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In 2015, NASA’s New Horizon probe swung past Pluto, gathering important data about it and its moon before slingshotting itself further away from us, now heading forever out of our solar system…pretty cool, huh? :) But we all know the Kerbals and the great Kerbal Space Program is better than NASA by far, and to prove this we must one up them. Therefore, I challenge all of you budding Kerbonauts to design a probe capable of: REACHING THE PLANET OF EELOO SLINGSHOTTING PAST IT ON AN ESCAPE TRAJECTORY OUT OF THE KERBOL SYSTEM LANDING A SMALLER PROBE ON THE SURFACE TO DO SCIENCE! The rules are as follows: The probe must pass within 70km of Eeloo’s surface and the lander must have a stable, prolonged touchdown on the surface The probe must be done in stock but the two DLCs (Making History and Breaking Ground’ are permitted The probe must way between 3 and 12 tons during its interplanetary stage (from leaving Kerbin’s SOI to entering Eeloo’s SOI) To validate your probe, you must send at least 5 pictures of your probe: one in the VAB (clear), one on the launchpad, in orbit around Kerbin, near Eeloo and finally an image of the lander of the surface. Another image is required of the final probes escape trajectory The information for your probe in your message (simply reply on this thread) must include: mass, name, overview, any cool notes and (hopefully not) controversial things, e.g. part clipping Cheats (including unnecessary part clipping) is prohibited and any will be disqualified Don’t ruin the competition. Be sportsman’s like and don’t ruin the fun for others. THE TOP THREE WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON JANUARY 15th 2025. The craft will be ranked out of 10 by my own judgement but can get bonus points for: +1p — The whole probe goes within 10km of the surface (proof needed, screenshot is sufficient) +2p — The probe weighs less than 7 tons (including lander) +2p — You put a merry Christmas Easter egg on your probe! ;D +3p — You return your lander to Kerbin safely (can be recovered from within Kerbin SOI by another craft and can use ISRU FLY SAFE AND ENJOY A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR, HOPEFULLY NOT STRANDED ON DUN (i’m still sorry jeb)

First Light: The Journey of the Phthanophaneron It turns out I've never actually done a mission to Moho. Shocking! I call myself a veteran, with well over 1000 hours (though I don't have records of this, I'm fairly sure) of play over the years since version 0.20.2, but I still haven't managed to actually "complete" the game as far as actually visiting all the objects available. Thus, since the transfer window to Moho is the first to occur in my new Career (after spending the first 110 days or so completing the tech tree by thoroughly scrubbing Kerbin, the Mun, and Minmus for Science), I'm taking the opportunity to document the adventure as a sort of refresher course for myself before taking on the Ultimate Jool-5 Challenge once more (since it's been literal years since I last put down the game). For this expedition, I had been made aware that trips to Moho and back often take far more delta-V than one would expect, especially eschewing a gravity assist from Eve and the extra mission time that would entail, so I set my goal at 10 km/s and a maximum acceleration of at least 0.20 gees to avoid excessively long maneuver burns. I prepared what I considered the necessary payload and, based on its total mass, set about drafting some hull designs in the VAB, whereupon I discovered that the ship could certainly meet my needs, but it would be very, very large. Some of you may remember my "Sights of Kidonia" thread from a few years ago wherein I built a grand mothership to tackle the Jool-5 Challenge. While I eventually finished orbital assembly and performed the ejection burn from Kerbin, while it was en route real life got in my way, followed by several updates to the game that altered part geometry and made some of the mission components unusable. The final fatal obstacle was that, once I picked up KSP again a few weeks ago, I discovered whilst doing a test run in a simple ion probe that Kidonia probably never would have been able to complete the full mission for lack of delta-V. It had been designed with just over 9 km/s in total, but that only meets the requirements of a Jool-5 Challenge mission nominally, i.e. in real life one is unlikely to pull off the mission with that much delta-V with extreme luck, extremely meticulous planning, or a lot of gravity assists and thus a very long mission time. In any case, this thing is... comparable in size and has less than half the payload mass. On the one hand, I'm pleased that this gives me an excuse to build an even huger ship for next time, but on the other, increased sophistication in KSP's code base appears to have made the game less performant when operating ships with enormous part counts, so it might be a taller order than I can handle. But enough about Jool. This is a Moho mission! In this thread I'll be documenting the progress of the mission from start to finish and sharing my thoughts.

Out-of universe notes will be in cursive As you know, in 1.12 fireworks were added to KSP. What you might not know is that you can overclock fireworks using a KAL controller. These overpowered fireworks can be used for propulsion, if you're careful enough. FROM THE DECLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS OF THE KERBAL AEROSPACE FORCE: THE ORION DRIVE Ever since kerbals created explosives, they've wondered: can I fly with it? The question had been answered a long time ago by solid-fuel motors, but some kept thinking if there was more to it. That day, they proved there was. The Orion test vehicle was sitting on the launchpad, waiting for further commands. Daredevil pilot Jebediah Kerman was sitting inside. Even Jeb, the famous Kerbal With No Fear, was pondering the absurdity of this idea. A couple tons of explosives were going to be shot out of a hole at supersonic speeds, an Jeb was going to ride the shockwave. Suddenly, he heard a command from Ground Control. CAPTAIN KERMAN, PREPARE FOR LIFTOFF IN 3, 2, 1... And like that, Project Orion was born. Not with a whimper, but with a bang. Jeb felt the vehicle accelerate rapidly. He struggled with his breath, and his ears were ringing. COMMANDER KERMAN, WE HAVE LIFTOFF, I REPEAT, WE HAVE... BANG! and another one and another one Getting used to this is gonna be hard, Jeb thought. 28 more explosions followed. WE HAVE REACHED 100 m/s, Mission Control stated. Beginning descent, Jeb replied. Commander Kerman parachuted to safety. While his vehicle was being recovered, his brother Gene, head of Kerbal Aerospace Forces, called him to his office. Great job, Jeb, he said. We've officially started the Orion Program, and the investors are impressed. We're going to need you again soon, Jeb. Do you want to continue? Oh boy, more explosions? Jeb replied with excitement. Count me in! I need a vacation, though, my back hurts from all the gees now. I knew you would be interested. We'll call you. Jeb, the Orion Rider. Has a nice ring to it, don't you think? Gene finished. Okay, I'm tired, I'll publish the next part later today or tomorrow, I hope. I have all the pictures ready. Did you like this? Any criticism, questions or recommendations? Please reply! Here are some bonus photos. They'll come with every episode. They are not canon, consider them bloopers. NEXT UP ON THUNDERSTRUCK: WHO PUT ORION ON A PLANE?

Decided to attempt to revamp the stock system. ill update this topic with my process Dependencies: Kopernicus Kopernicus Expansion Niako's Kopernicus Utilities Downloads: Spacedock Github License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Patreon: https://patreon.com/Techo589

S t o c k W a t e r f a l l E f f e c t s This mod contains a set of template and engine configuration files, that give amazing waterfall effects to the stock engines. Downloads: Primary: https://github.com/KnightofStJohn/StockWaterfallEffects/releases Dependencies: You will of course need to install the Waterfall mod for this to work: https://github.com/post-kerbin-mining-corporation/Waterfall/releases Make sure you install the latest version of Waterfall when updating Stock Waterfall Effects Module Manager 4.1.4 is already included with waterfall. As of version 0.6.0, you will also need B9PartSwitch: https://github.com/blowfishpro/B9PartSwitch/releases Known Issues & Workarounds: Issue: Some engines might lag your game if you use too many of them. Workaround: Waterfall has some options available in the WaterfallSettings.cfg file: Set the "EnableLights" and "EnableDistortion" options to "false". Issue: For a very limited amount of people, some plumes can show through parts. This is a Waterfall base mod bug that affects some older hardware and some Linux or Mac users. We are going to look into this bug in the near future. New in 0.8.0: Compatibility fixes with ReStock and WaterfallRestock: I am currently working to iron out a number of loose ends. For a detailed list, see the github release notes. This first update targets some plume misalignments that were still happening with the ReStock model of the Rapier, for instance. I also added some of my plumes to other ReStocked engines. These will in other words "override" the plumes configured by WaterfallRestock. I decided to do this for a limited set of engines because these specific plumes in WaterfallRestock seemed far less refined than my own... sorry Nertea The other engines configured by WaterfallRestock, I left alone for now. Future work: Fixing the z-fighting inside some engine bells More ReStock compatibility Fixing the "plumes showing through parts" bug Some Waterfall base mod work... if I have time Plume selection Feature: My goal with this mod is to give the stock engines a realistic looking exhaust plume. This means that I try to give the engines that are inspired by real life engines, the correct type of plume. For example the Vector is based on the Space Shuttle Main Engine, the RS25, and therefore has a very similar looking hydrolox plume in this mod: However, some engines in the stock game were designed to look like certain real-life engines, but do not have similar stats in the game. I have to strike a balance between realism in engine performance, or realism in real-life inspiration.I chose to focus on giving the engines the correct plumes according to their performance. This is a list of the configured engines and the type of plume they have in this mod: • Vector & Mammoth: Lower stage hydrolox / Lower stage methalox • Poodle & Terrier: Upper stage methalox the reasoning here is that the Wolfhound and Cheetah are also both vacuum engines, but with even better ISP. Therefore they will be hydrolox engines, while the terrier and poodle will be methalox. • Rapier: Lower stage methalox & Methane-air • Rhino & Skiff: Mid-range hydrolox • Nerv: Upper stage nuclear hydrogen • Reliant, Swivel, Skipper, Mainsail, Twin Boar, Kodiak & Mastodon: Lower stage kerolox These kerolox plumes were originally designed by @Zorg for the Bluedog Design Bureau, and altered by me. Some more than others. • Spark & Cub: kerolox sustainer. • Cheetah & Wolfhound: Upper stage hydrolox Although the models for these engines are based on real hypergolic engines, I still made these two hydrolox engines because they have exceptionally high Isp. • Bobcat, Thud, Twitch & Spider: Lower stage Hydrazine 50 (hypergolic). This plume was originally designed by @Zorg for the Bluedog Design Bureau, and altered by me. • Puff & Ant: Upper stage Hydrazine 50 (hypergolic). • Dart: hydrolox aerospike. • Dawn: Xenon Hall-effect ion plume. • Goliath, Juno, Wheesley: Kerosene turbofan. • Panther: Kerosene turbofan & generic kerosene afterburner. • Whiplash: Blackbird J58 type kerosene afterburner. Eye Candy: Licensing: • All content is distributed under a CC-BY-SA-NC-4 License And if you happen to have some free time to fill, go check out my youtube channel : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoJWYYRrzVDmap8uzhHsj_A

I'm annoyed by the lack of aircraft, especially airliner parts and many mods are discontinued or don't have the parts I want. So I will make my own! (Click on the images for full-size) Boeing 737, 727 and 787 View inside the 737 cockpit Taking a look at the 737-800 engine Parts Boeing 737 (Max) inspired Cockpit with detailed IVA Boeing 737-800 Engine Boeing 787 Dreamliner Cockpit with detailed IVA Note that I will probably not add complete airliners, this is supposed to improve your creations with custom-built, specific parts, which drastically improve the visuals of your aircraft! I will add parts as I desire, and do not have any specific roadmap in mind. I'm open to suggestions though. Download coming soon!

DOWNLOAD KERBALX - https://kerbalx.com/InterstellarKev/MAKO MAKO Do you want to explore the Kerbol system in a slick vessel ready to take you on a voyage that you will never forget? Fly the Mako today! STATS DETAILED STOCK Details Type: SPH Class: ship Part Count: 362 Pure Stock KSP: 1.12.5 Class: Ship Type: SPH Mass: 113.61t Cost: 445,447.0 No. of Stages: 3 Crew Capacity: 12 Part Count: 362 No. of Struts: 31 Root Part: strutCube Built in KSP: 1.12.5 Size: 6.57 x 5.06 x 23.66 Flight Instructions. Enable RCS and SAS. Toggle Action Group 2 to toggle VTOL ION Thrusters to lift off of low gravity worlds. Press AG 1 for Forward Propulsion while in space and after you activate VTOL Thrusters. Very fun using a Controller or Flight Stick Craft Characteristics Craft is very nimble but while under the effects of gravity you will need to be wary of the ION Thrusters slower ramp of speeds when making emergency maneuvers. Please keep RCS on. Craft has Drills and can make fuel for Power and RCS. XEON fuel unfortunately cannot be mined but you can make refuel stations in space to resupply. Craft is also ready and fully capable of being used with free iva to allow a “hero ship like experience”. Action Groups AG1 - Forward Propulsion AG2 - Toggle VTOL AG3 - Open Bottom Bay Door AG4 - Toggle Deploy Drills (requires manual activation) AG5 - Toggle Radiators AG6 - Toggle Solar Panels AG7 - Toggle Airbrake Emergency Legs (use only while stationary)

On Demand Fuel Cells (ODFC) By zer0Kerbal, originally by @`Orum adopted with express permission and brought to you by KerbSimpleCo Preamble by Orum The plugin requires a set of Module Manager patches to function, as it does not do anything unless integrated into a part. There are two different sets of patches available on CKAN or SpaceDock. One set that copies the fuel cells from Stock, Universal Storage 2, Jatwaa Demolitions Co, and Solid Fuel Cells (soon more) and replaces the stock modules with ODFC with three modes (four if Community Resource Pack is installed correctly) of operation. Also adds a 0.5 EC/s multimode fuel cell to all stock command pods (easily disabled since in separate patch) Another set that modifies the same set of parts instead of copying them. Features adjustable fuel cell use - much more than just On/Off operation multiple fuel modes (serial usage - one mode at a time) variable activation threshold configurable to produce byproducts (so O+H2 = EC + H2O) very small memory footprint Brown and Black out protection assistance PAW (Part Action Window / Right Click Menu) grouping with auto collapse, click the down arrow to drop the ODFC control panel down (KSP 1.7.1). Two new features from the game settings: Stall: fuel cell stops working if vessel total electric charge falls to close to zero (0f) and will not start until there is more electric charge. Fuel cells require EC to work. autoSwitch: automatically switched fuel mode looking for fuel if the current mode becomes fuel deprived. more features coming soon See More See our Parts Catalog for part pictures For more images, see our Marketing Slicks Discussions and news on this mod: See Discussions or KSP Forums Changelog Summary for more details of changes : See ChangeLog Known Issues for more details of feature requests and known issues : See Known Issues GitHub Pages : See Pages Help Wanted Localization Installation Directions 1 Use CurseForge/OverWolf App (currently does not install dependencies) Whilst I agree CKAN is a great mod for those that can't use zip tools. I take no part, nor am I interested in maintaining the CKAN mod metadata for my mods. Please don't ask me about it but refer to the CKAN mod thread if you are having issues with CKAN or the metadata it maintains. Beware, CKAN can really mess up though it tries very, very, very hard not to. or Dependencies Kerbal Space Program 2 Either 3 Module Manager Module Manager /L Parts designed to use, or patches to modify existing parts This addon does nothing by itself. Supports GPO (Goo Pumps & Oils') Speed Pump (GPO) AllYAll - supports by removing Either BackgroundProcessing (exclusive to BackgroundResources) (see known issues list) Background Resources (exclusive to BackgroundProcessing) (see known issues list) Community Resource Pack Suggests (These mods have Fuel Cells) Hot Beverages Irradiated - Fuel Cells (HBI/FC) Bluedog Design Bureau Stockalike Mining Extension (SMX) Univeral Storage II Universl Storage RLA Reborn Solid Fuel Cells Jatwaa Demolitions Co Does not work with parts from (because they use own generation MODULES) Kethane USI @Angel-125's mods (Buffalo, Pathfinder, et al) CONFLICTS [ODFC-Refueled-CopyPatches][ODFC-C] [ODFC-Refueled-ModifyPatches][ODFC-M] REPLACES ODFC ODFC - On Demand Fuel Cells by Orum >-- ORIGINAL (outdated)--< [ODFC-Refueled][ODFC-R] Tags plugin, config, flags, agency, control, convenience, sound, resources red box below is a link to forum post on how to get support Be Kind: Lithobrake, not jakebrake! Keep your Module Manager up to date Credits and Special Thanks @`Orumfor creating this glorious addon! @4x4cheesecake for helping with the initial adoption see Attribution.md for more comprehensive list Known Issue Tracker [NEW][BUG 1.1.2.1a] AmpYear doesn't seem to recognize ODFC [BUG 1.1.2.0a] TweakScale will not scale module ODFC [BUG 1.1.2.0b] Kerbalism doesn't recognize ODFC, ODFC still functions correctly [BUG 0.0.1.9a] B9 doesn't work on ODFC enabled parts [BUG 0.0.1.9b] next fuel mode should not be visible when only one mode [BUG 0.0.1.6a] BackgroundProcessing or Background Resources mods don't see ODFC, so ODFC doesn't work when doesn't have focus. Should not have both BackgroundProcessing and BackgroundResources installed. any mod that requires to use onLoad() instead of onStart() to update a part Legal Mumbo Jumbo (License provenance) How to support this and other great mods by zer0Kerbal Connect with me Track progress: issues here and projects here along with The Short List this isn't a mod. ;P↩︎ may work on other versions (YMMV)↩︎ Be Kind: Lithobrake, not jakebrake! Keep your Module Manager up to date!↩︎

Question: If I were to launch an SSTO from the runway at the KSC, would there be a theoretical limit to how much delta-v it could have? I'm talking completely stock, and on the most efficient flight path.

Originally created by Starstrider42: https://github.com/Starstrider42/TestFlight-Configs The mod was never updated again since 2020. So, I've decided to adopt the config pack to revive, update, modify and expand it. This will be known under the new name "TestFlight-Stock" although you can still call it "TestFlight-Configs Revived" if you like. What is TestFlight? TestFlight is an add-on originally made for the RSS/RO/RP-1 massive mod-suite that gives engines failure rates and modes, just like OhScrap and Kerbalism, and records reliability and ignition chance seperately. However, it also includes two unique features of it's own: Rated burn time and throttle curve. The former refers to the ability of an engine to perform reliably for a certain amount of time: After it passed that threshold, the failure chance increases significantly. Some engines also have TESTED burn time, which provides another certain amount of time where you can keep burning the engine after the rated burn time safely, and culmulative burn time, which means that the engines' rated burn time will be reset again after being shut down for a while. Throttle curve is an entirely new feature of TestFlight that provides unique throttle response rate for some liquid fuel engines. Just like OhScrap, an engine will become more reliable the more you fly and test it out. An engine can acquire at most 10000 "du" points through launches/flights that can help increase the reliability of the part. I thought TestFlight already have it's own config pack, why use this? TestFlight Config Stock, the official non-RO pack for TestFlight, is no ModuleManager config add-on. It's actually a set of JSON files written in order to lazily attach configs to the stockalike parts, and does not make full use of TestFlight's true potential. With TestFlight-Stock, failure rates are much more balanced and individualized: They will depend on the complexity, propellant type and tech level of the engines, whether being written in the part description itself (whether the part is stated to be explode-y or not is also taken in mind) or from the actual real-life designs of those engines. It also allows tech transfers, which is when an engine shares some of it's "du" with another identical/similar part. Parts can only share technology to those in the same manufacturer, propellant types, design/engineering principles and part families. For more information, visit the GitHub repository down below. What's different between Starstrider's original mods and your's fork? Visit the GitHub page for more info. For a short summary, I have decided to retreat TestFlight support for heat shields, add even more mod supports, balance starting and ending failure rates, fixing the MM blocks originally written by Starstrider to be compatitable with TestFlight 2.0, and more. NOTE: This is a BETA release, do not expect things to work flawlessly. Suggestions are always welcome. If you see a bug that shouldn't be there, feel free to open an issue on Github. DOWNLOAD: Github: https://github.com/Starcatcher2009/TestFlight-Stock/releases/tag/v0.4.2-beta SpaceDock: https://spacedock.info/mod/3077/TestFlight-Stock (TestFlight-Configs-Revived Now available on CKAN! SOURCE: https://github.com/Starcatcher2009/TestFlight-Stock BUG TRACKER: https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/211274-testflight-stock-bug-tracker/ LICENSES: MIT + GNU General Public License v3.0 Supported mods: Cryogenic Engines Near Future Launch Vehicles/Propulsion/Spacecraft USI Exploration/Survival Pack, Sounding Rockets Extraplanetary Launchpads Kerbal Atomics Taerobee Lack's Stock eXTension (SXT) Continued Bluedog Design Bureau (partially) ...More to come! CONFLICTS: OhScrap/ScrapYard TestFlight Config Stock (the official one) 0.3.0 Changelog: Updated configs to work with TestFlight 2.0 and beyond Added support for Taerobee, USI Sounding Rockets, Near Future Launch Vehicles and Making History DLC Removed support for heat shields 0.4.0 Changelog: Complete overhaul of TestFlight Generic Configs Added support for SXTContinued and partial support for BDB Added support for throttle curves Separated electrothermal failure modes from electromagnetic ones Added support for KSP-AVC 0.4.1 Changelog: Fix typos in BDB.cfg and Generic_Engines.cfg Abandon development of Generic_Parts.cfg (sad) 0.4.2 Changelog: Added support for Cyro Engines (credits to Starstrider42!) Future plans As KSP2 Early Access is now released, you may see a significant drop of interest in development of this add-on. There may be further work in porting the mod to KSP2, but as of now, there's no telling which direction I will take on TestFlight-Stock.

Adjustable Mod Panel (KAMP) Pick which add-on buttons to show or hide on the stock toolbar. This plugin allows you to pick which buttons on the stock toolbar you want to see. You can show/hide mod stock toolbar buttons on different screens separately. It requires no additional support from the add-ons themselves, and should work with whichever add-ons it encounters. By zer0Kerbal and originally by @Morse Adopted with explicit permission and brought to you by KerbSimpleCo Preamble by Morse See more YouTube showcase Cabin Notes The Janitor's Closet can be installed alongside Adjustable Mod Panel (AMP) - only use ONE or the other to manage buttons otherwise the kraken will come to eat the buttons and they might be lost forever! (well, at least until you restart the game). Obviously we would prefer you only using Adjustable Mod Panel (KAMP). TUFX seems particularily resistant to KAMPing. Reports have alleged that it has made a deal with the kraken to grab the TUFX button and refuse to return it. Help Wanted Localization Installation Directions 1 Dependencies Kerbal Space Program 2 Recommends AdjustableModPanel (PM) Module Manager /L Suggests Biomatic (BIO) Field Training Facility (FTF) Field Training Lab (FTL) GPO (Goo Pumps & Oils') Speed Pump (GPO) Kaboom! (BOOM) On Demand Fuel Cells (ODFC) OScience Laboratories (OSL) Papa Kerballini's Pizza (PIZZA) SimpleConstruction! (SCON) SimpleLife! (LIFE) SimpleLogistics! (SLOG) SimpleNotes! (NOTE) Solar Science (SOL) TUFX TweakScale Tags plugin, convenience *red box below is a link to forum post on how to get support* Be Kind: Lithobrake, not jakebrake! Keep your Module Manager up to date Credits and Special Thanks @Morse for creating this mod see Attribution for comprehensive list Legal Mumbo Jumbo (License provenance) How to support this and other great mods by zer0Kerbal Connect with me Track progress: issues here and projects here along with The Short List Release Schedule this isn't a mod. ;P↩︎ may work on other versions (YMMV)↩︎

Welcome to the Official Release thread for Before Kerbin. Before Kerbin is based on the Stock solar system, but 2 billion years ago in the past. This mod will replace your solar system, I advise beginning a new save. Overview: This mod aims to add a completely new adventure as you begin on Eve (which has Kerbin's properties for ease) and explore and uncover the secrets of the old stock planets. There is lore for you to uncover on the detailed planetary surfaces. This mod adds highly detailed, 4k planets, each come with their own EVE and Scatterer configurations. Every single planet and moon has been adjusted and changed, meaning yes - you can visit "Dres"! All planets have been tested and I have made sure both rockets and spaceplanes can function on them all. System Requirements: 5GB of RAM KSP 64 bit Donations are never asked for, but always appreciated! Help buy me a pizza if you enjoy the mod FAQ: Will this planet mod add any new stars? No. This is the Kerbol system 2 billion years ago. Adding a new star means you will need modded parts to get there, which I generally disagree with. It also means separating planets and sentencing them to "will not be visited". I want to make sure all planets are easily reachable but also require a challenge once there. Is this planet mod compatible with present day mods like OPM? Yep! Even the visual mods will work together, meaning you can install nearly any planet mod except those that also replace the home planet. How much RAM do I need for this mod? 5GB at maximum texture quality. This mod follows the CC-BY-NC-ND licence. Thank you for downloading!

B9 Stock Patches (B9P) Created by @zer0Kerbal email with continued support from the community. This mod uses Module Manager patches to add an assortment of B9fuelswitch tank types to stock and DLC fuel tanks. Do not bother @Blowfish with support requests for this mod. Installing this adds a selection of B9 tank types to most stock tanks Liquid Fuel & Oxidizer Liquid Fuel MonoPropellant Battery Installing KGEx (some need CRP) and/or SimpleConstruction will also add: Support (EC + MP) Xenon Gas Ore Argon Gas H20+Water Oxidizer RocketParts Metal Combination RocketParts + Metal + Ore Cabin notes: Tank sizes are automatically determined by existing parts existing capacity (thank you to @JadeofMaar) Default tank type should not change, if it was MP it still should be MP If Near Future Exploration is installed, will switch (silver) LFO tank to LF and (metal) LFO tank to Oxidizer. If KGEx is installed, several more combination tanktypes will become available. You can tweak values by editing the part.cfg or using but beware, these are complicated and advanced multi-pass patches. Have a request? Glad to have them, kindly submit through GitHub. Full Changelog: See ChangeLog for full details of mod changes Known Issues: See Known Issuues for any known issues Installation Directions: Use Dependencies Kerbal Space Program may work on other versions (YMMV) Module Manager [^1] B9PartSwitcher Recomends KGex adds more tanks types Community Resource Pack Suggests (other fun mods by zed'K): On Demand Fuel Cells {ODFC)} Field Training Lab (FTL) Field Training Facility (FTF) Docking Port Descriptions(DPD) PicoPort Shielded (PPS) Transparent Command Pods Repressurized)(TCP) Stork Delivery System (SDS) Biomatic Oh Scrap!: ScrapYard: DaMichel's AeroRadial DaMichel's CargoBays DaMichel's Fuselage DaMichel's Spherical Tanks Stork Delivery System (SDS) SimpleLogistics! SimpleConstructon! Not So SimpleConstructon! TweakScale Supports Kerbal Change Log SimpleConstructon! Near Future Exploration Near Future Construction Conflicts none known red box below is a link to forum post on how to get support License aka Legal Mumbo Jumbo Source: GitHub License: All bundled mods are distributed under their own licenses All art assets (textures, models, animations) are distributed under their own licenses Original Author: @zer0Kerbal Thread Download Source: GitHub License: v1.0.0.0 original: 11 Aug 2018 0K updated: 26 Mar 2020 zed'K [^1]: Be Kind: Lithobrake, not jakebrake! Keep your Module Manager up to date

This is the official thread for Genesis! Genesis reimagines the Kerbol system as it may have looked 4.3 billion years ago. Mod currently still in Beta so feedback is appreciated! Download link: GitHub Join the development of Genesis and other planet packs on my Discord! Dependencies: Kopernicus, Kopernicus Expansion, Niako Utils Visual effects dependencies: Scatterer, EVE Volumetrics License: MIT

I require a Duna lander since I am not very good at making rockets and I can't find a good Duna lander and rocket, and it would help very much if someone could refer me to one. Disclaimer: STOCK ONLY

While KSP simulates atmospheres with variable depths and densities it lacks dynamic weather limiting its utility as tool for exploring concepts in atmospheric science. Kerbal Weather Project was developed to remedy this. In KWP, weather and climate data from a state-of-the-art global circulation model was incorporated into KSP gameplay. This was accomplished through a global hourly climatology, enabling players to experience diurnal and spatial variations in atmospheric conditions. In addition, point weather data is provided for Kerbin launch sites, giving players the option of experiencing dynamic weather conditions that change from day to day. KWP features a text-based GUI showing remotely sensed weather data (in space) and in situ weather data (in the atmosphere). Compatibility KWP works with stock KSP and should work with the vast majority of KSP mods. KWP has been tested, without major issues, in a KSP 1.10 playthrough with 220 other popular KSP mods. That said, KWP may conflict with mods like real heat that modify the stock game's aerodynamic or thermodynamic system. KWP can still be used with these mods as KWP's override of the stock thermodynamic system can be disabled in the settings menu. KWP is compatible with the aerodynamics overhaul: Ferram Aerospace Research (FAR). Note that since FAR overrides KSP's thermodynamic system, pressure and temperature data from KWP will not affect flight dynamics when FAR is installed. Note that FAR may not be compatible with the latest version of KSP. Background Kerbin weather and climate analyses were produced using the Model for Prediction Across Scales (MPAS; Skamarock et al., 2012) a state-of-the-art atmospheric general circulation model developed by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). MPAS was run for six-years (1st year: spin-up) at a resolution of 2 x 2 decimal degrees. Fortunately, Kerbin’s atmosphere has the same chemical composition as Earth’s. In MPAS, terrain and biome data from KSP were used to classify land use, vegetation type, green fraction, and other geographical datasets. In addition to land surface modifications, several changes to MPAS were made to enable more realistic simulations of Kerbin's atmosphere. These changes are listed below: Axial obliquity was set to zero. Orbital eccentricity was set to zero. The solar constant was set to 1360 W/m2 The day length was set to six hours (21600 s) The Coriolis parameter was multiplied by four. An hourly global climatology of Kerbin was developed by averaging the results of the five-year MPAS simulation, by the hour. Results from this simulation were incorporated into the game via KWP. Required Mods Toolbar Controller Click Through Blocker ModularFlightIntegrator Recommended Mods Kerbinside Remastered - adds launch sites compatible with KWP. Note that the lite version of KWP does not include weather data at Kerbinside launch sites. KerBalloons - Launch weather balloons! Atmospheric Autopilot - makes flying during windy conditions a little easier. Downloads and Installation Instructions Full Version (84 MB): High resolution climatology, 5-years of weather data at stock and Kerbinside launch sites. GitHub: https://github.com/cmac994/KerbalWeatherProject/tree/master Spacedock: https://spacedock.info/mod/2607/Kerbal Weather Project Lite Version (13 MB): Low resolution climatology, 1-year of weather data at stock launch sites. GitHub: https://github.com/cmac994/KerbalWeatherProject/tree/lite Spacedock: https://spacedock.info/mod/2611/Kerbal Weather Project - Lite See the links above for information on how to install KWP. Alternatively, you can just use CKAN. KWP Animations Weather Animations Simulated Infrared (IR) Satellite Imagery for Kerbin (Each Frame = 1 day) Light colors = high clouds or cold surface; Dark colors = low clouds or warm surface Precipitable Water (PW) on Kerbin (Each Frame = 1 day) Note vortices of high PW in tropics... those are tropical cyclones (hurricanes)! Upper level winds on Kerbin (Each Frame = 1 day) Surface Temperature on Kerbin (Each Frame = 1 day) Climatological Animations Average Temperature by Height Average Wind Speed by Height If the above charts are bit challenging to decipher check out the chart interpretation page on the mod webpage. KWP Gameplay A crewed weather balloon being carried away from the launchpad by northeasterly trade winds. An uncrewed glider flies into a strong headwind and ends up traveling retrograde! A polar orbiting satellite passes over the KSC providing remote sensing weather data along its track SRB Recovery with and without wind. Additional Information For more screenshots, animations, and information about KWP check out the official mod webpage. The science behind KWP, as well as its potential as an educational tool, will be presented at the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) in January 2021. A link to the AMS poster presentation is provided here. In addition to weather and climate analysis, the mod webpage provides several demonstrations detailing the effects of KWP on atmospheric flight and reentry. A series of short-stories are also included to highlight how KWP can be used for both shenanigans and serious science! What KWP Does: Adds climate and weather data to the stock game Climate data varies geographically, vertically, and diurnally. Point weather data varies with height and time and is valid only for a fixed location. Modifies air pressure, density, and temperature on Kerbin affecting the aerodynamics and thermodynamics of flight. The scale height of the KWP atmosphere is higher (8.5 km) than in the stock atmosphere (5.6 km). Consequently, air pressure and density will decrease more slowly with height when playing with KWP enabled. This makes re-entry and SSTOs a little more challenging. As noted above, if you'd prefer KWP not affect KSP aerodynamic and thermodynamics this can be selected in the KWP settings menu. Provides a text-based GUI for visualizing ambient weather, vehicle velocity, ground track, vehicle relative winds, and aerodynamic variables (e.g. mach number, shock temperature, etc.) What KWP Does NOT Do: At present, KWP does not add any parts or new visual effects to the game. KWP provides a framework for understanding what the weather on a planet with Kerbin's geography and orbital characteristics might look like. The results of the MPAS simulations (detailed on the mod webpage) could provide inspiration for fellow modders to create more realistic cloud cover and visual effects for Kerbin. KWP does not include orographic circulations or other small-scale circulations (e.g. thunderstorm cells). This is a limitation of the coarse resolution MPAS simulations from which KWP was derived. In KWP vertical wind speeds are typically very small (< 1 m/s) so unfortunately, aspiring glider pilots will not be able to stay aloft indefinitely by riding the wind. Future Work KWP provides a framework for implementing weather in the stock game. A rudimentary weather and climate API has been included with KWP. With this foundation laid it is my hope that real-world science missions, like the Global Precipitation Measurement Mission (GPM) and the Geostationary Operational Environment Satellite (GOES-R), could one day be emulated in KSP or KSP2. Mods such as SCANSat and Orbital Survey Plus may be one way to realize this concept in KSP, by facilitating the mapping and visualization of climate data for science. Other possibilities include real-time charting or logging of weather balloon sounding data, similar to what is performed twice daily here on Earth. These pursuits could serve as educational tools for teaching basic concepts in atmospheric science. Acknowledgements KSP Developer Squad and KSP creator Felipe Falanghe. KSP modding community - specifically forum users @linuxgurugamer, @JoePatrick1, @Fengist, @DaMichel, @NathanKell, and @DMagic. These mod developers, by publishing their code publicly, provided a valuable teaching tool which facilitated many of the advancements implemented in KWP. Without their prior work, incorporating weather data into KSP would have been exceedingly difficult. License: MIT

"Ut Reveles Astra" BACKGROUND: Following the conclusion of the Apollo program in late 1972, the landscape of space exploration evolved. In the post-Apollo era, a private space agency named Liberty Innovation Inc. and its partners embarked on a mission to establish a lasting commercial presence on the moon. In late 1978, Liberty Innovation Inc. (LII) achieved a significant milestone by securing a government contract worth $20 million. The contract, titled "Commercial Lunar Transport Capability," was to begin development and testing to prepare for future launches of their moon rocket. The primary goal was to showcase the capability to develop a rocket capable of successfully launching payloads to orbit the moon and eventually facilitate lunar surface missions. Between 1969 and 1972, the Soviet N1 Rocket encountered numerous failures, raising concerns about the potential cancellation of the Soviet moon program. The prevailing thought was that an expensive moon program might not be necessary if the USA ceased its lunar exploration. However, the landscape shifted with the emergence of the "Astraios Program," initiated by the LII. Upon learning of the ambitious goals, the Soviet Union redirected resources to bolster their N1 program, striving to match and exceed the challenges posed by LII. This development caused apprehension in the USA, prompting the passage of an act that granted LII an annual funding of $400 million and increased the NASA budget by 9%. NASA and LII entered into collaboration, with NASA providing technology, crew support, and potentially contributing to the development of a next-generation crewed lunar lander. The revised Lunar Program now aimed to land humans on the moon no later than 1989.

The 8th complete rebuild of my Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor. This build has is completely rebuilt for 1.3, and is the first to be properly scaled. I took a page out of landfish's book and used a blueprint and Kronal viewer to make sure it was as closed to perfect as I could get. The biggest change besides the correct scaling is the redesign of the wings. I spent tens of hours trying to fit two control surfaces on the wings, but had to settle for only one to get the shape I desired, and still have the winglet nest perfectly into the main wing. HotKeys 1) Toggle both J-404 Engines 2) Toggle Port J-404 Engine 3) Toggle Starboard J-404 Engine 4) Toggle J-404 Afterburners (x2) 5) Toggle BD Autopilot (Armed Model) 6) Fire Weapon (Armed Model) 7) Toggle Team (Armed Model) 8) Toggle Rudders 9) Fire Hidden Vulcan Cannon (Armed Model) 0) Deploy Countermeasures (Chaff & Flare) (Armed Model) kOS Scripts Corkscrew (Forthcoming) Downloads [Stock] [cb] F-22 Raptor MRK VIII Exact same as the photos above, however this build has a stock nosecone. https://kerbalx.com/clown_baby/F-22-Raptor-MRK-VIII [Stock] [cb] F-22 Raptor MRK VII GT For the Air Race Course Craft Download kOS Script [bd Armory] [cb] F-22 MRK VII Armed Raptor Model featured in the photos above. Has a radar nose cone, countermeasures, and hidden Vulcan Canon. Craft Download

Naval Battle League Test your naval prowess in this extravaganza of Battleships, Bombs, and Booms. Rules Rules are mandatory in order to play and be counted on the league table 1- Battles are conducted by exchanging save or persistence files over sharing sites. 2- Each player takes it in turns to engage one target with one ship. Any number of ships may be moved in said turn. 3- Ships engage in order of tonnage, lightest to heaviest. Once all ships are used the cycle repeats. 4- The team with the last ship wins. Ties can be declared with both team's approval. 5- Screenshots or videos documenting all moves are needed to complete a turn. 6- Any mods which affect craft or persistence files are forbidden. 7- No quick-loading except in cases of game bugs. 8- All moves must be done manually, without the aid of autopilots. Previous Iterations Guidelines Guidelines are opt out additions to the rules to create as fair and free from exploits a stage as possible. 1- A ship is officially considered dead when the main body of the ship is incapable of fulfilling two of three goals unaided from other ships or on-board weapons... +Sustaining power +Moving +Firing weapons. 2- Weapons can only be fired from the original ship core and must be used within the the same turn that they are fired. 3- Players are not allowed to control enemy craft. 4- Players are not allowed to intentionally edit the orbit of enemy craft via weapons fire or any other method. 5- Any number of ships may be moved in a turn but only one may attack. 6- Ramming is disallowed. 7- Stealing is allowed under the pretense that the parent ship is dead and the items are disconnected from it. 8- Weapons must be fired between 5000 and 15 meters. 9- Surface to orbit weapons may be fired once per turn if applicable,and are exempt from Guideline 8. 10- A team may forfeit a turn at any point. Carriers Additional Guidelines to ensure carriers remain balanced in combat. 1- The total mass of carriers includes fighters and any other items being carried. 2- Carrier fighters have a mass limit of 15 tons, anything heavier will be included as a seperate ship. 3- Carriers will take their turn at the beginning of a cycle. 4- Fighters may be released from any distance but the fighters must still abide to Guideline 8. 5- Carriers may not use heavy armor on a majority of their area. 6- All fighters must return to the carrier by the end of the turn. 7- Carriers can not use their own offensive weapons. Settings -Body -Guideline exclusions -Maximum number of craft -Maximum total combined mass (These are recommended to be negotiated) Scoreboard MiffedStarfish: 3(5) Spartwo: 1(1) Alphasus: 0(3) Skriptkitt3h: 0(2) Quasarrgames: 0(2) DarkOwl57: -1(1) Sdj64: -1(1) Servo: -1(1) Shadowgoat: -1(2) Username: Score(number of battles) -1 from total for a loss +1 for a win 0 for a tie. Numbers increase according to the amount of players... -1/1 -1/0/1 -2/-1/1/2 -2/-1/0/1/2 ...and so on. Please @, quote, or PM me having completed a battle for updates to scoring Discord There was a demand. https://discord.gg/rqqe3u4T79

I'm going to keep my russian aircraft in a singular post here so I don't inevitably clutter up the Spacecraft exchange I only use stock parts or parts from either DLC _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Sukhoi Sukhoi Su-57 "Felon" Length: 16.9m Weight: 55t Parts: 329 AG1: Toggle afterburners AG2: Toggle payload doors _________________________________________ Sukhoi Su-27P "Flanker" Length: 17.96m Weight: 35.5t Parts: 262 AG1: Toggle afterburners _________________________________________ Sukhoi Su-33 "Flanker-D" Length: 18.0m Weight: 34.7t Parts: 379 AG1: Toggle afterburners _________________________________________ Sukhoi Su-35S "Flanker-E" Length: 17.63m Weight: 34.47t Parts: 260 AG1: Toggle afterburners _________________________________________ Sukhoi Su-37 "Terminator" Length: 17.9m Weight: 29t Parts: 202 AG1: Toggle afterburners _________________________________________ Sukhoi Su-47 Berkut Length: 18.2m Weight: 28.29t Parts: 140 AG1: Toggle afterburners ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Mikoyan-Gurevich Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29A "Fulcrum-A" Length: 15.4m Weight: 22.64t Parts: 163 AG1: Toggle afterburners _________________________________________ Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21bis "Fishbed-C" Length: 14.14m Weight: 17.96t Parts: 164 AG1: Toggle afterburners ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Mil Mil Mi-24 "Hind" Length: 18.4m Weight: 21.613t Parts: 161 AG1: Fuel Cell toggle AG2: Juno toggle Requirements: Breaking Ground DLC Note: Set the throttle to 1/3, pin the main rotors, and modulate the deployment angle to control the heli ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Tupolev Tupolev Tu-95 "Bear" Length: 30.4m Weight: 58.3t Parts: 185 AG1: Toggle prop engines Requirements: Breaking Ground DLC _________________________________________ Tupolev Tu-22M3 "Backfire" Length: 28.7m Weight: 50t Parts: 200 AG1: Toggle wing sweep AG2: Toggle Flaps AG3: Toggle bomb bay doors Requirements: Breaking Ground DLC _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hi, This a super submission for a discord challenge : send a reusable rocket SSTO without wings, airbreathing engines, or EVA pack to a destination and back. And Jeb choosed to go to Gilly ! As Jeb was disallowed to use his EVA pack, Kraken drives, or any mass drivers in any kinda of form, he resolved using a more traditionnal craft, instead of the tradionnal 3 parts rocket, usually used for such a destination... With uses of gravity assists, that thing could go anywhere really, Jool, Eeloo... Cheers !

Hi ! I think I've hit a record while doing the discord challenge "Around the World in 80 seconds, more or less", since the closest I red about was Stratzenblitz with 19 min, please tell me if you know about any other time ! Goal is to circumnavigate Kerbin as fast as possible. As I explain in the video, it's far from perfect, and there's still a lot of room for improvements ! Cheers

Hi ! I had lot of fun completing this challenge, from KSP/discord, "Patched nonics". Rules were : Land and return from [x body] without using patched conics display, maneuver nodes, or informational mods like Kerbal Engineer. Patched conics display and maneuver nodes are not allowed You must be in career mode with a level one tracking station (This disables patched conics display and maneuver nodes) You may use the cheat menu to get funds, science, and experience to level up the rest of the KSC, build your craft, and assemble your crew No further usage of the cheat menu is allowed after launching your craft You may not use Kerbal Engineer or other mods like it to gain information All default challenge rules apply This was really interesting and challenging to do ! I reminded me a bit the feeling of my first days in KSP, a whiiiile ago, when I was just firing engines cluelessly in deepspace Cheers

Hey everyone! This one's so wild, it'll make your head spin! Most of us have tried our hand at building an artificial gravity station, either by building a conventional orbital station with a working centrifuge, or even building an entire spinning 2001-style vessel. Both are wonderful, but what if your Kerbals are going to be spending months on end not in zero gee, but on the surface of a body with a surface gravity less than that of Kerbin, like Moho (g = 2.7 m/s^2)? We can still put a centrifuge to work, but this time it'll be there to provide the additional acceleration that we need in combination with Moho's surface graviy to obtain a 9.81 m/s^2 net acceleration on our Kerbals, ensuring the long term health of their little (presumably) green musculoskeletal systems. To this end, I've developed the Rototron XVI. An artificial gravity surface base with the capability of reaching Moho with a crew of 32 Kerbals. When deployed on the surface, the centrifuge can be run indefinitely due to the combined ISRU refinery and fuel cell array. The station is constructed in LKO via two separate launches; one for the centrifuge and crew cabins, and another for the main engines and landing support structure. The crew of 32 is launched separately, along with an additional fuel tank that will be used to provide the rest of the delta-v we'll need to make the interplanetary transfer to Moho. A region near Moho's south pole was chosen as our landing site due to the abundance of low-altitude flat land, as the axis of rotation of the centrifuge must be as close to parallel to the local gravity field as possible to sustain constant acceleration. From left to right: R-XVI Centrifuge, R-XVI Crew Module, and R-XVI Landing Support Structure, Here is a link to a gif of it under rotation, KSP forums wont let me post it here https://i.imgur.com/jEbFkj3.gifv The math on this is not terribly difficult. Typically, when constructing an artificial gravity station with the intention of simulating actual 1 gee acceleration, you work out the necessary rate of rotation via: angular velocity = sqrt ( 9.81 / r ) Where "r" is the perpendicular distance between the crew cabin and the axis of rotation. In our case, if we model the two crew cabins as point masses on the ends of massless rods under rotation in a uniform gravitational field, the acceleration experienced by the crew cabins can be evaluated merely as a function of the angle of splay of the crew cabins while under rotation (such as with a centrifugal governor). Thus, we need only calculate the angle of splay that will result from our desired total acceleration: Splay angle = arcsin( 2.7 / 9.81) = ~16 deg Knowing this, we simply vary the rpm on the main rotor while monitoring the angle display on one of the hinges until the splay angle settles in around 16 deg. Now, we see the launch, construction, landing, and operation: Again, here's another gif: https://i.imgur.com/MPMPMY2.gifv I hope you enjoyed this, I sure enjoyed building and flying it. I don't have plans to post the craft files yet, but I will if it seems like there's enough interest. If you like crazy big spacecraft, you'll also like my last post:

Level: Intermediate/Advanced Craft used to illustrate this tutorial: BAK-52NS Version history: 1.2 - Updated with a note on 1.7.3 built-in rotor and propeller blades 1.1 - Updated with better rotors, thanks to a tip from @Hotel26 1.0 - Original version About this tutorial This tutorial is a basic primer on stock helicopters made with parts from the Breaking Ground DLC. It does not discuss pre-Breaking Ground stock rotary motors, nor helicopters made with mod parts. I have limited experience with both and it would expand the scope of the tutorial rather too much. I also do not claim to being the inventor of any of the construction techniques or principles discussed here; a quite a bit I have discovered on my own, and a quite a bit I have picked up around the forums. If you feel you ought to be credited, please say so and I'll add you. What's a helicopter? A helicopter is an aircraft that flies by producing lift from one or more powered rotary wings, or rotors. If the rotor is not powered it is not a helicopter, it is an autogyro; they are also very cool but out of scope of this tutorial. And if the rotor is not used to produce lift but for some other purpose -- thrust, for example -- then it is not a helicopter either. Helicopters can have other forms of propulsion as well: real-life choppers with jet engines bolted on exist and work well. If it's necessary to make the distinction, they are known as compound helicopters. This is a helicopter. It's the BAK-52NS. This variant uses hydraulically sprung and damped landing skids instead of wheels, making precision landings easy...ish. How is it different from an airplane? Airplanes fly by producing lift from airflow around wings. They need to be moving forward to do this and stay in the air. With helicopters, the spinning rotor moves the lifting surface through the air, producing lift. This allows them to hover. However, the big rotating propeller on top of the craft produces a whole set of complications, many of which are shared by kerbal helicopters and human ones; others however are specific to one or the other because kerbal physics aren't quite like real-life physics, and stock kerbals lack certain highly useful bits and pieces used to make human choppers more manageable. On the other hand, kerbals have some amazingly powerful components to build with. Cyclic and Collective Another obvious difference between a plane and a helicopter is how they're controlled. Planes are controlled by moving control surfaces -- rudder, ailerons, elevators, and canards -- which modify the lift produced by each lifting surface, applying forces to the plane and causing it to turn. Pull the stick back, and the control surfaces move to produce more lift near the nose and less lift near the tail, pitching the nose up; push it right, and port control surfaces move to produce more lift while starboard ones produce less, causing the plane to roll to the right. Since helicopters need to be controllable even when they're hovering, they work differently. The primary controls on a chopper are cyclic and collective. Cyclic means adjusting the pitch of the rotor blades differently depending where they are in the cycle of rotation. Imagine that your chopper sits in the middle of a clock face, nose pointing at 12 o'clock. Now, if you want to pitch up, you will want the blades to increase their pitch as they near the 12 o'clock position, and decrease their pitch as they near six o'clock, thereby producing more lift towards the front and less towards the back. You'll also want to adjust cyclic as you start going faster: if your rotor spins counterclockwise, the blades at three o'clock will have a faster airflow over them than the blades at 9 o'clock, because the airflow from your forward motion will get added to the airflow produced by the rotor's rotation. This means you'll want increased pitch around 9 o'clock and decreased pitch around 3 o'clock, or else your craft will roll to the left. This makes helicopters rather hard to fly in real life as well as on Kerbin. What's more, kerbals have no direct control over cyclic: instead, when you adjust the pitch, yaw, or roll, the magic control surfaces try to figure out what you want them to do. This works acceptably with regular aircraft; with helicopters, not so much. So cyclic control on Kerbin is crude at best and you will need partial or total workarounds for this. ~ * ~ UPDATE: FooFighter has built a working swash plate with collective and cyclic control. If you want to make a realistic helicopter that is controlled without reaction wheels, now it's possible! https://kerbalx.com/FooFighter/Swashplate ~ * ~ Collective is a much simpler proposition: it just means the average blade pitch on the rotor. Increase collective and the rotor produces more lift, causing you to gain altitude. Increase it more and your motor will run out of torque to spin the rotor: the RPM will drop and eventually the rotor won't be able to produce any more lift. You'll leap up and then drop down again. Increase it too much, and your rotor will stall, causing you to plummet rather precipitately. And conversely, decrease collective to descend and reduce the torque needed to spin the rotor, allowing it to rotate faster. Collective gives really fine control over hover, and makes a helicopter extremely responsive in vertical motion, comparable in KSP only to a wildly overpowered rocket-powered VTOL. Thankfully, it is possible to make a really nice collective in kerbal helicopters. Perhaps surprisingly, hover on a helicopter isn't actually controlled by throttle. The motor's job is just to keep the rotor spinning; collective and cyclic do the rest. Torque effects In addition to the asymmetrical aerodynamic effects described above, rotorcraft have one more issue to contend with: torque. Spinning up a rotor and, when flying, pushing against the air to produce lift requires torque. Because Sir Isaac Newton is no fun with his laws of motion, this torque will have to get transferred somewhere in an equal but opposing manner. If you don't want your helicopter to spin in the opposite direction of the rotor, you will have to find some way to balance out the torque produced by spinning the rotor. Most real-life helicopters do this with a tail rotor: the helicopter has a pretty long tail which works like a lever arm, and at the tip of the tail is a propeller producing thrust in the opposite direction of the main rotor's torque. The pilot controls the pitch of the tail rotor using yaw controls, and will in fact be continuously adjusting it in different flight conditions (unless he has a computer to do it for him). Sadly, this does not work all that well in KSP. It is possible to make a smallish single-rotor/tail-rotor that is somewhat controllable, but it is hard, it won't be all that easy to fly, and it will very likely require a lot of reaction wheels to paper things over. That's why we're going to discuss a different type of helicopter here: one that flies with twin coaxial contra-rotating rotors. This solution neatly balances out the asymmetrical torque and aerodynamic effects, making for a stable, neutral basis for your craft. By all means attempt to make a conventional main rotor/tail rotor helicopter. Just expect it to be quite hard! This has real-life counterparts as well, notably the Soviet/Russian Kamov Ka-50 and its relatives, and the solution is used there for the same reason it works for kerbals. It makes the craft stabler and easier to fly. By Dmitriy Pichugin - http://www.airliners.net/photo/Russia---Air/Kamov-Ka-50/0920728/L/, GFDL 1.2, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5896037 The coaxial contra-rotating twin rotor powertrain The simplest kerbal rotorcraft powertrain uses a similar solution as in the Ka-50. Kerbals have the advantage of having incredibly powerful, yet compact electric motors that can be placed anywhere, so that's what we're going to do. The powertrain only consists of two parts: at the top a motor (the standard or heavy electric rotor work well for most craft), and below it, a flat servo with its motor disengaged (with no motor at all). The rotor blades attach to the motor above, and the freewheeling servo (or the bottom half of the motor) below. When you spin up the motor, the torque will be evenly split between the two rotors, which will start spinning in opposite directions. Note: this isn't the only way to make a contra-rotating powertrain; you can also use two electric motors surface-mounted to a base, then gizmoed into being coaxial; in this case, each motor will be spinning its own rotor. It has twice the power. For most purposes, the single-motor/freewheel solution is sufficient, however, and has the advantage of being simpler and stabler. Collective Since KSP 1.7.3, Breaking Ground includes propeller and rotor blades as parts. Clip them onto a motor, deploy them, and bind their authority limit to an axis group to control collective (e.g. up/down). Note that they come in clockwise and counterclockwise variants: if building a contra-rotating powertrain, be sure to use mirrored variants for each rotor so that the marking decals point the same way on each, and set the deploy direction on each of them so that adjusting collective up increases pitch on both of them. When building your own rotors (see below), mount an elevon on a servo as pictured above, limit the servo's angle to some relatively sane values, and bind it to an axis group as above. Rotor design The built-in rotor and propeller blades differ greatly in performance from ones made from elevons. They are much more powerful in the lower atmosphere, producing a great deal more thrust/lift. However, their performance drops off much more abruptly and their service ceiling is much lower. A craft powered with a rotor made from elevons can reach 20 km on Kerbin and operate easily on Duna. Therefore, for such special off-world uses, hand-built rotors still have a niche. With rotors, light weight is everything, so use the lightest components available for the job. Your rotor blades should be control surfaces -- FAT-455 for bigger rotors, elevons of various sizes for smaller ones. Here's the best way I know to make a rotor: Place servos onto the motor or the freewheel in radial symmetry. Small ones work most of the time; for very big rotors you might want to use larger sizes. Attach a control surface to the servo and rotate it to the correct orientation. Hold down the shift key and offset it outwards to your desired radius. Set the angle restrictions on the servo. Values of about 12 to about 35 degrees depending on rotor size work for me. If making a bigger rotor, add a second control surface and repeat step 3 for it. Optional: add a strut connector from the servo to the nearest control surface. It won't do anything much but it will make it look better. Copy the entire blade assembly onto your other power element and turn it upside down. Assign servo angle on both sets of servos to up/down, reversing one of them. Important: Disable yaw control on all the control surfaces on your rotor, leaving pitch and roll enabled. Powering it Rotorcraft require electricity to run the powertrain (and also operate collective). Small craft like the BAK-52NS "Kranefly" above could actually run just on a pair of the larger solar panels, or you could bring enough batteries to give you the endurance you want, but the all-around easiest solution is to use fuel cells as above: the golden tank contains enough fuel to fly the Kranefly for probably longer than you have patience, and it only needs a few cells to run. For the heavy rotors you pretty much have to use fuel cells; a pair of large fuel cell arrays is sufficient to power a single heavy electric motor. Controlling it You can set up whatever control scheme you like of course, but I have found the following to work for most things: Action group 1 Toggle fuel cells and engage motor(s) Main throttle[1] Adjust engine torque (you'll want this at maximum most of the time) Up/Down axis Adjust collective (K increases pitch, I decreases pitch -- this places them at the same positions on your right hand as pitch on your left) [1] Since 1.7.2, F/B in 1.7.0-1.7.1 Additionally, brake will apply brake on the motor driving the rotor. Because you have a freewheel between the rotors and the craft's body, this means you can stop the rotor very quickly by disengaging the motor (action group 1) and hitting the brakes -- both rotors will stop with the torque canceled out between them. The magic of reaction wheels Kerbals may not have cyclic but by the Kraken's tentacles they have reaction wheels. You can paper over minor misbehaviours in the craft by adding some reaction wheels... sometimes quite a lot really. Don't feel bad, it's a kerbal solution. Tuning it The powertrain described above is fairly docile and you can stick it on top of the centre of mass of pretty much any craft light enough for it to lift, and it will fly and hover. Getting it to fly well is a different kettle of fish altogether. If there is a science to tuning kerbal rotorcraft I haven't discovered it -- all of my tuning has been through trial and error. I suspect the unpredictability is due to the way KSP translates control inputs into control surface positions on the rotor, which is a bit on the flaky side: Change the number of rotor blades. I've had good results with rotors from 2 to 6 blades. More blades require more power but run smoother. Adjust blade length. Larger rotors are more efficient but less stable unless you feed them with more power. Move rotor forward/aft. Moving it forward and back changes the craft's tendency to pitch forward or back as you increase/decrease collective; it also changes its sensitivity to roll and yaw controls although I have no idea exactly why and how. Even tiny adjustments can make massive differences; less than a "click" of snap-to motion can completely change the handling characteristics of a chopper. I suspect this is due to the way the rotor blades respond to your control inputs. Move rotor up/down. Up tends to make the chopper more stable but less responsive to control inputs, down does the opposite. It's quite possible to make a really numb chopper that only goes up and down and barely even responds to pitch, roll, or yaw controls! Tilt rotor forward. It does something so it's worth a try. Adjust control authority. Less authority means less judder but less control; more does the opposite (and might cause blade stalls which is no fun at all). Adjust the craft's centre of mass. Generally speaking you will want a high centre of mass, close to the rotor: this is why the fuel tank is right below the powertrain in the BAK-52 above. Add or remove reaction wheels. Tip: Tune with SAS off. You might find that your chopper flies rather pleasantly without it in fact! Flying it To fly a helicopter, spin up the rotors with collective at zero, engines at maximum torque. Then increase collective until it takes off. Pitch to accelerate, slow down, or fly backwards; roll to fly sideways, yaw to spin around. When you're moving forward at a decent pace airplane-like aerodynamics start to enter the picture which is fun and different. Developing it further The basic Ka-50 style craft plan is just one possibility among many. Once you've got the power train figured out, you can make bigger ones and smaller ones, choppers powered by more than one set of rotors in a variety of configurations, tilt rotors with heavy servos making for an Osprey-style VTOL craft, and so on. You can stick on a jet or two just below the rotor assembly to make it go faster -- making fast choppers is a completely different and much harder challenge than making fast planes, since the limiting factor is stability rather than thrust to weight ratio; you will need to design rather different rotors for choppers that go very fast. You can also attempt different solutions altogether, like with non-coaxial contra-rotating rotors, or even attempting a main rotor/tail rotor style craft. There's a lot of room for tuning in rotor design as well, and if you feel the stock electrics don't quite produce the oomph you want, research turboprops and start breaking records (ht: @Azimech). You might have to get creative to find a practical use for helicopters in career missions but they are a lot of fun to build and, eventually, to fly. There are at least two helipads on the KSC just begging to be used, so go out and use them!