Kerbal Express Airlines - Regional Jet Challenge (Reboot Continued)

[RedPandaz]

3 minutes ago, neistridlar said:

It has been bothering me for a while now that we have not started using the badges that @hoioh made, they are just too good not to use. So I have been trying to find a good way to implement them, and I think I have a way that will fit the challenge, and can be implemented retroactively relatively easily. It goes like this:

• Bronze: Participation trophy, you may use this when your craft has been reviewed, regardless of the outcome.
• Silver: KEA bought at least one of your planes.
• Gold: Mark of exemplary performance, this is exactly the kind of aircraft KEA are looking for. It has only minor issues, and is over all very suitable for the task at hand.

Bronze and Silver can be awarded retroactively by self service. For a retroactive Gold badge, people may apply for it retroactively if they think they have a chance, and the judges will take a quick look at the previous review and submission to decide if they qualify. This system is highly subjective, but that such is the nature of this challenge, so I don't think there is a way around that.

Also I think it is about time KEA gets their own flag, so I made a few proposals. I am not by any means a good graphical designer though, so if anyone thinks they can do better, feel free to build upon my designs, or scrap them and make something entirely different. I think this will be fun.

What if there was also a DeathTrap badge

[Kebab Kerman]

5 minutes ago, RedPandaz said:

What if there was also a DeathTrap badge

The Universal Transport Mk. 1 Civilian would win. It would win diamond. Not even gold, straight to diamond.

[RedPandaz]

3 minutes ago, Kebab Kerman said:

The Universal Transport Mk. 1 Civilian would win. It would win diamond. Not even gold, straight to diamond.

Hah

[Think I can make something worse?]

 

[Kebab Kerman]

2 minutes ago, RedPandaz said:

Hah

[Think I can make something worse?]

 

Yeah, probably. Really, it's not that hard.

[RedPandaz]

1 minute ago, Kebab Kerman said:

Yeah, probably. Really, it's not that hard.

hehe

[hoioh]

57 minutes ago, RedPandaz said:

Also I think it is about time KEA gets their own flag, so I made a few proposals. I am not by any means a good graphical designer though, so if anyone thinks they can do better, feel free to build upon my designs, or scrap them and make something entirely different. I think this will be fun.

I think you made a very nice effort there @neistridlar ! i like your third option best, it's cleanest, but I would use the colors of the middle option and not have the middle stripe with a totally different hue (too many green in the color). If you PM me the files I can pick it from where you brought it.

(Oh and I LOVE how you picked up on the badge idea, thanks for the nice words!)

[neistridlar]

9 minutes ago, hoioh said:

I think you made a very nice effort there @neistridlar ! i like your third option best, it's cleanest, but I would use the colors of the middle option and not have the middle stripe with a totally different hue (too many green in the color). If you PM me the files I can pick it from where you brought it.

(Oh and I LOVE how you picked up on the badge idea, thanks for the nice words!)

Sent you a PM. I too like the third option best. Though I think it could do with a better font, and I don't like how the silhouette interacts with the breaks between the arrows, I think that works better in the other two. Don't know how to fix that though.

[hoioh]

Here's what @neistridlar and myself came up with for a new flag to fly over the challenge, would love to hear some opinions:

[hoioh]

And this would be our second choice:

[CrazyJebGuy]

7 hours ago, RedPandaz said:

I made a private jet that is much more economical than GAI's.

 

Anyone want to test fly it to find the optimal flight settings? I'm not the best pilot

Which of my planes though? They vary spectacularly, I think at KPPM my worst plane has something like 150 times worst than my best plane.

[CrazyJebGuy]

I have a bit of time now, so I went and made a practical super-sized liner. The other super-sized liners, they struggle with either cost, falling to bits, or just being less practical than getting several jumbos for the same price. I fixed that. This plane, seats 1,000 passengers, exactly.

Most seats have decent views, few vibrations and are quiet. But because 1000 / 8 = 125, there is an odd number of cabins. So we put just 8 seats more right on the top, it's the very height (see what I did there?) of airline comfort, having a powerful wireless internet transmitter near gives good internet speed, it has no vibrations or noise, a spectacular view from all windows and in the rare case of the plane failing or exploding for some reason, it can detach and has it's own parachute. We recommend flying VIPs, like royalty there. Or the CEO's pet cat. Mittens is a VIP too. Bonus: Sister plane of the Sky Titanic (which actually was like the ship, in that it as very hyped and then it was destroyed) and we promise this time it can pull turns and not rip itself in two.

 What makes this better though, than some smaller jumbos? Price. It costs $217,328 per seat. It's really really good at being cheap. Although it has 450 parts, 118 of them are struts, and the top 5 most common parts making up 83% of the plane, it is very standardized and so this should reduce maintenance significantly.

GAI Olympic

https://kerbalx.com/BristolBrick/GAI-Olympic

[GDJ]

6 hours ago, hoioh said:

And this would be our second choice:

This one. I could see this on the side of a plane.

[RedPandaz]

3 hours ago, CrazyJebGuy said:

Which of my planes though? They vary spectacularly, I think at KPPM my worst plane has something like 150 times worst than my best plane.

That 8-seater. The latest one

3 hours ago, CrazyJebGuy said:

Which of my planes though? They vary spectacularly, I think at KPPM my worst plane has something like 150 times worst than my best plane.

The private jet

[CrazyJebGuy]

2 minutes ago, RedPandaz said:

That 8-seater. The latest one

The private jet

Oh, that one. I don't even regard it as a real entry, it was just a "hey buy my stuff i'll give you one of these free", never meant it as an actual aircraft entry.

[RedPandaz]

Just now, CrazyJebGuy said:

Oh, that one. I don't even regard it as a real entry, it was just a "hey buy my stuff i'll give you one of these free", never meant it as an actual aircraft entry.

I know

[neistridlar]

13 hours ago, hoioh said:

Here's what @neistridlar and myself came up with for a new flag to fly over the challenge, would love to hear some opinions:

I decided to try this one out on a plane. We definitively need it on a transparent background. I suggest .png, that is what the stock ones use.

Edited March 30, 2018 by neistridlar
grammar

[Andetch]

Can you not simply use a free website to convert it into a transparent backed logo?

1 hour ago, neistridlar said:

I decided to try this one out on a plane. We definitively need it on a transparent background. I suggest .png, that is what the stock ones use.

I also want my badges! The leader boards are missing my successful entries - and the Day Fury flop is on twice! (Also, I think you reviewed an older version of the Day Fury, that was completely s***e, am not asking for a latest version review as you're so busy - I'm just sayin' the new day fury doesn't have the single stabilization engine on the back as you pictured, it was a miracle that I was able to get something like that to not only fly but stay in the air, because as fuel burns you can do things with the engines to keep it stable, and anyway we sold over 100 to the other KEA (Kerbin Energy Agency), flying electric power stations are apparently very useful for supplying electricity to remote areas even if they have a quote "range that would embarrass a seaplane").

So the point is, I get a badge! (from HSKT Night Fury EL, KAT Chalduro and The X Series Night Fury) Hahaha

Edited March 30, 2018 by Andetch

[CrazyJebGuy]

44 minutes ago, Andetch said:

Can you not simply use a free website to convert it into a transparent backed logo?

I also want my badges! The leader boards are missing my successful entries - and the Day Fury flop is on twice! (Also, I think you reviewed an older version of the Day Fury, that was completely s***e, am not asking for a latest version review as you're so busy - I'm just sayin' the new day fury doesn't have the single stabilization engine on the back as you pictured, it was a miracle that I was able to get something like that to not only fly but stay in the air, because as fuel burns you can do things with the engines to keep it stable, and anyway we sold over 100 to the other KEA (Kerbin Energy Agency), flying electric power stations are apparently very useful for supplying electricity to remote areas even if they have a quote "range that would embarrass a seaplane").

So the point is, I get a badge! (from HSKT Night Fury EL, KAT Chalduro and The X Series Night Fury) Hahaha

Yeah sorry for the leader-board problems. Complicated but I can't fix right now.

[Andetch]

I fear the day when one of my challenges gets popular and I must keep track of things the way you guys here must! Hats off to you

[neistridlar]

3 hours ago, Andetch said:

Can you not simply use a free website to convert it into a transparent backed logo?

I also want my badges! The leader boards are missing my successful entries - and the Day Fury flop is on twice! (Also, I think you reviewed an older version of the Day Fury, that was completely s***e, am not asking for a latest version review as you're so busy - I'm just sayin' the new day fury doesn't have the single stabilization engine on the back as you pictured, it was a miracle that I was able to get something like that to not only fly but stay in the air, because as fuel burns you can do things with the engines to keep it stable, and anyway we sold over 100 to the other KEA (Kerbin Energy Agency), flying electric power stations are apparently very useful for supplying electricity to remote areas even if they have a quote "range that would embarrass a seaplane").

So the point is, I get a badge! (from HSKT Night Fury EL, KAT Chalduro and The X Series Night Fury) Hahaha

It is easy enough to remove the background, but it is better if they were supplied with transparent background from the start, as the image already has compression artifacts in it, and that only gets worse each time you edit the image. It should be piece of cake for @hoioh to supply a .png with transparent background and even lossless compression. (simple images like this is very easy to compress with lossless compression, the one I posted is 2000x3000 pixes, yet only 307KB). Oh, and resolution wise I think 1024x1024 or there about would be nice, That is what I am using for my Neist Air flag, and it looks really crisp.

[neistridlar]

Test Pilot Review: @Magzimum – MAD TF-3a Swift

  

Figures as Tested: 

• Price: 26,721,000 
• Fuel: 1200 Kallons 
• Cruising Speed: 1200m/s 
• Cruising Altitude: 23,000m 
• Fuel Burn Rate: 0.20 Kallons/sec 
• Range: 7,200km 

Review: 

A supersonic jet that promises high speed, low price and long range, can it be true? Well there is much evidence that this is in fact true. The take-off speed of 68m/s is certainly fast enough, but the aircraft accelerates so quickly it's all over before you can read the entire name of the company. Now it seems that having all control surfaces respond to all control inputs is all the rage among airplane manufacturers these days. Well our pilots are not liking it. It is especially bad with this one, as it seems the roll input overpowers the yaw input on the rudders, making it very difficult to maintain coordinated flight. Our engineers found a swift and simple solution though, just snip the control wires.  

Getting a stable cruise is somewhat challenging though. Partly this is because of the high speeds and thin air. But it is also partly because the aircraft constantly wants to nose down when it is used with the autopilot, and roll when flown by hand. Adding in a little trim into the design, as well as a little dihedral should fix this. The cruise speed is quite nice though, certainly in the higher end of the spectrum. Upon landing the plane performed well though, touching down at only 48m/s, and coming to a stop in a reasonable distance. And ditching in water was completely safe as well.  

Now the three separate passenger compartments make for an easy and logical separation of first class and economy tickets. The side cabins have the engine mounted fairly close, and directly to the fuselage, which makes for a noisy experience in the back. We did find though that stuffing the structural fuselage at the back with empty snack bags seem to help keep the noise down to somewhat acceptable levels, but the vibrations could still be felt. Still perfectly acceptable for economy tickets though. In the center cabin however the situation is quite different. With the engines far away, and the vibrations having to travel through the side cabins, two fuel tanks and a wing section. Our test passengers did however report that their arms got quite sore. After all there is not much else to do than to wave at the other passengers. 

And now for the economy. This is where this plane really starts to shine. It is one of the cheapest entries we have looked at so far, and also one of the best fuel economies. At 36 parts and two engines It is not going to be expensive to maintain either. 

The verdict: 
Though we have some issues with the handling characteristics of the aircraft the economy is too good to pass on. And if MAD is correct in that A to A flights are on the rise we want to be the first to offer it at an affordable price. We will be ordering 8 of these for long range flights, with options for 6 more if the handling issues can be worked out. 

Edited March 30, 2018 by neistridlar

[Kebab Kerman]

This is the hypersonic plane I was talking about: 

I'ts not yet done, as it needs more fuel, but it still works amazingly!

[Kerbinchaser]

On 3/29/2018 at 12:12 PM, neistridlar said:

(snip)

I like that last one. Crisp, clean, and a the text adds an awesome effect. 

[hoioh]

PNG files coming right up:

Not through imgur though, converts to JPG....

Flag 1: https://www.dropbox.com/s/x21995ltmusrzu0/KEA Flag 1.png?dl=0

Flag 2: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ewkmdhexmlw3b5l/KEA Flag 2.png?dl=0

 

Edited March 30, 2018 by hoioh

[neistridlar]

The keen eyed of you will have noticed that I used the KEA 1 flag on the MAD TF-3a Swift review. I removed the white background quick and dirty, but good enough for a test. I noticed two things that I don't think work as well as it should. I kind of feel like it needs a little bit of empty space around it. The second thing is that it kind of just turns in to an unrecognizable blob of blue at a distance. Just to illustrate my point I made a few screenshots with different versions of the KEA flag proposals, as well as the default KSP flag and my own Neist Air flag.

Images:

Spoiler

 

Observe how especially the NA flag is very recognizable, while the KEA proposals are much harder to make out. I made the third of my initial proposals with a black outline, which I think helped a little bit, but I still think there is lots of room for improvement. Oh, and these were made with the png versions that @hoioh just posted.