Triskelion Station Mk. II

[Saltpeter]

The new kethane ferry is stable when full now. Scientists insist that the landing gear on the tank unit digging into the ground is an intended feature for stability. Yes, stability, that's it.

[Saltpeter]

Minmusopolis is complete! Now to try and get the ferry back on kethane engines.

[Saltpeter]

I have a small problem. The RCS thrusters cannot lift full kethane tanks off of Minmus, but I'd hate for so much kethane to go to waste. I have to figure out a way to get the ferry ship off of Minmus without simply terminating it. I have an idea. Stand by.

[Saltpeter]

I've fashioned a small tug with a grabbing arm to get the ferry high enough to turn around, activate its kethan engines, and get the kerb out of there.

[Saltpeter]

It's not powerful enough. And apparently the description of the kethane engine is misleading, in that it doesn't actually function without air. Maybe it is only meant to suggest that it works in any kind of atmosphere. I will have to create a bigger tug, and use a standard engine to lift the ferry. A shame, that.

[Camaron]

You know, I built that ship with an engine. Does it still have the engine?

Also, great to see you're back!

I've just built my new PC with more powerful components, and completed the Titan Thirteen.

I was thinking, though, I wouldn't mind building you a new Giant fuel station built to spec. In other words, how much Xenon and Monoprop would you like with it? Would you rather have nuclear engines on it for self-relocation? Would you want the larger points on the center for balanced docking? Want lots of lights? Stuff like that. I'll fill your order. The latest 2,200 ton Titan only has two large Mono Tanks. I know that doesn't really fit your needs.

Side note - I've seen it mentioned before. I think the intention of the Kethane Jets is to function on Eve and Duna where the Oxygen-breathers fail.

[Saltpeter]

The fuel depot of Minmusopolis does have its engine, yes. That's how it got there in the first place!

Suppose I was to commission you to build a super-big fuel depot custom-made for Laythian orbit, intended to fill up by refining kethane from any of the moons in the Joolian system. I'd want it to have 21 large tanks(7 stacks of 3 in the same familiar hexagon shape), at least four engines for moving around(3x nuclear blocks or big engines, your choice), 6 Senior ports (3 front, 3 rear), one regular port, a Hitchhiker for permanent staffing, and lighting for all the important bits. It has to have a monoprop and xenon capacity of at least 10,000 units each.

As it stands, the Triskelion has failed in its mission. Not as a fault of the ship, but due to a lack of testing of the kethane equipment. KSP scientists are trying to shift the blame onto Donory Kerman, but the kerbs watching the mission on TV have rallied to support him.

[Saltpeter]

Not a good time to realize you forgot to put RCS thrusters on the tug.

[Camaron]

I'll have to download the Kethane mod and learn about that.

[Werwolf]

1: Get Kerbal Attachment System.

2: Build a cargo transporter with a bunch of bins filled with RCS ports for your Kerbals to EVA and attach.

3: ?????

4: Profit!

[Saltpeter]

You don't have to make the depot with kethane equipment, I'll just add it myself via ports.

I have KAS, and I think it's not installed properly. I prefer not to use it when I can avoid it.

[Camaron]

I actually rather enjoy the idea. I've been considering trying Kethane for a long time now. We'll see what I can come up with.

Earlier today I was building my largest Fuel Container Ship ever, Andromeda M. The M stands for "Million" (launches empty, gets refueled afterward method).

I managed to blast into space a ship capable of containing 1,000,260 units of fuel, and 15,750 units of monoprop. It's an absolute behemoth and weighs in at just405 parts.It's empty weight is around 1,800 tons. I honestly did not expect this ship to pass the "Stand Up Test". I thought it would crumble under its massive, horizontally dense weight.

Here's a small photo of the abomination now:

[Saltpeter]

That's really...big. @_@ I like it. Now if it could have more ports on the sides and have Xenon storage too, I'd totally use it for my next mission.

[Camaron]

This wasn't really meant for you... it would take something like six Titan Thirteen / Hexaflexagons to even load it. This was more of a test of how big I could make something. Every time I build some staggering monstrosity like this, I learn stuff that lets me go even bigger.

I'll be starting on your thing tomorrow. It won't be this big, it will be a practical construct with lots of bells and whistles.

Any mods out there with a good set of larger-scale Xenon tanks? Would be really nice if this ship could hold a great deal without racking up 900 parts in the process. Same as the Titans, parts count will be a huge factor in my design.

Something as big as Andromeda M pretty much never moves again once you fill it up. It's fully fueled weight is several times heavier than a Class E Asteroid..

I'll still offer the craft to you, but don't try to take it outside Kerbin SOI without a whole lotta work. This is not a transporter/cruiser/starship.

There are a few more things I want to do with this ship, so it's officially not complete. (Some fuel lines are less than optimal, stuff like that.)

[Saltpeter]

That's fine, a Titan-class depot is more than enough. It has the right look for my aesthetic, too.

I don't know of any larger Xenon mods, but if you happen to find one, I'd be quite interested to hear about it. Having to individually fill up 50 tanks is awful. D:

[Camaron]

Do you play Career or Sandbox?

[Camaron]

So, I found one decent electric propulsion pack that had some big Xenon tanks, as well as some big generators and cool batteries. It also included engines, but I deleted them because they were some strange electric / Xenon / Rocket fuel freak hybrids that were very unbalanced and I didn't feel like figuring out how to re-balance them because they wouldn't help me anyway.

So what I've done is, I opened up the configs of the other parts, and rebalanced the Tanks, Generators and Batteries to have the same weight-to-yield ratios as stock parts. In short, 100% fair-play, not stat-stretching.

I've also given these parts tech tree places so that they may be used in Career mode. The largest Xenon Tank was put into a tech exclusive to Kethane, So it would only appear with Kethane mod.

Incidentally, I've never mentioned it before, but I'm fairly advanced in the use of 3DS Max, and these mod parts were extremely simple to put together - just a model, textures, and a one-page spec sheet. I may very well produce my own mod from scratch before too long.

Just gonna give this guy due credit, because he deserves it -

...and here's a link to my fixed up version:

http://www./download/2p589le82qlxgce/Camaron_Edits_MMI.rar

Here's what I came up with, using Kethane and Mythological Industries Mod:

I call it "Titan Custom"

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Titan Custom carries 123,000 units of Liquid Fuel, and has capacity for up to 128,000 Kethane. Has the equivalent of 400 Generators. A Xenon Capacity of 76,8000, and Monopropellant capacity of 10.590. It has space for six Kerbals and good lighting for the docks.

Edit: I've been playing with the Custom Titan because I figured there may be things I need to know about Kethane from firsthand use.

So I built the Tortoise Driller, and put it all in action over Minmus.

The Titan will undergo a few more changes based on what I've learned: mostly thet the Titan doesn't need four giant generators - two should be enough. Also, it needs one more heavy converter. That way you can set one each to each of the four conversion options and simply leave them that way, meaning the station should evenly and automatically convert Kethane to all four resources it can produce.

Also, they just look amazing. Here they are paired over minmus.

Edited May 8, 2014 by Camaron

[Saltpeter]

Ooooh. I like the idea of a combination drilling/ferry system. I wouldn't mind using your Tortoise drilling system as well. That way I can get on with this mission and go to the next one. It'll be more interesting than this one has been.

Also, I have no idea what mode I play. My save was from before Career Mode was a thing. I had to unlock the tech tree, so I think I'm playing Career mode.

Edited May 8, 2014 by Saltpeter

[Camaron]

I'm going to bed for now, but download that Electronics pack I linked earlier. Glad you like the new designs.

Our "partnership" seems to work really well. I love building stuff, and always neglect to actually commit to an adventure, and you seem to prefer adventuring, and just want good crafts to do it with.

Edited May 8, 2014 by Camaron

[Saltpeter]

I like making fancy crafts, too, otherwise there wouldn't have been a SPACE TRUCK. But my specialty does seem to be orbital flight. Attaining Kerbin orbit over and over again with failed crafts gets tiresome when I'm trying to make a Minmus base. D: So if someone else makes a vessel that works the first time, as long as it fits with the Triskelion's style, I'll use it.

[Camaron]

I've decided to go considerably larger with the Driller. Getting as much as possible in one go is a huge benefit. As long as the driller sticks with very low-gravity worlds, it can get pretty huge.

Here's Emerald Grinder, which holds more Kethane that Titan Custom does. Which means redesign for Titan Custom... lol

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As it seems, Emerald Grinder + Giant Storage Station = infinitely reuseable Fuel Depot, which can reload anything it needs from the Kethane harvested by the Driller. I feel like the best option would be to design a new Tanker that is a sort of hybrid between Titan and Andromeda - In the sense that it shouldn't concern itself as much about getting fuel to its destination so mach as getting there with as much capacity as it can. I think One pair each around Minmus, Gilly, and Pol/Bop (dealer's choice) would effectively solve your Fuel Depot needs forever. I also feel like it would be wise to include a tiny scanning probe with the tanker for the purpose of giving itself a permanent polar orbit for full-surface scans.

Given that the new Kethane Tanker won't be a Titan OR an Andromeda, that leaves naming up in the air.

[Saltpeter]

That new ship is brilliant! It even resembles the Triskelion. It could be a companion ship. Connect it to the Triskelion by their central ports and you get a giant ship with all the engines pointing the same way.

It kinda makes me wish there was a proper multiplayer, because this would be an awesome collaboration.

Also, having flown to and landed on Gilly, I can't even begin to imagine how difficult it would be to mine it for kethane. The gravity is so low, you can make multiple round trips to and from Gilly orbit on a single tank of EVA fuel. Unless those new grabbing arms work on railed bodies like Gilly.

Edited May 8, 2014 by Saltpeter

[Camaron]

Well for Gilly, Emerald Grinder can just turn its nukes off and use just the 12 Ion engines to get the accuracy it needs.

Sounds to me like you're going to stick this right onto the Tri. If that's the case, you won't be needing the Tanker yet, since for all mission purposes, the Triskelion will essentially be the tanker.

Just make sure that bad mother is outfitted with at least two of the large Kethane converters, but I recommend four. (that way you can activate each of them for one of the four fuels, and leave them that way, and your Triskelion will auto-convert everything it needs from the driller. They can convert more than one thing at a time, but there are losses when you do that, and it gets much slower, though that's probably irrelevant given that they work in time warp.)

I'll polish up the Emerald Grinder over the next few hours and get a craft file online.

Edited May 8, 2014 by Camaron

[Pyranz]

Firstly, wow. The life of this ship, its crew, and its sister ships has been so entertaining. The excellent role play storytelling has certainly added significantly to my enjoyment, and the back and forth between you two gives an excellent insight into what's actually going on that wouldn't be present otherwise, without having the clutter and crossed conversations that happens so easily on forum threads.

Secondly, about your fuel tank problems; I believe there is a procedural tank mod that lets you create any size and shape tanks for any resource. I can't remember the name of it, (possibly just "procedural tanks") but it could help you create very large craft that are more aesthetically shaped and, maybe more importantly, with lower part count.

Again, thanks for the good read, I look forward to your future antics together!

Edited May 8, 2014 by Pyranz
forgot a word

[Saltpeter]

Sweet. It's a shame I wasted nearly 130k kethane off Minmus, and the 146k on the new tanker still has to be recovered, but with a better system, I can continue my mission. The next mission will be on a much larger scale than the previous two, and will feature a flotilla of vessels with the Triskelion bearing the flags!

Why thank you, Pyranz. I've plan on continuing these adventures for quite some time. With any luck I'll be able to think of something new and interesting for each one.