KOROLEV Base [KSP Vanilla Modular Base]

[Ursu Mare]

Hello everybody!

Many months ago I was trying to put together a base in KSP 1.0.x and it was a nightmare. So I've decided to wait for 1.1 and do it again. So here it goes:

Better viewed directly on imgur : http://imgur.com/a/ZEhFb

Edited May 5, 2016 by Ursu Mare
No Preview button. Done editing. Enjoy!

[Iago]

That's awesome!

Can we get a download of the base and station?

[Kryten 2X4B 523P]

Thats pretty nice. Last one I did was in 1.0.4, havent attempted yet in 1.1 due to the wheel issues you mentioned.  

Looked like this when done:

Rune has a pretty good "base in a box" as well.

[Ursu Mare]

54 minutes ago, Iago said:

That's awesome!

Can we get a download of the base and station?

Sure! Let me know if it works. It's the first time that I use OneDrive.

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=32570FB13ED586E4%21118 - craft files

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=32570FB13ED586E4%21117 - savegame

[Ursu Mare]

1 hour ago, Kryten 2X4B 523P said:

Thats pretty nice. Last one I did was in 1.0.4, havent attempted yet in 1.1 due to the wheel issues you mentioned.  

Looked like this when done:

Rune has a pretty good "base in a box" as well.

Nice! Looks like I'm not the only one who got to this solution, using docking ports on the bottom of the modules to move them around. Pretty cool base you had there.

The wheels are just bad now. No grip at all over 1m/s always drifting, useless in a lot of instances when they get "blocked" when other parts are around them even if they don't touch etc.

And the landing legs! They too got the "wheel stress" and there's no more locked suspension. Also you can't control them individually anymore so my dropship looks like a hedgehog. I still expect the whole base to jump/launch when I switch to it every time. I can see it being droped from half a meter or so when the game loads it. Not to mention that before I could lower the base and lift it up again, now the legs explode.

 

Interesting approach by Rune, however his solution leaves too much debris, hahaha. Good thing you can "Terminate" it in the tracking station. 

[Kryten 2X4B 523P]

Yeah, I got my initial steer from the work Temstar did on his modular base stuff many, many moons ago, and that was a concept using the senior docking ports.

Other than the current wheel issues, the biggest problem with landing leg designs is that the mass of the module affects the height it sits at, even if the suspension is locked - which means clearance for underside docking ports can vary, and radial mounted ports can be out of position pretty easily due to compression of landing leg suspension and sinking into the terrain. Just two reasons I generally only put my bases on very low grav locations, like minmus.

[Rune]

Cool stuff man! And very well documented! I enjoyed reading about it, not many people come up with their own expandable stock base.

14 hours ago, Ursu Mare said:

Interesting approach by Rune, however his solution leaves too much debris, hahaha. Good thing you can "Terminate" it in the tracking station. 

Yup, I leave crap all over the place when I'm done. But you can't deny I end up with a lean base, part count wise! Plus, you can also have KIS installed, and then have a field day with explosives, maybe rescue a probe core or two to build crude satellites "by hand".

 

Rune. It's a lot of fun to build them, right?

[Ursu Mare]

7 hours ago, Kryten 2X4B 523P said:

... the biggest problem with landing leg designs is that the mass of the module affects the height it sits at, even if the suspension is locked - which means clearance for underside docking ports can vary, and radial mounted ports can be out of position pretty easily due to compression of landing leg suspension and sinking into the terrain.

That happened to me during KSC trials, so for the radial ports connection I've used the engines to lift the module a bit and also raised the legs of the "hallways" to allow more vertical movement. Luckily it didn't melt the carrier underneath (blow it up I mean). So if it worked like that on Kerbin, for sure it will work on any similar gravity body. There was no need to lift the modules on Mun, so Minmus must be even easier. The carrier blows up however if you try to translate on gimballs with too much throttle.

The clearance between the Sr. docking ports is enough that on Kerbin the carrier gets easy under the heaviest module (Refinery if my memory serves well) and gets pulled up for a connection. For the lightest module, on Mun, I had to hit the brakes and let the carrier levitate to the center and then raise the legs of the module, basically dropping it to dock. The carrier has a small gyro underneath, used mainly to help getting it horizontal after it's deployed, so I've used that when "levitating" to align and stabilize the carrier.

7 hours ago, Rune said:

Cool stuff man! And very well documented! I enjoyed reading about it, not many people come up with their own expandable stock base.

Yup, I leave crap all over the place when I'm done. But you can't deny I end up with a lean base, part count wise! Plus, you can also have KIS installed, and then have a field day with explosives, maybe rescue a probe core or two to build crude satellites "by hand".

 

Rune. It's a lot of fun to build them, right?

Thanks! I've missed some steps in the documentation, I was too concentrated some times and forgot to take screenshots, haha. Maybe when I go to Minmus with this base system I will make some kind of tutorial. Though I'm guessing by that time it won't be stock anymore.

KIS is a mod which makes playing a lot easier and nicer (like all mods). I wanted to keep things vanilla for those who don't want to get into mods, even though CKAN makes managing them a child's play these days. When the game updated to 1.1.2 it produced some error, so I had to do a fresh install and decided it's a fun challenge to do the base the hard way, before installing the mods. Also the mods I've used before aren't all updated, so I can't use the saved games from 1.0.5 and probably never will. Who knows what bugs they have now?

Yeah, it's a lot of fun building complex stuff, especially when your choice of parts is so damn limited and you can't even scale things or chose tank contents. The design would have been better if I could have used the shielded ports, but TweakableEverything was against the "rules". Good thing all that dust from landing didn't get on the seal rings (again, use of imagination needed, hahaha)!