M4ck

Well, mostly... I've already placed the next little module there, but it looks a bit uglier with the balloon connected only by the I-beam. Not a LOT uglier, but still. I'll post the next episode today so you don't have to wait and will try to correct the rest later(either find the error in the save files or paste another copy of a working base assembled on Kerbin to replace this one...).

Try to make something like [core part, doesn't matter what it is] // docking port facing > , rotated 10* // docking port facing < , connected to the previous port(as in node-fixed, not surface attached) // the main module, node-fixed. Alt+click on the first docking port, attach it to the end of main module(this time surface attached, not node) and repeat, without rotating anything. This works well for bent structures made of girders, maybe it will work as well here. By the way, you won't have any way to actually "glue" the ends together like this in the VAB, the last port will be not connected, no matter what you try to do. Personally, I'd put a single, round central part and add hammer-shaped modules(girder/girder/round module surface-attached to the end of the girder) to it in some high symmetry. It will look quite similar to what you probably have in mind, and will actually work, if reinforced a bit with struts between modules next to each other(use symmetry as well, this way you won't need to manually put every single strut in its place).

Submarines, huh?... I had no idea they could actually work, I've recently read a really detailed experiment log by some user(can't remember who it was...) to determine the behavior of KSP in relation to underwater movement and it turned out the water is an extremely dense, very "sturdy" substance, with about 50t/m3, plus the ships randomly explode down there. It's good to know something can be done about that so, another project is now sitting waiting on the to-do list! Yes, you can. Anything touching the ground is treated like a rover, and this is mostly the reason why I am using KAS anchoring instead of letting everything float freely. If your speed is 0,2m/s or lower, you can save and exit without problems. Either use RCS to do that, or the HL "Make slow to save" option in blimp altitude control panel. I don't know exactly how it works, but it quickly sets your speed to 0m/s, sometimes 0,1m/s. Be careful, though, I have no idea why that happened, but after the flight to Laythe with the scout probe I've noticed that my test module got sent to the surface of Kerbol, with an orbit eccentricity parameter of NaN, and had to be save-edited into some regular orbit around Kerbin for emergency deorbit using the RCS(there was JUST enough fuel to do that). The mission took a few hundred days, so it probably veeeery slowly moved somewhere. No idea why, I really hope this is not going to happen to the real base. Backup, backup and backup once more.

Archibald and Al Kerman admiring the view from the first module of their new hovering base on Laythe (click the pic for full resolution)

Or try to switch vessels around after decoupling using [ and ] brackets, they should rotate focus between present parts.

The Soaring Gardens of Laythe Harmful Environments Research Program, project 2. The base has now been completed, you can find a full list of posts below Encouraged by the technical/scientific success of the first project, and a rather warm reception by the wider audience, the Kerbal Space Agency decided to launch not only one, but a couple of missions in search for uncommon habitable environments(who needs regular landed or orbiting bases anymore if you can see if a Kerbal inside a large can plunged into Kerbol will smile or boil!). The Munar one proved it is possible for Kerbals to live happily on a huge wall. Now, it is time to find out how will they behave while floating high above the ground – but not orbital-high. The next missions will be probably about something floating on the surface of an ocean and hanging from the ceiling(if I get that working…). No submarines, unless liquids are somehow remade to work like actual liquids, not some thick goo. This project was named The Soaring Gardens, just to indicate it is the next one in the series. Parts: The main module(plus a description of the project) The solar panels mast A preview of the Laythe atmospheric ships, version 1 - cockpit + jet Another Laythe atmospheric ship, version 2 - external seat + Firespitter propellers, a lot more compact The third, final(?) version of the Bubbles, the little blimps, now using compressed air instead of monopropellant - no need to refuel at all anymore An observation deck, test phase And now, the observation deck installed properly A 16-kerbal village on a bridge A preview of the interplanetary multi-module ship The ship, only waiting for a single module Most of the little thingies got carried to Laythe, and a preview of the comm tower The tower in place, as well as a final orbital construction yard The platform used for docking the Bubbles and larger crafts to the main base The Kethane Dart and the kethane refinery The Soarer, as well as the last photo session of the now completed base The first one relied mostly on various uses for the Kerbal Attachment System for hanging, balancing and connecting different modules, involving a lot of EVA operations. This one will concentrate on Hooligan Labs creation, Airships to Other Planets for lift, several KAS claws to properly anchor it to the ground(when needed) and regular docking ports for construction(reinforced with, reconfigured by me a bit to make it work with 0.21, Docking Struts mod). And, as always in my bases, Kethane mod for fuel production. After visiting Kerbin, Eve and Laythe and scouting around their surfaces, I’ve decided to place the colony on Laythe. Duna was the first one to eliminate, as its atmosphere was too thin to support everything. Eve provided way too much lift to the vessels, as I’ve found out during a test launch, 3% filled blimp was enough to keep the test module airborne and it all made it almost impossible to control altitude(which will come in handy a few modules later). It also looked ugly to me… A pink desert with gray seas. Kerbin was too “normal†for an experimental, unfriendly-habitat-situated base. Laythe was the best one, as it has an atmosphere quite similar to Kerbin’s, an interesting coastline and that huge, lovely ball of green doom above the horizon. The first stage was choosing the best place for the future colony. After jumping from one place to another using a little probe, I’ve chosen to locate it on the edge of a southern hemisphere island on the side facing Jool, mostly due to a nice view at the sea, island and Jool, flat surface and a bay nearby in case I ever want to place a floating object somewhere next to the colony. Next, I needed to create a vessel capable of taking my already designed and tested(on Kerbin, but with a huge lift margin remaining after takeoff) hub module there. Some shots from ground testing I’ve used the regular lifter stages to get to HKO, then re-docked to another vessel – a huge fuel tank with 5 1,25m nukes, sent empty to Minmus, filled there and sent flying. This took the hub module to Laythe with enough fuel to not care too much about proper aerobraking etc. The payload sent to HKO was about 7t heavy, so no extreme lifters were needed. On the pad. The balloon takes about 1/4 mass of the whole craft away at ground level. Not much, but still helps First stage spent Connection between the lander and the Jool transfer carrier (landing engine-stack separator-Docking port Sr. // Docking port Sr., tank etc.) Everything moving slowly towards Laythe After getting to LLO the carrier detached, leaving only a small landing stage connected to the platform. The last few km of landing were blimp-assisted. The lander on its way down And standing on the ground The ship landed successfully, anchored itself to the ground, detached the lander, and… slowly went up, after filling the balloon and extending the cables. The RCS blocks and tank stayed there in case something needed to be moved a bit in the future, they will be removed once the base is completed. After going to about 700m above the ground level, the pilots(now the residents)walked outside to look around; they enjoyed the view from their new home quite a lot. What modules will come next? First, a solar array to the side. Then, an observation platform somewhere above the main module and a bit to the side. Even later, a tiny village like girder structure, with something like my little sphere habitats on the sides, somewhere around the level of the central balloon. And finally, a bit lower than the main module, a docking platform with four tiny, unmanned(but also with a room for a single Kerbal each) blimp vehicles(probably jet powered, thanks to the oxygenated atmosphere - more testing required), with everything connected nicely to a small refinery on the ground via KAS. By the way, I absolutely love the last picture. It's become my new desktop background(at least until tomorrow, when I copy the whole thing to my laptop and carry out a high-detail, 1FPS photo session...). If you like it that much as well, here is the full res one.

This may sound stupid, but does the other module also have any command part and electricity? Docking ports usually(if not always) don't work if any vessel is not powered.

It looks like you attached them in some wrong way(after clicking on the icon and choosing "see full picture", or whatever, you get sent not to the picture, but the website with them). If using the image tag, you should paste a link ending with .jpg, .png or something similar. Edit: I could see the placeholders on the mobile version, I had no idea they were missing completely in the regular one. Almost definitely an IMG tag used with a link to something else than the image file. Put things like http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7321/9577549299_12630b39d4_o.png instead of http://www.flickr.com/photos/100703960@N05/9577549299/ in the [ IMG ] tag. You can find the direct links by for example right-clicking on the picture in album, choosing size>Original, then right-clicking the picture and choosing "copy image location"(or something similar, depends on the web browser). That's what you should put in [ IMG ] tags to have them working properly By the way, the pictures (I hope they aren't too large) :

This may become useful in one of my future projects if it is actually possible, so it may be a good idea to ask now. Is there any way to move/rescale objects like VAB, monoliths, arches around by editing game files or using some tools? Precisely I'd like to make the cave(you know which one) a lot larger. How could that be achieved? They aren't terrain, in most cases, if I remember correctly, so maybe they are "configurable" to some extent?

Thanks a lot. I've installed it earlier for some starmap/ground textures swapping, but never realised there are packs for new EVA suits. Now, off to (any planet/moon with atmosphere, to decide which one will be chosen for the next base) ! And to another thread, in a few days. By the way, thank you all for the support and/or good words in appreciation of my work, I hope you will like my next project as well

Well, that was my second guess , it also works well to enable rovers to move quickly on low gravity bodies, like Minmus(mine always used to float after a moment or two). By the way, are you using some mod to change your kerbals outfits, or I've simply missed the next official update?

Something like this, but I am still thinking about Eve as well; so it'll either be the small island in the middle of the large crater on Kerbin, or the island on Eve, 1*S 23*W according to this map. Kerbin looks a lot better, with all that green/brown, sloped terrain and blue water(while Eve looks like a pink desert), but Eve is much more "exotic" in terms of a location for a base, if you know what I mean. Plus it has an even thicker atmosphere, and if OrbitalConstruction works fine, there will not be any need for that huge, multi-stage rockets to bring everything there(fuel+parts from Gilly transfered to a low Eve orbit construction yard).

Nice Are you just pushing it up with nukes while the wheels keep it from falling apart due to being dragged on ground? I thought at 20m/s it could easily fall off the wall, into space.

Hello, everyone. Bobman has just finished the assembly of The Hanging Gardens of Mun colony by enabling it to(at least in theory) accommodate several Kerbals more - he's installed another habitat module atop the ladder. Again, unfortunately the remote controlled "docking" phase took place at night, but before setting everything up properly, Bobman chose to wait until the visibility was better, after a quick inspection right after anchoring. (the ladder lights were on to make aiming easier during the final approach) A quick peek on the other side(that X-ray vision, you know...). You can also see here how the ladder is designed. Engines detached, so everything tipped over. Now to the proper assembly: By the way, it looks like poor Bobman is falling apart... Everything is now connected nicely, so after pulling it up, it's time to check if the ladder+platform+railing combo actually works It does. Another view of the backside Bobman posing atop the brand-new habitat And finally, the completed colony overview That's probably it. The colony is completed, so now Bobman will probably get really bored there, unless he decides to visit some other colonies once they are finished as well(the next one will be located either on Kerbin, Eve or Laythe, so his awesome jetpack skills won't be of much use there during construction). The Kerbal Space Agency promised to send him a small reusable vehicle capable of easily reaching Munar orbit and even escaping its gravity well should he try it, so he'll be free to visit various places on the Mun or catch a ride on any passing interplanetary ship, given his own, small refinery providing him unlimited fuel. And all this happened with Gilbert sitting in the lander can, smiling all the time... But hey, there's more! A little preview of another project of mine. The method of connecting modules has been designed, tested and it works well, plus everything is rather sturdy, steady if rised properly and quite easy to assemble - actually even a bit easier than this one.

Maybe that's easily resolved, but I haven't found any way to do this(even after searching through all 28 pages in this sub-forum) - could you remove the poll in this thread? http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/45238-Mun-crater-Hanging-Colony-%28POLL%29-%28ladders-etc-added-an-EVA-tour-through-the-base%29

Here are my ideas for the last module parts, I don't know which to choose. I am thinking of either 2 or 3 horizontal ones stacked above each other, one horizontal and one/two vertical(the "legs" are just to make taking shots easier), or 2 or 3 verticals side by side (like one smaller in the middle and two taller on its sides). Here's a link to the album with all of them. http://imgur.com/a/unB7w#0 List of all variants: horizontal with green/orange caps horizontal with horizontal/vertical windows vertical small with one/two segments vertical small with green/orange caps vertical tall with green/orange caps

Another step towards the completion of Hanging Gardens of Mun has been taken. This time Bobman spent a lot of time connecting the walkway to the wall, watching it swing like a wrecking ball, pushing it where it was supposed to be, and sitting comfortably in his landing can house while ladders slammed into the wall right outside. Afterwards, he took a walk outside to show us what the base looks like from his view. Sorry for the delay, but maneuvering crafts was so slow on my laptop I had to wait till I got home to complete this and to be able to post here. First, the walkway lander was sent to the colony landing pad, along with about six mobile KAS ports. The big ball was there to balance the craft(I-beams and KAS tipped it to the side), it was an empty fuel tank with a power bank. It later crashed into the fuel tanks below the base after detaching, but didn't destroy anything. After placing the ports on the wall and connecting the first cable(and quicksaving), Bobman faced what he later called "a crash". KSP simply died, so I had to restart it, only to discover the three placed but not yet connected ports missing. I have no idea why, as the max debris count was set rather high, and all the other debris, like on the crater bottom, was present. Anyways, a little port-carrying probe was sent to the main module(it was quite tricky to land there, but RCS made it a lot easier during the last several meters). All four cables connected(only the two closer to the wall in the finished walkway were actually needed, another note for Hanging Gardens 2). By pure luck, 8m long walkway fit perfectly between the landing pad and the central module. "And here... we... go!" - not as planned, but the whole thing survived The ladder was, as written previously, simply slammed into the wall. It's a really simple build, 1,25m probe core with 2x 8m ladder, 2x RTG for power(and as anchoring points for the "wiggling" stage: RCS tanks and nozzles), and 2x 2xlarge I-beams each with a single claw/hook facing the wall on the far end(hidden behind the ladders, which had no collisions on their own for placing hooks, unfortunately). After placing it somewhere near the desired point, it was "wiggled" into its current position by detaching one claw, stretching everything to the side with RCS and slamming it into the wall again. Now, Bobman goes outside to take a look at his pretty base he himself assembled Outside the hut Standing next to the carrier probe Going up, climbing towards the stars Atop the habitat(the jump had to be jetpack assisted, the future Hanging garden will have a tree-like structure of ladders connecting various modules, so each branch will end right on a platform) On the walkway(this time a regular jump was enough, the central module railing makes it impossible to simply walk onto it) The pad(high-res texture on it looks a LOT better than the ones in previous posts, IMO ) And finally, a colony overview at night As for the last module, to be placed at the top of the ladder, I know HOW it will be attached so everything will work nicely with walking up/down the ladder and getting off, but I don't know WHAT exactly to put there... I was thinking about a vertical tower-like habitat made of a kethane tank with a half-sphere on top of it, with some fake "windows" like in the current habitat - it should look nice together, as it will be white tank with green stripes, white sphere tank with orange stripes, and the same, blue windows on both parts. I will post some of my ideas for you to choose the one you like best in several hours. If you would like to see something else up there, feel free to post

As I've written somewhere on the first page, the location of the crater center is about 57*40'00" N / 9*05'00" E , it really has to be an almost vertical drop from about 4km altitude down, as the whole area gets rendered in a strange way and you might easily smack into the ground around the crater(it appears rather flat when you are a few km above the surface). By the way, my laptop somehow manages to run KSP. Slowly, but still. So there probably will be a new post in a day or two about connecting it all together

I thought it would take a loooong time, that's why I asked

Save? He doesn't seem to mind his current state Anyways, it looks hilarious. But hey, it works! That jetpack ride - you used the jetpack while holding the craft to circularise?... Or just let the plane meet its fate in atmosphere and leave poor Jeb orbiting?

After countless retries due to, for example: placing winches without anything separating them from the panels - the claws got immediately stuck to panels/bounced off them when fired >> back from the crater wall to VAB forgetting to add struts between panels, resulting in the whole contraption falling apart upon hitting the wall >> back from the crater wall to VAB not adding enough struts... >> back to VAB, again 1x bug/crash/whatever, 1x lightning struck nearby and PC restarted >> back from last phase of landing on the bottom of the crater to Mun orbit twice and finally KSP crashed again >> back from docking-like maneuvers by the wall to crater bottom, I've finally managed to install the habitat module. At first I wanted to have it hanging above the first platform, but then the detached tanks would either crush the solar panels or tear away some of the floor panels/railings. Now it fell clear between the main platform and the crane(camera focus switched to the falling tank, so just for the lulz I throttled up, turned SAS on and let it fly as long as the fuel lasted; it got far beyond Kerbin's SoI and orbit, even without power after getting to about 10km altitude). Again, no landing there, just a quicksave midair right after detaching lower tank. In fact these are just empty fuel tanks and solar panels, nothing more elaborate, but I think they look good enough. Close-up of the module in orbit(lights on, to better show what it looks like) First, unexpected anchoring in the dark, as I couldn't land it properly and time warp to daytime(turned out the addition of direction lights was a really useful thing this time), not much more difficult than I expected - there was much more light than there would be in a similar situation in orbit, for some reason... Two shots at the "sunset" in the crater, and one in the night And the last one, in daylight Now, I've figured out an easy way to precisely attach the walkways to the wall, using movable radial KAS ports with allowStatic = True added in KASModuleAttach module of part.cfg and later connecting winches to them while in EVA - a bit similar to how I've connected the platform to the crane. The walkways probably won't be ready for a few days - I'll be away from home, and I'm not sure if my laptop can handle KSP without problems. By the way, the longer I look at the whole base, the more I begin to hate that black launch pad plate... Should I try to retexture it, remove it via save editing, or just delete the whole module, change the plate to something else(if yes, then what do you suggest? I don't want it to get burned by other crafts, you know), and place it on the wall again? Anyways, what should I do with it now, after adding the walkways(pad-central and central-crane, maybe) and a ladder(central-habitat)? Do you have any interesting ideas? I was thinking about a cableway(is that the correct word?) to the opposite crater wall, but it bets buggy at these distances. Edit: after looking at all the screenshots at once, I am now thinking the domes are too small... Will it be better to make it one larger, instead of these three? What do you think? It will require rescaling the domes and the "windows", but that shouldn't be very problematic(of course this will also have to be another launch...).

Well, yes, now they jump around looking silly. Right now I am installing a habitation module, the next thing to do after that will be the walkways unfortunately it's a bit hard to place something very precisely, I'll try something with movable ports instead of the claws/hooks.

Another module now sits on the wall next to everything else. It is rather light for what it looks like, the main "arm" is 6,5t, and the platform much lighter than that. It was sent in two separate pieces - the arm first, then the platform was added. This is what two last stages of transport vehicle looked like. That mainsail was a bit too long for landing legs - a stupid mistake, but was not that difficult to correct; there simply was no landing phase, the mainsail and its tank were dropped off when I got into the crater. Now it's time for the platform Lander stage Anchoring it to the wall... not exactly as planned, some parts fell off after hitting the wall - luckily not from the platform itself, but from the transport - so it hanged at a weird angle "Can we fix it?" - asked Bobman the builder Yes we can. And we have over 35% fuel left It works well, going straight down for about 150m and then nicely sliding down the wall all the length of the cables. After some wild swings during construction, it turned out to be very stable. The platform also has a fifth KAS port, in case it has to be pulled under some other module(winch from the landing pad can be hooked up to it). But wait, what happened to that stupid, plus-shaped support? Well...

Another little addition: fuel tanks. Although I've written earlier something about 2,5m tanks, after thinking for a while I choose not to mount huge tanks here mostly because larger tanks >> more claws, cables etc >> more parts >> more lag in the future. So now the tanks will be more like buffers between kethane processing module and refueled craft. New module is 12 "regular" parts + 13 KAS parts, two bottom ports will probably get removed(somehow). Before detachment Bobman Kerman at work connecting it all together Everything nicely balanced and working properly, refining kethane into monopropellant By the way, Wice - glad to have somehow inspired such an interesting creation

Really interesting maybe I should start using some robotics parts mod myself for that wall base of mine?... By the way, such configuration(2 sides of 2xKAS) could be used to make a pretty well working aerial-tramway-like platform - have one side anchored to the wall, other - to the ground, at about 45* angle, also create two action groups: 1. side retract, 2. side extend 1. side extend, 2. side retract This way you can slide it along the cables. It can go horribly wrong sometimes, but in right configuration works rather nicely