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KerbService

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Posts posted by KerbService

  1. 13 minutes ago, swjr-swis said:

    Quick, change the thrust limiter or gimbal setting on all 9 engines of your balanced symmetry group before the burn... oh wait.

    Visual symmetry <> functional symmetry group.

    The radial 9 is a 3x3x3. Which would still be slow to change on the fly. Best to do it in the build or with action groups. But before the explosion...

  2. On 11/27/2018 at 9:24 PM, Zosma Procyon said:

    I would really love more odd numbered radial symmetry options, at least 5 and 7 way.

    Balanced symmetries for 1-12 engines/stages/whatever...

    3UD0gAF.png
     

    These are all combinations of the normal 1-2-3-4-6-8 symmetries. Any combination of balanced symmetries that do not directly overlap are also a balanced symmetry. All of the engines/stages/whatever in a single 1-2-3-4-6-8 group must mass the same but the other groups need not be the same components. One of the symmetry 7's above is a 3x2x2 combination that allows a group 3 of mass x,  a group 2 of mass y, and another group 2 of mass z. I kinda like the symmetry 10 that allows groups of 4(really 2x2)x3x2x1 and the symmetry 6 that allows groups of 3x2x1. These are not all of the possibilities for 1 to 12 and there is no need to stop at 12. All but 1 and 11 have radial options, but a radial 11 is possible. I leave that to you.

    5 way symmetry that looks unbalanced - but it is not...

    65XBNMB.jpg

  3. @Pecan ... Your implementation of twisted candle makes for an easy and fairly efficient booster build for payloads of up to maybe 500 tons. I would guess that with a bit more development of the idea (or maybe a lot) a payload ratio of 25% would become the norm. So this has mostly answered the question of my initial post.
    The real advantage of Sensi's idea seems to stem from the ignition of all engines simultaneously while having the ability to dump them with the empty tank as a stage is used up. Everything on the booster is being used all the time from launch to orbit. Nothing wasted.
    Some considerations:
    -- Engine placement on upper stages can cause heat death of lower stage engines (BANG!)
    -- Staging results in TWR dropping which might require the strongest engines on the upper stages instead of the lower, this might cap the stage count
    -- K.E.R. and MJ would need updates to use those mods with this staging system (at least on my installation of KSP)

    So my new booster targets, accept 20-25% and aim for 30.

    Thanks man. Thanks to everyone who replied.

  4.  

    On 11/19/2018 at 2:53 PM, Pecan said:

    If your launch mass is less for the same payload then that's perfect, after all the point is to maximise payload ratio.  I'm convinced though that, like multi-layer asparagus, any theoretical efficiency with twisted candle is lost to practical construction restrictions and difficulty.  

    This is based on your post with a few modifications...
    c1TQ2rr.png

    The entire vessel is 507,350kg with a payload of 117,590kg for a payload ratio of 23.1% with a starting TWR 2.20. But I can not tell you what the total deltaV is because this type of staging does not register well with either K.E.R. or MJ. But I did launch it to a LKO of 80k. And it is simple with a total part count of 44, the booster using only 37 parts. Seems to fly pretty well too. And after a little experimentation I found that for this and asparagus the FTX-2 fuel ducts are not needed. Using the tank's flow priority settings and the decoupler's crossfeed settings results in the same effect. Here, the S4-128 tanks have from the bottom up priorities of 40-30-20-10 and the bottom 3 decouplers have enabled crossfeed. All engines fire until that stage is dropped and the fuel drains from the bottom up. So this is not quite the nightmare I thought.
    Entire Mass - 507,350kg
    Payload Mass - 117,590kg (decoupler, unusable fuel in top stage tanks, RGU, battery, pointy end)
    Usable Fuel Mass - 304,000kg
    9 S3 KS-25 engines and 3 RE-I5 engines

  5. 12 minutes ago, Sharpy said:

    Try this: Set up a perfect plane matching maneuver, as good as you can. Then just grab the node as for dragging and don't move it anywhere, just hold it - and see how AN and DN markers crawl - the node is moving. 

    If you really want precise adjustments, just install PreciseManeuver or PreciseNode.

    Good call... Just tried that. Hover, Click and hold, do not drag. It does advance T in very fine increments. So I clicked in various parts of the node circle to see if it was possible to retard T. That did not work. And no way to affect the rate of change. All of that adjustment works for the other axes. Routing the mouse wheel events for any hover activated part of the node (in this case just adding T) should be a trivial code change. I live in hope.

  6. 10 hours ago, Sharpy said:

    You can hold the node immobile (as for dragging) and its time will be shifting at some 10s per second.

    Thanks... I tried what I thought you meant but no joy. I am using the PC version and the UI for the nodes is consistent on the X-Y-Z axes but not the T adjustment where only dragging is allowed. Adjustments while dragging on the X-Y-Z axes of the node remain consistent no matter the zoomed distance from the active node. But the rate of change of T when dragging the entire node is greatly affected by the distance zoomed away from the node.  Hover and adjust on T would make the UI fully consistent and handy for adjusting timing on nodes well zoomed out in the background. It is on my wish list.

    On 11/20/2018 at 11:22 AM, Woodsielord said:

    I couldn't find a way to change the node scale like we can do with the nav ball. It would really please me to change  this: <---o--->  to this:  <--------------o--------------->

    That could make life easier as well.

  7. @Pecan I have never built anything I wanted to lift in a single go that was 1000 tons. Most of the craft that I have built that I think are good are 100 tons or less or more. So this is just a game. How far can I take it before it breaks and I kill my favorite Kerbal and have to shill out the money for a bucket of flowers for the funeral. It is a challenge that is not going to get me laid anyway I win.

    Asparagus (bad vegetable)((Idon't like vegetables)) staging depends on the core stage delivering the required TWR for it's part of the ascent. But my dream of a space program is to lift BIG parts to  LKO (LEO) orbit and bolt that together there then go somewhere fun. That initial climb deep in the atmosphere seems to to be better conquered by brute force. 

    So.. (bad vegetable) staging is complex and kills frame rate and not used in real life for the same reason. You did 73 tons to LKO with 33 parts. How can that happen without the complexity of (bad vegetable) staging, how can it be made simple?

     

  8.  

    @Pecan Great link to the NASA page. Thanks! Just what I like to work with to see the progress I am making building boosters. My main rulers for progress so far have been explosions count and frame rate. And I have moved on to much larger boosters. My largest reliable is for up to 2000 tons and my best looking (maybe) is for 1000 tons. The most difficult problem for the heavy loads has been design of the booster core of the lowest stage. It has to still carry at low altitude the payload and maybe the multiple stages above it so requires many engines for the needed TWR it alone has to support during ascent.

    Here on IMGUR is a 5.00 to 1 -- 5000 ton booster of 419 parts for a 1000 ton payload dV of 3817 and on the pad TWR of 1.17 -- This I built in 1.4.1 + MH

    It lifts to 100k LKO and almost never blows up! Thanks again for the NASA link.

    P.S. All of that is auto-struted to Heaviest - one of my posts no one agrees with. Still, seems to work for me.

  9.  

    35 minutes ago, Nich said:

    Yes the smaller rockets are more draggy because of the volume law I believe.

    If you play career mode you have to pay for the airbreathing engines you are staging off and they are way more expensive then the LFO engines.

    Also if you are really Min/Maxing decouplers and nose cones can add 10-15% to the cost of your rocket

    Maybe I should add that cost is not something I concern myself about. I have countless slave planets supporting my sandbox.

    But maybe part count for the rocket would be a good addition to the replies.

    I will try to compile the info I get from this topic into a general build guide. If people would like that.

    Here on IMGUR is a 5.75 to 1 -- 69 ton booster of 46 parts for a 12 ton payload dV of 3384 and on the pad TWR of 1.22 -- This I built in 1.3.1

     

     

  10. 3 minutes ago, Nich said:

    All of my numbers are old but 16% is a good target.  I have seen 26% in challenges.  Problem is if you want mass efficiency it will cost you extra funds.

    3200-3600 vacuum dv depending on aerodynamics and path to orbit

    6.25 to 1 sounds good. Do you find that lighter rockets need a higher ratio? And when you say expensive, where comes the cost?

  11. I have seen and abused formulas for payload mass but that is not what I want to know.
    I want your best guesses for an efficient booster weight to payload weight ratio for :

    a) Rocket - no wings
    b) Payload reaches LKO at 85k

    c) any combination of STOCK engines/fuel - single stage/multi -stage no matter

    Please specify Booster Weight, Payload Weight, Atmospheric deltaV to reach 85k LKO, beginning TWR, and any comments you care to make.

    Example: 18.0 ton Booster with 1.5 ton Payload dV 3491 using LV-TX87 single stage. TWR 2.02

    This is just for RULE OF THUMB - BACK OF THE BEER MAT guesses at general efficiency of a design.

    STOCK PARTS please -- Thanks!

  12. Just now, StrandedonEarth said:

    Well, Making History is technically stock, but it’s an expansion pack you have to buy for $15 USD. There’s other good stuff in it too

    I prefer stock parts only too, but I consider MH to be stock 

    Got that History thing - Bigger tanks, Bigger engines. I have been building heavy lifters for a while. 1000-2000 ton payload weight boosters without (nasty tasting vegetable) staging. Wish I could post vids and pics on this site so others could see. Don't see how.

  13. Maybe I am beating the sh...t out of a dead horse, but ---  When I started using auto-strut stuff exploded for me also. But only before I found out that the the problem was a combination of auto-strut and clipping parts. Now I can avoid the problem by watching what I clip. So if the developers read this, just a choice of default for the auto-strut thing would be nice. Thanks...  

  14. @The Aziz --- I thank you for your question. All of the command pods in KSP are designed to sit at the front of the ship. My vision of a cool design often has the windows somewhere else. So I take and clip a pod in the middle of the ship with only the windows exposed and my Kerbils are trapped there for life. Unless I have a door. Give me a door I can put anywhere. No use being able to build an ark I can never leave.

    Did I say ark? Maybe just taxi.

  15. Good group of replies, Thanks folks! I wanted to post a picture of a booster that is 369 parts, 3431 total tons wet, with a payload of a little over 500 tons. This booster will place a 500 ton payload in an 85k Kerbin orbit reliably every time. And every part is set to auto-strut to 'Heaviest'.
    But I have not been able to understand how to insert a png from my local disk into this post !!??!!?? Can I do that? Can I post a video of the booster going to orbit?
    Anyway, I use auto-strut to 'Heaviest' almost every part every time on my boosters. Since 1.3. Maybe that works better now. Does for me. So that is why I wanted to use a different default other that 'Off'.
    Thanks again, I am a NEWBIE to forums.

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