How to make an upgradeable orbit station?

[cephalo]

So, the science lab is one of the first techs I unlocked in my current tech tree level. I also have the cupola, and the medium sized docking port. I'm hoping to send up a really nice station hub that I can use throughout the game, and do it in such a way that advancing tech doesn't make it obsolete.

Is it just a matter of plenty of attachment options, or are there some things coming up that you just can't plan for? What do I need to think about in advance?

Edited May 11, 2015 by cephalo

[adinfinitum]

Other than getting the large docking ports at the end of the tech tree, there's not much that would make the actual hub of the station obsolete. As long as you keep things modular it'll be easy to upgrade, like switching out a 1x6 solar panel array for a gigantor panel array, switching to larger fuel tanks, etc.

[cephalo]

Good. For the large ports I was planning to make medium->large adapters later on, if that should ever become useful. Not sure how rigid a space station needs to be.

[impwarhamer]

generally your not gonna be moving a station once in orbit, so you shouldn't need to worry about rigidity. As long as your hub has docking ports, you should be set.

[Grumman]

When I make space stations I use medium docking ports for assembly. The cross-section looks kind of like this:

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   \   /
   |---|
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   | | |
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   /   \
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[TheXRuler]

Ooooh that's such a cool way to show the crossection xD also, yes, medium (or even small) docking ports are fine for permanent and stationary stations. If however you want to do something as crazy as me and fly an entire ~700 ton space station out to jool you should definetly use the Sr. Docking ports.

[MajorChubby]

Ooooh that's such a cool way to show the crossection xD also, yes, medium (or even small) docking ports are fine for permanent and stationary stations. If however you want to do something as crazy as me and fly an entire ~700 ton space station out to jool you should definetly use the Sr. Docking ports.

I signed up just to say how awesome this sounds!

[Warzouz]

When I make space stations I use medium docking ports for assembly. The cross-section looks kind of like this:

---     ---
   \   /
   |---|
   | | |
   | | |
   |---|
   /   \
---     ---

Yes, the flat adapter looks best. Even the big docking ports won't create a "module" feeling. You'll end with a big cylinder in space. I tried many combination in beta 0.9 and ended with the medium docking ports.

Big docking ports can be useful to increase a specific module (adding 2 more crew quarter), but that not quite often.

EDIT : and for flying a space station to Jool, why not assembling it over there. I assembled a 13 part space station (400T total) around Laythe to explore all the moons (several times). I brought back 41000 science points.

Edited May 12, 2015 by Warzouz

[n0xiety]

Stay low on the part count. When you reach 500 parts even with a good computer you will start feeling the lag even more so when you want to meet with your station using a 300 part ssto it will kill your computer. Use the biggest parts you can find. You want a refueling station up there? Use the biggest fuel tank you can get. If you don't have it you can just get rid of old tanks when you have bigger fuel tanks. Make the utility module separate from the parts that you are never going to change so that when you want to use the bigger models of solar panels or be it reaction wheels or maybe batteries you can just discard the obsolete module and put the new one in.