@salvador3031 So, I won? Or do I get the upvotes just for completing the course? :) And how did you fly it properly with the description not even updated? :D
@salvador3031 I'm working on it. I made the rudder in the back rotate now and I've added RCN thrusters to the floats/pontoons. It turns very nicely at 50% thrust, but I think I'll make an activation button to turn off the main engines, so you don't have to go 150 MPH to get good turns. I also have to give it a new load. I thought about a small crane if I can make it grab and lift something or maybe a missile-launcher.
@salvador3031 Where's what? The URL? In the headline of the XML. First comes the name of your plane, then it's URL. The same URL is put into successors of that plane.
It crashes in the turn right before going up to the mountain, where it's very close to the ground. Also my Frontliner-C XR-1 is way faster, but I didn't make it public, so you'll have to wait to see it until the race starts. :3 Extremely nice design though! :)
@A5mod3us Go to the "Sandbox" and the "Race against opponents", tick the box of your plane (left side) to be computer controlled. Also choose the right course on the drop-down menu at the bottom.
@salvador3031 Yep, downloading your challenge and copying the URL out of it's xml into the xml of my plane, then upload it. :) The yaw works effective in water at high speeds and on land on low speeds. I don't really know why. Turning in water below 100 MPH has to be improved pretty much.
@salvador3031 Use rudder (yaw) to maneuver in water and on land. On water you have to be at 100-180 MPH for the steering to work effective. When going faster than 200 on water, you should push the VTOL-slider (trim) up to around 50% to raise the nose a bit, otherwise it can dip down through water resistance at such high speeds. For takeoff on land and water push the slider fully up and right after takeoff back into neutral position. It doesn't like very quick maneuvers. It can take quite hard landings without a problem. Stall speed is somewhere between 160 and 200 MPH, depending on the load. That's about everything you need to know. :)
My Dragonfly is pretty well suited for this. Not the most maneuverable craft, but it does a good job and can carry several tons, even a big aircraft, two medium ones or four small ones could be carried by it. I'll probably make a version with different load and make it a successor of the challenge. :)
@salvador3031 And it also aren't only the gold people who make all the good planes and are able to XML-mod, so it would be better to have different classes. By fully limiting the modifications you would take the more experienced players (no matter which level they are) the opportunity to show off their full potential. In reallife sports you also have different classes for different skill-levels and different areas of that sport. That would be the way to go imho.
@Jackie Yeah, the AI will fly it, but I like to fly the course on my own from time to time to see what my optimizations have really improved on the plane. Also I can find out if it's my plane beeing bad or the AI not beeing able to handle it. 3:30 is really slow. Are you using a prop plane? Try making it as small and simple as possible. And as modding is allowed, you may want to download an unlimited fuel tank somewhere here, it will save you very much weight.
@salvador3031 Maybe there will be more tournaments simultaneously in the future. Some for experienced players and XML-modders and some for beginners and those who like it basic. :D
@Doge121 I found that you can only add planes that are no successors to any other plane, even your own ones. Just go into the .xml-file of your plane and delete the URL in the headline, leave it blank, save it and then just reupload it. Worked for me. If you can't do that, then you probably have to build it from scratch.
@salvador3031 @MediocrePlanes This will be an interesting fight I guess. Hope I can push my little deltawing a little bit further, 6.5x the stock power is not enough, though it is already enough to get under one minute. Do you also have the bug that sometimes rings are noted as "missed", but you or the AI flew directly through the middle and that "pling" sound came up? I hope this won't happen in the Cup. :(
@Jackie You have almost two days left to improve your plane and submit the new version instead of the old one. :) I haven't seen something in the 1:00 - 1:10 range yet, or I am missing out something. Some good competition would be very nice. Maybe someone can even get under 1 minute. Maybe you? It's worth a try! :)
@salvador3031 The physics in SimplePlanes are...quite simple. The faster you go, the more effective are your control surfaces and the faster you turn. You can still screw things up by going too fast, though. You just have to figure out how much power and speed your plane can handle and then give it exactly that.
@DelphFoxFan My new ultralightweight fighter is finished now. :3 The racing version beats my previous model by 21 seconds on the Oceanview Speedway. Going to upload it now. You may want to check it out. :D
@DelphFoxFan No, 48 cargo boxes in total. Each has 1000 lbs weight. 28 of them are equipped with VTOL nozzles and are attached to detachers, the other 20 are fixed on the sides of the cargo bay. Two boxes are always stacked to one package. Make sure you are flying level (~0°) and have a constant speed while launching, otherwise bad things could happen. :D It's meant to supply space stations travelling around the earth.
@DelphFoxFan It shoots cargo into space! Act 8 active for additional boost, Act 1-7 to release cargo (you have to be on full throttle, if you don't want it stuck in the cargo bay). Deactivate Act 8 right at the start to save fuel until you shoot the cargo off. :) And no matter how you land, as long as one wheel touches the ground, you are safe. Just taking off with this heavy bird is quite a struggle. You need to raise the VTOL slider (pitch trim) fully upwards for maximum pitch and then put it into neutral quickly after takeoff, so you don't flip over. :D It has 48000 lbs of cargo by the way.
@NotAirbus I've been quite inactive in the last few weeks. This is one of my first aircrafts, so thanks for the compliment. :D You may want to also look at my other builds.
@slavebreaker I've worked several hours on modifications and fixes, but the design just doesn't want to work out as I want it to. I need some fresh ideas before I get my hands on it again.
@Chemicalau For dogfighting against something like the FA-2 you're better off putting no missiles on, they're quite heavy and in close range combat there is not enough time to lock a very fast and maneuverable target. Though you are pretty good at hiding things in the body and still making it work well.
@Chemicalau Very nice, I'll get my hands on it later. I am still not very satisfied with the XF-3-1.The AI seems to control it worse than the FA-2, as maneuverability, speed and firepower are all better on the XF-3-1, but the FA-2 can still score some kills by just getting behind it. The XF-3-1 never even tries to get behind the FA-2, it just flies straight and then turns into the fight again, no matter how good the chance is to get right behind the enemy instead. o.Ô
@Chemicalau I've got the Frontliner-B XF-3-1 in development. It's matching the maneuverability of the FA-2 now and has more firepower & precision, but sometimes the FA-2 can pull some very strange maneuvers, like doing 180° turns right when it just passed me. I know how to get the crafts to do that, but the AI normally can't control this kind of instability.
After 40 rounds of dogfighting (switching planes between enemy AI and player AI after 20 rounds) the Frontliner XF-3-1 seems to be quite superior to the FA-2 with 27 kills, while the FA-2 scored 13.
@CDUflappy Sometimes I just look at the front page and wonder why some crafts there are even featured while there were better ones created and shared in the same time. Though most of them really deserve it.
@Chemicalau I'd really like to know. I like great planes, especially great fighters. That's why I also hope to see successors of the EEV, now that it has been beaten. :D I didn't expect it, but I guess I just tried hard enough.
@Chemicalau It's not very pleasing looking at it in flight. It's very wobbly on the pitch and yaw. It also stutters while going full pitch. Still a cool design though. :D And of course it's still the second best fighter around here.
@Chemicalau Well, it can float, but not as long as the EEV. I could make it float better by making the wings flat bottom, but that's not what a racer or fighter needs. :D Actually I don't see that the EEV Fighter can really float. It just spins and falls from the sky at 50 MPH, even with the thrusters turned downwards.
@Chemicalau Who needs to float if he has unlimited fuel and an easy job landing the plane? :P Also I just see the pieces of the EEV Fighter float to the ground all the time.
You should check out the F-C XF-2-2, it beats the time of the XF-1-2 on the Daredevil course by 25 seconds. :) I've also got a dogfighting version, but it get's beaten by the F-B XF-1-1 all the time, though it's good for targeting practice.
@Chemicalau I've tested a new twin engine version and the single engine one against the EEV, both with modified max. pitch angles of 20° instead of 35°.
// 20 rounds Frontliner-B XF-2-1 (AI controlled player) vs. EEV Fighter (AI controlled enemy) - 14 kills for the F-B XF-2-1, 6 kills for the EEV
// 20 rounds EEV Fighter (AI controlled player) vs. Fronliner-B XF-2-1 (AI contolled enemy) - 10 kills for the EEV, 10 kills for the F-B XF-2-1
// 20 rounds Frontliner-B XF-1-1 (AI controlled player) vs. EEV Fighter (AI controlled enemy) - 17 kills for the F-B XF-1-1, 3 kills for the EEV
// 20 rounds EEV Fighter (AI controlled player) vs. Frontliner-B XF-1-1 (AI controlled enemy) - 2 kills for the EEV, 18 kills for the F-B XF-1-1
The twin engine Frontliner has faster acceleration, a bit higher topspeed and more stability, but the maneuverability doesn't match that of the single engine one. Impressive results, if you ask me. :D
@Chemicalau Yeah, but only for testing how the AI controls the pitch. As it goes full pitch most of the time, I now edited the maximum pitch angle of the elevons and canards, so that it has the maximum pitch rate at maximum pitch angle. Turning speed should be greatly improved now.
@Chemicalau I guess some improvements on your EEV need to be made to keep up. :D Here are two videos of the races. The opponent AI seems like it can't even manage to get it off the ground. 1.2.
@BobbaFett The rudder is not meant to turn the craft actually, it's just for small corrections while banking or while attacking gound targets. That's why I made it less effective but more stable.
@slavebreaker Purely SP and a little bit of XML-editing with Notepad++. You could use any texteditor, but Notepad++ is the most convenient one for coding. :D Still working on the VTOL capabilities, pitch rate and the not working handbars. I guess I have to give the engines a deactivation button. I'm also going to increase engine power in the XML to make it reach atleast 900 MPH and to give it more upwards thrust without adding more thrusters, as it has a lot of weight to push and it would just fall down trying to hover in this state.
I have repositioned the front landing gear, now it's very easy landing it. Won't flip over the front, but don't make the landing too hard, as it would break the landing gear and make the "reactors" explode. :D Will be inculded in Version 0.2.
@BobbaFett Less speed? It's the same as the first one, just the rudders on the top not as tall and additional rudders on the bottom to stabilize the yaw. I didn't notice it beeing slower. o.O
@PhilipTarpley If you've already got software to create general profiles for your stick it makes more sense to use that, but some might not have that or want to adjust the curves for the mouse joystick to have - for example - less sensitivity in the center for accuracy and more sensitivity on the outer sides for faster movement. A good way to do that is adjusting the -0.5 and +0.5 output points of the X-axis, Y-axis and Yaw-axis (creating S-curves) plus the 0 point of the Throttle-axis (increasing or decreasing exponential curves). I would suggest sliders, presets might not fit everyone's needs.
@salvador3031 So, I won? Or do I get the upvotes just for completing the course? :) And how did you fly it properly with the description not even updated? :D
@salvador3031 I'm working on it. I made the rudder in the back rotate now and I've added RCN thrusters to the floats/pontoons. It turns very nicely at 50% thrust, but I think I'll make an activation button to turn off the main engines, so you don't have to go 150 MPH to get good turns. I also have to give it a new load. I thought about a small crane if I can make it grab and lift something or maybe a missile-launcher.
I hope external VTOL-engines are also allowed, otherwise I'd have to crank up my internal one way higher, resulting in slower acceleration .
@salvador3031 Where's what? The URL? In the headline of the XML. First comes the name of your plane, then it's URL. The same URL is put into successors of that plane.
It crashes in the turn right before going up to the mountain, where it's very close to the ground. Also my Frontliner-C XR-1 is way faster, but I didn't make it public, so you'll have to wait to see it until the race starts. :3 Extremely nice design though! :)
@A5mod3us Go to the "Sandbox" and the "Race against opponents", tick the box of your plane (left side) to be computer controlled. Also choose the right course on the drop-down menu at the bottom.
@salvador3031 Yep, downloading your challenge and copying the URL out of it's xml into the xml of my plane, then upload it. :) The yaw works effective in water at high speeds and on land on low speeds. I don't really know why. Turning in water below 100 MPH has to be improved pretty much.
@salvador3031 Maybe it needs more rudders for better maneuvering on water. On land it's superb, in the air it's as good as 122 tons will go. :D
@salvador3031 Use rudder (yaw) to maneuver in water and on land. On water you have to be at 100-180 MPH for the steering to work effective. When going faster than 200 on water, you should push the VTOL-slider (trim) up to around 50% to raise the nose a bit, otherwise it can dip down through water resistance at such high speeds. For takeoff on land and water push the slider fully up and right after takeoff back into neutral position. It doesn't like very quick maneuvers. It can take quite hard landings without a problem. Stall speed is somewhere between 160 and 200 MPH, depending on the load. That's about everything you need to know. :)
My Dragonfly is pretty well suited for this. Not the most maneuverable craft, but it does a good job and can carry several tons, even a big aircraft, two medium ones or four small ones could be carried by it. I'll probably make a version with different load and make it a successor of the challenge. :)
@Jackie You would only need to use jet-engines or VTOL-engines and nozzles. It would allow you to get below 2 minutes pretty easily. :)
@TheGuyWhoFliesToGetHisPie Wow, that's impressive! Though I'm not a fan of passenger planes, you've just earned another follower! :D
@salvador3031 And it also aren't only the gold people who make all the good planes and are able to XML-mod, so it would be better to have different classes. By fully limiting the modifications you would take the more experienced players (no matter which level they are) the opportunity to show off their full potential. In reallife sports you also have different classes for different skill-levels and different areas of that sport. That would be the way to go imho.
@Jackie Yeah, the AI will fly it, but I like to fly the course on my own from time to time to see what my optimizations have really improved on the plane. Also I can find out if it's my plane beeing bad or the AI not beeing able to handle it. 3:30 is really slow. Are you using a prop plane? Try making it as small and simple as possible. And as modding is allowed, you may want to download an unlimited fuel tank somewhere here, it will save you very much weight.
@salvador3031 Maybe there will be more tournaments simultaneously in the future. Some for experienced players and XML-modders and some for beginners and those who like it basic. :D
@Doge121 I found that you can only add planes that are no successors to any other plane, even your own ones. Just go into the .xml-file of your plane and delete the URL in the headline, leave it blank, save it and then just reupload it. Worked for me. If you can't do that, then you probably have to build it from scratch.
@salvador3031 @MediocrePlanes This will be an interesting fight I guess. Hope I can push my little deltawing a little bit further, 6.5x the stock power is not enough, though it is already enough to get under one minute. Do you also have the bug that sometimes rings are noted as "missed", but you or the AI flew directly through the middle and that "pling" sound came up? I hope this won't happen in the Cup. :(
@Jackie You have almost two days left to improve your plane and submit the new version instead of the old one. :) I haven't seen something in the 1:00 - 1:10 range yet, or I am missing out something. Some good competition would be very nice. Maybe someone can even get under 1 minute. Maybe you? It's worth a try! :)
@salvador3031 The physics in SimplePlanes are...quite simple. The faster you go, the more effective are your control surfaces and the faster you turn. You can still screw things up by going too fast, though. You just have to figure out how much power and speed your plane can handle and then give it exactly that.
@DelphFoxFan My new ultralightweight fighter is finished now. :3 The racing version beats my previous model by 21 seconds on the Oceanview Speedway. Going to upload it now. You may want to check it out. :D
@DelphFoxFan No, 48 cargo boxes in total. Each has 1000 lbs weight. 28 of them are equipped with VTOL nozzles and are attached to detachers, the other 20 are fixed on the sides of the cargo bay. Two boxes are always stacked to one package. Make sure you are flying level (~0°) and have a constant speed while launching, otherwise bad things could happen. :D It's meant to supply space stations travelling around the earth.
@DelphFoxFan It shoots cargo into space! Act 8 active for additional boost, Act 1-7 to release cargo (you have to be on full throttle, if you don't want it stuck in the cargo bay). Deactivate Act 8 right at the start to save fuel until you shoot the cargo off. :) And no matter how you land, as long as one wheel touches the ground, you are safe. Just taking off with this heavy bird is quite a struggle. You need to raise the VTOL slider (pitch trim) fully upwards for maximum pitch and then put it into neutral quickly after takeoff, so you don't flip over. :D It has 48000 lbs of cargo by the way.
Edit: I've chosen to submit my newest and fastest racer Frontliner-C XF-3-2 for this tournament. :)
@Halfstrike Alright, count me in. I already have an idea which base I'm going to use for this. :)
@Halfstrike Also no modded fuel tanks? I'll probably make one, but first comes the Cargo Challenge. :D
@NotAirbus I've been quite inactive in the last few weeks. This is one of my first aircrafts, so thanks for the compliment. :D You may want to also look at my other builds.
@slavebreaker I've worked several hours on modifications and fixes, but the design just doesn't want to work out as I want it to. I need some fresh ideas before I get my hands on it again.
@Chemicalau For dogfighting against something like the FA-2 you're better off putting no missiles on, they're quite heavy and in close range combat there is not enough time to lock a very fast and maneuverable target. Though you are pretty good at hiding things in the body and still making it work well.
@Chemicalau Very nice, I'll get my hands on it later. I am still not very satisfied with the XF-3-1.The AI seems to control it worse than the FA-2, as maneuverability, speed and firepower are all better on the XF-3-1, but the FA-2 can still score some kills by just getting behind it. The XF-3-1 never even tries to get behind the FA-2, it just flies straight and then turns into the fight again, no matter how good the chance is to get right behind the enemy instead. o.Ô
@Chemicalau I've got the Frontliner-B XF-3-1 in development. It's matching the maneuverability of the FA-2 now and has more firepower & precision, but sometimes the FA-2 can pull some very strange maneuvers, like doing 180° turns right when it just passed me. I know how to get the crafts to do that, but the AI normally can't control this kind of instability.
After 40 rounds of dogfighting (switching planes between enemy AI and player AI after 20 rounds) the Frontliner XF-3-1 seems to be quite superior to the FA-2 with 27 kills, while the FA-2 scored 13.
@CDUflappy Sometimes I just look at the front page and wonder why some crafts there are even featured while there were better ones created and shared in the same time. Though most of them really deserve it.
@Chemicalau I'll test that for sure :D
Flies great! This deserves more attention. :)
@Chemicalau I'd really like to know. I like great planes, especially great fighters. That's why I also hope to see successors of the EEV, now that it has been beaten. :D I didn't expect it, but I guess I just tried hard enough.
@Chemicalau It's not very pleasing looking at it in flight. It's very wobbly on the pitch and yaw. It also stutters while going full pitch. Still a cool design though. :D And of course it's still the second best fighter around here.
@Chemicalau Well, it can float, but not as long as the EEV. I could make it float better by making the wings flat bottom, but that's not what a racer or fighter needs. :D Actually I don't see that the EEV Fighter can really float. It just spins and falls from the sky at 50 MPH, even with the thrusters turned downwards.
@Chemicalau Who needs to float if he has unlimited fuel and an easy job landing the plane? :P Also I just see the pieces of the EEV Fighter float to the ground all the time.
You should check out the F-C XF-2-2, it beats the time of the XF-1-2 on the Daredevil course by 25 seconds. :) I've also got a dogfighting version, but it get's beaten by the F-B XF-1-1 all the time, though it's good for targeting practice.
@Chemicalau I've tested a new twin engine version and the single engine one against the EEV, both with modified max. pitch angles of 20° instead of 35°.
// 20 rounds Frontliner-B XF-2-1 (AI controlled player) vs. EEV Fighter (AI controlled enemy) - 14 kills for the F-B XF-2-1, 6 kills for the EEV
// 20 rounds EEV Fighter (AI controlled player) vs. Fronliner-B XF-2-1 (AI contolled enemy) - 10 kills for the EEV, 10 kills for the F-B XF-2-1
// 20 rounds Frontliner-B XF-1-1 (AI controlled player) vs. EEV Fighter (AI controlled enemy) - 17 kills for the F-B XF-1-1, 3 kills for the EEV
// 20 rounds EEV Fighter (AI controlled player) vs. Frontliner-B XF-1-1 (AI controlled enemy) - 2 kills for the EEV, 18 kills for the F-B XF-1-1
The twin engine Frontliner has faster acceleration, a bit higher topspeed and more stability, but the maneuverability doesn't match that of the single engine one. Impressive results, if you ask me. :D
@Chemicalau Yeah, but only for testing how the AI controls the pitch. As it goes full pitch most of the time, I now edited the maximum pitch angle of the elevons and canards, so that it has the maximum pitch rate at maximum pitch angle. Turning speed should be greatly improved now.
@Chemicalau I guess some improvements on your EEV need to be made to keep up. :D Here are two videos of the races. The opponent AI seems like it can't even manage to get it off the ground. 1. 2.
@BobbaFett The rudder is not meant to turn the craft actually, it's just for small corrections while banking or while attacking gound targets. That's why I made it less effective but more stable.
Experienced the same with my guns-only fighter. :D
It looks like a futuristic Su-33 and Su-47 mashup. Very sweet! :)
@slavebreaker Purely SP and a little bit of XML-editing with Notepad++. You could use any texteditor, but Notepad++ is the most convenient one for coding. :D Still working on the VTOL capabilities, pitch rate and the not working handbars. I guess I have to give the engines a deactivation button. I'm also going to increase engine power in the XML to make it reach atleast 900 MPH and to give it more upwards thrust without adding more thrusters, as it has a lot of weight to push and it would just fall down trying to hover in this state.
I have repositioned the front landing gear, now it's very easy landing it. Won't flip over the front, but don't make the landing too hard, as it would break the landing gear and make the "reactors" explode. :D Will be inculded in Version 0.2.
@BobbaFett Less speed? It's the same as the first one, just the rudders on the top not as tall and additional rudders on the bottom to stabilize the yaw. I didn't notice it beeing slower. o.O
This is how it looks like when I'm trying to find the XML-edited part in my craft that refuses to work. :D
@slavebreaker Have you checked out my new Arrow IV? I think it's handling better than this one, though it's much heavier and has more Drag points.
@DREAMandIDEA I guess that makes it easier. :D
You want a carrier based jet, so it's not USAF, it's USN/US Navy. ;)
@PhilipTarpley If you've already got software to create general profiles for your stick it makes more sense to use that, but some might not have that or want to adjust the curves for the mouse joystick to have - for example - less sensitivity in the center for accuracy and more sensitivity on the outer sides for faster movement. A good way to do that is adjusting the -0.5 and +0.5 output points of the X-axis, Y-axis and Yaw-axis (creating S-curves) plus the 0 point of the Throttle-axis (increasing or decreasing exponential curves). I would suggest sliders, presets might not fit everyone's needs.