Air Superiority Fighter Competition Continued

[exbyde]

1 minute ago, 53miner53 said:

I had designed it for a FAR challenge, and it crashed into the VAB then. I’ve been using it in stock since I discovered it works well in stock. 

Im going to need to commission someone for badges or something. Thats hilarious

[53miner53]

1 hour ago, exbyde said:

Im going to need to commission someone for badges or something. Thats hilarious

Weirdest part from my perspective: on my computer it has never crashed into anything other than another one of itself when 2 took off directly side by side and did a barrel roll when they reached minimum altitude.

[exbyde]

28 minutes ago, 53miner53 said:

Weirdest part from my perspective: on my computer it has never crashed into anything other than another one of itself when 2 took off directly side by side and did a barrel roll when they reached minimum altitude.

must be that hidden "al qaeda" trait for the pilots, you know, the one right under the "BadAss" trait?

[goduranus]

Ok after some testing I've come up with a somewhat decent craft. New submission:

https://kerbalx.com/goduranus/Flying-Squirrel

[goduranus]

On 1/3/2018 at 11:22 AM, exbyde said:

 

There's a term in aviation, 8hrs bottle to throttle. The aft cg makes the pilots seem incompetent/drunk as they consistently get into spins. F-18c beats out the E by a decent margin, and will face the Lancer later tonight

Oh man, the F-18's drunken flying made me rofl. It did that for me some times too, but not all the time, don't know what's up with it. 

[MiffedStarfish]

Built a new plane with about half the RCS of the last one, while retaining the same armament. I’ll submit it later when I’m at my computer.

[goduranus]

11 hours ago, Eidahlil said:

Well, then consider it submitted, but it, uh, employs some unorthodox tactics. My guess is it'll either fail spectacularly or warrant the banhammer.

1v1 it mostly works. 3v3... it works sometimes. Other times the AI glitches out and all the craft start spinning. I guess I'm doing stuff which was never meant to be done.

This is the future and it works, I tried carriers before but couldn't get the drones to recognize the correct orientaion, they rolled in response to pitch control, etc.How did you get it to work? Also, maybe try fewer but more maneuverable drones?

What if you ditched the mother and just built a plane that splits into two? a 2-1 advantage is already pretty significant in a gun fight.

Edited January 4, 2018 by goduranus

[Eidahlil]

1 hour ago, goduranus said:

This is the future and it works, I tried carriers before but couldn't get the drones to recognize the correct orientaion, they rolled in response to pitch control, etc.How did you get it to work? Also, maybe try fewer but more maneuverable drones?

What if you ditched the mother and just built a plane that splits into two? a 2-1 advantage is already pretty significant in a gun fight.

Well, then it would be a lot more obvious what it does from the picture.

Turns out "control from here" can now be added to action groups. I'm pretty sure it wasn't there a few versions ago, but it solves that problem.

I thought about more maneuverable or missile-armed drones, and, ultimately, ran into space, weight and part count constraints. I'd have to reduce the number probably. And that just wouldn't do thematically.

I mean, I hope this doesn't become an accepted tactic in this challenge. And if it does, we can always improve and resubmit.

Edited January 4, 2018 by Eidahlil

[goduranus]

53 minutes ago, Eidahlil said:

Well, then it would be a lot more obvious what it does from the picture.

Turns out "control from here" can now be added to action groups. I'm pretty sure it wasn't there a few versions ago, but it solves that problem.

I thought about more maneuverable or missile-armed drones, and, ultimately, ran into space, weight and part count constraints. I'd have to reduce the number probably. And that just wouldn't do thematically.

I mean, I hope this doesn't become an accepted tactic in this challenge. And if it does, we can always improve and resubmit.

@Eidahlil why does it work when you put "Control from Here" on Action Group 1? Do modular missiles activate Action Group 1 when they are fired? or can you set the action group that get activated somewhere?

Also, news from a couple of days ago:

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-01-01/darpa-building-flying-aircraft-carrier

https://www.navytimes.com/newsletters/daily-news-roundup/2017/12/18/darpa-hopes-to-swarm-drones-out-of-c-130s-in-2019-test/

Edited January 4, 2018 by goduranus

[Eidahlil]

21 minutes ago, goduranus said:

@Eidahlil why does it work when you put "Control from Here" on Action Group 1? Do modular missiles activate Action Group 1 when they are fired? or can you set the action group that get activated somewhere?

Also, news from a couple of days ago

Yes, the modular missiles will fire action groups 1 through <stages number>, the first one after drop time, the next ones when it detects it has no more running engines. They are technically just very smart cruise missiles, so the AI properly launches them only when in combat.

I get a weird feeling of deja vu looking at that picture. I honestly had not heard of that.

[exbyde]

1 hour ago, goduranus said:

@Eidahlil why does it work when you put "Control from Here" on Action Group 1? Do modular missiles activate Action Group 1 when they are fired? or can you set the action group that get activated somewhere?

Also, news from a couple of days ago:

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-01-01/darpa-building-flying-aircraft-carrier

https://www.navytimes.com/newsletters/daily-news-roundup/2017/12/18/darpa-hopes-to-swarm-drones-out-of-c-130s-in-2019-test/

*cool freakin picture*

Using large aircraft as drone motherships isnt a new concept. There was testing done in 2016 where three f-18s released about 100 SUAS from pods.

From what i'm hearing, @Eidahlil has something between the Pachy and this concept?
edit- These aircraft appear to use something akin to racing quad motors- very high rpm for high pitch speeds/top speeds. 100 of these things sound like something out of a horror movie

Edited January 4, 2018 by exbyde

[Eidahlil]

15 minutes ago, exbyde said:

From what i'm hearing, @Eidahlil has something between the Pachy and this concept?

Something like that:

It messes up launches from the cargo bay all the time though. I don't remember when was the last time all 4 came out alright. I'll see if I can fix it a bit and upload an updated version.

Edited January 4, 2018 by Eidahlil

[goduranus]

Since aerodynamic forces is applied on the drones' wings the moment the cargo bay opens, point the drones forward, horizontal and down 45 degrees, so that the aerodynamic force on their wings will pull them out of the cargo bay. Although I tried it with the long cargo bay, not sure if it can be done in the short one.

[Eidahlil]

13 minutes ago, goduranus said:

Since aerodynamic forces is applied on the drones' wings the moment the cargo bay opens, point the drones forward, horizontal and down 45 degrees, so that the aerodynamic force on their wings will pull them out of the cargo bay. Although I tried it with the long cargo bay, not sure if it can be done in the short one.

I'd gladly, but they don't fit that way. And the long cargo bay weighs 6t. Most of the problems occur when the cargo bay is open partially though, and I think I mostly fixed it in the update a few minutes ago.

The main problem now is that it seems if you kill the princess, the autopilot on all the drones turns off. Which is thematically appropriate, but not exactly optimal. I'll see if I can make it a bit more resistant to AMRAAMS as a workaround.

[exbyde]

Alright folks, i'm sure you love to hear me yell out NEW RULES, but NEW RULES!

STARTING JANUARY 10, THERE WILL BE A LEADERBOARD FOR SUPER AIRCRAFT. IF YOU FEEL LIKE BUILDING BIG AND BAD, READ THE HIDDEN SUPER RULES PREVIEW AND SUBMIT A DESIGN. 

Testing begins when i have a computer that can handle more parts (i got an NVME SSD in today!) have the word SUPER in your submission somewhere.

In the regular rules, only change is the vessel tracker cannot show more than 3 aircraft at any given time per team. @Eidahlil your drone carrier will get honorary testing through the rank board to test effectiveness, but not an official rank on the fighter leaderboard. Instead it will get some form of honorary title, and then immediately put into SUPER combat on the 10th. The rules currently exclude the Moses and Monstron, so you are currently the only submission.

IF anyone else feels like submitting a SUPER design ( @dundun92 , one of the IV-4 designs?) they will be put into an early test battle later this week against the drone princess.

Edited January 4, 2018 by exbyde

[Guest]

31 minutes ago, exbyde said:

Alright folks, i'm sure you love to hear me yell out NEW RULES, but NEW RULES!

STARTING JANUARY 10, THERE WILL BE A LEADERBOARD FOR SUPER AIRCRAFT. IF YOU FEEL LIKE BUILDING BIG AND BAD, READ THE HIDDEN SUPER RULES PREVIEW AND SUBMIT A DESIGN. 

Testing begins when i have a computer that can handle more parts (i got an NVME SSD in today!) have the word SUPER in your submission somewhere.

In the regular rules, only change is the vessel tracker cannot show more than 3 aircraft at any given time per team. @Eidahlil your drone carrier will get honorary testing through the rank board to test effectiveness, but not an official rank on the fighter leaderboard. Instead it will get some form of honorary title, and then immediately put into SUPER combat on the 10th. The rules currently exclude the Moses and Monstron, so you are currently the only submission.

IF anyone else feels like submitting a SUPER design ( @dundun92 , one of the IV-4 designs?) they will be put into an early test battle later this week against the drone princess.

Oh, I know exactly what the IV-4 will be... it will take the rules to their limit! 

[Piatzin]

On 12/29/2017 at 4:43 PM, exbyde said:

7. You must have a pilot on each aircraft before takeoff. This restriction is lifted after takeoff.

So.....no drones?

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Earthlinger said:

So.....no drones?

Jettison the cockpit with the gear action group. 

[Piatzin]

1 minute ago, dundun92 said:

Jettison the cockpit with the gear action group. 

-__-

[Guest]

Also, @exbyde what does "after takeoff" mean in the parasite plane rules? off the ground even a tiny bit? Or after the gear retracts?

[exbyde]

18 minutes ago, dundun92 said:

Oh, I know exactly what the IV-4 will be... it will take the rules to their limit! 

pls no

7 minutes ago, Earthlinger said:

So.....no drones?

Drones are fine, like in the drone princess. But you must have one piloted aircraft on takeoff. in other words, two piloted motherships, x drones

2 minutes ago, dundun92 said:

Also, @exbyde what does "after takeoff" mean in the parasite plane rules? off the ground even a tiny bit? Or after the gear retracts?

after the aircraft get into the air. Takeoff sleds arent counted. In other words if you have 20 drones on the wings of a carrier, as soon as the aircraft gets off the ground you can technically deploy drones.

Edited January 4, 2018 by exbyde

[Guest]

Just now, exbyde said:

pls no

Drones are fine, like in the drone princess. But you must have one piloted aircraft on takeoff.

Trust me, it wont be extreme like you probably expect (and I dont mean 200 part count either). It will be extreme like the Kelp... Kinda! I will dispense with further details! 

[Piatzin]

1 minute ago, exbyde said:

after the aircraft get into the air. Takeoff sleds arent counted. In other words if you have 20 drones on the wings of a carrier, as soon as the aircraft gets off the ground you can technically deploy drones.

GASP

SWARM TACTICS

*evil laugh*

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Earthlinger said:

GASP

SWARM TACTICS

*evil laugh*

HEY! You stole my idea! (Not the extreme one, another one. The reason I asked the question)

[exbyde]

Just now, dundun92 said:

HEY! You stole my idea! (Not the extreme one, another one. The reason I asked the question)

you understand Eidahlil's drone princess uses swarm tactics right?