Vanamonde Posted October 18, 2014 Share Posted October 18, 2014 (edited) My feeling is that a mature space program would not discard most of each ship during each flight, but would rather make reusable craft which can deliver payloads and then return to Kerbin to be refueled, loaded up again, and sent out once more. I have built a few generations of such ships now, and several hundred of you downloaded my previous versions, so I decided it was time to update the designs. Primarily due to ARM parts, the part counts have been significantly reduced, and the large one now launches as a single piece and does not require orbital assembly. Obviously, these are high-end ships which require a lot of money to build, and require that one has cleared most of the tech tree. But they pay for themselves with science contracts once launched, and then can just keep going, and the tech tree is really just the start of a career-mode campaign anyway. ***************************************************************First, here is the M117 Locomotive II class. The ship has 6 docking rings for attaching cargoes: four standard rings forward, and seniors at bow and stern. The ship can be operated without a crew, but carries a cupola for a pilot, and a hitchhiker module for up to 4 additional personnel. The Locomotive II has carried cargoes of up to 95 tons on multiple round-trip missions to Duna/Ike, Eve/Gilly, and Dres. Example: here it is, carrying two station cores, a science module, and a lander to Duna/Ike. Report of this mission. At launch, the Locomotive II costs 551,922 funds, but keep in mind that the ship can be re-used, and only needs to be bought once. I am not going to lie; these ships are not easy to get to orbit, as they are massive and not made to operate in atmosphere and rapid maneuvers. But again, each one only needs to be launched once, and then just keeps going through as many missions as you wish to give them. (With refueling, of course.) The Locomotive II should be run at full throttle throughout the ascent, and will eject 2 pairs of side boosters as it goes. The Locomotive II's flight engines are fuel-efficient LV-Ns, but these are unfortunately too weak to attain orbit by themselves. Aim for an apoapis of at least 160km, and do not transition to the final stage and LV-Ns before you have reached that altitude. The third and final booster stage will exhaust its own fuel before this is accomplished, however, so transfering fuel from the tanks of the Locomotive II to the booster during ascent will be necessary. However, once that apoapsis and most of orbital speed has been attained, pump any remaining fuel back into the Locomotive itself, and eject this final booster stage on a suborbital trajectory which will not leave it as space junk. And finally, circularize orbit on the LV-Ns. The Locomotive will need to be refueled before it is sent on missions, but is now ready to be loaded up and sent to the nearer planets. Once in space, the ship has a part count of 70, and a mass (with full fuel tanks but no cargo) of 238 tons. To assist in rendezvous and docking under dark conditions, the Locomotive II is provided with lights. Craft file: OBSOLETE ***************************************************************For the farther planets, this is the M111 Galleon class. As a scaled-up version of the smaller Locomotive II, the Galleon has a similar layout of 8 standard docking rings forward, and a senior ring at bow and stern, with a cupola for the pilot and a hitchhiker for 4 additional personnel. It also can be operated without crew. The Galleon and its previous versions have carried cargoes of up to 100 tons on missions to Moho, Eeloo, and the Jool system. Here it is loaded up with a science module, station core, lander, 2 large rovers and 2 small rovers, and 4 satellites, which payload it carried to the Jool system. Report of this mission. At launch the Galleon costs 697,615 funds, and again, is not easy to fly to orbit. But like Locomotive II, the Galleon can be used indefinitely once launched. Because of the difficulty of mounting boosters around the engine pods, the Galleon launches backwards. Once on the pad, right-click on the docking ring at the top of the launch stack and "control from here" so that the controls are oriented properly for flight. Fly at full thrust throughout the ascent as the Galleon ejects three booster stages. First, the SRBs, then a pair of booster stacks, and the other pair of boosters. Like the Locomotive, the Galleon cannot achieve orbit on its flight LV-Ns, so burn the last booster until the ship has achieved an apoapsis of 160kms or more and most of orbital speed. Before fully achieving orbit, hit action group 1 to eject the final booster engine. "Control from here" either the forward docking ring or the cupola, stage (spacebar) to activate the LV-Ns, turn the ship around, and circularize orbit with the Galleon's own LV-Ns. Once on station, the Galleon will need to be refueled, but is ready to be loaded up and sent out. Loaded with fuel but no cargo, the Galleon has a part count of 86 and a mass of 403 tons. It is also provided with self-illumination for docking operations. Craft file: OBSOLETE I hope these craft serve others well. Edited April 28, 2015 by Vanamonde Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chezburgar7300 Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 Wow, they're massive. When I read the title I was expecting tiny ion probes or something of the like. Imagine launching that with FAR installed . Anyway, cool stuff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keymaster89 Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 Really cool and impressive ships!Does them have problem with payload weight distribution when u burn to other planets? are the SAS on the engine nacelles enought to make the whole locomotive stable when burning? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanamonde Posted October 23, 2014 Author Share Posted October 23, 2014 (edited) Since they reworked SAS a few versions back, an unbalanced load may cause a ship to slowly turn to one side while under thrust, but wobbling is not a problem. This is why I put the most massive payload parts on the centerline senior docking ports, and try to unload the sub-missions in opposing pairs, so the ship is still pretty much thrusting through the centerline. But I did make a couple of burns with odd numbers of the rovers toward the bow still loaded, and didn't have a problem holding heading, so you don't have to be exact about it. Edited October 23, 2014 by Vanamonde Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vagani Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 These are so cool!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanamonde Posted November 23, 2014 Author Share Posted November 23, 2014 So about 400 of you have downloaded one or the other of these. What are you doing with them? I want pictures! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExplorerKlatt Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 (edited) I'm currently prepping the Galleon for a trip to Duna. It will be carrying an entire MKS colony for deployment. Depending on a few factors it may be accompanied by a locomotive carrying the crew for the colony. Screenshots to follow.Javascript is disabled. View full album Edited November 26, 2014 by ExplorerKlatt adding pictures Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
workerbee Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 I have a question about keeping the two side boosters fueled during flight...can you please comment on exactly how I am supposed to do that when transferring fuel to one side or the other causes the craft to flip due to weight inbalance? Perhaps I am overthinking it. I got the Locomotive in orbit (finally) but cannot seem to figure out how to keep the two side boosters alive for the Galleon. Any help would be very much appreciated and I must say, impressive crafts! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmashBrown Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 That, sir, is bloody astounding! Here, have a cookie, I know what I'll be trying to recreate in my 0.90 career mode! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanamonde Posted December 10, 2014 Author Share Posted December 10, 2014 workerbee, the launch engines are not efficient enough to get the ship to orbit before running out of fuel. Burn them long enough to build up most of orbital speed and set a high apoapsis, then throttle down and pump the remaining fuel from the boosters into the ship itself while under zero acceleration. No acceleration = no attitude problems due to imbalance. Then eject the drained boosters (on a sub-orbital path to avoid space junk) and circularize orbit using the ship's own LV-Ns. And thanks for the kind words, SmashBrown. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
workerbee Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 (edited) Having trouble uploading images...sorry The one you want is the BBCode version, like this: Edited December 11, 2014 by Vanamonde Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LvL Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 How much delta-V does the Locomotive II have by itself? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExplorerKlatt Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 How much delta-V does the Locomotive II have by itself?It has a little over 11k delta-v. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanamonde Posted December 12, 2014 Author Share Posted December 12, 2014 How much delta-V does the Locomotive II have by itself? I dunno. I never flew it anywhere unladen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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