Building in Space - beginner question

[GungaDin]

OK so I am mid career and ready to get serious about building a space station.  My intention is to basically construct a fuel depot and Kerbal way station to send off and receive deep space ships.   

My fist question is how to you attache and uncouple the various bits that I loft into space?  Obviously I know how to dock and undock using the stock docking port but is that the only connection point or are there other ways to do my Leggo building in space?

Thanks as usual . . . 

[Vanamonde]

Without mods, docking ports are the only way to stick stuff together in space. 

[Fierce Wolf]

Use senior docking ports for big structures, and remember to auto strut once the new part is added so the station is less wobbly

[GungaDin]

3 hours ago, Fierce Wolf said:

Use senior docking ports for big structures, and remember to auto strut once the new part is added so the station is less wobbly

What's autostrut?

 

[SiWalder]

Hi Mate,

As mentioned, the only way without mods is docking ports.  Autostrut is an option within each parts individual right click menu.  When switched on it gives the effect of creating an invisible strut between the part you are selecting and another part in the build.  It's used to stop your ship wobbling and flexing, so if that's not happening don't worry about it.

I too had a craving for in-situ building and the following simple mods make it possible.

https://www.curseforge.com/kerbal/ksp-mods/kerbal-attachment-system-kas

https://www.curseforge.com/kerbal/ksp-mods/kerbal-inventory-system-kis

I found the "User Guide PDF" on the "Wiki" tab of each page really useful.

these provide a few extra parts and extra functionality allowing Kerbals to a) carry items in a limited inventory and b) attach/detach and move parts while not in the VAB.

it's got some realistic-ish limitations that still keep it challenging to build.  If I remember rightly, if you have an engineer with a certain number of stars (can't remember how many, soz), it allows you to "snap" parts into place so that builds are clean, as if they've come out of the VAB.

I used these mods to load up storage containers (included in the mod) with individual parts and take them to the surface of other bodies to make surface bases, rather than lugging large structures around with a wonky COM. 

What I found the most fun, was breaking down the debris of the delivery landers and putting them in storage at the newly built base and over time as stock piled up, I ended with basically a simple VAB on the Mun surface.

It's also perfect for orbital station builds, giving for some really fun Spacewalk/build gameplay.

it's also good for those inevitable moments where after painstakingly wrestling your new creation into kerbin orbit, you realise there's no solar panels........ again.

Si

[Fierce Wolf]

9 hours ago, SiWalder said:

Autostrut is an option within each parts individual right click menu.

You may need the Advanced Tweakables option ON for this to appear.

[psychogre]

I've had Kerbals doing in-orbit construction, using KAS/KIS, for years now.
I started out by bringing extra parts to attach to the rescued Kerbal's capsules/cans, enabling them to be sent back to Kerbin with engines/fuel, heat shields and parachutes.
For interplanetary expeditions, I started building larger ships in orbit that included multiple landers, mining rigs and ISRUs.  Here I used a combination of repositioned parts and docking ports.

Here is a series of of screenshots from my most recent project.
Initial launch config

Kerbal used to move extra parts from bottom to pre-positioned attachment points on sides.

Then did the same thing with a second ship of the same design.

Then carefully maneuvered the ships to dock the four sets of docking ports simultaneously.

Fully docked together

After that, multiple other launches brought up other components and landers, docked on the backside ports

Any large ship like this needs to be balanced in both weight and engine placement, otherwise it won't fly straight under thrust.

hope this helps!