Subscribe to download
Serenity EXP - Smart VTOL

⚠️ - This build does not work in adventure as it uses a magic cube for stability during cruise flight. VTOL does not depend on the magic cube and therefore the VTOL aspect can be used in adventure.

The Serenity EXP (short for exploration) is a futuristic aircraft capable of VTOL and cruise flight. Quite fuel efficient in cruise mode and can allow you to travel ~300km at max speed and throttle before a refuel is needed (untested, likely more than ~300km).

This vehicle is quite optimized and, despite all the screens, reaches a performance cost of ~13% on a server running a Ryzen 5 3600 CPU with server multi-threading disabled.

This vehicle took a few hours to build the shape, but multiple months to refine the shape and code all of the logic. If you're interested in looking at the code, the computer can be found at the back of the aircraft within all the internals, right between the HV batteries. The code is documented and split into many files.

This was built and tested on the cuhHub Sandbox server, come check it out! ;-)

All of the below is on the flight MFD menu. You can access this menu on any MFD.

• Set flight mode to VTOL (default)
  
• Disable anchors
  
• Enable gyros
  
• Enable ignition
  
• Enable engines
  
• You should now be flying in VTOL. See the controls section to find out how to control the vehicle in VTOL.

For cruise flight (assumes you did the previous steps):

• Set cruise throttle to max (press 3, or use cruise throttle slider on the MFD)
  
• Disable precision mode if on (precision mode makes pitching very slow)
  
• Reach a safe altitude (>100m above terrain)
  
• Try to get some forward velocity by going forward in VTOL
  
• Set flight mode to cruise and immediately pitch up as much as possible.

Happy flying!


A unique part of this aircraft is the fact it can fly in VTOL. It is very stable in VTOL flight as the on-board computer stabilizes the aircraft as best it can (cancels out velocity when needed, levels out pitch and roll, etc). You can reach speeds up to ~75m/s in VTOL (~1.5x that with overdrive enabled).

Note that you can only land in VTOL. It is recommended to enable precision mode (see quick actions section or flight MFD menu) to descend slowly and land smoothly as a result.

The ~490 lines of flight code and 26 configurable flight parameters within the aircraft's computer helps with maintaining flight stability in both VTOL and cruise flight. It fights against unwanted pitch, roll and yaw. It also fights against things like overyawing or drifting while smoothing out pilot inputs for smoother flight. Without all this, flying this vehicle would be impossible.

Unfortunately, there is a speed limit for both VTOL (~75m/s) and cruise (~180m/s, ~800m/s at 150km alt) as going too fast will cause you to inevitably pitch up too much and unintentionally perform a cobra maneuver. The speed limit increases as your altitude increases however. You can also double the speed limit by turning on overdrive in the flight MFD menu but this means pitching or yawing too much can cause you to lose control.


These displays are a key component of the vehicle. Learning how to use the MFDs is a crucial part in being able to fly the Serenity EXP. Every single feature of this vehicle can be accessed through the MFDs, such as autopilot, flight controls, trim, navigation controls, lighting, etc.
The MFDs are all separate to each other so you can have different menus on different MFDs without issue (think Star Citizen!).
To access a menu, hit the "<<<" button if you're already on a menu to see all accessible menus. Click the button of the menu you want to access and it will open it up.


This vehicle comes with an autopilot system accessible through any MFD (AP menu). The following autopilot modes are present and can be used with each other:

• To Signal: Yaws and rolls towards the incoming signal (assuming you're receiving a signal via the beacon). Using level pitch is recommended with this.
  
• Level Pitch: Levels out pitch and keeps vertical speed as close to 0m/s as possible.
  
• Level Roll: Levels out roll.
  
• Speed Hold: Holds a certain speed specified via the a keypad next to the pilot seat.
  
• Alt Hold: Levels out at a certain altitude specified via the a keypad next to the pilot seat.
  
• Heading Hold: Yaws towards a certain heading specified via a keypad next to the pilot seat.

These autopilot modes make activities like formation flying, air-to-air refueling, etc, all possible.


This aircraft can be recharged (both LV and HV) and refueled. All the necessary ports are at the back of the aircraft.
The aircraft also has support for air-to-air refueling. Pumps, valves, and the air-to-air refuel arm can all be interacted with via the refueling MFD menu.

When air-to-air refueling, autopilot is recommended to be on. Try to match heading, altitude, and speed. You can then use precision mode (see flight MFD menu) to pitch, roll and yaw slower than without precision mode. This is so you can make minor flight adjustments when air-to-air refueling.

Note that only O2/H2 fuel mixture is supported (same ratio as volume component's fill O2/H2 feature). The aircraft's computer will not validate that the incoming fuel is valid so be careful when refueling!

This aircraft comes with strobe lights, nav lights, anti-collision lights, landing lights and spotlights for navigation purposes. An incoming signal via beacon can also be forwarded to the navigation instrument so you can directly navigate to the signal. This is required for the "To Signal" autopilot mode to work.

As always, this can all be accessed via the navigation MFD menu.


These controls are inspired by Stormworks. If you have changed your controls to match below via the F1 menu, please use the "Adapted" control profile. If you use default game controls, do not worry about this step. Control profiles can be changed via the controls menu on any MFD.

For those who have changed their controls to anything that is not below, use the "Adapted" control profile too. The adapted control profile will use pitch binds for pitch, roll binds for roll, etc.

W | Pitch Down
S | Pitch Up
A | Roll Left
D | Roll Right
Left Arrow | Yaw Left
Right Arrow | Yaw Right

W | Move Forward
S | Move Backward
A | Move Left
D | Move Right
Up Arrow | Move Up
Down Arrow | Move Down
Left Arrow | Yaw Left
Right Arrow | Yaw Right

These are simply shortcuts. Everything you see below can also be done through the MFDs throughout the vehicle.
Aux 1 | Increase Throttle
Aux 2 | Decrease Throttle
Aux 3 | Max Throttle
Aux 4 | Cut Throttle (set to 0)
Aux 5 | Flight Mode: VTOL
Aux 6 | Flight Mode: Cruise
Aux 7 | Toggle Anchors
Aux 8 | Toggle Precision Mode
Aux 9 | Toggle Autopilot
Aux 0 | Toggle Engines


My GitHub - Click Here[github.com]