Mobius RocketWorks - Engine Mounts and Parts

[Teirusu]

Hey!

Hey you! Yeah you! CEO of rocket company X! I know, your tired! I was was too!

...Wait, you say you don't know what your tired of? Well, -I- know what you're tired of! -You're- tired of that toxic orange paint! You know what I'm talking about! That's right!

Rockomax! You're sick and tired of that dubious mark-up they charge for painting all their stuff orange! You're tired of the monopoly they have on your heavy lift launchers! -You're- tired of that 'puny', in-efficient, "More powerful then small nations" ...Mainsail!

You know what? SO. WERE. WE.

So, our engineers thought, "..Say, why don't we make some.. 'adapter..s' that lets us cluster those smaller, cheaper, and far more efficient motors?"

And so.. WE DID. We bought some, high quality, premium parts. (Salvaged from junkyards..) Resized them just a touch. (2.49999999999999~) And welded them together! And ta-da!

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Due to soaring demand, we've added some addition parts to our catalog and refined the adapters! The head engineer said they added some kinda.. I dunno, "Floaty node thingy" so you can use the smaller mounts on upper stages. By Jool I don't know what engineering language that is but it sounds cool! He also created a bigger (Slightly more explosive!) radial decoupler so you have more space to mount your MOAR BOOSTARS!

..Oh yeah, he also.. 'embiggened' the Rockomax station core.

...Speaking of MOAR BOOSTARS, we just added some large stack couplers! Now you too can have giant rockets of multi-stack awesomeness!

 Version History â€â€

1.3

ADDED: 8-point engine cluster mount

ADDED: 2.5m Stack Bi Coupler

ADDED: 2.5m Stack Tri Coupler

ADDED: 2 different 2.5m Stack Quad Couplers

1.2

ADDED: 3-point Mini engine mount

ADDED: 2-point Mini engine mount

ADDED: Radial rocket engine mount

1.1

ADDED: 4-point Mini engine mount

ADDED: Up-scaled Rockomax Hub

ADDED: Up-scaled Radial Decoupler

CHANGED: Snugged in the upper plate of the engine adapters so they fit more seamlessly against the bottom of 2.5m tanks.

CHANGED: Added floating nodes to the bottom of many of the adapters so you can more easily use them in upper stages of a rocket.

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/mrw-cluster-engine-mounts/

P.S. Symmetry works by turning ON part clipping.

Edit: Yes, the adapters are 1 Part! No more having to piece them together with those dubious cube-struts!

Edited July 26, 2013 by Teirusu
New version 1.3

[The Destroyer]

That looks like the standard tail, anybody could part clip it on.

Unless I mis-understood and it's all one part.

[stupid_chris]

Oh my god I think I love you.

[Gojira]

That looks like the standard tail, anybody could part clip it on.

Unless I mis-understood and it's all one part.

It's all one part

It uses Model{ or something

[Teirusu]

That looks like the standard tail, anybody could part clip it on.

Unless I mis-understood and it's all one part.

Yes, the adapters are 1 Part! No more having to piece clusters together manually with tail-cones and duct-tapping them together with cube-struts. Those Rockomax plates and the tail-cones are all 1 part.

[The Destroyer]

Ok, now this sounds good.

[lammatt]

it'll be even better if you can jettison the radial nodes at some later time in the flight...

see... when you get into orbit... the thrust will be too strong that a slightest tab on the shift will go a huge thrust if you have like 8+4 engines on the tank

while having 12 200thrust engines at the launch stage is good... it's way too much when it gets into orbit and the thrust'll be super hard to control

(well of cos you can action group the engines... but isnt getting rid of the deadweight an even better idea?)

[stupid_chris]

it'll be even better if you can jettison the radial nodes at some later time in the flight...

see... when you get into orbit... the thrust will be too strong that a slightest tab on the shift will go a huge thrust if you have like 8+4 engines on the tank

while having 12 200thrust engines at the launch stage is good... it's way too much when it gets into orbit and the thrust'll be super hard to control

(well of cos you can action group the engines... but isnt getting rid of the deadweight an even better idea?)

That would inevitably mean more parts, and thus breaks the concept of those to be a single part. Though, if this is the core stage of your launcher, you probably shouldn't be using it in space. Unless you're making a cluster of LV-Ns

Speaking of which I was wondering if you could add an extra attachement node to the part! Like having clusters like those create the problem of having weird engine fairings. So by adding a universal node to the part, you would attach the bottom part of your rocket to that node instead of to one of the above engines, then you can strut it together. It would make it useful for upper stage LV-N clusters, as I just mentioned.

Heck, if you had the time, you could even make a fairing for the whole cLuster. If you managed to do this, it would be so awesome, I think I would shed a very manly tear.

[HoY]

Good job ill definitely be using these to switch my super heavy lifting fleet off the ground from now on, along with the welded parts pack!

On the note about LVN's

Yes you can do some complicated placemtent to get the nerva stage up top, but why? Just use the nerves as the core of the launch stage!

[Teirusu]

That would inevitably mean more parts, and thus breaks the concept of those to be a single part. Though, if this is the core stage of your launcher, you probably shouldn't be using it in space. Unless you're making a cluster of LV-Ns

Speaking of which I was wondering if you could add an extra attachement node to the part! Like having clusters like those create the problem of having weird engine fairings. So by adding a universal node to the part, you would attach the bottom part of your rocket to that node instead of to one of the above engines, then you can strut it together. It would make it useful for upper stage LV-N clusters, as I just mentioned.

Heck, if you had the time, you could even make a fairing for the whole cLuster. If you managed to do this, it would be so awesome, I think I would shed a very manly tear.

Not only that, but if your using these adapters, there's a good chance you might be making a center-feed or asparagus heavy booster. Now with an example 6 booster and 1 center column design using mainsails, as you shed boosters, your Thrust-to-Weight ratio drops. Each mainsail adds a fairly significant amount to your TWR, so as you're going up, you're loosing TWR and only gaining a slight amount as you get higher.

So, ideally, you want to have as much thrust on the center column as you can manage (Without causing the rocket to pancake, that is) and keep your TWR roughly the same throughout the ascent. Its particularly important at the last stage of your final ascent into orbit when all you have is the super-tall center column and its a problem that many people don't even realize they have.

You're trying to point towards the horizon to gain lateral speed, so you're no longer using most of your thrust to resist gravity. If your TWR drops too much, then the top of the rocket will want to point back towards the ground subtly, of course your engine and controls fight it, but it causes extra stresses on your tall, wobbly center column. These extra stresses can potentially cause your rocket to fail, resulting in those frustrating 'Tank X collided into Tank Y' structural failures, which can sometimes keep happening even after you add more struts!

So yeah, really the only time you'd want to jettison the radial engines is when you're actually in a stable orbit, which by that time, you're lifters job is pretty much done.

Incidentally Chris, I -had- been thinking of adding such a bottom attachment node to some of the adapters for a similar reason. So that people could use them for a mid-stage like the Saturn 5, for example. The only problem with that is: I don't know what the height is of the engines you're using. The LV-Ns are nearly twice the length of a typical chemical motor, and the LV-909s are, of course, even smaller still. It didn't seem to make much sense to me to release a bunch of duplicate parts where only a bottom node has a different placement. And technically, you can already do something like this with them using the center node.

A built-in fairing for the whole cluster also wouldn't really look right if you're going from 2.5m to 2.5m. Now, 2.5m to 3.75m.. that's a different story. I could imagine stretching out the KW Inter-stage decoupler to fit over the cluster adapter and engines and it would look okay.

[Mekan1k]

Que manly tear.

[stupid_chris]

Incidentally Chris, I -had- been thinking of adding such a bottom attachment node to some of the adapters for a similar reason. So that people could use them for a mid-stage like the Saturn 5, for example. The only problem with that is: I don't know what the height is of the engines you're using. The LV-Ns are nearly twice the length of a typical chemical motor, and the LV-909s are, of course, even smaller still. It didn't seem to make much sense to me to release a bunch of duplicate parts where only a bottom node has a different placement. And technically, you can already do something like this with them using the center node.

-snip-

A built-in fairing for the whole cluster also wouldn't really look right if you're going from 2.5m to 2.5m. Now, 2.5m to 3.75m.. that's a different story. I could imagine stretching out the KW Inter-stage decoupler to fit over the cluster adapter and engines and it would look okay.

One way to counter this and that has been done by other part packs is to add more than one attachment node. I think two should do the job, one the length of the LV-Ts and one the length of the LV-Ns.

And for the fairings, well yeah it might look a bit weird, but I'm internally debating whether or not it would be weirder than just no fairing at all. Maybe simply dropping down from the tail parts to nearly the attachment node, then a quick inward straight to match 2.5m wouldn't look that weird, I guess it would need testing to find out.

[matts73]

You just made my day!

[jordanjay29]

Cool. Since they're all one part, what about coloring it all orange so it doesn't look like a bunch of tail-pieces stuck on?

[Teirusu]

One way to counter this and that has been done by other part packs is to add more than one attachment node. I think two should do the job, one the length of the LV-Ts and one the length of the LV-Ns.

And for the fairings, well yeah it might look a bit weird, but I'm internally debating whether or not it would be weirder than just no fairing at all. Maybe simply dropping down from the tail parts to nearly the attachment node, then a quick inward straight to match 2.5m wouldn't look that weird, I guess it would need testing to find out.

That's not a bad idea with the dual nodes on the bottom, I'll look into that. I'm not a modeller though, so any fairings will have to wait. I also had a few more ideas for mounts. In the mean time, what do you think of this?

[Scotius]

Lovely shade of orange. Ok, i'll bite - space station core?

[Teirusu]

Lovely shade of orange. Ok, i'll bite - space station core?

Yeah, up-scaled Rockomax multi-node

[CaptainArbitrary]

Oh my god, these are so sexy. I skimmed the kinda-release-notes for .20 and saw the thing about the MODEL node, but I really didn't get it until now. Thank you so much.

[Scotius]

Nice. It should allow for more stability. Now, if i could make a request: can you make smaller version of your clusters? Small enough to fit on landers (maybe using nosecones as a base?). And with central node, so it can be placed on top of a launcher. I'm asking, because i tried clustering small engines under my lander, and it ended badly. As in 'explosive disintegration of the ship' badly - almost certainly because of engines clipping into decoupler. Having such mounts would allow us to build nice, compact landers with TWR tailored to needs.

[7499275]

Dude! You are now my second favorite modder ( Bobcat being first )

[Teirusu]

Nice. It should allow for more stability. Now, if i could make a request: can you make smaller version of your clusters? Small enough to fit on landers (maybe using nosecones as a base?). And with central node, so it can be placed on top of a launcher. I'm asking, because i tried clustering small engines under my lander, and it ended badly. As in 'explosive disintegration of the ship' badly - almost certainly because of engines clipping into decoupler. Having such mounts would allow us to build nice, compact landers with TWR tailored to needs.

You mean something kinda like this? Still fits on a 2.5m tank, but uses nose-cones instead of tail-fins? If not, an example would help.

[HoY]

That Looks like what he means, what about another one that just has 4 points on it but not having them right at the edge. I mean, so that the 4 engines won't stick out past the 2.5m tank. Basically a 2.5m to 4x1.25m adapter plate. Kspx has one and it looks great its just a little large and they stick out past the 2.5m tank.

[Scotius]

Yes, exactly like this. HoY's suggestion is also good.

[Temeriki]

If I ever have children you can have dibs on the 6th one (Majir, Bobcat, KospY (Kas), Hooligan Labs, and bac9 (B9) have already reserved the first 5.

[Teirusu]

If I ever have children you can have dibs on the 6th one (Majir, Bobcat, KospY (Kas), Hooligan Labs, and bac9 (B9) have already reserved the first 5.

Hmm.. being the CEO of an emerging rocket company tends to mean you have little time on your hands for kids. But, let me check with my head engineer!

*Minutes later*

..Okay, he said he's.. umm, too young to be taking care of kids. I'm not sure if he was kidding or not, but I certainly appreciate the gesture in anycase! On another note, he gave me a screen-shot of something else he's been working and wanted an opinion on it!