Asymmetric jet for BDArmory. Stock version too.

[Galane]

After watching a lot of BDArmory vids showing various types of aircraft dogfighting, I decided to give it a try. But I didn't want to make something too ordinary. So I threw this together with superposed engines and the cockpit offset to port, then used forward swept wings just for the heck of it.

Getting the CG centered left-right was a bit of an issue. I resorted to putting a couple of RTGs on the starboard wing for the all stock version. The BDArmory version only needed one RTG due to the radome being a bit heavier.

Flight characteristics. Don't over-rotate taking off or you'll remove the lower engine. Put on SAS and throttle up. Hands off and let it get wheels up on its own. At takeoff with full tanks the CG is a bit far forward but SAS or BDA AI has no problems. I set the forward tank to drain first so the CG will shift back then stay put to increase stability. Feel free to use afterburners early.

So far its battle action has been one BDArmory AI dogfight VS itself. It won. With the default AI settings it was doing some pretty good yank and bank. However it only engaged with the Vulcan, never touched the twin .50's or the six AIM-9's. I'm probably missing something on the craft... just remembered I haven't installed chaff or flares. Oops. Feel free to modify weapons type, quantity, functionality.

BDA version https://pastebin.com/X0m7V7ax

Stock version https://pastebin.com/iTHuNi1w

screenshot0 by g_alan_e, on Flickr

screenshot1 by g_alan_e, on Flickr

Edited August 31, 2017 by Galane

[Galane]

Now it has chaff and flares. Missile rails straightened and extended a bit too. I pitted two of them VS a pair of Ravenspear MK1's I fitted out with the same armament (but no radome). My planes did fire missiles but still wouldn't use the .50's

They took down the Ravenspears pretty easily. then I pitted them against one another. Bill took out Valentina in about 60 seconds. I need a different fighter that's good to pit O-Twisted against.

https://pastebin.com/40HUtutW

Armed Ravenspear MK1 https://pastebin.com/QVzbP5rG

[Galane]

After watching O-Twisted get its afterburner handed to it a few times by better armed jets, I reconfigured its armament and defenses.

Gone are the twin .50-cal that never got used. It now sports three 20mm Vulcans (two on the radome and one center dorsal) and six boxes of 20mm ammo. The six sidewinders are replaced by six AMRAAMs and two sidewinders. There's an ECM pod starboard (the RTG was moved inward on the wing to adjust CG) and more flares and chaff. I also put a couple of airbrakes on top of the wing and ticked the authority up a bit on the elevons on the back of the wings.

It's now O-Twisted FTP (Frak This Poo!) https://pastebin.com/dDJBrC9a

[Galane]

And here it is, ready to do battle. My performance benchmark was ADF-01 Falken Crewed. I kept working on the plane until it could not only get first kill in a 2v2 fight but also win fights with no losses. Its first victory was quite nice to see. Two ADF-01's down to one O-Twisted flying, with one wingtip shot off. Had to keep adjusting...

Much of the R&D went towards pushing the COL forward and the CG backwards - without altering the original fuselage, engines, main gear and wings. Alan Aerospace Recycling and Packaging put too many minutes worth of work into that arrangement to justify altering them. (Production tooling costs big money.) Everything else that bolted on was fair game for being changed and moved.

Why it now sports those four intakes out on the wings is because at high AOA the top engine would flame out. There's no where to put inline intakes and the other radial mount is too huge.

All stock plus the base BDArmory mod. Six AMRAAM, two Sidewinders, three Vulcans fed by four ammo boxes. AI is set to fire up to 3 missiles per target. Once I figured out that being set to 1 was a huge part of it always losing fights, the R&D was able to move from weaponry to balance and aerodynamics.

https://kerbalx.com/Galane/O-Twisted-FTP-BDA

screenshot2 by g_alan_e, on Flickr

Edited September 4, 2017 by Galane

[Galane]

This is probably as far as this design can go, without altering the wings, which would put it farther outside the O-Twisted lineage, but still associated with it. Sort of like the F-16 and the Mitsubish F-2 based on it.

O-Twisted-IL (InLine cockpit)

Changed to Advanced Canards on the nose and wingtips. Changed intakes number (to two) and position. Added subsonic intake on bottom to counter lower engine flameouts in hard turns. Changed to an inline cockpit with nose intake. Eliminated the dorsal Vulcan and all but two ammo boxes. Fights are too short for more. Also replaced the bi-couplers with an experimental, structural only version. Still requires the RTG in the starboard wing for balance. Fully armed takeoff weight down to just over 11 tons. Dry weight, no armament, chaff, flares or fuel, is just over 7.5 tons.

BDAc AI, plane balance etc finally sorted out so it doesn't flip and flail about at the start of dogfights with 150% authority on all surfaces. It tends to stay high and shoot early, which improves its survival rate.

https://pastebin.com/3tt5YQUG

Experimental structural MK2 bi-coupler. Safe this as a .cfg file and toss it somewhere Under GameData.

https://pastebin.com/Bju26bSw

Cockpit or chase cam views make for a pretty sweet ride now.

screenshot10 by g_alan_e, on Flickr

Survived a head on collision with an ADF-01 Falken Crewed, which was not so lucky. Took off the nose intake and jammed the landing gear up through the wings.

screenshot11 by g_alan_e, on Flickr

Edited September 13, 2017 by Galane