hover gunship

[Thunderbird]

Hello,

i was wondering if it is actually 'possible' to build a VTOL gunship-like craft (yes,even missile racks and stuff) in this game...

I`ve been trying to create one for few hours and while i can actually get it up into the air (with off-axis boosters), its very hard to control and the RCS i chose as the main propulsion (it has 2 low power engines meant only for point-to-point travel) doesnt seem to be powerful enough to keep it in the air...

Basically im asking for any proof-of-concept tips/hints in relation to my idea, as im having a hard time balancing it... but it actually SEEMS possible, even though way too hard for me to figure out...

At this moment it can get in the air with the boosters,glide for a bit while braking,but it tilts forward,and im not really sure how many more RCS should i slap on it and where :-D i simply lack experience i guess.

Please take a look,speculate,discuss... =P

File attached, mod parts used: C7 parts mainly, carbon struts, i think SIDR parts (mini decoupler,booster?),tuned SAS

please refer to screenie for details

[Tim_Barrett]

I have done it before, and to kind of fix the problem, you can use advance sas to keep your ship steady, then press K to lift up. I don\'t know if it still works though.

[Damonjay]

just by looking at the picture i have a feeling your main problem is that you have to much weight! try slimming down the aircraft. remove any inefficient and unnecessary parts and give it another go

[Tim_Barrett]

just by looking at the picture i have a feeling your main problem is that you have to much weight! try slimming down the aircraft. remove an inefficient and unnecessary parts and give it another go

It also doesn\'t need to be that wide...

[RedRockets]

Reminds me of something from Avatar or Aliens

RRs

[Thunderbird]

I wanted to make it big enough so it can carry a sizeable missile rack... unfortunately the stuff is very heavy... im revising the design completely now and looking into alternate flight control/design options and propulsion (might even end up building it to stand on engines in a weird way,not sure)

KSP unfortunately has like absolutely no understanding for my sparks of insanity, but im confident ill find a way sooner or later... managed to get a infinite-fuel ultralight version to flight status yesterday but it would probably just instantly explode if it was supposed to perform any combat-like maneuvers or even carry a payload.

Ill post an update as soon as i got anything worthwile...

[Xazas]

As far as i can see in your screenshot, you use only stock rcs. Use the C7 heavy ones for the Hovering, they should provide enough thrust, but consume much rcs fuel.

[Thunderbird]

yeah i thought of that at 1AM in the morning when i was falling asleep... but the way they are named,i was not sure how will they behave... do they work the same as the stock RCS thrusters,or do they thrust in only one direction?

[Xazas]

only one direction, but for your hovercraft the one with 'heavy' in its name should work. It thrusts in the direction you place it.

[Thunderbird]

ill toy around with it a bit when i get home,thanks for the tip

[Thunderbird]

ok,i made a horrible abomination that was able to stay in the air for a minute,then i lost control and made a cute fireball

take a look for yourself

underside has 4 sets of liquid fuel collectors and TG-175 engines,mounted on lateral couplers, which are on a C7-TR Fuel Tank (yes,the weird flat one), and that contraption is on a C7 hardpoint mount

the fuel collectors were obviously an attempt to keep it flying forever,ill worry about fine-tuning it if the concept proves feasible, just wanted to make sure it can actually carry the parts for now....

the fuel collectors are from the General Solutions Union pack,theres a Yawmaster unit (Sunday Punch), no idea where is the lateral coupler from,or the TG-175, sorry

the whole thing is a bitch fun to fly and its way too agile for its own good,take-off takes some practice (wait till it tilts over by say 45 degrees and then fire engines),its still a concept,just thought you guys might want to know it can be done... sort of...

meh,ill probably scrap it anyway, but yeah, it can work this way

P.S.: HERP DERP!!!

[Damonjay]

only one direction, but for your hovercraft the one with 'heavy' in its name should work. It thrusts in the direction you place it.

can you use these for retros

Thunderbird

other then the LFE on the underside that is looking nice

[Thunderbird]

well unfortunately without something as heavy as that i wasnt able to get it airborne with enough payload capacity for carrying a sizeable missile armaments..... slapping on more fuel tanks seemed redundant for what i want it (and potentially unbalancing) so i wanted regenerative fuel....

i tried a heavy RCS version in a mini version of the craft, turns out the RCS fuel bug pretty much kills the idea outright... ill have to do something like this,except less herp derp =P

Killerhurtz kindly agreed to slightly modify the Blaze Project for this use, but i guess its all going to be as stupid as this without thrust vectoring.... we`ll see

[Tim_Barrett]

The LFE\'s make it look like a flying cow with giant utters!

[Thunderbird]

The LFE\'s make it look like a flying cow with giant utters!

ikr?

[Stoormer97]

Could someone post a link to the carbon struts mod? I looked at every mod in the projects and releases section and not one of them has any kind of struts.

[Thunderbird]

i actually have no idea where i got them,but i do think it was a part of some pack

edit: here it is! http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=663.msg5693#msg5693

[RedRockets]

The Shotball boosters that come with the carbon struts mod pack are money! I would like to see what the members of this forum can do with it.

[Thunderbird]

im just waiting for Project Blaze to be finalized =P

[Asmosdeus]

Hover Gunship, Aye?

Well I don\'t have any guns but I\'ve got bombs and unguided rockets

[Thunderbird]

sweeeet

might want to try mini-winglets on the rockets though,they fly much better with those http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=2205.msg20594#msg20594

triple symmetry usually is good enough on them to let it fly straight without getting inside your hull when attached

im going to make my next gunship attempt when Blaze is released, i hate keeping it up with RCS even though it gives me more control... i want to make it capable of hovering for sustained periods

[Asmosdeus]

Aye I\'ve got the mini winglets!

That picture is of my Jefferson Starship. Staged for munar bombing. Thats why there are no winglets, Cause there ain\'t no air on the moon! Haha.

What\'s the blaze?

[Thunderbird]

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=2750.0

basically variable geometry fixed engine mounts, from what i seen of the in-development version, they can be bent into nearly any angle,even upside down if you stack a few of them