Good delivery methods for bases?

[KerbalKid]

So i want to send a base to duna but i don't know how to dock and deliver

the modules... and yeah i just need some help with that...

[MiniMatt]

That gets to be a really wide question with a dozen different answers, all of them and none of them right.

In short you can put your landing engines under your base module and try to keep them low enough profile, or you can put them to the sides of your base module to be jettisoned after landing, or you could put them above (and to the side) of your base modules as a detachable "sky crane". Each approach has it's merits. Duna will also allow for the use of some parachute assistance to further complicate or ease matters.

As for docking them up once landed, you've options ranging from wheeled bases and carefully aligned docking ports, to mod solutions like KAS/KIS and the new USI Konstruction.

 

Perhaps some pictures of your intended modules, and their intended final configuration would help? The Gameplay Questions & Tutorials section may also be able to provide more advice.

edit: some shameless plugging - for smaller bases it may not even be necessary to break into smaller modules, you may just be able to launch the whole thing in one go - shameless plug link to the last Minmus mining base I launched as an all in one, aerodynamics be damned:

Spoiler

 

 

Edited October 18, 2016 by MiniMatt

[septemberWaves]

Getting the base modules to Duna orbit is relatively simple, so I won't go over that. As for getting them to the surface, you have several options. You could make an individual expendable skycrane/parachute module for each base module that is undocked and jettisoned once the module is landed. This is good for small bases without many modules. You could make a reusable skycrane that works for all of the modules, though it may be somewhat challenging to make it capable of returning to Duna orbit. You'd also need to refuel it each time. Another method is to assemble the entire base in orbit (which removes the need for surface docking) and then land it all at once with a single descent module. This isn't always the best method though, because it can be difficult to balance the descent module, and it can also lead to inaccurate docking that may cause modules (and therefore landing gear) to be misaligned. You could also make a cargo SSTO that works essentially like a skycrane but is more aerodynamic and therefore somewhat easier to fly back to Duna orbit. This last one is my personal favourite for Duna, because a well-designed rocket SSTO can slow down mostly by gliding (though usually some thrusting is required to brake fully) and they also look nice and are a good use of the Mk3 cargo ramp. The fact that they can glide to some extent also makes it somewhat easier to do precision landings.

For docking them, either build the base out of wheeled modules, or build a rover designed to dock all of them together. Test them out before sending them too, either on Kerbin or by teleporting them to Duna if you're willing to use the cheat menu or hyperedit for testing purposes. The last thing you want is for you to send your modules to Duna only to find that the docking ports are just slightly off.

[Gameslinx]

Try doing multiple launches of the base parts with a rocket that has the DV to get to the mun. Use a fairing and keep the Mun transfer stage on the base part in orbit. You are not going to the mun. Launch the other base parts and assemble the base in orbit of Kerbin. Now, if the COM is alligned with all of the engines, you can continue to Duna.

Or, you can send up a very big rocket for Jool but attach it to the assembled base.

For this, use a 6-way 1.25m connector structural thing, and dock the base parts onto it. Dock the transfer stage to the bottom where the weight will be similar.

Though that takes time, it never fails to work for me!

[KerikBalm]

16 hours ago, eloquentJane said:

You could make a reusable skycrane that works for all of the modules, though it may be somewhat challenging to make it capable of returning to Duna orbit. You'd also need to refuel it each time.

...

You could also make a cargo SSTO that works essentially like a skycrane but is more aerodynamic and therefore somewhat easier to fly back to Duna orbit. This last one is my personal favourite for Duna, because a well-designed rocket SSTO can slow down mostly by gliding (though usually some thrusting is required to brake fully) and they also look nice and are a good use of the Mk3 cargo ramp. The fact that they can glide to some extent also makes it somewhat easier to do precision landings.

...

The last thing you want is for you to send your modules to Duna only to find that the docking ports are just slightly off.

I've always thought of skycranes as something that slings the payload below it. I haven't really thought of them as reusable... just something that lowers the payload to the ground and decouples it, and then flies off (presumably to crash) so that it doesn't interfere with the payload... as with the delivery of curiosity... I suppose it could go all the way back to orbit. I still wouldn't compare a cargo SSTO to a skycrane (wouldn't that be a cargo SSTO itself?)

What you mean by SSTO I'm sure is a spaceplane... and I agree, they are great. They are a lot of trouble to get working right at first, and payload deliveries at high altitude are a challenge. Many of my duna space planes only have enough wing to guide their descent, and slow them down enough for drogue chute deployment... however, chutes need to be repacked, and I like designs that can operate autonomously (retrorockets+ ISRU = unlimitedoperation without kerbals, although the ISRU does work slowly with no kerbals).

Also I recommend landing legs/landing gear that is action grouped to raise/lower an end for those times when the docking ports don't align quite right.

Here's a version of a surface base I was intending to deploy to Duna back in 1.1:

At the right is its mk3 based delivery vehicle, no wings or chutes, less thrust and dV than the Duna version.... because... its Mun..

Testing of the Duna delivery vehicle:

(The aerospikes of this variant proved to have too little thrust)

A larger version, twin skippers for better horizontal thrust, twin LV-Ns to give it more dV when high thrust was no longer needed)

Quote

Pitch up and decelerate... although with drogues I could pop chutes already

Starting to desced, max pitch up and its still dropping:

Down to 254 m/s.... thats saving quite a bit of dV

Ok, this was a different flight... landing gear added to the back to help protect against tail strikes... RCS turned on and vernors used to pitch the nose up more:

With a bit of vernor thrust, down to 146 m/s ... thats a savings of almost 750m/s from aerobraking/gliding so far)

but... all good things msut come to an end, and rocket propulsion is needed to land:

It can VTOL. The landing would be a lot easier with chutes, and the final model would have chutes mounted, but this was just testing its capabilities assuming no kerbals to repack chutes

It SSTOs to orbit with the help of wing mounted recoverable SSTO rapier pods

Those large wings probably won't survive kerbin reentry though, its not meant to come back to Kerbin.

An earlier version of the SSTO pods, also showing the payload the craft is expected to be able to land on duna and return to orbit one on fuel load:

 

 

[Waxing_Kibbous]

This channel is full of handy techniques

[KerbalKid]

I've figured out how to deliver my bases and dock them (by using KAS) i made a truck which can move around the modules

are re-dock if i don't like the way it's placed i made a simulation base but i didn't get a photo of it.

[septemberWaves]

@KerikBalm A skycrane is generally a rather minimalistic autonomous vehicle that carries a payload below it and deploys that payload to the surface of a celestial body. Some skycranes can return to orbit, and I generally distinguish them from an SSTO because they usually can only take a cargo down to the surface and not return it to orbit. My usual definition of a cargo SSTO is any vehicle that can transport a payload from orbit to the surface or from the surface to orbit, and generally stores the payload within a cargo bay of some description rather than below the body of the vehicle. That usually means a spaceplane-like vehicle (or at least something which uses the Mk3 spaceplane parts for the cargo bay) and generally for an atmospheric body it is helpful to have a spaceplane that can glide for some distance before landing. However, I would also consider a single-stage vehicle that carries a small cargo (e.g. a small rover) in a service bay at the bottom to be a cargo SSTO rather than a skycrane.