How many Stages do you use?

[LABHOUSE]

Most stages is like 8 not including emergency backup ions when sending a hab module, and a 1/2 size orange tank to duna but I use 7 to go to minmus and 3 to send stuff to orbit.

[Spartwo]

2 for orbit, 1 for transfer, and 1 for landing and return.

[cantab]

What do you consider a stage? For example, my current workhorse for Kerbin orbit satellites and Mun probes has 6 solid boosters, but I fire these in two groups of three.

There can be corner cases, but generally any time you jettison engines that's a staging event.

[Jouni]

My canonical mission profile uses 6 stages:

1. Lower stage with two boosters until 10-30 km.
   
2. Just the lower stage. Depending on the mission, the lower stage may burn out already at 30 km, or it may have almost enough fuel to reach LKO.
   
3. Upper stage is used for reaching LKO, and possibly also for Kerbin departure. Sometimes I try to deorbit the upper stage or crash it somewhere, but these days I usually don't add unnecessary probe cores anywhere.
   
4. Transfer stage is used for reaching the target, as well as for returning to Kerbin.
   
5. I use a separate lander because it feels reasonable, even though it's usually inefficient. Unless I plan to reuse the ship, I leave the lander orbiting the target.
   
6. The crew either returns in a separate crew shuttle (in which case I leave the ship orbiting Kerbin) or by detaching the command pod and burning the rest of the ship.
   

[Francois424]

I don't plan efficiently, whatever I fancy. I'm working on a Delta-II rocket that being said, and so far it's not that bad but a bit underpowered (and it should as it's meant to bring payload to LKO). 3 stages gets a light Mun lander there and back.

Other than that I have an "Hercules" launcher for heavy payload which I use for almost everything. 15 double orange+mainsails, 8 stages in all, the 9th being payload, so 9 or more as soon as I leave LKO most of he times... So voted 9+

[AustralianFries]

1) Launch stage including boosters.

2) Jettison boosters. Main orbital insertion engine.

3) Transfer stage.

4) Return ship/lander separation from transfer.

5) Return home after lander completes mission.

[Zylark]

In my current career I try to keep my booster designs within the realm of reality. So keep it to vertical stacks with as few stages (to orbit) as I can get away with.

My lightest lifter (5 Ton payload capacity) is 3 stages. SRBs' -> Main stage -> Circularization / transfer stage.

My heaviest lifter (45 Ton PLC) have 4 stages, mainly due to additional sidemounted LFO boosters. So SRBs' -> LFBs' -> Main stage -> Circularization / transfer stage.

In earlier careers I used a lot of Asparagus "pancake" designs. Which are fine in KSP and very efficient in getting heavy stuff to orbit, but is a bit gamey. Such complex designs would fail with a high frequency if tried in reality.

[Kamuchi]

Usually the first main stage to get into low orbit with enough acceleration for the second smaller stage to reach LKO + Kerbin escape dV to seperate the satt/craft on escape trajectory to finish the burn to where ever it`s heading off to.

Bigger stuff get extra stages for boosters/asp setups.

Craft depending what it`s going to do, but in general I like biiiig so mostly it`s all in 1 stage with a lander or cheap drop pod just for landing the main cargo.

[rennsport27]

For early career Mun/Minmus landings, I'll generally go with 4: One lander/return, two liquid stages and a stage of solids. Any manned interplanetary missions I'll use a reusable "Mothership" and dock a lander to the front. So, I'll use a beefy LKO lifter to drop it in orbit, and maybe bring the lander/crew up on a spaceplane. Once the mission is complete I'd park the ship in a LKO and drop the crew/science off with another spaceplane. Not sure how to count the stages for that.

[Godot]

For a Mun Lander-Mission :

-1-2 stages to orbit.

-1-2 stages interplanetary (included Mun and back)

-1 stage for the Mun lander itself (usually not a true stage, rather a docking module that connects the lander to the main ship)

Those only are the functional stages (that really decouple engines and/or tanks) but not stages that release parachutes or release fairings or heatshields

(which, if counted as well, would increase the number of stages, but also would greatly increase the variability of stage numbers)

Edited October 20, 2014 by Godot

[Cirocco]

Not entirely sure actually. I usually try to go for multi-purpose missions in one go (for example: I'm about to go to Duna in my main career save, but I want to also land and do science on Ike and put a sattelite in orbit around both Ike and Duna). The more I want to do, the more and heavier craft are needed and all the more stages are added.

Let's limit ourselves to a simple, single-purpose Duna surface mission though. Get to Duna, plant flag, do all possible science on the surface and come back to Kerbin.

1st stage: launch.

2nd stage: booster separation, main engines are used for insertion.

3rd stage: decouple launch/insertion stage while still on a sub-orbital trajectory to avoid debris. Ignite circularization engine and complete orbit. Usually I try to use the same stage for cirularization and transer to avoid debris, but in the case of larger vesels, the transfer stage may not have the TWR to complete the circularization so an additional stage may be required.

4th stage: appolo-style lander and decoupling of the main command pod to parachute down to Kerbin upon return.

so usually about 4 stages I guess. Puts me in with the majority of players it seems

Of course this is assuming I don't go crazy and try to SSTO my way over to another planet without ever refueling.... I don't know why I keep doing that to myself...

[DunaRocketeer]

Early on in my career I actually had fewer stages to get to the Mun than I do now! It used to be:

1: 1st stage Booster - provides most of the velocity to get into space.

2: Circularisation and transfer stage - gets me to Munar SOI

3: Lander and return - gets me into Munar orbit, landing and return.

Things got a little more complicated with orbital lab/refuelling stations that could support multiple landings in one mission, but all in all, fairly straight forward.

These days it's more like:

1: SSTO Shuttle to LKO space station

2: Take the Mun Ferry to Mun space station

3: Lander from Mun space station to surface base and then back up to the station

4: Mun ferry Back to LKO space station

5: SSTO Shuttle back to KSC.

It's great for role playing a realistic space program, but it's a lot more time consuming

[KerikBalm]

Yea, maybe I should have set Duna as a "standard", because the Mun or Minmus are to easy.

I was also thinking maybe a Joolean moon.

I typically use an SSTO spaceplane to LKO, this can lift on the order of 110 tons of payload. For RP purposes, I don't fit it with LV-Ns (a nuke engine wouldn't be very dangerous before its used, but after extensive use, a crash would be disasterous... so I never land spaceplanes with LV-Ns)

If my payload has LV-Ns, I will use those. My most recent SSTO Spaceplane got a 119 ton payload to orbit (making extensive use of the payloads quad LV-N cluster), and still has 1,200 m/s of dV left (again, using the payload LV-Ns....)

So, I'm planning on perapsis kicking out to nearly escape velocity, then releasing the payload (at which point, I will aerobrake the SSTO back to Kerbin)

The payload was for my Jool-4 mission, which is one of the first missions I've done in a while that makes use of additional staging.

So typically:

SSTO to orbit + PE kicks to nearly escape velocity (Stage 1) -> release payload

Single stage to destination (Stage 2)-> release single stage lander at destination(stage 3)

Lander returns, may do additional landings

Release fuel depot in orbit (stage 4) and return to Kerbin - often the lander is left in orbit as well

Crew ferry transfers crew back to Kerbin (Stage 5)

5 stages, all reusable (the fuel depot stage is of marginal utility, why refill it when I can just put a fresh tank in orbit and deorbit the old one, no need to spend dV for docking)

This is the outline for my Duna mission, my Moho Mission (which, in the end, doesn't result in much fuel being left in the fuel depot+ science lab left at Moho), my Laythe Mission, it would be the outline for my Mun+Minmus mission (biome harvesting), except I don't have the neccessary spaceplan parts unlocked by then.

Then I started planning my Jool-4 mission (to visit 4 moons of Jool, Laythe is getting a dedicated mission with long term habitation structures and surface exploration craft) - and I started to move away from full reusability.

-> A single lander is used, but with droptanks for the tylo landing (+1 stage)

-> The mothership is designed to shed fuel tanks, as I plan on moving the mothership from moon to moon + 3 stages.

Occasionaly, I have payloads that are overweight, or oversized, and not fit for my SSTO spaceplane, in which case I lift them with a 2 stage to orbit rocket consisting of a stage of SRBs, and a reusable core stage consisting of NASA engines/tanks and turbojets.

I didn't need this for my Jool-4 design, but for the Jool-5 missions I was looking at, I was looking at 9 stages.

Although... I wonder... after the Tylo landing... it may be more economical to just send my lander on out and return missions to Bop and Pol, than moving my whole mothership - and the lander will have plenty of dV (the drop tanks for Tylo are rather small, it was marginally able to do a Tylo SSTO, but after I tried a similar design with a better TWR but same dV, and got to a 66km x50km orbit with only 16 m/s to spare, I added drop tanks to have a good margin of error)

And Eve... I haven't done it with NEAR/FAR, I suspect it won't be so bad, but.... well, the asparagus staging was strong in that one when I did it in stock...

I think my ascent vehicle had about 5 stages, as did the rocket I used to get it to eve, and then I had a separate rocket send the return stage (which I could have done with an SSTO launch, but back then I was still launching everything with asparagus staging)

[magnemoe]

You also have this ugly thing

A 8 stage Minmus lander. 3 SRB, three liquid boosters with crossfeed to the three in core, the two towers are drop tanks for end of circulate and transfer they hold goo and material labs for space around Minmus.

Two set of arms with 4 goo and material labs and fuel, use is to land on 4 uneven locations first then drop one arm in the cross and land on the flats for more science, the second arm set has 4 landing legs. This is dropped then its time to get home.

This samples all the biomes on Minmus.

Last stages is parachute and abort system.

[el_coyoto]

Never more than 4, around 2 or 3 for a "plant the flag on the Mun and return".

The liquid first stage usually goes to LKO with the payload, then lands back on its own once detached from the payload. This stage might receive a few SRB to make sure it reaches LKO.

I try to do the munar injection + landing + return in one stage, which is inefficient and convenient and might require either NERVAs or chemical + drop tanks.

So, basically, for Kerbin SOI operations, as few stages (2 or 3) as possible to try to recover as much hardware as possible at the cost of some fuel inefficiency.

Interplanetary missions usually get an additional dedicated transfer stage (+1 stage), and might include orbital rendez-vous in the case of Jool or very interesting scientific targets (another stage).

Edited October 20, 2014 by el_coyoto
words are kinda hard

[Jas1126]

Hard to tell, honestly. For long distances I'll condense fuel into less and less tanks (A six tank stage will be down to two before long). Other times I'll rendezvous a SSTO twice (once at HKO and the second at the planet I'm going to). I think it would be difficult for most to simplify their stage counts as conditions change frequently.

[KerikBalm]

Well, I'm asking because I find myself using the same mission profile over and over again, with maybe 3 stage differences total (maybe an additional SRB stage to LKO, maybe an additional stage for the outbound transfer, maybe an additional stage for the lander).

I've really only found that trying to visit multiple bodies (multiple moons of Jool) or Eve result in significant deviations.

[ZeroDamagePen]

For simple missions usually around 5 stages.

1) 6 S1 SRB KD-25k's for heavier loads

2) Mainsail + Jumbo-64 orbit lifter,

3) Skipper + Rockomax 32 to reach the moon,

4) Poodle and Rockomax 8 as landing and return,

5) Pod. Chutes if I'm feeling nice.

As for debris, who gives an aerospike about debris anyways?

[Scarecrow88]

For really simple missions, 2 stages to orbit and 1 stage to the Mun and back.

For a bit more fun and interest, the Mun vehicle will be 3 stages, insertion and return vehicle with a lander, and a stage that jettisons the fuel tanks and engine, leaving just the capsule for landing back at Kerbin .

My simple Apollo style vehicle has 6 stages; 2 to orbit, 1 for Mun insertion and return, Munar vehicle is 2 stages, and a stage to separate the capsule for landing.

[John FX]

Lately I`ve not been dropping my engines at all. I just add them to the fuel store space station that refuels them with karbonite and they go back into service. I have landers that refuel and then go back into service.

[KerikBalm]

Staging is not incompatible with re-usability.

I use the term staging to mean separating your craft and then expending dV while separated.

Dropping a fuel depot in orbit, and then going back to Kerbin with a smaller transfer vehicle I count as staging.

Dropping your "mothership" off in orbit while sending a lander down, I could as staging.

Dropping your "mothership" payload off in Kerbin orbit while sending back down the SSTO that carried it up to LKO, I could as staging.

Indeed, the stages I described were all re-usable stages.

You do a lot of staging events while still maintaining full reusability:

1) Single stage to space, suborbital trajectory -> circularize and then switch back to pilot it on reentry

2) Circularization stage -> if its just a fuel tug to orbit, thats the end, if its an interplanetary craft, separate this and drop it back to kerbin.

3) Perapsis kicking stage -> get your Apoapsis out past minmus and then detach this (aerobrake it later to recover) -> continue with the

4) Interplanetary stage -> only a few hundred m/s are needed on this if Duna is your target.

5) Lander stage

6) Detach Fuel depot/orbiting science lab, and return to kerbin

7) Crew transfer stage - detach a pod or send up a SSTO to take the crew back down.

If you're using an ISRU mod, you can even do funky things with your lander, with reusable suborbital boosters (though refueling them and re attaching the lander's circularization stage can be quite tricky), and include a perapsis kicking stage for the return journey -> thus maintaining full reusability, but getting your staging number to 9 stages.

1) To Kerbin space

2) To Kerbin Orbit

3) To edge of Kerbin SOI

4) To target planet

5) To target surface, detach ISRU stuff/ orbital fuel depots, etc

6) Target suborbital

7) To Target orbit

8) To Edge of target SOI

(same stage as #4 gets you back to Kerbin)

9) To Kerbin surface.

And of course, if you are a masochist you can arbitrarily split up the circularization and the edge of SOI stages even further, to more than nine 100% reusable stages

[Random Tank]

Mine varies, but only usually 1-3. If I fill my SSTL's cargo with some fuel, it can do a Duna/Return mission by itself... But for ease's sake I would usually bring a lander in it, which makes it 2 stage.

Going to Jool would be 3, because I use a Mothership + Lander combo, which is launched into orbit (empty) by my 50t payload rocket SSTO. Once it's in orbit, it never comes back down, as I just refuel it, but I may switch out the lander depending; my Laythe/Tylo lander is only 22t fully fuelled, so I can so that 3 stage too!

[SciMan]

I always start a new save with each new version, but my strategy stays basically the same every time.

Modularize and Standardize ALL THE THINGS, and make heavy use of space tugs, tankers and fuel depots.

I basically make my ships like LEGO pieces, assemble what I need in-orbit, and re-use as much as I can. Sometimes that means I can end up with a mission that effectively uses 0 (yes, ZERO) stages, because they can use the stuff that previous or ongoing missions left behind, or is going to the same destination. So I'll have science probes hitching rides on tankers headed to Duna to refuel the transfer stage of a manned mission, and maybe even have that same tanker tow a satellite out there on the same trip.

I usually end up with standard launchers for 2, 10, 25, 50, and 100 ton payloads, a standard LKO crew launch/return capsule, a Mun/Minmus lander, and a lander that will do everything else but Tylo and Eve. I even standardize my probe satellites and landers.

However, by far the workhorses of the fleet are the 2 classes of dual purpose Tug/Tanker probes I have.

One's based on an orange tank, 2 LV-N engines and Vernor thrusters for RCS. The other one's pretty much the same, but with the big 3m tank, and 6 LV-N engines.

Honestly, if I can get it to orbit, 9 times out of 10 I'll have a tug/tanker waiting for it in orbit, already fueled up and waiting. So I usually end up with a set maximum of transfer stages that I launch no matter how many missions I end up doing.

So, how do you score THAT? I guess it basically ends up being launcher + payload, except for a set number of payloads that are actually transfer stages for other payloads.

And most of my launchers are in the 3-5 stage range, excluding payload.

Yo dawg, I heard you like LEGO rockets....... you know the rest.

[michaelhester07]

Typically 4 stages, 5 if you count the separator for the command capsule:

Stage 1: Boosters, maybe main engine firing on low throttle for control

Stage 2: Main engine to LKO

Stage 3: Transfer stage to destination (mostly kerbin SOI)

Stage 4: Landing and return stage (built with high deltaV, around 2500)

(stage 5): command capsule for re-entry + parachutes

Permanent flag contract base: 4 stages. Landing stage is slightly smaller since it has no plans to return.

Satellite contract ship: 4 stages: Same as above, but final stage is high dV for positioning (6000 delta V between transfer and final stage)

Basemaker: 4 stages: Has extraplanetary launchpads with the garage part from my mod to build bases with.

Stanford torus build station deployment ship: 1 stage, maybe 2 depending on where I want the station. Usually launches from extraplanetary base.

Stanford Torus build station: 1 stage. When the torus is done it gets recycled into the station.

Interplanetary cruiser: 2 stages. 1 8000dv main cruiser, 1 2000 dv lander

[KerikBalm]

Mine varies, but only usually 1-3. If I fill my SSTL's cargo with some fuel, it can do a Duna/Return mission by itself... But for ease's sake I would usually bring a lander in it, which makes it 2 stage.

Going to Jool would be 3, because I use a Mothership + Lander combo, which is launched into orbit (empty) by my 50t payload rocket SSTO.

Additionally, I might count your refueling craft as a stage.

It doesn't really give you a staging benefit (ie reducing the mass you need to move around), as the wet/dry ratio is basically the same as if you just launched a single heavy payload. I don't bother with the refueling, so I have heavy SSTOs carrying >100 tons to orbit.. though sometimes for large but light payloads, I still need to use my large SSTO spaceplanes to lift cargos that are only ~25 tons (obviously, I drain a lot of fuel before launching, so that the mission goes faster due to higher TWR)

Most of my designs could be 3 stage:

1) SSTO

2) transfer lander to destination

3) lander, which also has some parachutes for landing on Kerbin.

But I like to set up fuel depots at target locations, and leave reusable landers, so the number goes up to 5 (detaching fuel tanks at destination, and then an additional detachment or rendevous at Kerbin).

So, how do you score THAT?

I might count each part you send up as a stage... but I think its better to only count "decoupling" events (undocking counts) followed by moving the craft

"Sometimes that means I can end up with a mission that effectively uses 0 (yes, ZERO) stages, because they can use the stuff that previous or ongoing missions left behind"

Just because it was already there, doesn't mean its not effectively a stage.

"So I'll have science probes hitching rides on tankers headed to Duna to refuel the transfer stage of a manned mission, and maybe even have that same tanker tow a satellite out there on the same trip."

well, then each probe you detach is a stage, the transfer stage is obviously a stage, and since this refueling is part of the manned mission, the two missions staging events should be considered additively.

Sending two separate tanks is basically the same as sending 2 joined tanks, and separating one of them off when empty.

In the case of sending 2 and docking, you dock, its 1 ship, and then you transfer fuel and cast off the refueling "stage"

"I guess it basically ends up being launcher + payload, except for a set number of payloads that are actually transfer stages for other payloads.

And most of my launchers are in the 3-5 stage range, excluding payload."

3-5 stages for the launcher + 1 for the payload decouple + 1 for each tug you use and +1 for each refueling craft you send.

I wouldn't call it effectively zero stages at all.

Count how many times you shed mass before expending some dV, and call that a stage.