strider3

First, let me say that I am just searching for info...not trying to start a battle (which seems to have become more and more prevalent in the forums, lately). I have been told by several people in a recent thread I started to wait on the 1.4.4 patch, instead of trying to upgrade 1.3 to 1.4.3. I have no ongoing "missions" and my next task is to build a much larger refueling station in Kerbin orbit, for farther planetary explorations. I have all the required downloads, including the mods I like, ready to go in 1.4.3 but, after hearing the comments about some "glitches" (none were specified, exactly, however), I thought I would ask for the straight skinny from you guys. "Should I stay or should I go" LOL. Hearing the news about Take Two also makes me wonder if a 1.4.4 is still a working possibility. No complaints or condemnations from me...far from it. I love KSP and just want to know where it, and I, stand. Vic

I'll build my bigger Kerbin orbital refueling station in 1.3, then.

Hi bewing. Are you saying that with KAS I can do an EVA with my engineer and tools and attach station modules without using docking ports?

Done, thanks brother.

I prefer to save my "saves" on another drive, reformat the KSP drive so it's nice and clean, then install the new KSP version and copy over my saves to it. Sounds like you all agree, in theory. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't leaving anything behind. This hasn't always worked (because I can be an idiot LOL)...moving to 1.3 using this same system caused me to lose all my saved ships and subassemblies. It ended up being a problem with the 1.3 download, AFAICT (and me "moving" my saves to the new KSP, instead of copying to make sure all was good before deleting). Thanks gang.

Dang...sorry. How do I move the discussion?...really thought I was in the right place...LOL.

Didn't think "gameplay" was the proper place for this question...feel free to correct me. I am downloading 1.4.3 as we speak. What folders should I copy and save from my old 1.3 install. I'm guessing my career folder, in "saves", complete, which should contain my career to date, ship and sub-assemblies and any "tweaks" to .cfg files pertaining to this career. Mods will have to be updated, of course so I wasn't going to save those. Anything I'm missing here? Thanks gang! Vic

I've lately been seeing talk and pictures of KSP planets and such I've never heard of...can you direct me to the mod/s that may be being used? I thought "Interplanetary" would be one but it doesn't mention new worlds.

Thank you for explaining that, 4X4!

Thanks 4X4! I have KIS/KAS and I don't believe they have anything that would allow orbital construction without docking ports, AFAIK. Still looking for definitions of "Grandparent, Root and Heaviest". Heaviest of the entire ship, or the heaviest of the sub-assembly being attached...stuff like that. Would docking ports be considered "surface attached"? As you can tell, the construction terminology is sorta escaping me? LOL!

I need to build a larger refueling station in Kerbin orbit. My current one does not have the fuel capacity I would like. One problem I have with the current station is what I'll call progressive "wobble". Orbiting by itself the station was fine, but after docking other ships to it and especially transferring fuel, LoX, etc., it sometimes starts to wobble, which seems to have connection points as the "weak" areas. This will get progressively worse until parts start flying off (tanks, large antennas) or it simply explodes. I asked a few questions in a previous post but thought I would start one dedicated to the problem. Some points: Autostruts: I was using stock EAS-4 struts during construction and KAS CS-R2 portable struts during assembly of modules in orbit. These did not seem to really solidify the structure as I would have thought...or prevent the issue. Part of the earlier discussion was about autostruts (I was not using them) and how to use them (Grandparent, Root, Heaviest part). I'm not sure a consensus was reached on the "how" but Grandparent seemed to be more in favor. I would ask for more information on autostruts from the expert builders here...where to use them and how. Rigid attachment; sounds straightforward but what is it, really, and would it help stabilize and solidify my station? Attaching station modules in orbit: AFAICT, the only way to attach station modules in orbit is using docking ports, which seem to me to be the weak link in the "wobble" issue. Is this the only way? Some other points that were brought up: turning off reaction wheels on docked ships and turning off SAS on docking ships before docking with station. These confuse me as, once docked, shouldn't the entire thing act as one ship, with reaction wheels and SAS (no matter where) acting in harmony to control orientation? I do, however, go to the command part of the station (cupola, etc.) and set "control from here" after each docking. Any other tips and tricks from the experts on reducing or eliminating the wobble, whether through construction techniques, operations, etc. would be greatly appreciated. Vic "who turned on the darn Wobbulator??"

I'm looking for a mod which will add contracts to my KSP? Stock is (I'm sorry) ridiculous. I fly once to the Mun and all my contracts become Duna or some other stupid things. Is there a mod which will allow me to continue having contracts to the Mun and Minmus? The stock contracts become stupid after every achievement on my part.

I agree, in theory, but when I'm docking much bigger (more mass) ships to a smaller station, and transferring fuel, etc., nothing seems to really work to avoid this other than getting it over with and undocking ASAP. This is my philosophy going forward, at any rate. I will build a bigger station, based on lessons learned, for future exploration beyond Duna. I will have to ask more questions about this and "rigid attachments" and "auto struts" and construction of, and piecing together of, such a station at a later date.

This Grandpa agrees completely...oh...you meant auto struts... Sorry, just could not resist.

Actually, 4 for each tank...2 to the adjacent tanks and 2 to the upper and lower central station "core" parts. I'll send Jesgan out to disassemble the portable struts (never tried undoing anything during EVA before) after adding an autostrut and rigid attachment for each...sound right?

Alrighty then. I do have Advanced Tweakables enabled (have for quite awhile as I use the Fuel Flow to set up and verify my asparagus set-ups) but have never really played with the auto struts. I Right clicked all my CS-R2 struts on the station and they were are all set to "Autostrut Disabled". So, do you think autostruts are still the issue or is the basic construction of the station (when large mass stuff is docked) just not stable? Here's a pic of the station, after (thankfully) undocking the "heavy" side hangers, to show you how I set up the portable struts. All the different sections are attached with docking ports. Can this be a problem? Is there a way to attach various sections, in orbit, using a more solid attachment?

OK gang, I think I'm confused. Apparently I have no idea what "auto-struts" are? The only "struts" I've knowingly (LOL) used are the portable ones mentioned above or the EAS-4 stock ones during construction.

They're from the KAS mod (CS-R2 Portable Strut) and were placed during construction of the various parts in the VAB . Once all the parts had been launched and connected, my engineer EVA'd from the station and built the struts between the CS-R2 units.

The funny part is I've never seen the auto struts actually move? Stuff just starts wobbling until it disconnects and wanders off. I'll have to ask for advice from the group when I build my next, much bigger station somewhere in the future. Thanks Boyster!

Just to be sure, I used a backup of the game and tried again, turning off all reaction wheels except the station's cupola. As I was coming up on the rendezvous with my last ship to dock (#5) I suddenly had station debris appear...the Jumbo 64's again (S-I-G-H). The fact that the autostrutted parts are the first to "fly off" would seem to validate your thoughts on the problem. I should note that the station, by itself, holds together just fine and the same if I have one ship docked vertically on the bottom of the station. Seems all that mass hanging out perpendicular causes the issue...even with reaction wheels disabled. Hopefully I have a backup save that I can load and undock the 3 large ships before things get "shaky" again. This station sufficed for Kerbin, Mun and Minmus missions but does not have the fuel capacity to really be useful for interplanetary missions so...look for a new thread on building a bigger station with more stability in the future (after all the Duna and Ike landings are done). Thanks gang!

The station itself has several autostruts to hold the jumbo 64 tanks. They are strutted top and bottom to the central core and side to side to each other. The struts were placed during EVA, after tanks were attached. The docking ships have none, but have much more mass than the station itself. I've tried turning off the reaction wheels on the docked ships but it didn't seem to help. I was hoping to keep the large ships docked until my Duna launch window comes around...may have to rethink that.

I have a station in orbit around Kerbin at 300 km orbit. It is a refueling station for ships "heading out" after getting to orbit. For some reason, as I dock ships with it (I'm docking 4, at this point), the entire thing starts "wiggling" until docking points come apart and the entire thing destroys itself and pieces come apart and fly off into space. Here's a pic of the result. At this point I have been away from the station for several hours as I approach with the last ship to dock. You can see that all my Jumbo64 tanks, which are permanent and strutted parts of the station have been thrown off. Eventually all docked ships will be thrown off or destroyed as the "wiggle" get worse.

That's what resulted when I used your spreadsheet. I increased apoapsis 55,000 m to 220 km and made inclination change then back to 55,000 m. Saved quite a bit of dv that way.

Thank you!

What do the 7 different "bi-elliptic" line represent? Never mind...found it in the original article.