How to use 5m parts?

[Abpilot]

spaces station modulus lifting

(my modulus are uber heavy)

[Superfluous J]

While I was making my moho drilling rig for the Snarkiverse, I was reminded of this thread.

A shade over 2000 tons on the pad, and just south of $1M funds.

 

[HeronRocketry]

10 hours ago, 5thHorseman said:

While I was making my moho drilling rig for the Snarkiverse, I was reminded of this thread.

A shade over 2000 tons on the pad, and just south of $1M funds.

 

Wow! Can you tell or show us how you attached the mainsails to the bottom? I really like those boosters.

[Superfluous J]

2 hours ago, HeronRocketry said:

Wow! Can you tell or show us how you attached the mainsails to the bottom? I really like those boosters.

I used the 5M plates from Making History (or are those base?) and attached 6 Mainsails to each. The other asparagus stage has Bobcats (18 total, 9 on a side in the thickest configuration of 8 around and 1 in the middle) and the middle stage has 4 Mastodons, that actually stick around until after Kerbin ejection but are dropped long before we reach Moho.

Here's the Imgur album from the first half of the mission. The ship is slightly different but essentially the same.

https://imgur.com/gallery/7prQ37J

Edited July 16, 2018 by 5thHorseman

[HeronRocketry]

On 7/16/2018 at 9:59 AM, 5thHorseman said:

I used the 5M plates from Making History (or are those base?) and attached 6 Mainsails to each. The other asparagus stage has Bobcats (18 total, 9 on a side in the thickest configuration of 8 around and 1 in the middle) and the middle stage has 4 Mastodons, that actually stick around until after Kerbin ejection but are dropped long before we reach Moho.

Here's the Imgur album from the first half of the mission. The ship is slightly different but essentially the same.

https://imgur.com/gallery/7prQ37J

Congrats! I would totally do something like that if my computer wouldn’t become a slideshow. 

[Superfluous J]

4 hours ago, HeronRocketry said:

Congrats! I would totally do something like that if my computer wouldn’t become a slideshow. 

Oh it didn't run at full speed but it was playable. It wasn't until both asparagus lift stages were out of physics range before I had a green timer

[Aeroboi]

5m stacks also save in part count when trying to lift heavy cargo. One could use 3.75m parts to lift something worth of 500 Ton into LKO but one could also use 5m parts that hold more fuel and thus saves part count.

Also, parts aren't always used traditionally. While it isn't functional to do this one could use the fuel tanks as empty assemblies to add bulkiness to your spacestation for looks.

On another note, people play with mods. Some have planet packs with larger Dv requirements and you would need more fuel to get to places. For this 5m parts are practical. It may also contribute to part variety when mixed with other 5m parts of part packs. All we need now is a 5m engine.

 

[ave369]

I find the 5m parts quite useful. My superheavy rocket has a 4 x 3.75 m asparagus booster stages, a 3.75 m central asparagus second stage and a 5m third stage with nukes. It goes to orbit with half of its central 3.75 m  stage still usable, leaving me with a bajillion of delta-V. It is useful to carry big payloads to Duna (or most other planets in the system) without the cheaty Orion mod, or to deliver whole stations and fuel depots to LKO and high Minmus orbits (in the latter case, the 5m section is not a stage but a fuel tank for refueling ships at the station). I've yet to design a purely 5m rocket, but I've already made a first stage engine cluster for it, with 4 mastodons in the corners and 9 vectors in the center (I call it the Brontosaurus engine). i tested this cluster with a Saturn V lookalike, it pulls 2-3 gees at start.

 

Thinking big, in fact, is an acquired skill. There was a time when Rockomax was the biggest size I was comfortable with, and 3.75 m Kerbodyne seemed unusably gigantic to me.

Edited November 11, 2018 by ave369

[Tonka Crash]

A 5m core is the basis of my heavy lift booster. I have it saved as a subassembly. If you don't have a need for 5m parts, you just aren't throwing heaving enough payloads into orbit.

Here's using it for launching a Mun fuel tanker and a Minmus base module with a converter and storage tanks.  FYI the fuel tanks on payloads are mostly empty with only enough fuel to get on site where they will be filled. If launched full this booster wouldn't get to orbit.

[Ruedii]

Two good uses:
1.  MASSIVE heavy lifter stages
2.  Massive fuel tanks on stations, and interplanetary mother-ships.
3.  Massive long range interplanetary tugs. 
4.  Massive fuel transports.

Basically, they are for moving big stuff around.  A really good way to use them is using them in space to feed a Wolfhoud clusters with them.  That gives massive high-efficiency engine tugs for your mother-ships.

For lifters they can be great for launching 3.75 and 2.5 meter equipment, as well as (obviously) for getting the 5m equipment off the ground.