Driosenth

It had only one docking clamp and oh did it buckle. I had to launch it the moment it loaded or it would topple like a lightweight freshman at his first frat party.

Heaviest object I ever got into orbit was 2.850 kT Only object mod used was MechJeb for control and monitoring I used editor tools to make the damn thing I used dynamic warp so my computer didn't commit seppuku on the object count It started at 16.988 kt with 108 stages, and ended with 37 mainsail engines and 74 nearly full orange tanks in a 100km circular orbit

Dear lord, was that a lifesaver. On v1 of the rocket I was pulling stages off the rocket and moving them to the side, hitting CTRL-Z, then place the stage that I moved to the side back on. I was looking up more efficient/less damaging ways of placing the sepratrons when I saw a video on asparagus staging that used the hold ALT method. My old method required more ram because it had to reload each stage when I hit CTRL-Z. I watched as this took up more and more RAM. The hold ALT method still increased the RAM usage, but not nearly to the degree that my old method did. I'm almost positive I won't be able to place another hexagon on it, and there is no way I can reduce the part count any more than I already have. However, I may go all out and see how many more stages I can put on it before it crashes the editor. Then the only problem will be loading it on the launchpad and getting a successful liftoff. This last attempt took nearly one and a half hours to get to orbit, I dread how long it would take if I added any more.

I put 2.849 kilotons into orbit in one launch

Well I finally did it. An Asparagus'd rocket with hexagon size of 9. Craft File Here Album Link Here First, here is a data table I made showing the relation of hexagon size to mass and fuel at launch, gravity turn (GT), apoapsis (APO), and an 100km circular orbit. Note 1: All these launches were done with the same ascent profile. Gravity turn at 10km, 45% turn, level out at 95km. Note 2: Notice how all the ratios all stay similar so matter the hexagon size. Note 3: A more efficient launch could be done by optimizing the ascent profile. This could be done on a smaller hexagon size and once a optimal profile has been discerned, should scale up to the larger hexagon sizes. Here is it on the launchpad Liftoff Gravity Turn Reached 100 km APO 100 km Circular Orbit The orbits of all the launches that were required to make this possible.

Is there any way to get the Vessel Mass to show to 4 decimal places?

Here is an update on my testing. With the nose cone gone, I reduce the number of parts by 168, I can put on a few additional stages, but not a full hexagon. I am still testing on whether or not I can remove the center strut, I sometimes get failures without them, but they don't happen during every launch even with the exact same craft. After running a series of tests, I can definitely say that dropping two engines at a time is more efficient than three or six at a time. When launching asparagus'd rockets with a hexagon side of less than four, the payload mass will be greater but the fuel will be less. On asparagus'd rockets with hexagon sides of four or more the payload mass and fuel will be greater. Additional note: I am concerned about the placement the sepratons, their current placement heats up the engines they pass by as the stage they are on falls. While they do not cause these engines to fail, they do heat them to the point where MechJeb reduces power a significant amount for a brief period of time. I am considering testing various different placement options and would welcome any input that would be offered.

TWR at liftoff was 1.94 with a thrust of 253500 kN. The TWR slowly rose from 1.94 to 2.00 from liftoff to orbit. I realized many things while in the process of making this thing; the nosecones being one of them. I may redo the entire build with the following changes to get the unnessessary part count down/engine count up 1. Remove the nosecones 2. See if the center strut can be remove 3. Make two alternate versions where the stages have three or six engines fall at a time instead of two

i7-920 running at 4.533 GHz RAM: 9 GB DDR3-1333 (3 sticks of 2GB, 3 sticks of 1 GB) Main video card: nVidia 560ti Secondary video card: nVidia 9800 GTX+

This will be my 3rd and most likely final craft of my super massive refuelers. At this point it would require more than 4GB of memory to add another hexagon, which KSP.exe cannot do. Craft File Album of Launch KSP v20.2 Stock + MechJeb2 parts Edtools and Subassembly loader were used to make the craft MechJeb2 was used to fly the damn thing Dynamic Warp was used to slow down time on a second launch so I could capture images Statistics Number Of Parts: 3357 Initial Mass: 13337.04 t Final Mass: 2219.64 t Initial Fuel: 973440 units Final Fuel: 159570 units Burned Fuel: 813870 units Initial Number of Mainsail Engines: 169 Final Number of Mainsail Engines: 29 Number Of Orange Tank in Orbit: 58 Game Time Needed To Achieve Orbit: 06:50 Real Time Needed To Achieve Orbit: 43:20 I believe this to be the most massive thing anyone has ever launched into orbit using only Stock + MechJeb. (I would love to be proven wrong)

So I added another hexagon layer and removed the docking port. (I wanted it to be a Big Dumb Rocket) Album Link Here Number of Parts: 2521 Initial Mass: 10026.60 t Final Mass: 1655.50 t Initial Fuel: 731520 units Final Fuel: 119853 units Burned Fuel: 611667 units Total Number of Stages: 63 Number of Stages Used: 53 Number of Stages Unused: 10 Here it is on liftoff When it first achieves orbit In orbit in sunlight Lets add up the bonuses Use more then 550 parts. -10% Use more then 600 parts. -20% Use more then 700 parts. -40% Use more then 800 parts. -60% Uses no Jet engines. +20% Total Bonus of -110% 1655.5 * 1.1 = 1821.05 1655.5 - 1821.05 = -165.55 EDIT I did a "quick" edit and added 3 solar panels and a docking port. I may actually use this thing as a refueler. with RCS and a docking port I would have a net bonus of -90% so the final score on that would be 166.176 points.

So I added another hexagon layer and removed the docking port. (I wanted it to be a Big Dumb Rocket) It might be possible for me to add even another hexagon layer (another 42 mainsails), but it's just not in me anymore because of the amount of time needed to add them in the editor and the time needed to actually launch it. Album Link Here Number of Parts: 2521 Initial Mass: 10026.60 t Final Mass: 1655.50 t Initial Fuel: 731520 units Final Fuel: 119853 units Burned Fuel: 611667 units Total Number of Stages: 63 Number of Stages Used: 53 Number of Stages Unused: 10 Here it is on liftoff When it first achieves orbit In orbit in sunlight

Oh no, this launches with a ton of lag. It took me ~ 25 minutes to get this thing into orbit. The screenshots were taken on a second launch with Dynamic Warp set to 1/4 speed. As for my system: I7-920 running at 4.533 GHz RAM: 9 GB at (3 sticks of 2GB, 3 sticks of 1 GB) Main video card: nVidia 560ti Secondary video card: nVidia 9800 GTX+

Each set of decoupler, engine, and tanks are identical. I made one that was as near to perfect as possible. Once it was I had everything in as close to the correct position, I moved them off to the side, Hit CTRL-Z, placed the one off to the side, then move the decoupler and sepratrons to their correct stage. There are two variations of engine set, one has struts connected to 2 adjacent tanks and the other is connected to 3 tanks. As for how I kept it from falling apart, MechJeb did most of the steering, I just turned on the RCS before the gravity turn. The biggest problem was getting it to launch. It cannot support it's own mass for very long, so I have to liftoff the exact moment it finishes loading on the launchpad. This is possible because of how much KSP slows down when it loads this thing. Even then, I've had more failed than successful liftoffs. I am in the process of making a rocket with one more hexagon larger than this one, just to see if it is possible.

I wanted to see how much I could get into a stable 100km orbit. By chaining 91 Mainsail Engines together with fuel lines and discarding the empties I was able to put a massive 1185.04 t payload into orbit. This was made with 1821 parts, Stock + MechJeb. The only other mod that was used was Dynamic warp; it still can get into orbit without it, but getting the timing right on the launch and capturing decent images is difficult. 2.84 Kiloton Update Statistics Total number of parts: 1821 Total number of stages of craft: 45 Number of stages used: 38 Initial liquid fuel: 524160 Fuel in orbit: 85419 Burned fuel: 438741 Initial mass: 7191.11 t Final mass in orbit: 1185.04 t Afterthought: this does not have any way to recharge the electricity; it's basically dead once the engines are cut. (I could put a small solar panel between the pair sepratons on each of the lower tanks) Here are the images for this monstrosity. Before liftoff We have lifftoff Two seconds in and we lose our first pair of engines Those engines are dropping rapidly A nice shot of the engines burning hot 30 seconds in and 2375 meters up Almost a minute in and we start on the next hexagon layer At 1 minute 30 seconds I turn on the RCS as MechJeb begins the Gravity turn I turn my head for one second and miss the start of the third hexagon layer 3 Minutes in and 45km up Starting the 4th layer of hexagons End of initial burn, look at all the discarded engines The start of the circularizing burn The final empty cans are dropped. Sadly. these will have a stable orbit of their own. Finished the circularizing burn and achieving a (near) circular orbit Final image of the beast Album Link Here

Let's see what this comes out to Final Mass of 809.87 tons Orbit of 100 No decoupled stages in stable orbits. 10% No Jets = 20% Docking Port for Fueling (Though this thing is filled to with it) = 10% RCS for controlled docking = 10% 1287 Parts = -10%,-20%,-40%,-60% Total bonus of -80% 809.87 - 647.896 = 161.974 This monstrosity was made possible by draining each engine's tanks to the next, then jettisoning that engine. At first, it made KSP crawl to almost nothing. Once it dropped several stages it picked back up. Took me 15 real time minutes to get it into orbit. This design could be adjusted to the medium sized engine, but the number of parts would probably increase if similar masses were desired. Edit: As this was waiting to be approved, I added another layer of hexagons to this thing and got a stable 100km orbit with a 1185.04 t payload. Here's a post on it. I would lose the 10% bonus for not leaving debris in a stable orbit so I would have a final score of: 1185.04 - 1066.536 = 118.504

Is there a way to get 5 way symmetry? right now I have to snap to 72 degrees. (I'm trying to make a dodecahedron space station)