Prototype Aircraft Development System

Much like tanks, military aircraft are constantly improving, in an effort to gain an edge over any possible enemy. Half of aircraft development is creating new weapons systems to more easily achieve air supremacy, and the other half is creating countermeasures to defeat the threat.

The base cost for developing a new aircraft is 10 PP.*

---Engines (choose one)---

Propeller Engine: Free
Propeller engines are best for aircraft where speed isn't a useful or important feature, like cargo planes or troop transports.

Turbofan Engine: 2 PP
Turbofan Engines are the standard engines on modern airliners, and military aircraft which don't have a need for supersonic flight. They don't have an afterburner, but have good propulsion for subsonic flight, making it the best choice for bombers.

Turbojet Engine: 6 PP (Requires High-Altitude Engine)
Turbojets provide good propulsion for fighters up to Mach 2. It's low thrust velocity makes it more efficient with gas, and along with the afterburners, make turbojets the prime choice for fighters, but it starts to die after flying at an altitude over 12,000 m.

Advanced Turbojet Engine: 15 PP (Requires High-Altitude Aircraft)
Advanced Turbojets are high-tech but expensive turbojets that provide good propulsion for any speed and altitude that the aircraft can achieve. Their technology makes them complex and fragile however, so replacement parts must be available.

 -Engine Additions-

Thrust Vectoring: 5 PP
Thrust Vectoring allows an aircraft to use the exhaust from the engines for increased maneuverability.

Supercruise: 8 PP
Supercruise allows an aircraft to maintain a supersonic speed for large amounts of time without the use of an afterburner, which creates a highly visible infrared signature.

VOTL: 4 PP
Your aircraft will be a VTOL aircraft, which can land vertically and take off vertically after gaining a bit of horizontal speed. VTOL aircraft can take off and land from practically anywhere. However, VTOL aircraft have considerably smaller fuel payloads than other aircraft, because of space taken up by engines.



---Avionics (Requires Conventional Weaponry)---

Air to Air Avionics (Infared): 5 PP
Targeting systems required for heatseeking Air-to-Air missiles. These systems are more reliable than the missile systems on stock fighters. Infared missiles can't lock on to a target more than two km away, but no extra weapons systems are needed.

Air to Air Avionics (Radar-Guided): 8 PP
Targeting systems required for radar-guided Air-to-Air missiles. Radar-guided missiles can lock on to any target within your radar range.

Air to Ground Avionics: 5 PP
Targeting systems required for Air-to-Ground missiles and bombs.



---Weapon Systems---

-Radar Guided Missiles- (Requires Radar Guided Air to Air Avionics)

Semi-Active Radar Homing (SARH): 6 PP (Requires Gadgetry)
A Semi-Active Radar Homing system contains transmitter equipment on your aircraft to lock onto an enemy and receiver equipment on your missiles so it can intercept the target. The smaller amount of electronics on a missile allows a larger payload, but since your pilot has to continuously target the enemy craft while the missile is reaching the target, your aircraft will be very vulnerable.

Fire and Forget Guidance (F&F): 10 PP (Requires Computers)
Fire and Forget missiles contain all the equipment they need to track and intercept a target within the missile, so all the pilot needs to do is get a lock on the enemy. Once the missile is fired, your pilot doesn't need to track the target anymore, and can go after another enemy.

-Air to Ground Weapons- (Requires Air to Ground Avionics)

Unguided Bombs: Free
The bomb will fall to where it's dropped. This will work fine as long as your target can't move very fast, or at all.

Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM): 6 PP (Requires Networking)
JDAM munition uses Global Positioning Systems to guide itself to any ground target with great accuracy.

Air to Ground Missiles: 6 PP (Requires Gadgetry)
Missiles designed to attack a ground target. Since the pilot needs to lock onto a target first, the missile can track it and move to intercept.



---Radar (choose one)---

Standard Radar: 4 PP (Requires Gadgetry)
Your standard radar, capable of tracking targets up to 24 km (4 pixels) away.

Advanced Radar: 8 PP (Requires Computers)
High-tech radar with increased processing power and range, capable of tracking targets up to 48 km (8 pixels) away.

AESA Radar: 12 PP (Requires Networking)
Phased-Array radar which searches for targets over multiple frequencies, capable of tracking targets up to 60 km (10 pixels) away, as well as stealth aircraft 12 km (2 pixels) away.



---Materials (choose one)---

Standard Aluminum: Free
An aircraft constructed from aluminum is light and agile, but it heats up too much after reaching Mach 2 and causes structural failures.

Titanium: 20 PP (Requires Rocketry)
An aircraft constructed from titanium will be heavier and less maneuverable than those constructed with aluminum, but the strong alloys can tolerate the intense heat created during flight between Mach 2 and 6.



---Guns (choose one)---

No gun: Free
Removing a gun from an aircraft will lessen the weight a fair amount, but be forewarned, the lack of a backup weapon when all missiles are fired could get your pilots into serious trouble.

20 mm Gatling gun: 4 PP
A 20 mm Gatling gun will deliver decent damage with a high rate of fire, but a pilot must be careful not to go through his liter ammunition quickly.

30 mm cannon: 4 PP
A 30 mm cannon will deliver more serious damage to an enemy craft, but it has a slow rate of fire.

 -Bullet Types-

Kinetic: Free
Standard kinetic rounds act like any normal bullet.

Armor Piercing (AP): 1 PP
AP rounds are more capable of penetrating the tougher parts of an aircraft and delivering more damage.

Incendiary: 1 PP
Incendiary rounds have the capability to start fires, which will probe horrendous to an enemy craft that catches one in its fuel tank.

Armor-Piercing Incendiary (API): 3 PP
API rounds are the combination of the two above.

Tracer: 1 PP
Tracer rounds emit large amounts of light after being fired, which allow the pilot to see where his bullets are going.

Depleted Uranium: 8 PP (Requires at least 1 Uranium mine)
Depleted Uranium rounds are extra dense, which allow great penetrative abilities that will cut through all but the strongest parts of enemy tanks. Since aircraft aren't armored much, depleted uranium aircraft rounds may not be necessary for fighters.



---Carrier Landing Capability** (choose one)---

Airfields Only: Free
Your aircraft can only land on land-based airbases.

CATOBAR: 2 PP
Your aircraft will be designed to take off and land from standard carriers, with a tailhook for landing and the sturdiness to withstand the force of a catapult launch throughout its service.



---Miscellaneous---

Advanced Flight Suit System: 6 PP (Requires Flight Suits)
An advanced flight suit acts like a frugal EVA suit; it's pressurized and delivers oxygen to the pilot at any altitude, when standard oxygen systems would start to fail after an altitude of 14,000 m.

Chaff: 2 PP
Chaff is deployed when a radar-guided missile gets a lock, and it gives your pilot a chance of evading it.

Flares: 2 PP
Flares are deployed when an infrared missile gets a lock, and it gives your pilot a chance of evading it.

Stealth Coating: 30 PP (Requires Spaceplanes)
Stealth Coating is a highly advanced type of paint that can absorb radar and prevent it from returning to a radar station, giving your aircraft a higher amount of stealth.

External Fuel Tanks: 4 PP
External fuel tanks are fuel tanks usually located on the wing, which provide extra fuel for aircraft and can be emptied and jettisoned before going into combat.

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Once you've selected everything you want in your aircraft, add the PP total up. Multiply it by two to get the development cost. The cost per each squadron will be half of the original PP total (not development total)

Example:

A vanilla Air Superiority fighter would be the equivalent of an early model Mig-21 or an F-5A, with Mach 1 capability and infrared missile systems.
A vanilla Ground Attack attacker would be the equivalent of an A-4.
A vanilla Bomber would be the equivalent of an B-47 or Tu-95.

Stuff can be added, changed, and removed in the future.

*Development of aircraft that don't fit as an Air Superiority, Ground Attack, or Bomber squadron require a design made in KSP. FAR is required.

**Note that only Air Superiority and Ground Attack squadrons can land on carriers. Only Ground Attack squadrons can land on helicopter carriers (they'll become attack helicopters)

Seems fine. If we do this, I think its best we have a new Military Subforum whete everyone lists their units and such so me and dogon dont have to get unstructured plans with too much info.

So this means that we'll design our planes in KSP, and then the outcome of air battles will depend on their performances?

borisperrons wrote:So this means that we'll design our planes in KSP, and then the outcome of air battles will depend on their performances?

I can try, to a degree. If you have uniform aircraft, its easier, so that might be reflected in the outcome

I don't think KSP aircrafts should do it. It should be like anything, you can add a fancy picture if you want. However, KSP aircrafts are not really designed to dogfight. It is better if it is optional to design it there.

Yes, same opinion as appe. There is people that are shit at designing good aircraft, and other people that can make suborbital fighter planes.

I dont think it should be in KSP b/c building a nice fighter is very time consuming and a bit weird with the weights, if you know what I mean (not if you know what I mean,okay)

I see your points, but you don't have to build the aircraft yourself if you're not the best aircraft engineer. You could always ask someone nicely.

No offense, but this is a horrible idea, not the whole thing but that you have to build it in ksp, for reasons already mentioned

I also agree with appe, boris, warrior and mystic. People can feel free to use KSP in order to post pretty little pictures, but not to use as their actual GM aircraft.

Looks like it's a popular vote, then.

Yuriski wrote:People can feel free to use KSP in order to post pretty little pictures, but not to use as their actual GM aircraft.

Mindreader.

Having "standard" aircraft that everybody uses is stupid, and unrealistic: all of the things that made the original forum barely serviceable. I also agree, however, that having the actual KSP design dictate the functionality of standard GM units may not be the best. Therefore, I think that there should be a balance: GM units are determined by this system, but other, "special" vehicles, such as rockets or actual "space planes" that don't come in squadrons but individually, should continue to be player-designed. This way, people who aren't any good with KSP are still okay, since you don't need to have a one-off super plane that's for special missions or a rocket that you can land on the mun, but the option to do these things and make something truly unique is still there for the people who want to have their KSP creations be useful and meaningful.

So basically what were already implementing and even already use?

I have no idea what you're already using, but this post makes no mention of having this apply to some and not all aircraft. Also:

Yuriski wrote:I also agree with appe, boris, warrior and mystic. People can feel free to use KSP in order to post pretty little pictures, but not to use as their actual GM aircraft.

This is coming from a mod, so I think that if there are systems in place that concur with what I've just said, there is some confusion about it.

No confusion. You build your own rockets in KSP and use them with their capabilities, but even if you design an uber mach 6 fighter plane with 12 tons of payload and capable of turning on the tip of his wing, in GM battles it will have the same performances as my imaginary mig 21.

And what about spaceplanes?

Same as rockets. Also, the one off planes, like a special recon one or a mach 4 mothership have to be designed by you.

Well, as cobbler put it, that is exactly what I said. If that's the system, then it looks fine to me.

This done?

I need to modify it a bit, because there's nothing in place for which carriers your aircraft can land on.

Finished the system. Thoughts?

Liiks fine to me. Others?

Maybe as we have different ammo type for tanks, there could be different external armaments for the planes (F&F missiles, infrared, radar semact, TV guide, iron bombs...), and maybe SEAD capabilities. IMHO crew number would be another nice addition, but not a first priority.

I think that we should lower the PP and MP costs for these aircrafts. 4 squadrons will take up my entire airforce MP.