Mast

Turns out it it's even quite buggy for the biomes it claims to support (Mun biomes don't register properly and my Kerbin scores went negative a long time ago). Apparently nobody knows who owns it, so I don't know who to approach for a fix. Are there alternatives available or do I really have to start from scratch on this?

I build this by accident, does it count?

I usually refer to http://www.kerbal-science.com/ to figure out whether I'm missing any science points. Unfortunately, it's missing support for some of the lesser known micro biomes on Kerbin (Crawlerway, Mission Control, the tanks, etc.). Does anyone know who maintains the site so I can write a proper feature-request? Is there a public repository?

I'm going to disagree with the earlier sentiment and say there's nothing wrong with doing an unmodded playthrough on YouTube. Keep in mind many of the old videos started in an older version, as far back as 0.18. A lot has changed since then. I for one would love to follow such a series, just to see how someone got through the science path in a recent version and what their take is on what routes are useful and what activities could be explored early on. You can always do a mod run after :-)

Wait, that's a thing now? We can actually explore the sea floor?

@Evanitis Awesome! That's probably the way to go, so I'll just do that.

@Tex_NL I recently moved to Steam, I'm not sure Steam allows multiple installs without messing up somewhere. Does anyone know more about this? I was thinking about writing something to simply swap between RO and non-RO. It's just a bunch of files in the end, so moving the old saves to an off-site and importing the relevant mods would 'enable' the mods, removing the mods and re-importing the old saves would 'disable' them. Would be a good excuse to pick-up PowerShell again...

I put the retractable wheels on and they work quite nicely. I also put a bunch of science modules on it to let it do something useful. It wasn't going fast enough for regular cruising/exploration anyway. I also put 2 extra wheels on the back without removing the old ones. The old ones are for back-up, in case wings go AWOL and all. http://www.filedropper.com/flyordieforscience

Is it possible to use mods only for some saves while not for others? I've been thinking about taking a shot at Realism Overhaul, but only if it's possible on-the-side. It would be unfortunate if it messes with my current saves.

@WhiteKnuckle Looks like the front wheel was mounted right after all, inverting actually inverted the steering. Oh well. I also found out the desert is quite a nice place to practice, unless your wings are a little low. Progress! I unlocked the retractable wheels, got spare points to go a tier better to medium if required. But the plane shouldn't be needing those, it ain't that heavy. Currently redesigning the plane to lift it's wings a little and raise the whole thing. Retractable wheels will probably reduce the drag, which is good. Landing 'in the air' like WhiteK proposed was a bit tricky, but at least I know how to get valuable statistics about any given SSTO now.

@WhiteKnuckle So that's why the front wheel was looking odd, I didn't notice it was placed backwards. I haven't unlocked the retractable landing gear yet I think. I've considered putting the back wheels on the outer sides of the wing, but since the nose was already low I didn't want to risk it. I'll have to rise the tips a little to prevent them touching down, perhaps that will give more room for placing the wheels as well. The main problem with the landing is coming in straight, low enough and without too much speed. Knowing when to put on the brakes is also tricky (I suspect you're not supposed to use the brakes for landing). In other words, I'd prefer a broader and longer runway to practice on :-)

Turns out it can land. Well, kind of... I blame my flying skills.

This is the Fly Or Die. Basically it's the first relatively good flying space plane I've build in a long time. It flies really well, is quite efficient and should have enough fuel to make it around Kerbin (to be tested). There's an antenna and thermometer on board for quick science as well. Now if only I knew how to successfully land the thing... http://www.filedropper.com/flyordie

Definitely a good read. Three minor points: - It would be much appreciated if you could update the text now the atmospheric model in KSP has changed. - Small explanation of Trim would me much appreciated, since this can combine the best of both worlds when designing aircraft. - Now we're talking expansions, how about a section about where best to keep your payload in an aircraft? Keeping in mind construction strength, weight, centers, length:width ratio, drag, etc. it's a lot more complicated than with a rocket. Aircraft can be great tools for science gathering, both on Kerbin and on other atmospheric bodies. Once you know how to do it properly, that is.

To get science from the appropriate biomes, for example. Set-up satellite dishes, mining outposts, heck should I know what thousand reasons there are to land on target. Perhaps I'm just old-fashioned in trying to land somewhat accurately. I won't pretend I now know exactly how to fix my rockets, but your pointers definitely helped getting into the right direction. Best I tried so far was going as narrow as possible down behind a heat shield, and if you go down fast enough you'll evaporate your Kerbals anyway. For ascending a sharp rocket works best, but for descending a blunt rocket works better. And I guess I need to hide my science equipment from the heat so I can actually use the lift to my advantage while steering instead of loosing an instrument with every manoeuvre.