The Ultimate Guide To Make Anything Fly

For those who skipped the tutorial but still want to enjoy the game.

Why the hell is my plane not Flying ? D:

Ok the thing is that you though that a plane flies just because it has wings and engines, you know what ?
YOU ARE WRONG.

This game is not as simple as you think, it simulates the aerodynamics, the weight balance and the effects of thrust.

You are not playing Robocraft nor Besiege. It is a serious plane simulator you just bough >:]

Here are few youtubers who lamentably fell in the trap of the simple plane building myth.

https://youtu.be/omXvVWM2OQQ

https://youtu.be/c_UxTzYV5oo

Hue hue hue they are cute when they pretend to be engineers >:)

How does it work then ?

Well, anything you'll build (that flies, cuz if it's a car you don't have to read all this schet) will be ruled by 3 FORCES :

Center of MASS (CoM) : Depends of how heavy are some parts and how you manage the fuel location on your plane.

Center of THRUST (CoT) : Depends of where you put your engines and propellers on your plane.

CENTER of LIFT (CoL) : Depends of the shape of your wings, of how big they are and where they are.

A wrong Balance of these 3 centers of force will end up in a unflyable abomination.

So to be clear, git gud.

How to get things dun

But don't worry, it's not easy to build a plane, I agree, but the ultimate rule about how to make anything fly can be written on a single piece of paper.
The proof ?
IT HAS BEEN SAID IN THE TUTORIAL YOU LAZY DOPE >:[__]



So, now that you know the truth about the laws of the universe, we can get started.

Design a shape for your airplane, start with a quite long fuselage (in proportion with the cockpit) like you did with the tutorial plane (if you ever paid attention to the tutorials, LEL).

I highly recommend to put the Engines, both of the horizontal stabilizers, primary wings and the vertical stabilizer on BEFORE you take a look at the forces because the CoM will change again if you put parts later on the design.
Oh and don't forget to mirror your aircraft with the quick mirror button on the right, because you probably know it but flying an asymetric plane is as dangerous as losing a wing.

Now, to make the magic happen, PRESS SPACE, ta-daaahhh, now you can watch the centers of force IN REAL TIME :D
You know what to do now, balance the CoL and the CoM, see you in a minute. ;)
And don't forget that the shape of the wings maters, too big wings on a too short plane will end up in a lift overload that will make your contraption loop once it took off.

Ok to give you an example of how it should look like, here's my personnal jet, a design a bit stolen from the kicking fish, I wanted it to win all the races.


Last thing : If your plane tends to pitch up or down once it finaly flies, try to put some of the wings lower to balance a pitch up or orientate them a little bit at the floor.
Do the opposite if your plane tends to pitch down.

If you have issues steering it, make the ailerons bigger.

NOW it's simple

You might think that this game is restrictive, not noob-friendly and for hardcore builders ?
I can show you that the physics of this game are actually very flexible, enough to make ANYTHING fly.

Let's take my wasteland rover, pretty isn't it ? I designed it to carry 4 Air-to-Ground missiles


Now let's strap some wings on and enough powerful engines to make this fatso fly


See ? Balanced forces, a perfect all-terrains machine that can conquer both the skies and the lands ! (Ok it handles like a fat Antonov)

[catnip]

this game is so serious... https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/9N4n88/Garfieldicoptor-Garfield-the-cat

[colemour]

thx, i'm trying to make a bomber to carry a nuke i made so thx :)

[mattias.herman]

UHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[MissNurseXochi]

lol

[Atlas Nulvile]

this is great

[p1mple]

I gave this post an award because you used Engineer from TF2 in the thumbnail.

[Merrickdaig]

do this for helicopters

[Omlet]

its only rocket science

[bald engi]

i learned myself hoe hoe hoes

[Mantha]

This is a very helpful guide, thanks for making it!