bigcalm

The mods I have installed, with most loved at the top: FinalFrontier: Who was the first Kerbal in space? The first to land on the Mun? The first to swim in Laythe's oceans? Who has run most missions? I completely love this mod. And no, it's not Jeb for any of them in my game! Kerbal Alarm Clock: Because running multiple missions is essential MechJeb: Ok, his mechanical brain doesn't always get it right, and I can do a better job than him mostly (though I'd be fairly lost without Smart-ASS), but he's always willing to help! MKS: Because it's not enough to just go there. We have to colonise too. KIS/KAS: Because MKS (Everything below here is for me largely optional - they're installed, they provide useful stuff but they're not necessarily included in a new game) UnmannedBeforeManned: It's not so much the unmanned part that I like, but the earlier access in the technology tree to better plane parts. Extraplanetary Launchpads: Because it's not enough just to colonise. We have to build as well. Tac Fuel Balancer: Such a handy little tool - basically allows dumping of fuel and equalising of fuel tanks. [x]Science!: Find out when new science can be done. SXT: Because I want electric propellers and seaplanes. ScanSat: Extra science and easier finding of Anomalies. Scatterer/PlanetShine: Because it's pretty! NearFuture: Helpful extra parts.

I've played with a few planet packs, and Outer Planets mod is probably the best to add to the stock game. That said, I'd like to see a stripped out version that just includes the extra "interesting" places and not just "oh god another small moon with tiny gravity and no atmosphere" - basically, a gas giant with rings (Saturn analogue) ; a moon with a very dense oxygenless atmosphere (Titan analogue) ; A retrograde moon (Triton analogue) ; An Eve-sized planet with oxygen in the atmosphere (Tellumo in GPP); A burnt cinder much nearer to the sun than Moho (various planet packs have this) ; That said, you're still early on your career - you have a long journey ahead of you. Go and have fun with Duna - at least it's easy to get to, and up next in your easy transfer windows is likely to be Eve. Go and try and tackle the purple monster and her tiny daughter first before worrying about more far flung places :-)

You might want to use the [x]Science! mod - this provides an in-game checklist of all the experiments that can be performed. I'm sure somebody has done all experiments possible, but those will be very few and far between - there's 600 or so possible experiments just on Kerbin.

FinalFrontier is the mod you want, but it will only record from the moment of install.

Seconding or thirding the recommendation for MKS. Planetary Base Systems essentially serves as an add-on to MKS with parts performing similar functions. Also add PlanetaryDomes because they look so cool and stop your bases looking like refineries (which they are, but they should be pretty too).

You don't have to do the bodies in the order that it suggests, though the "Finally..." part is important and does need to be done last.

MKS is a suite of mods from RoverDude with a focus on building bases and colonisation. It adds eleven resources that you can mine, along with various refineries to convert these raw materials into processed goods that can then be used for maintaining a colony. It also adds an additional level of difficulty where your kerbonauts must have large, decent accomodation and supplies so that they won't go stir-crazy. The goal here is to establish a fully sustainable surface base on Laythe - if a moon like Laythe existed in our own solar system with oxygen at reasonable pressure in the atmosphere, liquid water on the surface and 80% of earth's gravity, it would be the prime target for colonisation. However, this isn't easy - because of the atmosphere and the gravity, the landings are challenging. First the mod list: MKS - colonisation mod from RoverDude, including life support. Planetary Base Systems - effectively serves as an extension to MKS giving more part options for life support recyclers, habitation, and various other things. Extra-planetary Launchpads - Allows building of rockets on other planets given sufficient resources to do so. Easy Vessel Switcher - Allows you to Alt-left click to switch to a nearby vessel. Pretty much essential when you have a dozen craft on the ground. KIS/KAS - Inventory system and Attachment systems. Allows you to detach and reattach parts, and to join vessels together for resource transfer. MechJeb - Doesn't really help with flying the planes but setting up and executing maneuvers in space. NearFuture - gives me a few additional options regarding nuclear engines and batteries - nothing game breaking and more to save on part count than anything else. PlanetaryDomes - allows the construction of cool looking surface bases SXT - Stock extensions. Allows electric propellers, sea plane floats and additional plane parts. TacFuelBalancer - Allows dumping and equalising of fuel easily. I also have a few mods like FinalFrontier, PlanetShine, ScanSat, UnmannedBeforeManned installed that don't really impact the mission but add convenience or fun stuff. I do have HyperEdit installed too, but it wasn't used apart from simulating transfer of nuclear fuels (I can do it without hyperedit but it's such a faff - note to @RoverDude - please make this easier!!) Early Experiments The first job was really to test if I could actually get stuff to Laythe, and land it relatively accurately. For that purpose, an initial ISRU-refueller type plane was designed and landed on Laythe, called Heron One: As it's an SSTO plane, it was flown into Kerbin orbit before being docked to a shunt that could transport it to Laythe. This certainly wasn't my finest hour though - landing it is terrifying. The stall speed is around 120ms on Laythe meaning that powered landings are pretty essential, and on non-flat terrain in the dark, it's horribly difficult to land. This means that taking it back to orbit and back down again is possible, but very tricky. It simply doesn't have enough wing area to make it work as an easy to land plane. As such, after landing it twice it got redesignated as "surface fuel dump" and left there. It also scanned for resources that could be mined, and it turns out that the shores of Laythe have everything I need with the exception of Gypsum which isn't massively serious. The second experiment was to see if I could land an MKS Tundra module on the surface. These are big and bulky, but utterly essential to constructing a successful base on Laythe - I need to be able to produce material kits, machinery and specialised parts on the surface in order to build more pieces of the base - leading it to being a sustainable colony that can expand itself. The Barbet was an SSTO plane from Kerbin (just), so it was a simple matter to get it into space, dock it to a shunt for transport to Laythe. Landing wasn't exactly 100%, but the important bits survived and it's around half a kilometre from the Heron, so good enough. I also sent a cargo plane, containing essentials that would be required whilst setting up the base - some supplies to keep the crew fed, some fertiliser so that more food could be grown, along with a some small kontainers to store various goods and some inflatable habitation modules and greenhouses. This wasn't an SSTO plane from Kerbin, so getting it into space was somewhat tricky. Introducing the Egret: Backups Building the base on Laythe is not going to be easy, and naturally, things might not work out. A single plane-crash could mean that the base simply isn't going to work. So we have backups - planes that can take the crew off in an emergency, the Red Kite, and the Erne - there's two Ernes at the start though I crashed one later on: We also have backups around the Joolian system, firstly a full featured base on Vall called the Emmy Noether, that can produce all materials. Getting stuff off Vall and to Laythe is a little long-winded but in an emergency can be completed in under a week. We also have the Leonard Euler station around Laythe - shipped out in 3 parts and joined together in Laythe orbit, it has lots of habitation and is used as a storage resource as well for the difficult to produce stuff - the Vall base has sent over lots of specialised parts, machinery, supplies, fertiliser, organics and colony supplies. We can always go and get stuff from the station as required as it has all sized docking ports for everything. The Madness Begins After the initial mostly successful experiments, I started designing the crazy planes that would be required to establish a fully working base on Laythe. All of these were tested on Kerbin first - can they survive re-entry into Kerbin, can they land at around 3000 metres altitude on Kerbin on rugged terrain (Laythe's air-pressure at sea level is roughly equal to 3000 metres on Kerbin, and Laythe's terrain is really not flat!). The first vessel is Ardea - some drills for mining various resources, along with two Tundra refineries that can turn raw materials into processed goods. It even has landing legs so it can form the basis of the first occupied structure on Laythe. With this it can take all raw materials and convert them to processed goods. With the addition of the Tundra manufacturing plant that has already been landed on Laythe, it can produce finished goods of Material Kits, Machinery and Specialised Parts which can then be used to create new vessels. We also have two Zeltornis - these carry large nuclear reactors to power the various parts of the colony, plus large KIS containers that have a bunch of parts that will be handy for base construction when they get to Laythe. With the award for the second maddest vessel I sent to Laythe, we have the Runway. This allows new vessels to be constructed using material kits and specialised parts using the Extra-planetary launchpads mod. Also contender for the most draggy plane I've ever built. It's not fast, but it does actually fly and land relatively well: I did say second maddest didn't I? We also have the Triple Heron. A 3-cockpitted, twin-fuselage aircraft that really shouldn't exist, or at least, not fly as well as it does. It serves as a backup for the Zeltornis craft above and carries the same cargo, nuclear reactors and large KIS containers: We also have a couple of other utility vessels, firstly an SSTO plane called the Wigeon, that can take resources such as machinery and specialised parts from Laythe orbit to the ground base, as well as carrying a couple of crew: And two Teals designed to be converted to rovers on landing by tearing off the wings and engines - these will be used to move crew and parts from vessel to vessel. I also sent a second variant of the Heron that looks identical to the one already landed at Laythe - however, this one's cargo is some Duna-style modules to help construct the first habitation portion of the base - a PDU (nuclear reactor), a logistics centre and a pioneer base. Getting to Kerbin Orbit and beyond Naturally, getting these "planes" off Kerbin is tricky. The best way I found was to surround it with large boosters to try and keep centre of mass low enough and not have the aerodynamics of the planes interfere too much. Massively overpowered to reach Kerbin orbit, I don't really care as all I want is for them to get there. And they're either designed to dock to a shunt or do get there under their own steam (possibly after some refuelling in LKO). Here's the shunt that pushed most vessels to the destination. Uses some NearFuture engines - they're not any better than the stock nuclear engine, but it helps save on part count when I want moar power: Landing on Laythe The place chosen for landing is a small piece of land of around 250 square kilometres called Ishmael Island, it sits on the other side of Laythe to Jool on the equator, so we get to see the other moons occasionally, but the choice of location was really determined by the initial Heron and the crashed Barbet that could no longer be moved. The main plan here was to get everything down and landed all in the same place ready for assembling. That meant landing all the planes before sending a crew down. The Wigeon also went down but it stopped off first at Leonard Euler to pick up some machinery, specialised parts and two crew members. Most things landed safely, but not all. The second Heron crashed around 2.5km from the launch site (though retained all the important cargo) and one of the Zeltornis planes decided that it didn't like having wings and landing gear any more (self-destructed on physics load on the ground, though it landed ok). Building a working colony Once the crew were down from orbit (via the Ernes / Wigeon), it was time to start creating a base by joining stuff together, recycling unneeded parts like engines and wings. I crashed one of the Ernes on landing (not fatal for the crew, but it'll never fly again) meaning that I now only have one remaining Erne to take crew off planet. The first job was to sort out the Teals, tear off the wings and engines and convert them into rovers that could be used to move parts around. There's two of them (Cape Teal and Baikal Teal) and they are the true work-horses (or work-ducks) of colony building - moving parts from place to place. The second job was to take Ardea, tear all the wings and engines off, put it on landing legs, attach a reactor, add the Tundra assembly plant, and a million and one little jobs. Driving backwards and forwards with the rover to various different vessels, detaching parts, attaching them to the rovers, driving to Ardea, attaching the part there, and so on. This is all painfully slow and involves many steps but eventually I have a workable manufacturing hub. This has all the capabilities to go from mining the raw materials to processing them all the way up to producing material kits, specialised parts and machinery. Then it was time to sort out the runway, by adding a reactor, a workshop and some habitation: You can see the large a KIS Kontainer in the screenshot above - this is now all that remains of one of the Zeltornis craft - both have now been completely recycled for parts, with the exception of the KIS kontainers. Additionally, the Barbet no longer exists - once I'd taken the Tundra Manufacturing and storage container off it, it had served its purpose and was scrapped for its material kits value. The six crew are all required for moving parts around and often have to engage in team lifts to move the heaviest parts. The Teals always come in useful to ferry both kerbals and parts around. The brave pioneers are Tanris, Learigh, Maxalla, Stelya, Gersan and Madie (and technically, Jesra who's remained on Vall to build any emergency stuff that might be required). Rather than cobble together a habitation section from the parts I'd brought with me, all the scrapping of wings and engines and planes means I have plenty of material kits to play with. As I have a working runway that can build other vessels, I decided to construct a skeletal base that I could then attach the parts I'd brought with me. Unfortunately it was dark by the time it had finished, so final tweaks like attaching of parts I had brought with me had to be done in the dark. But finally, it's done - and the second crashed Heron was recycled for parts after all its useful bits had been taken for the new habitation base. All of my bases on other worlds are named after female scientists, and this one will be no different. Please give a warm welcome to Grace Hopper. At this point the base is effectively finished - it can keep up its supplies, has good habitation ratings and can produce its own vessels. Subsequently I did build other stuff - a nuclear fuel and fertiliser plant (I know, these don't really go together, but they were the two manufacturing chains I was missing) - I also built a plane do a bit of (fuel efficient) exploring. If we're going to live on a world, we want to explore! I did build a replacement habitation module that isn't fully equipped as yet - the problem is the initial one is slowly but surely slipping down the hill, gradually trying to get out of physics range where local logistics will stop working and eventually slipping into the sea. The plan is to replicate the base around 5 kilometres away where it is much much flatter, but that will take a significant amount of time to generate the material kits and machinery to build it. Finally, here's a screenshot of all the vessels I could get in a single shot. I have many more plans for the base, but for now - it's ok as it is, it can produce everything it needs to, it has long habitation ratings and plenty of supplies to keep the Kerbals fed and happy. I've had great fun doing this mission - my plane design skills have gone up many notches in the process and surface base building is always great fun. Here's the imgur gallery with some additional images as well

Oh god no. I generally set a Kerbal Alarm Clock to call me to the site again 50 days or more after once the ISRU and drill have got up to temperature (depends on the ore content at the site). I do have a "manned" version of the wheeled miner-rover, but because I play with MKS + Life Support, I really need to give my Kerbals nice accommodations and plenty of snacks to keep them going, and hence it's not particularly practicable except in emergency situations. Hence the larger multi purpose vehicles above - a single 5* engineer it can refuel itself and fill up the ore tank in around 10 hours ready for the hop to orbit - and the on-board life support and supplies mean that the engineer will be happy for up to a year.

My landers on Vall with the base in the background. They can carry 1500 ore into orbit, dock to something, refuel it, and then land again before refuelling themselves again. They can also carry 8 crew, are powered by nuclear reactors rather than solar panels, and they can also take other resources to or from orbit using the lander leg tanks. Note: These are multi-purpose vehicles - a pure ISRU + drill + ore and fuel tanks would be significantly smaller - it wouldn't need to carry supplies (which I need for MKS), or so much habitation, life support capabilities, etc. My refueller onLaythe - can transport 1500 ore back to Laythe orbit and then land again. As I'm not that great on building SSTO planes, it's terrifying to land but otherwise performs reasonably as a plane and SSTO generally. Though the next pictured vessel is on Dres, I have a clone on Vall as well. This is a more pure focused vessel without crew facilities, designed to mine ore and get it back to orbit ready for refuelling. Nuclear powered, and with a use-it-as-a-90-ton-rover and docking machine option.

Yes, in fact, I was considering accepting the contract and making it manned. I could certainly do it - I have refuelling capabilities at Moho, Gilly (and by extension, Eve orbit), Ike (and by extension, Duna), Dres, Jool (particularly Vall) and within 100 days, Eeloo. As I use MKS, I'd have to top up the fertiliser and enriched uranium occasionally, but again I have facilities to do this at Ike, Dres and Vall. My hesitation comes from two things - it'll take 20+ years to complete the mission and I'm only currently on year 12 - almost certainly I will have abandoned this playthrough by then. The second thing is that I'm about to land Kerbals on Eeloo for the first time, and this is the last body that I haven't landed on - I get the feeling that should I do this, I'll get a contract to land on every body. Now that might rank as impossible, but I do have some ideas regarding how it might be done (without a terrifyingly huge ship anyway).

The best choices in the Joolian system for an ore extraction and refinery base is either Pol or Vall. Pol is a little far out to be truly convenient and is very hilly so you have to build your landers accordingly though it does have a tiny gravity well. Vall is situated wonderfully, is reasonably flat but has a high gravity well - roughly equivalent to Moho or Duna. Laythe is out unless you are superb at building planes, Tylo has a vast gravity well, and Bops inclination makes it annoying as a fuel generation place. In terms of power, the biggest solar panels you can muster, and lots of them. Alternatively, install a mod pack that includes nuclear reactors (MKS, Near Future Electrical, probably others) - that will allow you to power your refineries.

What if you wanted a runway on Laythe? Well. I have a solution for you.

Craft file - 35 tons fully fuelled, press '1' to switch from air breathing to LfOx, 38 parts: stock: https://www.dropbox.com/s/jvp3ijbjiy4zuc6/Red Kite.craft?dl=0

Yeah apologies - perhaps the OP wants to use a rocket as you say. Certainly there was a time in KSP when I would find an interplanetary gravitational assist maneuver easier than building a simple plane that could take off and then land again, let alone an SSTO, so I realise that these things are not easy at all - and yes, it does require unlocking of a bunch of extra tech tree nodes. In addition, assuming you want it to start fully fuelled in orbit of Laythe, launching planes on top of a rocket from Kerbin is always a pig of a job. I'll dig out a pic of my six man Laythe SSTO plane and post it here as it's relatively simple.

I think you're approaching this a little wrong. Your stated goal is: two landers on standby, which must be almost completely reusable and be able to ferry at minimum six Kerbals from the station to the base(s), with maximum efficiency. Ok, so why not make them (SSTO) planes? I'm currently doing an MKS base for Laythe and every vessel I'm using is a plane - and I have around a dozen of various different designs. Any SSTO plane that you build for Kerbin will also work for Laythe - with the caveat that the plane must be able to land safely at around 3000m on Kerbin - roughly the same air pressure of Laythe at sea level. You can even add parachutes if your landing skills aren't brilliant - and as long as you're using Medium landing gear or below it'll be steerable and driveable on the ground so you can park up next to your base. You'll also probably find that the eventual 6-man craft is lighter than the vessel pictured - as it's going to use an air-breathing engine for most of the ascent, it needs significantly less fuel. That said, I know that SSTO planes are somewhat tricky to build, and attaching a jumbo docking port to one will make it a lot less aerodynamic - I have done this successfully in the past, but for my current Laythe mission all the SSTO planes have shielded docking ports rather than the Jumbo one.

I have so many magical moments. The first moon landing. The first time heading into orbit of Eve - it's so huge, purple and pretty! The first time I built a really good plane. Building a working MKS base on Laythe. Ascending from Eve with Fontella Bass blaring out of the speakers. The crazy craft that actually did the job that they were made for. I absolutely adore this game.

The mods I have installed, with most loved at the top: FinalFrontier: Who was the first Kerbal in space? The first to land on the Mun? The first to swim in Laythe's oceans? Who has run most missions? I completely love this mod. And no, it's not Jeb for any of them in my game! Kerbal Alarm Clock: Because running multiple missions is essential MechJeb: Ok, his mechanical brain doesn't always get it right, and I can do a better job than him mostly (though I'd be fairly lost without Smart-ASS), but he's always willing to help! MKS: Because it's not enough to just go there. We have to colonise too. KIS/KAS: Because MKS (Everything below here is for me largely optional - they're installed, they provide useful stuff but they're not necessarily included in a new game) UnmannedBeforeManned: It's not so much the unmanned part that I like, but the earlier access in the technology tree to better plane parts. Extraplanetary Launchpads: Because it's not enough just to colonise. We have to build as well. Tac Fuel Balancer: Such a handy little tool - basically allows dumping of fuel and equalising of fuel tanks. [x]Science!: Find out when new science can be done. SXT: Because I want electric propellers and seaplanes. ScanSat: Extra science and easier finding of Anomalies. Scatterer/PlanetShine: Because it's pretty! NearFuture: Helpful extra parts.

Not really. I mean, there's things that help, but sheesh, a large base on a surface is gonna be krakeny and KIS/MKS tends to be very explodey - quicksave early and often. You just learn to live with it. For moving stuff around, it's best if you have a rover (or rover-like-thing) that you can attach things to. So I will attach the bit I want to the rover, drive the rover to where it needs to be, and attach the piece to it where it needs to go. Alternatively, don't use kerbals to move stuff. Simply put everything on wheels and join things together using the weldable docking ports. I use a combination of both - it depends on the world I land on. Currently attempting a surface base on Laythe (yes I'm insane) which involves large amounts of KIS - but I'm using rovers to transfer bits from one place to another.

Yes. At a certain stage you can basically get all of the money that you need via "mine x ore from body" contracts. I still like accepting and performing all of the world's first contracts, but at this point, contracts aren't particularly interesting and it's your own goals that take precedence. It is effectively sandbox from this point on. That said, I do occasionally take some challenging contracts because it's fun to attempt them - I recently completed a mission to land on Mun, Minmum, Duna, Ike, Gilly, and Moho with a single vessel.

Laythe sea-level air pressure is about the same as Kerbin at 3000m. So if you want to test a plane or parachute system before you go, go and land on a mountain at Kerbin and see if you survive. Laythe is almost all sea, with a few small islands. Landing without wings or aerodynamics on your vessel(s) on actual land is going to be tricky and you may well end up in the drink if you're not careful. The parts of Laythe that are land tend to be pretty darned hilly. Again, go and land on a mountain at Kerbin - hilly terrain is what you'll get on Laythe - and practice makes perfect. SSTO planes will work better on Laythe than on Kerbin. Essentially, if you can build an SSTO plane that works for Kerbin, it'll easily work for Laythe. However, do note the requirement for being able to land safely and successfully at 3000m altitude on Kerbin. I am currently sending a USI base to Laythe, but I've made all the separate bits a winged vessel that can fly in an oxygenated atmosphere and survive re-entry into Kerbin's atmosphere (ignoring interplanetary pushers that will get thrown away). Including a EPL runway that will allow me to build more stuff when I'm there, I think the vessels I'm sending are some of the craziest I've ever designed, but they're all well tested and should make it.

I don't think that Project Starbridge would be possible. Firstly, the vessel in a 10km orbit is going much much faster than the surface. In order to build a useful space elevator like this, the top of the elevator needs to be in synchronous orbit - for Dres this is around 700km away from the surface. Good luck getting a stable craft that's 700km long! You could possibly edit Dres's rotational speed and then it might be possible - but you'll run into issues with strength. A 10km craft is going to break rather easily, and to be honest, I'm not sure KSP's physics will even model it correctly. If instead of being a space elevator it's just a tall tower, you're not really saving anything by doing this - landing craft at the bit that's 10km high would be no different to landing on a 10km tall mountain. Secondly, physics range would have to be extended - yes this can be done with mods but there's a limit to how far you can extend it and you certainly can't get 700km.

A follow up to the flying brick, the flying runway!

A brick that flies! Hurrah!

Pilots only is a bit too much (though could be an option within the mod) - allow any crew member to operate the throttle - you've already got SAS restrictions and such for that, and would likely be incompatible with other mods that create new professions. The fact that people bother to put a probe core on a vessel means it can still hold attitudes (prograde, node, etc.) and SAS could be available there (perhaps you could have a rule that if no probe core and no pilot, nothing is allowed - whereas if there is a probe core any crew member can do burns/operate MechJeb). For 5, the way I'm running this in my career is that if a crew member is within physics range, the burn is allowed - even if the burn time will mean that the pilot is no longer within physics range at the end of the burn. Not entirely sure how you'd code for this. The complication with my career is that I have RoverDude's MKS + Life Support, meaning that any interplanetary vessel kind of needs a minimum of around 30 tons of supplies, habitation space and suchlike. Not easy to put up SatNets around Moho with this on!