

I exported it to CSV so I could actually understand the rankings. The whole "So and So beat So and So 12 out of 7 times" thing does nothing for me It's crazy to see just how much Giggle's design is blowing everyone else out of the water:

It looks like mine got a total of 4 rankings of 53 Ya the White Dart would have been an easy top 5 for me if it didn't use the surface mounting from Editor Tools Actually looking a little more closely, 5 or 6 of your 50+ rankings, Rune, were from judges who scored using a 1-10, then 53 for the rest type of scoring system. I'd be interested to see how much that actually changes things versus ranking all 1-53. Some mathematician will need to do the groundwork for me there (hides engineering degree). EDIT: It looks like we have til the 28th to do more refined testing. I'll break my scoring system down a little further to get a more accurate result.

Ah damn you and your ability to get me to tinker! The fun part was adjusting the thrust as the fuel practically evaporates out of the tanks haha. I'm not used to such a quick change in mass since most of my VTOL experience is with jets! Yup! Any design that was easy to replicate scored very well. If you pull up pics of the top 5 to top 10 designs in my rankings that is pretty apparent