Station Design Guidelines

[Terwin]

Something else to keep in mind:

Unused docking ports create lag.  (on the order of unused ports * parts in physics bubble)

I think in 1.1.3 docking ports are still examining each part in the physics bubble each frame to check for anything it needs to dock with.

As such, even a relatively small core component with lots of docking ports can cost frame-rate, and it will only get worse if you bring things along side for docking.

[Sharpy]

I leave some RCS on the station: in case a craft crawls in with last vapors of fuel, it's better to turn the station than send the ship on a fly-around to find the docking port. But they are just for that (and the station is usually too big to be handled by reaction wheels with any efficiency.) Still, the RCS is definitely a secondary concern.

The primary concern is easily accessible docking ports. Sometimes the crafts have pretty odd port placement and need a lot of wiggle room. Think an SSTO plane with an inline MK2 docking port on its back, and the tail fin sticking two meters above the docking port plane. If the station's port is on a large fuel tank, the plane will need to rotate just right and make sure not to overshoot or it will crash the tail into the station. Never mind the wings knocking into anything extended.

Some time ago I went wild and built the docking ports on tips of four Kickbacks sticking in four directions from the top of the station

Other than that - dedicate docking space for visiting craft, and for expansion modules (you may want to add some, even a fuel depot) some distance apart. Don't cover everything in junk - leave some flat, clear space for crafts that dock with the Klaw. (I had a station where I spent good ten minutes trying to find a place to klaw in.)

And as for my vote for the absolutely best part of an orbital station? A good, sturdy class E asteroid. Plus ISRU stuff.

[Talos]

I'm currently building a tourist space station. Due to the nature of the design, I've been building it piece by piece. Originally, I had plans to reduce the amount of rocket launches by piling as much as I could on a heavy lifter, but I settled for mutiple launches due to ease of planning.

It your station is small enough, you could launch it outright, but the bigger it is, it becomes way too tedious to send everything up on one rocket. Best to make it modular and build it part by part in orbit.