Kerbodyne SSTO Division: Omnibus Thread

[Wanderfound]

I'm glad your system is working nicely! It's a treat, isnt it?

Blizzy's Toolbar - small icons -> profit

Distant Object Enhancement - shows you flares for planets, debris and stuff. Atmospheric!

PlanetShine - really pretty and makes sense from a realistic standpoint!

Editor Extensions - really useful stuff if you want advanced editor controls!

Improved Chase Camera - you're a pilot, you'll enhoy a proper cam!

ISP Difficulty Scaler - makes good sense with FAR

Kerbal Joint Reinforcement - makes sense for planes & rockets

Procedural Fairings

Active Texture Management - helps you cope with many mods, x86basic is enough, use agressive when in RAM trouble

RealChute - it has a stack shute (round thing you can stick between fuel tank and engine), finally drag chutes in KSP! No more chute cut off when touching the ground!

I think that's pretty much all I love.

Blizzy's already there, that's so standard I forget it's a mod. I'd like it if everything integrated into the stock toolbar, though.

Last time I used Improved Chase Cam I found it had an annoying habit of turning itself on when I didn't want it (in orbit etc). Does it still do that?

Anyone know how to stop Active Texture Management from blacking out the FAR toolbar icon?

[Wanderfound]

Having some fun with Retro Future amongst other mods...

The Kerbodyne Nostalgia​.

Test flight at http://s1378.photobucket.com/user/craigmotbey/Kerbal/Beta/Kerbodyne%20Showroom/Nostalgia/story

Alternate format at http://s1378.photobucket.com/user/craigmotbey/slideshow/Kerbal/Beta/Kerbodyne%20Showroom/Nostalgia

Craft file at https://www.dropbox.com/s/ld2uemm3mli2myk/Kerbodyne%20Nostalgia.craft?dl=0

[Wanderfound]

Wow wanderfound these are some damn good planes!

Thank you.

[Wanderfound]

A quick little piloting challenge: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/107547-The-Kerbodyne-Loop-Land-Sprint

[Jovus]

Anyone know how to stop Active Texture Management from blacking out the FAR toolbar icon?

One good way is to drop ATM and instead use DDSLoader and DDS4KSP. The latter is an out-of-game utility to convert .png and .tga to .dds, which is a much more efficient file format. You'll get at least the same savings as using ATM and all your compression will only need to be done once, not every time you start the game. If using DDS4KSP, be sure to except the Squad/Contracts/Icons folder, because for some reason the FinePrint integration doesn't like having its files messed with. (Actually, you can convert them just fine, but you have to do some fiddly stuff that I can't explain well.)

Be back later with real mod suggestions.

[steve_v]

So, a reversal from the usual position here: recommend me some mods.

You have seen bac9s new wings, right?

Dripping with pure awesome, they are

Edited January 17, 2015 by steve_v

[Captain Sierra]

recommend me some mods.

I was gonna suggest Nertea's MkIV spaceplane system, but you already have that on the 'to be added' list. Consider this additional endorsement.

In that case, you should have a look at OPT spaceplane pack. There is a new release coming very soon and when that drops, I'd definitely endorse it fully. Best paired with larger wings so I'll also second the above suggestion on Bac9's new procedural wings (which are freaking awesome when stock just ain't beefy enough).

[Behemoth1702]

You'll get at least the same savings as using ATM and all your compression will only need to be done once, not every time you start the game.

With active texture management you also only compress once, not every time at game launch.

[Wanderfound]

Updated mods list, still a work in progress:

AKI's Modified IVA

Antenna Range

ALCOR landing capsule + ASET props

Aviation Lights

Better Buoyancy

Chatterer

Contracts Window +

Distant Object Enhancement

Enhanced Navball

Environmental Visual Enhancements

FAR

Firespitter (dll only)

Goodspeed

Hyomoto's MFD

Raster Prop Monitor

Kerbal Attachment System

Kerbal Flight Data

Kerbal Flight Indicators

Kerbal Science Foundation's Mk3 Cockpit internal

Hyperedit

Kerbinside/Kerbal Konstructs (all of it)

Kronal Vessel Viewer

Infernal Robotics

Mechjeb (w/FAR plugin and Mechjeb Embedded)

Final Frontier

Kerbal Pilot Assistant

Planetshine

RCS Build Aid

Realchute

Retro Future

Sane Strategies

Scansat

Stage Recovery

Station Science

Stock Bug Fix

TAC-LS

Kerbal Alarm Clock

Wernher Checker

B9 got tried and dropped (just too many parts, I'm not sure about the game balance even if I slim it down, and they don't fit well with Mk2 stuff). Active Texture Management was tried at both Basic and Aggressive before I realised that I didn't need it (so there was no reason to put up with fuzzy textures). Retro Future has very nice parts (and fantastic landing gear), but again, I'm uncertain if I'll keep it due to part clutter and game balance reasons. You might be seeing some good medium-size Retro Future stuff with an Aliens-esque aesthetic coming out, however.

I just don't like part packs much. It's not an objection to the parts themselves, it's just that it always feels a bit cheaty to me. Although that will likely change if Squad introduces an easy "show/hide parts from mod X" toggle.

I haven't put in the Mk4/OPT spaceplane systems yet. I don't much enjoy building super-heavy ships; they're not as much fun for me as smaller, more agile things. So, if I'm going to the effort of doing one, I'd rather make it with parts that as many people as possible can use. Some nicer-looking stock Mk3 cockpits would be appreciated from Squad, though.

Last time I tried Procedural Wings, I found them a bit buggy and irritating to configure. If Bac9 has made 'em nicer, I'll likely give it another try. Still, again there's the "stock parts = bigger market" factor to consider.

Thanks for all the suggestions, folks.

[Jovus]

The only thing I can think of off-hand that is plane-related and you might like is Adjustable Landing Gear. You might also like Advanced Jet Engine, but you probably already know about it and I haven't used it myself.

Personally, I also like Kerbal Construction Time.

[Wanderfound]

Trying to get another air-racing challenge going: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/107682-Kerbodyne-Touch-Go-Racing-League

Plenty of stock fliers, could use some competition on the FAR side.

Edited January 19, 2015 by Wanderfound

[Wanderfound]

My laptop now runs well enough to stream KSP via Open Broadcaster Software; however, the mike on the laptop is so inadequate as to be useless. I could go and buy a decent mike to plug into the laptop, but it occurs to me that I've already got a perfectly good mike and voice recorder in my iPhone (which is what I used for my Kerbal Podcast stuff).

Anyone know of an easy/simple/straightforward/free way of adding a voice recording from my iPhone to the recording of game audio and video produced by the Open Broadcaster Software?

[eddiew]

You may have a point about B9 and balance. The first spaceplane I put together with their parts hit orbit from it's initial testing flight, and had enough dv to orbit Mun and come home on rapiers. Great for training rookies, but almost felt too easy... That said, I think the MK IV also has something imbalanced with its air intakes; my rapiers were still breathing 44km altitude!

Not tempted by DMagic Orbital Science for a bit more variety in how you get your tech?

[Wanderfound]

A little video wot I made...

Just up to mountains and back, nothing too fancy.

[Wanderfound]

Another one, just messing about:

Lesson for the day: legible altimeters and airspeed gauges are valuable things.

[WhiteKnuckle]

I'm really up in the air about B9 (har har har)

On the one hand, some of their stuff does feel overpowered. On the other, the inadequacies of some of the stock parts (I'm looking at you landing gear) make me want to rip my hair out. As much as I want to, I don't think I'll ever be able to give them up, if for no other reason than I love their cockpits.

Wanderfound, any tips on making a VTOL spaceplane with stock parts? I have no problem making spaceplanes, and no problems making VTOLs, but putting them together is giving me fits. My best attempt to date can just barely eek out a 70x70km orbit with nothing but fumes left in the tanks. But if I swap out the stock RAPIERS for B9 SABERS I can get the same craft into a 100x100 orbit with enough fuel left over to make several vertical landing and takeoffs.

Just wondering if you had any basic formulas for number of engines per ton or anything like that.

[Wanderfound]

Wanderfound, any tips on making a VTOL spaceplane with stock parts? I have no problem making spaceplanes, and no problems making VTOLs, but putting them together is giving me fits. My best attempt to date can just barely eek out a 70x70km orbit with nothing but fumes left in the tanks. But if I swap out the stock RAPIERS for B9 SABERS I can get the same craft into a 100x100 orbit with enough fuel left over to make several vertical landing and takeoffs.

Just wondering if you had any basic formulas for number of engines per ton or anything like that.

As few VTOL engines as necessary to lift it, enough turbojet/RAPIER thrust to get up to Mach 4 without dying of boredom, enough rockets to get to orbit without losing too much to upper-atmosphere drag. That's as close as I get to a formula.

For VTOL design, have a look at the Dropbear, Locust, Grasshopper, Cacafeugo, Dragonfly X and Kosciuszko VTOL. Basically, it's just take a normal spaceplane, stash a few basic jets mounted on cubic octagonals into bomb bays and scatter some Vernors around the edges for stability.

The trickiest bit is getting the basic jet and fuel placement right; just a little bit of an imbalance is enough to mess up the VTOL, so you need to keep your fuel and cargo weight balanced. RCS Build Aid in Engine mode helps, but sometimes seems to give misleading figures; trial and error trumps all. Test, revert to SPH, wiggle an engine a bit, test again, etc.

Because they can rely on VTOL for lift if they want to fly slowly (or take off...), they don't need big wings. That saves you a fair bit of mass and drag, which can partially compensate for the penalty of the surplus engines.

[WhiteKnuckle]

Yeah my biggest issue has been getting enough fuel on board that won't change the CoM when it's burned off. Add to that the need to balance the vertical engines around the CoM and my craft start to get really big or ungainly. Although one trick I've started to use is putting a fuel tank (can't remember the designation but it's the black & white 1.25m tank) in a Mk2 Cargo Bay. The Mk2 Rocket fuel tank holds 270 units of liquid fuel, but a cargo bay the same size can carry 360 units.

My best attempt was built off of my favorite VTOL plane, and as such has decent sized wings, I hadn't considered getting rid of a lot of wing on the spaceplane version, that might be all it needs. I'll give it a shot and if that doesn't work I'll download a few of your ships and reverse engineer them to find out where I'm going wrong.

Thanks again!

[Wanderfound]

TAC-FB or Goodspeed can save you a lot of pain. Otherwise, you just need to be careful with your fuel hose routing and possibly lock off some tanks to start with.

The tank-in bay trick gets you extra fuel, but at a substantial weight penalty. You're usually better off just sticking the tanks on the sides of the fuselage; put 'em behind intakes and the drag isn't too bad.

Edited January 19, 2015 by Wanderfound

[WhiteKnuckle]

The tank-in bay tick gets you extra fuel, but at a substantial weight penalty. You're usually better off just sticking the tanks on the sides of the fuselage; put 'em behind intakes and the drag isn't too bad.

There is a weight penalty, but I think the amount of fuel per ton is actually better. I'll have to check the numbers when I get home, but IIRC:

Mk2 LF/O Tank: 3.5t for 270 units of LF = 77.14 units of fuel per ton.

Mk2 bay: .5t + 1.25m LF/O Tank: 4t for 360 units of LF = 80 units of fuel per ton.

Either way, I used it as a method for reducing the size of the craft, not the weight.

[Wanderfound]

I was thinking of weight penalty vs circular tank alone, relative to circular tank + cargo bay. If I'm carrying 1.25m tanks, I tend to mount them like this:

The Mk2 fuselage parts are less weight efficient than the 1.25m tanks, but they do provide more lift. I tend to find that ships that make heavy use of rocket parts struggle to gain sufficient lift, whereas ships with plenty of Mk2 fuselage can get away with less wings.

- - - Updated - - -

Just found some free audio/video editing software that works. Wanderstream may be a go within a week or two.

Any suggestions? What would folks want to see? Building, flying, aerobatic, interplanetary, etc?

[Wanderfound]

Okeydoke: Wanderfound's Flight School, test broadcast #1:

[Wanderfound]

Episode #2

The voiceover audio goes a little quiet at the end; still getting the mike situation sorted out.

[Volcanix]

Good to see that you now make videos of your planes, nice!

I'm still wondering how I could improve my time at the racing league, I'll send in something later. By the way, you just got your first subscriber

[eddiew]

Any suggestions? What would folks want to see? Building, flying, aerobatic, interplanetary, etc?

I'd be interested in seeing your design process, building a new bird given a specific goal; e.g. something that can do multiple Kerbin landings for local surveys, get to LKO with a 2t cargo in the least time, or run a round trip to Mun with a science package

Though I suspect I won't be in the right time zone to watch live, so I'll have to wait for the youtube version ^^;