How to build a space empire.

[NSEP]

So i have played KSP for a long time now, and i think its finally time to build a space empire! But how?

My way:

- Have ITS like spacecraft, that instead of doing 1 mission per launch, stays in space and does missions until it becomes unusable, it also has to refuel sometimes.

- Make it so that the ITS can carry a modulair version of pretty much everything, in order to make mining bases and space gateway.

- Have mining bases and gateways on pretty much any body that you can easily reachable.

- Do this untill you have send at least 1 module/ITS on almost every planet, for later use.

Have any tips, do you have your own way of doing this? Let us know!

[SpacedCowboy]

I like your positive approach but, What is an "ITS"?

[StupidAndy]

34 minutes ago, SpacedCowboy said:

I like your positive approach but, What is an "ITS"?

SpaceX's Interplanetary Transport System

or better yet, this thing:

[Kerbinchaser]

I like building a huge ship in orbit, then sending it to the stars.

[regex]

Sounds like a recipe for burn out. Good luck though!

[GoSlash27]

6 hours ago, NSEP said:

So i have played KSP for a long time now, and i think its finally time to build a space empire! But how?

My way:

- Have ITS like spacecraft, that instead of doing 1 mission per launch, stays in space and does missions until it becomes unusable, it also has to refuel sometimes.

- Make it so that the ITS can carry a modulair version of pretty much everything, in order to make mining bases and space gateway.

- Have mining bases and gateways on pretty much any body that you can easily reachable.

- Do this untill you have send at least 1 module/ITS on almost every planet, for later use.

Have any tips, do you have your own way of doing this? Let us know!

NSEP,

 I follow the Von Braun STS infrastructure concept, and it works really well for me in KSP. Crews and fuel are sent to LKO aboard space planes. Interplanetary vessels are assembled in orbit from modular chunks sent up aboard disposable rockets. Once the whole system is in place, everything is reusable. The space program essentially becomes a system- wide transportation network to move Kerbals and experiments from the KSC to any of the planets and home again. Swap crews, refuel and refurbish, and the same ships are off to explore other destinations.

Best,
-Slashy

[HvP]

Everyone knows that there are really two ways to effectively build a space empire. Either (A) develop the science of psychohistory and then leave messages to your intellectual descendants about what crises need to be overcome in order to spread throughout the galaxy, or (B) embrace the power of the dark side of the Force. Robots and/or droids are optional.

Seriously, concerning KSP though... @NSEP I think it's implied in your post, but using the Extraplanetary Launchpads mod, or similar offsite construction mod will be essential to this undertaking. Colonies can begin launching their own ships for further expansion so that when you send your Kerbals out from Kerbin the infrastructure is already waiting for them at the destination.

Edited April 19, 2017 by HvP

[Kerbinchaser]

1 hour ago, regex said:

Sounds like a recipe for burn out. Good luck though!

I also mine planets and asteroids along the way. 

[Whisky Tango Foxtrot]

Instead of self-contained "ITS" ships I use unmanned tugs that can have passenger compartments attached to them as one of many possible payloads. They stay in orbit and rendezvous with anything I launch to take them to wherever they need to go, refuelling at the Mun and Minmus (and at Gilly, Ike, Pol and Laythe once I've got those bases established.) I've also got heavier variants to take large cargoes on interplanetary journeys.

[NSEP]

1 hour ago, Whisky Tango Foxtrot said:

Instead of self-contained "ITS" ships I use unmanned tugs that can have passenger compartments attached to them as one of many possible payloads. They stay in orbit and rendezvous with anything I launch to take them to wherever they need to go, refuelling at the Mun and Minmus (and at Gilly, Ike, Pol and Laythe once I've got those bases established.) I've also got heavier variants to take large cargoes on interplanetary journeys.

Well, actually my ITS is bassicly a tug but it can also launch and land on other planets. It has a docking port on top for transporting the modules, with is during launch, replaced with either a nose cone or a capsule. Nice idea.

1 hour ago, Lo Var Lachland said:

I also mine planets and asteroids along the way. 

Thats what i would do too, i planning a way to get an asteroid around Kerbin for my station now, using my ITS and a special module. My ITS can hold 3km/s by the way. But it can have extra fuel modules.

[NSEP]

3 hours ago, HvP said:

Everyone knows that there are really two ways to effectively build a space empire. Either (A) develop the science of psychohistory and then leave messages to your intellectual descendants about what crises need to be overcome in order to spread throughout the galaxy, or (B) embrace the power of the dark side of the Force. Robots and/or droids are optional.

Seriously, concerning KSP though... @NSEP I think it's implied in your post, but using the Extraplanetary Launchpads mod, or similar offsite construction mod will be essential to this undertaking. Colonies can begin launching their own ships for further expansion so that when you send your Kerbals out from Kerbin the infrastructure is already waiting for them at the destination.

Extraplanetary Launchpads is sure usefull, yet im doing this fully stock. And dont worry, i will find out a way to do this without Extraplanetary Launchpads. I already have plans.

[Whisky Tango Foxtrot]

7 hours ago, NSEP said:

Well, actually my ITS is bassicly a tug but it can also launch and land on other planets. It has a docking port on top for transporting the modules, with is during launch, replaced with either a nose cone or a capsule. Nice idea.

I use separate vehicles for launching and landing, but they're still based on the same principle of having a re-usable vehicle that various payloads can be attached to. The main difference is the engines and the placement of the docking ports; my space tugs have NERV engines and one docking port on the front, while my landers use LF/O engines (different ones depending on what body they're designed to land on) and have docking ports on both sides. I leave the lander/lifters docked with space stations when they're not in use.

[Brent Kerman]

Warships. You need warships. There will be rebels. I had in an old version a complete empire, but the Joolian Governor, my brother, rebelled. It was an epic war.

[cantab]

I'm trying something similar in RSS. So far I have:

Semi-reusable lifters. The first stage engines splashdown on parachutes, but the tanks get discarded. The upper stages can either re-enter and parachute land or be retained on-orbit and refuelled. My biggest puts 50 tons in LEO.

Orbital stations. In LEO there's one with artificial gravity (by spinning) for Kerbals, one with lots of fuel storage. I'll probably do the same around other bodies.

Interplanetary freighters, to take payloads from LEO to other orbits. These might not be strictly necessary, a refuelled upper stage could do the job, but the freighters are cooler.

A preliminary autonomous miner on the Moon. The idea is that the initial small miner can then refuel a bigger miner in lunar orbit before it lands. I really need to get a Kerballed mining base so refuels don't take months.

I still need to design:

LEO crew shuttle. My plan is to integrate it to a second stage. I'll probably go for some wing for steering but parachutes for a safe final landing.

Interplanetary liners. They'll be similar to the freighters but have big crew cabins instead of cargo space.

Proper mining bases and landers for other worlds.

More and better of everything.

[FungusForge]

23 hours ago, regex said:

Sounds like a recipe for burn out. Good luck though!

This is actually my plan for curing my burn out, oddly enough. A lot of KSP, especially long distance travel, is waiting. Roving around can be fun, assuming roving actually requires constant attention, instead of Alt+W and correcting every 15-30 minutes, I even roved for 2 hours because I landed by the wrong mountain on Arkas and enjoyed it because the dunes demanded full attention. This is why I'll never use Mechjeb, because then KSP would just turn into waiting and watching. If I wanted to do that I'd have saved myself the trouble of buying KSP and just watched Scott Manley's Interstellar Quest.

[Daddy Cecil]

Maybe have a grand spaceport as a central hub, with plenty of ships attached. Perhaps around Dres for asteroid mining?

[bdole92]

3 hours ago, Daddy Cecil said:

Maybe have a grand spaceport as a central hub, with plenty of ships attached. Perhaps around Dres for asteroid mining?

The problem with Dres, imo, is you can't aerobrake around it, which makes your insertion burn that much worse, but those asteroids are a tempting mining opportunity

[NSEP]

23 minutes ago, bdole92 said:

The problem with Dres, imo, is you can't aerobrake around it, which makes your insertion burn that much worse, but those asteroids are a tempting mining opportunity

Although aerobraking is usefull, adding in aerodynamic shielding and making it capable of landing without burning up or flipping and ripping apart cost weight and Delta-V

[bdole92]

5 hours ago, NSEP said:

Although aerobraking is usefull, adding in aerodynamic shielding and making it capable of landing without burning up or flipping and ripping apart cost weight and Delta-V

I was thinking particularly of craft destined for low orbit, where you can execute repeated high altitude aerobrake maneuvers that are fairly easy for most craft to handle without breaking apart. This changes a bit if you wanted to get your craft to a surface base, then you do have to figure in reheating numbers

[suicidejunkie]

You'll need some self-sustaining outposts, at least in terms of fuel and lifesupport resources, as many places as possible.

Locally-stationed rescue craft would be a good idea for prompt response from the space patrol.

 

Since you're eschewing EL, I'd suggest that you at least have a local scrapyard where you can disassemble and store old and spare rocket parts initially delivered from Kerbin.  You'll be able to build new ships on site and on demand using KAS, or repair moderate damage without having to send for a completely new ship.

[NSEP]

20 hours ago, suicidejunkie said:

You'll need some self-sustaining outposts, at least in terms of fuel and lifesupport resources, as many places as possible.

Locally-stationed rescue craft would be a good idea for prompt response from the space patrol.

 

Since you're eschewing EL, I'd suggest that you at least have a local scrapyard where you can disassemble and store old and spare rocket parts initially delivered from Kerbin.  You'll be able to build new ships on site and on demand using KAS, or repair moderate damage without having to send for a completely new ship.

Yet another person with a great idea! Thats an awesome idea. But again, improbably going fully stock from now on, and i will find my way as i just said. But im actually thinking of what i would do with broken ships. I have some ideas, one of wich is to add another module with a docking port ARM to replace the broken parts or to use a for example a ship with broken engines as a core of a village base.

[suicidejunkie]

Is the stock thing a fundamental decision?

KAS has the great feature of being a useful extra option without being overpowered.  Anything but the simplest stack you build by hand will be of significantly lower quality than something built in the VAB and shipped, but you can still do it if you want or need to.

For example:

http://imagemodserver.duckdns.org/nick/postedimages/KSP_Mun_crash_reassembly.png

Laughable alignment of thrust and CoM, frightening fuel balance changes during the ascent, fragile and unwieldy.  But lovingly and individually hand-assembled from discarded parts by a munar artisan who desperately wanted to return to orbit.

[NSEP]

22 minutes ago, suicidejunkie said:

Is the stock thing a fundamental decision?

KAS has the great feature of being a useful extra option without being overpowered.  Anything but the simplest stack you build by hand will be of significantly lower quality than something built in the VAB and shipped, but you can still do it if you want or need to.

For example:

http://imagemodserver.duckdns.org/nick/postedimages/KSP_Mun_crash_reassembly.png

Laughable alignment of thrust and CoM, frightening fuel balance changes during the ascent, fragile and unwieldy.  But lovingly and individually hand-assembled from discarded parts by a munar artisan who desperately wanted to return to orbit.

Its probably not going to be stock forever. I am currently thinking about installing KIS and KAS since its currently in my list of mods that should be stock, because they are great mods that still keep the stock feeling to the game. So maybe i will get KIS and KAS. Still thinking about it though.