Now *what* do I do with this thing?

[Starwhip]

I have this station I'm building, as a Kerbin Orbit refuel center, and probe docking station. Not done with it yet, weights 57.71 tons.

Question is, what is a good size to stop at? And how do I put bigger fuel reserves up? (My current lifter, Spirion Heavy, can only lift about 10 tons.)

Help is appreciated.

[Taki117]

You stop when you want. My current station that's under construction is almost done. I will be adding a science module to finish it off. (http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/57130-Out-with-the-old-In-with-the-New if you are really interested)

As far as lifting large loads, is this done in career or sandbox? Either way take a look at Asparagus staging, or mods like Kerbal Engineer to figure out the Delta-V of your rocket.

[Zephram Kerman]

For me, the "stop size" is when my station plus active vessel add up to my parts limit. It's not really the station mass that stops me, it's the number of parts adding up to cause lag. Looks to me like you're about there already.

So you might want to go straight to docking an orange tank to that node.

Here's what I did a few versions ago, just for your inspiration:

[Starwhip]

Meh. I want to keep adding more parts. And I know all the tricks of the trade in launch/docking. I think that adding another couple thousand liters of fuel to the Spirion's tanks would do the trick.

The thing's in career mode, so far. I don't play with mods, I just rely on my own skills.

I believe my major concern is this: If I cover all those Clamp-O-Tron Sr. ports, making the station symmetrical, would it lag my system worse than it is now?

EDIT: At the moment, the only time there is severe lag is when I look at the horizon line on Kerbin, or another body. Otherwise it runs just fine.

This is the lifter I use. If I added another level of those medium-size Rockomax tanks (1/2 the Orange one), I think I could lift another two to three tons, or even more.

Edited November 7, 2013 by Starwhip

[Franklin]

Do you have access to the orange 64 tanks? Each of those X200-32 tanks adds 0.2 drag, where a 64 tank holds the same capacity as 2 but is one less part, hence less drag. You could probably lift even more if you swapped out all those X200-32s for 64s.

That said, it's total parts that'll start to lag you, not size. And yeah, make it symmetrical, since you're gonna get some really weird RCS functionality if you're end heavy or have odd symmetry. My current LKO refueling station rotates like a fat hog because it's shaped like a giant L. Live and learn.

edit: And you'll never need all those batteries, each of which is adding 0.2 drag. Everyone over does it on batteries and solar panels. Something to think about. Fewer parts is always better with the current drag model.

Edited November 7, 2013 by Franklin

[Cruzan]

My first stations were huge, and then I realized I didn't need 80% of the stuff on there. The station served to refuel my interplanetary ships as they reached orbit before sending them on their way for a mission. My advice would be to design it with enough fuel to fully-refuel 2-3 of your interplanetary size vessels. Doing a refueling mission every now and again helps mix things up

If you're lagging when you see the horizon or another planet, you could try the optimization tweaks which cover loading distance for planet textures. I think the default settings used to load the water on Laythe all the way from Kerbin orbit haha. I believe there's a thread covering it in the Tutorials section and its a quick and easy fix!

If you need ideas for efficient lifter designs there are some amazing rocket designers who share their lifters in the Spacecraft Exchange forum!

Random advice on part count. If you're adding those battery packs purely for aesthetics, then that's cool, but if you're concerned about part counts in the slightest, you should stick to the larger in-line packs. Jettisoning excess RCS thrusters and other things can help reduce overall part count as well.

Hopefully I helped a little

[700NitroXpress]

You can lift limitless amounts of fuel into orbit with the right amount of staging. Here is my current Kerban Fuel Depot, weighs a little over 730 tons fully loaded.

Here is another one of my super max stations, this one is the RRTS, Rapid Response Tactical Station. You can dock up to 14 craft to it at full load and fit the bottom with any engine attachment you want. The bottom section is a useful docking station, inside the outer casing are two huge fuel silos for refueling landers and space planes.

Getting object this large up into orbit and docking them can get to be a pain tho.

I have all of the parts for this station up for download if you're interested. I don't know if everything still works in 0.22, but it should.

Here is my current craft and lifter that I'm using for most things now. This lifter can lift over 200 ton objects into orbit. This isn't near the max power of this thing, but I haven't had a need to beef it up yet. The ship attached to it now is around 144 tons. The ship is my Papa Dragon interplanetary ship with lander already attached. It's been tested up to Moho and returned to Kerban. I'm working on improving the engine designs to be longer lasting and have more fuel.

The lifter uses full asparagus staging, but all the power is on the inside of the craft, so the outer tanks are slack tanks. As the fuel in them gets used up, they detach and you don't loose engine power, because there's no engines on them. Once the fuel burns down to the grey tanks, they start to drop off with the staging, but they all fuel the central tank. If I wanted to make this more efficient, I would use the small grey tanks only for the other engines and double up on the orange outer tanks. You could even add radial engines to increase power, and put more engines on the girders, while adding more fuel to the outside that drops off once it's spent.

Edited November 7, 2013 by 700NitroXpress

[YourEverydayWaffle]

Lifting more parts isn't too hard. Make a set of engines that attach to the side of the craft so you can duplicate them and make MOAR POWER. Doing this, I got a 157 ton interplanetary tug into orbit and rendevous'd it with my station. Just try playing with different lifter designs.

[Franklin]

If you're lagging when you see the horizon or another planet, you could try the optimization tweaks which cover loading distance for planet textures. I think the default settings used to load the water on Laythe all the way from Kerbin orbit haha. I believe there's a thread covering it in the Tutorials section and its a quick and easy fix!

Would you be able to find this thread? I'd love some performance tweak suggestions.

[Cruzan]

Would you be able to find this thread? I'd love some performance tweak suggestions.

I couldn't find the exact one that I had read, but this one has the same stuff. Just apply it to Laythe and Eve as well

Default Terrain Quality, Without [most of] The Lag!

[Spaceweezle]

Damn, by the time i make a 100k Kerban orbit all I have left is a measly 700 liquid fuel, I must be missing something.

[700NitroXpress]

Damn, by the time i make a 100k Kerban orbit all I have left is a measly 700 liquid fuel, I must be missing something.

What kind of lifter are you using and what's the payload weight?

[Cdr_Zeta]

Hello,

Kudos Kerbal Space Engineer !!

http://www.fuelspace.org/blog/2014/10/27/five-ideas-to-utilize-the-vast-resources-of-space

Cmdr Zeta

[Tank Buddy]

You can build as much as you want. The limiter for me is either part count or I simply don't have anything useful (or good looking) to add.

As for your lifter problem ADD MOAR BOOSTERS!

Use the larger diameter parts or explore new staging methods. There are several heavy lifter threads in the Spacecraft Exchange

Last but not least, even though you said you play without mods, I would recommend Kerbal Engineer. You are only holding yourself back by not using it. I used to do Delta V calculations by hand. Kerbal Engineer just allows you to build spacecraft without guesswork.

Edited February 14, 2015 by Tank Buddy

[RainDreamer]

Reminder for possible future poster: you are replying to a thread from 2013. Please think carefully about what you are about to do.

[Red Iron Crown]

Do you have access to the orange 64 tanks? Each of those X200-32 tanks adds 0.2 drag, where a 64 tank holds the same capacity as 2 but is one less part, hence less drag. You could probably lift even more if you swapped out all those X200-32s for 64s.

The 0.2 drag is a coefficient, it is multiplied by the mass of the part in the drag calculation. Two X200-32s have exactly the same drag as one Jumbo 64.

Weirdly though, the Mk2 tanks have lower coefficients for the smaller tanks, meaning two half-length tanks have less drag than one full size one. Hopefully that gets fixed in 1.0.

[Vanamonde]

This thread is over a year old. I suspect OP has resolved his issue by now.