I have a ladder issue

[Eleven]

I have THIS craft that I'm trying to create a way for the Kerbal to get out of the capsule and down to the ground.

I'm coming up short, can't get any ladder configuration to work. I can get him down the main tank between SRBs and onto the booster tank, but I can't get him over the booster tank edge onto a ladder reliably. I have come close, but I can't get him back up again.

I have KSPX parts, KW Rocketry, Quantum Struts and Mechjeb 2.0 parts on this craft if you want to try it out and help me

EDIT - Here is a screenshot for quicky suggestions

Edited May 19, 2013 by Eleven

[J0hnsmine]

Man, IDK, maybe take off the ladders & EVA pack on lighter gravity planets.

[Lazerman34170]

1. Why do you need the rocket?

Depending on what you're using it for, you could make the rocket smaller and possibly easier to put ladders on it.

2. Why do you need ladders?

As stated above, on the lower gravity objects ladders aren't really necessary, and depending on what you're doing, you could just omit the ladders completely.

[HoY]

Do you need it to work on another planet or only on the launch pad

Edit: let's assume the former.

Use the long extendable ladders on the KW tank. The ladder at the top of that tank should be rotates with Q E till it extends upwards, then tilted inward with Shift W S to between 45 and 60 degrees. Install a similarly tilted ladder on the upper fuel tank angled outwards to meet the other one in the middle.

One more edit. Those tall white tank things will still be there when you go up and down? The only other thing I can think of would be to install trusses up from the landing leg trusses. Install on two of the legs. The one with the door above it, and the one opposite to that for mass distribution.

Edited May 19, 2013 by HoY

[lobsterbark]

Why all the boosters?

[HoY]

Lol one more go at it. Use the tall extending ladders in the same config I said first except all the way up the outside of those tall srb's

[Eleven]

This is hopefully going to Eve.

That black tank is for descent and initial liftoff from Eve, and the second stage with all the boosters is to get me the rest of the way.

I've tried all kinds of configs for the ladders, I'm working now on using 3 large grey tanks instead of that black one...but I'm thinking that isn't really the issue. The issue is once the Kerbal gets to the top of the ladder, he just falls off. I can sometimes get them down to the top of the black tank, and even off of the black tank, but getting back up is the problem. I need a way to transition from the top of the ladder, onto the top of the black tank without falling back down off of the ladder.

[HoY]

Watch the first couple of mins of this video, at the top of the vertical ladder you'll see one option for that problem

[Eleven]

That video solution is cool. I would rather have him go out and down the outside of the tanks. Maybe I should just launch and see if this thing actually can land and take off from Eve first?

[HoY]

For a test like that I would personally use hyper edit to get it to eve lol. After all your testing the payload, not the launcher or your navigation and time warp skills!

[Eleven]

For a test like that I would personally use hyper edit to get it to eve lol. After all your testing the payload, not the launcher or your navigation and time warp skills!

I wondered if there was a way to just insert a ship into orbit somewhere. I'll look for that!

[HoY]

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/hyperedit/

Once it's installed launch the ship to the pad, press alt+h, press edit an orbit, press select orbit to edit, at the top of the new list press 'active vessel' then on the first window t

Select the planet or moon you wish to orbit, the altitude you want to orbit at, and there are a couple other numbers there to adjust your inclination I believe but I leave them default for a standard equatorial orbit

[Eleven]

Ugh. Can't take off from Eve

[HoY]

I've never tried it myself bro that's the hardest place there is!

[Eleven]

At least I can drop vehicles in orbit (haven't looked at Hyper Edit enough to drop them on the surface yet) and test them. Would suck to build and fly all the way there to realize you can't come back.