WuphonsReach

The MKS 'Ranger' Habitation module (the expandable) lights up properly when crewed. But the expandable agriculture module seems to behave differently (I think). Might also be some oddness with the MKS Flex-O-Tubes.

There are two skills used in processes that can make supplies (along with the part .cfg files which make use of that skill). I can never keep them straight, so I did some research. BotanySkill (Biologist, Scientist) - Tundra_HabRing, Duna_Agriculture, Tundra_425_Hab, Tundra_Agriculture250, Tundra_275_Hab, Ranger_AgModule, Tundra_Agriculture375 AgronomySkill (Farmer, Scientist) -- Duna_Agriculture, Tundra_Agriculture250, Tundra_Agriculture375 So for the huge 'Tundra' habitation ring. It requires a kerbal with the Botany skill in order to perform the 'Greenhouse' converter function. For the 'Tundra' Agriculture Module (2.50m or 3.75m), you need either: Agroponics = BotanySkill Cultivate(S) = BotanySkill Cultivate(D) = BotanySkill Agriculture(S) = AgronomySkill Agriculture(D) = AgronomySkill And for the 'Duna' Agriculture Module: Agroponics = BotanySkill Cultivate(S) = BotanySkill Cultivate(D) = BotanySkill Agriculture(S) = AgronomySkill Agriculture(D) = AgronomySkill Hmmm, so there's only 3 modules that could potentially require Farmer kerbals.

AFAIK hab-multipliers are still buggy if there are other vessels within 150m that also have hab-time. But I've gone back to the Jan 2017 constellation release (prior to GC integration).

It could be done with MM by appending to the description using the regex operator, but I can't at the moment find the MM syntax to do so. The current KIS range/mass changes are done in the KIS.cfg file. You could develop the MM patch separately, then once you have the "^=" (regex/append) line working properly submit a PR to add that line to the KIS.cfg file.

The 'Korfield' Mun base is up and running to the point where it produces Fertilizer from Gypsum using the ASM (Agriculture Support Module), with a single Technician inside. Y10 D245 So I'm ready to send up another (3) Biologists, (1) Technician, (1) Engineer and (1) Quartermaster. That will boost Supplies and Fertilizer production even further. And will give me some redundancy so I can start swapping out the 1-star crew for more experienced crew. Money is still tight, but I am considering starting construction of Minmus base parts. Minmus has the resources to produce exotics, so that will probably be the money-maker base. The next major event on the calendar is the arrival of the flock of sats/probes at Duna/Ike in 70-140 days. The Eeloo flock is still 1.3-1.9 years away from arrival.

I do feel like the base CRS-4 with only 40 EC is a bit limited and I always have to strap on extra batteries. Given the 8t mass, I recommend increasing the EC capacity into the 500-2000 range. (In contrast, the 500 units of Monoprop is very good. I've not needed to strap on extra MP tanks.)

They should, since once docked, it's considered a single vessel. Also - DMagic's Orbital Science mod has the oversized and undersized SIGINT experiments. Once upgraded (later in the tech tree), they act as extremely powerful relay antennas. My relays around Kerbin. These are at 75Mm Ap/Pe (Kerbin's SoI radius is about 84Mm), which have an orbital period of around 100-110 days. It's not scientific by any means, but I probably get 99% effectiveness. The one satellite orbit around the equator is 80Mm.

My little 2-magnet rover to help with KIS construction (it gives an extra 20t to the mass limit for a KIS grab/attach). Park it within 12m of the EVA'd kerbal and I can easily move things around. I'm not actually using the magnets to lift things, so RTGs to run the wheels and lights is all it needed for power.

During base construction, I make use of KAS, which involves Kerbals moving around multi-ton parts. Now, by default, a kerbal can only move up to 1t. But you can crowd other kerbals around to increase that capacity by 1t per nearby kerbal. It's a bit tedious. Enter the Kolonization mod from USI. The magnetic grapples act as force multipliers for EVA'd kerbals. It has a range of 12m and increases the maximum grab mass by 10t. So what I do is create a rover with a pair of these "PAL Magnetic Coupler" parts and park it near the spot where I am manipulating the heavy part. It gives the kerbal a total of 21t of lifting power, making it easy to attach parts. That's the lander, with about 2500-3000 dV. The upper portion is designed to be a relay satellite after dropping off the rover, but I'll usually disassemble it for MaterialKits. The rover is attached to the 3.75m fairing base with a decoupler. Getting it out of there sometimes requires a bit of twisting with the reaction wheel and other fiddling. Jeb landing to start Korfield base on the Mun at the start of year 10. Here's Bill (my engineer) doing construction on Korfield. Early picture of Korfield, partly hooked up. The next major bit of construction will be to send Bill out on EVA and pull parts out of the KIS container inside the landed vessel right beside the base. That's a Phoenix Industries CRS-4 KIS capsule, filled with tubes, hubs, hab modules and agroponics modules. The other CRS-4 landers are filled with Material Kits, Machinery, Specialized Parts, Supplies and Fertilizer.

Yeah, not sure why my kerbals (mainly engineers) can't fly on the Mun. It's possible that KIS/KAS interferes with that somehow when they carry a wrench. LETech has extendable ladders of 5m and 8m lengths and I use those to get higher. For refueling / resupply landers, I'll use MKS Local Logistics to refill them before takeoff. As long as the lander gets within 150m of the base (2000m if I have a Karibou crew cab with a Pilot inside), I can use the Local Logistics window to transfer materials / supplies / fuel between the base and the lander without pipes. (My bases always have a bunch of warehouse-enabled Kontainers for the various things that will get transferred. Plus a Pilot or Quartermaster inside the 'Duna' or 'Tundra' Logistics module so I can pull out of Planetary Storage.)

@canisin Yeah, OPM likes to multiply everything by 4, then JX2Antenna (if you also have that) divides everything by 4. I have a patch for that in the master branch of the repo, but I haven't packaged it into a release. I also fiddled with the HG-5R and RA-2 relay antenna power (slightly stronger). I'm pretty sure the RA-100 does not require anything beyond what it already has and the JX2 or DMagic SIGINT dishes provide lots of power too. The upcoming changes are listed in the CHANGES.md file in the master branch. I should push out a release soon, but still experimenting with the rewards. Is 4M too much or just right for an Eeloo contract that ties up a contract slot for about 4 years? Is 1M too much for Eve/Moho contracts?

Or a rover using the BonVoyage mod (which drives it in the background). For outside Kerbin's SoI, I usually end up with 3-4 RA-2 or RA-15 relay sats around each of the major worlds, with HG-5 relays around the moons. But I have a mod that rebalances the stock antennas and pays me to put those relays up. Around Kerbin's SoI, I put up huge heavy relay sats in 80Mm Ap/Pe orbits of various inclination. Plus at least two in Kerbin synchronous orbit (5h 59s 9.4s orbital period) above KSC. These have up to 7 dishes of a particular tier on them. (I run with extra ground stations disabled and a DSN strength of only 0.02 in the settings.)

Minmus was my first because the surface gravity is low. Which means Kerbals with jet packs can fly up to the top of tall structures (no ladders needed except as a place to hold on to). The low gravity also makes sky cranes easy to work with, or moving parts around with KAS/KIS winches. The downside of Minmus is also the low gravity, which makes rovers more difficult to deal with. Mun was the second, because it is close. However, Kerbals cannot fly there, which means ladders. A lot more ladders. Or a base design that is more horizontal. My third target is either going to be Dres or Ike or Vall.

Those buttons (the +/-) have been there for many versions. They just postpone the maneuver node until the next time you come around to that point on the orbit. http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Maneuver_node#Orbit_buttons

I think Valentina is going to be grounded for a while after this mishap: The 'Alpha' station is intact, as the supply vessel that was docked took the brunt of the impact. The TCV07A-8JE 'Freedom' lost a pair of solar panels. So I may have to weld new ones on, but I have a second TCV07A in orbit called 'Dimension' that can take over duties in the meantime.

Because of delays in getting the Mun base up and running, I'm running low on supplies in orbit around the Mun. So I'll have to send my Kerbals home. Valentina is racking up the commendations though (from Final Frontier): Note: Time in missions only counts once they return to Kerbin (I think).

That MM patch looks accurate. I'm not 100% sure whether AFTER[] implicitly implies NEEDS[] or if you have to have both.

Scouting the Mun for a base location: Landing the first PDU module was a disaster. I'll have to either rip that stuff apart for Material Kits, or move it around with KIS.

It changes the node to fire on the next orbit (watch the "time until burn" change).

Go into map view, right-click the node, and click the plus sign to make it eject one orbit later. A few days either way won't matter much. Because you will end up doing a fine-tune burn along the way in almost all cases. My burn strategy is: Setup the transfer burn using the Porkchop plots Execute the transfer burn Wait until I escape Kerbin's SoI Use "fine-tune" to setup a maneuver node Using Precise Maneuver Editor, I adjust the fine-tune burn to put me where I want at the target So my goal with the transfer burn is to be about 95-98% accurate, I get the rest once I get out of Kerbin's SoI.

The first four MKS base parts are in orbit around the Mun. But I don't have a location for landing them yet. HAB1 'Duna' Kerbitat (configured as Habitat) (2) 'Ranger' Habitation Module (expandable, Hab-Quarters or "base" hab time) Material Kits Kontainer (warehouse-enabled, 15k capacity) 'Tundra' expandable 4.25m Habitat (configured as Habitat) LF/Ox Kontainer (warehouse-enabled, just big enough to transfer fuel to nearby vessels) 60k EC battery capacity (4) XL solar panels (2) Flex-O-Tubes PDU 'Duna' PDU (requires Engineer) Material Kits Kontainer (warehouse-enabled, 15k capacity) 2.5m USI Reactor, with static cooling panels (4) Medium extendable radiators Gypsum Kontainer (warehouse-enabled) Hydrates Kontainer (warehouse-enabled) Monoprop Kontainer (warehouse-enabled) 60k EC battery capacity (8) XL solar panels (4) Flex-O-Tubes (PDU designed to be center point of base) Pioneer/Logistics 'Duna' Kerbitat (Recycler) RT-5000 Recycler 'Tundra' Pioneer-Logistics Module (requires Pilot or Quartermaster) Fertilizer Kontainer (warehouse-enabled) Supplies Kontainer (warehouse-enabled) Mulch Tank (warehouse enabled, 15k capacity) 60k EC battery capacity (4) XL solar panels (3) Flex-O-Tubes (one location is blocked by the ladder) AG1 'Duna' Kerbitat (configured as Habitat) (2) 'Ranger' Agricultural Module (configured as Agroponics, requires Biologists/Scientists) Supplies Kontainer (15k) Mulch Kontainer (15k) 'Tundra' Agriculture Module (for Cultivation using Substrate, will require a Farmer) Fertilizer Kontainer Substrate Kontainer Water Kontainer 60k EC battery capacity (4) XL solar panels (2) Medium extendable radiators So that leaves room for other modules, possibly one with just a stack of Kontainers for the various resources that I'll be harvesting, plus intermediate stuff, plus final products. There will also be a launch of a KIS container with even more expandable Agroponics / Habitats along with Flex-o-tubes and hubs. I could also repaint some of these Kontainers to remove duplication.

- Mine Gypsum (or less preferentially, Minerals) using an automated lander with an uncrewed Logistics module and shove that Gypsum into Planetary Storage. Doesn't matter where on the surface you put this, so use SCANSat maps to find a good concentration of Gypsum. Revisit the lander every 30-200 days to do the "catch-up" mechanic and push the output for the last 50-200 days into PL storage. (I usually have 3-4 automated landers spread out or clumped, all harvesting different raw materials, across the body's surface.) - Have an Agricultural Support Module (ASM) in your base, staffed with Technician kerbals that turns Gypsum into Fertilizer. Now your Agroponics modules will never run out of Fertilizer. (How many agroponics modules, biologists/scientists, ASMs and technicians is up to you to discover.) - You'll need a Logistics module, staffed by either a Quartermaster or Pilot to pull the Gypsum back out of PL storage. At that point, you have infinite supplies. However, I always ship in 300-1000 supplies per planned kerbal to jump-start the system with mass (supplies get turned into mulch at a 1:1 ratio, 10 mulch + 1 fert => 11 supplies). You should also have at least one mulch tank (warehouse-enabled) that is pretty large so that you never lose mulch. The more supplies and on-site storage I have, the less frequently I'll need to visit the base after it's up and running. Adding recycler capacity can also extend the time between visits. In short: Recyclers become mass efficient for longer duration missions. Agroponics modules become very mass efficient for longer duration missions. In-situ conversion of Gypsum -> Fertilizer is really useful. Hab multiplier (hab-common) modules are key and multiply base hab time (hab-quarters).

Suggestion: A button on the "Here and Now" window to only stop on biomes where an experiment is 0/X (nothing transmitted yet). Or a button that will ignore biomes that have already been seen while the vessel has been focused (in this focus). That way, if you're doing experiments which are only partially transmitted (and maybe you don't care about the rest), you're not stopping on every biome change for a biome that you've already partially harvested.

One trick is to use "linear docking mode" when driving rovers. http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Rover#Piloting_rovers You'll have to add the key mappings in the KSP settings, but it makes it so that W is forward (and not pitch down) and S is backward movement (and not pitch up). Combine that with SAS and you'll be less flippy.

I have a really full launch manifest at the moment, all the comm sats and science probes which are built but not launched yet. I generally roll them out to the four launchpads in batches, get them into orbit, setup their transfer burn, then put the next one up (and let KCT keep track). As you can see, those LFOX1 launches are ready to go (they took about 13-15 days to roll out to the pad). Since I just launched one, pad #42 is in the reconditioning step for another 41 days. Here's a small snapshot of what's in the build queue: The MKM1 series are automated landers with drills, MKS 'Duna' Logistics module (no crew), and warehouses for the drill output. They're designed to land at a location to harvest and push resources into Planetary Storage for later processing. Since I already have a pair of ISRU mining vessels turning Ore into fuel on Mun/Minmus, this batch of MKM1 series are designed to land near the ISRU and harvest what is available at that site. Even if it's not the highest concentration on the body's surface. By landing near the ISRU, I reduce the number of jumps between ships every N days in order to perform KSP's catch-up mechanic. In KSP, ships in the background don't process things like drills or manufacturing. Instead, when you jump to (focus on) the vessel, it performs catch-up in 6 hour intervals. So every 50-250 days, I have to visit mining vessels. Putting them near each other means that all vessels within 2km will all catch-up at the same time in a single visit. I currently have six production lines in the VAB: