munbase, 016 stock

[nergal]

I posted on the new player forums a couple days ago, and included pics of my latest attempt at landing a munbase. Several people wanted more pics, so here goes. The idea is to land the largest possible base.

Attempt number one - before I really started playing with the 3m sections.

This was really the direct approach. solids, then 1m sections, then the 3m for final orbital insertions and some of the munar insertion. I'd need to burn off some fuel for landing, so you use the landing stage for munar insertion and landing. It worked, but the number of pieces was getting a bit kludgy, so I figured I'd give the 3m sections a try.

This worked better, so I started adding mass to the "base" section. More base, more mass, more thrust to compensate, and we have version 3.

here it is without the superstructure. the spaceplane sections are empty sections (the ones that don't hold fuel) to act as placeholders for actual base sections in .17+. My machine really has issues launching this one - 1fps until down to the final 3m section. A lot of the reinforcement and extra thrust can probably be removed if you can actually drive it. As it stands I can't even do a roll to 90 degrees until the final 3m section.

This has some minor heat issues with all the 3m sections, but nothing that blows up. I decided to redesign the base section, which needed a redesign of the boosters. This part is still a work in progress to try to lessen the lag issues on launch.

final version, which I apparently didn't save because I'm an idiot.

anyone have any suggestions for lowering launch lag, or on the 3m sections? the boost phase is kind of a kludge. Also, how do I do a /spoiler cut?

nergal

[ghjkl907]

Do the rockets fly?

[IWantSumCrusha]

I tend to have quite a bit of lag on launch as well, partly ksp and partly my laptop as there are a few games it don't like. The only thing I can say is to go into the options menu (title screen) and lower the graphics settings

[NetBlitzer]

To do spoiler cuts, you do [ spoiler=Pictures ] Pictures and stuff [ /spoiler ] , all without the spaces.

And nice lander, looks very good and very robust. Would try it out myself, but there seems to be no download link.

To lower lag, try making the entire structure more rigid. The main source of lag is because the game is constantly trying to do physics calculations, and so the fewer it has to do, the better. Also, Unity (the engine KSP is built on) only runs on one thread/core, so it is very poor at doing many calculations. Just add more struts, and watch how your rocket flies to see where the weaknesses are. Also, you might want to use the large decoupler fix, as the current 3m and flat radial decouplers have very low strength for their size, and thus cause a lot of rocket 'wiggle'.

Edited August 30, 2012 by NetBlitzer
Added some breathing space :P

[zapy97]

there is one question left in my mind...

how do you fit it out the door?