Gargantuan RocketParts Lifter

[attosecond]

A NovaPunch-based lifter for those who don’t want to cheat their RocketParts into orbit, but also don’t want to fly dozens of missions to get the job done. This lifter delivers 875 tons of RocketParts to a 250km orbit, with enough fuel left over to de-orbit the craft. That’s 35 “medium†SpareParts modules, or 350000 RocketParts.

WARNING: not for the feint-of-hardware! On the pad this craft has 1157 parts. Once in orbit the part count is much more manageable. No bad ratings for the large part count! It says “gargantuan†right in the title. While I did my utmost to keep the part count as low as possible, the primary goal is to lift as many RocketParts into orbit with a single craft as possible. If you’d rather have a smoother game play experience during the early launch stages, this is not the ship for you. On the other hand, if you’re bored and frustrated trying to get enough RocketParts into orbit to build something truly monumental, give this lifter a try.

Mods required:

Orbital Construction

NovaPunch

[W.A] Perfectrons 2

Key bindings:

1) Toggle center Matriarch 5m engine

2) Toggle outer Matriarch engines

3) Toggle solar panels

4) Toggle all torque wheels

Flight instructions: (for instructions with pictures, click here)

0) I HIGHLY recommend you upgrade your NovaPunch to release 2.03 or newer–at least update your NovaPunch SAS wheels, as the new wheels have more torque and allow you to stay at max throttle for the entire ascent.

1) Max the throttle, turn on SAS, and launch.

2) Watch the fuel status of your stages on the left of the screen. When a set of engines is out of fuel, press the space bar to separate them.

3) Follow any ascent path that pleases you. I’d recommend starting your gravity turn between 8-10km.

4) Press 3 to deploy the solar panels once you clear 70km altitude. Press 2 to disable the outer ring of Matriarch engines. You don’t need them for circularization or orbital maneuvers.

5) Circularize.

6) Just before docking I like to disable all the torque wheels so they don’t fight with the monster wheels on my station. If you want to do this, press 4. Press 4 again after you undock to get your wheels back.

Download on SpacePort

Enjoy!

Some images:

Liftoff

875 tons of RocketParts in orbit at 250km

Edited October 18, 2013 by attosecond
Now available on Spaceport: lift 875 tons of RocketParts to your station at 250km!

[attosecond]

Everyone flying this, update your NovaPunch! Release 2.03 includes updated SAS wheels with double the torque--this means the craft no longer starts spinning uncontrollably when the throttle is maxed during late stages of the ascent. With the new wheels you can simply max the throttle at launch and leave it there until cutoff. The faster ascent translates to more fuel for orbital maneuvers.