Getting to know the Ravenstar:)

[paddyb270]

I pressed the F key and the FPS printout was between 60-61. I held down the break break buttons, but i'm at a dead stop. I just tested it using a pre-loaded scenario, and it was fine. It's only if I add the ship myself using the scenario editor, and after i take off from the ground, then land again

 

[TMac3000]

Not sure if this is strictly on topic, because the vehicle is an XR-5 rather than a Ravenstar, but here is Chronus Flight 2 from the Iron Hill Project. This is how I handle an XR Launch, and it also makes a dandy direct ascent tutorial

 

[paddyb270]

I'll try that out. I really like the XR vessels. And it's weird because the vessels are fine when I load an XR scenario, but this bug occurs only when I load one using the scenario editor. oh well. Just have to make sure I do that if I want to use one.

 

[Interceptor]

Not sure if this is strictly on topic, because the vehicle is an XR-5 rather than a Ravenstar, but here is Chronus Flight 2 from the Iron Hill Project. This is how I handle an XR Launch, and it also makes a dandy direct ascent tutorial

Hey TMac3000,I watched your direct ascent playback,and was very impressed,I am asking if you could please do the same flight again,but can you add text to the tutorial,and explain how you do it,I am not that great yet at manual direct ascent,and I am sure alot people would be interested,in this besides my self.Thanks

 

[TMac3000]

I'm not sure how, but I will give it a try:yes:

---------- Post added at 09:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:20 PM ----------

It takes buckets of fuel, but the only tricky part is the timing, and the fact that you spend the majority of the trip in a suborbital trajectory. I'll put out a tutorial on this soon

 

[BruceJohnJennerLawso]

Just getting a feel for the XR-2 right now. My last flight came incredibly close to disaster, since I didnt know that it was imperative to close the scram doors when running the mains only. I dropped to subsonic as I was reaching KSC from the north on an all atmospheric flight, but couldnt find the runways because orulex was covering them up. After about 5 or 6 minutes I finally found the big runway (~5000 m I think), flew in, and right as I was hitting the runway, the coolant overloaded, and crashed almost everything in the cockpit, forcing me to land blind. I dont know If its just my imagination, but at times the XR-2's handling seems a little bit better than the DG when landing

 

[TMac3000]

My observation has been that the XR-2 compares to the DG-IV the same way an F-4 Phantom compares to an F-16. The DG-IV is so fancy and automated, and does a lot of stuff for you, while the Ravenstar requires more attention and has buckets upon buckets of brute power.

IMO the Ravenstar is much more manly

 

[BruceJohnJennerLawso]

My observation has been that the XR-2 compares to the DG-IV the same way an F-4 Phantom compares to an F-16. The DG-IV is so fancy and automated, and does a lot of stuff for you, while the Ravenstar requires more attention and has buckets upon buckets of brute power.

IMO the Ravenstar is much more manly

Yeah but It feels so much more expensive when you break it :lol:

 

[marcheenek]

Once you fall in love with XR2, the DG-IV has a "tin can" feel - it's hard to go back

 

[Pipcard]

DGIV has those autopilots, but the XR2 is sleeker IMO.

 

[Epsilon]

DGIV has those autopilots, but the XR2 is sleeker IMO.

Damned if I could find them when I was messing with the DGIV.

It broke too easily for my tastes.

 

[Pipcard]

The autopilot programs are in the manual.

 

[Epsilon]

The autopilot programs are in the manual.

Pfft. Manual? MANUAL? I DON'T NEED NO STEENKIN' MANUAL.

I like to (at least theoretically) be able to climb into a craft, punch the engines, and go. I can read the manual during those boring hours in orbit while I'm waiting to align with or intercept something.

The XR series was great for me, since I could do exactly that. It responded to the same inputs as the default DG (since it defaulted to having the APU on,) and it flew more nicely. The autopilot buttons (along with pretty much everything else) were clearly labelled. The help overlay that showed all the key functions in a single page was priceless, and saved even more manual-diving.

By comparison, the DGIV needed a read-through of the manual before I could even think of using half its functions, and then it broke on takeoff multiple times with no feedback on why it broke (wing stress? Overspeed in the lower atmosphere? Forgot to flip a switch? I still don't know to this day.) Sure, I could've dived into the manual in detail, but that isn't my style. All in all, I strongly prefer the XR series to the DGIV, especially now that I'm an "experienced" pilot with them.

As for my own ascent profile (just to stick to the thread...) - I tend to level off around 10km, kick on the SCRAMs -and- the mains until the SCRAMs have "lit up" (around Mach 3.5, but specifically when the TSFC gets about halfway down the bar and the SCRAM acceleration is self-sustaining,) and ascend from there. I usually end up with about 60% fuel or so from this technique, depending on how badly I've screwed up.

 

[Keatah]

After about 5 or 6 minutes I finally found the big runway (~5000 m I think), flew in, and right as I was hitting the runway, the coolant overloaded, and crashed almost everything in the cockpit, forcing me to land blind.

Sounds like you still could have opened the radiator, minutes earlier, unless you were coming in really hot! no pun intended.

 

[Fisherman]

Howdy!

I almost got on here and bragged about having 68.8% of the main fuel left over after docking with ISS but forgot that I tweaked the fuel and thrust settings and so this screenshot isn't worth a hoot.

I'll have to go back to the stock settings and give it a try again. Anyway, here it is.

 

[BruceJohnJennerLawso]

Sounds like you still could have opened the radiator, minutes earlier, unless you were coming in really hot! no pun intended.

I did, but it blew up even at only 200-300 m/s airspeed. I'm afraid that the rad just cant handle DNP's at pretty much any sea level altitude or speed.

With regards to the aerodynamics, the XR-2 feels really really heavy at low speeds, (Ive had at least 3 or 4 crashes due to stalling at low speeds) but the descent to a runway feels more stable and less twitchy than a DG style airframe. Even weirder, it seems like I can do really poorly planned, short distance runway approaches with the XR-2 that would crash a DG or miss the runway. Just doesnt seem to make sense that the bigger heavier one of the two would perform better in that area :huh:

 

[jangofett287]

I find the XR2 to be at its most manouverable when at sea level between 250 to 300 m/s