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Raptor's Craft Download Catalog - Tested & Proven


Raptor9

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Make your own craft...

No, seriously. Except for the Orbiter Station, my crafts start out because while I like Raptor's design -- especially his Orion -- I just prefer functionality and low part count (especially in light of his 1.2 and 1.3 designs) . Now instead of saying "raptor please use less parts", I just start with his 1.1 design, then evolve it to capsules + 1.8m fuel tanks, then as time goes on I even removed his extra RCS, added the Mk1 capsule for extra capacity, and go from there.

Edited by Jestersage
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Is it possible to get a higher grade of reusabilty out of your LV-3C? It seems to be a waste to have 5-10 empty landers sitting useless next to a surface base.

It would be cool to put multiple BM platforms on a NITE and send them to Mun, Ike, etc. and only use one lander that gets refuelled on the ground and gets back to the parked 'warehouse'.

If you launch 10 LV-3Cs for Just one base the price goes way beyond a million bucks.

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15 minutes ago, Jester Darrak said:

Is it possible to get a higher grade of reusabilty out of your LV-3C? It seems to be a waste to have 5-10 empty landers sitting useless next to a surface base.

Doesn't he have a bunch of rover for refueling through the side mini port?

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1 hour ago, Jester Darrak said:

Is it possible to get a higher grade of reusabilty out of your LV-3C?
snip
If you launch 10 LV-3Cs for Just one base the price goes way beyond a million bucks.

Possible, yes.  But it went against my overall strategy.  I approach the Mun and other low gravity bodies with two broad strategies.

1) Maintain small orbital research stations in orbit, and use reusable landers to make sequential landings to biome after biome to retrieve science to bring back to the station for conducting research.  This can be augmented by small surface research sites in the form of the LV-3B, which are akin to remote research locations in the arctic/antarctic here on Earth.  The principle here is to keep the total launches to set up or implement this strategy as few as possible, with propellant refueling needed for just the lander.

2) Fully commit to large, expensive surface infrastructure with redundant habitation and logistics infrastructure, supported by a combination of surface ISRU distribution via rovers and in-SOI orbital ISRU distribution by propellant depots.  In the case of surface activities, especially on higher gravity/atmo bodies like Duna or Laythe, equipment delivery is a one-way street to the surface.  The orbital activities leverage as much re-usability as possible to, along with funds generated from surface research/contracts, offset the long-term hardware costs of all the equipment that is sent to the surface.

Using cargo landers in an expendable fashion on the Mun (or Ike, Dres etc) sort of unnecessarily commits to the 2nd strategy given other craft I've designed, but when I imagine myself sending module after module to the surface with a return to orbit and rendezvous/refuel between each one, makes my eyes roll back in my head.  The same reason why I don't care for SSTO spaceplanes.  It gets monotonous after a while.

2 hours ago, Jester Darrak said:

It seems to be a waste to have 5-10 empty landers sitting useless next to a surface base.

I might save one or two LV-3C's to use as propellant depots on the surface, but otherwise I just delete each LV-3C or LV-3D from the Tracking Station after each module delivery.

2 hours ago, Jester Darrak said:

It would be cool to put multiple BM platforms on a NITE and send them to Mun, Ike, etc. and only use one lander that gets refuelled on the ground and gets back to the parked 'warehouse'.

This is why I used a docking clamp instead of a decoupler as a cargo mount on the LV-3C lander.  If someone (including myself) down the road wants to implement a more reusable delivery method, the lander can already dock and re-dock with multiple modules.  The only thing that requires modification is the surface modules and find a way to stack them on a propulsion stage for delivery to the destination.  But the part count will climb rapidly having a bunch of individual modules on one rocket.

1 hour ago, Jestersage said:

Doesn't he have a bunch of rover for refueling through the side mini port?

I put that there mainly to offload excess propellant for use by the surface base fuel cells.  But as stated above, there is room for growth to implement refueling for re-usability.

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On 1/23/2019 at 2:55 AM, SiriusRocketry said:

I am surprised you haven't posted the first Kerbin orbiter probe 

 

On 1/23/2019 at 3:50 AM, SiriusRocketry said:

First Kerbin orbiter probe, like Sputnik and Explorer I. Sorry for the confusion. 

Sorry, if I am being a bit impatient, but are you going to address this? If you wish not to, then please don't. Don't forget about all those Russian rocket parts and the Stayputnik.

Edit: You seem to have created the Vanguard probes as a practice spacecraft. One might assume you would do the same for World Firsts, like first satellite, etc.

Edited by AlchemicRaven
Just thought of more info.
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10 hours ago, AlchemicRaven said:
On 1/23/2019 at 6:50 PM, SiriusRocketry said:

First Kerbin orbiter probe, like Sputnik and Explorer I.

Sorry, if I am being a bit impatient, but are you going to address this?

I have no plans to build these at this time.

10 hours ago, AlchemicRaven said:

You seem to have created the Vanguard probes as a practice spacecraft

Actually, they were designed to be sister spacecraft to the 'Specter' and 'Scorpion' orbiter/lander combos, to serve as 1st Generation communications relays.  And compared to the 2nd Generation probes/sats that picked up those missions around Duna and Eve, the earlier probes had much more robust delta-V reserves, to allow players some more wiggle room for their first time "out the door".  So yes, they were sort of "practice probes" that had operational missions.  After gaining experience sending these first probes out and about, the delta-V margins shrank considerably when progressing to the 2nd Gen probes/sats.

I didn't feel it necessary to have a "practice probe" for every milestone in a space program.  But when you see the ratio of Kerbin SOI craft to interplanetary craft on KerbalX, or hear the comments from so many forum users that never go interplanetary, I'm hoping these spacecraft will hopefully encourage players to try.  A player can experience so many more and varied engineering challenges when they go interplanetary, which brings more re-play-ability to their KSP install.

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Okay,I tried out the BM stuff and they work great! Compared to the legacy BMs, the delivery method improved like a thousand times. It's just so smooth to lift them off the lander, it's like the easiest thing in the world. I used one LV-3C and a total of four Titan launches to get a whole Base Camp and Refuelling Outpost to the surface of Mun, that's how easy it is!

Just another genuine masterpiece!

Edited by Jester Darrak
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8 hours ago, Jester Darrak said:

I used one LV-3C and a total of four Titan launches to get a whole Base Camp and Refuelling Outpost to the surface of Mun, that's how easy it is!

Nice @Jester Darrak, if you have any screenshots I'd love to see them.  It's always interesting to see all the different build combinations and layouts of space stations and surface bases when players are using a set of separate modules to choose from.
_________________________________

In other news, with my LV-3A and B landers updated, I'm continuing updates to round out my Constellation-inspired craft.  The main focus will obviously be to finally get the HLV-6A and B landers updated.  And updated they will be; good Lord these eye-sores are still on v1.3.1 for crying out loud. :blush:  But an update to the HLV-6 landers wouldn't be complete without an accompanying update to the EV-4 'Longship' NTR-powered ships as well.  These are already complete, I just need to finish a couple verification interplanetary transfers to ensure their performance hasn't been impacted.  I've already completed a Block 1 test, I just need to send out a Block 2 and 3 now.

I'm also removing the NTR Assembly Mk3 from the module list because it's useless and really doesn't create any performance benefit when using LV-N's in this manner.  I'm also considering removing the In-Line Tank Mk3, we'll see.  Another small reason I needed to update the EV-4's is due to the LV-909 revision in 1.6 my EV-2C's are now a little longer, and could no longer be docked in the short saddle truss section of the EV-4 Hab/Lab modules.

Some numbers: The new EV-4 Block 1 and Block 2 are both only 1 ton heavier than their existing versions, and 7 parts less.  The new Block 3 is 2.5 tons heavier, but 4 parts more than it's existing version.  However, these new EV-4's look much cooler and closer in appearance to the real-life concepts they are analogous to. :cool: 

Edited by Raptor9
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1 hour ago, Raptor9 said:

@AlchemicRaven, already way ahead of you. :D

Already have one built, gonna try to put it on the new HLV-6's, and possibly a standalone subassembly for loading on the LV-3 cargo landers.

Pretty much everyone realize it's a SEV. The quesiton is how to make it so it looks good and deliver well. Can't wait for your design!

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3 hours ago, Raptor9 said:

@AlchemicRaven, already way ahead of you. :D

Already have one built, gonna try to put it on the new HLV-6's, and possibly a standalone subassembly for loading on the LV-3 cargo landers.

Why u no show us? Although I'm spoiled by the Rover from The Martian, we do need one with a Science Jr. and/or a Science Container.

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Hard to say -- unlike my design which is geared toward as low part count as possible, Raptor's craft also have a huge element of aethestic, and since it will never be 100% align, sometimes, given the same craft, there maybe multiple revisions... Not to mention the problem with paper projects is there are no single designs (eg: Altair comes with at least 3 known variants), and if you go stock there are no way good to go. For example, he pretty much have both the HLV-5 carrier and LV-3C to choose from. Since there are no actual plan of delivering it in the original plan, he will have to decide.

Just be patient. Anyone can make a decision SEV by throwing on 3 pairs of wheels. Making a good one and a good lander is different story.

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1 hour ago, Jester Darrak said:

Why u no show us?

57 minutes ago, Jestersage said:

Just be patient. Anyone can make a decision SEV by throwing on 3 pairs of wheels. Making a good one and a good lander is different story.

Another big part of it is efficiency of work and avoiding publishing a "working draft".  I try to avoid showing a particular craft or design until I'm almost certain that nothing will change.  The best example of some past designs that I forgo this practice was the surface base modules.  I started showing screenshots of not just prototypes, but modules that were still in the midst of being tested.  Not only did I end up changing a lot of the modules anyway, some of the components were never even published because they failed the testing process miserably.  Not to mention the time delay between first showing the project screenshots to when they were actually published was an abhorrent amount of time.  I first showed concepts for new surface base modules in September...of 2017!  For some reason, I went through a phase that autumn where I was showing a lot of teasers for stuff I was working on, with nothing ever published.  Heck, the EV-7 'Skipjack' has been collecting dust on my hard drive for almost as long.

A lot of that was 17-20 pages back on this thread.  Some of those screenshots make me cringe.  Yeah, KSP parts look much better now with all the revisions since 1.4 and onward, but man I shake my head at some of my older craft versions.  Yuck.

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Spoiler

Munshield.jpg

So, 3/4 of the base are done. As you can see, there's only one LV-3C that's beeing re-used. All leftover decouplers, stack separators and docking ports have been turned into Hoola-hoop Rings and Dinner Plates. The Meerkat finally hovered into position before being connected to the outpost. A test-run during sunlight helped finish a contract but for 24/7 operations a fuel cell-powered logistics module is needed which will come with the last Titan 4. Also, the follow-up contract for mining ore was this:

freshcontract.jpg

EV-6 Windjammer, anyone?

Edited by Jester Darrak
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On 1/24/2019 at 9:39 AM, Jestersage said:

Make your own craft...

No, seriously. Except for the Orbiter Station, my crafts start out because while I like Raptor's design -- especially his Orion -- I just prefer functionality and low part count (especially in light of his 1.2 and 1.3 designs) . Now instead of saying "raptor please use less parts", I just start with his 1.1 design, then evolve it to capsules + 1.8m fuel tanks, then as time goes on I even removed his extra RCS, added the Mk1 capsule for extra capacity, and go from there.

I do much the same. I tend to recreate Raptor's craft based largely on the pictures, but slightly modified for my play-style. I add MechJeb and reaction wheels to everything for example. I also still largely use his older EV-1 (with the service bay underneath) design for my 1-crew capsules.
Keep up the excellent work Mr. Raptor!
 

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56 minutes ago, Cooptimus Prime said:

I add MechJeb and reaction wheels to everything for example.

Personally I use MechJeb and Engineer for all!, as opposed to adding MechJeb to each craft. I usually just enable reaction wheels at times for easier use, though some craft are impossible to fly automatically with MechJeb, therefore I fly most manually. The only older craft I saved was the old two-staged LV-4A, due to realism.

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Hey guys, I am new to the game and have loved the raptor9 crafts.

I have an extremely newb question regarding the "BM Series". How do I use the "LR-3 Mongoose" to move the base pieces around? After I decouple the LR-3's from the LV lift craft, I can no longer control the Mongoose, only the core of the lift rack.

Any help would be great! Thanks.

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26 minutes ago, Branden1010 said:

After I decouple the LR-3's from the LV lift craft, I can no longer control the Mongoose, only the core of the lift rack.

You need to use the  [  and  ]  keys to switch to the rovers to drive them around.  These keys allow you to cycle between any craft within physics range, usually around 2.2 km.

By the way, welcome to the forums and glad you're enjoying the craft. :)

Edited by Raptor9
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1 hour ago, Raptor9 said:

You need to use the  [  and  ]  keys to switch to the rovers to drive them around.  These keys allow you to cycle between any craft within physics range, usually around 2.2 km.

By the way, welcome to the forums and glad you're enjoying the craft. :)

Building a large base made the paint on both of these keys vanish on my keyboard.

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40 minutes ago, Jester Darrak said:

Building a large base made the paint on both of these keys vanish on my keyboard.

Switching between several vessels used to really annoy me until I downloaded this:

It allows you to switch vessels by just holding Alt (or whatever modifier key you use) and clicking on the desired craft.

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