sgt_flyer

Ouch that cockpit will melt your computer on it's own

I still have a bit of debugging / testing to do before releasing it (i'll release the rocket alone and the TEL version ) the rocket with the TEL is around 500 parts

ok, it's not a military rocket, but i guess it still stays in the category of mobile rocket launcher (it's just a mün rocket on a TEL, the TEL is able to ferry the rocket where you want, before tilting the rocket vertically made it for the new TEL challenge ^^ (yes, it's all stock ) the tilting system works by rotating the rocket around it's center of mass - basically, the TEL carry a support structure which 'holds' the rocket at it's COM. once in position , i lower the support structure's landing legs, decouple the rocket from the TEL so it rests on the support structure, then use the vehicle to 'grab' an I-beam near the base of the rocket, and slowly pull the rocket in order to tilt the rocket vertically. once vertical, the support structure will fold it's legs, allowing the rocket to rest vertically on the ground. here's the mün mission album :

took me some time to do my entry, a mün rocket TEL - and it's all stock ! (took quite some time designing a mün rocket lightweight a sturdy enough to be able to be tilted) there's still a few bugs (mainly with the SPH symmetry , there are some things which duplicated too much, and the lander fuel lines are not working yet , i had to manually transfer my fuel from the lander's drop tanks to the return spacecraft tanks ) but overall, the tilting process works here, fully stock - basically, i added a pivot point centered on the rocket's COM, pivot which rest on a support structure deployed by the rover. once the support structure is separated from the vehicle, it's the vehicle itself, by moving forward, which will 'grab' the rocket's pad and tilt the rocket upwards - once the rocket is upward, the support structure raise it's legs, allowing the rocket to rest on the ground vertically - at this point, the rocket's pivots are ejected, and the rocket can liftoff for it's mün mission. here is the full mission album :

@Gusturbo no, the 48-7S does not require a fuel line - the structural hardpoint is a structural part with fuel crossfeed on, so the fuel will flow from the fuel tank it's attached to, to the cubic strut radially attached onto the structural hardpoint, then to the 48-7s. (basically, fuel can flow from a tank / something clipped inline to a tank with fuel crossfeed on to a structural part radially attached to it (that's the same fuel flow as the Nerva clipped inside a structural fuselage) - the fuel can continue to 'hop' onto successive radially attached structural parts - as long as they have 'fuel crossfeed' on. for the emergency orbital manoeuver ring, you will attach the first part of the rest of your craft to the TR-2V (whatever you want, fuel tank, structural fuselage, ect) the TR-2V will act as the abort point : it's it which will decouple from the rest of the craft - the TR-18A, the tanks and the engines will stay with the command pod until you eject the TR-18A for reentry. it might be useful to have some struts between the craft and the TR-18A, as the TR-2V is a little wobbly. (the TR-2V will also act as a 'weak' point, so in case of catastrophic damage on the craft , the command pod is likely to separate from the rest of the craft at the TR-2V level, so you'll still have your emergency ring ) the system can also be build in reverse : 1st the TR-2V, then the two round-8 clipped on each other, you prepare the battery apart with the two engines radially attached to it, and finally the TR-18A. (so you can make ejection pods )

well, here's some new simple things i now use which looks good / are useful first, something simple, but which looks nice (and can surround other engines) : external podding of 24-77 and 48-7s with the small hardpoint - (also, no need of fuel lines with those ) 'podded' 24-77 use only 2 parts, the podded 48-7s use 5. the 'build' sequence for the podded 48-7s goes from left to right - add a first cubic strut on the small hardpoint, and the 48-7s on the cubic strut. prepare the second cubic strut with a standard NC attached to it, then pick this second cubic strut and clip it to the first cubic strut. second element, i've been trying to create some concealed emergency orbital system for kerbals (can be used for 1-man escape pods, or as a safety system on 1-man space planes, if they endure an unplanned disassembly in orbit) here's the result, which can be used for MK1 cockpit or Command pod MK1: as you can see, the whole system basically fits inside a TR-18A stack decoupler - so it's completely concealed on a spaceship. the build order is very simple : 1 TR-18A, a Z-200 battery under it (i put two LV-1R engines around it, in a way that only nozzles will point under the stack decoupler) and i add 2 Round-8 fuel tanks (clipped one directly on another). i then attach a TR-2V stack decoupler onto the last round-8, pointing down. in the end, this system weights 0.407 tons, and gives respectively : 529 m/s of delta-v and a TWR of 0.23 for a command pod MK1 fitted with a mk16 parachute, or 342 m/s of delta-v and a TWR of 0.16 for a MK1 cockpit with two MK2-r parachutes. which is plenty enough for deorbiting the pod or reaching an orbital station. (also, the z-200 battery gives you a good amount of electricity to power the pod's torque wheels for the various rotations) don't leave your kerbals stranded in space !

hello here's one stock simple engine assembly i use more and more these days, both for it's usefulness and it's good looks, which i nicknamed the LVT-939 i've noted in the album's descriptions how i build this assembly. basically, the assembly use only 5 parts to work correctly (the FLT-T100 you see on the picture is only there to further improve the look, by providing a 'support' for the LVT-30's top end) 2 cubic struts, placed radially, a LV-909 at one end, and a LVT-30 at the other end, with a strut between the topmost cubic strut and whatever is above it to solidify the assembly. both engines works correctly without blocking the other's thrust. (and you can see the LV-909 exhaust flame inside the LVT-30 nozzle for additional eyecandy ! ) the assembly gives us a radially placable engine with 265 kN of thrust, a weight of 1.75 and a TWR of 15.4 (lower than a LVT-30, but higher than a LVT-45), with an ISP of 374, with a small amount of gimbal given by the LV-909. plus, if you want, you can 'throttle down' the assembly by shutting down the LVT-30, in order to get your ISP up to 390 with only the LV-909 working.

Well, most 'animated' parts like landing legs can collide with the vessel they are attached to while they are moving (once they stop moving, it returns to a no collision between the parts) - that's what i used before 0.21 to animate my structural pylons cargo bay doors. Here's my old thread but 0.21 broke everything with the modification of the structural pylon

that don't surprise me ^^ - i've seen my cargo doors stopping working reliably when 0.21 came out that was a bit heartbreaking ^^ we really need something akin to stock hinges (and structural pylon based helicopters stopped working too )

congratulations on making those cargo doors 'work' in 0.21 the update really made the structural pylons much more unreliable than before for this kind of things, when they bended nicely

In this case, the fuel will run correctly from the toroïdal to the round fuel tank I'll try to add some fuel flow patterns later (to save on fuel lines )

that's an interesting way to do it just tested it out, the wheels are pretty sturdy for cushioning an impact - tested it with a 11.5 tons weight above the wheels (1 2 place lander can and a rockomax x16) - the wheels stay attached to the dead weight until around a 15 m/s impact - pretty impressive

By roll, what do you mean ? Does it starts to tumble during reentry ? In this case, i think you have too much weight at the rear of your spaceplane and not enough drag at the rear. (Maybe try to add some flaps at the rear configured as aerobrakes - and deploy them during reentry) - basically, you should ensure that your center of drag is behind the center of mass during reentry, else the center of mass will try to get in front of the center of drag, causing the spaceship to tumble.

Hello, you may be able to do it this way : i used those decouplers / structural pylons and I-beams to make a 'construction assembly' to align the side modules docking ports to the core module docking ports, so they will automatically magnetize after the craft is loaded ingame : note : - i used the debug menu to hack gravity to test it - establishing this kind of connection works better once in orbit, than under gravity - also, the struts between the modules will disappear once the construction parts is ejected - so you will have to be extra careful when trying to land this kind of thing - docking ports alone does not make a great connection - or to eject the construction parts only after you landed at your destination if you want to keep the struts to strengthen the whole during the landing. Regards - Sgtflyer

i call it 'LVT-75'

For the engines, it's simple : i place radially a cubic strut on the main fuel tank, and a lvt 30 under it. Then, i prepare another cubic strut with a lvt 45 on it (same configuration as the lvt 30) and simply pick the second cubic strut and snap it to the first, the engine will go with it. Then, it's just the matter of picking the lvt30's cubic strut (to get both cubic struts and engines) and attach it radially on the main fuel tank with symmetry. (And strut the engines afterwards, as the cubic struts are a little weak) - no need for fuel lines, the cubic struts will pump the fuel from the tanks into the engines Anyway, for the third stage, it's much less high than the 2nd stage, and use a single engine (maybe with verniers, but not sure) and it doesn't have an open lattice.

my g-turns for most of my rockets is usually as such : i start a smooth curve at 8km, aiming to get to 45° around 15km, then i continue my smooth turn to reach 30° at 20km, 20° at 30, and i usually finish between 5° and 0° around 45000m, then i continue burning in this direction until i get my apoapsis at the altitude i want, before coasting to it for circularization.

between boosters, X shaped strutting usually works pretty well (like on the real soyuz, there's some X shaped struts at the base of the rocket between the core stage and the boosters)

mmh the proton has only 6 external tanks and engines (one trick i use for my protons, is a 'engine in an engine' basically, a lvt 30 with a lvt 45 clipped inside) - for most realistic looking rockets, clipping is usually needed also, the second stage is as wide as the first stage core tank, and the proton is a 3 stage rocket (with an additional optional 4th stage with the block D or DM)

From what you described, i think your first stage has too much delta-v and the second stage not enough. (Most two stage to LKO rockets tend to drop their first stage waaay before getting to a 70km altitude

Yup, if you know how to make a rendez-vous, it doesn't matter if you have docking ports - simply send a rescue spacecraft with room for 1, rendez-vous with the lost capsule (you just need to have 0 m/s of relative velocity near the target) and eva jeb to make him board the rescue ship and return jeb to land with the rescue. Else, if you really wish to deorbit the stranded capsule, you will need to build a 'basket' on your rescue spacecraft, make a rendez-vous with the capsule, catch it in your basket and 'push' the capsule to deorbit it.

Check mulbin's munbug (i also worked on a solution for my own saturn V design, but the game don't like that we add elements inside fairings after we built the fairings - ends up generally by making the payload stick to the fairing instead of the rocket, in case of stock fairings.)

The csm is supposed to be carried only by the fairings on the S-IVB no link between the csm and the lander - when the fairings detach, the csm was just floating away from the lander - so they just needed to turn around and pick the lander

well at last your kerbals won't have to create a makeshift adapter for the co2 absorbers cartridges

mmmh - if you bring an Extraplanetary launch pad - then people would be able to establish a mining + building system on gilly, and simply build automated cargoes to be launched from gilly to return to kerbin with the goods - if i understand the rules correctly, you are only limited to 250 parts at the initial kerbin liftoff - but what if you use what you mine on gilly to make new vessels launching from gilly ? (you would then be able to ferry almost as much goods as you want back to kerbin ) it would be inline with space scientist ideas of extraplanetary mining exploitation : launch a robotic mining system which will be able to built new spacecraft, and only ferry from earth the critical electronic components that cannot be made by those robots (very easy to launch lightweight electronic components to refill those automated factories )