What did you do in KSP1 today?

[MR L A]

12 minutes ago, Castille7 said:

I took this ole Flying Garbage Truck out for a spin in 1.8.1 and she still flies. I may update it one day, it's a really old build.

big bird that!  looks pretty part heavy too.. whats the count?

with a redesign you could probably have swiveling engines instead of those dedicated VTOL engines  

[purpleivan]

1 hour ago, MR L A said:

ooh also.. what kinda fps you getting? I'm looking to upgrade soon

Here's a few pics of the performance info.

[Retro Starship]

(1.8.1) Had only a simple level 4 career contract with some brand new parts. One is the famous panther jet engine. So into the plane hanger for a quick mod for a new aircraft design. Simple but useful. Put 3 panthers into the new cockpit, one on top for the altitude test and tried it. No I couldn't get it up to this specified height of 11000m. Maybe barely but never past 330m/s for the speed.

So lets put a couple tiny solid rocket engines up in front for a ... little boost! (hehe) 

(Put 2 TR-10 Hammers next to the front tire.)

Spoiler

 

Here we go.. Jeb and Bill into the cockpit seats and into the air at 100m/s or so...

then they got it up to a good angle and BANG! hit the rockets!!!!

 

The top Panther was used for the contract test at 11000m, so it did not give me any added thrust but the middle back 3 and the front 2 solid rocket Hammers got me to that altitude and a nice cool 15000 meters or so to top it off. Val probably would have gotten higher but it was her day off last night.

Edited December 15, 2019 by Saturn5tony

[MR L A]

2 hours ago, purpleivan said:

Here's a few pics of the performance info.

niceeee thanks! almost pinned at 60fps despite all the visual mods... I assume you're running at pretty high settings too?

I'm pretty jealous at the moment

[Castille7]

5 hours ago, MR L A said:

big bird that!  looks pretty part heavy too.. whats the count?

with a redesign you could probably have swiveling engines instead of those dedicated VTOL engines  

That's 607 on the part count. l like that swivel engine idea, thank you! 

[Hotel26]

7 hours ago, MR L A said:

still using the old texture for the service bay?

Yeah.  Hey, you got me all excited that there might be a tweak on the stock part!

I only do a handful of the Essential Mods.  Mods are great but they have a cost.  That's why too I am very selective about when I upgrade KSP.

Stock is the lingua franca for KerbalX.  I do do the DLCs because Squad (and Take Two) is worth supporting.  I bought Making History but never used anything out of it.  Maybe until recently.  The Mk2 Lander Can.  Maybe that's not even MH?  Breaking Ground is much more appealing, but I haven't gone crazy with it.  (Think I've used it just twice.)

I see the MH doc refers to an SM-18 Service Module and I see also that I have an SEQ-9 Container Module part.

However, the service bay with Victor III I am using pops its doors and extends antenna and solar panel on one key: can't beat that for simplicity of use!

Edited December 15, 2019 by Hotel26

[Guest]

 

PLZ do visit my website!

[Lisias]

On 12/14/2019 at 4:59 PM, purpleivan said:

Here's a few pics of the performance info.

New design!  I was toying with your concept, but then Hotel26 hinted you about what I had found, besides with a different solution. Well, since we are still on it, allow me to show you what I made!

This is what we got originally (fuel tanks dry):

The CoM is too close of the CoL, and this is what made your craft highly unstable while trying to land after running out of fuel. So this is what I choose to do:

1. Kept the overall airframe and wing configurations intact
2. Changed the rudder to an V-tail configuration
   1. This added some lift to the tail, shifting back the CoL, but also solved (partially) your issues while taking off
3. Moved the main gears, putting them near between the CoL and the CoM. 
   1. This minimizes the force needed to rotate the aircraft
   2. By collateral effect, it also minimizes the stress on the main gears on take off.
4. Moved up the main gears on the fuselage, lowering the clearance on the tail to the ground
   1. This created an "virtual" angle of incidence on the wings, creating lift early and allowing the craft to take off with smaller airpeeds
   2. This also helps a bit on your control issues on taking off.
   3. Remember to hit the parking brakes on launch, as this configuration (lower tail) makes the physics engine to believe the craft is downhill.  

You will need to apply full elevator up @~45m/s to keep her straight on the runway (this maximize the rudder authority over the front gear), but other than that she is marvellously stable now. Trimm the elevators (ALT + W or S) until she gets the attitude and altitude you want and she will go by herself.

Hint: about 90m/s, release the elevators and apply full pressure up again. This will make the gears to kick her up, and she will get airborne sooner!

Screenshot fest:

 

Your worse problem right now is drag. Open Cockpits "carved" on the fuselage as this creates an awful amount of drag.

 

— POST EDIT --

Link to my reconstruction of the original plane (by @purpleivan): here.

Link to my V2 version: here.

Edited December 15, 2019 by Lisias
post edit: links for the craft files

[Mars-Bound Hokie]

I flew around Kerbin in less than an hour.

 

Spoiler

• The plane in the SPH right before takeoff

 

• 24 minutes in, and we're on the sunny side of the planet. It was dark at the KSC when we left.
  • SPOILER ALERT: It still was dark when we got back.

 

• 53 minutes and 18 seconds between takeoff, a full equatorial flight, and a complete stop at the runway. Not bad.

 

The craft is in my KerbalX, under the name "Bill's Car;" I removed the mods to allow easier compatibility for those who don't have any. 

 

More details on my craft's performance in my "Around the World in 80 Minutes" challenge. If you think you can beat me, you're sadly mistaken I dare you to try.

 

[Angelo Kerman]

I did some more testing with robotics in KSP 1.8.1:

Same vessel docking and interactive part collisions is proving quite useful.

[purpleivan]

I took the Little Flyer 2 out for a spin again this morning @Lisias and here's a few more infomative pics, plus some fun ones.

The center of mass both when fully fueled and empty is in front of the rear wheel, but not too much

The nose lifts at about 67m/s and by 70 it's airborne.

Val felt confident enough in it to do a quick barrel roll just after takeoff.

We tried to convince her that the open cockpit design would create a lot of drag, but she insisted that she wanted the feeling of the wind on her faceplate.

After takeover and a quick trip over the ocean, she returned for a little barn storming around the KSC.

Ok... time to buzz the VAB, nice and close.

But not that close.

Ok, whatever you think, you not landing that Val... time to eject.

[Hotel26]

14 minutes ago, purpleivan said:

I took the Little Flyer 2 out for a spin again this morning

Keep in mind that "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" and it's the original creations (like yours) that attract all the attention!  Totally admire your style.  (I've learned a thing or two already.)

Edited December 15, 2019 by Hotel26

[NHunter]

I've visited Hyrdon ravines:

Also, my probe has reached Fury

[noname_hero]

Today I've learned that it is impossible to take surface samples of asteroids, no matter how close you are, if your ship lacks the grabbing claw. Which kind of s*cks, as I've decided to learn some KSP by finding out how much of the Kerpollo challenge I can do, and I've been hoping to squeeze a bit more Science out of the Munpollo mission. Turns out you can *dive into* an asteroid and you still won't be able to take a sample:

[fulgur]

Today I built myself a new liquid-fuel only SSTO. It's a lot easier to fly to orbit than my old one and has a bigger margin of 8-900m/s, but smaller tanks when in orbit. I present the Liget I long-range crew transport, fresh from KSC shipyards!

It's got quite a low takeoff speed for a SSTO, as it goes very straight and unsticks at about 70-80m/s. You do need to pilot very carefully to get it past the 400m/s barrier, perhaps going into a little dive at around 6km, but then you can pitch up and ride quite easily to orbit.

It's available on KerbalX.

[Lisias]

8 hours ago, purpleivan said:

I took the Little Flyer 2 out for a spin again this morning @Lisias and here's a few more infomative pics, plus some fun ones.

The center of mass both when fully fueled and empty is in front of the rear wheel, but not too much

The nose lifts at about 67m/s and by 70 it's airborne.

Humm.. Ok. This is fun!  It's like @Hotel26 said, I like your style - it's pretty different from mine, by the way.

I took your new design, and tried my stunts on it to see what happens.

With dry tanks, apparently your design will be still a bit unstable… (Picture with dry tanks)

 

May I suggest, so, to turn off the fuel flow of the nose tank? This moved the CoM a bit ahead of the CoL, and I think this is enough to make her more stable on emergency landings. Think of this tank as a "emergency only fuel" to be used at last resort.

 

Then I adapted my v-tail to it, and yeah… It's better than my original idea, the v-tail added some lift where I wanted, but your extra elevons turned this craft into a flying devil! (Picture with dry tanks)

 

It took off at  ~43m/s.

 

I didn't realized before, but your baby has a hell of a TWR!  (with full tanks!)

Sounds like fun. Let's try a ballistic followed by a Immelmann (google for some acrobatics, you will like it!).

Yeah! Nice. I think I need more authority on the Yaw, but other than that, she did it marvelously.

Humm… Look… The "bridge"… Yeah, I know you know that I know I have to try it!

Since I'm using a keyboard, I activated the AutoPilot to help me keep her stable. but...

Spoiler

 

The craft is way too light, I need to trim the PID, but now it's too late - that bridge is coming fast.

Spoiler

 

Well… There's another very good thing on your craft: survivability.  

Spoiler

Look, ma! A chute!

 

Obviously, I'm not talking about the building….

Spoiler

 

"She's dead, Jim…"

Spoiler

Behold Eripont, the Building destructor!!!

 

Original Craft from @purpleivan (reconstructed): here.

My version: here.

[Jeb-head-mug kerman]

http://Welp, I haven't posted here for a while, sooo yeah.... But I have recently been working on a stock replica of a ME 109A that I will make a cinematic type video for and put it up on youtube. But that is a bit avarage, so once a few weeks ago when I was bored and thinking of warbirds, I had this idea of building stock WWII style undercarriage. You know, the ones on the ME 109 that retract outwards? Yeah, those. I am quite bothered that Squad has not added any of this type of gears yet into the stock game. Here is a video of what I am working on. It is currently only a very rough prototype, but I think it works reasonably well.https://i.imgur.com/XbRlwQi.mp4

 

Edited December 16, 2019 by Jeb-head-mug kerman

[NotARobot]

In modded KSP 1.7.3 I sent a mother-ship like probe to Eve, it carried 6 tiny probes.

This was my first successful interplanetary mission, (besides the two relay satellites that arrived thirty days before the mother-ship arrived).

If you would like to view the images on Imgur then click here.

Mother-ship Assembly and Eve Arrival

Spoiler

The craft that transported the 6 probes to orbit, each carried 2 probes, so 3 total launches.

The Mother-ship assembled in Kerbin orbit.

The Mother-Ship in Eve orbit.

Probe Descent

Spoiler

The 1st probe undocks, and will soon de-orbit.

The atmospheric entry of the 1st probe.

The probe descends into the atmosphere.

Due to a design flaw, the probe flips when the heat shield is jettisoned.

The Probe Landing Sites

Spoiler

The 1st's probe landed on its side, with a broken antenna.

The 2nd probe landed and sunk 500m in the Eastern Sea, when the probe began to sink, I felt true fear.

The 3rd probe landed in the lowlands, on its side.

The 4th probe landed in the midlands on its legs.

The 5th probe landed in the shallows.

The 6th & final probe lands in the peaks with on its side of course.

Some Pics of the Mother-Ship

Spoiler

The Mother-ship with all probes.

The Mother-ship with two probes

The Mother-ship with just one probe, about to leave.

The Mother-ship all alone 

Visual Mods Shown: Stock Visual Enhancements , Stock Visual Terrain, and  Reentry Particle Effects.

Parts Mods Shown: PicoPorts, and RLA Reborn 

Edited December 16, 2019 by NotARobot
Mother-ship pictures tab was loading the probe landing site tab.

[Cavscout74]

Continued on my career, and suffered my first casualty so far - testing an obsolete prop plane of all things.  Report here

Highlights:

Did several rescue missions

Took up some tourists

Got a Moho lander into orbit - should have the dV to get there and land.   No ions or nukes, just chemical rockets.  Of course it has 3 stages in orbit (not counting the core & 4 radial boosters to get to orbit) - first a Poodle, then a Cheetah and finally a Terrier.  Then the lander itself

Tested several aircraft before my mishap

Ended with placing a memorial to my (first) lost kerbal in this career:

[RizzoTheRat]

Having figured out how to write menus in kOS, I decided the rest of my output logging was a mess, so I've now built a tidier display setup in kOS

The top section shows mission and status info, the middle section is used for menus which are used to define the first 3 parameters of the Mission info, or for outputting instrument data, and the bottom section is a scrolling output log.

Mission script determines the individual tasks required to achieve the mission, and the Mission Mode is update at the end of each sub task, with the first 4 lines of the display saved to the ship to allow a mission to be continued from a save.

So in these pics the ship started at Prelaunch on Kerbin with no mission file (new ship on the pad), was given a mission to go to Kerbin and Dock with a ship called MunOrb1.  In the second pic it's mid launch, throttling back to maintain 50s to Apoapsis, and it will then circularise, match planes with the target ship, do a Hohmann transfer to get close to the target, approach the target using RCS to control drift, and then dock with the target...

...or it will once I've transferred all those functions (plus the one where it waits until it can launch in to the targets plane) from my 1.7 game to the to the new 1.8 structure and updated all the print logs...

...all of which is waiting until I've got the Hohmann transfer for non circular orbits code working properly so I can do the rescue contract I have outstanding, plus I need to come up a some kind of calculation to determine the initial turn angle (probably based on TWR, stage 1 burn time remaining, and some kind of drag prediction), and do a Mun orbit mission with 3 tourists despite not yet having decent solar panels or batteries

Edited December 16, 2019 by RizzoTheRat

[putnamto]

Overengineered a minmus mission to get a rock,  got 1200 science..... Got home.... Forgot the rock. 

[XLjedi]

I took a 4 hour journey around Kerbin, at an average altitude of about 1500m...  at 0.8 Mach with a ducted-fan pusher plane that I have dubbed the electric-jet.  Circumnavigated the globe (on a 270° heading - very long night phase) and still had 82% of my fuel reserves remaining!  My first stop was the Dessert Base.  At that point, I had used less than 3% of my available fuel.  It can also fly indefinitely with daylight.

I'm kinda shocked at the efficiency and performance of the new ducted-fans at low altitudes.  They really trounce the Junos; now to test on Eve.

Edited December 16, 2019 by XLjedi

[capi3101]

(1.6.1) Had a very busy weekend this past weekend; what little time I had for video games I spent with an old Flash game for what I had at first thought would be the last time (what with Flash's scheduled final termination next year). Found out later that it had been preserved via the Flashpoint project, so that made me a little bit happier (got a bit of family history inadvertently tied up in that game). Downside is that I don't have much to report for y'all today despite an elongated weekend.

Thursday began with refueling shots to LSV House Harkonnen in high Kerbin orbit after her recent return from Dres; the South Base outpost near KSC shot up replacement conventional fuel supplies and Rocket Parts, while SL Shai Hulud also in HKO shot over fuel for the ship's Alcubierre Drive. That job done, I turned my attention back to the Auk XVI 12-passenger spaceplane in LKO with a full compliment of Minmusbound colonists aboard. Island Princess had finished delivering replacement fuel supplies to the plane and a transfer window was coming up, so I quickly set up a trans-Minmus injection burn and the plane executed it.

♫ Nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah BACKLIT!!! BACKLIT!!!! BACKLIT!!!! BACKLIT!!!! BACKLIT, BACKLIT, BACKLIT!!! ♫ ... (read that to the tune of the old '60s Batman show - it'll make more sense).

The plane will arrive at periapsis over Minmus in a little under 55 hours. Meanwhile, India Princess successfully put into dock at space station Kerbinport, its job finished for the time being.

With the colonists underway, my next priority was to start the next interplanetary tourist run. Tourists Jongard, Jedwise, Joemon, Tanzor, Haybin, Henster, Enzor, Mimal and Obsen Kerman board an Auk XI 10-passenger spaceplane at KSC for an early morning flight up to Kerbinport.

Yep. The engines are up and running. Looks like the remote flight controller has had his coffee today.

Auk XI ascending at sunrise.

While there was nothing particularly wrong with the ascent, I still managed to blow the rendezvous somehow. Still don't know what happened but the plane was left without sufficient fuel to finish braking at the station. India Princess was dispatched once again - last time was a luxury job but this time she had to perform a bonafide refueling rescue - performing an emergency rendezvous with the plane 2 minutes and 38 seconds later.

Gotta stop meeting like this, kids.

Once docked, IP utilized her onboard mass driver to receive fuel supplies from South Base, completely refueling the plane. That done, the Auk undocked and performed a burn for intercept for the station. The plane reached that intercept point just this morning and burned for rendezvous there; rendezvous will be in 48 minutes. Meanwhile, Island Princess is also en route back to the station; she will rendezvous with the station about two minutes after the plane does. 

That's all I have to report to y'all today. The priority job is to get the plane to Kerbinport along with Island Princess. Once both are docked, eight of the plane's passengers will be transferring over to Strange Cargo docked at the station (one passenger doesn't want to go past Kerbin orbit so I see no reason to schlep him along. Strange Cargo will be heading over to LSV House Atreides, which will be carrying out the expedition. Stops along the ship's itinerary include Mun, Eve, Gilly, Dres, Jool, Pol, Vall and Laythe. I intend to use the flight to get engineer Mitvin Kerman from space station Laytheport over to the Vermilion Block 380 outpost on Vall for an outpost extension contract. Still have some drilling to do at Ike and Eve and I still have three survey missions set up at various locations in the system, along with two ongoing satellite missions at Dres (hoping to finish up one of them today if possible). I'll let y'all know how things go and hope to have something more substantial for y'all tomorrow morning.

[Retro Starship]

(1.8.1) Well this weekend I did some really odd like contracts for 1 of my career games. (Yes I know I am silly but I have 2 KSP's installed, one with a simple career mode with just a few basic mods, and one with a few dozens mods including Kerbalism and KCT)

I play both of them every day!  

OK, so I got this collection of 5 contracts where 3 of them are with engines.

I call this rocket the "STC Explorer"  Testing the "Spark....Twitch....Cub" Engines. (STC!) The Twitch was easy but the Spark and Cub had some hard timings so I even had to rely on a save game to get the speed timing correct but finally got home with all 5 done.

Spoiler

Notice below (and above) with the Spark and Cub, I had to get the speed correct within the 60Km area of thrust and had to rely on a save to do it a couple times while throttling the thrust. Man this was a tuff one.

In the spoiler, I just show the cool firing of the Spark engine to get me over the water.

Spoiler

But as usual Val always succeeds when I have her do these missions.

Spoiler

 

Edited December 16, 2019 by Saturn5tony

[Tim_AZ]

I finally got this dialed in to where I am happy with the performance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HTYeekKVA4

https://i.imgur.com/zvs5CQt.jpg

 

Edited December 16, 2019 by Tim_AZ