Is there a stock part you never actually use?

[Mjarf]

On 23.12.2016 at 7:33 PM, NSEP said:

The 2,5 meter decoupler, it looks awfull. I just use a 1.25 meter decoupler, turn off the shroud of whatever engine i want to use and cover it up with a 2.5 meter fairing.

I actually like the 2.5m de-coupler, I like the clunky cartoony look. Among the stock parts I've never used are fuel cells, I've never went beyond Eve without mods, and with mods I use nuclear reactors instead. I also never use the .625m rocket engines, but I do see how they can be useful for probes and light landers.

[ottothesilent]

I have NEVER used the big fuel cell array. I know that they're useful for missions past Jool and all, but I don't do those all that often, and the times I have, I used RTGs, since I was in sandbox.

[CrookedTube]

Thanks everyone, this was better than the WIKI.

-CrookedTube

[Whisky Tango Foxtrot]

I've used micronodes when I was building a large landing scaffolding to land a heavy mining installation on the Mun. It was mostly built with modular girder segments but I used micronodes for the corners.

I use a ring of eight Ants on my Mun and Minmus landers. The landing legs, RCS blocks and science gizmos that I had around the bottom of my lander meant that I didn't have room for Twitch engines, and if I used a Spark or Terrier engine on the bottom then I wouldn't have had room for a medium-sized docking port there, which is necessary as I often use the landers to dock fuel tanks with ground-based mining installations in order to transport fuel to my space stations in orbit. They're a bit under-powered, especially for the Mun, but they still have enough thrust to overcome the moons' gravity when the lander is un-loaded (and I have some Twitch engines on the tanks to provide thrust when they're attached.)

I've also used Puff engines for a small craft meant to grab an object off of Minmus and take it into orbit. I needed RCS on the craft to give precise enough control to grab the object in question and I didn't want to have to bother balancing two different fuel types so I put the Puff engines on and made the craft 100% monopropellant-fuelled.

I second the mentions of the Fly-By-Wire Avionics Hub, though. It would be useful in theory but the fact that it only has an attachment node on one side keeps me from using it. My ships' nose real-estate is too valuable (for things like parachutes, intakes and docking ports) to be taken up by what is essentially a probe core with less functionality.

Edited December 26, 2016 by Whisky Tango Foxtrot

[Rath]

On 12/21/2016 at 9:15 PM, adsii1970 said:

There are a few... such as the aforementioned Micronode... The .625 jet engines, what ever they are called - as they are now way underpowered and utterly useless.

The Juno is quite powerful.  20kn isn't enough to break the sound barrier but a Learjet engine shouldn't.  Try limiting it to 11.5 kn and building flyable aircraft.

 

the only part I have never used is the micronode

Edited December 26, 2016 by Rath

[322997am]

On 12/21/2016 at 8:15 AM, adsii1970 said:

There are a few... such as the aforementioned Micronode... The .625 jet engines, what ever they are called - as they are now way underpowered and utterly useless.

Those I use for aesthetics mostly. Also, for a small private jet they are ok.

[Vinhero100]

my "dead part" would probably be the probodobodyne stayputnik (the first probe core you get in career mode, without mods) because it has no reaction wheels or SAS and looks terrible. 

15 hours ago, Rath said:

The Juno is quite powerful.  20kn isn't enough to break the sound barrier but a Learjet engine shouldn't.  Try limiting it to 11.5 kn and building flyable aircraft.

 

the only part I have never used is the micronode

I have acctually broken the sound barrier with 4 juno engines in career mode (no mods!)

[Rath]

17 hours ago, Rath said:

The Juno is quite powerful.  20kn isn't enough to break the sound barrier but a Learjet engine shouldn't.  Try limiting it to 11.5 kn and building flyable aircraft.

 

I mostly use it for radar domes on drones or somesuch.

 

[MinimalMinmus]

Beyond the infamous micronode, I don't use jet engines much because I'm bad at planes,and I never use the stayputnik because... I mean, no SAS! This thing is terrible! I always wait for the OKTO before launching probes.

[Sharpy]

6 hours ago, MinimalMinmus said:

Beyond the infamous micronode, I don't use jet engines much because I'm bad at planes,and I never use the stayputnik because... I mean, no SAS! This thing is terrible! I always wait for the OKTO before launching probes.

But Stayputnik is so awesome structural element!

[something]

I never really bothered using the small red and white 'stick' antenna. I just seem to use the golden foldable dish because of the look. Turns out ComNet liked that idea. In early career you might want to use the small one, though.

Fuel Cells? Solar panels work great on Duna and by the time I go to Jool I have RTG - so why fuel cells? 

Lander Cans? Too little crew capacity - I tend to go with 2-3 Kerbals minimum, so no point in using them...

 

[Whisky Tango Foxtrot]

I've used a Stayputnik on one satellite that I have orbiting Minmus, but I transported it to orbit using a manned craft and only released it when it was already in the correct orbit. I agree, it's mostly useless, both due to its lack of SAS and the fact that it needs to be positioned in that ultra-valuable end-of-stack position.

I use the red and white antenna (Communotron 16) pretty often, since nearly every craft I launch that isn't a relay itself is going to be operating within range of a relay so a larger antenna isn't necessary. The only reason why I put a DTS-M1 in my SSTO is that it was the lightest antenna that would fold up nicely inside my cargo bay. If space wasn't a concern, I would have used the basic antenna there, too. The 16-S, on the other hand, I almost never use because it has the same capabilities as the regular 16 but is three times the weight. Not much point to using that, especially in space.

Edited December 28, 2016 by Whisky Tango Foxtrot

[Ultimate Steve]

On ‎12‎/‎26‎/‎2016 at 8:24 PM, Vinhero100 said:

I have acctually broken the sound barrier with 4 juno engines in career mode (no mods!)

Yesterday I got bored and decided to make the smallest plane I could. One Juno got it to nearly 800m/s in level flight.

And aside from early career, I don't use the non-retractable solar panels.

[phantom000]

I used the 'Stayputnik' once, on a flight that crashed so i reverted back to the VAB. Later when i redesigned the flight vehicle i used the Probodyne core instead.

I decided that i prefer Lander Cans to to cockpits, they are just so useful because you can fit all sorts of stuff on them. So i probably won't use the MK2 cockpit.

[Carl]

Quote

Yesterday I got bored and decided to make the smallest plane I could. One Juno got it to nearly 800m/s in level flight.

How'd you get it off the ground, i found the stock landing gear, or possibly the runway is sticky enough you need 3 to make it roll. Once airborne they're great, but getting the thing moving, not so much.

[Sharpy]

4 hours ago, Carl said:

How'd you get it off the ground, i found the stock landing gear, or possibly the runway is sticky enough you need 3 to make it roll. Once airborne they're great, but getting the thing moving, not so much.

Go small enough and you get TWR>1 on Juno and can launch vertically. Another option is to place the plane under the ceiling of SPH (or VAB!), put it on a launch clamp, and just pull up in time,

[The Optimist]

The micronode is a good part, when I use it to make missiles. It packs quite a punch.

[Leopard]

I actually like the stayputnik, works nicely on SRB boosters with disposable probes, say test 'x' on escape out of Kerbin. SAS is less needed when your under thrust with fins much of the time, and by the time you're unable to use fins and aero you headed for orbit anyway. Besides with lowish thrust its not unflyable. Test to make it my fist orbiting satellite in most career saves as well, liquid steerable rockets and careful use of the controls and it works fine.

Obsolete the moment something better comes along of course but fun occasionally.

 

Eggbox here, most of the bits I've never used are far enough along the tech tree I have yet to get there between crashes.. roll on the update.