Favorite workhorse?

[Ark]

So, what are your favorite workhorse spacecraft in Orbiter? What ships do you turn to for the daily drudgery of LEO deliveries and interplanetary hauling?

For me, the DGIV is practically my dedicated carrier for passenger-only or very light cargo flights. The launch autopilot makes getting to orbit pathetically easy, and the very reasonable poly count allows it to have almost no effect on the framerate. There's a reason everyone loves it so much.

For moving cargo to orbit and around the solar system, I have a special place in my heart for Greg Burch's ships. True, they're all SC3 and somewhat limited compared to the more complex .dll ships, but they are hands-down the most well-executed SC3 ships I've seen. The SwiftSS' hatch is low enough that UMMUs can board it on the ground, the BSP has ample cargo space for whatever you need to UCD into it, and the Descartes/LST can haul stuff around the inner solar system.

In the future, once I get a better idea of it's functionality and how external UCD cargo affects it, I may be deferring to the Arrow for longer-duration flights to the gas planets due to it's impressive range and abilty to support crews for long periods of time.


Enough about my habits, what do you turn to when the milk needs delivered?

 

[insanity]

I've been using the DGIV and Arrow a lot lately. I had a good last few months beta testing around the solar system. If anything the IV is the workhorse and the XR2 is the showy fancy thing I like to fly.

 

[Shadow Addict]

I haven't been doing as much personal Orbiter playing lately (mostly experimenting with TransX or using NASSP), but I tend to use the XR2 most of all. I loooooove ascending on the SCRAMs! I don't really know of any heavy-lift cargo carrier besides than the XR-5, but as great as it is, I would like a smaller one that carries maybe 100-200t.

I haven't used the Arrow in a month or so, but when I was beta testing it I got the feeling I would be using it A LOT more. I think my typical interplanetary configuration is gonna be Arrow/XR2.

 

[Dambuster]

This is marginally related to the topic, but can you construct any of these ships on-orbit?

 

[Ark]

I haven't been doing as much personal Orbiter playing lately (mostly experimenting with TransX or using NASSP), but I tend to use the XR2 most of all. I loooooove ascending on the SCRAMs! I don't really know of any heavy-lift cargo carrier besides than the XR-5, but as great as it is, I would like a smaller one that carries maybe 100-200t.

It's not a spaceplane, but the Energia is a great way to lift 100ish ton cargo into orbit. The only inconvenience is that you need to use a tug to achieve orbital velocity, and the tugs aren't very good at the fine maneuvering required for rendezvous.

This is marginally related to the topic, but can you construct any of these ships on-orbit?

None of the ones I listed are constructable on orbit. Burch's spaceplanes all use attachments for staging, so you can start with separate ships on the ground and assemble them together before takeoff.

I haven't played with this one very much, but it's a cool example of an interplanetary craft you assemble on-orbit:

[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=4087"]The Inter-Planetary Stack[/ame]

 

[Loru]

For small cargo and passenger service it is of course DG-IV. Nice autopilot for reentry, launch, docking. Everything that I need.

For medium and heavy payloads I prefer Energia by Kulch with some space tugs. Quite good payload mass and nice payload manager. I prefer launching a Space Shuttle on Energia rocket rather than normal way (I know it's strange but I like it this way).

For interplanetary trips I use both Descartes and James Cook

 

[Pilot7893]

For delivering space station parts, I use the Shuttle and XR5. For crew deliveries/resupply, DG-IV. Maybe I ought to get into the habit of using the Dragonfly for assembly.

 

[Ark]

For delivering space station parts, I use the Shuttle and XR5. For crew deliveries/resupply, DG-IV. Maybe I ought to get into the habit of using the Dragonfly for assembly.

:thumbup: It's hard to overstate how useful it is to have a Dragonfly or Workpod on-station for assembly. Doing it with an RMS system takes all day.

 

[PeterRoss]

I've used to lift Greg Burch's SSBBs on orbit with XR5, assemling modules on orbit with Dragonfly and execute translunar flights with Burch's Gilgamesh class vessels. I've even lifted Gilgamesh (without fuel) from Earth into LEO with Kulch's Energia and TX.
But now all of a sudden I've come to disliking all sci-fi vessels like XRs or DGs. Now I want to build a spacestation and explore solar system with real or near-realistic vessels like these from Kulch's addons (Energia, Tugs, Mir-2 etc.), real rocket launchers and so on. No more space jaunting, just everyday work.

 

[TMac3000]

For light cargo/passenger/LEO missions, I use DGIV

For heavy cargo/interplanetary, its the Shuttle-A

 

[T.Neo]

Anything that works properly.

But generally I like well-done .dll vessels.

 

[Shadow Addict]

It's not a spaceplane, but the Energia is a great way to lift 100ish ton cargo into orbit. The only inconvenience is that you need to use a tug to achieve orbital velocity, and the tugs aren't very good at the fine maneuvering required for rendezvous.

Yeah, I love kulch's addons. The Tranzit is a useful space tug but it's rather large and bulky, and I'd like to be able to use it disposably but that seems wasteful. I'm considering it though, as the Energia is already my favorite launcher.

 

[Ark]

Yeah, I love kulch's addons. The Tranzit is a useful space tug but it's rather large and bulky, and I'd like to be able to use it disposably but that seems wasteful. I'm considering it though, as the Energia is already my favorite launcher.

Yeah, it's not really a disposable unit like the others, it's better suited serving as the propulsion module for a space station or other structure.

I've been really into the World of 2001 ships this past week, I love the Komarov in particular. Actually spinning the whole ship for gravity is an interesting new dynamic for me.

 

[Turbinator]

XR-2, that cockpit makes Orbiter seam that much more real.

If the switches and the MFD in the XR-2's 3D cockpit worked that would be like a dream come trough, we would finally have a 3D cockpit that you could play Orbiter trough without ever having to switch to any other view. It would be uber immersive.

 

[ThatGuy]

...we would finally have a 3D cockpit that you could play Orbiter trough without ever having to switch to any other view...

Like the one in the Arrow?

 

[T.Neo]

The Arrow's VC is awesome.

It'd be awesome if Dan did a DGIV VC like that, but I can understand that he'd prefer to work on newer addons.

 

[McWgogs]

My favorite in the recent days is the R-7 early missions add-on, which i use for suborbital deliveries, flying manually, to my city I've made surface tiles for. I love it.

 

[Wolfer]

These days I tend to use either the Space Shuttle or the Energia, for cargo delivery. For crew transportation I use the Soyuz and the CTV.

As for exploration missions to the planets I use the Orion, it's the only realistic vehicule with high enough dv for my needs

 

[Turbinator]

Like the one in the Arrow?

Yeah, except the arrow freighter is for interplanetary space-flight, and isn't meant for Earth orbital ops. Or cool 3d cockpit views while docking and ascending on SCRAM.