Top Gun AI - The Official Tournament Thread

[EvenFlow]

XMF-1B comes with just a single additional countermeasure totalling at 57 points. Added a double vertical stabiliser too.

Behold the product of breeding an F-16 with a MiG-29 and pumping it with steroids.

And setting it on fire.

And god, it even flies!

Here, the download link:

http://kerbalx.com/EvenFlow/XMF-1B.craft

See you in combat, people! c:

(It'd be nice to replace my original entry with this one, thanks! ^o^)

[RocketTurtle]

Adding no clipping to OP. (You can have things clipping, just not completely inside eachother. And things like ammo are okay too)

[Slam_Jones]

Because two is better than one, I've upgrade my Falcon to the SlamTek Falcon 2-A. A traditional one-thruster design proved too sluggish in today's fast-paced combat environment, so we did the simplest thing we could to fix it... put on another! Never mind the ugliness, we can always fix that later.

We also filled a gap in our arsenal by installing a bunch of missiles. For science!

Because hey, who doesn't love an arms race?

Download Link

2x "Whiplash" RamJets

3x Counter-Measures [3 x 5 = 15]

1x GAU 30mm cannon (2x 30mm Ammo) [11 +8 = 19]

2x AMRAAM Missile [4 x 2 = 8]

4x AIM-9 Missile [4 x 4 = 16]

58 points

Edited August 3, 2015 by Slam_Jones
Fixed link

[t3hJimmer]

Adding no clipping to OP. (You can have things clipping, just not completely inside eachother. And things like ammo are okay too)

Its hard to judge, but there's a difference between clipping for looks and clipping to cheat.

[Three1415]

Its hard to judge, but there's a difference between clipping for looks and clipping to cheat.

Sigh...I still do not understand how clipping is in any way "cheating." It does not suddenly give your aircraft godlike powers; about the only thing it is capable of doing is making them look nicer. I would like to hear one example of how someone could "cheat" with clipping and have it be measurably different in any way from doing it normally.

Anyway, this is my entry for this competition, in an effort to introduce something more exotic--the ASF-4 "Double Down":

It utilizes clipping to some extent (i.e, the engines are clipped into one another, as are the fuel tanks), and, although I fail to see how either makes a measurable difference I have in the interests of appeasing the group halved the fuel stored in each tank; I see little problem with engine clipping, however, as altering it would do little other than compromise the fighter's aesthetic.

Statistics:

71 parts

12.9 tons

Point Calculation:

6 x "Sidewinder" missiles = 6 * 4 = 24 points

2 x Hidden Vulcan turret = 2 * 9 = 18 points

2 x 20mm Ammunition Storage = 2 * 4 = 8 points

2 x Countermeasure Pods = 2 * 5 = 10 points

Total: 60 points

Craft file

[RocketTurtle]

Sigh...I still do not understand how clipping is in any way "cheating." It does not suddenly give your aircraft godlike powers; about the only thing it is capable of doing is making them look nicer. I would like to hear one example of how someone could "cheat" with clipping and have it be measurably different in any way from doing it normally.

Anyway, this is my entry for this competition, in an effort to introduce something more exotic--the ASF-4 "Double Down":

http://i.imgur.com/i9q7RHV.png

It utilizes clipping to some extent (i.e, the engines are clipped into one another, as are the fuel tanks), and, although I fail to see how either makes a measurable difference I have in the interests of appeasing the group halved the fuel stored in each tank; I see little problem with engine clipping, however, as altering it would do little other than compromise the fighter's aesthetic.

Statistics:

71 parts

12.9 tons

Point Calculation:

6 x "Sidewinder" missiles = 6 * 4 = 24 points

2 x Hidden Vulcan turret = 2 * 9 = 18 points

2 x 20mm Ammunition Storage = 2 * 4 = 8 points

2 x Countermeasure Pods = 2 * 5 = 10 points

Total: 60 points

Craft file

Wrong. Clipping engines removes the need for things to attach them to. Adapters, whatever you may use to place 2 engines on the plane.

[Three1415]

Wrong. Clipping engines removes the need for things to attach them to. Adapters, whatever you may use to place 2 engines on the plane.

I'm sure my aircraft's performance will be seriously affected by the 0.001-ton strut I need to attach it somewhere else.

[t3hJimmer]

Sigh...I still do not understand how clipping is in any way "cheating."

You get the benefit of the parts you are clipping, without increasing your target size. There are also benefits to drag reduction as well as making it easier to balance COM, COL, and COT.

If we allow clipping we're going to end up with planes the size of a fuel tank with everything clipped inside.

- - - Updated - - -

If you clip your engines into each other and one gets shot off, your center of thrust remains unchanged, and you can keep on flying with slightly reduced thrust, if they are placed legitimately, and one gets shot out, you get reduced thrust, and you have to deal with your thrust being unbalanced.

The spirit of this challenge is well designed aircraft, not who can exploit game mechanics the best.

[Three1415]

Very well...Here you go: The ASF-4 "Double Down" IB

Same Redundancy:

Craft file

Edited August 3, 2015 by Three1415

[t3hJimmer]

If i were running the tourney I'd DQ you, but its up to Pixel to decide what he'll allow in his tourney.

You have your tail planes clipped inside your engines, and 2 fuel tanks clipped into each other and clipped inside your cockpit.

There's a difference between clipping the edges of wings together so there's no gap, and what you're doing

[Three1415]

If i were running the tourney I'd DQ you, but its up to Pixel to decide what he'll allow in his tourney.

You have your tail planes clipped inside your engines, and 2 fuel tanks clipped into each other and clipped inside your cockpit.

There's a difference between clipping the edges of wings together so there's no gap, and what you're doing

If you go by that stringent of criteria, you will also disqualify everyone else here. No person's design does not exploit clipping in some way. I already removed 50% of the fuel from each fuselage to balance it out; clipping it into the cockpit is a minimal alteration (which several others have done as well), and the new IB realigns the engines. If you are going to remove clipping altogether, you might as well ask everyone to resubmit.

[t3hJimmer]

No. No one else is doing what you're doing, and if they are, it's not allowed. None of the .craft I've downloaded since we started running these fights have had more than minor clipping.

Heres a vid if anyone is curious.

Edited August 3, 2015 by t3hJimmer

[colmo]

Adding no clipping to OP. (You can have things clipping, just not completely inside eachother. And things like ammo are okay too)

As inventor of the format, my original clipping criteria was that structural parts were fine (for looks and aerodynamics mostly), but not fuel tanks into other fuel tanks, as fuel can only be so dense, requiring one or both to be partially empty. I also avoided clipping control surfaces because that looks bad (though wouldn't legislate against it, because there are limits given the parts we have) and never even occurred to me to clip engines (unless its a tiny bit, certainly never overlapping their outputs, because real jets don't do that).

Ammo, guns (as they're fixed) and landing gear make sense to clip, because real planes don't have those bolted to the skin of the fuselage either.

This contest was created to find the best performing designs (originally my own) which still looked authentic, not to design ghastly, unrealistic winning machines.

Yes, people's ideas about what's acceptable will vary, so consensus is key. Alas, noses will occasionally end up out of joint.

Btw, please confirm you got my entry?

[PixelStory]

EVERYONE! My recording computer just broke! I need someone to fill in and record for me D:

- - - Updated - - -

Also, is Three clipping to much or not? I can't tell. If they are, they have to read the rules again.

[Alphasus]

Are his fuel tanks clipped at all? If so, he has clipped too much.

[PixelStory]

He clipped 2 fuel tanks into his cockpit. I just took the plane apart. Sorry Three, but this plane is disqualified.

[FlipNascar]

Then perhaps my Budgie is also disqualified. I put Turboramejets on the rear attachment nodes of the Rapiers and then used the offset tool to make it look pretty...

[PixelStory]

Does the plane use the Jet for thrust? If not, you are fine.

[Alphasus]

No, you just have to adjust the design. It is only an issue with clipped fuel.

[PixelStory]

Good news everyone! I got a recording software for the videos!

Also, the bracket I posted was just a test. I have to re generate it because of new entries.

- - - Updated - - -

Also, I just posted the REAL tournament bracket and the time of the tourney has been mooved to 10:00 EST. Why? I don't like waiting.

[PixelStory]

the pixel tourney has now started!

Slamtek VS XMF-1B!

[FlipNascar]

Does the plane use the Jet for thrust? If not, you are fine.

It does use the jets for the thrust... It was designed around the concept of the TurboRapier because moar power is always good. That's the beauty of the TurboRapier, you can combine two engines in the space of one without any shenanigans. Everything else is "legit", and the turbojets and Rapiers will still work if you remove the offset... But it is somewhat late to be chopping and changing. I'll not do the same for any future entries.

[Im The One]

the pixel tourney has now started!

Slamtek VS XMF-1B!

Good luck gentlemen/women may the best fighter win

[Alphasus]

Hey pixel, if it does that can't you just disable thrust on the rapiers or the turbo ramjets?

[Alphasus]

The reason why I wanted the 5th generation challenge was so we could evaluate range and speed as well. The fights would simply be used to evaluate maneuverability and dogfighting traits.