Nerv only SSTO to Mun and back | KSP 2 0.0.1

I now have a discord server! / discord
With the significant buffs the KSP 2 Nerv received in the form of higher isp and thrust both at sea level and in vac, and with the discovery that fairing part clipping still works wonderfully, I thought I would visit the new Mun arch.
Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio
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Angel Dust: • Cyberpunk Industrial D...
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[@acanadianderg4035]

That extra long runway must have helped a lot!

[@lt_duckweed]

The extra runway is a MASSIVE boon! Gone are the days of having to painstakingly roll to the hills behind the KSC to get enough space.

[@proxima_fish]

omg duck upload i am happy

[@ryanrising2237]

genius! A single stage craft means that you can’t have separation events breaking your save.

[@lt_duckweed]

😂

[@luxuryconcrete2152]

Remarkable. Eager for a land speed record attempt on the Ice Caps if you’re intrigued by the idea.

[@steveg6031]

The ice caps are no longer flat. 😢

[@alan-daniel]

watching the delta-v increase during the ascent in Kerbin's atmosphere is oddly satisfying side note: how much have you messed around with SSTO design in KSP2 so far? I've learned more from your videos than probably anywhere else for KSP1, and while I haven't spent a ton of time trying, I can't seem to figure out how to make viable long-range SSTOs in 2 yet. I know I'd be interested in hearing anything you've learned so far (especially re: procedural wings and best practices for their sizing and control surface positioning)

[@lt_duckweed]

Haven't played a ton of ksp2 since I find there is so much QoL missing, but for SSTOs a few things I've found: 1. Body drag is much more punishing in ksp2, even when using wing incidence to keep angle of attack near 0. 2. Use the smallest of the 3 wing sizes you can, better lift to mass. 3. Set wing thickness to 0, thicker wing adds mass but not lift. 4. Keep control surfaces modest to reduce control overshoot/oscillation, but they don't seem to add mass. 5. Wing span, sweep, tip and root length, etc don't seem to change l/d ratio or lift to mass, only area, so wing shape doesn't matter much.

[@lt_duckweed]

The extra punishing body drag compounds with hydrogen tanks being very high volume for their mass, since hydrogen is not at all dense. So for a given mass of fuel you are carting around a ton of extra surface area and therefore body drag. Fairings work approximately like they do in ksp 1 so clipping all your fuel tanks "inside" a fairing gives large benefits, thanks to the much grater reduction in body drag this gives as compared to ksp1. That's what made this craft viable at all.

[@NickBDesigns]

Great control

[@joshuapeckham2453]

Hi @Lt_Duckweed, thanks for your video. I've recently stumbled across your channel and learned a lot from your aero videos. I'm seeing another good poster, Kerman von Braun, and he's recommending that fairings, cargo bays, etc. are a bit f***ed in KSP2 at the moment as they don't actually shield parts and act as if they're open all the time. Can you elaborate on whether this is correct (as at 0.1.2)? I recently did a test myself (just using drag info from MicroEngineer mod now AeroGUI has gone) and I can't say that adding a long, skinny fairing, attached in reverse to the nosecone, did me any good. A shame, for this purpose, that we can't see individual parts' drag numbers any more.

[@Icantcomeupwithagoodname]

nice!

[@Average-Potato]

The video title says "KSP2 0.0.1", I think you mean 0.1.0 right?

[@Moonbow826]

Do angled fuel tanks no longer produce insane amounts of drag?

[@lt_duckweed]

Because KSP 2 is just as broken as KSP 1, those fuel tanks are "inside" the fairing.

[@Moonbow826]

@@lt_duckweed ah yes of course, tho saying ksp 2 is as broken as ksp 1 is not fair to ksp 1 imo.

[@lt_duckweed]

Fair enough lol, ksp2 has plenty of bonus broken to add on top

[@FumbleSquid]

@@lt_duckweed A video on what you understand of the aero model so far would be cool. I gave up trying to experiment cause the performance was grating on me and the fairings kept getting deleted Also I love the look of the ship btw, weirdly pleasing aesthetic

[@JYF921]

Well done! Is it true that a swerv only craft beats out a normal rapier ssto In performance beyond LKO?

[@lt_duckweed]

A rapier + swerv design will handily beat out swerv only, but swerv only can probably beat rapier + nerv.

[@liamoliverdarroch6482]

3rd