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Howdy Everybody! First off, I want to thank @Pudgemountain for this idea. He recently posted the results of an ai program attempting to recreate images of the Saturn V rocket. The results were...something to say the least. However, the images provided interesting ideas for rockets. I invite everyone on the forums to create spacecraft based on their own ai images! Post ai images for others to springboard off of, post images of your KSP creations, even both! I will also be posting ai generated images of my own so that folks can pick out ideas they want to bring to...reality?...kerbality?...whatever. Just a few rules: 1) Any craft that are created must be functional. Rockets need to be able to get off pads, spacecraft can achieve proper orbital spaceflights, etc. 2) If you decide to post your own ai inspired craft, show the original image that provided your inspiration. 3) Whatever ai generation software you use, be sure to provide credit to that site. On that note, make sure they allow public usage of images you create (shouldn't be an issue, but you never know). Above all else, have fun! Let your imagination run wild! If you want to provide a mission report or a short story for your vehicle, by all means! Below I have the original post plus examples I worked up today. Above is one of the original images that gave rise to this idea. Again, send your praise @Pudgemountain's way! Here I recreated the last rocket on the right. Then I decided to check out these ai image generators myself. Which gave me more ideas. Also I started typing a lot of random and "what-if" ideas to toy with. One of my KSP saves, 101 Rocketry, is a US-inspired private aerospace company with a bit of a Taiwanese/ROC flair. I recreated the top center rocket (at least my interpretation). Almost forgot, I have the craft files for these two rockets if you want to mess around with them: https://kerbalx.com/ManateeAerospace/XN1-Tallcom-A https://kerbalx.com/ManateeAerospace/Salamander-II

Some images I created using Automatic 1111 (A1111, a Stable Diffusion based stand-alone art generator). Like all AI art, these were a bit hit and miss, with even simple prompts sometimes generating something not even remotely related to what I was asking for. But enough turned out halfway decent that I am willing to share them (note these images were previously posted to the "What I did in KSP1 today" thread)

I guess MechJeb is called P.a.i.g.e ... probably it's the same AI that handles the simulation / tutorials. Later edit: It's just the tutorial helper AI.

The parallel-sequential missions system (having recorded mission events placed on the main timeline and returning to the past) proposed in another thread enables having this feature in the stock game. AI agency could use the stock craft. There's a lot of work needed to make a balanced AI and get the timings right, but it is doable.

This is an AI's "honest" review of KSP. It was generated in the InfoKit web demo. (https://app.inferkit.com/demo) So here it is! Kerbal Space Program Review Robot space games are becoming something of a specialty. I loved RimWorld, which was very much a simpler, more agile take on this same genre. This year we’ve seen Stellaris and Kerbal Space Program, both more complex, but also genuinely enjoyable. We set out to play Kerbal Space Program, a fresh take on a very familiar formula, but we also expected it to be different. What we didn’t expect was how thoroughly enjoyable it’d be to play. What we did expect was how uninteresting it’d be to play. I mean, have you played Kerbal Space Program before? Didn’t think so. This is still more space sim than other space sims, but it’s different enough to give it a fresh take. It also happens to be very charming. Sitting at a desk, with two computers and my feet up, I’m not the most mobile man in the world. But I can still imagine myself floating in space, punching buttons with a realistic frustration at trying to get control of a tiny rocket. Our in-depth review of Kerbal Space Program will tell you more about its mechanics, but the easiest way to understand Kerbal Space Program is by seeing it from the perspective of a game jam over the weekend. You can probably guess what sort of jam that was, given how many brilliant indie games crop up. On the first day, we ended up with a space game and the beginning of a story. It was something that felt like the sort of thing I’d want to play as a kid, and not have to fight with crummy controls, crummy difficulty, or terrible politics. It was set in the Kerbal universe, with a persistent world where you can build ships, launch them into space and maybe become a space pirate or something. But the design team didn’t want to stick to a sci-fi trope and came up with a hero with the voice of Darth Vader. They wanted someone who was… well, more relatable. As I played through the weekend, more and more elements of the game started to present themselves. Character creation is as easy as opening the character creation window. You choose your name, and all the fields are treated with the sort of care you expect from small development teams. Your name can be anything you want, and it's fully customizable. I chose Aeroblaze since it sounded like an alien name. At this point, the game boots up and loads some asteroids, and you can either do some outpost building or play around in the planet-building or factory sim or rocket sim. However, when you create an asteroid, you can launch a spaceship and launch a rocket in space. It is this surreal moment that, as KSP’s raison d’etre is purely for exploring, has the potential to encourage exploration through experimentation and discovery. All of which help foster a community. KSP is free to play – it’s all there for you, from the moment you download the game. There are no DLCs or even map packs. There’s an activity park to work out how many hits of floating bananas you can get your KSP pilot to churn off before they turn into a deadly sugar crash. There’s a competitive community where players achieve high scores on various orbital exploits. The creators have attempted to keep a level of community spirit alive despite its many flaws. They made a message board, and people dedicated their time to keeping people’s ships in working order so that they can do it all again another time. This is the sort of community that has been built around its two most popular maps – Vacant_1, a vast science base now being developed by other fans, and Farstar_2, a slightly less mysterious, more populated corner of space. It has, however, in the past (see: a clash with the military) been difficult to be a Kerbal on these maps. For a while, you needed a license to play and got banned if there was anything non-standard in the writing. Hopefully more to follow! (Just a note, I did tweak the settings a little to get it a bit more realistic. I had "Start at beginning" on, and I also had "Nucleus sampling top p" all the way up.)

What if they went full bore into the career mode, and made it like a "single player campaign" type mode, and there were cutscene with the fidelity of the 2019 trailer. Imagine if all our wildest dreams came true? Also, while rewatching the colony generator parts, they had kerbals meandering around. Now that may have been just added for scale or what not, but i wonder if when you set up colonies there will be A.I. Kerbals that have like preprogrammed tasks that are just kind around. Like random ones welding big generators or just, well, walking around. Like when they said that when you do a supply run for fuel or ore or what have you, you only need to do it once, then its automatic afterwards. What if you choose some colonists to take control of the process after setting things up and you can actually see them doing their routine anytime you visit. I wonder how that will work. So much unknown about the game still, i'm seriously can't wait to see what they do, i really hope they go all out and just throw every cool idea at this. :3 what do you all think?

By trial, error, and advice from others, I have learned alot about building competitive BDArmory Fighter aircraft. Because of the growing number of people interested in making competitive aircraft, but do not have the knowledge how, I am making this guide on how to make competitive BDArmory Fighter aircraft. Feel free to suggest additions, and to share your advice. This guide will be divided into two parts: physical design tips, and AI tuning/weapons selection tips. According to @Box of Stardust, an experienced designer on the forums, making a good fighter plane is "25% airframe, 30% weapons and utilization, and 45% AI tuning." Also, keep in mind these characteristics, suggested by @Box of Stardust. These characteristics are the main traits that define an airplanes strengths, weaknesses, and performance. Maneuverability: Maneuverability of an aircraft. Aside from general control authority, it also includes the ability to perform extreme dogfighting maneuvers, which may be influenced by factors such as thrust. Propulsion: Acceleration and speed of an aircraft. High thrust-to-weight is good, but can also be influenced by aerodynamics; know the ins-and-outs of the KSP aerodynamics system to help create less draggy aircraft. Endurance: Time an aircraft can remain in combat before running out of fuel. 15 minutes dry thrust according to KER readout is the lower bound I recommend. Size: Size and form factor of an aircraft. Influences ability to avoid damage, due to being a harder-to-hit target, as well as smaller radar cross section. Damage Mitigation: Ability to take damage and remain combat effective. To clarify: not simply surviving damage, but remaining able to fly effectively despite the damage and not be locked into basic defensive actions only, and if possible, continue fighting. Structural durability comes into play greatly. Offensive Capabilities: Aircraft armament and the effectiveness of the utilization of the weapons (weapon ranges and such). Flight Control: Ability of the AI tuning to both push an aircraft to its maneuvering limits and maintain stability and directional control. The AI must be able to perform extreme dogfighting maneuvers, evade incoming fire, pursue enemy aircraft, and be accurate when firing on a target. Additionally, the ability for the AI to accomplish this despite the aircraft having taken damage. (Note: this has become increasingly harder to judge with BDA 1.2.) Now, we will start with the structural/aerodynamic construction: 1. Never use manned aircraft, unless required by competition rules. And if possible, use lawn ch- err, command seats. Command modules weigh almost a ton, and increase the size(and thus, radar cross section (RCS), and more area for the enemy guns to aim for). Additionally, avoid Mk1 (1.25m) parts. They again add unnecessary size. 2. Aim for about 300 units of liquid fuel. Again, you should get your fuel from sources other than 1.25m parts. The Big-S wing strake can hold 100 units each and, combined with 2 Mk0 liquid fuel tanks, provides you with enough liquid fuel to provide sufficient endurance. 3. Do not use the stock panther engine. Use the AirplanePlus tiger 0.625m engine. It offers greater thrust for the weight, and generates much more electric charge than the Panthers for its thrust. Additionally, the tiger runs at a "cool" temperature for the thrust, allowing the shortest AIM-9 lock range of any afterburner(AB)capable engine, approximately 2.8 km in non AB mode, with a low throttle setting, compared to just over 3km for the panther. Although 0.2 km might not sound that much of a difference, it is, when you take into account the near-mach 2 closing speeds. Just that little distance may allow you to fire your AIM-9s and cause the enemy to dodge before firing theirs. 4. Design your airplane for maximum battle durability. Avoid attaching multiple wings to each other, instead, attach all wings to a hidden structural part, like a structural I beam inside Big-S wing strakes. Ideally, any one part exploding shouldn't have any affect on the others. However, this normally isn't possible. And since BDA 1.1/2, hidden parts wont receive damage until the part covering it explodes, (unless you got an armor penetrating shell). So, you attach all wings to this hidden part, to ensure maximum battle durability. Additionally, place wings close to the fuselage(e.g, small wingspan), and if competition rules allow, clip wings close to the center. This insures that most lift is coming from the center of the airplane. Thus, the plane wont spiral out of control when a wing is lost. (FYI, lift from the body/fuselage IRL is called "body lift". This is what allowed that Israeli F-15 to land on 1 wing. The F-15s body generates a good amount of lift) Now we will discuss aerodynamics, and making the best plane aerodynamically. 1. More wings almost never hurts. Turn rate is 85% determined by wing loading (which is the amount of lift each square unit of wing has to produce in order for lift to equal the weight of the aircraft). More wing area means less lift each square needs to produce to equal the aircrafts weight. Thus, the lower the wing loading, the more excess lift is available. More excess lift means that you can turn with less Angle of Attack (AoA), meaning less drag. Less drag means less thrust is needed, which also means less fuel can be carried. That means less weight. And weight is probably any aircraft designers worst enemy. Alternatively, the reduction in drag can also be utilized to improve energy retention, the greatest advantage in a dogfight. Overall, high lift is key to a high maneuverability aircraft, and gives you a significant edge over opponents without this knowledge. The question is, how much wing is ideal for an aircraft? After all, wings do weigh, and too many wings induces unnecessary drag. From my designs, I have found that around 1.2 to 1.4 units of wing area per ton is ideal. Anything under 0.9 is insufficient lift, and over 1.7 produces excessive drag. And, like stated in the structural section, moving wings inwards, and clipping wings near the middle are ideal, because if the lift is coming very close from the lateral center, the loss of a wing will not severely affect flight performance. TL; DR: you should aim for about 1.2-1.4 units of wing area per ton of aircraft to maximize excess lift, and to minimize excessive drag. 2. If maneuverability is 85% wing loading, whats the remaining 15%? Thrust to Weight radio (TWR). Why does TWR have anything to do with maneuverability? Because even the most perfectly designed wing produces drag while turning. And slowing down reduces your turn rate. Thus, to keep up energy, you need thrust. Practically, your craft will weigh about 6.5-8.5t loaded, depending on the amount of guns, ammo, fuel, missiles, etc. Anything above 8.5t is generally a bit to heavy for ideal performance. And its very hard to make a well-designed aircraft under 6.5t. If the craft weights over 7.5t, use 7-8 Tiger engines. If under 7.5t, use about 5-6 tiger engines. Optimal numbers may vary depending on other factors (mainly drag and wing loading). 3. Place elevators as far back as possible. This maximizes pitch authority, which (as we will see later) allows you to decrease control deflection, which is key to providing ideal response time. Also, 4-6 reaction wheels are ideal. 4. Place the center of lift(CoL)just behing the center of gravity(CoG). Ideally, the center of the CoL sphere should be halfway between the center and outer edge of the CoG sphere, or maybe maybe a tad bit closer to the CoG, depending on your plane design. 5. This tip (first suggested by @goduranus) is a poorly known (and counter-intuitive) one, but can greatly increase responsiveness. This is the theory behind this tip: all control surfaces on an aircraft should be able to respond to an full input in 0.3 seconds. In other words, the control surface should have no more than 0.3 second "lag time" from center to max allowable deflection. Unfortunately, most control surfaces default deflection values provide lag time in excess of 0.5 seconds, some approaching 1 second. To counter this, you reduce the max deflection untill an 0.3 second lag time is achieved. To calculate the exact number for the max deflection, you multiply the control surfaces actuator speed in degrees per second (found by right-clicking the part) by 0.3. Then, divide this by the maximum deflection in degrees (found next to the actuator speed). Multiply the result by 100, and that number shoud be your max deflection. Very few surfaces (namely, the advanced canard) can be left at 100 and still meet the 0.3 sec limit, and none can be increased to 150. This is why you want your elevators as far back as possible(to maximize control authority) and a CoL just behind the CoG(to minimize resistance to pitch up). 6. Choose the right control surfaces! In order to get maximum deflection, but still remain in the 0.3 sec timeframe, you want the maximum actuator speed. Note that this tip isn't very critical, especially if your plane is well designed. Also, having a bigger control surface with slightly slower actuator speed is better than a smaller surface with a faster speed. This is why the best control surface IMHO is the Big-S type 1. It combines ideal size with sufficient speed. And the best canard IMHO is (not surprisingly) the advanced canard. When more size is needed, use the standard canard. This concludes the aircraft design section. The next part of this guide covers proper selection and tuning of BDArmory weapons, countermeasures, and sensors. It also covers tuning the weapons manager settings. 1. Don't use radar. Its simply dead weight right now. The most competitive drones have such a low Radar Cross Section (RCS), that trying to lock on them is virtually impossible, especially when they have jammers. Besides, they can dodge AMRAAM's easily anyway. So just don't use radar. Unless you're in a competition that requires one. 2. Spam sidewinders! Since the BDA 1.1 update, planes have gotten much more damage-resistant. Meaning a single sidewinder wont do much to a well-designed aircraft. Actually, many planes can take multiple missile hits and fight as if nothing happened. So you need a lot of sidewinders. Ideally between 8 and 12. And you want the weapons manager to fire 2 at a time, but we will discuss that later. 2. Don't gun spam. Prior to BDA 1.1, when heat was used to determine damage, planes were not very damage-tolerant. That's when the idea of gun spamming in the merge was invented with @Eidahlil's Cookie. A "flying ceiling fan" with 8 GAU-8 cannons. It basically hovered while rotating to aim at you. Unfortunately, this didn't work well, due to the fact that it can't dogfight. Soon afterwards, I was trying to make an ultimate dogfighter, but ended up with one of the most hated planes in the ASC competition. The Du-3. Basically, it was a guns-only airplane with 5 vulcans, a low top speed(to reduce IR signature), and very manuverable. Unknowingly, the decision to make it guns only is what gave it its formidable reputation. Here is why: because it came in slowly(~210 m/s), the engine was on very low throttle. Thus an IR lock would be achieved at just under 3km. Now, when the AI has a missile lock, it doesn't fire immediately, which is simply how the AI works. Then, people left their guns range at 2.5km (a big no-no today). Before the AI could fire its sidewinder, it reached gun range. And there is about a 0.5-1 second lag when switching weapons. The Du-3 never had to switch between weapons, meaning it sent a hailstorm of 20mm bullets downrange immediately at 2.5 km. The other airplanes, because of the lag, didn't start firing until ~2km or less. Thats over a half kilometer. Often, before they could evem return fire, the Du-3s would already have destroyed one of the enemies. Thus, when fighting a Du-3, you were basically guaranteed to loose a plane or two (sometimes all 3) in the head on pass. Numerous other aircraft (@dundun93's TFD 2.1 with 16 Vulcans, @Box of Stardust's Basillisk with 6 Vulcans and Flying Gunbrick with 10) followed this tactic, with great success, until the BDA 1.1 update. And thats when gun spam because impractical. Because of planes increased damage tolerance, it is rare to get enemies in the merge. And guns/ammo are heavy. Thus, carrying around all those guns and reduced maneuverability. Now, this has always been true, but previously, you could turn a 3v3 into a 3v1 just with the merge. Now, you need to dogfight to get enemies. And gun spammers are normally less-than-ideal dogfighters. Additionally, some new methods eliminate the merge all together, namely the Pre-Routing device(PRD), and certain weapons manager tweaks. We will discuss both soon. TL;DR. Gun spamming used to be a viable tactic, but isn't anymore. You want no less than 3, but no more than 6 Vulcans. And 4 ammo boxes is perfect. Also, pressing F2 in the SPH will show you how your guns are aimed, e.g, converging, diverging, how far away they converge. 3. Set your Vulcans max engagament range to under 1.3km. Also, set the gun range on the weapons manager (by right-clicking it) to just over the number you choose for your Vulcans. This is why: in the ASC challenge, it was noticed that planes were not using their sidewinders. This is because of the 2.5km gun range. And after the merge, airplanes are pretty close together. Normally closer than 2.5km. Thus, when enemy planes were extending to ~2 km and turning around, a perfect AIM-9 shot, the planes were wasting ammo on hopeless long-range vulcan shots, instead of properly used the AIM-9s. Thus, @box of stardust started the trend of reducing gun range to force planes to utilize their AIM-9s. Although reducing Vulcan range seems counter-intuitive, you have to think like this: at 2 km, which is more effective: Vulcan fire, or AIM-9s? At 1.5km? 1.25km? Generally, over 1.3km, AIM-9s are more effective than cannon, especially if fired two at a time. Under 1km, Vulcan fire is the most effective. The exact number between these two varies. For example, if your plane has a limited number of AIM-9s, or your plane can exceptionally aim long range gunfire, you might want a value on the high end, maybe 1.25km. Alternatively, if your plane runs out of ammo quickly, you would want a lower value. Maybe 1km. I personally choose about 1.0-1.1 km. Note: I know I didn't quite to the best job explaining this, so maybe someone could come up with a simpler explanation? 4. Fire two at a time! In the weapons manager, by right-clicking on the part, set the missiles per target to 2. That way, it fires two AIM-9s at a time. 1 AIM-9 at a time is not enough to do any significant damage in the latest BDA(also, it means you only have to dodge half as many missiles), and 3 depletes your missiles too quickly. 5. Set your intervals properly. In the weapons manager settings, put the "firing interval" at 1, and the "burst length" at 0. You want the plane to fire guns in short intervals, with short breaks inbetween, not continually. This ensures that less ammo is wasted, while keeping effectiveness. In my testing, non-continuous fire is just as effective as continuous fire. 6. In order to avoid your missiles colliding with you at seperation, shorten the, missile rails as much as possible. Additionally, you want forward jettisoning missiles. By default, its on lateral, or downwards ejection. Right-click on the AIM-9, and set the drop time to zero, decouple speed to 10, and forward firing, not lateral. Also, set the max engagement range to about 4-4.5 km. This is to avoid the missile exploding immediately after launch due to the loss of a long-range lock. 7. Use a PRD! A PRD, Pre-Routing device, works by firing a missile without a lock. This missile will trigger the enemies RWR, and cause them to dodge, but the missile doesn't have a lock. Meaning you can avoid merges by firing a PRD just prior to the merge. The only stock missile that will work is the RBS-15 cruise missile. Set its max engagement range to about 4-7km (experiment to see what works best). Also, set it to engage air targets only. It will fire the missile at the set range, and the enemies will respond as if it was a guided missile. There are more complicated PRD's, that fire unguided sidewinders/AMRAAMs, using some modular missile guide programming. But the RBS-15 PRD should be just fine. Additionally, the more complicated PRD's require decouplers(which are banned in some challenges), unlike the RBS-15 one, which doesn't need any decouplers. Just the missile rail. I reccomended you place the PRD on the belly of the airplane. Not on the top. 8. Always have at least 4 flare boxes, and at least 2 chaff boxes. Use ECM only if necessary. Normally, a PRD will stop AMRAAM shots by causing the enemies to dodge before they can fire their AMRAAMS at you. This is because most competitive drones have very small frontal RCS, meaning AMRAAMs lock at about 3-4 km. A little after your PRD should fire. If you use jammers, set them to activate with the gear action group. Don't use toggle, use activate. And, angle 2 of your your flare boxes at 45° angle backwards. And all of the flare boxes should have an eject speed of 30. Lastly, we will cover tuning the AI, probably the most important part of designing any BDArmory aircraft. 1. Leave the Pitck Ki on 5, and Max G/Max AoA on the maximum allowable values. Default and minimum altitudes: the default altitude can be kept as it, though setting it a bit higher can be advantageous in a dogfight. The minimum altitude should be put at 300 for a plane designed by these tips. Then, if you notice the plane crashing into the ground abnormally, raise it to 400. Steer Factor: steer factor is a multiplier that determines how much control input is used to turn the airplane. Higher values mean larger inputs for a given turn. (Here is a simplified example(not using the actual values): with steer factor at, say, 5, it will turn with 50% input for a target 30° above it. Put it at 10, and it uses full input). In order to properly set it, I highly reccomended you fly the finished plane by hand. That way, you have a general sense of what the capabilities of the airplane are. If you notice that the plane isn't turning fast enough, increase the steer factor. Alternatively, if the plane is turning too sharply, and bleeding airspeed unnecessarily, reduce the steer factor. Steer damping: the easiest way to adjust steer damping is this: place a stationary target with a weapons manager on the grass by the runway. Next, launch your craft. Temporarily set its guns to engage ground targets. Now, put the airplane and stationary target on different teams, and battle! While the plane is firing at the target, look to see how steady it is flying. If it is oscillating/wobbling in pitch/roll/yaw, increase the damping. If it appears to be steady, decrease the steer damping as much as possible while still being steady. You want the lowest steer damping value that provides stability, as excessive damping negatively affects turn performance. Min Combat speed should be set to around 40. So should the takeoff speed. Idle speed can be left as is, although increasing it to 200 never hurts. Max speed can be left as is, or maybe lowered to about 300. But never increase it. You dont want your plane merging with full afterburner, do you? BTW, here is a design that utilizes the tactics suggested in this guide, except the PRD, which didn't seem to help this design. the updated version has a MLRS. https://kerbalx.com/dundun92/Du-11 Updated version: https://kerbalx.com/dundun92/Du-11B-Blk-10  

One of my biggest dreams in ksp was having AI that could do mission for me so i could watch like i was in mission control. I wonder in the new game we will have something that will let an ai launch our rockets and do certain missions like going into orbit.

In the name of Richard Hatch... KEEPING THE DREAM ALIVE. Would it be possible to build real Battlestars, especially if we collectively wanted to, and if AI were used to accomplish most of the physical labor in Earth orbit or more ideally on the moon? Do you believe we could make it so? Ofcourse we don't have FTL, yet; and we may never have it, doesn't mean we can't use nuclear energy (or Tylium) to accelerate over longer periods to reach a good % of LS. Also wouldn't stop us from using AI to set up advanced bases as we travel out from our local system. Issac Arthor has some great inspirational material on his channels you could check out. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZFipeZtQM5CKUjx6grh54g Isn't this the whole point of building autonomous AI in the first place for fracks sake?! AI was the main theam of the BSG franchise and allowed that civilization the capacity to do stuff we currently can't and perhaps at the same time face our fears. The first ships could easily be constructed using raw material from the moon. less gravity, limitless solar energy and all the same resources/ores, semiconductors, metals we have on Earth. Seriously all the same resources are available, because once upon a time the Earth and moon were part of one big happy planet that got slammed. It is known lighter than air technology can reach the edge of Earths atmosphere and could easily be used as a platform for assisted lunch to higher orbit, reducing energy and financial costs significantly. IMHO just think we Humans better get off our collective 'assets' and on with it before we over rabbit our planetary resources out of global biological limits, The Toasters can save us! lol https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium-3

For about a year now I've been looking a mod to give space ship/fighters "combat AI" to move ships around, turn guns to face and to dodge incoming fire. Are there any fighter/ship AIs out yet for use with BDA these days?

Hey everyone! Browsing twitch and found this gem: https://www.twitch.tv/nonprofitgibi This KSP streamer is using a neutral net to try to teach a computer to play KSP! Check it out, and share a thought!

SERIES IV AS @inigma CAN NO LONGER MANAGE ASC IV DUE TO HIS DEMAND FOR TIME ARE A LITTLE STRAINED. BECAUSE OF THAT, I WILL BE HOSTING ASC IV. Air Superiority Challenge - King of the Hill 4v4 AI Duels (WW2 Theme) How Long Will You Claim Air Superiority? Test your design against the current King of the Hill, then Submit your entry to the ASC KerbalX Hangar and post a link in this thread to enter! King of the Hill: TBA Number of Wins: TBA Registered belligerents: P-18 Falcon by @epicman81 0 wins (ELIMINATED) KB-45 Falcon by @Wildcat111 0 wins (ELIMINATED) K-13-A Vivamente by @TorchedForever AVRO Kraken Mk. 1 by @GDJ 1 win AVRO Kraken Mk.2 by @GDJ 3 wins P-26 Hornet Mk.1 by @Wildcat111 P-83 Super Scythe and P-97 Broadsword and P-76 Discord by @Rezolution DF-47 Stinging Nettle by @DoctorDavinci 0 wins (ELIMINATED) Mosquito Mk.1 by @Bob_Saget54 TL.43 Dryad L,and TL.43 'Dryad' T Mk XVI by@JollyGreenGI It began with a challenge... inigma claimed King of the the Hill on April 3, 2016 with a pair of Fighter Papa-1s over KSCand KSC Islands. Not soon after, his son challenged him with a pair of dp class fighters of his own. The Air Superiority Challenge was born! The Air Superiority Challenge is a rotating challenge series from a catalog of currently adopted rule sets: No Restrictions, Modern Style, WWI Style, and other ideas we come up with by consensus. Only one series is active at at time, but each series will be posted in rotation. Most Series last a month. Some longer or shorter depending on interest, time, and new software releases. What never changes is the general format: two AI teams dueling for control of a piece of territory, most commonly KSC Island, using stock and BDArmory parts only (with a little Kerbal Aircraft Expansion thrown in here or there for spite). How long your team will claim the ASC KOTH title depends on how many times your designs survive challenges to your reign. Air Superiority Challenge IV Match Rules: All matches are hosted in KSP 1.1.3 64. bit with the latest BDArmory, Kerbal Aircraft Expansion, Airplane Plus and Aviator Arsenal mod versions. To ease the load of the match hosts, and to increase confidence in your submission, you may only submit an entry that you've tested against the current King of the Hill. Your post must state you've done so. Challenges to the King of the Hill will be processed on a first-come first-served basis by whichever match host volunteer happens to be available to do so (you can join the ASC Host team, PM Wildcat111 to do so). Challenges are best 2 out of 3 rounds of 4v4 take off from near KSC runway in opposite directions, BDArmory Tournament Mode: 4km re-engagement over KSC. To win a round or claim title to King of the Hill, one of your surviving craft must: have a Kerbal in your craft have at least one engine remaining (out of fuel ok) have at least one weapon attached (empty ok) still appear on the VS list in the BDA GUI (your weapons module hasn't been shot off) if there are no survivors with all the above, the round will be considered a draw, and a new round required. In case of a draw or bugged round, a round will be added to the match. 3 draws in a row will result in the match going to the current King of the Hill. Any craft that has disengaged is considered lost. All seats on a craft will be filled. Two seater? Two Kerbals. Yes, Kerbals weigh a few. All matches will be made available on my YouTube playlist when ASC IV is concluded. The aircraft that wins 2 out of 3 times is the winner. Air Superiority Challenge IV Entry Rules: 4 aircraft (must look like a plane) required per team (can be same or different crafts), all must be manned with at least one Kerbal, all Kerbals in command seats, no closed cockpits. All craft must be built in KSP 1.1.3 No cockpit reaction wheels. 10 fixed guns maximum, no turrets EXCEPT FOR PLANES THAT FLY SLOWER THAN 80 M/S, THEN 2 50. CAL TURRETS, ONE ON THE BOTTOM AND ONE ON THE TOp IS ALLOWED, BUT THE 50. CAL TURRETS MUST BE IT'S ONLY DEFENCE Closed cockpits are allowed. Clipped engines and parts are allowed. All stock parts permitted except the following prohibited stock parts: all stock engines EXCEPT JUNO ENGINE all Mk3 sized parts Big S wing Big S elevon SAS modules reaction wheel modules No mod parts permitted except the following: BDArmory (required for AI Flight Computer, and AI Weapons Manager. The .50 caliber Browning machine gun is the only weapon from this mod permitted in this series.) Aviator Arsenal (any fixed non-turreted weapon from this mod is permitted) - ASC KOTH.cfg file (to fix issue with Aviator Arsenal's antenna part, goes anywhere in your GameData folder) Kerbal Aircraft Expansion (required for liquid fueled propeller engines only, no other parts permitted) Airplane Plus (optional) http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/140262-113-airplane-plus-r40-wwi-early-flight-4-engines-more-custom-sounds-aug-8-2016/ B9 PWings (optional) http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/94621-102-b9-aerospace-procedural-parts-040-updated-090615/ Procedural Parts (optional) http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/96402-113-procedural-parts-parts-the-way-you-want-em-v125-july-3/ No restrictions on AI, or Weapons Manager settings. Entries must contain download link for the craft file(s) to the ASC IV KerbalX Hangar and posted to this thread (static links prevent me having to update the OP with your new versions). Only AI and Weapons Manager changes are permitted to the ASC champion between matches to fine-tune their AI response to upcoming challengers. No other part changes are permitted to the ASC champion. All challengers are permitted to make any changes they wish to their craft up to and just before their match vs the current ASC champion. If you are next in line, please notify the match host so your changes are committed to the match. If the match host missed your note, it's not their fault. Just re-submit your craft. Only one active entry per person at a time (to prevent dueling yourself). Match hosts will only engage staging once to turn on your engines at 0 throttle up to 3 minutes before match start, so be sure to tie in any components you want activated to the staging action group (competition start engages staging automatically), and be sure to include enough electricity to keep them active while stationary and throttled to 0. You may not trigger the Weapons Manager, or AI, or any of their settings, via the staging or SAS action groups. This prematurely enables fighting, and crafts that do will be disqualified. You may create a fake cockpit using a chair and some landing gear and stuff Hosting Details: Rounds will be processed depending on our time and general availability (hopefully semi-daily). With that in mind, let's see how far we can take this! You are welcome to host your own matches and publish the results in this thread, just let me know. If you decide to host an ASC match, you must have a dedicated KSP 1.1.3 64 bit install that only has the following mods installed: Aviator Arsenal ASC KOTH.cfg file (Fixes issue with Aviator Aresnal antenna. Goes anywhere in your GameData folder) BahamutoD's BDArmory BahamutoD's BDAVesselSwitcher BahamutoD's Vessel Mover BahamutoD's DestructionEffects Kerbal Aircraft Expansion Take Command Optional Mods: B9 PWings, http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/94621-102-b9-aerospace-procedural-parts-040-updated-090615/ Visual mods are permitted as long as they don't seriously degrade your match processing THE DEADLINE FOR SUBMITTING IS SEPTEMBER 20. YOU MAY UPDATE YOUR CRAFT, BUT YOU HAVE TO LET ME KNOW. YOU MAY POST MULTIPLE CRAFTS. KerbalX Hangar: https://kerbalx.com/hangars/10351 ASC MATCH HOSTS: @GDJ @DoctorDavinci and @Wildcat111 Let's begin! Wildcat111

SERIES III Air Superiority Challenge - King of the Hill 4v4 AI Duels (WW1 Theme) How Long Will You Claim Air Superiority? Inigma's YouTube Channel Test your design against the current King of the Hill, then Submit your entry to the ASC KerbalX.com Hangar and post a link in this thread to enter! ASC Match Hosts: @inigma | @jrodriguez | @g00bd0g | @Hobbes Novakoff | @Draconiator | @colmo Check out these other ASC Divisions: ASC-IV (No Restrictions) Coming July! | ASC-A (PvE Arena Ladder) Coming Soon! King of the Hill: TorchedForever - K1A Volante Number of Wins: 8 Registered belligerents: The Optimist - 2 Woodpecker, 1 Desert Moth Type 3, 1 Fighter Beefalo - DEFEATED! GDJ - Avro Super-Bee - DEFEATED! He_162 - Heinkel P3 - DEFEATED! Triop - FU-247 - DEFEATED! epicman81 - 1 mk25 Llama (20mm), 1 mk25 Llama (50 cal), 2 mk24 Starfish - DEFEATED! Draconiator - Kerbwith Alpaca - DEFEATED! AlexTheHu - ASC Tri - DEFEATED! qzgy - PointyStickFish Mk 11 - DEFEATED! It began with a challenge... inigma claimed King of the the Hill on April 3, 2016 with a pair of Fighter Papa-1s over KSC and KSC Islands. Not soon after, his son challenged him with a pair of dp class fighters of his own. The Air Superiority Challenge was born! ASC Series Playlist: The Air Superiority Challenge is a rotating challenge series from a catalog of currently adopted rule sets: No Restrictions, Modern Style, WWI Style, and other ideas we come up with by consensus. Only one series is active at at time, but each series will be posted in rotation. Most Series last a month. Some longer or shorter depending on interest, time, and new software releases. What never changes is the general format: two AI teams dueling for control of a piece of territory, most commonly KSC Island, using stock and BDArmory parts only (with a little Kerbal Aircraft Expansion thrown in here or there for spite). How long your team will claim the ASC KOTH title depends on how many times your designs survive challenges to your reign. Air Superiority Challenge III Match Rules: All matches are hosted in KSP 1.1.2 with the latest BDArmory, Kerbal Aircraft Expansion, and Aviator Arsenal mod versions. To ease the load of the match hosts, and to increase confidence in your submission, you may only submit an entry that you've tested against the current King of the Hill. Your post must state you've done so. Challenges to the King of the Hill will be processed on a first-come first-served basis by whichever match host volunteer happens to be available to do so (you can join the ASC Host team, PM inigma to do so). Challenges are best of 3 rounds of 4v4 take off from near KSC runway in opposite directions, BDArmory Tournament Mode: 4km re-engagement over KSC. To win a round or claim title to King of the Hill, one of your surviving craft must: have a Kerbal in your craft have at least one engine remaining (out of fuel ok) have at least one weapon attached (empty ok) still appear on the VS list in the BDA GUI (your weapons module hasn't been shot off) if there are no survivors with all the above, the round will be considered a draw, and a new round required. In case of a draw or bugged round, a round will be added to the match. 3 draws in a row will result in the match going to the current King of the Hill. Any craft that has disengaged is considered lost. All seats on a craft will be filled. Two seater? Two Kerbals. Yes, Kerbals weigh a few. All matches will be made available on the official YouTube playlist embedded above. Air Superiority Challenge III Entry Rules: 4 aircraft (must look like a plane) required per team (can be same or different crafts), all must be manned with at least one Kerbal, all Kerbals in command seats, no closed cockpits. All craft must be built in KSP 1.1.2 50 part limit maximum per craft. 2 fixed guns maximum, no turrets All stock parts permitted except the following prohibited stock parts: all stock engines all Mk3 sized parts Big S wing Big S elevon SAS modules reaction wheel modules No mod parts permitted except the following: BDArmory (required for AI Flight Computer, and AI Weapons Manager. The .50 caliber Browning machine gun is the only weapon from this mod permitted in this series.) Aviator Arsenal (any fixed non-turreted weapon from this mod is permitted) - ASC KOTH.cfg file (to fix issue with Aviator Arsenal's antenna part, goes anywhere in your GameData folder) Kerbal Aircraft Expansion (required for liquid fueled propeller engines only, no other parts permitted) No restrictions on AI, or Weapons Manager settings. Entries must contain download link for the craft file(s) to the ASC KerbalX.com Hangar and posted to this thread (static links prevent me having to update the OP with your new versions). Only AI and Weapons Manager changes are permitted to the ASC champion between matches to fine-tune their AI response to upcoming challengers. No other part changes are permitted to the ASC champion. All challengers are permitted to make any changes they wish to their craft up to and just before their match vs the current ASC champion. If you are next in line, please notify the match host so your changes are committed to the match. If the match host missed your note, it's not their fault. Just re-submit your craft. Only one active entry per person at a time (to prevent dueling yourself). Match hosts will only engage staging once to turn on your engines at 0 throttle up to 3 minutes before match start, so be sure to tie in any components you want activated to the staging action group (competition start engages staging automatically), and be sure to include enough electricity to keep them active while stationary and throttled to 0. You may not trigger the Weapons Manager, or AI, or any of their settings, via the staging or SAS action groups. This prematurely enables fighting, and crafts that do will be disqualified. Hosting Details: Rounds will be processed depending on our time and general availability (hopefully semi-daily). With that in mind, let's see how far we can take this! You are welcome to host your own matches and publish the results in this thread if any of the ASC match hosts fail to respond within 7 days to the next belligerent challenge. If you decide to host an ASC match, you must have a dedicated KSP 1.1.2 64 bit install that only has the following mods installed: Aviator Arsenal ASC KOTH.cfg file (Fixes issue with Aviator Aresnal antenna. Goes anywhere in your GameData folder) BahamutoD's BDArmory BahamutoD's BDAVesselSwitcher BahamutoD's Vessel Mover BahamutoD's DestructionEffects HyperEdit iPeer's InFlightFlagSwitcher Kerbal Aircraft Expansion Malah's QuickBrake Take Command Texture Replacer Visual mods are permitted as long as they don't seriously degrade your match processing. Match hosts must post all rounds to YouTube channel with KSP: ASC III KOTH belligerent vs king (Round # of # or Full Match) BDArmory AI Dogfight Battle and update this thread with a link. Shall we get started? Who will be the first to challenge the ASC King of the Hill? Air Superiority Challenge Series III - Line of Succession SuicidalInsanity - SI-5 Tyrant - 1 win Draconiator - Super Llama - 1 win JollyGreenGI - K&K Sweep - 2 wins Bananders - Crown Nightingale Mk2 - 1 win The Optimist - 2 Woodpecker, 1 Desert Moth Type 3, 1 Fighter Beefalo - 2 wins TorchedForever - K1A Volante - 8 wins Previous ASC Series Top Reigning Kings: ASC-I - SuicidalInsanity - Solarius III - 6 wins ASC-II - g00bd0g - VulcaRaptor - 10 wins - ASC Grand Champion ASC-III - TorchedForever - K1A Volante - 8 wins

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2016/06/australian-scientists-say-we-are-on-the-evolutionary-path-to-becoming-cyborgs/ There are a number of similar articles out on the same topic.

Welcome to the ASC Dueling Arena! Tired of waiting for an official tournament slot to see how your fighter fares against others? Wait no more! Post either a duel challenge or a duel result: Open challenge: Make a post stating you want to open your fighter to challenge anyone Link your fighter in the post List any mods used. (You can upload your craft to KerbalX.com to have it do all of this for you). Post a dueling result: Make a post showing a picture or video of your fighter winning or losing against any other craft in this thread. Include a link to your fighter in your result post so your awesomeness can be confirmed by others. Duels are whatever you wish to setup (1v1, 2v2, 3v3, 2v4, etc). The idea is to show how you win, or lose, so in the crucible of combat dueling, you and others can improve combat aircraft designs. Who will post the first fighter requesting a duel?