My idea of docking is launching Kerbals at ships and having them grab a ladder as they whizz past at 30 m/s

Always fun!

Haha , that sparks a great mental picture of Jeb flying through space grabbing for a ladder.

Jeb: I have reached node. Preparing for jump.
Kouston: All systems go. Jump at will.
Jeb: And, away.......oops...
Kouston: Wait oops, what do you mean oops.
Jeb: You guys topped of my jetpack right? Lets just say one should not eat delicious microwave popcorn...when grabbing for a metal ladder...it sure was good though.

Solly wrote:Haha , that sparks a great mental picture of Jeb flying through space grabbing for a ladder.

Jeb: I have reached node. Preparing for jump.
Kouston: All systems go. Jump at will.
Jeb: And, away.......oops...
Kouston: Wait oops, what do you mean oops.
Jeb: You guys topped of my jetpack right? Lets just say one should not eat delicious microwave popcorn...when grabbing for a metal ladder...it sure was good though.

I can picture Jeb hanging out near the rocket exhaust with a bag of jiffypop. Gives new meaning to the word nuked.

Solly wrote:Wow, Landge that thing looks awesome. I loved your run to pick up the stranded Kerbals

You guys have really inspired me. Just yesterday I finally had a successful round trip to the Mun. I had so much remaining fuel that I decided today to use the same rocket to make a try for Minimus. This was my first attempt at anything besides the Mun. Amazingly I made the run below with no F5 or F9.

Here is the mission album.
http://imgur.com/a/d2ibD#0

My rocket is the weirdest monstrosity but it got me there so I was happy with it.

Nah, its a nice looking monstrosity.

I especially like the (i want to say) third stage: http://imgur.com/a/d2ibD#1

Your capsule makes for a small payload, but the rocket has its own style, that's for sure.

Though, I might have thrown on some RCS thruster packs and a couple tanks of monopropellant. Thing must handle like a garbage scow.

Yea it wasn't the easiest to handle. Just recently I put winglets on the lower stages since they are more efficient than RCS in the ATMO. Then leaving a small RCS tank just below the capsule, with some RCS thrusters attached to the inner rocket. I would just use that for emergency landing maneuvers.

Doesn't really matter though I will probably scrap it and try and get a simpler design. Can't be running a 200+ part rocket and a space station. Could really put a dent in my laptop.

Hey Solly - I love that double ladder lander design. Fantastic! Congrats on the minimus trip.

Diving Duck wrote:Hey Solly - I love that double ladder lander design. Fantastic! Congrats on the minimus trip.

, Thanks it was kind of an invention by necessity. But I guess that's where the best ones come from.

I finally began work on a space station. I designed a little core with some small solar panels, batteries, etc. Unfortunately it was pretty heavy for it's size this was what I originally tried to launch.
After crashing an unreasonable amount of times. I decided to reduce weight and part counts. So I came up with this and that barely got me there. Reduced part counts from 219 to 179. As you can see the core is smaller. Then came the hard part I needed to launch a fuel module to attach to one of the inner docks. I actually really liked the rocket I came up with. Very stable compact and powerful enough to throw an orange fuel tank, a large RCS tank, a command capsule, two docks, generators, batteries and lights, up to the station. Part count 168 Next came the hard part rendezvous and docking. I was really scared to try this. The thought of connecting two modules in the void of space.

The hardest part was getting the two orbits to align. It felt like I did a dozen burns on the fuel module to get the orbits semi close. Unfortunately by the time I got the fuel module even close to the orbit I was out of RCS fuel so I was going to have to steer with the core the rest of the way. I was so engrossed with trying to dock that I forgot to take screenshots. Long story short I ended up taking about a 1.5 hours real time getting the two to dock. I even had one near disaster where the two modules bounced of each other hard.

Just after I got it docked. Some later pictures I took. Now I just have to do it, for three more fuel modules and two communication modules. I used about half my stations RCS docking. Around 1500 units. Also I spent so long trying to dock I pushed my periapsis to 87,000 so I need to get a refueling ship up there to push and circularize the orbit again.

All in all I have to say. A lot of fun.

Solly wrote:Yea it wasn't the easiest to handle. Just recently I put winglets on the lower stages since they are more efficient than RCS in the ATMO. Then leaving a small RCS tank just below the capsule, with some RCS thrusters attached to the inner rocket. I would just use that for emergency landing maneuvers.

Doesn't really matter though I will probably scrap it and try and get a simpler design. Can't be running a 200+ part rocket and a space station. Could really put a dent in my laptop.

That seems to be an ongoing theme with me. I tend to go "All Kerballed Out" with my designs and I'm on a laptop too.
Stutters like crazy. My latest has over 1400 parts!
My mission album:
http://imgur.com/a/MgUvl

Landge wrote:My latest has over 1400 parts!
My mission album:
http://imgur.com/a/MgUvl

That's amazing, 1400 parts . I don't know how you handle all that. I like your heavy lifter design. It seems like every time I try to go that big everything just explodes. Anyways, great mission. Hope your crew really likes movies.

Solly wrote:

Landge wrote:My latest has over 1400 parts!
My mission album:
http://imgur.com/a/MgUvl

That's amazing, 1400 parts . I don't know how you handle all that. I like your heavy lifter design. It seems like every time I try to go that big everything just explodes. Anyways, great mission. Hope your crew really likes movies.

The key to keeping everything in one piece is simple. Add moar struts! I mean strut everything. Strut stacks at the seams 4 symmetry for large tanks, 2 for small ones. to prevent wobble. Add struts to radially placed stacks to keep them from falling off. I even placed struts on the parachutes on this one because they would rip off the stack when opened. You should have heard the complaints I got on that boo boo.

On behalf of the crew of the HAMMER. Greetings from Mun:


If it's allowed here and If you are interested, here is the craft file. Just place it in your save profile's VAB folder:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B620aF_ ... sp=sharing
Slow PC's BEWARE! This ship now has 1553 parts! You have been warned!

MODS USED but not required:
Innsewerants' ISA MapSAt 3.3.4
Iannic-ann-od's Chatterer v.0.3.2

ACTION KEYS:
1 = Toggle Poodler Engines
2 = Toggle Aerospikes
3 = Shutdown all engines except LV-N's and center Mainsail.
4 = Toggle LV-N's
5 = Undock from Transfer Stage. In the event you do not undock completely you may have to do so manually.
6 = Toggle Rover VTOL rockets.
7 = N/A
8 = N/A
9 = Toggle Mainsail Gimbals
0 = Toggle Solar Panels, Electronics & Instruments

PRIOR TO LAUNCH:
1) DISABLE CROSSFEED on the 3 docking ports the lander is attached!
(I wish this was available in the VAB)
2) Press 9 key twice to lock mainsail gimbals.
3) Activate SAS.
4) Set throttle to ~90% thrust.
5) LAUNCH!

IMPORTANT LANDING TIPS:
1) As with any landing that requires Wheels and/or landing legs, Remember the saying; "Wheels down, towards the ground" is the prefered method. Any attempt to land upsidedown or sideways will result in voiding your warranty.
2) Make sure you have plenty of fuel to land. Although full tanks are not required, parachutes alone may not be enough to slow you down.
3) Retract all solar panels prior to landing, or driving, on planets with an atmosphere. We are not responsible for panels that have been blown off due to high winds.
4) Parachutes are for landing on planets WITH an ATMOSPHERE. Deploying them, thinking they will slow you down, in a VACUUM, will void your warranty.(See notes 1,2)
5) Lower landing legs during descent is optional but may be used to assist in landing.
6) When you are less than 100m actual distance to GROUND, NOT altitude, make sure your velocity is 5m/s or less. This helps keep the air inside your tires, inside.
7) Once on the ground. Please keep your speed around 10m/s. Under 5m/s is recommended for uneven terrain.
8) Please deploy rovers only on smooth terrain. Due to the close tolerances of the docking ports you may not be able to detach cleanly.
After undocking if there is a gap of 1/2m or greater, and you cannot re-dock, use the rover's VTOL rockets to gently lift you into place.

I downloaded it and I am going to check it out. I like your instruction manual. Do you use mechjeb? I have heard a lot of talk about that but I haven't gotten around to trying it.

Solly wrote:I downloaded it and I am going to check it out. I like your instruction manual. Do you use mechjeb? I have heard a lot of talk about that but I haven't gotten around to trying it.

No I don't used MechJeb. I'm still on the fence with whether that would be cheating or not.
Although it's not required I have ISA MapSat & Chatterer as stated in the instructions.

MapSat used on this ship is just for the GPS locator beacon antenna thingy so you can see your position on the MapSat topo maps. No scanning done here.
You'll need to construct a satellite, with the MapSat dish, and place it in a polar orbit for that.

Chatterer is just some random radio chatter. I read on the KSP forum that it's actual NASA communications played backwards. Pretty clever.
I'm seriously looking at downloading SubAssembly Saver/Loader today. Rebuilding the same booster stages EVERY TIME for different ships is getting to me.
I have a bad habit of forgetting, leaving out parts, etc.

Let me know how you do. I added a few things to the download version I haven't been able to test just yet.
Parts added are as follows:
Probe Body added to transfer stage for just in case you have enough fuel to warrant leaving it in orbit as a potential refueling station.
2 large RCS fuel tanks. I will probably add 2 more. I'm constantly modifying ships.
4 small dia, long fuel tanks attached radially to the outer stacks on the transfer stage. Each with a pair of LV-N's to assist in interplanetary transfer.

Landge wrote:

Solly wrote:I downloaded it and I am going to check it out. I like your instruction manual. Do you use mechjeb? I have heard a lot of talk about that but I haven't gotten around to trying it.

No I don't used MechJeb. I'm still on the fence with whether that would be cheating or not.
Although it's not required I have ISA MapSat & Chatterer as stated in the instructions.

MapSat used on this ship is just for the GPS locator beacon antenna thingy so you can see your position on the MapSat topo maps. No scanning done here.
You'll need to construct a satellite, with the MapSat dish, and place it in a polar orbit for that.

Chatterer is just some random radio chatter. I read on the KSP forum that it's actual NASA communications played backwards. Pretty clever.
I'm seriously looking at downloading SubAssembly Saver/Loader today. Rebuilding the same booster stages EVERY TIME for different ships is getting to me.
I have a bad habit of forgetting, leaving out parts, etc.

Let me know how you do. I added a few things to the download version I haven't been able to test just yet.
Parts added are as follows:
Probe Body added to transfer stage for just in case you have enough fuel to warrant leaving it in orbit as a potential refueling station.
2 large RCS fuel tanks. I will probably add 2 more. I'm constantly modifying ships.
4 small dia, long fuel tanks attached radially to the outer stacks on the transfer stage. Each with a pair of LV-N's to assist in interplanetary transfer.

Subassembly Saver/Loader is the only Mod I'm using currently, and I wholeheartedly recommend it!

It can be a little fiddly with core parts, if you're trying to save entire ships into it, but for booster stages it's perfect.

http://kerbalspaceport.com/subassembly-saver-loader/

Finally landed the boys on Minmus last night, minus any disasters thanks to my new and improved Helios VI rocket!
Then! I somehow managed to get the lander docked back with the main engines and get them back on their way to Kerbin. My face likely looked like Jeb's when I finally got the docking done, and I *may* have shouted "Yes!!!" when it happened.
Then the game crashed.



At least I have a quicksave....

HowSerendipitous:
Docking? Did you say Docking? Hold on there! Next you'll be telling us you're building an interplanetary grand tour mothership
Oh... If it's not too much trouble, would you mind picking up my guy while you're there? He's been waiting for a ride back home.