tips and tricks for making space stations in kerbin orbit

arkness · May 30, 2018

are there any good ways of just making things in orbit like space station i have been having trouble creating anything up there but i thought why not go to my friend of kerbin and ask you guys if there are any tricks to getting it done like docking aligning e.s.c i have tried to make use of the tutorials bat i cant seem to make sense of it and i dont want to use any mods for this

thanks for helping out

Gargamel · May 30, 2018

The key, in my opinion, is to use a recoverable space tug to move your modules around. That way you save on the part count and can keep the station simply made.

I went into depth in this in another thread, check out some of the discussion here, I'll link to the space tug post. You can replace the Konstruction ports with stock ports if you'd prefer.

https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/174470-why-do-you-play-this/&do=findComment&comment=3369111

RealKerbal3x · May 30, 2018

Make sure your station has reaction wheels equidistant from the centre of the craft. It really helps in keeping it stable--no sense in wasting valuable monopropellant. Although remember to have some power generation (RTGs or solar panels) and batteries so you don't lose attitude control.

Geonovast · May 30, 2018

41 minutes ago, RealKerbal3x said:

no sense in wasting valuable monopropellant.

MP on a station is a bad idea anyway. It overreacts, makes the station oscillate violently, then go kerblooey.

Gargamel · May 31, 2018

17 hours ago, Geonovast said:

MP on a station is a bad idea anyway. It overreacts, makes the station oscillate violently, then go kerblooey.

The only time to use MP on a "station" is when that station is actually a mothership, and requires RCS at times for 'quick' (< 2 min turn 180*) maneuvering or docking.