Tharios

So, essentially, there's no particular place to take a passenger unless the contract explicitly specifies one?

Actually...strut them, and also add an extra set of wheels if you can. Apparently there's an issue with how much weight and force the B9 gear can handle, so you have to use extra sets of gears just like a normal plane would (though slightly more since even fighter-sized craft seem to need the extra support). But yeah, strut the part to the landing gear, two should each should do it unless it's a really heavy plane.

That bit right there would probably be good to include in the tutorial as well, perhaps after the page mentioning the multiple orbits, and before the page instructing you to execute the maneuver. I'll try again here soon.

I decided to give it a try anyway. Seems to work just fine so far. I'm just really terrible at it. I can never seem to get that 2km intercept. Closest I can ever seem to get is 5km, no matter how many orbits I take. If I ever make it all the way through, I'll offer some input on how to make it a bit more user-friendly for utter noobs like myself. One thing I'll mention now though is that you should probably mention the potential need for multiple orbits and whatnot BEFORE they try and make the node for the transfer orbit. I spent hours the first time trying to get that intercept in the one maneuver, only to hit next and find out I might have to orbit multiple times.

Ferram sped up the reaction time of control surfaces. So now you can do more with fewer control surfaces. Use the tweakables in .23 to designate large flaps for pitch only, and just a couple of small flaps for roll control. Keep the roll flaps in toward the body if the wobble is still a problem. Your design is fine, it's just the changed parameters of the game necessitate changing your strategy...ie, your flap usage and positioning.

Does this tutorial function properly for .23? I haven't tried it yet, but I finally got my KSP working with mods and I don't want to mess it up again.

The emphasized portion is what I was about to post a question about. I finally got my planes stable without becoming twitchier than a meth addict after a month of sobriety...and then when I get up to 15km altitude and about mach 3+, it rolls inevitably to one side or the other with no way to roll back with the little control surfaces I use for roll (usually to the left). Glad to hear that may be fixed. Never messed with lifting bodies...after the update, maybe I'll try them out.

Further note...no radial intakes function at all with the pre-coolers. I assume then that they're specifically set to recognize only inline intakes, since it recognizes them even from other mods?

Not sure if it's intentional or just an oversight, but the stock radial intakes do not work with the pre-coolers. All other air intakes (but air intakes only, not atmo intakes) work as intended. Absolute necessity with the new RAPIER engines...much better than the SABREs from B9, imo.

sorry...yes, tips higher than root. And for the tail, it means the tips of the tails are angled away from the centerline of the craft. But the facing of both tails and wings are still inline with the direction of flight.

I ran into similar problems. Now that .23 is out, what I did was to put big flaps on the wings that control pitch only, with a single small flap on each wing to control roll. That eliminated a large part of my issues. As for your pitch problem, perhaps your CoL is too far behind your CoM for the speeds you're flying at...and/or not quite enough lift in general? Also, I find slightly upward-canted wings help with stability, and a pair of outward-canted tail fins with small flaps with pitch and roll turned off (so they affect only yaw) helps a lot. Now...my only problem is supersonic stability...which I think is more an altitude/speed problem than design. I may just be going too fast, too low.

I...don't know how to reduce the number of control surfaces to less than 3. I need two wings to fly at all...one surface each. I need at least one vertical tail fin to keep it stable...that's another single control surface. Is it even possible to build a craft with less than three flaps? The strutting may be an issue, but they don't otherwise seem to be flexing much if at all, but I'll try it.

So...I build planes, that are mostly very stable on their own. They have one vertical fin with one control surface, and upward-canted wings with one control surface each, and a single jet engine. The CoL is always centered just at the edge of the CoM sphere. I do not usually add a stand-alone SAS or ASAS module as they don't seem to be necessary on such small, nimble craft. I am using a fresh install of the stock game except for FAR, but even without FAR, I have exactly the same issue. As much as I can tell, I've installed it correctly, as everything about it seems to function as intended despite the problem noted below. Even so...they always roll and pitch up, very slowly to the left. That wouldn't be a big deal, except attempting to correct it in-flight is problematic at best. Even with "soft" controls active, it jumps a full 15 to 20 degrees in angle no matter how gingerly and quickly I tap the keys. There seems to be no difference at all between normal and "soft" controls. One is a nail bat, and the other is a nail bat with one less nail in it. Activating the built-in SAS makes things worse. The gimbal, the control surfaces, and the reaction wheels all go berserk as soon as I turn it on, flinging it back and forth nauseatingly. Locking the gimbal does nothing. It all ceases the instant I deactivate the SAS. If I do add a stand-alone SAS or ASAS module, nothing changes at all in the craft's behavior at activation. It still thrashes wildly. If I take too long to lift-off from the runway, these tendencies make taking-off impossible, as one side lifts while the other stays in contact with the ground, causing a catastrophic rollover. The same thing happens with rockets, but is somewhat easier to deal with since the lift comes mostly from the engine and not the winglets. This all pretty much makes the game totally unplayable, though. I realize it's not your mod doing it, since the stock game does it just as badly. But install after install, modded or unmodded, it doesn't seem to change anything. What else could be responsible for this?

Which is actually what I was getting at...but I didn't specify. My bad.

Mac users who are still having problems: Make sure you're upgraded to the latest Mac OS...Mavericks. I've been having all the problems listed throughout with the crashes and missing parts. As soon as I upgraded, it all went away. It may not be that easy for all, but do it...just in case.