What to do first?

[nascarlaser1]

Hi guys!

I am going to start building a space station around minimus. I am using extra planetary launchpads so that my station has a purpose ingame (other then being fun to build of course). I am also going to build a surface base on the surface of the moon so that I can mine ore and metal and ship it up. I plan on using the station to launch interplanetary missions (including my still uncompleted duna mission lol). My question is, what should be done first? Should launch my and assemble it (I plan on using mechjeb for rendezvous but docking by hand), or should I land my base components and put them together?

Mods in use the may effect the decision.

USI LS (no mks though)

EPL for building shuttles

Stockalike mining extension

KPE (not sure if I'm going to use it though)

KAS/KIS 

Hanger Mod

Thanks!

Edited July 15, 2017 by nascarlaser1

[Tex_NL]

Since you're planning a surface base to mine and an orbital station for construction it doesn't really matter which you'll launch first. You'll need both any way.

Option 1: Launch both station and base in no particular order.
Option 2: Launch the station first. Then construct base components in orbit and land them. Raw construction materials can either be shipped in separately or simultaneously if you can handle the extra weight.
Option 3 (This is probably my favourite): Launch everything at once. Separate the base module and land.
Option 4 (3 was my fav but this is the most important): Do what YOU want. NOT what somebody else wants you to do!

Edited July 15, 2017 by Tex_NL

[Spricigo]

7 hours ago, Tex_NL said:

Option 2: Launch the station first. Then construct base components in orbit and land them. Raw construction materials can either be shipped in separately or simultaneously if you can handle the extra weight.

I'd go with this one. Assuming launching everything in a single launch is not an option for some reason. 

 

[nascarlaser1]

8 hours ago, Tex_NL said:

Since you're planning a surface base to mine and an orbital station for construction it doesn't really matter which you'll launch first. You'll need both any way.

Option 1: Launch both station and base in no particular order.
Option 2: Launch the station first. Then construct base components in orbit and land them. Raw construction materials can either be shipped in separately or simultaneously if you can handle the extra weight.
Option 3 (This is probably my favourite): Launch everything at once. Separate the base module and land.
Option 4 (3 was my fav but this is the most important): Do what YOU want. NOT what somebody else wants you to do!

 

49 minutes ago, Spricigo said:

I'd go with this one. Assuming launching everything in a single launch is not an option for some reason. 

 

Thxs! I'll probably launch the station first so that I can use that routine mission mod to continue sending up life support supplies since I'm not sure how long it'll take to build a land base (I've never built anything with more then 1 module in orbit and 3 modules connected via kas on the ground).

[Ty Tan Tu]

My solution was a bit involved. Mining takes some time, so I started with that.

1. Launch a M700 Survey Scanner in Polar orbit around Minimus to find where the ore is.

2. Land a simple rover with a Surface Scanning Module to find the best spot on the surface for your base.

3. Land the miner. (Actually I ended up landing three. My first one kept overheating. So make sure you use plenty of radiators. The third one was for the mono fuel used by my shuttle)

4. Land my tanker rover to transfer fuel from the miner to the shuttle. That was the hardest mission. Tanker rovers are big and not very aerodynamic.

5. Land the shuttle that takes the fuel from Minmus' surface up to the space station. (I screwed up there too. I thought I could have a multi-functional shuttle that could transfer both Kerbals and fuel, but it was too heavy to transfer fuel efficiently, so I went with an unmanned shuttle.) 

6. And finally put my space station in orbit around Minimus.

[Aegolius13]

I would advise against trying to base components together on the surface.   It's a notoriously fussy process, since you have to align the various docking ports perfectly for them to join right.  If you land on the flats it's a little easier, but still not what I would consider fun (your mileage may vary, though).  There are also various workarounds, like using KAS ports rather than physically joining parts, but they may not result in the kind of base you're looking for.  So if you need to assemble your base, I would suggest doing so in orbit.

But more generally, I think you can likely launch your base in a single piece rather than doing assembly work later.  And probably the same for the orbital station as well.   Lots of people on here seem to choose to do space station construction on a modular basis, maybe because of influence from the ISS.  If that seems fun, go for it.  But if it doesn't (and I generally think it doesn't), you can launch just about anything pre-assembled.