Preferred methods of making space stations on other planets

[Snikersnee]

I'm relatively new to rockets and was considering making a space station on minmus. What's better/easier/whatever, sending all the parts up in kerbin orbit, connecting them, then using rockets to boost to the other planet (in this case, minmus), or sending all the parts to the other planet, and connecting them there? Or do you guys prefer something else? Or does it not matter at all? I'm just trying to see what you guys think is best.

 

[steuben]

On the surface or in orbit?

In orbit it depends... I wouldn't recommend more that 5-10t per module and run it over in sections. or 30-40 t in a one shot if it isn't too floppy.

On the surface build the whole base and sky crane it down... regardless of the size. Docking on the surface has been hard and futzy in previous versions. Precision landing even more so. I don't know how nice it is in 1.1.x, I haven't tried.

[Snikersnee]

I was talking about in orbit, but thanks for the advice!

[Plusck]

Part-count issues seem to be improved under 64-bit / KSP 1.1, but they will always be a concern. 

Since putting lots of small things together adds parts (docking ports, if nothing else) and wobble if you have to turn or move the thing, I'd tend towards biggish modules for the core of the station, with smaller ones attached to that.

However, it's pleasing to make a station that "feels right" and is functional, so you might want to concentrate more on the logic of the arrangement (labs and crew modules separated from fuel storage / ISRU, for example) and ease of access (well-lit docking ports with plenty of clearance and no easily broken solar panels nearby). If those are your main concerns, the question of how many bits it needs to be broken down into will probably impose its own answer.

Still, everyone seems to have their own style. Mine are always a mess, like somebody ran through a spacecraft junkyard with a gravity gun. And I'm constantly staring at my attached science experiments and never-again-used engines and wondering why I didn't make them separable.

[Shikashi]

I just send a station core (one Rockomax Hub with a few docking connectors) with maybe one or two modules attached and send separate modules to it afterwards and dock them.

[Superfluous J]

I tend to send up as big a thing as I (and my computer) can handle. If I need more than that, I send up 2 things.

Sending one thing to another planet (or moon) takes half the (real-world, you-playing-the-game) time as sending 2 things. For 2 things, you have to launch twice, set up 2 ejection burns, 2 insertion burns, etc. You don't have to time warp there twice if you eject them at the same time, but once at your destination you DO have to dock them together that takes time and (as has been pointed out here) causes the resultant vessel to be less rigid.

Though if you're new, you could very likely use the experience. That should not be ignored. Also, it's kinda fun, at least the first few times, to wrangle all those parts together

[mrclucks]

For the core I would attach 2 big fuel tanks to either side of the biggest probe cores, then add docking ports as you wish.  If you're willing to go for a higher part count, ID add the cube structural part with circular faces(unsure of the name), add SAS modules to all sides, and then stick fuel tanks on them afterwards so you can attach 6 big things pretty evenly.   You should also add batteries and solar panels/RTGs somewhere, unless you're gonna have a dedicated power supply module. 

[Warzouz]

You really don't need BIG space stations, unless you're doing that for RP or fun.

I love space stations. I'm always eager to start building one. I also like using heavy launcher. So I tend to build station as one block, make them well designed to fill a specific purpose. So In the end, even the station is expendable, I usually don't need to. Further more, my stations are usually build as a ship, so they can be moved to another SOI, even without undock lateral ships

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