BSC: Aeris 4a - AND THE WINNER IS:

[LordFjord]

Those Mk I plane parts contain jetfuel

[Silverchain]

@Upsilon - Hehe, I was just messing around with that, couldn't see you replacing your Plover(vote Plover!). Bureny survived the experience and parked it next to the jet trike.

@regex - IIRR got the Cormorant to orbit on the second flight.

So many entries...

[Giggleplex777]

@Giggleplex777: Where's the jet fuel? It' a bit of a waste carrying around all that spare oxidizer...

In the mk2 fuselage (in the middle of the plane).

[mrmcp1]

Hi I was wondering if anyone has flown my craft yet the Aeris 4B. Any comments would be appreciated. I am wondering if it is any good. Thanks.

[capi3101]

So...when's the final gong on submissions? Two weeks from 15:42 GMT on 2/27 would be 15:42 GMT on 3/13 by my calculations, and that was about fifteen minutes ago (at the time of this post) unless I'm mistaken.

EDIT: Maybe not. Maybe not for another 4.75 hours...but I am right in thinking it's today, right?

[Kasuha]

So...when's the final gong on submissions? Two weeks from 15:42 GMT on 2/27 would be 15:42 GMT on 3/13 by my calculations, and that was about fifteen minutes ago (at the time of this post) unless I'm mistaken.

EDIT: Maybe not. Maybe not for another 4.75 hours...but I am right in thinking it's today, right?

I think we still have about a day.

[Xeldrak]

Well, Voting will officially start on march 14th 2014, 14:42 central time. But please realize that voting will not start right away. I have a real life and I have to make that 40+ pictures collage

Edited March 13, 2014 by Xeldrak

[regex]

Well, Voting will officially end on march 14th 2014, 14:42 central time.

Wait, voting will end on Friday?

But please realize that voting will not start right away.

Wait, what? I'm confused, I was planning on spending some time next week while my wife and kid were on the other side of the country testing all these things...

[oo0Filthy0oo]

51 SSTO's to judge... my thoughts go out to the judges!

If anyone has flown and has any suggestions about the Wholphin please let me know, she is my 1st SSTO build and i plan to use her for my space program.

Thanks

[Xeldrak]

Sorry, just a typo - It's corrected now.

[BagelRabbit]

Wait, voting will end on Friday?

Wait, what? I'm confused, I was planning on spending some time next week while my wife and kid were on the other side of the country testing all these things...

I believe that he meant that voting will begin on Friday. After all, no one has voted yet, and entries are still streaming in.

Edit: Beaten to it by the man himself!

[LordFjord]

Could anyone make a clean stock save that includes all the craft to judge (once the submissions are closed) - and post it?

I didnt have the chance to do so (damned work and RL...).

This would ease up the procedure a LOT - I hope next week's ime schedule permits some more insight into the crafts.

And for everyone else that would be a great collection of many many kickass SSTOs.

[Rune]

Could anyone make a clean stock save that includes all the craft to judge (once the submissions are closed) - and post it?

I didnt have the chance to do so (damned work and RL...).

This would ease up the procedure a LOT - I hope next week's ime schedule permits some more insight into the crafts.

And for everyone else that would be a great collection of many many kickass SSTOs.

Ditto on that. I made a save just for this challenge, but then the other 35+ entries were posted, and now I'm scared to dive into the thread to start downloading them.

Rune. I think I'm saving the detailed explanation of why I voted how to the top ten. And I'm going to have to make a semifinals round or something.

[Silverchain]

I will, I've got almost all of them except for a few updates. Should be half an hour or so.

[regex]

I will, I've got almost all of them except for a few updates. Should be half an hour or so.

You, sir or ma'am, are doing God's work. Thank you!

[Silverchain]

Here's a save containing all the craft files in the SPH, I hope this is what's required.

BSC Spaceplane Save v3 (14/3/2014) (added HOTOL and updated Airial)

I think I've got up-to-date versions of all craft (I've been noting when people have said they've updated) but I haven't exhaustively checked that.

A couple of craft had problems (still current):

tigik's "spaceplane" contains non-stock parts. (I think it's just some autopilot or control features, but without the relevant mods installed my attempts to manually strip them from the craft file didn't work.)

1revenger1's "Reacher" does not match the picture submitted and appears to be missing parts.

Edited March 14, 2014 by Silverchain

[Heagar]

I've had seen this thread too late, but here is my suggestion: The HOTOL II c 4

It's not a fancy plane with an super-duper effectiviness, but is able to do the same as the Aries 4 a.

My intention was to build a plane that doesn't change it's CoW throughout the flight and therefore doesn't change it's flightcharacteristics. Plus a neutral behavior when using RCS (no wobbeling) during a docking attempt - even without SAS.

The next thing - it can't flip over so easyly during takeoff or landing. The downside of this is clear, it has a tendency to pitch down (Yes Xeldrak, it's heavyhanded - again).

When s.o. want to land this plane manually (without SAS) using the keyboard she/he should trim the plane 2 - 2,5 notches up (Could be achieved with Alt+S). For someone like me using a flight-/joystick for spaceplanes it is convenient but not nesseary.

craftfile: http://www.filedropper.com/hotoliic4

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[Cruzan]

Alright, time to do some more testing! I hope to get up to at least another 15 tested during this session

BTW, if you need help with the collage Xeldrak I can do it for ya. I'm on Spring Break so I have extra time after work to do this sort of stuff

[MiniMatt]

Here's a save containing all the craft files in the SPH, I hope this is what's required.

Silverchain, thank you! With over 50 entries, just spending 10 minutes on each is already going to be over 8 hours testing. The minute or so spent downloading and extracting each craft to the right location would have been another hour on top of that.

This weekend is going to be very spaceplaney.

First round deliberations will need to be quite basic and probably helped by a rather crude points based system, but I hope to get my thoughts on all craft up by the end of the weekend.

[MiniMatt]

Below is what I'm likely to base first round voting on. As said, there are simply too many at this stage to spend more than 10 minutes testing each - but I promise I will be doing at least that for every craft - at least 8 hours of testing. Will see if the points system below allows me to find groupings for the concordant vote that I'm happy with. My own entry, I'll naturally be voting in last place.

Aeries 4a will be the starting point, ie. I'm expecting every plane here to be able to replicate it's functionality of getting a single kerbal to LKO, docking, and returning. Anything that can't do that will very likely see itself at the bottom of my rankings - sorry if I'm being a bit harsh here on the handful of entries which don't include docking but I see that as core functionality of the Aeries; I can't see the loss of docking as a positive virtue for stock replacement.

Atmospheric qualities:

Can it fly better than the Aeries? +1, +2, or +3 (encompasses general flight, takeoff, landing, CoM movement with varying fuel etc)

Asymmetric flameout? -2 - unless multiple jets allow for additional functionality beyond that achievable with a single jet

(I don't see asymmetric flameout as a positive learning experience to be taught, rather a means to an end - asymmetric flameout is the penalty for multiple jets but multiple jets allow for greater payload or faster travel; faced with two planes, both of which can get a single kerbal to orbit and back in similar time but only one of which has asymmetric flameout then I see the single jet design as inherently better)

Docking qualities:

Navball changes orientation when controlling from docking port? -0.5 (I believe this slightly hinders ease of use and intuition of RCS control)

Junior sized docking port? -1 (sorry, know it's been used quite widely, but I see this as too small for a craft this size - I envisage kerbal IVA transit through docking ports in future & can't see that possible through junior ports)

RCS unbalanced? -1, or -2

Potential docking obstruction? -1, or -2 (general feel on overall size of craft and likelihood of parts taking out space station solar panels on way in)

Energy generation:

Could it / will it run out of energy? -1, or -2 (general feel of energy generation and battery storage)

Expanded functionality:

Can it carry more than the Aeries? +1, or +2 (eg. more kerbals, science, some cargo)

Can it go further than the Aeries? +1, or +2 (don't necessarily see interplanetary travel as requirement for this craft, but Mun/Minmus travel a bonus)

Design qualities:

Too clippy? -1, -2, or -3 (I'm fairly pragmatic here, alt-f12 clipping is likely too much for me, as could be some standard clipping, it's a gut feeling around how easy it is to see how the craft is put together and whether or not it feels a bit cheaty)

Action group simplicity? -1, 0, or +1 (remembering multiple action groups is hard, there is great potential in this challenge to simplify the process of going to space today)

Aesthetic? +1, or +2 (good looks only achieved by clipping won't get top marks however)

Adequate description field? +1

General faults? -1, or -2 (could be things like missing ladders, obstructed entry/egress, etc)

Abort group? +1

And finally?

Matt's special "oooh, this one made me go 'oooh'" bonus point? +1

[Kasuha]

Expanded functionality:

Can it carry more than the Aeries? +1, or +2 (eg. more kerbals, science, some cargo)

Seeing this, I added a mission I flew just yesterday, taking Bob along to Mun to my entry. Liftoff required slightly increased speed due to shifted center of mass but landing was perfectly fine. Pity we cannot tweak that inline docking port open in VAB.

[MiniMatt]

Seeing this, I added a mission I flew just yesterday, taking Bob along to Mun to my entry. Liftoff required slightly increased speed due to shifted center of mass but landing was perfectly fine. Pity we cannot tweak that inline docking port open in VAB.

That is quite beautifully mad

You'll be glad to know that yours and PsuedoMonkey's crafts were the ones I was specifically thinking of when adding the "And finally" category

[capi3101]

Hmm......was the design supposed to be able to dock? I don't necessarily remember that being a function of the Aeris. If so, that's pretty much it for the Auk then, isn't it?

[Kasuha]

Hmm......was the design supposed to be able to dock? I don't necessarily remember that being a function of the Aeris. If so, that's pretty much it for the Auk then, isn't it?

Assuming the image in the OP is of Aeris, then it does have an inline docking port.

Edited March 14, 2014 by Kasuha

[LordFjord]

Still, there are 27 voters - some might see it different or not as a showstopper.

This is why its good to have so many voters - every single one has his own view on how to judge the design, the features of each craft.

In the end the average best SSTO will win.

Eh - winning - whatever the person wins - maybe some questionable virtual fame on teh interwebs

For me, its simply the fun of building/reviewing SSTOs.