Do you often reuse(recover) your spaceship?

[Reusables]

In my recent career save, I tries to recover everything w/o disposable parts - separators, fairing, and heatshield. To achieve this, I usually design fully recoverable launch vehicles. e.g.

Spoiler

 

I'm curious about how many of you plays like this - Have you played like this once? Is your playstyle involved with reusablity? Or would you rather dispose of anything you don't need?

Edited May 4, 2017 by Reusables

[Magzimum]

I have designed plenty of motherships that should be reusable, since they stay in orbit. I have also designed plenty of SSTOs that are by definition reusable.

However, I have never actually reused them, because I almost never fly the same mission twice, and I always need different tools for different jobs.

Do you intend to reuse the ships? Or do you just recover the funds? Maximizing funds-recovery is (to me at least) a different discussion than reusability.

[Curveball Anders]

I try reuse every bit of scrap that I launch on one way or another.

Because every bit of junk that I've spent resources on getting into to space gnaws at me greedy soul when wasted or burnt.

But my rabid greed is moderated with some sensibility, so I do crash (or send off into oblivion) empty stages and such (but sometimes I use empty or near empty refuellers as spare storage on stations).

I then have one specific class of landers (or up-down gadgets as they are classified in my space program).

This includes landers that shuttle between the surface and orbiting stations/motherships and a few very specific crew (and science) rotation vehicles (aka Soyuses).

[Sufficient Anonymity]

In my current career save, I fly most of my missions on a standardised one/three core launcher, with recovery of the 1st stage (and side boosters as applicable) - think something along the lines of SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy. My crew capsule with integrated orbital manoeuvring/abort engines is also recoverable (it doesn't have a trunk like Dragon, so I can't do piggy-back payloads, but I get my solar arrays back), though I don't do second stage recovery, nor do I recover my very light launcher.

I haven't yet got the tech unlocked for the SSTO I plan to replace those launchers with. I haven't gone out further than Minmus yet, but when I do, it'll either be with small probes, or with larger crewed vessels assembled in orbit out of modules launched in the standardised fairings of my current fleet.

[Shadow Wolf56]

I think it easier to make disposable stages on a hard mission, But I do have a recovery system that uses parachutes 

[NSEP]

I often use spent stages as refuel stages and or relay satellites or other missions, i dont send them back for recovery unless its an SSTO.

[suicidejunkie]

Once it goes up, it stays up until an accident occurs.

Half of my SSTO spaceplanes are currently lacking wings due to certain incidents with piloting errors, but normally they hit the runway for 100% recovery.  I could just drive a truck out to refuel them and take off again, but I've got a KCT inventory of spares and its easier to let the ground crew deal with passenger and cargo exchanges.

[ZentroCatson]

I really like making and flying Falcon 9 style 1st stage booster rockets, though its kinda hard to adjust them for specific payloads. With a normal booster you can just slap a bunch more tanks or SRBs on it, but that would throw the balance of a F9 style stage off. Also I go full Falcon 9 in that I do a boostback to the KSC and land it propulsively- on the grass or on some poor KSC building 

Here's a pic of my 2.5m and 3.75m boosters:

Spoiler

Light 2.5m booster

 

Heavy 2.5m booster

Experimental 3.75m booster (1st stage)

And yes, it does save some launch cost off of the payload. Its not really worth it with the light 2.5m booster, but I still do it cause its fun.

Regarding spaceships, I have yet to design a fully reusable transfer vehicle. The ships I use for my manned Duna and Eve missions are both single-use only, since they use chemical engines which means I need drop tanks to give them enough Dv. I also don't bother with designing special return capsules and landing them at the KSC like the Dragon V2 (though I might later on), I just slap on some parachutes on a 2.5m pod and land it somewhere in the ocean. I have experimented with reusable shuttles and made a rocket SSTO for tourist missions, but they don't save that much money off of launch cost, especially when using a space shuttle approach.

By the way, FMRS is a must-have for building and flying re-usable rockets. Though I'm not sure if its up to date with the newest version of KSP...

Edited May 1, 2017 by ZentroCatson

[storm6436]

Thanks to StageRecovery and RealChutes, about 95% of what goes up gets recovered and reused with varying degrees of efficiency. 

 Even the 7.5m 1st stage that put my space station in orbit... Which, well, a dozen or so radially attached stack chutes might seem like overkill, but if it saves me a million credits, it's not. 

[Reusables]

So many of you are reusing/recovering your own crafts! 

I both recover and reuse spacecraft. Crafts landed on Kerbin gets recovered, while crafts left on space will be reused again and again.

Both recovery and reusability need thoughts and effort, (although latter will need some more), so I thought those who do one will also do the other.

 

Besides, do some of you recover your multi-staged launch vehicles without StageRecovery or FMRS?

[Capt. Hunt]

I don't always recover spent stages, but I do make extensive use of Tundra Exploration's Dragon v2/Falcon 9, and Nazari's KSO shuttles, since they are (mostly) reusable.  I also almost always attach parachutes to my larger strap on and more expensive common core boosters (except for the Falcon Heavy's which are rigged for propulsive landing).  However, I don't generally use any SSTOs or fully reusable designs, since those tend to be over-complicated.

23 minutes ago, Abastro said:

...Besides, do some of you recover your multi-staged launch vehicles without StageRecovery or FMRS?

Doing so without StageRecovery, DebRefund or FMRS isn't worth the effort, since in order for you to actually get credit for them, you have to make sure the stages survive long enough for you to get your payload into orbit, and then pilot all the spent stages into a safe landing.

 

That's not to say I didn't put "recovery devices" on my boosters before SR, even if just for Roleplay purposes.

Edited May 4, 2017 by Capt. Hunt

[Reusables]

1 minute ago, Capt. Hunt said:

I don't always recover spent stages, but I do make extensive use of Tundra Exploration's Dragon v2/Falcon 9, and Nazari's KSO shuttles, since they are (mostly) reusable.  I also almost always attach parachutes to my larger strap on and more expensive common core boosters (except for the Falcon Heavy's which are rigged for propulsive landing).

Wow, so there were modded cabsules parts entirely dedicated for reusability! I didn't realize that.

3 minutes ago, Capt. Hunt said:

Doing so without SR, DR or FMRS isn't worth the effort, since in order for you to actually get credit for them, you have to make sure the stages survive long enough for you to get your payload into orbit, and then pilot them into a safe landing.

Yeah, it takes extra effort (and probably some piloting). I launch reusable TSTOs just because it's cheaper than disposable ones.

[Capt. Hunt]

There are several Space-X replica mods out there, the TE Stock-alike Dragon v2 is my favorite, because the aesthetic fits with the stock parts pretty well.  There's also a few more "lego" style mods, if you just want to retrofit the stock 3-man capsule to land like Dragon.

The KSO is a blast, but it isn't really rigged for 1.2.x yet.  It has some balance and control issues, due to some physics changes since 1.1.3.

 

If I don't reuse something, like an ET or an upper stage, I try to at least leave it on a reentry or escape trajectory before I drop it, so it doesn't add more clutter to LKO, but it doesn't always work out as planned.  The 60 to 95 km equatorial orbit range is littered with spent stages and tanks in elliptical orbits whose Perikerb ended up too high to decay in a reasonable amount of time.

Edited May 4, 2017 by Capt. Hunt

[T.A.P.O.R.]

My space stations tend to expand by attaching used craft that can't land and have been superseded by improvements in the tech tree.

Mostly it's just the crew cabin that makes it home.

I might change this in my next save though.

[Overland]

Needs more options for the flyers and drivers that play KSP one would think these people are more likely to recover..rescue or drag home vehicles

[Reusables]

57 minutes ago, Overland said:

Needs more options for the flyers and drivers that play KSP one would think these people are more likely to recover..rescue or drag home vehicles

Oh my, how could I forget them

EDIT: Fixed it.

Edited May 4, 2017 by Reusables

[Foxster]

I don't bother recovering the Kerbals, never mind their craft. 

[ccoel]

In Career Mode Yes, In Science mode yes, But in sandbox, Not really.

But if its in sandbox and it was manned I recover the kerbals

[Spartwo]

Everything that I can, but I take a relay approach in large part. SSTO to orbit, ferry to destination, Dropship to the possible surface. It's complicated and requires a support structure but that's what KSP is all about, over complicating things.

Edited May 4, 2017 by Spartwo

[DarkOwl57]

Uh... Well I make fighter Jets, so unless they get shot down in battle, they get recovered

[adsii1970]

Yup. Each one of my craft has the capability of being refueld.  Even my fighter jets... @DarkOwl57

[voicey99]

I do a lot of shuttle runs to Minmus, so I deliberately over-engineer my shuttle to be partially reusable. The ejection, landing and return section is all in one stage and always has enough DV to re-circularise in LKO for a precise, gentle re-entry. The only bit that gets destroyed is the first stage, which is entirely cheapo boosters (it's one of the reasons why I always give my craft >2KMS of SRB DV on launch). On a typical run with a decent landing, I typically end up recouping about half the launch cost of the ship.

Edited May 4, 2017 by voicey99

[Archgeek]

Not a lot of practice recovering things, but if it's got nukes or ions aboard, I generally make it nice and re-usable -- dockable fuel pods so tankage can be tailored to the mission, plus a small integrated tank for in-system manuevres.  A given transfer stage should able to take on a new mission by docking with a two-part mission package consisting of a forward payload section (kerbs, supplies, science whatever's going somewhere) and an aft fuel module.

[MythicalHeFF]

Even in career, I tend to use disposables much more frequently. Mostly because I'm too lazy to de orbit spent boosters or land first stages, and it's why I have a lot of Kessler syndrome around Kerbin. Not exactly a good habit, but it feels more "NASA-esqe" to not re use rockets. Often, I'll feel dumb trying to land a whole spaceship on Kerbin, and instead recover nothing but the capsule and the kerbals.

[matthomas7]

I try to minimize what I leave in orbit. If i launch inside kerbin SOI, everything is designed to at least reenter the atmosphere. Stage one is typically designed with parachute landing, although, I don't bother with actually trying to land them. The only time stage 2 is left stranded is if It's used for interplanetary. 

For manned interplanetary missions, I use my Whitehorse Heavy rocket. It's first stage, after achieving staging orbit, generally has enough dv, or close to, to boost the craft to the edge of kerbin SOI, it then boosts back to burn up on reentry, while stage 2 finishes acquiring the intercept. From there, stage 2 either orbits kerbol, or impacts the target destination.