Space Bases?

[Rex3921]

Okay, so I've accomplished a lot in KSP; went to Mun, Minmus, began construction of a Space Station 2 satellites over Kerbin and another 1 over each of the moons! BUT, now I'm thinking about making a Mun base. The only this I know is that they have multiple modules, like space stations. So I have a couple of questions...

1. Do they HAVE to be docked together? If so how do I do it.
   
2. What modules can I do?
   
3. Is it possible to have an Emergency Escape Pod if I'm desperate?
   

Thanks in advance.

-Rex3921

Edited November 8, 2013 by Rex3921

[KvickFlygarn87]

1. No, not necessarily. Unless you plan on transferring resources between the modules.

2. Well, habitation module, a few rovers, garages for the rovers, Kethane mining module (if you have it), maybe some sort of comms array for marking the spot of landing.

3. Yep, just make an old school rocket using a poodle, 3-man pod, legs, the next-smallest rockomax tanks, and preferably some sort of skycrane to land it without using fuel in the tanks for the poodle.

[capi3101]

A Mün base can be pretty much anything you want it to be...in specific answer to your questions:

1) No. If you want to do that though, you can; build your pieces on Kerbin and try to assemble it there so that you can work out any kinks in the design before you launch.

2) Pretty much whatever you want. I've got enough rovers out by the Neil Armstrong Memorial in my Sandbox game to open up a used car lot now, and about a half-dozen probes. All I did was add a permanent habitat and called it a base - and that was just 9 Mk1 Lander Cans on a lander.

3) You bet. Since you've got an orbital space station, it doesn't even need all that much delta-V; your crews can "escape" there in a pinch. Better still, have one on the surface, one at the station - and set up a two-way ferry.

EDIT: Ninja'd

[Sirrobert]

1. You don't have to do anything you don't want

It's alot harder to get them all docked tougether, so you may want to start off with just seperate modules standing close tougether. Ofcourse, a fully docked base looks better.

2. There are a few mods out there that add specialized base modules. Without those, you'd need to improvise. I usually make a 'habitat' module by sticking 2 hitchhikers ontop of eachother.

You could put up a comunications module (for the fun of it. The entire base is obviously just for the fun of it), a rover. If you have the Kethane mod, you can turn it into a mining base. Than you'll need a miner, a power supply module, and a fuel tank module (those 3 would need to be connected). And ofcourse some way to transfer the new fuel to a spacecraft.

3. There's not much you'd need to escape from on a Munarbase. I mean it's not going to deorbit and crash like a station.

But you could put a simple rocket next to the base that can get back to Kerbin. Or multiple, one small one for each Kerbin. A Mk1 command pod only needs a single fuel tank and LV 909 engine to get back to Kerbin, so they are easy to build

[JiWint]

Don't build a base at mun.

Or one day you'll find your base in a new crater...

[KvickFlygarn87]

@JiWint What?

[wasmic]

@JiWint What?

They've re-done the Mün's terrain several times. I doubt that they'll do it again, but if they do, your base will most likely end up either underground or a few hundred meters over the terrain.

[Rex3921]

Lol JiWint! I have 1 thing to say... THAT'S NO MUN BASE! Anyway I am trying to get them docked together. How would I do it? Would I have to is dock them in Munar orbit then land it like normal? Is there a better way?

Oh also. How would I make a Garage? An idea would be a Habitation container and trusses coming out with docking ports on the bottom of them. I could then use RCS to move it on to dock. But then it wouldn't really be a Garage. If you have a pictures then please put them up for ideas but don't go making one just for this!

Other than that my other questions are answered! Thanks all!

Edited November 6, 2013 by Rex3921

[Sirrobert]

Lol JiWint! I have 1 thing to say... THAT'S NO MUN BASE! Anyway I am trying to get them docked together. How would I do it? Would I have to is dock them in Munar orbit then land it like normal? Is there a better way?

Oh also. How would I make a Garage? An idea would be a Habitation container and trusses coming out with docking ports on the bottom of them. I could then use RCS to move it on to dock. But then it wouldn't really be a Garage. If you have a pictures then please put them up for ideas but don't go making one just for this!

Other than that my other questions are answered! Thanks all!

Personally I'd put them all on wheels. That makes them mobile. Just land them close to eachother, and dock them like that.

That's pritty tricky though, since the wheels have suspention so a heavier module will compress the suspention more than a lighter module. So they might not be all the same height.

If you want to try this, I'd suggest practicing on Kerbin first. Do note though, that the gravity is stronger on Kerbin, so if you can do it on Kerbin, they might not be the same height on the Mun. But it's a good start.

PS: Compression is less of a problem on Minmus, due to the lower gravity. Should also be easier to land big modules there for the same reason. Might be a good idea for practice

[Rex3921]

Thanks Sirrobert! Now I just need a Garage design then this would be Answered!

[Zephram Kerman]

They've re-done the Mün's terrain several times. I doubt that they'll do it again, but if they do, your base will most likely end up either underground or a few hundred meters over the terrain.

In case of this, my crazy suggestion is to make the entire base capable of a short hop. Each module had to get there somehow, so just keep the engines and a bit of fuel on each one. (Even crazier if it can fly while fully assembled.)

Anyway, my thinking is if a future update causes "tectonic activity" on the munar surface, you can revert to the old version, launch it some distance up into the sky, then save and safely import to the new version.

[Rex3921]

Never mind about the design... I done one now! Thanks all!