Welcome to Aerotech Industries. We have retooled and reopened our production line for KSP2. Patent pending. All rights reserved. Rebate time usually 1-2 years. Subject to KTAR restrictions. No warranty implied, implicit or otherwise. Use at your own risk. Requires standard 24-month subscription. Subject to approval. APR of 17.5% after 1 billing cycle. 5 factor authentication (5FA) login a requirement. Void where prohibited. Microsoft "Palladium" compatible computer with always on network connection and TPM and all approved updates required. Widevine 10.0 digital restrictions management with mandatory neural punishment interface rolling out starting in 2024. Minimum: 3 x OC WC Nvidia 4090 Recommended: Cerebras Wafer Scale Engine
Caption - AI original vehicles are near the upper right in line together with Trainer/Firebrand/Morningstar with Abaddon just above. Stretching just below is the Dragster train flanked by Rat Albert and Brimstone. Above these is Odachi and across to the right are Nodachi and F-35 and F-32 prototypes along with one above at top. Do not miss the boat in center and tanker to left and small vehicles and another drone at top. At the very top is Durandal - "Champion of the skies".
High altitude flip solutions and Trainer SSTO CTOL
shipname black manta
callsign tarantula
tactical bomber and trainer
bring center of mass forward or center of lift back - 74
bring center of lift up/down with wing position or front to back angle - 84
increase control authority of rcs/gyros/aero
change side to side wing angle to level
turn off gimbal on main engine due to wobble
bring engines in line with center of mass - 84
move jets away from rocket flex arc - 94
fix intake action groups - 95
fueselage reinforcement to stop flex - 99
increase speed with 2 more engine configuration with more fuel - 99
move engines inward - 103
move nosecones to remove eva obstruction - 104
successful orbit - 94 - 30 degrees until flameout then 60 degrees
successful orbit - 105 - 40 degrees until flameout then 60 degrees
ai original ship - retrospectively looks like the vic viper from the game gradius
Mothership SSTO CTOL
shipname great fox
callsign valkyrie
fuel tanker
rough ride to orbit and do not fully trust sas to fly
sort of bad yaw control so try to keep the wings perfectly level during ascent
sometimes blows up on the runway
shutdown jets when they have reached less than 50 kn thrust
ascend to 2000 on jets then turn to 60 degrees for a short time then 75 degrees
will try to nose over shortly after jet cutoff for the rest of the way
ok to let it nose over a little as we need to nose over for orbit anyway
successful orbit - alpha 2 - jets moved forward and had incredible 12.37 fuel 2028 dv
successful orbit - alpha 3 - jet actions added and had even better 19.11 fuel 2949 dv
VTOL variants
shipname freestyle
callsign tantal
last field is flaghip of each force
Kafrican army does not exist so there is no strategic lift mission for kafrican air force
Kafrican air force standard with jet ctol - icbm
S.A.C.K. strategic air command of kafrica alpha with turboramjet ctol - brimstone
Kafrican marines bravo with small jet and supersonic vtol - nodachi
Kafrican navy lima with rocket vtol and nuclear main - rat albert
Kafrican space force delta with skipper and jet ctol ssto - odachi
K.A.S.A. kafrican air and space agency echo with nuclear and jet ctol ssto - trainer
Kafrican coast guard oscar with jet stovl and secondary and nuclear main - wavedasher
K.A.T.O. kerbal authority treaty organization mike with one engine jet stovl - mothership
K.I.A. kafrican intelligence agency hotel with small jet and supersonic twin stovl - morningstar
K.N.W.O. kerbal new world order papa with max dv nuclear ctol - firebrand
Kection 31 november with nuclear stovl and nuclear main - young samson
JSF Standard
subsonic but can go supersonic in dive
ctol
F-35 "Alpha"
top speed 1121 at 13500
ctol
X-35 "Bravo"
can barely do vtol takeoff go to mach 1 and do vtol landing
this qualifies for some trophy in a documentary but evidence could not be found
to scale further would require an extra cargo bay with engines front and rear
redesign backported from experimental heavy lifter
now with 3 engines front and rear for more lift performance
X-32 "Charlie"
wing redesigned as x-32 light
horizontal tail moved down to same level as wing
vertical tail removed temporarily
vertical tail readded and angled appropriately which brings center of lift up
wing down dihedral added to bring center of lift down
use jets to reach 40mps then climb vertically with rockets
turn to horizon at 50k
successful orbit - 42 - 60dv
more fuel could be added to rear if needed
if fuel added to rear then move wing and horizontal tail back
F-22Z "Delta"
wing redesigned as f-22
45 degrees testing to eliminate some variables
panther - 11000 at 125 aerospike start and 917 at 30000 then jet cutout at 35000
rapier - could not maintain 45 degrees but fuel switch at 11000 and 445 at 19500
whiplash - 11000 at 150 aerospike start then jet cutout earlier but 755 at 35000
whiplash is much better than the other 2
try starting rocket at higher altitude - only 30k at 500 and minimal control
try level at 13500 then at max speed 45 degrees - 21 - 1166 with 58k apa
try existing tanks full 45 degrees - 22 - 15k rockets 900 with 64k x -548k
try existing tanks full 30 degrees - 23 - 0 vs rockets 820 with 58k x -560k
unclear what ascent angle to use considering jets
unclear exactly when to start rocket
5k start 30 degrees - 1320 65k x -474k
start rocket around 2k and go 45 degrees 1850 70k x -360k
start rocket around 3k and go vertical 1885 75k x -315k
500m rocket start 45 degrees - 1820 70k x -335k at first then 2216 70k x -15k
500m rocket start 30 degrees - 1770 65k x -380k
45 degrees is much better than 30 degrees
rockets at 250m then vertical then 60 at 5k
turn to horizon at 50k
successful orbit - 38 - 219dv - 113k x 70k
disappointing that there is no dv room to add vtol system
F-15Z "Echo"
redesign to strip as much weight as possible
did need to cheat a little by moving nuclear engines forward
new gen 15 degrees nuclear at 5k - fall down at 50k altitude around 900mps
new gen 30 degrees nuclear at 5k - slightly worse
new gen 45 degrees nuclear at 5k - a lot worse
2 engine each 15 degrees nuclear at 2.5k - successful orbit 71k x 70k 155dv
2 engine each 15 degrees nuclear at 5k - successful orbit 72k x 70k 460dv
UV-32 "Foxtrot"
utility vtol
meant for water landings and maritime operations and kerbal rescue
use any action group to set control from here correctly
try at high altitude - 300 in a dive
try at low altitude - 175
270 without hover engines
240 without scoop
265 without vtol fence
as much as 220 just without other intake at all
only 202 with a nosecone
large radial intakes are causing a lot of drag - 206 with smaller but is not vtol
vtol engines causing a fair amount of drag
about 202 low level with current configuration with micro radial intakes under vtol skirt
new top speed - 298 at 14.5k - 336 in shallow 20 degree dive from 14.5k
YF-35 "Golf"
high speed stovl interceptor
was an attempt to deduce how to make a faster vtol
there are several items on bravo that could make it much slower
the extra fuel tanks/struts/sas/hover engines are culprits
even the angle and mounting of the hover engines could be suspect
alpha and golf 1 do have amazing high altitude speed
golf 1 clocked at 1119 mps in shallow descent around 14.5k
climb at 30 degrees and level off around 10k and accelerate
alpha as experimental control - 314 at 100m
bravo as experimental control - maybe 303 - has very little fuel
no engines added - 314 at 100m
rear engines added - 310 at 100m
not much speed difference between configurations at low altitude
high altitude performance may be impacted by wing causing high aoa
bravo slow at 10-15k around 300mps and 10 degrees aoa
aoa of alpha/golf 1 at high altitude only about 5 degrees at 300mps
alpha/golf 1 aoa at max speed is near zero
golf 3 with rear vtol engines only - 1124 at 13.5k in shallow dive
increasing wingspan seems like a bad idea given this
golf 3 - 34 parts - 9.46t
golf 5 - 50 parts - 10.89t
golf 6 - front and rear engines added - same success as golf 3
features droptanks for extra range
setup to pull evenly from drop tanks
to not pull from tanks automatically remove fuel line
can not pull from droptanks first apparently
climb at 30 degrees until 6k then 20 degrees
back off to 50 percent when at altitude
drop tanks as soon as possible as they cause huge drag
maybe do not need to limit climb or drop tanks
500km range
could expand drop tank length
SR-35 "Hotel"
high speed stovl reconnaissance variant
8 - vtol takeoff capable - 317mps low level - out of fuel on climb
9 - fully fuel loaded - 951 at 15.5k
the various heavy vtol modifications seem to be slowing it down
this could be caused by the 3 engine vtol bays as previously theorized
also useful as a twin for high redundancy naval operations
oei rated - one engine inoperative - takeoff and sustained flight
can also use longer droptanks
has more fuel so 50 percent throttle and larger droptanks could have ok range
XX-32 "India"
medium nuclear cheatbird stovl variant
space superiority fighter
more faithful x-32 heavy wing recreation with monoprop stovl engines
possible to fly around on hydrogen alone at low thrust like jet engine
15 percent hydrogen thrust for cruising
sas control is limited so throttle back to 50 percent around 25k
successful orbit - 26 - 8577dv - 3.21t of 6.25t - 115k x 70k
wing tanks - successful orbit - 27 - 10247dv - 4.16t of 7.5t - 98k x 70k
XY-32 "Juliette"
cheatbird like india but with jet vtol instead
dv has taken an impact from the heavier jets
fairly stable in the hover
XZ-32 "Kilo"
cheatbird like juliette but with 2 panther vtol/2 secondary whiplash/extra fuel
ultimate kerbin exploration vtol
probably worse dv than india due to the jet fuel and jets
no need for multiple variants because stovl variant does it all
can use hydrogen engine like an afterburner around 35 percent
bad control authority at 20k and above at low speeds
can not fly high and slow because it leads to high aoa condition
definitely want to cruise at speed of 800+ at altitude of 27k+
hydrogen is very good at altitudes of around 30k and high speeds
at higher altitudes assume lower aoa and control altitude with throttle
1 - toggle main
2 - hover on
3 - hover off
4 - toggle secondary
5 - toggle hover thrust mode
6 - intakes off
7 - intakes on
8 - toggle main independent throttle
ZX-32 "Lima"
cheatbird like kilo but jets removed and aerospike vtol added
ultimate space exploration vtol and counterpart of kilo
important to remain balanced due to aerospike having no gimbals
40k is noticeably better than 30k for atmospheric cruising
possible to not use much hover fuel for slow kerbin landing
YY-32 "Mike"
complete rebuild with narrower main body
built as most authentic x-32 yet
features basic one engine stovl support
more improvements - angle engine down/turn on gimbal/action group to deploy tail to slow more in stovl
can not deploy other surfaces or will lose control
does not hover yet but takeoff and slow speed flight is largely improved
ZY-32 "November"
space optimized cheatbird
may have less dv
but can fly around more on moons on nuclear vtol engines
more consistent with a single fuel type
YZ-32 "Oscar"
cheatbird like kilo with 2 extra jet engines and more jet fuel and hydrogen
patch 2 engine bug action group workarounds applied
stovl performance is limited
maybe better than kilo because it commits more to jet usage
be sure to engage first stage at start
1 - toggle main
2 - hover on
3 - hover off
4 - secondary on
5 - secondary off
6 - toggle main independent throttle
updated to overcome action group misunderstanding -
1 - toggle main
2 - toggle hover
3 - toggle secondary
4 - toggle main secondary throttle
ZZ-32 "Papa"
cheatbird like november modified for use on eve with large boosters/parachutes/vtol removed
probably good for tylo operations also
could be used to leave the solar system easily especially with a large booster
Motorcycles
standard model uses rover wheels
alpha model uses jets
cerberus - enduro bike - steer like a car - alpha 118mps
roadrunner - sport bike - lean to steer
roadunner alpha hit 210 max
roadunner alpha hit 204 and flipped forward when reversers deployed
Nodachi commercial heavy STOVL
shipname cheatbird
callsign phoenix 1-1
trainer for flying planetary cruiser
light cargo transport
ferry flights for kerbal crews
formally a cheatbird with kraken drive now a true stock vehicle
release brakes when doing stovl takeoff or it will flip
so is better for low altitude flight with more lift
149 low level - 121 at 5k - pretty slow
slow speed partially caused by the high aoa from wings
old notes for kraken drive below
glitch engines used because no good ones available
center of lift is too far behind center of mass
can angle wings down back to front as one fix
the angle fix still means flight qualities are poor
a better fix would be to move center of mass back
the center of mass fix would also involve vtol fixes
actual dv is probably around 10 times or more stated dv
successful orbit - 2 engine variant - 55 - 1100dv
successful orbit - 4 engine variant - 81 - 998dv
successful orbit - 4 engine stovl variant - 83 - 956dv
improved stabs direction moving center of lift forward and down
still need a lot of sas because wings are not large
now with engines top and bottom and with correct spacing
good bracing plays a key part to prevent engine torques
action group 1 - main
action group 2 - vtol
action group 3 - main fuel switch
action group 4 - vtol independent full throttle
suggest stovl or normal takeoff on most atmospheric bodies
suggest vtol takeoff on most airless bodies
can do pure vtol takeoff on kerbin with less fuel
81 has more potential for interplanetary operations
83 has more fuel and is better for planetary exploration
81 used 20 degrees and 5 percent throttle for orbit
83 used 20 degrees and 10 percent throttle for orbit
10 percent used because fps does not allow fine adjustment
Odachi military heavy STOVL
shipname calnus - next ship off line is challenger
callsign crystal palace
styled as srf planetary cruiser
twr shown is only for vacuum
key 1 - clearing debris from runway so it does not impede takeoff
key 2 - strip to bare fueselage and taxi to look for structural issues
key 3 - deal with rd-ad-sl 2500 symmetry problems
key 4 - test on each and every change to not let problems run away
key 5 - allow sufficient engine spacing to get maximum thrust
76 - ctol - sketchy takeoff - 8934dv in orbit - 20201dv - 1.175 twr - 155 parts - 117t
77 - has taller landing gear for easier takeoff
78 - has basic vtol capability
79 - vtol redesign
80 - go from 4 to 5 engines and strut sas housing
81 - fix fueselage side with single struts to avoid strut symmetry bug
82 - go from 5 to 6 engines and strut rear sas housing and engine mounts
83 - increase vtol fuel
84 - simplify rear and add more sas
85 - add more sas and increase vtol fuel - .823 twr - 179 parts - 167t
86 - go from 6 to 8 engines
87 - change vtol to vector engine
88 - weight optimization
89 - weight optimization
90 - weight optimization
91 - add twitch engines to supplement vtol
92 - switch twitch supplemental to thud and note empty tanks available
93 - prevent main engine interference
94 - hide hydrogen tank in front
95 - tuck lower main engine in
96 - color
97 - color
98 - wing moved up and forward and rear landing gear moved forward
99 - change wing struts
100 - reset vertical wing position slightly to fix aero and move wing down
101 - move rear landing gear forward and add extra wing struts
102 - move rear landing gear forward
103 - heavy central strutting
104 - move lowest engine up to keep from hitting on takeoff
105 - add rear landing gear decorations and move forward
106 - reconfigure main engine positions
107 - change landing gear decorations
108 - remove struts
109 - remove struts
110 - remove struts
111 - remove struts
112 - strut wing to forward fueselage piece
113 - remove monoprop from decorative tanks
114 - strut wing to parent
115 - remove wing struts
116 - reconfigure main engine positions
117 - adjust vtol nozzle limits
118 - add more sas
119 - move vtol engines back
120 - lower engines forward and add wing struts
121 - fix rear struts
122 - add wing struts
133 - move gear back/strut sas housing and rebuild
134 - strut wing long to parent
135 - add more struts to sas housing
136 - add front landing gear decoration
137 - remove struts
138 - remove struts
139 - add top light/add rear landing gear decoration
140 - add fuel and fix staging
141 - add rear sas housing struts
142 - add fuel
143 - adjust marker lights
144 - move rear gear back and add fuel
145 - add struts between front cargo bays to prevent cube failure
146 - add fuel
147 - add fuel and continue from 143
148 - move rear gear back
149 - add fuel
150 - move rear gear back
151 - adjust rear landing gear decoration
152 - remove hftt375 to keep from soandso crashed errors
no lift from wings even at much higher speeds
much less drag or much more thrust needed
153 - restrut adplxl to wing individually as bug workaround
154 - try to remove stuff and realize the symmetry issue may be culprit
better but still failure of center adplxl at takeoff
155 - based on 151 and struts stripped
156 - exploded
157 - bugged piece individual with mounts added to them as mirror
158 - readd rear gear
159 - add rear struts and struts to deal with other weird symmetry
160 - rebuild from 156 and remove old junky pieces
161 - continued cleaner build
162 - mounts for angle and deal with continued bugged symmetry
still need individual struts but more sturdy now
radial mirror symmetry can still be used but not inline
163 - fix sas housing mount symmetry
164 - add parts
165 - based on 160 with single bugged piece direct connect with mounts only for engines
also uses sas mount symmetry with middle part instead of sides
166 - heavily strut bugged piece to cargo bay
167 - add sas housing and double strut in and out
168 - add rear of sas housing and strut engines
169 - remove rear cargo bays on sides
170 - strip to test
171 - strip to test
172 - strip to test
173 - strip to test
174 - strip to test
175 - strip to test
176 - based on 169
177 - restrut engines
178 - add 8 hydrogen tanks
179 - fix staging and add top light
180 - add wings and fix lights and remove all shop items
181 - move rear gear forward
182 - adjust wing tips and strut wing to parent
183 - move wing forward
takeoff capable now
184 - add rear landing gear decoration
185 - broken by copying bug
186 - part example
187 - make ready for vtol
188 - individually strut rear
wait until high speed of 125 mps and bounce front so not ideal
also not ideal pitching performance
189 - strut rear sas housing
190 - move wing forward with still bad pitch authority
191 - move wing forward and move rear gear forward
192 - remove monoprop from rear decorative tanks
193 - fix wingtip light position
successful orbit - vtol fuel full as test - 5139dv - 12.01 of 39.25t - 93k x 71k
194 - add vtol
195 - reinforce wing
196 - move vtol engines to not interfere with neighbor
vtol cargo bay vectoring bug tested
197 - back to 195 and add vtol engine gimbal limits given vectoring bug
198 - move both vtol engines forward to combat forward flip
199 - back to 197 and remove vtol fuel from front
still a front flip but ??? second vtol burn time at 50 percent
could remove vtol fuel at front or add some hydrogen at rear
need to know vtol burn time to best determine direction - 4m:17s - 1m - 3:17/2=1m 38.5s
not sure fuel burn is linear so that may be incorrect
200 - reduce rear vtol engine to 95 percent at start
increase to 100 as vtol fuel burns
201 - add 2 large sas to not interfere with engines and rear vtol to 100 percent
determined to be overly balanced on a needle edge with front to rear control
previously sas force was equivalent to around 10 large sas
should increase hover control authority by about 20 percent
202 - add conformal hydrogen tanks
203 - fully fuel vtol fuel and set rear vtol to 85 percent for stovl
more hydrogen needed and options - for distinct long range model
flyback underwing droptanks - could be involved and put ssto status in question
conformal tanks on side - this is simplest and best looking
tanks on back of sas housing - was going to cause weight imbalance and worse vtol characteristics
17698 without vtol fuel with conformal hydrogen tanks
16171 without vtol fuel with conformal hydrogen tanks
204 - reverse navigation lights
45 degree takeoff trajectory with no maneuvering in atmosphere allowed during ascent and full hover fuel
successful orbit - 4789dv - 15.07t of 46.75t - 83k x 71k - gear was down!!!
successful orbit - 4486dv - 14.08t of 46.75t - 84k x 70k - gear up but lower angle and higher/longer coast
205 - partially defuel vtol/move wings back 2 steps/move gear back 1 step
vtol stability/structural strength/fps performance all identified as issues
206 - front gimbal no longer bugged with flickering so changed to 100 percent and helps hover
206 - move wing back 1 step because when vtol defueled it is unbalanced
independent throttle and thrust limiter different because thrust limiter applied at all throttle settings
207 - redistribute vtol fuel for better stability at low fuel level
208 - more vtol fuel with similar stability
vtol stability better/fps performance better with 8 less parts/structural strength no worse
should have 3 fuel setups
stovl takeoff configuration with full hover fuel - 209 - successful orbit - 5347dv - 16.9t of 46.75t - 83k x 70k
vtol takeoff configuration with partial hover fuel - 208 - successful orbit - 8474dv - 21.37t of 46.75t - 84k x 70k
ctol takeoff configuration with no hover fuel - 210 - successful orbit - 11627dv - 24.09t of 46.75t - 132k x 70k
stovl - does not really decrease takeoff distance much
stovl - does add more fuel for hovering on low gravity worlds
stovl - did not need to limit rear vtol engine but is valid technique for balancing but would be confusing later on
vtol - should expect instability at 1t or less with full main fuel with 207 or 208
ctol - about 8 seconds of hover fuel for emergencies and ballast
ctol - do not pitch quickly because center of lift is near center of mass
ctol - slow ramp to full throttle in space
Caption - A project Odachi vessel shipname Calnus orbits perilessly above Eve.
Firebrand STOVL SSTO
sleek nuclear powered cheatbird is heavy interceptor or executive transport
shipname tremor
callsign nighthawk 1-1
use nuclear engine for stovl operations
jets will cause flipping from a stop with stovl
can use jets once up to speed after stovl transition
stovl is really meant more for moon landings
successful orbit - 14 - 77k x 71k - 10129dv - 9.35t of 17.13t
ai original ship - retrospectively looks like an f-104 starfighter
Racing boat
shipname turnkey
callsign aqua 1-1
to turn use opposite roll
control surfaces can rip off but is still slightly controllable after
sas in down mode for racing but manually trim roll
sas in up mode to slow for controllable speed
67 mps top speed
pilot and cockpit can survive beaching which is also the way to stop
Brimstone bomber
shipname b-3
callsign lavos
cheatbird for strategic missions on vulcan-class worlds
a key was to reattach the body wing to tanks near center
tanks at edge flex too much
attach wings to body wings
strut wings top and bottom even to different parts than parent
may need to set center main wing to 15 percent control limit
250 tank to 250 tank is standard failure just ignore
low sas amount and authority means orbital engine needs exact positioning
20 degrees and start secondary at 5k until meco
successful orbit - 45 - 8549dv - 22.54t of 37.5t
46 - fix navigation lights
47 - improve ground handling and structure by moving front gear forward
47 - reduce braking to zero in front and 99 percent in back for ground handling and structure
47 - max out front suspension for ground handling and structure
Samson staged tactical missile probe
shipname delilah
callsign zippo 1-1
for space missile use
for probe use splitting into three different craft
for escape pod use
for lander use on low gravity worlds
for kerbin sounding launches and capable of orbit without crew
final addition was 2 more solids on first stage and one tank on last
successful orbit - 30 - 477dv - 86k x 71k
ICBM SSTO
shipname replicant
callsign torch
58x-477
67x-410
70x-231
71x-121
turn to 45 degrees at 1k
switch to standard throttles at 10k
close intakes and shutdown jet manually due to bugs
successful orbit - 14 - 55dv - 0 of .41t
probably could use more dedicated jet fuel
the dedicated jet fuel is in one of the center tanks
Rat Albert utility plane
shipname hercmaster
callsign angel 1-1
medium cargo transport
action group 1 - reversers
action group 2 - cargo ramp
21 - monoprop ballast in tail made a world of difference
22 - improved ground handling
this moved center of mass closer to center of lift
this also allowed for less pitching down
can turn on rcs if needed with plenty of fuel
302mps low level
283mps at 5k
215mps at 10k
previous results with non rato model
24 - rato model
rato does not really reduce the takeoff roll
takeoff is already accomplished at 50mps
rato will probably increase maximum takeoff weight and climb rate
2 minutes 7 seconds to 10k with rato at 5k successively
also 10642 max altitude with rato at 45 degree climb
also 11147 on next climb using rcs
Archeopteryx heavy ucav
shipname pterodactyl
callsign reptile 1-1
combat drone with crew carrying capability
supplementary monoprop engines
use lights button to cycle bay doors due to bugs
use gear button manually to cycle gear due to bugs
use brakes button to enable bomb tank crossfeed due to bugs
low level speed - 136 without afterburner / 184 with afterburner
high level speed - 196 at 10.5k
could have variant with monoprop vtol instead of bombs
Morningstar hypersonic testbed
shipname revenant
callsign shade 1-1
future reconaissance asset
ai original ship - retrospectively looks like a klingon bird of prey
has controls inverted issue for central planform controls
if speed is too slow for altitude then yaw authority issues can arise
needs nose ballast
2 engines - slow 10 degree climb speed 271 at 15.5k then shallow dive then 302 at 13k
4 engines - 30 degree climb speed 708 at 16.5k and 20.7k max altitude
6 engines - 45 degree climb speed 923 at 16k and 25089m altitude flameout
8 engines - 60 degree climb speed 1034 at 15k
selectively closing intakes does not help much at about 1036 speed
fuel added inside plenum area in wing for longer range
can limp along around 1000m on 2 engines and can climb 20 degrees on 4 engines
imbalanced engine operation is prohibited
one way to save fuel may be to run 4 engines instead of 8 - not bad 298 instead of 329 low level
by comparison all engines with half throttle is the same thing
overall was down to half fuel after about 10 minutes flying so not that great either
best way to save fuel is high speed high altitude high throttle
final extended fuel speed test low level speed 329
final extended fuel speed test high level speed 970 at 17k and 981 in shallow dive at 16k
about 700k full throttle range
move front landing gear back to clear a downward opening cargo bay
move extra fuel tanks forward as far as possible
remove ballast
add nosecones to extra fuel tanks
built in returner variant has no commnet bug
escape ejection system - atmosphere only/detach/pod jet to 100 percent sas on/legs deploy/pod sas vertical
333 - without double delta
334 - bottom wing also removed
333 - side wings removed
299 - all wings removed
350 - engine frame removed
junkyard testbed - 1391 at 15k and 1410 in shallow dive - with only 4 engines
junkyard testbed has similar speed at low altitude so that is not a good test
control - 15k - 868 lift - 1761 drag - 1968 thrust - .493 lift to drag - 990 speed - about 1009 max at 16.5k
with nosecaps - 15k - 898 lift - 1450 drag - 1928 thrust - .619 lift to drag - 1031 - speed - about 1110 at 17.5k
junkyard model is hard to test but is clear that it has lower drag and lower lift
the lower drag is meaningful but the lower lift is not as meaningful but is harder to keep the nose up
40 - nosecone fixes and strut lower wing
41 - just nosecone fixes because struts are attaching loose for some reason - test for speed
38 keeps accelerating at 14750 well beyond the 950 max speed of 44
38 went to about 1100 at 15k and then following prograde went to 1173 at 12.5k
this is repeatable and 15k high speed lift to drag is consistently around .600 for 38 and .450 for 45
thus the vertical launch is the culprit
it is the launch clamps or the vertical nature itself that is the key
having booster rockets or not has nothing to do with it
alpha is is about .250 without sas and .450 with sas and 1125 speed at 15k
alpha vertical higher with about .700 without sas and .900 with sas and 1401 speed at 15k
cursed upper wing causes yaw and or roll around mach 1 and 60 is the demonstrator
62 - start rebuild with new engine configuration on old wing
63 - try to strut cursed wing to itself - still cursed
64 - midway rebuild with new engine configuration on old wing
65 - near end rebuild with new engine configuration on old wing
66 - runway model
67 - reinforced model
68 - vertical launch model
69 - heavy decoupler
70 - side to side rockets
this one still has the cursed wing problem just less severe
the wing is not actually to blame
turns out that the engine configuration flexing is the problem
this was theorized early but hard to make out
the tank and engine flexing is flexing the wing and causing the roll
the girder based design was superior after all
71 - based on 62 and move second auxiliary fuel tank in line with original
72 - another vertical launch model - dive to 5 degrees at 18.5k and at 1100 speed for 1144 mach 3.86 speed
next dive yielded 1155 speed next 1156 speed
can use prograde mode to slowly dive to set pitch angle when at altitude for max speed
range is better with perhaps 800km now
throttle up boosters slow to prevent structural failure and jettison when they have fuel left
Dragster train
shipname columbia
callsign thomas
original had 5 decks
original 72 speed with 2 engines
original 98 speed with 4 engines
original 173 speed with 12 engines
keeps falling apart
use less engines - would still be slow fps
distribute engines around - would still be slow fps
rebuilt but still suffers many failures at arm connection joints
better connection joints used with hubs instead
solution 1 - use hubs to join side sections
solution 2 - rebuild with prototype size girders
solution 3 - add to prototype instead
xl3 is stronger than xl landing gear but presents steering problems
selective steering through action group wheel braking added
bugged struts seem to act as suspension at least on one side
still kind of disappointing as far as durability
frames weigh around 28 tons cars as a whole around 44 tons
will explode if any cars detach
brakes tuned for whole train turning
will slow while turning and may need to straighten up again to speed up
1 and 2 for left and right and 3 to straighten up
restart game for a better chance of not exploding on load
Returner mini ship
acts as bare bones probe or escape pod
could even separate as two vehicles
micro and standard variants available
Islandhorse tug
utility cheatbird and transfer stage
is an ssto but a booster is preferable
not designed for landings but could be used in an emergency
has a large amount of people room for long journeys
good amount of fuel for pushing upper stages
can cruise at 15 percent thrust and deploy rear cargo doors for stability
Headless Horseman probe
probe for islandhorse in mission configuration
meant to deal with no commnet bugs
engage both engines with independent throttle to desired setting
throttle and controls will be locked during flight due to no commnet
important to note that sas and parachute control still work somehow
indpendent throttle can also be manipulated for throttle control
turn sas on to stop spinning and to have basic control
Abaddon drone SSTO
shipname tomahawk
callsign bluebird 1-1
low sas authority missile/pod ship
there is room for one crew in the seat in the cargo bay
manually set front wheel friction to 0
afterburners work really well above 20k
start rockets at 5k and important to remain in vertical sas mode
turn to 60 degrees at 20k - successful orbit - 135dv - 71k x 70k
turn to 45 degrees at 20k - successful orbit - 97dv - 83k x 70k
instead ascend at 60 degrees as this allows for full afterburner power
more of the more efficient afterburner energy is used in this regime
60 degree ascent - successful orbit - 508dv - 74k x 70k
ai original ship - retrospectively looks like something the thunderbirds would use
Durandal star cruiser - "champion of the skies"
shipname balena - next ship off line is olympus
callsign warlock
future eve returner rtol/ctol
turn sas on and hold back on the controls for takeoff
all models can be elevated vertically and they will sit indefinitely with no structural issues
37 - move rear gear forward 3 steps
38 - move rear gear forward 3 steps
39 - move rear gear forward 3 steps
40 - reinforce wing top and bottom with good results
41 - move rear gear forward 3 steps
42 - move rear gear forward 3 steps
43 - move rear gear forward 3 steps
44 - strut outer nuclear engines to mounts to deal with weird mount failure
45 - move rear gear forward 3 steps
46 - move rear gear forward 3 steps
47 - move rear gear forward 3 steps
48 - move rear gear forward 3 steps - bad control authority after running off edge - cannot pitch up
49 - move wings forward
50 - change much of the front center from liquid fuel tanks to cargo bays
51 - move sas mounts forward
52 - readd struts to core and sas mounts
53 - move wings forward
54 - add liquid fuel ballast in rear
55 - developmental frontend
56 - ongoing transition to hydrogen in front and liquid in rear to balance
57 - balance transition with core complete
58 - troubleshoot dread corruption bug
59 - merge wings
60 - merge rear core
61 - readd struts
62 - move rear gear back 3 steps
63 - move rear gear back 3 steps
64 - add wing struts with total failure
65 - add nuclear engines invidually due to symmetry weakness
66 - readd struts to true wing parent top and bottom with success
67 - attempt to solve xs1 failure
68 - break down to deal with heavy failures
69 - readded wings and struts
70 - make rudder wings taller with better stability even on runway - flying example
71 - add central core section
72 - make rudder wings larger
73 - troubleshoot failures since core section was added and make rudder wings taller
74 - new wing configuration to bring rudder wings back to rear
75 - old wing but moved back
76 - based on 74 but with wings moved forward
77 - readd central core section
78 - try to finish
79 - double strut rf ad 2500 to adjoining cargo bay
80 - fix center nuclear engines thrust occlusion
81 - quad strut rf ad 2500 to adjoining cargo bay
82 - strut rear of sas housing and front center hydrogen tank
83 - move rear gear back 3 steps
84 - mega strut rf ad 2500 to adjoining cargo bay
successful orbit - 84 - barely made it due to nuclear backflips - 3376dv - 218k x 76k
85 - rebuild center nuclear section with individual engine mounts
86 - strut between rear side engine sections and sas housing
87 - move center nuclear engines up to counter backflip with no results at all
88 - move center nuclear engines up 3 steps with a distinct frontflip
89 - move center nuclear engines down 1 step with a distinct frontflip
90 - move center nuclear engines with random results
91 - turn vertical and add temporary tail because a vertical launch has different aero
92 - strut all nuclear engines to each other
93 - tune up and down position of liquid fuel engines
94 - rebuild center nuclear section with individual engine mounts
95 - move center nuclear section up 1 step but upper right nuclear engine outside core is bucking
96 - strut upper outer nuclear engines from mounts to engines with no effect on outer upper right
97 - strut upper outer nuclear engines from engines to mount with no effect on outer upper right
98 - strut upper outer nuclear engines to symmetric mount with little effect
99 - back to 95 and move center nuclear section up 1 step
100 - move center nuclear section up 2 steps
101 - more upward movement of nuclear engines
102 - rebuild all engine mounts and fairly stable with just the center nuclear section
103 - readd outside nuclear engines and they all buck evenly and that seems to be fine
104 - rearrange sas mount to reduce parts and add 1 rtg
105 - add decorative pieces
106 - with struts between side nuclear engines
107 - with struts between all nuclear engines
108 - with only struts between center and sides
109 - mega strut nuclear engines with pretty good results
start nuclear at 500m/pitch to 75 and go to 75 throttle at mach 1/go to 50 throttle at 500mps/25 throttle when higher
successful orbit - 109 - 3481dv - 261k x 73k
second attempt - 109 - 4930dv - 94k x 73k - even 1.49t of liquid fuel left
109 can successfully take off on runway and land
109 is afflicted with uneven landing gear bug
109 flights should be very careful if turning vertical to not exceed structural limits
109 has 1.5g maneuever limit when fully loaded and 2g maneuever limit when at half fuel
110 - remove strut on front hydrogen tank with weak connection and add nav lights
111 - remove phantom lights from inside wings which were trapped when wings grew
key - strip down and send down runway to look for failures
key - the heaviest mass which is liquid fuel should be toward rear where wings are
key - recognize nuclear engine symmetry weakness
key - clipped x struts from one fueselage section to another
key - change wing shape to bring rudder wing to rear but keep lift near mass
key - add struts between wing and true parent on top and bottom of wing
key - corrupt engine mounts can impart strange forces causing flips and yaws
key - nuclear engines sometimes get caught in liquid exhaust causing bucking
design thoughts - old
it seems impractical to have the liquid engines at rear and really needs vtol
the takeoff and landing rolls are dangerous and use a lot of fuel even on kerbin
the rotation is dangerous and failure prone even on kerbin
may need several liquidfuel vtol engines instead of mammoth
also if the point is a dignified ascent then vtol is a plus
the problem is vtol and main liquid engine are likely needed
a vtol only ascent may be too slow and unstable
current stol concept should be tested more because there are still problems with vtol
design thoughts - new
it may be freeing to have a vehicle like this with no vtol and rocket landing
parachute module attached to nose could allow for eve rocket landing
landing legs could even be used if necessary
perhaps a rocket landing could be more dignified after all
eve questions
dv to get above cloud layer???
flat area to land and takeoff???
best winged configuration - stol - vtol - vtol + main - rtol???
Caption - A project Durandal skyscraper shipname Balena looms in the Minmus background as a lucky Kerman pops a wheelie.
Martlett 1 orbital cannon
shipname catapult
callsign bull-1-1
sounding rocket
started out launching a small payload but is now scaled up showing power of sepatrons as boosters
so the sepatron guns are the first stages and then some solid stages then a liquid stage
be sure to engage vertical mode upon each staging initiation
at 50k apa burn toward the horizon
successful orbit - 57 - 115dv - 103k x 70k
Master list
polar endeavour - reconaissance mission to north and south pole
mission to anywhere - fighter mission to mun and minmus
eve of innovation - military space mission to eve
kimalayan survey - fighter mission to high mountains and tundra
dunian expedition -fighter mission to duna
joolian conquest - strategic bombing mission to jool
evian tides - imperial colonial mission to eve
motorcycles on minmus - top secret agency mission to minmus
Polar endeavour - mini mission
the poles were thought to be hiding some secrets
landing at the poles is sketchy due to the terrain/low light/sas and camera freakouts
set rocket ascent angle to 60 degrees and hold until burn out
not enough fuel for a return from the poles after a high speed run
result - morningstar overflew both poles on separate missions
Mission to anywhere
abaddon genesis orbital booster probe can detach with a small amount of fuel and be independent
there was the problem of mirrored struts being weak to overcome with single struts instead
still the problem of wing failing due to transverse loads so redesigned straight
this does not allow for proper crew transfer so an interstitial module was designed
stay on vertical sas mode with second stage for a while during ascent to not flip
result - successful trip to minmus and lima continues on to mun
Eve of innovation
take off at full thrust
if wings keep breaking restart game
4 solids - 40k apa at burnout - successful orbit - 162dv - 77k x 70k
6 solids - 77k apa at burnout - successful orbit - 113dv - 77k x 71k
6 solids - attempt 2 - successful orbit - 146dv - 81k x 70k
shows that first stages are all about lifting second stages not speed or altitude
now going to 10 solids and more fuel for second stage
8 - 80 percent solids - 50k apa
9 - 90 percent solids - 55k apa - good enough - successful orbit - 1074dv - 73k x 71k
pretty much have to restart game on every launch to get reliable results
for missions to mun and minmus the second stagecan be used directly
the second stage can contribute to a burn to the planets with a correction later
50k is a great aerobraking altitude but no lower
could use an rtg
dv is reduced to 0 with nuclear engines at eve surface
can fly around in eve upper atmosphere and visit moon with no problem
result - successful orbital operations but surface landing and recovery is impossible
Kimalayan survey - mini mission
polar surveys indicated this as an area of interest
vehicle will explore high mountains and the glacial plateau area
result - oscar to high mountain area???
Dunian expedition - latest is good to launch direct from orbit???
improved fighter launcher compared to mission to anywhere
more fuel for second stage and pusher stage and parachutes added to pusher stage
uses internal optional fuel tank for pusher stage
successful orbit - 414dv - 78k x 70k
Joolian conquest - latest is good to launch direct from orbit
uses external optional fuel tank for pusher stage
80 percent thrust apa result - 123k / 124k on next attempt
90 percent thrust apa result - 146k and failure on pusher stage droptanks
100 percent thrust apa result - 165k and no failure after the reinforcement
100 percent - successful orbit - 861dv - 138k x 77k
is already pretty good and claims to have 14896dv in pusher stage
probably not correct calculation as only 4500dv or so without droptanks
should have around 6000dv in pusher stage regardless
abaddon rocket plane integrated - 53 - successful orbit - 1015dv 141k x 76k - abaddon failed due to standard corruption
tried to avoid standard failure by adding 2 stands/2 struts on each side of problematic fuel tanks/95 percent booster thrust
57 - successful orbit - 808dv 135k x 78k - totally vertical ascent with first stage - no failures
57 - turn to 75 degrees at 60k apa - wing failure
57 - turn to 75 degrees at 70k apa - successful orbit - 851dv 135k x 77k - no failures
57 - turn to 60 degrees at 70k apa - successful orbit - 928dv 144k x 77k - no failures
57 - turn to 45 degrees at 70k apa - successful orbit - 1034dv 137k x 74k - failure but stayed together anyway
stay directly on the correct orbital line when burning and try not to burn below 10 degrees very much for hopefully max dv
can still get a standard failure during ascent near max q at 750 mps and 20k altitude
standard failure can sometimes be an insidious failure and a fuel tank and engine can fly out during orbital operations
be sure both nuclear engines are still showing as available in the stage list after a standard failure
turn back on yaw and roll for both wing sections after upper stage separation
Evian tides - latest is good to launch direct from orbit
may need to use engines to slow just before landing
hopefully the 2 stages of boosters will get the ship above cloud level to fire nuclear engines
should burn nuclear engine continously with boosters for most speed and most weight loss
in theory the plane could be partially defueled of hydrogen but that is not going to happen
perhaps parachute settings will need to be modified
32 - sketchy launch - 4339dv in orbit compared to 2812dv in orbit with larger second stage and pusher stage
48 - better launch but still limited second and pusher stage control - 4301dv - 5445dv after transfer with more to go
Motorcycles on Minmus
recommended max speed on kerbin of about 15mps for rover version
there have been countless vehicle attachment failures
st-micro-1 and stj-3125 are hyper bugged to an incredible level - seat pops off/vehicle disappears/frame breaks
all attachment points except for docking port stay with vehicle and need to attach to bottom so cannot be used
wheel suspension is based on fps and may need adjustment
going to have to wait until booster separation to go away from vertical
wait until 60k apa to steer to horizon
these launch instructions are for the boosted version not the integrated version
55k apa was slightly better dv but more sketchy to maneuver without flips
with attached vehicles naturally the dv will be less for several reasons
best we can do with motorcycle is to just need a tiny amount of hydrogen for orbit
Unused names
sanger
thunderbird
lightning 3
harrier
Color schemes
srf livery 1 - unfinished stainless and carolina blue
srf livery 2 - unfinished duranium and carolina blue
fired brick - nc state red and black
neutronium - purple blue or purple blue and red or black or gold
water - milky blue
cloud - white
default - off white and grey
favorite colors - purple blue and purple
3 ways of dealing with no tail rudder
sas alone
parallel short wing fences
x-wing type designs
SAS conservative approach
only use as many sas as necessary
build without sas and tune flight control surfaces first
when losing control on the way to space add one sas and test again
Takeoff instability on runway and always veering right
front gear towards rear only helped a little
shocks and dampeners increased stiffness did not help much
removing decorative item above front landing gear did not do anything
aero was bugged and showed weird direction as clue
resetting vertical wing position slightly fixed this
veering right caused by too high loading on front landing gear
veering right fixed by moving rear landing gear forward
auto friction control off and turning front wheel to 0 is better solution
even better solutions is to rebuild so front is less wobbly
Takeoff peculiarity
heavy vehicle and small wing leads to large takeoff angle
this is a high aoa takeoff
featured in planes like concorde and why droop nose needed
bounce takeoff also needed so bounce nose forward once then pull up
important to keep pulling up and take off quickly to avoid instability
Structural linkage bug aka "Standard Failure"
many times after spawning or landing it will say vessel destroyed
supposedly a linkage failure between the wing and parent usually
just double click the vehicle and it still controls fine
SSTO thrust
very important to have high thrust for ssto
adding more fuel to a low thrust ssto has low impact
adding more fuel to a high thrust ssto has high impact
Getting to Minmus
minmus is on a different orbital plane than mun
mess with the various things on the maneuver planner and it is quite tedious
limit engine thrust for fine orbital manuevers and near the surface
maybe best to do some adjustments right after the burn if there were problems
at least have to get close enough in orbit to the body for periapsis to appear
just sort of randomly switch orbital directions and burn to watch periapsis
in theory multiple planned burns could be done but that is even more tedious
Patch 2 evaluation
motorcycles - check
standard - check
alpha - check
bravo - action groups fixed for patch 2 engine bugs - check
golf - very bad control authority/bad lift/lack of fuel/patch 2 bugs - retired
hotel - action groups fixed for patch 2 engine bugs - check
mothership - sometimes standard failures and wing planform inversion fixed - usable
nodachi - improve ground handling with wider rear gear and move front but problem is landing gear distance bug - usable
foxtrot - bad control authority/bad lift/old design/slow speed/patch 2 bugs - retired
charlie - old design - retired
trainer - failed due to wing planform bug and the planform is the whole wing but worked around - usable
delta - improve ground handling with maxing out rear suspension - check
echo - check
small rockets - check
dragster train - check
morning star - check
wavedasher - check
mike - fix thrust deflector deployment - check
brimstone - check
islandhorse - check
firebrand - check
odachi - check
india - superceded by lima - retired
juliette - superceded by kilo - retired
kilo - superceded by oscar - retired
lima - check
Mod summary
The currently hidden mid size nuclear engine was unlocked and the thrust changed to 750KN and ISP changed to 4000 to simulate a very efficient nuclear engine with a moderate amount of thrust. This has enabled the building of sci-fi type vehicles that are more of interest to AI. It also allows for smaller part counts on any larger vehicle by having more capable engines. The vehicles that employ these engines are called "cheatbirds".
Cheatbird and mod release status
Because the developers of KSP2 have not formally released the engine the mod is not going to be released. Obviously some other modder would have already released something like this if it was ethical to do so. AI would be happy to direct anyone in modding the game for themselves. Also AI would prefer to have the cheatbirds for itself and not release absolutely everything built.