ROUND-8 Tank, a.k.a. Donut Tank

[jarmund]

It dawned on me that i should really put an effort into making my crafts look less boring. Sure, they're functional enough, they avoid pancake designs, they're somewhat believable, and they fly well with both FAR and Deadly reentry.

But, they all look more or less like a stack of orange tanks, with Kerodyne tanks as boosters. I'm sure you've made this design at least once, and is therefore aware of what i'm talking about.

Well, meh.... time to change it up a bit, and the Donut tank certainly looks good, and can be used to make at least my landers more appealing.

However, apart from the visual pleasure it provides, why would i use them? Am i missing something here? I see many people use them in their crafts from time to time, but i have yet to understand why.

Edited March 15, 2015 by jarmund

[Starwhip]

Apart from the visual appeal, I see two reasons:

The nodes are close together, making for a VERY flexible attachment point. (Look up KSP Toroidal Spring)

And it's a big-ish small-ish fuel tank, if you know what I mean...

[LethalDose]

They can be useful for shorten the length of small probes or extend range without increasing length. This can be helpful fitting probes under small fairings or cargo bays.

Also it looks good.

[Taki117]

Their main use is for smallish probes and such. I usually stack three of them and drop an Oscar in the middle for a little extra fuel for the same amount of space.

[GoSlash27]

Low gravity landers.

Best,

-Slashy

[Mister Dilsby]

I sometimes put a pair of them in the middle of my wings, mount little Rockomax engines and use them for VTOL.

[Renegrade]

Well, aside from the 'shortness' and 'aesthetics' reasons, one reason to use the round8 is that it can let you have roughly a quarter of the fuel of the T100. If you're missing a delta-v target by a small amount, adding a round8 can help you hit that target while not committing to a full extra T100 (or similar).

Just be aware that it has a rather high dry mass for the fuel it does carry (2.5 round8s have the same dry mass as a T100; the round8s have poor fuel fractions)...