Just before I go to bed tonight (morning?), I just thought....

[Whackjob]

"You know, I really ought to do a re-do of the old tallest-possible-rocket I did however long ago."

Old rocket

New rocket, under construction

I'll finish it tomorrow and put it into orbit maybe.

[NASAFanboy]

I dare you. Build space elevator

[Whackjob]

I dare you. Build space elevator

I've tried. Crazy things happen with ships longer than 2.5 kilometers. It simply cannot be done in the game as it currently is.

[SpaceSphereOfDeath]

I've tried. Crazy things happen with ships longer than 2.5 kilometers. It simply cannot be done in the game as it currently is.

I know you would have tried it, what happens by the way?

[NASAFanboy]

I've tried. Crazy things happen with ships longer than 2.5 kilometers. It simply cannot be done in the game as it currently is.

Ah, I now know what to do.

Time for a large tower and hyper edit to Gilly.

Orbital Gilly ladder, anyone?

[Whackjob]

I know you would have tried it, what happens by the way?

It's like the physics for the extremities are no longer modeled. I had one end shear off and rocket away at blistering speeds. The other end did the same. In the same direction. Basically mashed the whole thing up like an accordion. The devastation was so abrupt and so thorough it ground my machine to a halt and corrupted the save. It didn't just wreck that ship. It quite literally wrecked that whole universe. For the briefest amount of time, I was looking at a singularity, a mathematically infinitely small point of infinite Kerbal. And it was glorious.

Time for a large tower and hyper edit to Gilly.

Orbital Gilly ladder, anyone?

Tsk! Build it, launch it, fly it, land it!

Edited October 28, 2013 by Whackjob

[bsalis]

Oh meh gerd, what have you done.

My tip to try - skip a rigid structure. Try reaction wheels evenly spaced up the stack. Turn gimbals off.

[SpaceSphereOfDeath]

It's like the physics for the extremities are no longer modeled it!

Craft file NOWZ! (Please )

[Whackjob]

Oh meh gerd, what have you done.

My tip to try - skip a rigid structure. Try reaction wheels evenly spaced up the stack. Turn gimbals off.

The issue isn't so much keeping it rigid. It's preventing compression forces from two different ends from crumpling the whole thing like a wet paper bag. The top down with gravity, and bottom up with the amount of thrust I'll have to bolt on to the bottom most tank to lift everything.

Craft file NOWZ! (Please )

I dropped that save after it was corrupted. I deleted it. Didn't think to rescue any craft files out of it.

[Epthelyn]

Ah, I now know what to do.

Time for a large tower and hyper edit to Gilly.

Orbital Gilly ladder, anyone?

Why would you make an orbital ladder on Gilly when you can almost JUMP into orbit?

[Whackjob]

Why would you make an orbital ladder on Gilly when you can almost JUMP into orbit?

Might be amusing to see if you can get tidal forces to act on a tower on Gilly.

"We're IN the Roche lobe, you idiot!"

[SpaceSphereOfDeath]

I'm going to build two 2km structures in orbit.

Then dock them together.

[Whackjob]

I'm going to build two 2km structures in orbit.

Then dock them together.

Just don't do it on a save you'd hate to lose!

[Pigbear]

Ha. I remember when you first joined these forums. You have done a LOT since then.

[allmappedout]

Just don't do it on a save you'd hate to lose!

Caution?! From Whackjob?!

[Spatzimaus]

It's like the physics for the extremities are no longer modeled.

That's because the game has a ~2.2km limit for the detailed physics model by default, so I'd guess that it's doing exactly what you thought; the parts too far from the control node are using a different physics model, so the thing falls apart. The thing is, you CAN increase the physics distance if you want; I don't remember which one it was, but in a previous version I used a mod that upped the physics distance to around 20km through a plugin. It was obviously a bit rougher on my CPU, but it made docking at large space stations a lot smoother as they wouldn't jump around as much when they entered docking range.

It would be fun to see how far you could push this on a really high-end machine, but I really doubt you could get to Space Elevator levels. Now, a pinwheel station might work...

[Galacticruler]

Whackjob, you should look into Ferram's newest endevor in plugins to stabalize that beast.

[Whackjob]

Whackjob, you should look into Ferram's newest endevor in plugins to stabalize that beast.

Thanks, but no thank you. Personal rule: I don't use mods to make life easier. The closest I've gotten there is Kethane, and I'm even mulling over dropping that. Only other mod I have installed is engineer, and that's because people kept asking me how heavy my things were.

[Spatzimaus]

The closest I've gotten there is Kethane, and I'm even mulling over dropping that.

I wouldn't drop it. Kethane, to me, is just practice for the resource system they'll eventually add. Right now it's a bit of a cheat since it's a single resource that becomes every kind of fuel as necessary, so ay Kethane-mining ship can be entirely self-sufficient (like my own Grand Tour ship). The final resource system goes the other direction (many resources becoming a smaller number of fuel types), which would require refineries to be placed where shuttles can bring all of the raw materials necessary to a central location. This should make it impossible for one ship to do everything, but we also don't have aeroscoops/hydroscoops yet so it kind of balances out. (Imagine getting all of the hydrogen you ever need from a close pass of Jool, instead of having to land somewhere.)

Basically, I wouldn't drop it because without it, you simply can't do the kind of long-range missions that'll eventually become the norm once the full resource system is in place and you can refill on-site. Without some sort of fuel generation you have to come back to Kerbin far too often.

That being said, while I agree that mods shouldn't exist simply to make things easier for the player (*cough*MechJeb*cough*), that Ferram plugin is apparently based around a concept that I'm guessing will eventually become part of the core game, that connection force should scale with area. They already did this a bit with the 2.5m docking port, which holds much better than 1.25m ports do, so I don't think they'll keep the current bonding strengths just out of nostalgia. There's still a cube-square issue involved, so the addition of that sort of scaling shouldn't completely remove the need for struts on large designs (which it sounds like that plugin DOES do, hence why I don't use it either), but it'd at least remove some of the stupider artifacts of large designs (like wobbling engines).

[SpaceSphereOfDeath]

... I HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT

PROTIP, DON'T BREAK THE UNIVESE KIDS.

i need to tell danny2462 about this.

[Whackjob]

Just finished the rocket, went to do the first shakedown run, game client crashed. Weighs in just under 3,000 parts. Running it again!

I think I will post the craft file for it when I am done.

#EDIT: OY! My craft file got corrupted. The lower bottom section is now all one useless cohesive unit. I have to tear it off, rebuild, and hope the corruption isn't also higher up on it.

#EDIT2: I cannot remove the corrupted part without the game crashing. This craft is lost. Don't have the heart to rebuild it at the moment. Later tonight maybe.

Edited October 28, 2013 by Whackjob

[SpaceSphereOfDeath]

Good luck!

Oh, also

400posts!

[Deadpangod3]

Corruptions are to whack job what Jool is to Danny...

[Whackjob]

New build underway. Engine cluster + dual truss bracing test.

In between each Rockomax 32 tanks, there is an inline SAS. Notorious for their weak connection points. I maximized the stress on the rocket, by using the same engine cluster I intend to use for the overall huge rocket, and even that couldn't make it shear.

We're a go to rebuild the whole thing.