Bucket of bolts

[Guest]

You can really get anywhere with it. I often fly a partial throttle. If you remember when the Falcon turned toward the Star Destropyer to attack there was the only real moment we saw a plasma flare out the exhaust. I am guessing that would be equal to full throttle in this model, and in the "real" world unsustainable for reasons of heat dissipation. But there you go ... LOL

[Ian Sears]

k, for anyone that'd like to use this Falcon (it's fine and fun!), I added MechJeb to it and use settings there to tame this beast.

I set "MechJeb Utilities tab" to "Limit accelleration to [12m/s]", and turned on "Smooth throttle".

This has turned the Falcon into something let's me punch in coordinates to the NaviComputer. Otherwise I'd fly too close to a supernova, or fly right into an asteroid. You know... that'd end my trip real quick, now wouldn't it?

So, now I can use Maneuver planner to set periapsis... circularize, set landing coordinates, and all that. Works great.

Just gotta remember this thing is a hundred fifty time faster out of the box than other things in KSP. Tame it with limit acceleration and let the SAS play catch-up as you go and this starts to feel like the Millenium Falcon.

[Guest]

If you can, put up a movie with the works.

[Guest]

I have been so purist lately (on this at least) I never thought much about changing it. I bet it would haul a serious load into orbit or wherever.

[TheMontgomery]

I have been so purist lately (on this at least) I never thought much about changing it. I bet it would haul a serious load into orbit or wherever.

It IS a freighter, after all.

[Guest]

Working on this today.

[Guest]

UPDATE: The Falcon is L/R balanced.

I removed as much mass as I could, except the unsymmetrical parts, and then balanced using temporary aiming devices.

Very minor refinement being made along the way today along with the big ones. Front mandibles were just re-checked.

Nope.

It's winning again.

[Guest]

Mandible rebuild - with L/R symmetry.

Edited February 2, 2014 by Guest

[Guest]

This is very stressful. I am shutting it down for the day. Probably will be weeks before i start again. Editor crashed after many super small unsaved tweaks were made. I cannot do this under time pressure. it takes forever. This will be the last super stock or whatever you want to call it. i will be learning Unity after this this is hell.

Edited February 2, 2014 by Guest

[spaceman1999]

Ohhhhhhh No0ooooooooo0oooo00ooo

[Guest]

I just need to calm down for a minute.

[Guest]

Buzzkill day for the most part. I did get the left to right balance under control. I saw some physics I have been looking for. It has been a mistake to edit the mass of the vehicle, because that gives it effects I have been looking for from the beginning. I can hack the models main engine thrust to get what I want there. the problems VTOL introduces are surprisingly monumental.

The mass of the VTOL engines, at this point in time, are altering the up / down center of mass. This is no good because the main engines must thrust thru the center of mass. I am demanding (at this point) that the vehicle be flyable without SAS on. What will have to happen, is I will have to discover a way to place VTOL engines in a manner in which the COM is not altered in anyway. Alternately, I do have ballast onboard that can be shifted. This is all a painstaking process as every WELD (on this scale) requires a KSP reboot.

Correcting imbalance by adding ballast tanks:

Read the Youtube notes

http://youtu.be/2HHn1iPsQsc

Edited February 3, 2014 by Guest

[Guest]

Possibly interesting internal view. This is what I do to edit the inside. Tonight I am just going to putz around with one or two VTOL arrangement ideas I had today...

[Guest]

Weld-It node hell. Good night.

[Guest]

Incremental progress.

The placement of the weight of the VTOL engines causes the Falcon to nose down uncontrollably when the main engines are set to full thrust. I have attempted to compensate by placing all the aft ballast inside the upper dome. The COM is still too low with the VTOLs added. And the ship needs more VTOL engines, but that will aggravate the situation even further. All this would go away if I could edit "Weld"ed parts (specifically a single piece VTOL engine array with a thrust value of my choosing) internally. Currently, every possible node and attach surface is generated when a part is welded, making internal placement uncontrollable and virtually impossible.

Here is a video of the latest ...

http://youtu.be/MH_qK9wKysg

[Guest]

I may have had a brainstorm.

I will make a vtol engine array using Weld-It, change it's mass to zero, and attach somewhere on the outside, but 99% of it will be inside / invisible.

FTW

[Guest]

VTOL progress

I am diverting my focus to a single VTOL engine. It will be a modified torroidal spike. I will remove a detail part in the center (the 4 to one adapter), underneath, to allow for it's placement in a manner that does not draw the eye to it.

As of this video, the thrust has been increased from 175 to 6000 on the spike engine. I will probably zero the heat generation. I have removed engine start / stop sounds, and will attempt to remove all sound it generates, and all visual effects.

In my opinion atmospheric flight, especially in banked turns, is much more "realistic". Your mileage may vary. I am liking what I am seeing.

It is not yet mounted dead center with the COM so I am still stuck turning on SAS. I have seen moments on my screen with low thrust and SAS off, and I know what I am looking for is attainable, seeing how the sense of mass and inertia are indeed coming across.

The landing gear seen in this video was strictly for testing. Nothing to do with the final version.

http://youtu.be/TPkJDNq776U

Flight under covered walkway

http://youtu.be/8H4wHZnfiJs

Edited February 16, 2014 by Guest