ShadowZone

Well they worked fine for me in 5.2.6, but suddenly all my spaceships with HX parts just fall apart as soon as they load on the runway or launchpad or anywhere

I wish I had seen this thread earlier... spent the last 3 hours of my life trying to figure out why my probe wasn't able to fulfill that contract ...

Thanks @Kolago, been looking for that info myself.

... you just want to bring a 82t payload via shuttle into orbit, never make it the first few times and then create such a giant booster stage that not only can you deliver the payload into orbit, but after that have 2000 m/s of Delta V left, so you make a sightseeing trip to Mun and Minmus and then return to Kerbin.

This is my "Space Shuttle Kenterprise Maxx" (an evolution of the craft I posted earlier) which manages to hold a Kerbodyne 82t in its cargo bay with ease. Getting it to orbit though... the maximum I managed was 50t (Kerbodyne 41t + Rockomax 9t tanks stacked together) to a stable 88km orbit. Call me inspired. Escape "lifeboat" and aft hatch (Infernal Robotics required - Engine part kept in check ("anti wobble measure") by 4 docking port clamps). Honestly? A nice idea but (aside from the lifeboat concept) very unstable - at least my version 1. The tail still wobbles all over the place, even with the clamps in place.

Thanks! But it kind of defeats one of the main purposes of the original shuttle: saving all three of those expensive RS-25 engines. I am currently struggling lifting a 82t Kerbodyne tank into orbit. Ever managed that with your design?

Made one about two weeks ago. Manages about 20 tons of cargo into lower kerbin orbit. Used only stock 0.25 parts to build a cargo bay for 2.5m parts... and then 0.90 and the Mk3 parts came out ... oh well. more: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/104253-Space-Shuttle-Kenterprise-%2820-tons-into-lower-kerbin-orbit%29

Thanks! But to be honest I was a little disgruntled at first when just a few days after finishing this version 0.90 with stock cargo bays for 2.5m parts came out. Time to go for 3.75m!

Okay, here it is. My take on a space shuttle (orbiter strapped on external tank with additional SRB). This was created before 0.90, so I had to make a cargo bay for 2.5m parts using structural parts. Also, I prefer the looks of the Mk2 cockpit parts over the Mk3 parts Here's how it looks: And here's how it flies: .craft file --> Download here Some instructions come with this: Before launch, lock upper Kerbodyne external fuel tank. Helps keeping center of mass more or less stable. Launch with approx. 75% thrust on straight Mainsail. Adjust thrust on straight Mainsail (first lower it, later on increase it) to keep vehicle on a straight ascent vector. After reaching 100% thrust on straight Mainsail, adjust thrust on angled Mainsail (decrease first, later increase). After SRB burn out, be aware of sudden tilting! A short time after SRB separation it is time to unlock the upper half of the external tank (it is okay if just a little bit of LFO is left in the lower half). Keep adjusting angled Mainsail until external tank runs out of fuel. Separate external tank and angled Mainsail (stage 2). Ride to Apoapsis and circularize (should be possible with payloads up to 20 tons). Use Monopropellant engines to adjust orbit. Deliver payload: press 4 to open cargo bay. Press 5 to release payload. Use RCS to move away. Deorbit. Glide to landing (best results are achieved with completely empty LFO tanks). Thoughts? Improvement suggestions? What I am currently working on: widening the cargo pay to accept 3.5m parts or bulkier space station modules.

Thanks for the info, I'm going to try this!

Simple Part Organizer is not working. Anyone know of a suitable alternative to switch mods on and off inside of the editor? Using B9, KAS, Infernal Robotics etc really makes navigating through parts rather a chore.

Astronomer's Visual Pack is not working under 0.90 on my machine. Game crashes during loading screen. Too bad, I really like that one.

EVE-7.4 works at first glance, but once I add Astronomer's additions, the game won't even get to the Start Menu and crashes every time. Too bad, I really liked this mod

Hmm... got mixed feelings about 0.25 - Exploding buildings. Yes, they are fun to mess around with. But then the Launchpad implodes from the weight of my rockets, it's no fun at all - especially if you haven't unlocked the clamps yet (those help). I often launch 4000 ton vehicles with payloads of 200t or more. Like this for instance: -New Plane Parts. Now this is really cool. I love the cargo bays. My KR-71 Whitebird now has a hidden VTOL engine. Great looks on the new parts as well. However... I used a lot of wing parts as "decoration" on some of my deep space cruisers, including the now no longer existing flaps. Well they look like crap now, but that's the risk of early access / alphas I guess - The economic stuff. I really don't care about that. I want to build stuff and use it. So all the effort put into that may appeal to some players, I just stick to sandbox or science modes. - Crew Transfer. Oh I love this! Transferring my 32-man crew to my deep space cruiser was a chore before this. However... it seems like hit and miss. Sometimes the cabin or compartment I want to transfer my crewmember to is highlighted but nothing happens when I click on it. - Crashes galore. Sometimes I cannot even launch the game into the main menu without experiencing a crash or two. Yes, I use some mods, which may be the cause, but there are no incompatibility warnings and everything worked fine before 0.25 - or at least to a certain degree. Just before writing this, I had 8 crashes over the course of 45 minutes. No fun at all. - Features vs. Performance. I am no developer... so maybe I misunderstand the entire process of creating this game. But I would really like to see more improvements on the basic performance instead of adding more and more features. I want my >1000 part ships to work smoothly and not to grind my rig to a complete halt. I managed to construct a 1300 ton fuel station in a stable orbit. I cannot use said fuel station because every time I want to guide a ship there and dock, my system throws in the towel. And I can run other high end games (things like Crysis 3 etc.) with no problem at all. This is really my biggest request: Make KSP in such a way that it no longer requires the power of a Tianhe-2 to run smoothly. So here's what I think: I love the rate of progress, I love the part improvements, I really don't care about the economic stuff and I still miss significant performance boosts.