[0.22] Extraplanetary Launchpads Legacy Thread

[Chaosratt]

For now you can simply attach with KAS before recycling, which will allow you to get any fuel left in the debris. I also like your more advanced refining process, though I'm unsure how you could easily calculate the cost of non-stock parts.

I think using the tonnage of the parts as it is now is fine, however it shouldn't be rocket parts. One of the other intermediate parts?**

** Havn't actually gotten a launchad working, cant get them out of LKO, so I'm working with orbital shipyards atm. IIRC, its Ore -> Metal -> Rocket parts, with each step having some loss right? Why not just have the parts "recycle" to 90% of the tonnage in metal, which then has to be refined to rocket parts? Or maybe another step can be added, I know its simple to add new resources and conversions to the Kethane processor.

[strongest_2hu]

I don't understand the issues people have with taking the launchpad to other places. Can you get the cupola module to another planet? Then you can get a launchpad to another planet, it's only .5 tons more.

[Van Disaster]

If you're running FAR then it's a horrendous issue I'd quite like a factory part - say a 3m stack part - that could a) build a launchpad, which perhaps is the only thing it can spawn but the pad would appear attached to something already ( the factory - if you can spawn a ship attached to a launchpad then surely you can spawn a launchpad attached to something? ) and you can use as a hub for everything else. Until then I might be able to ship the foldup runway.

Maybe the factory can spawn ships only if it's attached to a pad device, which might be a nice way of filtering what is possible to build.

[GrantZ9001]

Am I doing something wrong? I'm on top of a tile on the Mün which should hold ore. I can't however extract any. It's worth noting that the drill doesn't seem to be drawing any power either and is it intentional that there is no animation on the drill? I'm using the latest releases of this and Kethane (w/ KSP 0.21).

EDiT: BTW very promising mod! Hope you'll keep updating it.

Edited August 5, 2013 by GrantZ9001

[skykooler]

Am I doing something wrong? I'm on top of a tile on the Mün which should hold ore. I can't however extract any. It's worth noting that the drill doesn't seem to be drawing any power either and is it intentional that there is no animation on the drill? I'm using the latest releases of this and Kethane (w/ KSP 0.21).

EDiT: BTW very promising mod! Hope you'll keep updating it.

The augur that is included is broken in 0.21. Taniwha posted a patched version a few pages back, and I will have a working version included in the next release.

[kustus]

Hi,

I've been using this mod a few times now and rage the f*** out due to all the ships exploding on launch, so I've been developing designs for the launchpad for the fix, but there is a new launchpad coming now so why bother I say.

BUT, the part manufacturing, I whould really like to the that part upgraded or changed alltogether. And if you want I can make just that.

To me it would seem more realistic, and quite nice, to have a CNC machine (a metall mill/drill) make parts instead. with a few nice animations of metal spools flying when it is producing.

Would this be if any interest? if not then I dont think I'll bother to model it, but if you want it I can make it.

btw.. AWESOME MOD!, and I'm still saying that after having spent 2 days trying to make a legit base on the Mun without all the rockets exploding. and yeah, all legit, looking forward to the next release.

[GrantZ9001]

The augur that is included is broken in 0.21. Taniwha posted a patched version a few pages back, and I will have a working version included in the next release.

Thanks for the quick reply! Looks like that fixed it.

[Tupin]

So I tried this mod, but I'm not exactly sure how to design a rocket to get the launchpad and facilities onto another body. Is there a tutorial/beginner craft?

[taniwha]

kustus: ships exploding on the pad is a known issue and I am working on it.

[kustus]

Yeah i know, my question was rather if it was any point for me to start modeling a new Rocket Parts production model. but I've already started.

I'll post the rough idea here soon, just gonna splash on some materials so it looks nice.

[kustus]

Here's the rough model I made.

It's more of a concept of art then the finished result.

any thoughts?

Edited August 5, 2013 by kustus

[taniwha]

Your link is not working (invalid url? private photo?)

[kustus]

ah.. ok.. I'll fix it.

is it working now?

so yeah. if someone could just confirm that the picture is there in the previous post I'd appropriate it.

Edited August 6, 2013 by kustus

[taniwha]

hmm, looks interesting, though a little too safe for Jeb's tastes

[nhnifong]

I'd just like to share my configuration, it's been a lot more playable.

I'm using Hooligan's fold up launchpad, but scaled down 50%, (it's still plenty big enough). I'm using Keptin's heavy kethane drill model for an ore drill, and a 2m scaled up version of the kethane generator as the smelter (4x mass). I just changed the cfg files to have the correct modules. That way, I only have to land about 3 modules, and all of them can fold up small enough to fit in a fairing. I land everything nearby and drive it all close enough to dock together with KAS.

Next order of business is to print a crane (actually bigger than the launchpad, but this is nice because it can drive over the pad and pick stuff up with magnets. Then I print another launchpad, just incase the first one breaks. After that, print more miners and converters and get a backup facility going so I never have to send any supplies from kerbin.

The hangup right now is where to store the ore, metal, and rocketparts. I can't use wheeled vehicles because they're so dense they just smash the wheels after a few tens of tons of material. So I figured I'd just print a few hexcans of each type and leave them lying around connected with KAS. I ran into a bug where a launchpad can't print a part that can contain rocketparts, (something about a key already being in a dictionary) so I just printed an ore can and changed the name in the save file. It's not perfect, but it's better than using what you're given.

[taniwha]

nhnifong: for now, your best choice is to edit the ore/metal/parts storage containers to hold much less stuff. For the large hexcan (currently holds 212.5), about 5.5 ore, 7.8 Metal and even as low as 0.5 RocketParts (yes, you need a lot of storage for parts). An appropriately modified large spherical tank will still hold 96t of parts (which builds a lot of rocket).

I've made modifications to EL to use sane densities, and sent the changes to skykooler, but it's up to him whether to accept them or not. Hopefully he accepts at least the code changes as that permits users to tweak the density as they see fit, and yet 1t of ship still requires 1t of parts.

[nhnifong]

I like that idea, but it' still nice to keep the part count low around the launchpad just because of all the machines and things being created around there. Perhaps I'll go with your standard, but also use a few extra-extra-large hexcans to keep the partcount down.

EDIT: why different amounts for ore, metal, and rocketparts? they all have the same density.

Edited August 6, 2013 by nhnifong

[Eskandare]

Hi everyone, I've developed a mod extension of Lack's Lack Luster Labs parts to work with Skycooler's Extra-planetary LP mod. If it's okay with you, Skykooler, I'd love to post it. Since I can't get in touch with Lack, I remember him saying that it was okay to make extensions to his mod as long as he has access to the model cfg file etc. Well, the model I'm using is his, so he has that already. I basically made a set of new parts using his already existing models with new configs and skins.

Here is and image from my alpha test I posted on the LLL thread. Note the parts logo is from the hex can mod, I figured I'd keep to a standard for the parts containers. I'm still working on the parts. I'm open for suggestions, and even help on the project. So far I have a nuclear reactor, Shipping containers for, ore, metal, and parts, an EBM (Electronic Beam Melter), Automated Manufacturing, and a couple of new parts I'm testing. I made something to collect space dust to crush down into ore and a space gas to condense into kethane. I'm not good at modeling but I'm okay at skinning.

http://i.imgur.com/YQYAOWm.jpg"]

[taniwha]

nhnifong: the reason for the different amounts is because EL treats 1u of resource as 1t of material rather than 5l (as is done for LFO) or 1l (kethane). The different amounts reflect the different actual densities of the materials (though I didn't actually look up ore's density, I just used Earth's average density for that: 5.5t/m^3). Iron is 7.8t/m^3, and Majiir suggested 0.5t/m^3 for parts. The large hexcan holds about 1m^3.

Just remember that if you double the size of a tank (any shape), multiply its mass and capacity by 8 (ie, the cube of the scale factor). I recommend just modifying a spherical tank to hold stuff: it has about 192m^3 capacity.

Also, if you want realistic conversion on ore to metal (assuming iron): a ConversionEfficiency of 0.699 matches the ore->iron chemical equations.

Edited August 6, 2013 by taniwha

[nhnifong]

I'm thrilled to see so many people contributing to this mod

[Kaa253]

I also felt the need for densities that just felt more sane. I rescaled all the hexcans up by a factor of 8 but they still hold the same masses. Now I find in practice that I am using the smallest sizes the most. So taniwha's suggestion that it is best to decrease the amount each container can hold is probably more sensible. One large container with 212.5 tonnes of rocket parts builds a Jool V class heavy lifter, which is total overkill (my launchpad is on Minmus for now). I haven't measured it very carefully but it seems that the workshop, smelter and auger (the auger is the limiting part) combination can produce enough rocket parts to build a Jool V heavy lifter in about 3 hours. Seems a bit unrealistic, and the game does have the ability to accelerate time. These times are very short, I am not in some kind of debug=true mode am I?

[taniwha]

Kaa253: heh, with my working tree, it takes a VERY long time to produce 200t of parts (because extraction is still done at 0.1u/s, but 1u of ore is 0.0275t, so 2.75kg/s).

[Cobrattack]

Since there are all kinds of "updates and fixes" throughout the forum which files do I need to run this AWESOME mod? Are the ones on the first page enough or do I also need the Auger "fix"? Thanks in advance and sorry if it has been mentioned someplace, got tired of searching through 83 pages of forum posts

[vasco]

I'm using Keptin's heavy kethane drill model for an ore drill, and a 2m scaled up version of the kethane generator as the smelter (4x mass). I just changed the cfg files to have the correct modules.

Hi nhnifong,

Can you post your modified drill config file?

I have tried to the same, all animation works but it doesn't extract ore.

Thanks.

[taniwha]

Cobrattack: actually, a new release should be coming soon. I've got raised pads (eg, on a fuel tank) outside of the KSC launch pad area 95% working. The remaining problem is the throttle gets stuck

However, I'm taking a bit of a break from EL by poking at a fuel-flow analysis bug in MechJeb.