Looks like I'll have to lock the suspension!

[ScallopPotato]

Ah Eve, your crushing gravity crushes my hopes and dreams of building an ascent vehicle...

Basically, when my 260 ton eve launcher touches down on its surface, the legs are compressed to their max and often make the vehicle lean over. And leaning over leads to dragging engines on the surface or tipping it over on ascent (and crashing).

Oh, and this launch vehicle is for only one kerbal. Yet I'm doing it due to the lack of FAR-compatible eve launchers.

Since landing leg suspension was added in .22, how many times have you found it better to use locked suspension?

Also, are there any larger/sturdier landing legs out there for massive spacecraft?

[Kasuha]

Maybe you could just add more landing legs? Perhaps the load is too much for them, that's why they make the ship lean. Eve has almost twice gravity than Kerbin...

[MockKnizzle]

Do you really need that big of an ascent vehicle? Even with FAR, I'm positive you can get 11k dV for less than 260 tons.

[ScallopPotato]

Do you really need that big of an ascent vehicle? Even with FAR, I'm positive you can get 11k dV for less than 260 tons.

Turns out I don't. I did more tests this morning and the upper stages had enough dV to reach orbit from a height of 3km. This simplifies a lot of things. The deorbiter is smaller (82 tons), the landing legs aren't as stressed, all the parts are available by the early/mid tech tree instead of the very end. It's wonderful. With some extra boosters, it I'm certain it be fully capable of reaching orbit from sea level.

[kahlzun]

Those first couple of km are the killer.

If you're happy using mods, check out the Airship mod it will help a lot with Eve.

Edited March 1, 2014 by kahlzun

[Vanamonde]

Some players have found that rigid structures made out of struts work better than landing legs on Eve.

[problemecium]

When I was still playing with 0.22, I found that hardpoints make better landing legs than landing legs. Landing legs have since been improved, but it's worth trying.

[Phafor]

If i'm planning to land on Eve i usually don't use landinglegs, but the Modular Girder Segment with 1x1 / 2x2 structural plates. It might weigh more but you can land with about 15m/s without breaking anything.

[MockKnizzle]

Try and trim your final stage down to an extremely minimal, bare-bones design - any weight savings there can have a huge effect on how much fuel you need in your early stages. Don't bring your science pods, don't bring RCS, don't bring any extra batteries or RTGs... literally all you need is a 1-kerbal pod for the science.

[merendel]

If i'm planning to land on Eve i usually don't use landinglegs, but the Modular Girder Segment with 1x1 / 2x2 structural plates. It might weigh more but you can land with about 15m/s without breaking anything.

I've actualy started doing things like this on a regular basis. Recently I was building a sky crane with a KAS winch so I stuck the engiens out on pods to the side useing the Mbeam 650's and structural pannles between the engiens and the winch slot to protect from any accidental swings in the load from knocking the engiens. They also double as excellent landing legs. So excellent in fact that I did a 50m drop test and the ship was still compleatly flyable after, a few RCS ports got shaken off but everything else survived.

[Pecan]

... a 50m drop test ....

Completely off-topic but an anecdote that I hope will amuse those who sometimes get frustrated with computers (and horrify those that love them): One of my early jobs was to perform a "3m drop onto concrete" as part of the acceptance tests for 'ruggedised' Army computer equipment. I had an office on the floor overlooking the car-park ... and on the noticeboard an invitation to everyone to come in and through one out of the window :-)

[TechnicalK3rbal]

-snip-

Also, are there any larger/sturdier landing legs out there for massive spacecraft?

Girders.

10chars

[StrandedonEarth]

One lander I used on Jool's bigger moons had landing legs on girder outriggers. One hard landing destroyed the legs, then my LV-N's, before coming to rest on the girders. I still had "emergency thrust" radial engines left for the ascent.

Too bad I didn't have enough fuel.... Rescue rover mission is still in the design finalization stage.