Equinox - Advanced Long Range Medium Dropship

[Cupcake...]

The long serving Barracuda was always going to be a tough act to follow and represented a huge leap forward in terms of performance.



However it doesn't even come close to the range of the Equinox which is my first twin engine SSTO Dropship capable of return journeys to Laythe, something that was previously the reserve of the Carpathia alone.



The ship also comes with two new tankers Yogi and Boo-Boo (sorry), which can re-fuel the Equinox...



...and even re-load its drop tanks, how nice!




OWNERS MANUAL:

You can pick up the file from here:

http://goo.gl/KT0Lus

The Equinox is a brand new tri-engine VTOL dropship combining a pair of turbo jets with a single LV-N. Changing the Mk2 cockpit for a lander can, fitting a lighter reaction wheel, ripping out one of the nuke engines and mercilessly throwing out every part that didn't need to be there resulted in a considerable weight saving of around 3t compared to the Barracuda. Using these weight savings the size of the drop tanks have been doubled and the air intake allowance drastically increased. For me this was one of the biggest failings of the Barracuda was it's relatively low service ceiling (25,000m at full throttle vs 30,000+ for most of my designs) which translated into a lot of wasted rocket fuel to get into orbit, with the Equinox you can air hog like a champ and get into orbit on about a thimbles worth of oxidiser! Handling has also been improved with excellent high speed stability and a much nicer ride when flying around on Laythe. Overall the Equinox is a much more complex design then the Barracuda, but still rugged and adaptable enough for a huge range of missions.

Like all my designs the Equinox features a horizontal axis cockpit for suborbital flying and a vertical axis docking port for orbital piloting and navigation. This port can be found just behind the hatch, it's offset slightly inside the fuselage as it's designed for navigation only, not for attaching items. It operates in line with the engines and must be used when performing burns with the navball or Mechjeb. You can also use the top docking port if you'd rather fly the Carpathia like a regular rocket. A joystick is highly recommended and SAS should be kept on at all times.

There are two models included in the archive, the standard model and the (S) edition which includes discreet RCS. Unless your mission specifically involves docking I'd highly reccomend sticking with the standard version.

The only issue you have to watch with this craft is the landing legs which sometimes have a habit of digging in on takeoff and flipping the vessel over. I try and get round this by moving the controls around once the jets start to bite and briefly activating the LV-N if the craft does looks like it's gonna tip.

Deleting the drop tanks will also let you take a cargo of up to 5t into orbit and beyond.

Both sets of docking ports are plumbed straight into the Equinox's fuel supply meaning you can just slap the tanks on and go. If you are using an accessory with a docking port just make sure it matches the action group of the Equinox's.

While I'm of the opinion that gentlemen don't use parachutes the top docking ports are a good place to pack a couple of Mk16s for that trip to Duna. Just please use the small ones so it doesn't look too hideous.


CONTROLS:
1 - Toggle Turbojets
2 - Toggle LV-N
7 - Undock/De-Couple Front Port
8 - Undock Vertical Accessory Ports
9 - Toggle Ladders
0 - Activate Air Sync
ABORT - Detach Drop Tanks/De-Couple Side Ports


Air What?
Air Sync works by closing all the intakes before takeoff, the same intakes are also set to toggle along with the jet engines. In short this means jet engines on - intakes open, jet engines off - intakes closed, all without having to lift a finger.


Standard Mission Profile:

Press 0 to activate air sync and 1 to light the jet engines. After liftoff climb vertically to 15,000m then pitch over to a 45* angle on a 90* heading.

Now would be a good time to switch to vertical axis control by right clicking on the top docking port. Once you hit around 25,000m pitch over to the horizon and slow your rate of ascent. You'll want to squeeze as much speed as you can out of the jets with a target of around 1800m/s at 30,000m.

Once you hit 30,000m light the LV-N and pitch up to 45`. You should let the SAS take over for this part of the ascent. Keep the jets going as long as you can by reducing throttle. You don't need to be over concerned about flame-outs, the ship will give you plenty of advance warning, and it's only if you ignore these then you'll spin out. If the craft does start to list don't try and correct it yourself, instead just reduce throttle and let the reaction wheels pull the ship back into line. Once the jets die press 1 to shut them off, set full throttle and pitch flat to the horizon to round out your orbit. This profile will still leave you some jet fuel for tootling around on Laythe of flying back to base on Kerbin

If most of your mission takes place on, say the Mun, you can take the craft up to 31-32,000m and get your speed up to 2000m/s+ before you light the rocket. Ultimately you don't want your liquid fuel gauge to read less then 1080, if it does you've started eating into your rocket fuel allowance.

When landing on Kerbin/Laythe you should use the LV-N together with the jets as this helps get rid of the throttle lag.

That's it, hope you enjoy the craft.

Cupcake... Edited February 10, 2014 by Cupcake...

[DisarmingBaton5]

geez, Cupcake... These are becoming difficult to keep track of!

Once again, amazing. Any videos to follow?

[Cupcake...]

geez, Cupcake... These are becoming difficult to keep track of!

Once again, amazing. Any videos to follow?

I think you just scrolled past it! To save you the effort of climbing back up, here it is again, enjoy!

Cupcake...

[jrphilps]

Wow, thats a nice ship.

[The14th]

I need a little more time to really get to grips with this baby, but I might go as far as saying that the Equinox is my favourite dropship so far!

It's one of those times where you can actually see the the culmination of all the features and development from previous ships leading up to this design. Fantastic work, seriously!

Also, what a great idea to include a droptank loader. For me the addition of Yogi and Boo-Boo genuinely make the Equinox re-usable, rather than simply recovering after landing.

I should also mention that the video was as usual, awesome (bonus points for the Crystal Maze theme).

Whenever I think I'm getting tired of KSP, I watch one of your youtube videos and it pulls me right back in!

[Cupcake...]

Wow, thats a nice ship.

Cheers!

I need a little more time to really get to grips with this baby, but I might go as far as saying that the Equinox is my favourite dropship so far!

It's one of those times where you can actually see the the culmination of all the features and development from previous ships leading up to this design. Fantastic work, seriously!

Also, what a great idea to include a droptank loader. For me the addition of Yogi and Boo-Boo genuinely make the Equinox re-usable, rather than simply recovering after landing.

I should also mention that the video was as usual, awesome (bonus points for the Crystal Maze theme).

Whenever I think I'm getting tired of KSP, I watch one of your youtube videos and it pulls me right back in!

Thanks man! I must say I'm getting very attached to it myself. The day it survived slamming into Kerbins atmosphere at 19,000m/s (I'm not proud) was the day it really found a place in my heart! BTW You might want to re-download the file, there's a few little tweaks and improvements in the final version.

Cupcake...

Edited January 11, 2014 by Cupcake...

[GusTurbo]

Cupcake, you are such a boss. How many dropships have you made now?

[GusTurbo]

Accidental double post

Edited January 11, 2014 by GusTurbo

[Cupcake...]

Cupcake, you are such a boss. How many dropships have you made now?

Hmmm, lets see...

.18

Buttercup

King Prawn

Queen Bee (Mk1)

.19

Minnow

Orca

Black Mamba

Skeeter

Hopper

Pocket Rocket

R-Type

.20

Sherpa

Cavalier

Scythe Mk 1

.21

Herbie

Corgi

Stratos

Ox

Scythe Mk 2/3

Banshee

Super Minnow

Tadpole

Magpie

Barracuda

Queen Bee

.22

Pixie

Bulldog

Carpathia

.23

SCARAB

Equinox

That's a grand total of 29, crikey!

Cupcake...

Edited January 24, 2014 by Cupcake...

[Penguinhero]

how much part clipping goes into these?

[GusTurbo]

how much part clipping goes into these?

All of it.

[Spartwo]

how much part clipping goes into these?

I remember him saying none,it's all cubic struts.

[Cupcake...]

I remember him saying none,it's all cubic struts.

The world would indeed be a very sad place without those little cubic struts, quite possibly the most usefull part in KSP!

Cupcake...

[Peebothuhlu]

Hello.

I am a complete noob bumbling around in machines far too complicated for my skills to handle.

My one question is...

When trying to turn on the engines...why do they flame out?

Very much cheers to all and AWESEOM thanks to Cupcake for such truly amazing designs!

[The14th]

When trying to turn on the engines...why do they flame out?

Very much cheers to all and AWESEOM thanks to Cupcake for such truly amazing designs!

Welcome to the forum, Peebothuhlu!

I agree that Cupcake's designs are awesome!

The short answer to your question is: press 0 once before you start the engines for the first time.

The long answer to the question is: Cupcake has designed the action-groups so that pilots don't have to worry about closing or opening air intakes in-flight by toggling the air intakes whenever you toggle the jet engines.

When you press 0, you close the air intakes. Then when you press 1 - you start the engines and open the intakes. Then when you're done with air-breathing engines, pressing 1 again does both jobs - shutting down the jet engines and closing the air intakes. And again when you come back to Kerbin, pressing 1 starts the jet engines and opens the intakes.

You need to press 0 before you take off to synchronise the state of the intakes with the engines, because when you first load up the engines are off, but the intakes are open. Pressing 1 at this point starts the engines but closes the air intakes, which results in the flame out.

Someone better than me could probably explain all that with fewer words, but I hope that helps!

Edited March 24, 2014 by The14th

[Cupcake...]

Welcome to the forum, Peebothuhlu!

I agree that Cupcake's designs are awesome!

The short answer to your question is: press 0 once before you start the engines for the first time.

The long answer to the question is: Cupcake has designed the action-groups so that pilots don't have to worry about closing or opening air intakes in-flight by toggling the air intakes whenever you toggle the jet engines.

When you press 0, you close the air intakes. Then when you press 1 - you start the engines and open the intakes. Then when you're done with air-breathing engines, pressing 1 again does both jobs - shutting down the jet engines and closing the air intakes. And again when you come back to Kerbin, pressing 1 starts the jet engines and opens the intakes.

You need to press 0 before you take off to synchronise the state of the intakes with the engines, because when you first load up the engines are off, but the intakes are open. Pressing 1 at this point starts the engines but closes the air intakes, which results in the flame out.

Someone better than me could probably explain all that with fewer words, but I hope that helps!

Thanks, couldn't have put it better myself!

Cupcake...

[Firerunner]

Minor idea: If you set the turbojets as the first stage you can sync them with the intakes by staging once, freeing up an action group. That is what I have been doing for my SSTOs lately, anyway