Spatha. Looks (short of) like a shuttle, flies like a much more useful 20mT SSTO.

[Rune]

So yeah, today is really release day. Another one! This time, a true workhorse: a medium sized cargo bay you can fill to the brim (half a Big Red, or in other words, big enough for any of my base modules), and ample cabin to carry passengers and do crew rotations and stuff. And pretty simple to use!

The only note of caution would be to remember to turn on the fuel cell in the cargo bay, really. Yes, I know, that means it can't stay up forever, but I actually like that it'll take you resources to stay up long unless you are docked to a station. It is also equipped with a handy rear-facing Sr. docking port (if you launch with a nosecone in there, you drag will be considerably less, BTW), so you can actually tug it around and/or use it to tug around stuff. Don't now why you would like to deploy it elsewhere, but maybe you have an amazing crane in Laythe to put cargoes in and out of the bay... or an idea to build one with the new KAS like I do. There's room in there for the container to store the parts in, too...

As for payload, most of the cargoes you can fit there, volume wise, will be lighter than a X200-32, and there is enough room in there for a Munar lander or something. Meaning this can fulfil from satellite contracts, to launching Munar science missions, to ferrying tourists onwards to their destinations, or deploying interplanetary probes.

Anyhow, the build is really so straightforward that there is really not much else for me to tell you about it. It won't slow down your game at all (80 parts only), it is quite simple to use (action groups explained on the file), and it makes a great general-purpose shuttle. So have fun trying it out if you do, and if not at least enjoy the pretty pictures!

IMGUR ALBUM

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DOWNLOAD

http://www./download/bwhir11nimip0ed/SSTO+Mk+LI+-+Spatha.craft

Update! New 1.04 version. Check the new looks in the album!

Rune. And I'm not done yet.

Edited July 7, 2015 by Rune

[ryan234abc]

1st! I think. When I saw this thread I was thinking of the original mk2 Spatha. When I saw this I was considerably surprised (in a good way). Like with the white dart, its great to see your remaking some of your classic pieces. And for all the truly attentive Rune fans (Runers, runerians?), I can't wait to see the return of the Eagle, as prompted in a post a thread (SSTO's maybe?). This, nonetheless, is a great craft and I can't wait to give it a go. Thanks Rune!

[Rune]

1st! I think. When I saw this thread I was thinking of the original mk2 Spatha. When I saw this I was considerably surprised (in a good way). Like with the white dart, its great to see your remaking some of your classic pieces. And for all the truly attentive Rune fans (Runers, runerians?), I can't wait to see the return of the Eagle, as prompted in a post a thread (SSTO's maybe?). This, nonetheless, is a great craft and I can't wait to give it a go. Thanks Rune!

Yeah, my imagination is not great for naming, and my scheme of "pointy stuff" has served me well. But I'm running out of pointy things I haven't used at some point! Spatha kinda worked since was short of the intermediate of the three... am I foreshadowing the next one much? Hahaha, anyhow, you have all seen it in the SSTO thread as I built them if you were paying attention.

As to the Eagle, the last version I built before 0.90 abandoned the idea of SSTOing on airbreathers and returned to its 100% chemical origins, so it actually short of works already... but the nuke changes has me rethinking the whole thing. Might abandon the whole idea of two separate drive systems, or come up with something else, or just rebalance and isolate both fuel systems... don't know yet, really. But I can tell you that I already have the Base Pack repackaged, and I built a cute, very symmetric robotic chemical-only stand-in for the Eagle that can do the same job in much less parts. Basically a shorter version of the lander that gets a whole pack on the ground, for individual module dropping/launching. It is much less awesome-looking than this, tough...

Rune. It is next on my to-do list, in other words.

Edited May 20, 2015 by Rune

[Captain Sierra]

Very nice, might try and base my cargo shuttle off this.

ALso, how's the base pack doing post-1.0 aero?

EDIT: ninja'd on the base.

[ryan234abc]

It is much less awesome-looking than this, tough...

Rune. It is next on my to-do list, in other words.

The Eagle has always been my favourite of your crafts. Thanks to the new heating effects the nuke engines have been rendered quite inert when it comes to using them on long distance burns. However, the Eagle works quite decently with Reliant engines (deez names) although they run out a considerably bit quicker. I know this is the Spatha thread but I can't quite contain my excitement at the 'its next on my to-do list'. Honestly the Eagle is the best looking, best working ship you have made so far, in my opinion. And this is even more off the topic of the Spatha so ill stop now but the White dart 'do ALL the science' button made my day.

#Eaglehype2K15

p.s I think im cool and modern xD ↑

[Rune]

The Eagle has always been my favourite of your crafts. Thanks to the new heating effects the nuke engines have been rendered quite inert when it comes to using them on long distance burns. However, the Eagle works quite decently with Reliant engines (deez names) although they run out a considerably bit quicker. I know this is the Spatha thread but I can't quite contain my excitement at the 'its next on my to-do list'. Honestly the Eagle is the best looking, best working ship you have made so far, in my opinion. And this is even more off the topic of the Spatha so ill stop now but the White dart 'do ALL the science' button made my day.

#Eaglehype2K15

p.s I think im cool and modern xD ↑

You know, don't apologize for tangents too much, especially when they lead to interesting places. This is what happened when I though about a nuke-less Eagle...

It went something like this: ...well, balancing the fuel for nukes sounds like work. But if I ditch the nukes, there is no point in having two different axis of propulsion, if both are going to have similar isp. Unless one of them is airbreathers, of course. And the VTOL part would Duna-rate it... hey, remember that cool way of putting the BigS wings together? You could use that... the rest is a couple hours fiddling, this is the pre-production test just before test-flying it, which can wait for when I've not spent the whole afternoon on KSP.

Rune. Besides, I have another thread to write after dinner!

[ryan234abc]

I do like that a lot. It makes a good variant for the Eagle and seems quite like my sort of thing. The big-s back to back wings look very handsome indeed. I'll be trying out the longsword now. You have some great concepts don't you? Maybe you should do a runner up thread, for those that didn't QUITE make it into the record books, if you know what I mean. Duna rating your ships tends to add a finishing touch. I like this Eagle prototype a lot. Sci-fi ish. That made no sense...

Looks great. Longsword here I come!

[Rune]

I do like that a lot. It makes a good variant for the Eagle and seems quite like my sort of thing. The big-s back to back wings look very handsome indeed. I'll be trying out the longsword now. You have some great concepts don't you? Maybe you should do a runner up thread, for those that didn't QUITE make it into the record books, if you know what I mean. Duna rating your ships tends to add a finishing touch. I like this Eagle prototype a lot. Sci-fi ish. That made no sense...

Looks great. Longsword here I come!

Well, preliminary testing couldn't be more promising: it made orbit in the second flight, and it didn't in the first because I didn't notice the gimbal on the forward RAPIERs was heating the tail. Also, I forgot to turn on the fuel cell and run out of juice without pilots inside: it still made orbit unguided. A 3,000x21km orbit.

Rune. I think we have something here!

[Rune]

Update! I posted a new version of this for 1.04. Much cooler and lighter thanks to the changes in drag, and me knowing the new atmospheric model (and parts) better.

Rune. Now with radiators!

Edited July 7, 2015 by Rune