Anyone ever built a base on Bop?

[Markelius]

So, I have this long term plan for my KSP playthrough, I play with Extraplanetary Launchpads, so it involves setting up launch bases on other terrestrial bodies. Anyways, phase one of my plan is to have a base set up on Minimus, which I've gotten to a self-sufficient state now. The reason I wanted to do Minimus is because of it's low gravity, low escape velocity, and close proximity to the edge of Kerbin's SOI.

That being said, Bop shares a lot of these same characteristics, making it a prime candidate for another launch base. Thing is, I've looked through Youtube, read about other people's bases, and I have yet to hear from anyone who's set up a permanent base on Bop, Laythe? Sure, plenty of those, in fact, I plan to make one myself, but Bop? Nada.

So has anyone built a base on Bop before? What are the challenges to overcome there? I imagine the uneven terrain must be difficult to work with, but I'm fairly new to the game and have only ever been in the Joolian System once, so I don't really know what to expect going there.

I don't mind if you don't play with the same mods or even mods at all, I'd just love to hear from anyone who's attempted or done this.

[Specialist290]

Looks like an advice request for a gameplay matter. Moving this over to Gameplay Questions

[Superfluous J]

I've made 2 Gilly bases (on camera!). The problems on Bop should be similar. I've found that tethering the base to the ground via KAS pipes or grappling hooks works wonders. Also, the uneven ground means that anything with 0 degree flatness will likely not actually be flat.

Both of my bases were Extraplanetary Launchpad bases (because there's no reason to make a base if it has no use, and that's a pretty good use) so step one was to get a starter base there, and step 2 was to design a second base that was tilted in the VAB with the same degree tilt as the slope of the land, so the resultant base would be flat.

[Markelius]

I thought of KAS grappling hooks and ground pylons, just recently figured how to use them right. Luckily on Minimus I picked a nice flat plateau to build on, with only a couple degree slope. Problem is, on Bop, flat area is much tougher to find.

That being said, I imagine magic lift rams would be useful, only that those, along with Infernal Robotics haven't been working for me for some reason despite having the right versions of both IR and toolbar installed. But that's not a problem I need solved in this thread.

What my main concern is is the distance. I play with a semi-RP mindset, and that being said, I don't like keeping my Kerbals onsite for long durations of time. I don't play with any life support focused mods, but it's still something I have fun focusing on. Minimus has been easy, it only takes a short time to get there and I can send a two way shuttle to bring new Kerbals and take the old ones back. With the Joolian System though, it's a lot different. It takes about a year for an efficient trip, one way. Once there, sending them supplies won't be easy, so I'll have to try and do everything on site.

I didn't have that barrier with Minimus, it took me I think 6 flights to get the base set up and self-sufficient. With Joolian satelites, I have to do it all in one go.

I have a plan though, I created a large cargo tug with over 20k m/s of interplanetary delta-v, an OKS hab ring for artificial gravity, and two Extraplanetary Launchpads workshops,filled with rockeparts, complete with de-orbiting and landing gear, side mounted ore and karbonite drills, a recycler for repurposing debris, metal smelters, and an orbital construction dock for building stuff.

Along with that, I'm going to be doing a concurrent launch of a similar cargo tug with payload of twelve scan satellites to determine where the various ore and karbonite on each terrestrial body is.

My main fear is simply that things won't work out in some way, that my workshops won't be able to get ore, that they won't be able to land safely, any number of things could go wrong even with quicksaves to help me out, and I'd have to launch a rescue or support mission which would take another year to get there. I don't even like having my kerbals out for a month, let alone a year, it scares me. I just want to make sure the mission goes exactly as planned.

I must say, playing this game has really given me a new found appreciation of what space agencies do. It's really amazing stuff.

[Superfluous J]

I just want to make sure the mission goes exactly as planned.

I can pretty much guarantee that THAT won't happen. But if it did, where would be the fun?

The best part of this game is that no matter how ready you think you are, you never are ready.

All I can say is go for it. I don't have the same long-term-travel hangup so maybe it's easier for me, but the planets are there to visit. Go visit them!

[1greywind]

In my latest careere save I've got to contract in succession - build base on Bop and build station on Bop's orbit.

Bop randevu flight plan (5 meneuver node): http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/34108372141640812/D2C6B3E7CABD0E6973B02D13EC647B09357C910E/

Ingress phase: http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/34108372141640619/CE1983CD1C2FF3E1E24F822AB103DB0AC03AFBAF/

Landing: http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/34108372141642451/223CA4E7A4E0796128DFAF81658687F7C1E32DF0/

Landed base: http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/34108372141643161/1BF92A3840497F5272F6A341245A51201888258B/

Base visited by crew rotation mission: http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/34108372141646626/9C08020EAE817CA41C57B07358B746F4674D1456/

Main challenge for me was VAB level 2 parts limit And second challenge was landing on last drop's of fuel on Bop: I've misscalculated and station landed with 15 m/s vert speed - thanks to low gravity I was able to tame wild jumps and landed it almost complete (only one solar panel was damaged).

[Markelius]

Well, alright, thanks for the suggestions everyone, & 1greywind, that's an interesting base! I could barely function with a limit on parts, sandbox mode with hangar extender and editor extensions makes it so easy to build massive crafts. You should see the tugs I made for going to Jool.

Anyways, I'll let you all know how it goes and hopefully post some screenshots. Tonight I mostly finished getting the recycler set up on my Minimus base, the workshop hasn't been producing rocketparts even though there are kerbals inside and metal to work with, don't know what that's about, but considering I have enough spare rocketparts to build a small craft, and I'm collecting plenty of metal (from ore) and karbonite, I think it's high time I did some exploring past Kerbin's SOI.