keptin

Hey BD. We're putting together a 2v2 AI dogfighting challenge and in testing the 5km view range is pretty limiting. Fighters are almost within gun range at 5km. While it's manually editable in the craft file, please consider increasing the slider bar to 10 or 15km range, if possible. That'd make missiles, and especially AMRAAM's more viable. *edit*--oops, just discovered the physics settings menu! Looks like that'll do the trick!

Longer ranges would make AMRAAM's worth equipping. 5km is barely enough time to get off some missiles before you're within gun range. Though, manually editing the craft file raises the bar for entry. Maybe BD can update his mod to allow for a larger slider.

Designed the Helion III-B to face the F4 Destroyer. It performs very well against it with both set to 160 FoV and 5000m view range. Bested it 6:4. It's nearly 2t lighter and more maneuverable. The tandem tail allows it to take missile hits better than the Helion II. 48 points by t3hJimmer's point system. Craft file: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/66999462/Helion%20IIIB.craft

You know what a dart is, right? You have to if you're from the UK. Picture a dart. It's got a weight at the front and "wings" at the back that serve to keep the tip pointed straight in flight. With the CoM so far forward of the CoL, it essentially follows a ballistic trajectory. What that pictograph is saying is that if you put your CoM too far forward your aircraft is going to have the flight characteristics of a dart. A lawn dart is simply a big dart that sticks in the grass outside instead of on a dart board. Fitting, because your aircraft will also stick in the grass if you design it like a dart.

I agree that a fixed gun rule is a good idea--turrets are just way too powerful. I'd also put a limit on countermeasure pods--and missiles/guns for that matter, so that missiles have a chance to hit, but actually run out. Someone could easily build a wacky races plane with 50 missiles or ten 30mm cannons. A part count or weight limit might prevent part spamming.

The Helion II-D fared pretty well against the Mosquito MkII-A. Bested it 5:2, with one draw. I forced FoV to 170 for the sake of fair combat--since let's be honest, you can't see 360. Helion II-D craft file: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/66999462/Helion%20IID.craft

Awesome. As always, thanks for your hard work!

Yo RoverDude, is 7.1.4 up on Git? I'm only seeing 7.1.3 as most current under the Firespitter git repository.

Depends on what's limiting your plane. If it's engines flaming out, then you need greater intake area or speed to ram more air--though eventually you'll hit a limit where there's just no more atmosphere. If it's stalling in thin air, then you need more speed or more wing area. Or both. Though it's a tricky balance. Intake area slows you down. Wings are draggy and heavy. So what's the craft's purpose? If it's high altitude research, maybe slow is the way to go. Then you design something like the U-2. If it's fast, maybe something more like the F-104.

I will be when I have some time to spare and after I've become more familiar with the new aero system. I've been using what little time I have this week to update KAX.

Huge thanks Snjo and Roverdude! So many mods are powered by Firespitter and the continued support is much appreciated! -KAX dev

It's been two and a half years since I first posted this tutorial and we're hours away from getting the aero update many of us have dreamed of! I look forward to adding a few more sections to the tut as well as finally changing this... If you have any recommendations for additions, post them below. -Empennage design -Fuel load in flight (change of CoM) -Supersonic funtimes -Update Control surfaces -Update Drag section

Time baring, hell yeah! Though it's going to take some time for me to familiarize myself with the new content. This is a basic guide, but I'm very excited to see how the aero update affects aircraft design in KSP in more advanced or subtle ways, e.g. mach wing sweep, etc.

It's great to see something really cook up some enthusiasm! And I love seeing the different takes on a similar subject. Hey, we bringin' the heat!--modders represent. Gonna kick out some kickass gear.

If you're flying into space, then you're going to want your center of thrust in line with your center of mass. Asymmetric thrust will ruin your day unless you can counter it with enough RCS control. Another thing to keep in mind is that you have a pusher-canard setup with a lot of mass aft. Canard designs are inherently sensitive to changes in mass, i.e. fuel burn, because their fulcrum is far aft instead of center. Basic Aircraft Design - Explained Simply, With Pictures

Awesome job man! Really excited to see your pack grow! Godspeed *salute*

There may be an update in order post-aero update, which may be coming soon enough. It'd be great to include a section for payload and fuel mass, especially shifting fuel load. I'm sure plenty of folks run into the issue where their aircraft works great until fuel burn starts shifting the CoM and throws everything out of wack. Explaining why that happens and how to design around it or shift fuel in-flight would be helpful.

Well, I've tried all the possible workarounds for fixing the frozen prop hub issue and was finally cockblocked by KSP's transparency object sorting. MODULE { name = FSplanePropellerSpinner propellerName = geo_noseconeMain rotationSpeed = 400 //windmillRPM = 0.01 spinUpTime = 2.1 //15.0 useRotorDiscSwap = 1 rotorDiscFadeInStart = 0.55 rotorDiscFadeInEnd = .95 rotorDiscSpeed = 120 rotorDiscName = geo_propBlur blade1 = geo_blade blade2 = geo_blade1 blade3 = geo_blade2 blade4 = geo_blade3 blade5 = geo_noseconeMain } The idea here is that geo_propBlur is the combined blurred prop disk AND a duplicate spinning prop hub, so its swapped in and the entire thing rotates. Making the other geo_noseconeMain a blade results in it being swapped out, so the effect actually works. The problem is that KSP object sorting causes alpha transparency issues when it comes to using materials with alpha transparency on objects that need to be opaque. It assumes that because they have a certain level of transparency, they're always going to be rendered behind other objects. This means that the prob hub ends up being "transparent"--it's especially apparent with the backfacing polys (namely, inside of the hub tip). Of course, you can force Use Alpha as Transparency in Unity, but KSP doesn't interpret that in the material set. So this results in-game: Snjo, you're my last hope! ========================= EDIT: I spoke too soon!!! I fixed the prob freeze issue and here was the solution: MODULE { name = FSplanePropellerSpinner propellerName = geo_noseconeMain rotationSpeed = 400 //windmillRPM = 0.01 spinUpTime = 2.1 //15.0 useRotorDiscSwap = 1 rotorDiscFadeInStart = 0.55 rotorDiscFadeInEnd = .95 rotorDiscSpeed = 50 rotorDiscName = geo_propBlur blade1 = geo_blade blade2 = geo_blade1 blade3 = geo_blade2 blade4 = geo_blade3 blade5 = geo_noseconeMain } MODULE { name = FSplanePropellerSpinner //propellerName = geo_noseconeMain rotationSpeed = 400 //windmillRPM = 0.01 spinUpTime = 2.1 //15.0 useRotorDiscSwap = 1 rotorDiscFadeInStart = 0.55 rotorDiscFadeInEnd = .95 rotorDiscSpeed = 100 rotorDiscName = geo_blurHub } Using a second FSplanePropellerSpinner module to control the geo_blurHub, allowing me to assign a KSP diffuse material to it separately.

Oh, I never realized Alt+click copied the part stack! Thanks!

Awesome turnaround, thanks Snjo! Amazing how many mods rely on your plugin now. Some issues I've run across so far: -Engine sound pitch increase sounds choppier, like it's pitching up in large step sizes and not gradually -Tail rotor trust doesn't switch with key presses; both A & D keys cause it to apply thrust in the same direction

Repeatable bug, vanilla 32-bit version of 0.90, bug also present in 64-bit 0.90. One of my methods of replicating stacks of parts is to pull off a stack, place it to the side, and ctrl-z (undo) to replace the stack on the ship, leaving a duplicate stack to the side in the editor. When doing this in 0.90 and trying to reattach the duplicate stack, something borks and fuses the stack to the ship in what I'm guessing is a now broken nodal part structure.

Oooh, yeah 0.90 doesn't play nice with Firespitter and related mods. Good to know a temp fix is in the works, and always rooting for official support.

Ha, I love it! That's the second majestic Eagle I've seen in this thread. It reminds me of the ultimate rule of aircraft design: With enough thrust, anything can fly!

Thanks folks, glad to see this tut helping so many peeps out. It's been a year since posting and it's received some great feedback and many revisions. I'm very excited for the future aero model coming soon as we approach KSP v1.0.

A few people have reported this problem. I just posted an alternate mirror link on the front page. You can also access this here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/66999462/AircraftDesign.jpg