Colonization of other planets

[thereaverofdarkness2]

I feel like it's not enough to be able to build a base on another planet and bring supplies and craft to it. I want it to feel like an accomplishment when I set up the base. I want it to really provide me with some leverage out there, and not just be some cumbersome fueling station that's more trouble to use than it's worth. Realism be damned, I want to be able to use on-site supplies to build a vehicle assembly building wherever I want to put one, and construct ships right there that I can launch from a pad on that planet.

I'd like to see a mod that lets you use some resource which you can either collect on site or ship from elsewhere (including KSC) to construct a VAB and launchpad anywhere you want to have one, and then use more of the resource to construct ships for launching. It should probably be a new resource of which there will be tanks for it that you can launch from KSC already full of the stuff, or you can launch empty tanks and fill them on-site with the in-game ore extractors, by using the ISRU to convert ore to the new resource. Call it Skeel, if you can't think of anything else. Skeel, an ultra-dense metal with a moderately high strength to weight ratio and unbelievably high melting point which kerbals build all of their spacecraft structural elements out of. I'm not expecting to win a prize for the name.

 

Are there any mod projects doing something like this already? And if not, any of you modders feel inspired to start one? =]

[Alshain]