Does ground effect work in KSP

[Mrbowdn]

Does ground effect work in KSP I'm guessing not because of how the aerodynamic model work just curious

Ground effect

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_effect_(aircraft)

[Ferrit]

Nope, not even with Ferram's mod. To be honest I doubt that even when the aerodynamic model is re-worked it'll be included but never know

[FITorion]

Yeah... it doesn't work and I doubt it ever will.

Would it be cool if it did? yes. This isn't a 100% accurate physics sym and never will be.

Reasons why it won't be:

Aerodynamics is not the focus of the game.

Space physics which is the focus of the game isn't even entirely accurate (N-body equation)

It's a game. accuracy will always be secondary to fun game play.

The current limits on how much of the computers resources the game can access.

Reasons why it eventually could:

Updates to the game engine allowing access to more ram and the other cores all computers have these days could occur.

They plan on improving the current aerodynamics anyway.

If the above happens then much improved aerodynamics might add to the fun of the game and not detract from it.

[Canopus]

Would be cool though.

[theflyingfish]

No, ground effect isn't simulated. And it won't ever be, because it will take development time from other features, it will be another physics calculation that will decrease performance, and no one really cares about it.

Basically, if Ferram hasn't done it yet, Harvester will never do it.

[Jeff Bird]

no one really cares about it

I do. I think it would be great to have in game. Would make landing shuttles and space planes more interest. We could even build Caspian Sea Monsters (ekranoplans)

People with good computers wouldn't see much if any performance decrease.

[cardgame]

It's probably something that a mod could add, but wouldn't ever be in the base game because that's just not particularly relevant.

[Vostok]

it wouldn't be too difficult to implement surely? We already have a radar altimeter, just adjust the lift of wings relative to the radar altimeter when below a certain height?

[SourMonkey]

Even the MFS titles don't seem to model ground effect that well, so I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't see it with a huge aerodynamics and flight characteristics update - ever. I doubt it would greatly effect gameplay in any regard, unless it is something that can be exploited somehow. That being said, I wouldn't mind seeing something like Vostok's idea looked into.

[strongest_2hu]

I tend to get a simulated ground effect from the infiniglide bug in that as I start pitching up to flare the now-active control surfaces provide some forward motive force and I glide much further than I would have had I maintained my descent attitude through touchdown.

[Jason_25]

Even the MFS titles don't seem to model ground effect that well, so I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't see it with a huge aerodynamics and flight characteristics update - ever. I doubt it would greatly effect gameplay in any regard, unless it is something that can be exploited somehow. That being said, I wouldn't mind seeing something like Vostok's idea looked into.

Microsoft Flight Simulator is not exactly the gold standard. The flight model is a hacked one probably from the original 80's version and the latest version is 7 years old now. It is the only game in the world capable of running as bad as KSP.