new use for the Inline Clamp'o'Tron

[sgt_flyer]

ok, i made this thread to see if people can find awesome uses for the Inline Clamp'o'Tron special attribute : until you 'toggle' it, it is able to physically interact with the rest of the parts of the same spacecraft - (landing gear / legs animated parts do that too, but only when they are not moving - the inline clamp'o'tron do this all the time)

found this property while toying around with the KrakenDrives

one way it can be useful, is to be used as a cradle for heavy / long payloads. (like a jumbo 64, which would tear away it's docking ports if it was only sustained by them)

here's the Proof of concept pictures :

rover with inline docking ports approach the 'reloader' rover :

docked with the reloader rover :

going away with the jumbo 64, without any struts.

quick note : here's what happens when you don't use any kind of support for the jumbo 64 (or toggle the inline docking ports which are used as a support) : the jumbo 64 bends from the rest of the vehicle and rip it appart.

here's the test vehicle i made with this technique (sph .craft file) if you want to check how it works.

http://www./view/id9fh6iis06zn43/Test_Cradle.craft

during the tests i made, it supported physical and time warp without breaking (although physical warp 'increase' the efforts on the inline docking ports), quicksaving / loading, etc.

now, it would be interesting to see what kind of uses people can come up with this special property of the inline docking port (feel free to post your .crafts /pictures using this technique here, i'll try adding a link to them to the first post )

Regards, Sgt_flyer

Edited February 15, 2014 by sgt_flyer

[O-Doc]

I've got a launcher I call the Hangman which uses a docking port as the attachment point for my space fighters(< 25T). It's not quite an SSTO(turbos only), the ascent profile pushes into a suborbital hop and the spaceship undocks and does the insertion burn. You have to be gentle on the throttle at takeoff though.

It's a big thing for me to get craft into space without any stage scarring.

[GusTurbo]

That's a cool trick! This may have some interesting applications. I wonder how much weight this technique can be used to support?

[sgt_flyer]

Here, i had to use 6 to 7 struts for each inline clamp-o'tron, but they support the 36 tons of the jumbo 64. Using more than two inline clamp'o'tron should help support more weight.