Offshore City

[Racescort666]

I was reading the Jool 500 thread and thought it might be cool to create a floating outpost on Laythe that was kind of like an offshore oil platform where you could land craft on it and it would have resource centers, a landing pad, housing (for 115). It turned out to be such a PITA just getting it slightly east of KSC that launching it into space, transferring it to Laythe, and attempting any kind of atmospheric entry would be disastrous. It could be hilarious to attempt but it is gigantic and heavy and 462 parts as it sits.

It's worth noting that I had to move some fuel from the Orange tanks to the flotation tanks to get it to sit upright. Also, CoM is well below the surface and there is a huge counterweight of ore tanks under the surface.

Just thought I'd share. Has anyone else tried this?

Edited December 1, 2016 by Racescort666

[Odonian]

That's a really cool idea. Are you committed to the Jool 500 challenge or just inspired? I see the Extraplanetary Launchpads mod is banned from the challenge, but it should make it possible to make this base and drop it into Laythe's ocean. Also, with Karbonite's seawater extractor it would be possible to actually make it a functioning fuel platform.

[Vanamonde]

This sharing of a craft has been moved to the craft sharing subforum. 

[DrLicor]

Nice one! Yes I've build some offshore oil platforms before. Just some realistic thought for refueling etc. My idea was to launch all the crafts without fuel, so I had to provide the fuel by transporting it from the platform to the launchpad. It's fun for a couple of launches, but it get's a pain in the ass after a while  
However, just a floating base is very cool  

[Azimech]

Here's a beautiful mining rig made by @selfish_meme: https://kerbalx.com/SelfishMeme/Mining-Rig

[Racescort666]

10 hours ago, Odonian said:

That's a really cool idea. Are you committed to the Jool 500 challenge or just inspired? I see the Extraplanetary Launchpads mod is banned from the challenge, but it should make it possible to make this base and drop it into Laythe's ocean. Also, with Karbonite's seawater extractor it would be possible to actually make it a functioning fuel platform.

This in particular was just inspired by the Jool 500 challenge. I haven't committed to Jool 500 yet but I think it would be neat to try sending this to Laythe and see if it would actually make it.