Your Flight is De-parting

In episode 3 of Wrong Way Up, Splitsie welcomes W4stedspace and DE under a dark Elysium sky that is partially covered by the looming planet Perseii in front of them. Texfire is only in chat today, and Capac joins a few minutes late. Currently the Jalopy is made up of two parts, a roofed factory rover in the front and Splitsie's runway + hangar trailer second.

W4sted shines his new spotlight chair from the roof of the factory rover to help DE park above Magnesium. Splitsie starts building a scout plane that is "destined to crash". W4sted has experimented with large-grid rovers on small-grid wheels and they compare design ideas for flipable or foldable mobile runways ("It's got all the tolerances!"). They chat about plane landing styles and learning other languages. DE and W4sted encourage Splitsie to turn his scout plane into a Mouldy Banana by painting it with yellow Mossy textures.

(0:30) After DE and Splitsie discuss the mod's definition of "aerodynamic" shapes, Capac realises why his first experimental plane, the Horseshoe Crab, didn't lift off. W4sted warns Splitsie that his temporary scaffolding messes with the indicators of center of mass and lift, but Splitsie enjoys the intuitive approach of learning by building. Splitsie encourages Capac to design an acid rain umbrella ("Sombrero? Sombrilla? Paraguas?") for W4sted's spotlight chair. Capac jokes Paraguay was named after an umbrella. They wonder if satellite internet will reduce the ping between continents. When discussing gun placement versus (in-game) aerodynamics, DE has to hold back his (real-life) aerospace knowledge. Capac teases no other airplanes must be in the same hangar as Splitsie's because the Mouldy Banana enzymes will spread. Splitsie avoids listening to W4sted's stream to not have to hear him judge his poor plane...

(1:00) Capac has built the most elegant beach umbrella for the spotlight chair on the roof of the factory! Splitsie explains the gentlemen's agreement of how they will build planes (no helicopters) again. W4sted builds a new trailer, Capac does more detailing, and DE drills for more resources. They chat about which mods they like and which not and why, e.g. AI Enabled versus Build&Repair. When Splitsie is ready for a test flight, DE rotates the runway and Capac responds as tower. Suddenly TFE flies by in a converted Absconder and gets shot down by the turrets. Capac explores the wreck and drives the repaired Absconder a bit. While Splitsie makes his test flight, they experience a strange bug that the plane's cockpit tries to steer the Angry Jalopy!

(1:30) Splitsie aborts and lands upside down and squishes the core of the "banana". W4sted snarkily calls Splitsie's use of gyroscopes "fyzzix". Splitsie improves the framerate by admin-deleting NPC grids. Pav makes a flyby and is also shot down. Splitsie fixes his crashed Mouldy Banana when suddenly his TeamSpeak and the SE server go down without interrupting the stream. Capac assumes (logically...) the server location (Sydney) must have been nuked -- or the human bots broke the game. After they rejoin, they share their ideas for runways, launching systems, and parking systems while Splitsie flies up and pancakes successfully on the runway. Splitsie helps w4sted with his new trailer, the subgrid control script, and wheel settings, while Capac starts work on a biplane.

(2:00) The human bots are doing bombing runs! Our heroes need to bolt down the planes and get moving. Splitsie suggests, when getting close to the target planet Perseii, they can detach the hitches and send one of the trailers over first. w4sted jokingly threatens to replace Texfire in his series by Avi doing a fake accent. They drive quickly and shoot down several bomb-running bot planes whose debris rains down on them.

The middle trailer's wheels gets stuck on a rock and a bot plane's wreck. w4sted detaches the new, empty trailer and drives around so DE can free the front and middle rovers. W4sted can't reliably drive due to lacency, but Splitsie doesn't fare much better. Splitsie admin-deletes performance-heavy NPC grids again and apologises for accidentally deleting a human bot's plane--he'll send them a gift basket full of assorted... warheads!

(2:30) They make a janky wide U-turn ("as slow as 2001 Space Odyssee") to quickly get back for more ice. Splitsie's SE crashes and he needs to rejoin while they turn around and drive on towards Perseii. Bot planes (the Loose Folly) circle threatingly above them so they stop and Splitsie readies his plane, but Capac's halffinished biplane is in the way. Splitsie lifts off perfectly but almost forgets to engage the thrusters. Capac and Splitsie spot Tom Cruiser scout rovers. Splitsie shoots at a bot and makes an emergency landing and the bot lands as well. Splitsie taxis his plane through the forest. They rely on the base's defences, and fend off bots on foot as well. Splitsie makes it back to the base, recharges hydrogen, and kills W4sted by accident.

(3:00) DE stands on Splitsie's wings and shoots bots with a rifle. In a dogfight, Splitsie clips an attacker's plane and makes a hard forest landing so they have to return to base to fix their lost gun. Splitsie crashlands hilariously on the runway with DE on the wing. W4sted steals the bots' rover and DE looks forward to building his own plane on w4sted's new trailer. Capac's Amazing Biplane is ready for a test flight and Splitsie expands the runway. The biplane doesn't have enough lift and breaks its cockpit against the first hill. W4sted acts suspiciously and Splitsie notices the generic accidents counter has changed into individual crash counters. Capac is recovering his plane, Splitsie and w4sted are scouting, and DE has trouble driving the Jalopy. The weird intergrid control bug is back and the Mouldy Banana is controlling the Jalopy's handbrake. Splitsie lands on the runway and crashes into the crashcounter.

(3:30) The sun is setting and the Jalopy keeps getting stuck on the terrain so they detach the new trailer once more. Splitsie starts modifying Capac's biplane and stops halfway through due to getting distracted. The three of them come down to help Capac, and Draygo in chat gives aerodynamics advice. Capac lifts off perfectly from the ground but he misses the runway and lands in the forest next to the Jalopy, while Splitsie rejoins after another SE crash. Pav and the bots attack with little effect while everyone focuses on getting Capac's plane back up into the hangar. If Splitsie crashes Capac's plane, Splitsie wants it to go on Capac's crash counter because it's Capac's plane design. DE counters, then Capac's Red Jalopy's crash in episode 1 goes on Splitsie's crash counter because that was Splitsie's design...

(4:00) Splitsie's attempt at landing the biplane on the runway fails due to lack of hydrogen, but he doesn't crash. Splitsie tries the landing again and SE crashes right when he touches down, and when he rejoins he finds the plane on the ground again. Capac adds a beautiful palm tree to the beach scene on the factory roof. Splitsie finally lands on the runway, runs over Capac, and bangs up a wing. It has been -1 days since the last accident...

## References

1. ↑ Paraguay is named Feathercrown of Waters in the local language and not after the Spanish word paraguas.