How many things do you use the wrong way?

[322997am]

1. My r&d is an airport in my best and only sandbox save.

2. I use ion engines as electric fans for kerbals

3. I build houses from structural plates

4. The island airfield is another airport.

5. I use the destroyed mission control for rock climbing practice

6.i build fighter jets with no weapons.

7. I stuff kerbals in service bays from rescue missions.

post your stuff like that below.

[DrLicor]

4 minutes ago, 322997am said:

7. I stuff kerbals in service bays from rescue missions.

i had to gniffle a bit about those poor kerbals you try to rescue

[322997am]

3 minutes ago, DrLicor said:

i had to gniffle a bit about those poor kerbals you try to rescue

Do they prefer to be in orbit for the rest of their lives? Or be treated like junk for 15 minutes?

[Snark]

I've seen people use the Communotron-16 antenna as a cheap, lightweight landing leg for small probes.

[Chiron0224]

1 hour ago, 322997am said:

7. I stuff kerbals in service bays from rescue missions.

Have you heard of probe cores?

[Snark]

1 minute ago, Chiron0224 said:

Have you heard of probe cores?

It's a valid technique from an engineering standpoint, even with a probe core.  Service bay is a lot lighter than a crewed pod.

[Kerbart]

4 minutes ago, Chiron0224 said:

Have you heard of probe cores?

I think he means on the back haul.

Edited October 3, 2016 by Kerbart

[Chiron0224]

4 minutes ago, Kerbart said:

I think he means on the back haul.

Right, my point being that you can send an empty capsule with a probe core instead of using a service bay.

[Superfluous J]

5 minutes ago, Chiron0224 said:

Right, my point being that you can send an empty capsule with a probe core instead of using a service bay.

But a service bay is funner.

And lighter.

But mostly funner.

EDIT: "Funner" is too a word!

Edited October 3, 2016 by 5thHorseman

[Talos]

When I started, I did not know how to stage properly, and sometimes I accidently fail to update the staging when I add seperatrons and they end up going off while I'm launching.

I've also at one point built a rocket, then used the big booster engines instead of something that fit the small size of the rocket. Needless to say, it blew up from going way too fast.

[pandaman]

If it works then it's not 'the wrong way', it's inventive use of the available resources.

I'm sure the Apollo 13 crew were more than happy to use stuff for purposes for which it was not originally designed. 

[Chiron0224]

40 minutes ago, pandaman said:

If it works then it's not 'the wrong way', it's inventive use of the available resources.

I'm sure the Apollo 13 crew were more than happy to use stuff for purposes for which it was not originally designed. 

"I don't care about what anything was DESIGNED to do, I care about what it CAN do."  - Gene Kranz, Apollo 13 movie

[Suedocode]

3 hours ago, Snark said:

I've seen people use the Communotron-16 antenna as a cheap, lightweight landing leg for small probes.

That's ingenious... 600 hours in the game and I'm still learning stock tricks to do things.

[cubinator]

-Fairings as bearings

-Rockomax HubMax as Rubik's cube core

-I claim the most ironic use of Kopernicus with my Death Star mod

[Sharpy]

5 hours ago, Snark said:

I've seen people use the Communotron-16 antenna as a cheap, lightweight landing leg for small probes.

Guilty as charged.

Separatrons used as extra parachutes. (throttled to TWR of 0.95, so the only parachute carries 5% of the probe's mass during the final phase of landing).

I also used cargo bay ramps as heavyweight landing legs.

Cargo bays as medium-heavy landing legs. Also, MK3 structural plates upside down.

Aerospike engines and Rockomax HubMax as really heavyweight RCS thruster blocks.

Mk3 parts as wheels. (seriously, that thing traveled good 4km on its belly like this, before reaching the ridge and finally taking off...)

KAS pipes as dragster structure

Airplane chines as structural core of spy satellites.

Airbrakes as landing legs.

This is a bad idea. When the vehicle loads, airbrakes start 'retracted' and only play the extension animation then. If you are landed, that means they will load inside the ground and explode.

Nevertheless, took me some time before I learned this is a bad idea.

Also, Spiders in role of anchor for low-gravity environment (pointed upwards).

This setup... ISRU, Reliants, drills, nuclear reactors - as fireworks generators. (the Reliants are permanently starved for fuel and play the flameout animation non-stop)

Launch clamps, to keep the base from jumping when physics glitches.

 

KAS winches as aerial cables for a power line.

Spent transfer stages as...

KSP's custom Unity shader of KSP Particle Emitter (normally used for generating engine exhaust) to simulate Cherenkov Radiation...

Spider engines as gimbals/hinges for vehicle suspension and cargo ramps.

...and the deployable, Spider-hinged cargo ramp as a trampoline.

 

Also, taco for mass balancing rockets, Surface Science cables for installation connecting industrial machinery of the base, TNT to "decouple" drills from radiators.

On my TODO list:

- Jet engines as rover stabilizers (shifting CoM below ground level)

- Landing legs to (auto-)strut space base.

- RTG as lightweight landing legs. Actually, now that I think of it, I have one craft with these in flight.

- MK2, MK3 expansion and MK4 mods to build an alien temple-ship. I had a decent prototype already, but scrapped it.

 

[Snark]

Here's someone using cargo ramps as extra-jumbo airbrakes:

 

[numerobis]

I don't understand what's wrong about any of those...

1. My first permanent job as a researcher was at NASA Ames, which is an airbase.

2. I use an ionizing air filter as a fan (and to clean up the air).

3. A friend build her house out of Structural Insulated Panels.

4. I land at the island to test whether my plane can land in a tricky spot, without having to fly halfway around the globe to find out that my stall speed is too high or landing gear is poorly place.

5. I've climbed on old structures plenty.

6. Fighter jets with no weapons would make for a better world.

7. Stuffing kerbals in service bays... well... ok, yes, that's a bit wrong

[322997am]

I am really surprised to see that I know nothing about the different uses of parts in this game.

1 hour ago, numerobis said:

 

2. I use an ionizing air filter as a fan (and to clean up the air). -I don't suspect you'd be happy about a fan that blows ions in your face?

3. A friend build her house out of Structural Insulated Panels. - I really need to see this

 

 

[numerobis]

An ionizing air filter actually does blow ions -- of course, they don't stay ions for long. But one disadvantage of them over HEPA filters is that they put out ozone (an advantage is that you don't need to replace the filter).

As for SIP, let me google that for you: structural insulated panel. It's foam sandwiched between plywood boards. That composite has structural strength, and is highly insulated. And it comes in panels. Those construction industry people are no poets, but they do make good materials.

[Red Iron Crown]

Wings for sails and struts for rigging, pretty sure that wasn't intended:

[Sharpy]

39 minutes ago, Red Iron Crown said:

Wings for sails and struts for rigging, pretty sure that wasn't intended:

You reminded me of a question I had for a loong time. Is there a WIND mod?

[DrLicor]

1 minute ago, Sharpy said:

You reminded me of a question I had for a loong time. Is there a WIND mod?

In case it was not just a reminder but also a real question. Yes there's a wind mod.

 

[Vectura]

Is there a mod though that gives kerbals wind?

[Sharpy]

3 hours ago, DrLicor said:

In case it was not just a reminder but also a real question. Yes there's a wind mod.

 

Pity it's for FAR. I'm not hardcore enough.

[Archgeek]

Pretty sure the structural plate wasn't intended for this kind of abuse:

Spoiler

Gravity very much hacked -- pretty sure this was a power draw test.

Likewise this is a completely unreasonable use case for the little tail fins:

Spoiler

In my defense, they have the best ratio of lift to mass of any aero part.

Finally, drained mk0 fuel tanks make the lightest structure per unit length, so I've taken to using them in place of girders.