Fairings

[Nick667]

Hey guys, I just wanted to know when are fairings unlocked in career mode, I've been looking around the research and development tree, and I just can't find them. Could somebody open my eyes? xD

And sorry if this was a dumb question, I'm kinda new at this game.

[Gaarst]

Fairings are in the same categories as plane parts.

Yes this is completely counter-intuitive (not to say something else)

[Kelderek]

It's not counter-intuitive, don't think of it as the "plane parts", but the "aerodynamic parts" instead. All parts that are related to aerodynamics are in that area.

[Turner]

Are fairings... "heavy" ?

While they can help get your craft smoothed out, it seems - thin as they may be - that they're made of lead or something.

Any ideas?

[Trenchfoot]

I think they are just one of those parts where you gotta bite the bullet on weight because the drag benefit is bigger. Or if the benefits not bigger, don't use em.

[Turner]

Yeah, that's the thing, though - are fairings really that heavy? I would think they should be really light. Not massless, just light.

[Superfluous J]

The fairings in the game are apparently something on the lines of 9 times heavier than the fairings Space-X uses. There's quite a bit of discussion going on in the Are Fairings Useless? thread.

And you unlock the first one for either 45 or 90 science points. It's in the lower half of the tree. Looks like a tall nosecone in the little icon picture. And yes, it's in aerodynamic parts which makes total sense

Edited May 7, 2015 by 5thHorseman

[SpeedDaemon]

Well, if you want them lighter, you can always reduce the weight.

Here's a module manager cfg that should halve their weight:

@PART[fairingSize1]
{
  @MODULE[ModuleProceduralFairing]
  {
	  @UnitAreaMass = 0.015
  }
}

@PART[fairingSize2]
{
  @MODULE[ModuleProceduralFairing]
  {
	  @UnitAreaMass = 0.02
  }
}

@PART[fairingSize3]
{
  @MODULE[ModuleProceduralFairing]
  {
	  @UnitAreaMass = 0.03
  }
}

[Superfluous J]

Well, if you want them lighter, you can always reduce the weight.

Here's a module manager cfg that should halve their weight:

...

Actually you can do it one better:

This has been edited thanks to the suggestion below by SpeedDaemon

@PART[fairingSize*]:HAS[@MODULE[ModuleProceduralFairing]]
{
	@MODULE[ModuleProceduralFairing]
	{
		@UnitAreaMass *= 0.5
	}
}

(Ganked from Starwaster's post and edited)

Edited May 7, 2015 by 5thHorseman

[SpeedDaemon]

Ah... Yeah, I thought you could do math in there, but didn't know it was that easy.

You might want to limit it to @PART[fairingSize*] though, instead of scraping up anything else you might add with that module...

[Superfluous J]

Hmmm true. Who knows what clever things people may figure out to do with that module.

[stibbons]

It's not counter-intuitive, don't think of it as the "plane parts", but the "aerodynamic parts" instead. All parts that are related to aerodynamics are in that area.

The first fairing is in the node named, quite literally, "Aerodynamics". I've unlocked it without touching the Aviation node at all.

[Nick667]

Thanks for the help guys, I found it later, it was just named different.