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[alexandertnt]

When resource management becomes a thing, these tri-mount boosters are going to be incredible.  They may not be as purely powerful as other sources, but they are cheap, small, and provide reliable lift up to 15km.  I imagine a more 'spaceplane' setup could achieve greater speed around 10km cruising altitude, and release a rocket even closer to orbit.  After all, it would effectively have already done the gravity turn.

That is until jets can stall...

[Mini]

I don't see why planes being able to stall would mean that either of those things would become impossible or not viable.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Jets already "stall" and flame out. This is until jets are properly complicated to use. When each engine requires a direct connection to its intake, when you need compressors and different types of intakes for different speeds and altitudes. IRL, the reason jets aren't used to boost rockets is because they're much too heavy and complex.

[alexandertnt]

Well, nevermind. that's not how jets work apparently.

[Sean Mirrsen]

I suppose it'd be possible to create a jet-powered lifter or booster stage for IRL rockets. But it'd have to essentially be a VTOL aircraft of its own, like a VTOL launch platform. And even with the fuel it'd save for the rockets themselves, it'd be much too expensive to build and maintain to be a profitable investment.

[10ebbor10]

They are looking into creating airbreathing rocket engines and the like though. Problem with those is the increased complexity due to the nessicity to switch from air intakes to liquid oxygen midflight.

[sluissa]

That, and it'd be necessary to plan for several completely different burn mixes. X fuel burning with ~20% oxygen mixed air is going to burn a lot differently than X fuel burning with 100% oxygen. And as the rocket ascends, the air will get thinner and/or the pressure will build forcing more air into the system.

It's easy to just say "well, they're going to throw an intake on there." But rockets are designed to very precise operational tolerances, partially because they have to work that well just to get their payload off the ground, but also because of the extreme temperature and forces involved.

Just as an example, the engine nozzles of many rockets are made of graphite, which, while incredibly fragile, is also one of the few things able to survive the heat. Because of the fragility, they have to plan out how the gas expansion occurs within the chamber and as it's leaving. If there's too much turbulence or variation, the nozzle could just shatter, and that's just the most visible part of a complex system which could have thousands of parts.

[Girlinhat]

There's also the option of becoming KSP and allowing you to get a vessel into orbit by eyeballing it.  Rockets are complicated, and here we've got 12 year olds flying into orbit.  Jet engines are complicated...

[Lightningfalcon]

Ok, I played the demo, fell in love with it, and I've brought the full version.  So now I have a few questions-
1.  How am I supposed to evenly place wheels?  And is there any other kind I can use other then high performance gear? All my planes that need a runway point downwards, so they can't take off, or go sideways.
2.  Are there any uses for high altitude gliders?  I created one that has almost pinpoint control at very, very high altitudes, but I can't find any immediate use for it. 
3.  Why is my glider losing maneuverability as it goes down?  By the time I get to below 10,000 meters it nearly get's locked at a near 60 degree angle, and I can only make a small adjustment to make it go a little steeper or a little shallower.  Is it because gravity is greater?
4.  Nevermind, was using jet fuel.  Other questions still stand.
5. As of now, are there any uses for Science?  Or is it just cosmetic?
Do I need to post any design specifics, or are these general enough questions?

[generalpie]

So. I just got KSP...
Is it good if all my rockets are pretty much made of : Boosters, A chair, and lots of thrusters

[alway]

The new metal plates are amazing for perpetual motion flyers based on the rotation feedback thingy I demonstrated numerous times in a variety of patches. The small plates require absolutely zero struts.

So far got it up to 3200m/s, and still going to up that.

[Skyrunner]

You exploity alway XD

[kaian-a-coel]

The new metal plates are amazing for perpetual motion flyers based on the rotation feedback thingy I demonstrated numerous times in a variety of patches. The small plates require absolutely zero struts.

So far got it up to 3200m/s, and still going to up that.

I want to see that in action now 

[alway]

The new metal plates are amazing for perpetual motion flyers based on the rotation feedback thingy I demonstrated numerous times in a variety of patches. The small plates require absolutely zero struts.

So far got it up to 3200m/s, and still going to up that.

I want to see that in action now 

Step 1: use the single-kerbal cylinder; the old one in there
Step 2: 8-symmetry plates, radially mounted; add 2 of these, one above the next
Step 3: 8-symmetry small flaps, parallel to the plane of the plates; spam these as much as possible on the plates. When you can't spam any more due to space, keep spamming more, overlapping the existing ones; it works, promise.
Step 4: launch clamp mounted to bottom of kerbal cylinder
Step 5: change craft angle to start out angled partially downwards, then move it high up (to give a little room to fall to gain velocity)
Step 6: launch; do not spin at first, just adjust yaw and pitch angles to level out, you will notice rapidly increasing speed when you use the flaps; aim in a generally upward direction at about 50 m/s, then do very short bursts of spin to accelerate extremely quickly; do not let velocity exceed about 500 m/s below 4k-5k altitude, as the wings will be torn off by floating point errors due to incredibly high spin rates combined with extremely high drag and force vectors. Above about 5k, just hold down spin. Redirecting the direction is a bit shifty, especially at high speeds; a single little tap should do it, but may also just throw you into an uncontrollable spin. Going straight up, you can expect a maximum of a bit under 3km/s by the time you leave atmos, but by going mostly parallel to the ground, you can reach around 3.4km/s with enough flaps, possibly higher.

[alexandertnt]

Ok, I played the demo, fell in love with it, and I've brought the full version.  So now I have a few questions-
1.  How am I supposed to evenly place wheels?  And is there any other kind I can use other then high performance gear? All my planes that need a runway point downwards, so they can't take off, or go sideways.
2.  Are there any uses for high altitude gliders?  I created one that has almost pinpoint control at very, very high altitudes, but I can't find any immediate use for it. 
3.  Why is my glider losing maneuverability as it goes down?  By the time I get to below 10,000 meters it nearly get's locked at a near 60 degree angle, and I can only make a small adjustment to make it go a little steeper or a little shallower.  Is it because gravity is greater?
4.  Nevermind, was using jet fuel.  Other questions still stand.
5. As of now, are there any uses for Science?  Or is it just cosmetic?
Do I need to post any design specifics, or are these general enough questions?

1. Using the symmetry tool should fix most of the problem.
2. They have the same functionality as the rockets: lulz
5. Right click on them and you can enable them to get various readings (eg gravity etc). But there is no "gamey" use for them at the moment.