thepackett

Thanks for all of the helpful advice, I'll post back here again once I get a working design!

I've been trying to get a 200 ton payload into orbit around kerbin, but the ship simply falls apart during launch, and not due to (intuitive) design flaws either. Every launch a random part simply falls off, even though the rocket is flying completely stable with no oscillations. The odd part is that I've succeeded in getting it into orbit before with almost the exact same design I've been using. Payload: Launcher Design: Screenshot from Successful Launch: My question is, how do you build a launcher this large without it simply falling apart due to the game's physics? Are there certain parts to use, game quirks to watch out for, or ways to pilot the rocket in flight so that it does not fall apart as if it was made of cheese?

Some sound advice and 600 parts later: The Dawn of Victory It even had half a orange fuel tank left over, plus the five large canisters of RCS I piled on top of it Thank you for the advice! I can confirm this as an effective method to get massive quantities of orange juice into orbit!

I'm currently using the thick and short I beam as it has two connection points and has given me the best results so far. I also have 4 struts on each tank connecting it to the center tank, and 4 struts connecting each radial tank to the adjacent radial tank. And yes, Kerbals have mastered the art of turning orange juice into rocket propellant, hence the name OJ for the large orange tanks Also, both Starwaster and MrPopcup, I will go try that launch method now, I will come back with results!

I've been working on a launcher to get 5 OJ tanks (one central, and four radially mounted) worth of fuel into orbit, and I've accomplished it, except that one (radially mounted), and only one tank persistently falls off. There is next to zero shudder or shake in the ship when it happens. Only the middle engine has gimbal on, and everything is symmetric. The entire structure is linked with struts in such a method as to prevent any oscillation. The tank that persistently falls off is only on one side of the ship, and falls off later in the launch, when nearing space (I've seen when the struts break), which is odd because all the engines are turned <66% maximum power to prevent overheating, unlike the rather violent takeoff. It's as if the connection and all the struts for that one tank only just say "I'm done" and break. None of the other tanks fall off, no matter how much stress I put them under. I'm sure there's no way to fix this, it has to be in the engine, but are there any other tips and tricks to keep parts from falling off like this?

Thanks for the answer!

Hello, I'm new to KSP and I was wondering if there was a way to combine already made vehicles in the editor. For example I made a rover but I would like to get it to another planet, so instead of making a new rocket for the rover I would combine it with a rocket premade for carrying satelites, rovers, etc.