Swept Wings

[dusk salmon]

Do variable swept wings work in KSP? Very confused why this doesn't work...

(As you can tell, I sweep the wings backwards and I end up going SLOWER)

[trail nebula]

KSP doesn't have physics for supersonic flight like you would have in real life as far as i know so there's no point to swept wings

as for the deceleration that might be because wings are supposed to face forward so they cause additional drag

[peak thorn]

It might work with FAR, but I’m not sure

[empty cloud]

ksp wings, whatever way they are facing, make the same lift and drag. however, it can change where your center of lift is, so you can make it more manuverable with swept wings out and more stable with wings swept

[lilac orchid]

i made a plane with sweep wing that actually went faster with wings back

[empty cloud]

probably because com/col location changes, shape of wings doesnt change lift/drag with stock aerodynamics

[peak thorn]

I’d expect the wing orientation to make a difference with respect to which face of the drag cube is facing forwards. That could certainly change drag. I’d need to actually test it though

[empty cloud]

wing parts use a different aerodynamic model than the typical drag cube model

[modern nova]

I think I might need you to explain, as far as I know everything uses the drag cube

there's no difference between one drag cube and another

[peak thorn]

Just need to take a look with aero debugging turned on. I am pretty sure lift doesn’t change.

[empty cloud]

wings dont use the drag cube model, capsules/ablative heatshields dont, and other parts also dont. theres different lift/drag models for different parts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D2VmGk8bmM&list=PLE7uZNiEl088UDtIPSR4Nw1v647yVPWu1&index=3

[modern nova]

oh huh

[dusk salmon]

i still dont understand how it would make it go slower? at least the same speed no?

[empty cloud]

if anything, bringing center of lift further away (swept wings) would theoretically make it slower, as elevons would have to work harder to correct the planes downward pitch(from further away col to com), causing more drag

[dusk salmon]

ahhh I see... because with the wings swept back I do get more performance and stability... but I can see why that would be an issue

[empty cloud]

it does make it really just less manuverable with wings swept back, like further away col

col is center of lift

[tribal venture]

Like Spacewalker1870 mentioned, wings don't use their drag cube for any lift or drag calculations, that is all handled by the wing aero model.
They do however use their drag cube for thermal and buoyancy calculations.

[peak thorn]

Ah cool thanks

[modern nova]

thats neat, I never knew wings had their own model