Dr Farnsworth Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 I am looking for advice on the best moon to drop a mining outpost on. I am thinking Bop or Pol would be the best candidates. Please let me know what you think or what your experiences have been.Also, take a look at my mining equipment on KerbalX if your interested.Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkyRender Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 You pick your poison with the Jool system. There are three moons that are worth mining, and each has its pros and cons.Vall:+ Most accessible to the system as a whole- Highest gravity of the eligible moons, meaning lowest overall returnsBop:+ Good trade-off between Vall and Pol- Almost as far off-orbit and eccentric as Pol compared to the other Joolian moonsPol:+ Very low gravity means great fuel returns- Furthest away from the inner Jool system, and at a very inconvenient inclination Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MalfunctionM1Ke Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 -snip- With your username, you should start every post with "Good News everyone" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brofessional Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Vall is really the only choice. Fuel net gains are not as good as Bop/Pol but it's central location and inclination makes it the best for refueling ships. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Farnsworth Posted July 16, 2015 Author Share Posted July 16, 2015 With your username, you should start every post with "Good News everyone" Ahh but I do!Well most of the time I do...http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/128450-Farnsworth-Rocket-Surgery-Rubber-Toaster-Delivery-Inc-Open-for-business%21 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Windspren Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 I read this as "Jool Surface Mining Operation" and thought, okaaay........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMSP Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 I think you should go for Vall.I should be saying Laythe .Anyway:+Close to Tylo, easy to get boosted out of the system.+Higher gravity means better miners, like rovers.+Bigger, so you can set up more outposts.+Again, close to the Joolian moons (well, it is one...).+Lots of places to explore.+Secrets.+It looks nice.+A lot easier to find a flat space than Pol.-The high Gravity makes it harder to get off the surface.-Again, Gravity well makes light miner hoppers harder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annallia Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 I read this as "Jool Surface Mining Operation" and thought, okaaay........I read it the same way and was expecting something somewhat insane Also nobody mentioned Laythe?Ok so nobody mentioned Laythe except for the guy above this that posted while I was reading/typing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Windspren Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 I think you should go for Vall.I should be saying Laythe .Anyway:+Close to Tylo, easy to get boosted out of the system.+Higher gravity means better miners, like rovers.+Bigger, so you can set up more outposts.+Again, close to the Joolian moons (well, it is one...).+Lots of places to explore.+Secrets.+It looks nice.+A lot easier to find a flat space than Pol.-The high Gravity makes it harder to get off the surface.-Again, Gravity well makes light miner hoppers harder.So should I. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Iron Crown Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Laythe, IMO. It takes less fuel to put a given mass up in orbit there compared to Vall, landings are essentially free, and it's a popular destination. Bop or Pol are probably better by the numbers but they are in inconvenient orbits.Any of them can be made to work well except Tylo. Don't use Tylo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cantab Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 I think Laythe if you're a spaceplane person, Pol if you're not.Bop's drawback is its high inclination, unless you're clever with gravity assists it's liable to take more delta-V to get to and from.Vall's drawback is it's a fairly big moon really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RocketBlam Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 (edited) Pol and Bop are also very uneven, so harder to find a good landing spot with resources.I almost always use Vall, but I hadn't considered that Laythe might actually be better. Edited July 17, 2015 by RocketBlam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rune Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Laythe, IMO. It takes less fuel to put a given mass up in orbit there compared to Vall, landings are essentially free, and it's a popular destination. Bop or Pol are probably better by the numbers but they are in inconvenient orbits.Any of them can be made to work well except Tylo. Don't use Tylo.Yup, if you accept the added complexity of separating the operation into a surface extraction/refining plant, and a SSTO tanker to bring it up to orbit, you can probably get some awesome weight fractions delivered... maybe a shade less than Pol and Bop, but then again, landing is not free there, and you can't glide to a precise landing next to the mining site. Oh, and the clients can pull into orbit to meet the depot with a handy aerobrake for very little dV...Rune. "All these world are yours, except Tylo. Attempt no landing there." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxster Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Any of them can be made to work well except Tylo. Don't use Tylo.*Goes off to build a mining base on Tylo for the sheer hell of it* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryan234abc Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Vall or Laythe. As mentioned by Red Iron, Laythe is a more fuel efficient destination. However, water means some fuel must be used to change orbits. This also requires accuracy due to Aerobraking, which leads on to downside 2; atmosphere. Heat shields are heavy, and hard to place when dealing with craft over 3.5. Of course, Parachutes once through heating effects save a butt load of fuel. Vall then. I'd say Vall, mainly because of Laythe's downsides: Water and Atmosphere (because who likes habitability and life!?!?). With Vall, you could land in one of those (relatively) flat areas and no heat shields would be needed. However, it really depends on fuel efficiency. I'd recommend both, but they each have their own set of problems and advantages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Iron Crown Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 I consider the atmo on Laythe an upside rather than a downside. It lets you use engines that are at least 4 times as efficient as the best rockets, gives the option of aerobraking for capture (you can still capture propulsively if the craft isn't up to aerobraking), landing uses hardly any fuel, and using a plane as a tanker makes precision landings easier (though I'm not great at precision vacuum landings).The water doesn't make a huge difference, you'll want to be landing close to your refinery anyway so a precision landing is needed wherever the operation is.All this is assuming the infrastructure used is a surface miner/refinery and separate dedicated tanker(s) for bringing propellant to orbit for use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annallia Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Rune. "All these world are yours, except Tylo. Attempt no landing there." You know funny you should say that... The last thing I did before the build that nuked my last save was land a probe on Tylo... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Windspren Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 "All these world are yours, except Tylo. Attempt no landing there." This has to go in someone's sig. Just sayin' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
federicoaa Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 One thought, with the new asteroid mod from the devs, you could discover and redirect asteroids in a convenient orbit and then mine them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edax Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 I read this as "Jool Surface Mining Operation" and thought, okaaay........Well why not, the core of a Gas Giant is probably a giant diamond. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X-SR71 Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Laythe AND Pol! I have extractors/refineries on both to cover many possible scenarios.One thing worth noting is that Laythe is extremely poor of Ore. It's 1% average so it will take many days to fuel up a decent craft. Gladly we can time warp during extraction and processing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rune Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Vall or Laythe. As mentioned by Red Iron, Laythe is a more fuel efficient destination. However, water means some fuel must be used to change orbits. This also requires accuracy due to Aerobraking, which leads on to downside 2; atmosphere. Heat shields are heavy, and hard to place when dealing with craft over 3.5. Of course, Parachutes once through heating effects save a butt load of fuel. Vall then. I'd say Vall, mainly because of Laythe's downsides: Water and Atmosphere (because who likes habitability and life!?!?). With Vall, you could land in one of those (relatively) flat areas and no heat shields would be needed. However, it really depends on fuel efficiency. I'd recommend both, but they each have their own set of problems and advantages.Of course, using the atmosphere means wings and decent piloting skills. But with those, pinpoint landings at up to 20º from your orbital track are a breeze to do now... without using any fuel. And with a bit of care, you can aerobrake at speeds of up to 4km/s without heatshields using the heat-resistant spaceplane parts (anything with a 2400º rating). That sure saves gas...This has to go in someone's sig. Just sayin'I only steal form the best! Rune. For a fleeting moment there, it was mine at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Farnsworth Posted July 17, 2015 Author Share Posted July 17, 2015 I had not even considered using Laythe as the location for the mining outpost, hmmm. Currently, for me, the problem with Laythe would be that my entire mining operation is set up to be used on a lower gravity vacuum environment.My orbital fuel transport that I named "Butterfly". No way it could be used in that air stuff.My mining base can land on it's own with the terrier engines as long as it's a vacuum lower gravity environment, something like Minmus or Ike. It would require a complete redesign for Laythe. Athmospheric entry is harsh on the gigantor solar panels so it might have to be nuke or fuel cell powered.My surface fuel tractor, the "Rhino" is brought to the planet/ moon using another dropship that is not atmosphere rated.Parachute/ retro-rocket systems could deliver the tractor and mining outpost. I would need to build a completely new orbital fuel transport though.Very interesting. I may have to run to town and buy a new batch of "creative juices". Or I could set up on Vall and call it a day...No good news for everyone, yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X-SR71 Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 How about something simpler? This is all you really need. Two chutes at the top brought it down.No fuel truck though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxster Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 (edited) *Goes off to build a mining base on Tylo for the sheer hell of it*Well, it is kinda sorta do-able.Here's the mining truck and the orbital fuel carrier on the right...There are a couple of minor problem-ettes...You crash trying to land 9 times out of 10.It takes nearly all the fuel up to orbit and back as you can carry. Leaving little (~100-200 LF) to spare to top up an orbiting refuelling station. Apart from that it's a excellent idea. Edited July 17, 2015 by Foxster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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