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Now This Is Pod Racing!


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@Sam

Hmm. I'm glad you got the rotation problem fixed, now it looks like it's just down the the nose dives? Have you tried different throttle speeds? you could possibly try attaching some control surfaces at an angle to fight the dive. I would certainly try different throttles to see if it helps. Could be the center of thrust. you didn't show that in your video.

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They way I got my pod racer to work is by using clipping and hiding several small control surfaces inside the engines. The engines are essentially a functioning aircraft and the cockpit/pod is just being dragged behind it.

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I feel that the nose diving is a simple physics fix, but i cant figure it out. it nose dives both when the kas is extended and locked in so that to me implies the change from 1 COG to 2 COG's is not the issue but what do i know lol. ideas ive got are the chariot is too big, the positioning of the KAS connections are too close to the COG, there is lifting surfaces clipped in but no airlons at this moment.

i was able to get it to fly further before crashing thanks to this uncontrollable rotation but now the rotation is effectively cured it noses down, perhaps its too heavy? actually come to think of it... this mimics a plane in free fall when the wings have stalled so this implies not enough lift. ill try testing wings inside and outside again to double check FAR doesnt disregard clipped wings.

Edited by praise the suuun
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lifting surfaces may be the problem still, but now that you mention it, you may try moving the attachment point farther back. the drag of the chariot not only keeps tention on the cables, but also will help keep the engines pointing in the right direction. my suggestion would be to have it attached behind the com, but lvl with it top to bottom.

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Some may say it's just a metal plate stuck through his head but I'm calling it "Helmet Cam", it's so much easier to fly low level in cockpit view - I wonder when it'll be a stock feature for the command seat? Anyway, I'm ready to race :)

rhns.png

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So I tested out the two more interesting Rivers and this is what I cam up with.

Since I'm a lazy bum and don't want to get my own craft there, could you post the Lat/Long of the starting positions so I can hyperedit my racer there?

EDIT: Nevermind. Hyperedit and Deadly Reentry don't get along well it seems.

Edited by Retsof
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I saw this thread and had to give it a try. Hats off to all who've succeeded. I tell you what, I have a LOT more respect for Santa Clause now, considering he's got an 8-engine pod racer with loose joints between each pair of engines not just between them and his sleigh :D.

Anyway, I could make one that could get off the ground and fly OK in a straight line. And as long as I left the winches cinched up, I could fly it around pretty good, buzzing between trees and all. But once I let the winches out even a little bit, turning was no longer much of an option. Eventually, the pod and the engines would get into some mutually amplifying oscillation and tumble the thing until either it broke apart or the pod slammed into one of the engines and blew it up :). Still, some pretty good wrecks. And the amazing thing is, it actually flew for a little while. Who'd a thunk it? I'm using FAR and seriously, my pathetic pod racer flew better than any spaceplane I've made so far :).

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Hey Plur303, Zitronen has kindly said I can rescale his Half-pipe from his RollKage-1-1-WIP-Updated-21-06-13 pack and put that part in a zip with a scenario file for a low level race course. It makes a 50m high by 100m wide archway at rescale=6 and each gate would be just a couple of parts with a probe core attached. Can we make a course? If so where do you think it should be? And How long?

5nzh.jpg

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Hey, what's that mod you're using for the camera? The only one I know is the lazor cam mod, but it doesn't let me view stuff in widescreen like yours. :(

Look three posts below the one you quoted :)

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Oh, so it works in 0.20 :P

Downloading right now, thanks. :)

you have to put it in the man folder like an old mod though.

Hey Plur303, Zitronen has kindly said I can rescale his Half-pipe from his RollKage-1-1-WIP-Updated-21-06-13 pack and put that part in a zip with a scenario file for a low level race course. It makes a 50m high by 100m wide archway at rescale=6 and each gate would be just a couple of parts with a probe core attached. Can we make a course? If so where do you think it should be? And How long?

*snip*

Dooooo Eeeeeet.

EDIT: Also, you could put some lights on them for night racing.

Edited by Retsof
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  • 10 months later...

Ok, so I know this thread is pretty old, but I have a question. I've been building my pods (to what seem spec)

-Air brakes on pod

-clipped wings (a ton of them)

-clipped control surfaces

-center of mass out front

-attachment point behind thrust vector

What am I missing? Do I need an SAS module somewhere? In the engines, or the pod?

Sorry if Necro.

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Ok, so I know this thread is pretty old, but I have a question. I've been building my pods (to what seem spec)

-Air brakes on pod

-clipped wings (a ton of them)

-clipped control surfaces

-center of mass out front

-attachment point behind thrust vector

What am I missing? Do I need an SAS module somewhere? In the engines, or the pod?

Sorry if Necro.

Did you get one in the air? Reaction wheels seem to help bit not with SAS turned on, three airbrakes in a triangle, the mass can be towards the rear as long as the lift isn't far ahead of it but most of all for stability seems to be a large distance between front and rear control surfaces, on the back of the engines and in the front intakes (if you have them). Also the stock control surfaces are quite high lift, too many and it gets too twitchy to control.

I made a new one in 23.5.

Edited by Darren9
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Ok, so I know this thread is pretty old, but I have a question. I've been building my pods (to what seem spec)

-Air brakes on pod

-clipped wings (a ton of them)

-clipped control surfaces

-center of mass out front

-attachment point behind thrust vector

What am I missing? Do I need an SAS module somewhere? In the engines, or the pod?

Sorry if Necro.

Actually, I'm glad you did necro this otherwise I wouldn't have seen it. I'll have a video of my creation in a couple of weeks.

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