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ISL - Hercules-AT 1280

The Hercules is designed to operate as a lightly armed mobile mining facility, set up as both a PAM Controller to manage its two mining ships and a SAM station for two autopiloted cargo shuttles and a personal shuttle. It has both Atmospheric and hydrogen thrusters, although it uses the atmospheric as its main lift, and can fly with full cargo without requiring the use of hydrogen.

Recommended Miners:

• All MK1 Tunnel Miners
  
• All MK2 Tunnel Miners

Ships recommended for use with the Hercules can be found in the ISL Small Grid Miners collection and the Callisto Cargo drones collection.

To avoid collisions between the hangar and miners when using the PAM script's path recording, first park your mining ship orientated as shown in the screenshot, then start path recording, undock and, lifting up only enough to avoid thruster damage, move out of the hangar sideways until fully clear, then turn towards your job site and fly normally.

Staying low is important, as the PAM script flies to a waypoint a certain height above the connector (If docking vertically) before docking, and if the path recorded is too high, PAM will save that waypoint inside the hangar roof.

Full cargo (as indicated on the LCD in the cabin) is:
• All docks Occupied (tested with Tunnel Miner MK 2, Phoebe and Loki)
• Large cargo container full of Ore
• Small Cargo container full of Components
• O2/H2 Generators full of Ice
• Ammunition in the 8 turrets

The hydrogen thrusters can be used in conjunction with the atmo. thrusters to escape planetary gravity, but can only do so if the Large Cargo container is not full (otherwise the ship has a 6000m maximum altitude), which shouldn't be a problem on the return trip, as the atmo. thrusters will take over at a lower altitude. This way the Hercules can be used for asteroid mining.

The AT 1280's miner hangar is designed for carrying Tunnel Miners, for the version that fits Quarry miners, try the Hercules-AQ 1280.

Here is the ion version.

Here is the Rover version.

Blarg's Ascent Cruise Control script is also installed, for convenience and to save hydrogen on the way to orbit.

There is a basic refinery and assembler onboard, for any emergency repairs only.

IMPORTANT: this ship is designed for carrying Ore only in its main cargo container (although the small container can carry components). Components and ingots are much heavier per volume than ore.

IMPORTANT: Although the SAM script is set up as a station on the Hercules, it can still also be used to autopilot the ship. However, once the "start" command has been given, all connectors with the [SAM] tag will disconnect, including the shuttle docks. So before using the Autopilot feature, ensure that there are no ships docked to any of the connectors on the deck (LCD readout is available in the cabin).

2 Tunnel Miner Docks - with Sorter for unloading
2 Cargo Drone/Shuttle Docks - with Sorter for loading
1 Light Dock for a personal shuttle - conveyored to cargo system
Stone Ejection system (1 Connector and 1 Sorter)
Combined interior cabin and living space (2 beds)

Scripts & Weapons:
PAM script (controller)
SAMv2 script (station)
Blarg's Ascent Cruise Control
MMaster's Automatic LCD's

1 Gatling Turret - Top
7 Interior Turrets - 1 hangar, 3 each port and starboard
Emergency production - 1 assembler & 1 basic refiney

Power:
15 Batteries
2 Hydrogen engines
3 Hydrogen generators
3 Large Hydrogen tanks
1 Small Hydrogen tank
1 Small Reactor

Movement & Control:
1 Remote Control
1 Flight seat
6 Gyroscopes
38 Small Atmospheric Thrusters
6 Large Atmospheric Thrusters
42 Small Hydrogen Thrusters

Cargo Space
1 Large Cargo Container
1 Small cargo container

Miscellaneous:
7 Connectors - 2 Cargo drone docks, 1 personal shuttle dock, 2 miner docks, 1 ejector, 1 underside (for docking to station)
1 Oxygen tank
1 Ore Detector
Multiple LCD readouts with information about the state of the ship.

Landing pads have approach lighting systems (aesthetic only)

All Programmable blocks are turned off in this blueprint, to get them going again, just turn them back on. Each ship also has text panels on the sides to display a registration number.

Toolbar 1
1. A Thrusters On
2. A Thrusters Off
3. H Thrusters On
4. H Thrusters Off
5. Braking Thrusters Off
6. Connector Switch Lock
7.
8.
9. Exterior Lights On/Off

Toolbar 2
1. Batteries Discharge
2. Batteries Recharge
3. Camera Front Po
4. Camera Front Sb
5. Camera Underside
6. Landing Gear Lock
7. Landing Gear Unlock
8. Ore Detector On/Off
9. Antenna Broadcast On/off

Toolbar 3
1. Sorter Shuttle Loader Po On/Off
2. Sorter Shuttle Loader Sb On/Off
3. Sorter Miner Output On/Off
4. Stone Ejection System On/Off
5. Interior Lights On/Off
6. Turrets On/Off
7. H2 Engines On/Off
8. Hydrogen tanks Stockpile On/Off
9. O2/H2 Generators On/Off

Toolbar 4
1. PB [SAM] "prev"
2. PB [SAM] "next"
3. PB [SAM] "select"
4. PB [SAM] "screen"
5. Reactor On/Off
6. PB [SAM] "add"
7. PB [SAM] "remove"
8. PB [SAM] "start"
9. PB [SAM] "stop"

Toolbar 6
1. Ascent Cruise Control On/Off
2. All Doors Close
3. Gravity Generator On/Off
4. Parachute Hatches Open/Close
5. Repair Projector On/Off