Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[sluissa]

I... actually used to do just that... loved playing Orbiter on my old laptop in bed using one of those usb keypads... until it died at least.

[Scelly9]

Heh, I hooked one of those up to my laptop and made a simple program to unlock something. I would have hooked my door up to it, but I had no servos.

[Techhead]

For alt codes you have to hold down the ALT key anyway, so it's not too much extra effort to hold down the FN key as well.

[sebcool]

Just did my first completely manual mun 'landing'. Here's how it went...

After lifting off with my latest mun lander (no screenshot) and getting in orbit I managed to get in the mun's SOI after a few attempts.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

After that I de orbited as usual and attempted to manually land (with some assistance from Smart A.S.S), it all went well except...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

 FUCK!

I had too much horizontal velocity and fell over.

And that's why we don't pilot spacecraft with a keyboard! And why I fail rocket science forever. 

[Roboboy33]

I always use keyboard to pilot my crafts...

[Aseaheru]

ts fun. i now have three stranded morons in orbit... first total orbit!

[sneakey pete]

First SSTO* space plane with stock bits!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

*The Fuel for the ramjet engines is stored in drop tanks. I used "realistic" rules for this; the engines needed to have a body and intake, I couldn't use rocket fuel for the jets, etc, which is why the engines are stood off with the decouplers that don't allow fuel to flow. I'm thinking i'll duplicate the wing seconds and make them non fuel flow enabled, which will allow me to have the engines directly bolted onto the wings. The weight save may also allow me to rejig the fuel tanks to be inline with the engines, which would mean that it's a true SSTO plane.

The downsides to the current design is that, well, there's no RCS and no payload, and the best you can expect from it is a 80km circular orbit. I'm at a loss on what i could do to make it more efficient, i've built a few based off expanding this design in the past and anything bigger actually got worse.

[PTTG??]

I'm still trying to come up with an aeronautical-interplanetary-aeronautical design. Fly to space, rocket to eve, and fly in the eveian atmosphere- now there's a challenge.

[sneakey pete]

For extra challange, why not laythe

edit: i'm doing this because, for roleplay reasons once docking is added, and for real reasons once a campaign and costs etc is added, My stratergy is going to be to get some kind of efficient fully reusable SSTO, or fully reusable near SSTO (maybe bigger drop tanks that can still be recovered easily) vehicle and assemble stuff in space a small but cheap bit at a time.

Come to think of it though, there'd be nothing from stopping me building an orbital fueling depot, an interplanetary booster and then using an actual space plane for the missions to laythe... Considering if you refuel a SSTO while its in orbit it has the fuel to get to orbit again, presuming you can land with a full load.

[LoSboccacc]

I hope they get orbital maneuvrers planning before docking, because rendevouz are just a pita done by hand

Also, soi change orbital display badly needs fixing.

[sneakey pete]

Well, I did it. A proper, fully reusable SSTO spaceplane, with stock parts*.
No RCS and the payload is only the smallest cockpit to a 120km circular orbit. The question is, can this be improved.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

*modified the square wing to not flow fuel.

[ank]

I'm still trying to come up with an aeronautical-interplanetary-aeronautical design. Fly to space, rocket to eve, and fly in the eveian atmosphere- now there's a challenge.

I used my Tiny Flier MK 2.2 and decided to go for Duna, since I had a craft in orbit in 90 degree orbit:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Flying for Duna:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Slingshot breaking like a BOSS!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Sunrise over Duna:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Realizing Duna has no oxygen for my airbreathers, and promptly crashing:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Prepare the next plane for Eve, and hope they got some oxygen!

[sneakey pete]

Nope, maybe take rockets instead. Flying itself should actually be pretty easy, the dense atmosphere will produce a lot of lift.

[ank]

Setting course towards Laythe instead...
Maybe they got some oxygen....

[Peewee]

Yep, Laythe has whatever the airbreathers need to work.