What's your "workhorse"?

[RocketPilot573]

Here's mine:

It can lift about an orange tank to LKO, and the second stage can return back to KSC (even to the VAB helipad is there's enough fuel).

NOTE: In the picture, everything above the RSC tank is just the payload, not the rocket.

[zekes]

I use the T-9 Heavy Launcher pretty much 75% of my missions. Can carry 150 tons to LKO

http://www./?f9wxdk09r4kzbm3

[SargeRho]

Several even, depending on purpose. I have 2 workhorse launchers, for light and heavy-ish payloads respectively, and interplanetary ship sections I use all the time.

My two most prominent craft are the Tikan 5, a medium-heavy lift rocket with liquid fuel boosters (not aspargus), and a variable Isp core stage, and the Kopernikus, an interplanetary craft that is built in several sections.

The Tikan 5:

SRB-Boosted variant:

Kopernikus during assembly:

Completed:

[Don Quixote]

I've finally managed to build a (mostly) reusable lifter vehicle. Only about 20 tons to LKO, but it is reliable. Most of the time.

Setting it up required "building" several tracking stations around Kerbin. Which also gives me a way of getting rid of certain Kerbals... One that does not involve violent explosions, anyway.

[astropapi1]

Orion CTV. Gets the job done.

[Snow Leopard]

That would have to be my fleet of top-mounted shuttles, the SpaceGliders. As you can see below, they are capable of lifting moderately sized cargo into LKO, and with more powerful launchers, to orbit around the Mun, Minmus and sometimes around the Sun. I've launched probes with them to Eve and Duna, landers (both manned and unmanned) to the Mun and Minmus, as well as constructing a large station in LKO and a smaller station in Munar orbit.

[Noctrian]

Mine is the Minmus II platform (not yet pictured) Its second stage (counting asparagus and primary as a single stage) can establish circular orbit, transfer to Mun, establish orbit, and land with fuel left over. I can return my Minmus II class landers to Kerbin with most of their fuel left.

[Constantinus]

This is my workhorse,At its barest, Energia D About 200t Rocket that has 11k of delta-v

[Thomas988]

Mine is what I call the "Heavy Object Orbital Launcher". It's just a seven Mainsail and jumbo fuel tank asparagus-style launcher. It's a bit unstable, but it can get anything into orbit.

[RadHazard]

When 0.22 came out I tried to start using standardized launchers via the subassembly system, but I eventually gave up on that when I ended up revising my launchers after every new tech tree node. It wasn't hard for me to create a custom launcher for scratch most of the time anyway. However, I started revisiting that when I started needing a heavy-lift launcher, which was tougher for me to design from scratch. The only standardized Launcher I've made so far is the what I've named the Violetstone Heavy. The name comes from the redstone rocket family, which launched the first US satellite, and extrapolated up the electromagnetic spectrum.

Here it is lifting a test payload (roughly 40.6 t) into a 70 km x 70 km orbit. It could probably lift a bit more since it had a bit of spare fuel left after I reached orbit, but I haven't pushed it to it's limit yet.

[SRV Ron]

A 2 stage probe launch rocket for different mission probes around Kerbal and its moons.

[Brotoro]

My Reusable Rocket lifts almost everything I use into orbit nowadays (unless it's an SSTO vehicle). I fly it straight up to about 17 km before doing any turn so that the boosters can separate and land back at KSC (well...they despawn...but if you bother to follow them down, you'll see that they return safely). The sustainer is recovered from orbit to land at the KSC, either on its engine flame (if enough propellant is left) or via parachute.

Below, the Reusable Rocket is lifting a Mk. 3 Nuclear Tug (another of my workhorse vehicles) into Kerbin orbit.

[SuperBigD60]

For stuff, I use this shuttle:

Javascript is disabled. View full album

I've yet to successfully land it, but I've yet to reach the limit of what it can bring into LKO, due to the fact I can't find a way to stuff more than about 60 tons in the bay.

For kerbals into LKO:

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Basically the same, but smaller.

This takes two pilots and 12 passengers int LKO

Both will only reliably work with FAR

[Guest]

This baby has been getting the lion's share of my attention lately:

I'll probably go back to refining this monster at some point:

Edited November 20, 2013 by Jack Wolfe

[tstehler1]

My Pioneer III launch vehicle. Basically, if something is in space in my game, there's a ninety-nine percent chance it rode a Pio-3 to get itself there.

Also, my Pioneer II (almost identical, but without SRB's, built for lighter loads when Jeb isn't on board speed isn't a huge issue).

Edited November 20, 2013 by tstehler1
Forgot to close my parenthesis... ugh... *grammar nazi mode*

[Rainbow-Dashie]

I have an awesome S.U.V (Space Utility Vehicle ). Pretty much the jeep of my space program, have variants for transport, refueling, kethane mining, KAS towing, exploration, unmanned missions, mobile sattelite launcher, and a transport for 2 small rovers.

There are also 2 new variants in development, one loaded with science equipment, transmitters, etc; and one capable of launching a small, 1 man rocket from the surface of a moon/low gravity planet. Could be used as a tug, escape vehicle, or possibly extending the range of a mission (criteria is to be able to return to Kerbin from the surface of Duna, the Mun, Gilly, or Minmus. )

[SuperBigD60]

This baby has been getting the lion's share of my attention lately:

I see you've taken to launching during the day to avoid promiscuous spotlight operators.

[zxczxczbfg]

My General Purpose Lifter Mk I. Roughly analogous to the Saturn V, it has lifted everything from Mun landers to interplanetary tugs.

[Guest]

I see you've taken to launching during the day to avoid promiscuous spotlight operators.

They seemed terribly preoccupied with her engine nozzles and SRB skirts. Shocking, I tell you. Just shocking!

[Dispatcher]

I've been using this a lot lately (referring to the lower two stages, being the launch vehicle). Its one of my subassemblies and I add or remove radially on the bottom stage as needed. I know I can put other tanks below the orange ones to avoid overheating an engine, but this way if Squad makes part behavior more equitable in the future, I'm at least reducing part count. There are also advantages to throttling back a little to reduce drag. Edit: The central stack engines are mainsails, but the radial engines are skippers. Yes, the design is somewhat inefficient since I'm hauling the central mainsail on the lower stage after it runs out of fuel. But I throttle up when that happens, allowing the skippers to compensate a little. For many uses, this thing is overkill.

Edited November 20, 2013 by Dispatcher

[Spooks]

For stuff, I use this shuttle:

Javascript is disabled. View full album

I've yet to successfully land it, but I've yet to reach the limit of what it can bring into LKO, due to the fact I can't find a way to stuff more than about 60 tons in the bay.

For kerbals into LKO:

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Basically the same, but smaller.

This takes two pilots and 12 passengers int LKO

Both will only reliably work with FAR

do you have craft file ?

i made alote of shuttles and i need alote bigger tanks to make it

[SkyRender]

I suppose you could reasonably argue that my Kethane mission setup is a workhorse.

A shot from 0.21, but not much has changed about it since then. It's my go-to Kethane mining setup. Comes with 4 final-form vessels (detector, fuel ferry, miner, and orbital fuel depot), and can easily situate itself just about anywhere in the entire Kerbal solar system.

[TheCosmos]

For Satellites and small - large station parts, i use a space shuttle

For everything else, I use my Pegasus (The Bottom 2 engine sets):

[that1guy]

Well, I have quite a few workhorses/infrastructure stuff... with out further ado, my mission set-up for most missions

Step 1: Kerbals take a Pices I SSTO shuttle to LKO

Step 2: Rendezvous and Docking with the Gavia station in LKO, transferring monopropellant and fuel as needed to fuel missions further away from Kerbin

Step 3: Kerbals take the Praetor I TMV (top) from Gavia Station to Oneraria Station orbiting the Mun, depositing fuel that is left over from flight. The Praetor I TMV is constantly in orbit. The Porta Lander (bottom) is used to descend to the surface for various scientific missions and other things

Oneraria's orbit around the Mun

Step 4: Kerbals may, if assigned, man the Mesa I surface base, the Oneraria Station is capable of supporting multiple surface bases and as of now, Mesas II and III are on the way to the Mun

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

So yeah, to bring up station parts and base parts I have to make custom rockets with recoverable parts. This means that the boosters that achieve orbit around Kerbin can be reused. The actual mission components that put the piece of the station or base into place are not. The re-use of boosters cuts the cost of launching the base parts to their AO. The end result is a cheaper space agency that can offer more exotic missions for less money. For example, space tourism can be achieved in this way. If a tourist wanted to go to Mesa II (a long term habitation base), they would ride to LKO in a Pices I, wait at Gavia, catch the Praetor I to Oneraria, and take a Porta Lander to the base for far cheaper than simply using a 1 use Apollo-esque system. Ergo, in this way, I have 3 main craft and 4 ports of call that are used in spaceflight.

Edited November 20, 2013 by that1guy

[Tripzter]

This is what i'd consider my "in orbit work horse"

Rearranged multiple space stations with it.