Large land bases

[Sharpy]

Let me post some more recent pics

[Kurld]

Hey @Sharpy what's the idea with the launch clamps stuck all over on top of things?

 

[Sharpy]

14 minutes ago, Kurld said:

Hey @Sharpy what's the idea with the launch clamps stuck all over on top of things?

 

Wobbling/phantom forces tearing the base apart or sending it into space. Launch clamps are completely immovable and whatever's attached to them is very hard to move.

The clamps are difficult and dangerous to work with, but they definitely reduce the problem.

[Kurld]

Far out.  I'd probably vomit if I built something that extensive and had it blow up like that.

 

[Slam_Jones]

This is how I went about it:   Extraplanetary Launchpads (so I can build on-site via a VTOL tilt-rotor mining/production ship), KAS, Civilian Population mod (possibly now defunct), Procedural Parts, and a few other minor mods combine to allow me to build stuff like this:

Naturally, before attempting to build them on-site, I test them at Kerbin first to make sure they play nicely with gravity:

(This particular one didn't work on Duna, as it would always want to get placed a few meters below the surface.  This, invariably, lead to many explosions.)

Edited January 29, 2017 by Slam_Jones

[Kurld]

I like those domes a lot.

Is there a convenient way to place things on Kerbin at some location other than the launch pad?

 

[Slam_Jones]

On 1/29/2017 at 10:44 AM, Kurld said:

I like those domes a lot.

Is there a convenient way to place things on Kerbin at some location other than the launch pad?

 

For the cheaty but easy route, HyperEdit.  

For the more legit route, there are probably a few other options but I prefer Extraplanetary launch pads, as I can make a workshop vessel that can dig up raw material, convert it to useful material, and use that to build whatever you want.  With EP, you can build anywhere you can get your ship and your supplies, orbit or surface.

This is the original base that landed on Duna.  It contains the drills, workshops, and Kerbals to be able to build up the cities you saw in my other post.

After producing a few basic structures to test the facilities, I built a electric-propellor plane as a mobile workshop.

I built a few minor outposts next:

I upgraded the constructor plane so it could take-off/land in a shorter distance)

Then, because it was still not easy to land safely, upgraded it again so it was VTOL-capable:

With this final version I was able to build quickly and efficiently wherever I could land it.

Later I refined the concept into the smallest package I could manage and still be able to build from it, which I particularly like because with the Airbrake module attached, it looks like a large white Pineapple:

Edited February 1, 2017 by Slam_Jones
Extra details on base building process

[Kurld]

I've just started playing with EL and MKS. Talk about info overload... it looks really really cool though. I'm always amazed at what folks can come up with for mods.

[Rune]

On 12/1/2017 at 3:25 AM, 5thHorseman said:

There are two things that - together - make large ground bases rare:

1. They are difficult to make. This is caused my many things. It's hard to land exactly where you want, within a meter or two. It's even harder to land right on a docking port or right next to another vessel and aimed the correct way. As a base gets larger, framerate issues will exacerbate this. And if you're getting framerate issues building the base, good luck landing a sizeable ship near it.
2. They serve no purpose. Once you have a huge sprawling ground base built, what can you do with it that you couldn't do with a smaller base? Answer: Nothing.

Now either of those things can be overcome. If they're hard to make but useful, that's just good gameplay. If they're useless but easier to make, hey why not this is mostly a sandbox game anyway and woot they look cool. But putting both together eliminates both sides of the player pool from building them.

*Whistles by*

...wait. So what kind of player am I?

The contracts to build these things and expand them are also hugely profitable, in √/day. You can make millions on each calendar day by setting up big Munar bases, if the modules are cheap to deliver.

10 hours ago, Sharpy said:

Wobbling/phantom forces tearing the base apart or sending it into space. Launch clamps are completely immovable and whatever's attached to them is very hard to move.

The clamps are difficult and dangerous to work with, but they definitely reduce the problem.

Autostruts should be your new best friends. That, and disabling reaction wheels for all things landed and immobile. I've found that a combination of the two can stabilize even the most explosive builds.

 

Rune. Not that making money doing such awesome things is the point, of course.

Edited January 30, 2017 by Rune

[mobylettespaceindustries]

This is the Kepler base, a scientific and an oil rig base on Minmus, Messy, i admit.

silly landing of the core part.

 

And this is Kandromede base, i'm proud of this one: it's really compact but i won't call it small.

Those bases had been deployed in career mode without cheat and are equipped to be sustainable with TacLifeSupport. no extra planetary launchpad. Just a lot of pain to lift and assemble part by part  with KisKas and some craines

Edited February 2, 2017 by mobylettespaceindustries

[WuphonsReach]

My approach is vertical integration (tall structures, until I exceed the lifting capacity of the MKS sky crane engine).  I'll land them, get them close with short hops, then drag them into position with KIS/KAS winches and EVAs.  Finally, they get hooked together with MKS flex-o-tubes.

[Sharpy]

4 hours ago, Rune said:

*Whistles by*

...wait. So what kind of player am I?

The contracts to build these things and expand them are also hugely profitable, in √/day. You can make millions on each calendar day by setting up big Munar bases, if the modules are cheap to deliver.

Autostruts should be your new best friends. That, and disabling reaction wheels for all things landed and immobile. I've found that a combination of the two can stabilize even the most explosive builds.

 

Rune. Not that making money doing such awesome things is the point, of course.

Only up to a point.

At certain point adding more autostruts destabilizes the base more.

There are formations that naturally trigger it.

Lighter common base, heavier "prongs" - this universally causes wobble. And unfortunately usually corridor crossings are lighter than whatever we attach to them... attach two things in parallel and you've got wobble.

[Sharpy]

5 hours ago, mobylettespaceindustries said:

 

 

What are these tanks from? Spherical looks too smooth for Kontainers, unless I missed something, and I completely don't recognize the smooth-end cylindrical one?

 

[Moh1336]

I hate these types of topics, mostly because they remind me just how utterly hopeless I am when it comes to designing things like that.

Some awesome bases there, guys.

[Sharpy]

1 minute ago, Moh1336 said:

I hate these types of topics, mostly because they remind me just how utterly hopeless I am when it comes to designing things like that.

Some awesome bases there, guys.

c'mon. While designing a stock modular base for a med-high gravity body like Duna is difficult, using KIS on low-gravity target is quite easy.

Pack all the stuff you want. Don't forget a good crate of RCS thrusters, some small monoprop tanks, small probe cores and small batteries. Lots of that. Take several kerbals, at least two of them engineers. Pack a good supply of KIS screwdrivers too (these tend to get lost sometime and you NEED them!). Also, a bunch of docking ports (they are big, so no point stowing them in crates, just attach a stack of ports to the cargo).

Land your stuff. Landing legs highly optional. Just have enough RCS and reaction wheels so that when you tip these over you can break the fall and make them lie flat gently instead of crashing.

Then assemble. Use RCS to move your segments into place. Smaller parts moved/attached using the engineer with screwdriver, larger segments docked using docking ports.

It's good to pack up a complete (if bare bones) OSE Workshop rig, because you WILL forget to pack up stuff that you'll need, and some of the cargo WILL break, and with the workshop you'll be able to manufacture all you misplaced/broke/forgot.

An alternate approach is to launch just a bare bones OSE workshop rig and crew (plus a really big KIS container so that the workshop could manufacture larger parts), and manufacture everything else on site.

[mobylettespaceindustries]

On 30/1/2017 at 8:12 AM, Sharpy said:

 

What are these tanks from? Spherical looks too smooth for Kontainers, unless I missed something, and I completely don't recognize the smooth-end cylindrical one?

 

it's kontainer. with no modification,  i just selected the silver texture instead of the default one.

the cylindrical one is a 5m tank from FASA (Apollo serie i think) (edit; Gemini serie)

 

 

Edited February 2, 2017 by mobylettespaceindustries

[kerbiloid]

Or one can turn a large base into a distributed base using Pathfinder mod, to increase FPS and repel Kraken.
(Corresponding MODULEs in cfg are enough simple if add them to custom parts)

https://github.com/Angel-125/Pathfinder/wiki/Distributed-Bases

Edited January 30, 2017 by kerbiloid

[TopHeavy11]

11 hours ago, Rune said:

*Whistles by*

...wait. So what kind of player am I?

The contracts to build these things and expand them are also hugely profitable, in √/day. You can make millions on each calendar day by setting up big Munar bases, if the modules are cheap to deliver.

Autostruts should be your new best friends. That, and disabling reaction wheels for all things landed and immobile. I've found that a combination of the two can stabilize even the most explosive builds.

 

Rune. Not that making money doing such awesome things is the point, of course.

Well, you are the resident base-builder (or one of them that is) on the Forums. Quite a lot of people have a hard time building bases like that (myself included).

[Rune]

On 30/1/2017 at 2:21 PM, TopHeavy11 said:

Well, you are the resident base-builder (or one of them that is) on the Forums. Quite a lot of people have a hard time building bases like that (myself included).

Hehe, yeah, I know, I might be 'a bit' more experienced than the average kerbal. But those things are just refinements of an idea I started toying with long, long time ago. They use to have kethane modules! (And be pretty cluttered and horrendous-looking). And with the tools be have nowadays (gizmos and such), modular bases are much easier to build, even going modless. Maybe grab some examples from KerbalX to figure how people sort things out (a bit of self promotion never hurt anybody), and a couple of reads or two on some nice forum threads about the subject, and you should be golden to try yourself.

 

Rune. And here I thought I was (one of the) the SSTO guy(s).

[Dr.Wolfram]

Still unfinished, the Ceti-port. As WuphonsReach, I really love vertical structures (gonna add moar). On later design i downloaded LLL, for those nice corridors and for rotating scanners

[TopHeavy11]

5 hours ago, Dr.Wolfram said:

Still unfinished, the Ceti-port. As WuphonsReach, I really love vertical structures (gonna add moar). On later design i downloaded LLL, for those nice corridors and for rotating scanners

The biodomes! The solar panels! The launchpad ITSELF!! Modlist Please. It will do nicely in my Mod assimilation.

[Cornholio]

On 1/12/2017 at 4:51 AM, Sharpy said:

 

How much larger would you want to go?
 

 

Where is this?  What body?

[Sharpy]

1 hour ago, Cornholio said:

Where is this?  What body?

Gilly. Gravity making the assembly more resemble more assembly of a space station, except stuff doesn't float away nearly as badly

3 hours ago, TopHeavy11 said:

The biodomes! The solar panels! The launchpad ITSELF!! Modlist Please. It will do nicely in my Mod assimilation.

Runways are Heisenberg, panels are Pathfinder, most buildings are from Planetary Bases, with upper "corridors" from LackLusterLabs, I don't know the domes and whatever the "towers" are made of.

And of course it's on KSC launchpad (although the background mountains suggest Galileo) and getting it anywhere else will be quite a challenge.

[Dr.Wolfram]

9 hours ago, TopHeavy11 said:

Modlist Please.

Sharpy has guessed all mods. Domes are from PlanetaryDomes, central tower is Central Hub(Planetarybases) + lab + 6-kerbal habitat(I dont remember the name from Station parts expansion). The "towers" are recyclers from Roverdude's USI-LS. Structure holding the welcome screen in from NearFutureConstruction. Yup its GPP, and whole thing will be divided/sent and assembled on Ceti

(career mode, so some of parts i want to add are still locked)

Edited February 2, 2017 by Dr.Wolfram
Typo correction

[Brent Kerman]

I found a mod that helps stop base getaway, jumping, exploding, etc. 

It's called airpark, and freezes the craft. 

It's great for my base that jumped twenty meters when I came in physics range.