XLjedi

Oxidizer... I'm looking at you! ;-D

I do really like the play-style/idea of dedicated "space stuff"... I also have a hard time separating myself from the "coolness" component of space planes though. I've been tinkering with a mothership-type class to move stuffs between planets. In my latest attempt at a career playthru, I'm also trying to limit the number of items that I have floating around up there. A science lab corvette that I can essentially move from place to place as I need to is also in the works, having a little trouble on the lifter for that one though. It has some pretty cool "Orbital Science Attack Missiles" on it. ...for shooting collected research back to the ground from orbit! Just have to figure out how it's going to get into orbit to begin with? <sigh>

A decent interplanetary nuke tug is something I've been kicking around lately... Although I've been a bit torn between the idea of a larger sized mothership or to go with more of a "Jedi-ring warp drive" style smaller thing to just plug a lander into. I also approve of that tanker approach for refueling! I don't see a need to have to intercept and dock twice to get to the fuel.

First off, that's a great craft! Good job. Would it be possible to add a nuke engine to the mix? The nuke typically jumps my SSTO's into the 2k DV range for a 100k orbit (and that's with my very crude piloting abilities). One nuke for 4 Rapiers is a mix that has worked well for me on Mk2 designs. In your original Mk2 design you seem to have plenty of TWR up into the 1.25 range... In addition to the nuke, you could also add more fuel and bring that down into the 0.8 to 1.0 range. At which point I'd try a 10-15° standard climb for ascending as a starting point and plan to use the single nuke drive for interplanetary. ...maybe also try a bit more air, to keep the rapiers breathing at altitude with the shallower ascent angle.

I seem to be spamming craft pics today... @Corona688 "People will go to heroic lengths to avoid landing the full-sized ISRU, just because it's so obnoxious to design with. You can't attach radial parts to it, so any traditional design becomes a top-heavy needle or skycrane of trusses. " Mobile planet-side ISRU, bit of a monstrosity, but it's not too bad! https://kerbalx.com/XLjedi/RLV-21-Magic-Hat However, this whole idea of 1500 units of ore being equivalent to 3000 liquid units (even if conversion is happening in a vacuum?) and requiring zero electricity in the process does have me rethinking the idea of an orbital refinery. However distastefully unrealistic that might seem, I'm usually quick to say, "Meh, it's just a game."

@Freshmeat ...that's too compelcated for my simple mind to appreciate. I kinda view an interplanetary launch from Minmus no different than trying to hit a planet from Kerbin. The distances are so great, it just doesn't seem to matter that much, I'm just happy to hit something within the SOI of a given system! Then again, I don't always hit my target either. ;-D ...mission saved by F5 once again.

Sounds like a bug... you should not be able to recover something unless it's landed on Kerbin and not moving. If I had the appropriate parts in stock, I might even suggest doing away with recovery from the surface of Kerbin. I may play my next career and try to force myself to only use the recover button if the craft is actually sitting somewhere on the KSC. I think the only mod part I'd need for a playthru like that would be the KAS winch and attachment parts.

I work in the energy industry and I have to admit, I really always just assumed a 1:1 (or greater) energy conversion ratio was not possible... regardless of having an Engineer aboard. Loss of energy during a refining process is kinda one of those assumptions that is as certain as gravity. I would be a bit disappointed if you could actually squeeze more juice out of rock than the actual weight of the rock. I strongly suspect a surface refinery on Minmus or the Mun that lifts liquid fuels to orbit would be far more efficient. The idea of an orbital refinery makes no sense to me. ...but I do admit, I have not vetted the ore/fuel conversion ratio.

Interesting point... can't say that I knew that. I have an SSTO that can make LKO with maybe 2100-2200-ish DV to spare (with my rather crude piloting skills). This particular craft also carries ISRU equipment and can make low Minmus orbit with 4000-4400 DV available. I had not taken into consideration the Oberth effect, but still seems a better option to stop at Minmus if it's only a 500 dv gain?

@linuxgurugamer Oh WOW! Yesm, I do use KVV for my blueprints! ...and thank you for it! Didn't realize that was your mod. It's wonderful! Although, now that I know you created it, you realize I'm going to suggest upgrades that would make my blueprint work far easier. ;-D I've also noticed some bugs introduced to KVV as a result of the last 1.3.1 upgrade.

I make those blueprints for all the craft that I post to KerbalX. Otherwise, how would anyone know the intended mission role? I do get asked that question a lot though... I s'pose I could post a tutorial on how I do it exactly, if interested?

Is there a benefit to an orbital refinery? I sorta assumed that converting 30t of ore would result in 5-10t of fuel or far less? Is there some magical conversion factor built into KSP that some how allows for 100% fuel conversion (or greater) efficiency? If so, I would certainly opt for an orbital refinery... as it is now, I keep mobile ISRU vehicles on the nice flat "sea" of Minmus for refueling.

@Hotel26 Yep, I use a "Fuel Claw" on all of my fuel trucks... https://kerbalx.com/XLjedi/RV-10A-Fuel-Truck

All of the craft are in the "My Designs" link in my signature below... This is the RLV-21 (RLV = Roving Logistics Vehicle) "Magic Hat" mobile ISRU and it turns the SC-20 Monarch SSTO into a SSTA. It doesn't just convert ore to fuel, it's also a mobile power plant with dual Gigantor solar arrays and the "Hat" is a LD Relay Antenna. ...and this is how it works with the Monarch SSTO: I can either leave the "Magic Hat" on a low gravity moon to serve as a mobile refueling outpost. ...or reload it and move on to the next planet. Another advantage to the overhead gantry method is that it allows you to ALWAYS be able to drive straight into the cargo bay. As opposed to having to back-in if the docking port was located at the rear of the rover. You'll find that you will always want to drive straight in, it's much easier. I also have several rovers that are compatible with this system... notice the UV-14 Barracuda submersible and the RV-17 rover in the blueprint above. https://kerbalx.com/XLjedi/RLV-21-Magic-Hat https://kerbalx.com/XLjedi/SC-20-Monarch As far as controlling rollovers on low gravity planets... My rovers are rather large and I typically include reaction wheels in the design to manage roll. You just need to be aware that the ability to adjust for roll is there as you drive it around. In your design, your wheel base does not have to be that narrow. You can see in my designs what I view as the optimum wheel base width for large Mk3 rovers. You have to "thread the needle" with your rover because you're not designing your transport craft to accomodate loading/unloading. Since I'm dealing with larger sized rovers, I've designed my transport craft with auxiliary wheels and struts to allow them to "sit" or "squat" to reduce the loading ramp entry angle. It would not be possible to get the RLV-21 up a Mk3 cargo ramp otherwise. The idea is to keep the deployed cargo ramp and loading bay area a straight line, and tilt the whole craft so the ramp touches the ground. I'm guessing at 3.1M, my typical rover is taller than what you have, but it fits easily in the cargo bay and there's still room for the overhead gantry.

Yes it works, although I abandoned your idea of attaching to a wall because it was too limiting on the type/shape/size of rovers that I wanted to create. I have some rovers that are quite large and would bend down if stuck to a rear wall when gravity is applied. Others are designed such that attachment at front or rear is impossible. It really left me no other choice; overhead attachment was the only viable solution for Mk3 cargo bays. So I use "lift jacks" to raise the rover to the overhead gantry. I have an airdrop utility truck, a fuel truck, a mobile ISRU, an amphibious rover, a submarine... and they are all UTOG compatible. So far, I also have 3 large transport craft all with the same gantry system installed. The rovers are interchangeable between transport craft covering air/sea/space, all I had to do was maintain consistency on the gantry height. I have an SSTO that can drop off mobile ISRU vehicles on various moons to establish a network of mobile refueling points. I can pretty much put any type of rover I want on any planet now and easily retrieve them and/or repack for the next location. I may even take my submarine on a mission to Laythe in the near future. In some cases I use landing struts, for others retractable gear works better. I found with retractable gear the craft briefly bounces up upon retracting; so it both docks and stows the gear in one action. My submarine uses this method and the retractable gear allow it to maneuver 'carefully' on land to load/unload. I also prefer to start missions at the KSC with the mission rovers separate from the transport vehicle and I load them up on the runway, perform the mission, return and unload them. Which may not be everyone's style of gameplay but I seem to enjoy the loading/unloading part. Here's a cool airdrop mission to the Island Base to deliver supplies: You can tryout all these craft if you like and do the same missions... They're available for download in the "My Designs" link in my signature below.

I have no problem transferring fuel on my fuel truck using the claw... (see video above) And if you sink it into the craft/rover it's not too bad; actually looks pretty good on the fuel truck I think.

I have experienced the same thing but have managed a very workable solution with my patented Untied Technologies Overhead Gantry (UTOG) safe transport system! I've also built a number of "UTOG" compatible rovers/craft of various types that are mission ready. Here's a short mission video that illustrates the concept: (notice how the fuel truck is equipped with lift jacks for docking) Additionally, I have also been developing a Mk 2 "Engineering Bay" system for transporting smaller rovers. Although I have not yet published the associated craft, I do have this video to show how it works: (no wheel clipping issues if there's no floor to clip)

While on the topic of keystrokes... I've also been meaning to ask; which key is it that makes the cockpit lock see-thru from the third person view?

@Gaarst No worries... apparently it's either backspace or tilde depending on which version you have. I'm using 1.3.1 at the moment. I could also understand if peeps were accustomed to it being backspace maybe reassigning the keystroke back to the backspace?

Not... it's the tilde "~" But thanks

While I appreciate the mods closing this thread; as it no longer pertains to the current version of the game... It would also be helpful to know how to do it now? Edit: ah... I read thru to the bottom and see that the tilde "~" does still work!

Curious... can the Xbox version share import/export craft in some way with the PC versions?

@SnakyLeVrai I am very impressed with that array of rockets! You may just have renewed my interest in the VAB.

I have to admit, I spend very little time in the VAB nowadays. I think the first time I put chutes on boosters to recover them and they failed to work as intended... it just turned me away from rocket design. (Yes, I have since heard there are mods to address this.)

Good saucer design! I've been working on something similar... although not an Enterprise replica. I qualify mine as the OCV Class (Orbital Command Vessel). It's role is to ferry other mission-specific class between the planets and maintain an orbital position while "away teams" visit the surface and then return to orbit. Your refueling probe looks to be a similar design. Thus far, the Kraken thinks they're delicious!