Colonization

[Scoutman1121]

I've been wondering, which bodies have you colonized? If so, what do you have on the planet / moon. Also I was wondering if it is possible to make a small base on an asteroid?

Personally, I've colonized Duna and the Mun. I'm currentely colonizing Eeloo. 

Edited February 19, 2017 by Scoutman1121
One last thing

[Rocketscience101]

I try really hard with colonization, but if it doesn't reap any good science as a reward, then I don't bother often. I'm thinking of putting a science hab in mun though. I play with life support mod, so I'd have to send lots of supplies up to the craft. 

[septemberWaves]

Define "colonize". Is a single-module surface outpost sufficient? If so, my first was probably the Mun, but it was a while ago. As for large-scale surface bases, my most memorable ones have been on Minmus and Duna, though there have been others.

As for asteroids, building a station on the side of an asteroid is definitely doable, and quite popular in fact. The difficulty is getting the asteroid into the right orbit, but if you can do it with a big enough asteroid to support your base then you're good.

[Whisky Tango Foxtrot]

If by "colonize" you mean setting up a permanent, crewed surface base then the first body I colonized was Minmus. All the "colony" does is mine ore and convert it to fuel, but that's just about the only useful thing you can do with a surface base in stock.

You can't make a base "on" an asteroid, as asteroids have no gravity. You can, however, attach a base to an asteroid with an Advanced Grabbing Unit. Again, these are mainly useful for mining (although, unlike a planet surface, you can only get a limited amount of ore from an asteroid.)

[Scoutman1121]

By "Colonization" I mean set up a permanent base on a body.

[Snark]

I generally never bother with surface bases, mainly because

1. they're kind of a pain to set up and play with
2. they don't serve any useful game purposes
3. my personal KSP play style doesn't really give me any role-playing reasons to make them.

The "story arc" of most of my KSP careers involves "go to places, extract the science and/or resources from them, move on."

The one notable exception to the above is if I happen to be playing a career with Extraplanetary Launchpads installed, which allows building my own craft off-planet.  In that case, I'll generally put down a surface base for constructing ships to do further exploration with, because that gives me a limitless supply of the resources I need for building & fueling my ships.

For my Extraplanetary Launchpads careers, then, I do "colonize".  Places I've done this:

• Minmus.  This is my usual first colonization target in an Extraplanetary Launchpads career, because its low gravity makes it very friendly as a place from which to launch things.  I've done the Mun, and that was okay, but I find I like Minmus better.
• Ike.  Because it's in a vacuum, and has much lower gravity and escape velocity than Duna itself.  Typically I'll build the base on Ike, and then use that as a jumping-off point from which to explore Ike and Duna.  I may put a space station in low Duna orbit, but I generally don't put bases down on Duna itself.
• Gilly.  Handy place from which to go after Eve.
• Vall.  Easier to take off from than Laythe, much easier than Tylo.  Bop or Pol would be easier in terms of takeoff and landing (Vall's pretty heavy for a vacuum world), but they're in somewhat inconvenient orbits.  Vall is in a very convenient location.
• If I'm playing with a modded solar system like OPM, New Horizons, or Galileo's Planet Pack:  Moons of the outer gas giants.  My typical pattern is:  arrive at the gas giant's system; land and make a base on whichever moon is the smallest and has no atmosphere; use that as a base for exploring all the planet's moons; then use it to build a replacement mothership to move on to the next gas giant.

 

[Daniel Prates]

15 hours ago, Rocketscience101 said:

I try really hard with colonization, but if it doesn't reap any good science as a reward, then I don't bother often. I'm thinking of putting a science hab in mun though. I play with life support mod, so I'd have to send lots of supplies up to the craft. 

Buiding a fuel plant on top of ore can be enough reason to build an outpost anywhere! Having crew permanently there eventually becomes a necessity, because someone (and kerbal attachment system) is always necessary to plug those fuel pipes!

[WuphonsReach]

Minmus was my first because the surface gravity is low.  Which means Kerbals with jet packs can fly up to the top of tall structures (no ladders needed except as a place to hold on to).  The low gravity also makes sky cranes easy to work with, or moving parts around with KAS/KIS winches.  The downside of Minmus is also the low gravity, which makes rovers more difficult to deal with.

Mun was the second, because it is close.  However, Kerbals cannot fly there, which means ladders.  A lot more ladders.  Or a base design that is more horizontal.

My third target is either going to be Dres or Ike or Vall.

[Cubfan]

I have a large base on Mun (my first), a small base on Gilly, medium-size bases on Minmus, Ike, and Pol. I also have a small refueling rover on Tylo, with an engineer on board, that can be used to refuel landers (not sure if that one counts).

I built them to fulfill contracts, but I use them for fuel and science (each has an MPL), though I convert the science to cash now. Pol is extremely useful (because Jool is huge, and I spend a lot of time there), and I plan to build on each of it's moons.

I'm going to build on Dres and Eeloo so I can send larger ships and refuel them to get back. I'm building on Moho for the same reason, but also as a refueling stop for a station in low solar orbit.

And what can I say about Minmus? It's been my lifeline. I prefer large ships with multiple crew members, so I refuel there a lot on my way out.

A refueling rover with drills and converters is all you need, but I build bases anyway, cuz, why not?

Edited February 20, 2017 by Cubfan

[Snark]

17 hours ago, Daniel Prates said:

Buiding a fuel plant on top of ore can be enough reason to build an outpost anywhere!

Having a handy, unending supply of fuel can certainly be useful. 

However, in my own games, I find that my usual solution there isn't to build a surface base, but rather to have a big orbiting fuel depot, and then a miner/refiner ship that I send down to the surface to pick up another load of fuel whenever I run low.  It just seems more convenient that way-- for me, an orbiting station is a more convenient platform for exploration than a surface base, whether it's covering the planet/moon itself, or for going to other nearby bodies.

The advantage of the surface base would be if one needs large volumes of fuel (because the orbiting station would become inconvenient if one had to fly many, many resupply missions down to the surface), and it just happens to be the case that I generally don't need that in my own games.  I like ISRU, but in practice I only need a limited amount of refueling on any given planet.

The main exception being when I'm running EL, as I discussed above-- because then I'm manufacturing lots of ships locally and need plenty of resources.

3 hours ago, WuphonsReach said:

Mun was the second, because it is close.  However, Kerbals cannot fly there, which means ladders.  A lot more ladders.  Or a base design that is more horizontal.

How do you mean?  Kerbals can fly on the Mun just fine.  Heck, they can even get to orbit from the surface (just barely) on EVA thrusters.

Granted, it's not as convenient as Minmus and they'll need to make more frequent use of thrust in order to stay aloft, but I fly around on the Mun all the time without any trouble.

[Jimmidii]

None intentionally, not yet anyway.

Various missions that have run out of fuel and are, uh, awaiting further instructions, however...

My first one was Eve back in the days when other planets were new. Let's just say I slightly underestimated the takeoff requirements from there.

[Guest]

Probably the Mun.

I don't do surface bases anymore, they're terribly boring.

[Sgt Doomball]

Haven't found a way to get parts for a station yet.

[SpaceYorkie]

Having a Planetary Base module at my disposal, you'd think I'd be able to colonise anything - I haven't. Other than driving a habitat module into the sea. The problem is they weigh a fair bit, and aren't very aerodynamic, so neither rockets nor SSTOs are an option, yet. I'd use the Mark IV parts (I could fit a whole colony inside those things) but due to technical difficulties, I can't, so colonising will have to wait. Should I get the Mark IV parts to work, I will be colonising the Mun first.

[Kertech]

I've colonised Eve and Tylo a few times, 

 

not intentionally, but they weren't coming home so I say it counts!

[Tyko]

I've done mining "outposts" on Minmus and the Mun, but not really a base. I play with life support, so it's always about keeping minimal crew down there to manage mining, but really no intention of staying there long-term. Even the outposts got boring quickly.

Lately I've had a lot more fun capturing and mining asteroids for fuel and stations. My goal is to focus in the technical challenges rather than the repetitive steps of launching regular tankers. Asteroids present great challenges to wrangle - in mission design, ship design and plotting optimal maneuvers. Once they're in a convenient orbit, the repetitive fueling part is a lot easier.

Now, if I could pull a Space 1999 - build a big base on Minmus then eject it to roam around the solar system...that would be super-cool.

[TheEpicSquared]

I'm currently in the process of colonizing Minmus, and I'm documenting it in my mission report (link in my sig).  

[bigcalm]

Yes, definitely define Colonization!

For me, I play with all of the USI mods, so for me, Colonization means a surface base that is completely self-sufficient which means no resupply from Kerbin is ever necessary, the Kerbals can survive at least 100 years there, and perhaps even new things can be built via Extra Planetary Launchpads.  Naturally, this means a full working base like this takes a lot of work.  Here's my Gilly base as an example:

[Slam_Jones]

The only planet I really 'Colonized' was Duna. With the help of several mods (namely Civilian Populations, Procedural Parts, and Extraplanetary Launchpads), I was able to build the cities on the spot.

Majority of the parts shown are from Civilian Populations mod (not sure if still active).

 

Edited February 20, 2017 by Slam_Jones

[strigon]

I've yet to do anything that's even close to a full colony; my nearest attempt was a mobile science rover with a Lab attached that I sent to the Mun and Minmus; usually, by the time I get to the stage where colonizing places is feasible, there's been an update and I start again from scratch.

However, I've got MKS installed - among other mods - so I'm hoping to fix that! Probably looking at the Mun as my first colony, since if anything goes wrong I won't have to wait for a transfer window.

[Daniel Prates]

8 hours ago, Snark said:

 

However, in my own games, I find that my usual solution there isn't to build a surface base, but rather to have a big orbiting fuel depot, and then a miner/refiner ship that I send down to the surface to pick up another load of fuel whenever I run low.  It just seems more convenient that way-- for me, an orbiting station is a more convenient platform for exploration than a surface base, whether it's covering the planet/moon itself, or for going to other nearby bodies.

The advantage of the surface base would be if one needs large volumes of fuel (because the orbiting station would become inconvenient if one had to fly many, many resupply missions down to the surface), and it just happens to be the case that I generally don't need that in my own games.  I like ISRU, but in practice I only need a limited amount of refueling on any given planet.

Yep thats what I do too. At the very least in Minmus: launching freshly-fueled interplanetary ships from Minmus is much more efficient than doing it directly from Kerbin. Even more so with large ships. But the actual depot is in orbit. At the moon's surface I only place the actual plant. But it is inevitable that it becomes a "home" of sorts to at leats an engineer kerbal, because the fuel ferry between the surface and the depot can very well dock with the depot, but not with the surface station: there, some kerbal has to attach them (again, this only makes sense with KAS in mind).

Also, if you consider that it is easier to leave this kerbal in orbit 99% of the time, it is still necessary (or cooler at least!) to mantain a proper outpost because there you can have a self-suficient food/water/oxygen plant (in use TAC-LS, but the logic is similar with other LS mods). You do need simultaneous water and ore resources in a single place, but is doable. The resulting system will be completelly self-suficient.

Unless....

Do you think that in such a scenario, I woukd be better off just ferrying ORE and WATER to orbit, and process it all there - fuel, oxygen, food, water etc?

Edited February 20, 2017 by Daniel Prates

[WuphonsReach]

Yeah, not sure why my kerbals (mainly engineers) can't fly on the Mun.  It's possible that KIS/KAS interferes with that somehow when they carry a wrench.  LETech has extendable ladders of 5m and 8m lengths and I use those to get higher.

For refueling / resupply landers, I'll use MKS Local Logistics to refill them before takeoff.  As long as the lander gets within 150m of the base (2000m if I have a Karibou crew cab with a Pilot inside), I can use the Local Logistics window to transfer materials / supplies / fuel between the base and the lander without pipes.

(My bases always have a bunch of warehouse-enabled Kontainers for the various things that will get transferred.  Plus a Pilot or Quartermaster inside the 'Duna' or 'Tundra' Logistics module so I can pull out of Planetary Storage.)

[Daniel Prates]

15 hours ago, WuphonsReach said:

Yeah, not sure why my kerbals (mainly engineers) can't fly on the Mun.  It's possible that KIS/KAS interferes with that somehow when they carry a wrench

They make the kerbal heavier because of the weigh of the tools/parts you are carrying. Hence the backpack RCS has more trouble lifting the extra weight, and if it is too heavy, it doesn't at all.

[Combatsmithen]

On 2/20/2017 at 9:59 AM, Snark said:

Having a handy, unending supply of fuel can certainly be useful. 

However, in my own games, I find that my usual solution there isn't to build a surface base, but rather to have a big orbiting fuel depot, and then a miner/refiner ship that I send down to the surface to pick up another load of fuel whenever I run low.  It just seems more convenient that way-- for me, an orbiting station is a more convenient platform for exploration than a surface base, whether it's covering the planet/moon itself, or for going to other nearby bodies.

 

 

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I did that with minnmus back in .21 using Kethane. I made a refueling station in minmus orbit. That had a miner ship to go up and down

Edited February 21, 2017 by Combatsmithen

[Sgt Doomball]

30 minutes ago, Daniel Prates said:

They make the kerbal heavier because of the weigh of the tools/parts you are carrying. Hence the backpack RCS has more trouble lifting the extra weight, and if it is too heavy, it doesn't at all.

but it shouldn't be that much weight. It should be lighter than on kerbin due the fact there is less gravity on the Mun.