Aerodynamic Nose Caps ... Why bother?

[djnekkid]

Hello Guys!

This is my first post on this forum, and sorry if it have been asked or whatnot before, and i did try a qouple of searches

But to the topic, the caps to put on top of rockets, are there any points in them? I did use them alot, but I felt they didn't add any benefits, so i did an almost mythbuster style test:

Some initial parameters:

* SAS on, no touching on the controlcolumn

* Full throttle

Small Scale:

* (Nose cap on top of the pod)

* Command Pod mk1-2

* One stick of dynamite (A small solid booster)

With: Came up to 8031m

W/O: Came up to 9021m

Conclution: they did not help me one bit, rather the contrary. But as always, small scale does not neccesary give you a final conclution

Medium Scale:

* (Nose Caps on the 3 "stand alone" sticks)

* Parachute

* Command Pod mk1

* SAS

* 3x Radial Decoupler to add some space, so the sticks dont overheat

* 4 sticks of dynamite (1 in center, and 3 in a "circle")

With: Came up to 31587m

W/O: Came up to 58389m

Conclution: Still the same one, the added weight of the caps did an even worse job on this test

Full Scale:

* (Nose Caps on the 4 "stand alone" rockets)

* Parachute

* Command Pod mk1

* 3x FL-T400 tanks to simulate the weight everything you need on a Mun' Lander, simple orbiting vehi

* Decoupler

* SAS

* 3x FL-T400 with a LV-30 rocket underneeth

* 4x3 FL-T400 on radial Decouplers with a LV-30 rocket underneeth

* About 8 struts for strucktural support

With: Came up to 143,379m

W/O: Came up to 176,668m

Final Conclution:

* The extra weight on the nose caps is NOT worth the possible beneficial drag coeffecient. The wierd thing however, all fuel tanks and solid boosters have a drag coeffecient of 0.3, and the SAME does the nosecap have.

The nosecap almost share gfs with the XL parachute, but the parachute almost seem abit less aerodynamic the the nosecaps, but the 'chute have a drag coeffecient of 0.1

* A test done with the last setup, and a "slight" modified "parts.cfg" where i tuned down the drag to 0.05, and i did get abit more height, but still not worth it (roughly 153km)

* A second test was done with rather heavy modified "parts.cfg", with drag to 0.001 and weight to 0.1, and i still didnt get the full 176km, but a mere 169k

[sal_vager]

Hi djnekkkid and welcome to the KSP community

The nosecones are just for show at this point, and drag is modeled in a very basic way, it'll be changed somewhere down the line towards the 1.0 release.

Several other parts are not yet properly implemented as well, such as the air intakes, at some point care will have to be taken to provide enough air flow to the air breathing engines.

Even though these parts do not yet "work", they are used by many pilots as they value looks over functionality.

[The_Dude]

Solution: Edit .cfg to make drag negative. Then nosecones function as you expect they would.

[Endeavour]

Going along with what sal_vager said, they have no use currently. It is good to design with them in mind because someday they will make a difference.

[GoodGuy]

Yeah, no use whatsoever. pretty much everyone agrees it's a cosmetic item.

[djnekkid]

Hi djnekkkid and welcome to the KSP community

Thank you, and that from what seems to be a dev as well

The nosecones are just for show at this point, and drag is modeled in a very basic way, it'll be changed somewhere down the line towards the 1.0 release.

Several other parts are not yet properly implemented as well, such as the air intakes, at some point care will have to be taken to provide enough air flow to the air breathing engines.

Even though these parts do not yet "work", they are used by many pilots as they value looks over functionality.

I guess my findings, and this post were explanation enough, but with my probably close to 100 hours played the last week-and-a-half, this is the only "bug" i've encountered that i felt needed some forum postings

Anyhow, yesterday i managed to land on the mun, and have enough fuel to get back to Kerbin for the first time. Had some problems getting to land safely, and then i baught a joystick, did cost probably 4x what the game did, but it REALLY helped flying safely

[AlternNocturn]

Future-proofing, I think. People like to add little things to their rockets to make them seem more like real vehicles, so we get the aesthetic stuff before there's a use for them. Mod packs have been doing that for ages.

[RC1062]

They actually add drag currently aswell.

[UmbralRaptor]

With the current drag model, there is no benefit at all. Drag is calculated on each part individually, independent of location, what's in front of it, etc.

[djnekkid]

On a funny sidenote, did -2 to all 3 "drags", and set the mass to 0.1, and i now get to 200km, about a 12% increase

[Apocalyptica602]

I should go back and edit those .cfgs to make the drag negative. I think it'll be great once the nose cones have some benefit and the air intakes etc work for the air-breathing engines.