[0.22] Extraplanetary Launchpads Legacy Thread

[pasty2k2]

True, but launching all these odd shaped and hard to land modules is... how can I put it, very Kerbal? For the moment I am just happy that it's do-able, I could config edit everything into an 8x8m panel and give it 1000000 breaking resistance, that'd make it stable and easy, but not very realistic... Having everything in the runway isn't either. We need better models for each component first before "realism" can be achieved - that isn't a bump/nod to do it, I know this is alpha grade stuff, modelling might not be skykooler's thing, and the mod is awesome as-is!

Screens of my setup on Mun:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5n267gp35ktfuiy/Launch%20Base%20Zone.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rd99sw0nw9kgg2g/Smelter.jpg

Edited June 28, 2013 by pasty2k2
Added Smelter pic

[Nuke]

first attempt was a 4 section launch complex on wheels. after landing the whole kitten kaboodle on minmus and docking it all together, ive come to the conclusion to use as few parts as possible. so far i landed 4 sections, the launchpad, the smelter, the fuel truck and the parts storage platform. it just didnt work. there were so many complex vehicles all docked together it just made the game very slow. second attempt i toying with the idea of keeping the pad and the mining in seprate locations, and then using rovers and vtols to move rocket parts and fuel from the refinery and the smelter to the pad (all of which are spread out so they dont lag eachother). of course the time neccisary to move everything to the pad makes this a bad idea.

now i have decided that it would just be better to make the smelter and the refinery into one platform. its not hard to stick the rocket workshop right on top of the smelter (if its the root part), then use larger than neccisary fuel tanks as the descent stage, and then repurpose those tanks as fuel storage. to make it more versitile it also carries kethane, monopropellant, and xenon tanks (which i used for all the orbital operations via mpd thrusters, saving the lf/oxy tanks for descent), and two large rocket parts bins. i landed it on mun in a spot where kethane co-exists with ore. i still need to land a launch pad next to it, but that should be trivial (i already did it with the lag-o-tron launch complex i built on minmus).

[pasty2k2]

Hmm, little issue - the Launchpad doesn't see any fuel not on that ship. Docked ships' fuel/stuff isn't counted in the required materials list for building rockets. I tried flipping my fueltank ship 180 (that was a fiddle...) using the other docking port but no difference...

Anyone else get this issue? Do I need fuel lines or something?

*Edit*

By the way, I don't seem to get much lag at all somehow. The whole docked complex is a little squirrely on load/coming out of warp but it seems to be fine, catches itself up and it's menacingly planted on all 16 landing gears, no motions. I can drive about fine on the surface, as fast as I need when hauling 80+ tons of cargo. The whole complex weighs 200.1 tons at the moment, weightiest combined ship I've had that hasn't shaken itself apart - the Kraken sleeps, for now... They seem to behave a lot better when in the "landed" state I think.

Edited June 28, 2013 by pasty2k2

[alacrity]

My current big problem is landing things on Duna. And the Smelter is a Huge block of crazy I am trying to land. I have already decided I am going for a mobile drilling rover because the weight of the augers and the containers is WAY too much to drop no matter the number of parachutes. I am thinking at this point I may be resorting to Hooligan balloons for assisted landing and placement... The bonuses of the this is that If I balance it right I will have more control of location. Bad side is I don't like using that kind of crutch for my landings.

Any suggestions would be great.

Alacrity

[Srilania]

Yes, the setup wpn't detect fuel not directly attached. most times. When KAS doesn't let it show, what you do is drop the fuel down to what it shows you having, then while the rocket sits on the launchpad, use a grabbable radial port and a winch connection to transfer fuel into the rocket.

[Patupi]

I actually managed to get the auger and smelter combo onto the Mun in one piece, then used a mobile rover to connect it to the launch pad. It's awkward, bounces when you go from time warp to normal, but otherwise works. I actually thought the mun had no overlapping resources, but found a tiny strip of land that had both Kethane and Ore on it. Haven't explored to find out how many kilometers wide it is, but it's about one pixel on the minimap

The smelter I had a hell of a time with, but for some reason I couldn't get it to connect on the sides, but for me top and bottom worked. So it got stacked long ways up making it wobble like heck... especially on landing on the Mun! But now at least I'm there. I'm thinking about a Minmus base... but there doesn't appear to be much resource overlap and the resources spots are awfully small. Weird. I thought Minmus was supposed to be full of Kethane?

[EnterElysium]

Ah, that solved it. Thanks.

However in the end I just downloaded the spherical->flat pad and then modded it to be able to store all the ingredients since it is a pain and very difficult to get everything attached without spontaneous explosions. My pad now generates a little electricity, can store all kinds of things, takes ore and processes straight to machine parts (with the efficiency the same as the separate process to make it fair). To compensate I almost doubled it's weight.

While the launchpads are viable with hyperedit and only semi-viable in Kerbin influence legit you can see why I modded it to make it possible for a legit trip to duna with it. May the KSP gods forgive me.

[alacrity]

I have built working on a a seperate blimp transport for the mined materials (Kethane and Ore) so I can travel back and forth to station facilitiess (smelters and Kethane refinery) then transport to the launcher with its holding bins. Found a great place on Duna for an all out factory ville... red returns from the Ore scanner and a big green blob of Kethane happiness.

Now my big complaint is that if kethane and Ore are not on top of each other... no rover can survive a trip between them in something aproaching a decent ammount of time. I am torn between a blimp heavy carrier or a Lazor powered grav transport. TTi 6.0 wheels are out now tho so I might have the answer I was looking for. Those wheels seemed to do a little better at the speeds needed and were sized a little better for bigger then rover, but smaller than craft crane.

Another day another download. Evil modders

Alacrity Fitz

[KhaosCorp]

I have built working on a a seperate blimp transport for the mined materials (Kethane and Ore) so I can travel back and forth to station facilitiess (smelters and Kethane refinery) then transport to the launcher with its holding bins. Found a great place on Duna for an all out factory ville... red returns from the Ore scanner and a big green blob of Kethane happiness.

Now my big complaint is that if kethane and Ore are not on top of each other... no rover can survive a trip between them in something aproaching a decent ammount of time. I am torn between a blimp heavy carrier or a Lazor powered grav transport. TTi 6.0 wheels are out now tho so I might have the answer I was looking for. Those wheels seemed to do a little better at the speeds needed and were sized a little better for bigger then rover, but smaller than craft crane.

Another day another download. Evil modders

Alacrity Fitz

Build rovers to operate under time warp...usualy if you make em beefy you can get a mining rover to handle x2.

The other solution if your intent on using rovers is make a dropship/skycrane type ship to transport the rover over long distances.

[Patupi]

I think he was meaning the way the transport containers make things wobble with the high density making rover transit difficult, especially at warp. Though of course you could either just half fill the tanks, or mod the tanks to have half capacity/full mass.

Oh, and although in my experience it IS rare, kethane and ore do appear on the same spots on occasion. I've found a sliver on Minmus in the same game I found an overlap on Mun. They are tricky to spot with the switching minimap, but they seem to be there. ( I mean, it seems to be possible they can be there)

[magnemoe]

Yes, the setup wpn't detect fuel not directly attached. most times. When KAS doesn't let it show, what you do is drop the fuel down to what it shows you having, then while the rocket sits on the launchpad, use a grabbable radial port and a winch connection to transfer fuel into the rocket.

My first version had this issue but found that an pipe from tank to pad solves it

Add two tanks with symetri and radial engines on then and you are good

[KhaosCorp]

I think he was meaning the way the transport containers make things wobble with the high density making rover transit difficult, especially at warp. Though of course you could either just half fill the tanks, or mod the tanks to have half capacity/full mass.

Oh, and although in my experience it IS rare, kethane and ore do appear on the same spots on occasion. I've found a sliver on Minmus in the same game I found an overlap on Mun. They are tricky to spot with the switching minimap, but they seem to be there. ( I mean, it seems to be possible they can be there)

It is very possible to have Kethane and Ore deposits in the same location, not sure how often it will happen though. And I think the new scan map that kethane 0.7 will support will make it not so tricky to see if they do overlap.

Also when it comes to mining rovers (esp for EL resources...they heavy) the best rule is super low CoM, super wide wheel-base, but even that will only work to a certain extent. Another thing you have to be careful off is heavy rovers on low-g planets/moons. Actually had one of my very first mining rovers (kethane) bounce about 2km off the surface of the moon due to some bumps(and I was haulin tail =P). Lots of mass + wheels with stiff suspension travel can lead to chaos in low/zero g's.

[Patupi]

I finally managed to get a one piece assemblage of pad, kethane converter, smelter, and both drills. The only way I could get the Smelter to work laying flat was to START using the Smelter as the first piece, then tip it on it's side and work from there. That way all attachments work. Don't know why. Of course, I had to design the ship with the Smelter in it's tall configuration because if I did it after I lay it flat anything attached to it would have the radial symmetry rotated on it's side too. Then at the end remove everything from the smelter, tip it over, then re-attach. Tricky to build rockets with radial connectors when they want to link in a circle top to bottom, rather than left to right!

The thing is down on Minmus and working. Haven't built anything with it yet, but got down in one piece. The only spot with both Kethane and ore was at 50 degrees South, so going to be some inclination correction from anything launched from there, but there'd have to be anyway for things launched from Minmus. Had to fine tune the landing site a little, the sliver of Kethane and ore was mostly on the side of a hill! Got to the crater floor and just still got both resources.

[KhaosCorp]

Well done sir!

Your lucky, I have yet to see deposits overlap even a tiny bit.

[agentexeider]

I set the debug flags to true and they didn't allow me to build a rocket without resources, What gives?

Secondly, this thing is huge and unwieldy, how do I get it up there?

Also, I do agree with the other posters that say it should fold up the other two ways as well, it's too bulky with only one set of wings folded.

[Srilania]

they'll reset the debug later. and for one folded like you're talking, use the runway instead of the launchpad. it folds like you want. otherwiase, use one of the other launchpad mods.

[pasty2k2]

OK, so I built it all in one thing and got it to Duna - Smelter, Launchpad, Tower, 2 Augers, 2 large Kethane Drills, 2 small Kethane converters, 2 HOME Admin modules (12 Kerbals), 2 HOME 3M Air Intakes. So even on Kethane-less Duna, or anywhere else, it can get fuel/ox from atmospheric mining And enough fuel capacity to launch some very large ships.

Quite proud, it isnt shaky at all, just a tad laggy:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bl2mtw1hrg6q7th/Duna%20LaunchPad.jpg

[Patupi]

Good for you. Haven't tried to do a landing on Duna yet, though I did do a Laythe landing a while back. Here's my Minmus base. No Kerbal habitation. I was going to add that in as a separate facility nearby. The vehicle parked behind the pad is a Kethane refueler. I originally planned both to connect up via a KAS winch line... but stupidly put the receiver on the pad on a part that didn't have a direct connection to the pad itself! Thus even connected the pad doesn't 'see' the Kethane refueler's fuel tanks to build rockets from it. I think I'll keep this as is, build ships with minimal fuel, send the Refueler into Minmus orbit and refuel any built ships there. *shrugs* Next time I'll get it right *crosses fingers*

Edited June 29, 2013 by Patupi

[Berserker66]

Good for you. Haven't tried to do a landing on Duna yet, though I did do a Laythe landing a while back. Here's my Minmus base. No Kerbal habitation. I was going to add that in as a separate facility nearby. The vehicle parked behind the pad is a Kethane refueler. I originally planned both to connect up via a KAS winch line... but stupidly put the receiver on the pad on a part that didn't have a direct connection to the pad itself! Thus even connected the pad doesn't 'see' the Kethane refueler's fuel tanks to build rockets from it. I think I'll keep this as is, build ships with minimal fuel, send the Refueler into Minmus orbit and refuel any built ships there. *shrugs* Next time I'll get it right *crosses fingers*

Just send up a ship with reattachable KAS plugs and put them on tanks?

[Patupi]

I thought the 'reattachable' plugs were for reattachment to the remote cables? *face slaps* OK, they already WERE reattachable. I'll see if I can reattach them... though it'll have to be via a kerbal on his jet pack. Tricky to do.

[fractl]

OK, so I built it all in one thing and got it to Duna - Smelter, Launchpad, Tower, 2 Augers, 2 large Kethane Drills, 2 small Kethane converters, 2 HOME Admin modules (12 Kerbals), 2 HOME 3M Air Intakes. So even on Kethane-less Duna, or anywhere else, it can get fuel/ox from atmospheric mining And enough fuel capacity to launch some very large ships.

Quite proud, it isnt shaky at all, just a tad laggy:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bl2mtw1hrg6q7th/Duna%20LaunchPad.jpg

Would you mind uploading the .craft file for this? I've spent at least 6 hours trying to get this to work and I can't seem to figure out anything that doesn't fall apart at some point. I understand if you don't want to reveal your secrets I guess maybe I'm just getting lazy or just sick of failing and at a dead end. If not I understand I'd just really like to use this mod I love the idea.

[pasty2k2]

Sure, its here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/g0r1wxnzg570u2p/SuperPad.craft

It uses a LOT of mods... to name a few I know of:

Mechjeb 2.0.8

KW Rocketry

Bobcat HOME 1.0.3

Kethane 0.6.1

B9 Aerospace 3.2

KSPX 0.20.X

Shout if it complains about other missing parts, but I scanned through the .craft and think thats all of them. I can most definitely get rid of a few of the required mods, I just prefer those parts to alternatives (B9 RCS blocks are awesome).

*EDIT*

To fly - first make a small correction, get some medium struts between the 2.5-3.5 converter plate and the main launchpad tank, I forgot them, and it oscillates rather wildly when the 4 2.5M side tanks are jettisoned. If you don't strut it up a bit more, it'll survive but shake like hell, I limited throttle to 10% max while on that stage (just before nuke) - usually circularizing/transferring to somewhere at that point.

Before takeoff, right click the control tower and "control from here". For some reason the smelter seems to be in command at the start, even tho my root module was the tower. Then, mechjeb all the way. It turns like a whale in treacle when not under engine power.

When on the final stage, it isn't PERFECTLY balanced, you'll need RCS from about 400m/s dV remaining, and it may start to veer off if you get as low as about 20m/s dV. I couldn't figure this out, only minimize it to this point. Turn on RCS when landing and you'll be fine.

Lastly, the nuclear rocket is intended to be used until just after you've burned to land somewhere. Jettison it then, and any remaining fuel is used for the final descent stage engines, which have way better TWR for Duna etc. You must jettison the nuke before you land. The final 8 side fuel tanks are best gotten rid of before landing also (mechjeb should do this for you).

Edited June 29, 2013 by pasty2k2
Added flying guidelines

[Mishkin_007]

Waiting for kethane to update to 0.7 and then im going to try this mod out for real. Probably putting a setup on my Laythe base.

[KhaosCorp]

Waiting for kethane to update to 0.7 and then im going to try this mod out for real. Probably putting a setup on my Laythe base.

Same!

I have a mission that's about mid-flight atm taking a Launchpad to Laythe (I hope at least...there may be a fuel issues lol). Once the new scan map is released I'll begin off-shore drilling on Laythe. Really awesome some of the doors this mod open up.

[Boamere]

Am I being dumb or is this a bug? When i click "open" then "load ship" there are no ships to select and i cannot click open on startup either. Anyone got any ideas? Thanks in advance