Making Life Difficult (a heavily modded colonisation playthrough)

[RedAl1en1]

What mods do you use? I love the ships!

Red

[RedDwarfIV]

7 hours ago, RedAl1en1 said:

What mods do you use? I love the ships!

Red

Excuse me while I go consult CKAN

 

Okay...

Aesthetic:

• Spoiler

  • Chatterer (Athlonic)
  • Community Terrain Texture Pack (Galileo88/Poodmund)
  • DE IVA Extension (JohnnyOThan)
  • Distant Object Enhancement (Rubber Ducky)
  • Environmental Visual Enhancements (Waz)
  • Outer Planets Mod - Parallax With Scatters (Onesaltypringle)
  • Outer Planets Mod - Visual Overhaul (Poodmund)
  • Parallax/Stock Planet Textures/Stock Scatter Textures (Linx)
  • Planet Shine (Valerian)
  • ReStock/+ (Nertea)
  • Scatterer (Blackrack)
  • Shabby (Shaniwha)
  • Shaddy (IceRecoveryStudio)
  • SimpleRepaint (Judicator81)
  • Spectra Scatterer/Jool Shine On Laythe (HafCoJo)
  • Stock Waterfall Effects (Knight Of St John)
  • Textures Unlimited (Shadowmage45)
  • Waterfall Core/- Restock (Nertea)

   

 

Quality of life:

• Spoiler

  • Alarm Enhancements (Severedsolo)
  • Atmosphere Autopilot (Boris-Barboris)
  • Auto Hibernate (Modsinnit)
  • Better Timewarp Continued (HappyFaceIndustries)
  • Community Category Kit (RoverDude)
  • Community Parts Titles/Extras/CCK - No Duplicates (Flart)
  • Easy Vessel Switch - (IgorZ)
  • ForScience! (Linuxgurugamer)
  • Hide Empty Tech Tree Nodes (Ev0)
  • Kerbal Alarm Clock (TriggerAu)
  • Kerbal Engineer Redux (CYBUTEK)
  • KSP Community Fixes (Gotmachine)
  • Navball Docking Alignment Indicator (Linuxgurugamer)
  • Toolbar Controller (Linuxgurugamer)
  • Trajectories (Kobymaru)
  • Ground Proximity Warning System (Linuxgurugamer)

   

 

Gameplay:

• Spoiler

  • AirPark Recontinued (Linuxgurugamer)
  • Civilian Population (Linuxgurugamer)
  • Community Resource Pack (RoverDude)
  • Community Tech Tree (Nertea)
  • Dynamic Battery Storage (Nertea)
  • Heat Control (Nertea)
  • HyperEdit (Khypheria)
  • Kerbal Attachment/Inventory System (IgorZ)
  • Outer Planets Mod (Poodmund)
  • RemoteTech Redev Antennas (TaxiService)
  • Space Dust (Nertea)
  • Stage Recovery (Linuxgurugamer)
  • System Heat - Nuclear Engine/Reactor/Resource Converter/Harvester Configuration (Nertea)
  • TweakScale Rescaled (Biotronic)
  • USI Life Support (RoverDude)
  • BonVoyage (Maja) 
  • Configurable Containers (Allista)
  • Global Construction (Allista)

   

 

Part packs:

• Spoiler

  • CommNet Antennas Extension (Flart)
  • Cryo Tanks/Tanks Core (Nertea)
  • Cryogenic Engines (Nertea)
  • Far Future Technologies (Nertea)
  • Kerbal Atomics (Nertea)
  • Kerbal Foundries 2 (Shadowmage45)
  • Kerbal Planetary Base Systems (Nils277)
  • Kerbal Reusability Expansion (EmbersArc)
  • Konstruction (RoverDude)
  • Lithobrake Expansion Technologies (NecroBones)
  • MissingHistory (Snark)
  • Near Future Aeronatics/Electrical/Electrical Core/Exploration/IVA Props/Launch Vehicles/Propulsion/Solar/Solar Core/Spacecraft (Nertea)
  • OPT Reconfig/Spaceplane Continued (JadeOfMaar)
  • Planetside Exploration Technologies (Benjee10)
  • SpaceTux Recycled Parts (Linuxgurugamer)
  • Stockalike Station Parts Expansion Redux (Nertea)
  • USI Core/Exploration Pack/Freight Transport Technologies/Kolonisation Systems (RoverDude)

   

 

Support mods:

(Most of these will come bundled with other mods, since they're dependencies.)

• Spoiler

  • ASET Consolidated Agency/Props Pack (StoneBlue)
  • B9 Part Switch (Blowfish)
  • Benjee10 Shared Assets (Benjee10)
  • Click Through Blocker (Linuxgurugamer)
  • Custom Barn Kit (Sarbian)
  • Deployable Engines Plugin (Nertea)
  • FireSpitter Core (RoverDude)
  • HabTechProps (Benjee10)
  • Harmony2 (Andreas Pardeike)
  • Kerbal Actuators (Angel 125)
  • Kopernicus Planetary System Modifier (R-T-B)
  • KSP Wheel (Shadowmage45)
  • Modular Flight Integrator (Sarbian)
  • Module Manager (Sarbian)
  • Raster Prop Monitor Core (Mihara)
  • SpaceTux Library (Linuxgurugamer)
  • TriggerAu Flags (TriggerAU)
  • USI Tools (RoverDude)
  • WildBlue Core/Tools/CRP Play Mode (Angel 125)

   

Usernames given are not intended as credits, but as the easiest means to find the most updated version of the mod if you aren't using CKAN. There will be names in there that aren't modders, but the forum users hosting the mod thread.

 

 

Anyway, thankyou!

Edited June 19 by RedDwarfIV

[RedDwarfIV]

Tarasque Station completed the kit with 10,000 units of SpecialisedParts left. Unfortunately, it couldn't do the same with MaterialKits, and I had to do four lifts from Wyvern 2 with an MKCV. In hindsight, given that I'd later convert the larger SPCV to a MaterialKits carrier anyway, I could've saved myself a lot of hassle if I'd used that to begin with.

 

One of the commsats made its adjustment burn, to get the closest approach to its target planet as possible. I realised that I'd left the reactor running unneccesarily, and it had been busy converting EnrichedUranium to DepletedUranium for no good purpose. I shut it down and let the solar panels handle things.

 

After several delays, and coming at least a week after the Jool transfer window had already passed, Tarasque finally completed the Nagini, a Naga class engineering vessel. It shares design features with the earlier Leviathan, with an almost identical front end, but the control centre on backwards is all new. Featuring twin rotating sections, for extremely long mission duration, massive LFO tankage for both RCS and supplying daughtercraft, extensive SpecialisedParts and MaterialKit storage to enable huge construction projects, all sitting atop a fusion drive designed for maximum fuel efficiency.

 

Efforts to fill its MaterialKits storage have already begun. However, due to Wyvern2's inability to rapidly manufacture SpecialisedParts, Nagini will have to proceed to LKO and load the remainder of its cargo and crew there. I was previously considering retasking Tarasque's engineering staff to crew the vessel, but they have already been in space for some time, and are due to rotate home soon. Besides, I have many Kerbonauts waiting in the wings for a chance to fulfil their dreams of heading out into deep space.

 

There is no time to complete the He3 mining infrastructure on the Mun. As I noted, the Jool window has already passed, and the longer we wait the harder it will get for Nagini to reach its destination. As such, I decided to send a tanker of fuel from Kerbin, despite the cost. On the positive side, the Naga class only mounts a single large tank which is shared by the deuterium and helium 3 fuel. Filling it will not be too difficult, and if this proves insufficient, can be rectified in Kerbin orbit.

Also of note, the vessel was constructed without a communications system or probe core, and as a result requires two crew members to control. We had to pilfer a short-range antenna from the Wolverine docked with Tarasque just to get a Commnet link. A long-range comm system will need to be installed as soon as possible, along with some form of automation.

[RedDwarfIV]

I'd been considering having Tarasque build an entire station over Minmus for the sole purpose of mass-producing MaterialKits, SpecialisedParts and Machinery, to replace the disappointing Wyvern series. It would also allow the Asgard freighters to dock directly with the manufacturing and storage facility. Problem is, I'd still have to ship raw materials up from Minmus... and that would actually increase the number of flights required, since there's at least five raw resources the station would need. However, there is a solution to this, and it's one I'd been considering for some time but hadn't delved into out of a sense of dread at the apparent complexity. The solution is WOLF. With WOLF, I could set up the infrastructure on Minmus and then completely forget about it, and the orbital station could gather the raw resources from Hoppers instead of landers flown by yours truly.

This is probably better for the Kerbals, too. The Minmus crews have come over all jelly from the low gravity, and could really do with a spin-ring.

 

The first mission aimed at this goal lifted six WOLF Depot modules, the most essential module for setting up any virtual base.

 

 

Launch 2  sent up six basic harvester modules. I would later discover that I could have sent the more effective version instead, but that's a genuine case of hindsight. I didn't know until I'd set up the infrastructure that WOLF Depots provided 5 power.

 

While those flights (along with a third launch that lifted a new survey rover) made their way to Minmus, the Otter FTV arrived and docked with Nagini. Now fully loaded with He3 and Deuterium, and partially fuelled with LH2, the engineering ship had a delta-V of 6,000 m/s in afterburning mode. More than enough to get it to Jool, except that it hadn't been fully loaded with cargo yet. Though it also wasn't fully loaded with LH2 either, so it's likely to balance out.

 

The survey rover reached Minmus several days later, and after landing began performing surveys of the various biomes with a ground scanner. Once surveyed, it would become clear what resources would be available to WOLF.

 

Next up, the Depots and Harvesters.

 

In the end, it turned out I'd sent one too few harvester modules. Each could only be set to gather a single resource. I had used one to mine Water, and was left with nothing to gather Exotic Minerals. Ah well. I'll be sending another flight out soon enough, carrying eight of the more powerful miners. That'll leave me with one spare.  Kind of annoying that WOLF doesn't include Uraninite among the resources it handles. I'll still need a physical mining facility for nuclear fuel.

...scratch that. I just checked the MKS resource flowcharts. I forgot about Silicates. I can use it for that instead.

 

The last piece of news: I sent Nagini to Kerbin orbit. That may have been premature, as I could have launched a lot more MaterialKits and Machinery from Minmus. Oh well. This way will be more expensive, but I've got the cash and I'm happy to have confirmed that the vessel's fusion drive was fully functional. There was some confusion with the cooling loops, but that was soon resolved.

 

Next up, sending the heavy WOLF miners and loading Nagini with its fuel, payload, supplies and crew.

[RedDwarfIV]

As part of the project to refuel the IPEV Nagini, I designed a new SSTO for carrying LH2 up to Kerbin orbit. This is the Warlord.

It needs a few minor adjustments (setting the elevator/aileron/rudder configuration, increasing braking power on the landing gear) but otherwise, I think this might be my favourite SSTO to fly that I've ever made. She handles like a dream, and there were no CoM/CoL issues whatsovever. It does need a powered landing, but there was no danger of the LF burning airbreathing engines running low. The spaceplane is driven by a pair of heavy turbojets, turboscramjets, and a nuclear aerospike. That last being the only engine I could find that was efficient enough and powerful enough to lift this massive bird to orbit and still have worthwhile payload remaining.

Nagini is going to need at least one more Warlord flight to fill its LH2 tanks.

[RedDwarfIV]

I noticed and rectified another issue with the Warlord, that symmetry hadn't worked properly when I was putting some extra RCS blocks on. (It was bugged, saying it was mirrorred when it wasn't.) I also installed some aerobrakes, though I can't say they were very effective.

On a more positive note, I discovered an ascent path that allowed me to save significantly more hydrolox. It meant spending more time flying on scramjets, but that's what physics warp is for.

 

Nagini was now almost fully fuelled. I didn't feel it neccesary to completely fill the tanks, as the vessel now had 32,000 m/s of delta-V in afterburning mode.

Supplies delivered. Fertiliser, SpecialisedParts and Machinery still to go.

 

Spent a while deorbiting reusable boosters. I discovered when deorbiting the Supply RSV that I received funding from it "landing", and finally understood how StageRecovery works. Salvaged 1-2 million VF this way, in a fraction of the time it would take if I were shepherding each of these boosters down in person.

Fertiliser delivered.

 

Machinery up next. This is an incredibly heavy resource, neccessitating an incredibly heavy rocket.

 

With a half load of Machinery, Nagini's delta-V was reduced to 22,000 m/s, I could run up another load and be confident the vessel could still make it to Jool, but I'm beginning to worry about its acceleration. I'd prefer not to saddle the ship so much that it acts like it's running an ion drive. Besides, it's still got to  load another 100,000 units of Specialised Parts, and 60,000 Machinery is gonna be more than enough to set up industry anyway.

[RedDwarfIV]

Two Super-Mudskipper RSV flights later, SpecialisedParts loading was completed. The next step was bringing up the rest of Nagini's crew. To begin with, I sent five engineers and a quartermaster up on a Wizard SSTO.

 

Rather than faff about with the RCS like I did the first time Leviathan had a kit to dock with, I decided to bring a Finch tug on the mission. This little craft has no other purpose than to move kits from the construction bay to a docking port. It's not a skycrane.

 

I was bothered by the lack of symmetry here. RCS should be unaffected by such a comparatively small mass, but the vessel looked ungainly with only one spaceplane docked. I could have sent it back to KSC, true, and Nagini could certainly build spaceplanes after arriving at Jool, but I decided it was more realistic that there be some means for the crew to return from orbit or descend to celestial bodies at all times. Certainly there would be a use for them at Laythe. A few extra tons wouldn't make or break the mission.

The second SSTO carried a crew of one pilot, two farmers, a biologist, a miner, and a technician. Aside from the pilot, these Kerbonauts would be there to crew any stations or surface bases the IPEV might construct. The quartermaster who came with the previous flight would also fill this role.

 

After boarding, I sorted out the crew's new accommodation and workstations. The two pilots now man the control centre (which requires two crew to operate), the engineers are in the workshop, and the passengers are relaxing in the large spin-hab.

 

Finally, everything was set. Cargo loaded, crew on board, maneuver planned. It was time for the IPEV Nagini to be on its way.

Travel time, two years.

 

[RedDwarfIV]

Away go the heavy WOLF mining units.

 

I noticed that, somehow, my space program's funding had dropped from 11 million down to 3 million. All that Machinery and Specialised Parts didn't come cheap. As such, it was time to prepare another shipment of valuable resources from Minmus. I repurposed the Cerberus' storage to carry Commodities and then Refined Exotics.

Minmus is currently not in the best position for Asgard 1 to return to Kerbin. It will return after the WOLF miners get there, as that's when Minmus passes Kerbin's equator.

 

Nagini had a short inclination burn to make.

 

Miners arrive, and begin their descent. I landed one to mine Silicates and one to mine MetallicOre before figuring it was time for bed.

[RedDwarfIV]

There was an extra biome, the Flats, which needed a Depot. I sent one as a single mission. Didn't think it worth showing when it's so similar to what was in my last post.

 

A little late, but no great issue. Asgard 2 departs Minmus, performing an escape burn and a second maneuver to adjust inclination.

 

Having established WOLF Depots in most Minmus biomes, I figured now was a good time to start setting up transport routes between them. Good thing I fitted my rover with a transport compu-

Frick.

 

After googling the issue (which was rather difficult with the KSP forum's outages) I finally found out what was missing. It seemed I needed more than just the Transport Computer, my rover needed a WOLF Cargo Container as well. These were fairly hefty things. Lifting a 33 ton rover from Kerbin would not be ideal. As it turned out, Tarasque Station had enough SpecialisedParts left to build the rover in Minmus orbit.

What it did not have was Liquid Fuel.  The Skycrane needed to move the Dockable Kit around had no propulsion. So before I could build anything, I had to send the Olympus FTV up to replenish the station's stores.

 

While the rover was under construction, Asgard 2 made its decelleration burn to enter low Kerbin orbit.

 

Completed! One WOLF Transport Route Establishment Vehicle, ready to go.

 

Silly me, turns out I forgot to fit a BonVoyage controller to the rover. But all is not lost. I directed the WOLF Survey Rover, which was already nearby, to rendezvous at the mining rig with the TREV. Then I chose a random Engineer from Tarasque to take the Crew Return Vehicle down to the surface and move the control unit from one rover to the other. I had no more use for the Survey Rover in any case. The TREV was more functional, and could still carry out surveys if neccesary, rendering the old one obsolete.

In an unsatisfactory turn of events, the Mining Rig collapsed. It's not a major issue, as a WOLF harvester is replacing the MetallicOre drill and there is plenty of Uraninite in Minmus' Planetary Logistics storage, but this does mean there is no longer an operational Uraninite drill on the moonlet.

The CRV returned to Tarasque once the mission was complete.

 

With its BonVoyage controller installed, and the Highlands set as the Origin Biome, the TREV set off for the Greater Flats - the location of Wyvern 2. I plan to send all resources to this biome before shipment to orbit.

On arrival, I set the destination biome in the Transport Computer, expanding Minmus' infrastructure. I then opened up the WOLF Dashboard, and switched to the Routes tab. There I was able to add the resources to be moved to the route, thus making them accessible in the Greater Flats biome! And since I used a rover, which shed no mass in transit, the route costs zero Transport Credits! I'll be able to gather all the basic resources, for free. Excellent.

 

My confusion over how WOLF worked was causing no small amount of procrastination. Now that I've successfully deployed depots and set up transport routes which actually move resources, I am feeling a lot more confident.

The next course of action will be to create transport routes from all mined biomes to the Greater Flats, then from the Greater Flats up to Minmus Orbit. That way, all resources I opt not to use at Wyvern 2 (or a potential Wyvern 3) will be sent to orbit, where Tarasque Station will - after upgrades - turn them into MaterialKits, SpecialisedParts and Machinery. When that step is completed, I will (hopefully) never have to worry about resupplying it with those resources ever again.

If the resources prove insufficient, then I may have to consider expanding WOLF operations even further. But hey, at least Tarasque will be in a better position to support that expansion!

[RedDwarfIV]

Small update, since most of what I did today was sending the TREV all over Minmus setting up transport routes.

I landed another Heavy WOLF Harvester, this time in the Polar biome. Its job would be collecting Substrate. With this, I would be able to harvest 12 of every basic industrial resource... except ExoticMinerals. I'm going to have to put some thought into what to do about that. Either I accept the situation and have it (and Uraninite) be the only resources I physically mine, or I will have to go much further in developing Minmus' WOLF infrastructure than previously planned. The problem being, in order to add a single 5-power using Heavy Harvester to any biome with no remaining power to use, I would have to set up a WOLF base with Kerbals, life support, farming, lab space, and more harvesters to aquire the resources needed to run those systems. Every component adds requirements that have to be covered by another added component, resulting in increasing requirements that "exponential" doesn't even describe.  To aquire one extra resource, I'd be throwing over ten Kerbals into the aether. The only silver lining I can see to that is that if Power is a transportable resource, this one base could support extra harvesters across Minmus.

On the other hand... I'm doing all this at Minmus because I'm going to need to know how to do it elsewhere in the system. Yes, it might be cheaper and simpler to set up Transport Routes from Kerbin to support any Minmus infrastructure, but that wouldn't help me learn what to do later on, when that's no longer an option.

 

In other news, I did a massive oopsie. I sent the wrong freighter.

Asgard 1 is still in Minmus orbit, with its payload of valuable resources. It's Asgard 2, with its currently empty MaterialKit and SpecialisedParts storage that's circling Kerbin right now.

 

Edited July 25 by RedDwarfIV

[RedDwarfIV]

I've spent the past 20 days working on something truly spectacular

...is what I would like to be able to say, but I can't. I was busy with other things for a week, and then I had to reinstall Windows because it was taking forever to boot and log in. As a result, all my games were uninstalled. I had to reload every single mod I'd used for KSP. Good thing I listed most of them earlier in the thread, or it might have been much more painful than it already was.

 

To test that everything was working, I loaded my save and made it my mission for the day to get Asgard 1 flying off to Kerbin. It did not start well. PhysicsRangeExtender, a mod I only have installed because BDArmoury demands it, made one of my surface bases explode. I think it was Aurora Base, the fuel refinery. RIP to any Kerbals on board.

Away she goes.

 

I'll be seeing if I can remove PRE and keep BDArmoury. No big deal if I can't, it just added some options for late game play.

[RedDwarfIV]

Another name I wanted to recycle was Berserker. That was previously applied to a cargo craft, but this incarnation is a passenger bus. It even retains the nuclear aerospike, though a much more powerful one. Development was fraught, dealing with many CoL/CoG issues before finally resolving it. These images show two different versions, as I found that it didn't need anywhere near as much in the way of Supplies as I'd initially... supplied.

Eight turboramjets provide plenty of thrust at high altitude, but for take-off and climb the aerospike's assistance is required. It can be shut off when the jets reach their highest output, then activated again for spaceflight. Once in orbit, it has just under 3,000 d/v to work with - more than enough for travel around the Kerbin system. Range beyond that is limited by life support, and lack of pseudo-gravity.

 

The purpose of this flight in particular will be to train eight or so specialist Kerbonauts to a basic standard, before they're given WOLF assignments. Their destination is Minmus, with the potential for a diversion to the Mun. The better trained they are, the fewer of them would be needed to keep WOLF bases operational, therefore reducing base bloat. 

 

The real Asgard 1 braked into low Kerbin orbit after several passes. Cargo retrieval could begin at any time, but first I wanted to carry out a long overdue refit. The vessel's tiny RCS thrusters were effectively useless, and required a second fuel (lithium) which they would scoff like a pig. Their replacements would be a similar electric jet design, using hydrogen instead of lithium for fuel. Just as importantly, these thrusters were TweakScaled to 200% the size, massively increasing their capability.

 

Refit completed, it was time to make some money. I decided to use a Gladiator for the mission. Due to unanticipated mod effects, I had to switch all its fuel tanks from LFO to LH2 to get the Project Eeloo engines to run in rocket mode.

 

I made the mistake of transferring some LH2 to Asgard 1, thinking it was a good opportunity to refuel it. Instead, I ensured that the Gladiator had insufficient fuel to reach the optimal deorbit trajectory, and the spaceplane overshot KSC. Weighed down with RefinedExotics, it was unable to maintain altitude and was forced to ditch. On the plus side, it was entirely intact afterwards. Even the airbrakes survived!

 

7.1 million VF. Not bad!

Edited August 17 by RedDwarfIV

[RedDwarfIV]

There's always more money to be made. So the SSTO flights continue.

I redesigned the Gladiator a little to push the loaded centre of mass back a bit and increase control during return. It worked, allowing the spaceplane to return with powered flight.

 

It did touch down on the runway, but lost control and span off into the grass. It lost a couple airbrakes but was otherwise intact.

 

With the last Gladiator having recovered the remaining Refined Exotics, I decided to try a larger spaceplane to gather as much of Asgard 1's Commodities as possible. I settled on the Marauder, which was originally designed to lift material to orbit, not bring it back down.

I'm not sure if there's been a mod update or something, but I'm finding the Project Eeloo engines to be giving me weak thrust now. The Gladiator had the same issue. Despite switching from LFO to LH2, which is supposed to be a third of the weight, both spaceplanes struggled to accelerate. I'm not sure the Marauder could reach orbit with a payload on board in its current state. It barely managed take-off as is.

Gl

 

Descent required several attempts (in simulations.) With payload, the centre of mass was too far forward. The flight controls would max out in an unrecoverable nose-down position as soon as the velocity dropped below around 400 m/s.

In the end, I had the spacecraft burn to conserve fuel, them pumped all remaining fuel to the rearmost tanks as ballast. It wouldn't be enough to solve the problem, but in conjunction with RCS, allowed the vessel to at least temporarily slow its rate of descent to a manageable 10m/s. It too was forced to ditch off the coast.

 

Like the Gladiator, I'm going to have to make modifications to either move the centre of mass back, or the centre of lift forwards. The latter would seem more feasible. I might also need to replace the horizontal stabilisers with canards, which would provide much more pitch control.

At least it paid for itself.

Edited August 18 by RedDwarfIV

[RedDwarfIV]

mooooooore spaaaaaaaaaaaceplaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanes

 

Following some modification, the Marauder is now capable of landing. Hooray!

 

All the while, the Berserker had been travelling through the Kerbin system. It made a successfull landing on Minmus. Takeoff was rather more difficult, with the craft nearly losing a wing and the cockpit. RCS was just about able to compensate.

 

The transfer window from Eve to Kerbin arrived. The ship that had been orbiting Gilly for over a year left the captured asteroid on a long arc over the purple planet before making the final burn to return to Kerbin three days later.

 

From Minmus, the Berserker SSTO transferred to the Mun, and made a landing there as well. Strangely, it was easier to lift off than it had been at Minmus.

 

Returning to Kerbin required multiple aerobrake maneuvers, as the craft was down to just 520 m/s of delta-V.

 

Several simulations revealed serious instability issues during reentry. Transferring all remaining fuel to the nose and following the prograde marker ensured the actual descent could avoid a loss of control incident, though insufficient fuel remained to reach KSC. The SSTO was forced to make an emergency landing in the foothills of the continet's mountain range, using the last dregs of LH2 to avoid stalling.

 

Mission successful! All WOLF candidates have reached level 2 training!

 

Whilst the Berserker could, with further refinement, carry out this mission again, I suspect it will be far easier to simply recruit pre-trained Kerbonauts with the huge amounts of cash we once again have access to. But if we ever find ourselves with only a few million remaining in the bank and no freighter full of valuables in sight, it'll be waiting for us.

Edited August 18 by RedDwarfIV

[RedDwarfIV]

I spent 15 minutes in KSP today trying to plan out a WOLF base.

Honestly, I cannot be bothered with it. For some reason it seems to be geared toward importing everything from Kerbin, when the entire reason I want to use it is for in-situ resources. It's insanely complicated compared to physical USI bases. Everything I add ends up requiring more things to be added, which increases the resources needed until I run out (because only one large bulk harvester per biome can operate without extra power, and the only way to get extra power requires a Kerbal, which requires life support, which requires more Kerbals, who require more life support, all of which requires more workshops and labs and on and on and on and on)

I give up. No more WOLF, beyond basic resource aquisition. I will end up demotivating myself if I keep banging my head against that wall, and that would mean the end of my playthrough. So yeah, I'll just have to keep going with physical bases and tank the lag.

[RedDwarfIV]

After re-reading my previous post, I had the idea that since this is my playthrough, I can change mods to suit me if neccesary. My first thought was to add a WOLF power module that did not require a Kerbal or Maintenance. Call it a Solar Module, give it 10 power output instead of 50. That way, I could power the 500 series mining units without needing an absurdly large base to support it.

While editing the PowerModule's .cfg file, I found that it's actually supposed to have an option that does not require a Kerbal or Maintenance points, and provides 5 power. This is actually the same amount of power an MHU-500 uses.

I'm not sure why I didn't see the option to change the recipe before, but if it's there... well, that would actually solve my problem, wouldn't it? No modding of mods needed.

 

I'll check this tomorrow. 

[RedDwarfIV]

As promised, I had a look-see and found that yes, there was indeed an option to switch the WOLF PowerModule to a version that could operate independently. WOLF is back on the menu, bois!

 

I designed a new MHU-500 Bulk Harvester lander with a PowerModule added, and made a vessel with seven of them. Rather than ship it to Minmus, I figured I'd use Tarasque Station. This turned out to be a less than stellar idea, because it likely would have been cheaper and faster just to launch the miners from KSC. Still, it would serve to demonstrate the viability of the mission profile for other worlds, where launch from KSC would not be so convenient.

 

On visiting Tarasque, I went to look at its life support status. Supplies were good for another 200-300 days, but the station was out of Fertiliser. Without it, the hydroponic gardens would be unable to recycle waste. Fortunately, Wyvern 2 had been producing prodigious amounts of the stuff. I sent down a Hydra to retrieve it. As with so much of what I do, it wasn't the best option in hindsight. Unless I want to kick the construction rover free, there is only one Senior docking port available at Tarasque Station. There are several free standard ones, and I didn't actually need 60,000 units of Fertiliser. A smaller MKCV like the Ferret might have worked better.

While  I was at Wyvern 2, I switched Machinery, ColonySupplies and Recycling manufacturing to the production of more SpecialisedParts. This is something Tarasque was always running out of, and that the surface base had been making very slowly up to this point.

Also, I shut down the resource converters, since the Atlas factories could do their job anyway.

 

Speaking of the lack of SpecialisedParts, this dearth forced me to launch a Hydra half-full of SP. This is part of why I earlier said it would have made more sense just to send what I was building. On the other hand, an extra cargo lander is always useful.

Unfortunately, I sent it to the wrong side of Minmus and found it was going the wrong direction. Had to send the tug from Tarasque to refuel it.

 

Aaaaaaand now we're out of MaterialKits instead. It's way too late at night for me to fix this, so I'll deal with it next time I play.

[RedDwarfIV]

It's been a while. I was mostly just busy with other things, including being on holiday.

 

After launching a Polecat MCKV into Kerbin Orbit only to discover that the Asgard freighter I was trying to dock it to was for Refined Exotics and such, I realised I was being silly and that there should be a source of MaterialKits much closer to Tarasque - that being Wyvern 2. I transferred the SpecialisedParts from one large container to two others, and used it to store the Fertliser that the Hydra lander below had been carrying. Then I sent the lander down to Wyvern 2 to fill up on MaterialKits and return. Much easier and faster than whatever I thought I was doing at Kerbin.

 

My faffing about did reveal a serious issue with Mirage Station, however. For some strange reason, the reactor cooling loop was reduced to a maximum capacity of 3 Kelvin. This meant that the reactor was permenantly disabled, and the station's electric charge was dropping rapidly. So I made the decision to have the engineers abandon ship, boarding the Wizard SSTO for an emergency return home.

Simulated landing attempts revealed a flaw that had not presented itself in previous flights - with as little fuel on board as it had, the spaceplane's centre of lift would move dangerously far behind its centre of mass, resulting in an unrecoverable nosedive at low altitude. This was solved by the expedient of filling several tanks from Mirage's propellant depot, using it primarily for ballast while also increasing the cross-range dramatically.

The Wizard has since been redesigned for increased pitch control, and more lift forward. Time will tell if that was effective.

 

So, Tarasque will have the WOLF powerplants ready in 5 days. That's progress to be happy with! As for Mirage, it's a pretty old station at this point, and attempts to dock the Polecat with it only further demonstrated the seriousness of its problems. I can't have wobbly stations tearing themselves to bits. Rather than replace the reactor and cooling loop, I plan to retire the station. There may be salvageable equipment (such as the construction workshops) and the fuel can be relocated, but I see little reason to keep the rest operational.

If I want an orbital construction yard over Kerbin, the technology base I have access to now is far superior to what I was working with when Mirage first launched. Might as well make something better for my Kerbal engineers to stay at.

Edited November 15 by RedDwarfIV

[RedDwarfIV]

Tarasque finished building a set of powered WOLF harvester landers.

 

I sent each of the landers down to wherever had a good supply of the resources neeed, like Silicates, Minerals, ExoticMinerals and Water. Also sent two for Dirt and Ore to the Great Flats, which would provide the neccesary resources for farming and fuel production.

 

Unfortunately, it seems the WOLF Transport Rover did not have sufficient capacity to move all of the neccesary material. Either I'm going to have to send up another, larger rover, or use the old one to set up a diversion route to a second biome, and send the resources to their final destination from there.

[RedDwarfIV]

Today I inspected Mirage Station to see if there was any way to salvage the Workshops. They're expensive and heavy parts, so reuse is preferable to launching new ones from Kerbin.

As it turned out, I'd forgotten exactly what adding those Workshops to Mirage had entailed in the first place. That entire section of the station was actually pretty well built, and had a modern habitat and agroponics to boot. Almost all the parts I didn't want to keep were on the older section of the station, so I just... separated the two.

That left me with a station that wasn't capable of generating enough power to support itself, nor did it have the kind of longevity for habitation that I'd prefer. The most important of the two to fix was power, so I dealt with that first.

 

Having fitted a new power supply module - featuring Nautilus solar panels, a hefty reactor, plenty of extra energy storage, and a Fertiliser container (the old one went with the old station section) - the station was ready for its next upgrade.

 

 

The new habitat couldn't be deployed without crew, and there was no reason not to send them up. The Wizard 2 would get its chance to shine.

 

Crew boarded, the habitat was deployed and activated. Mirage is now capable of supporting a crew of six engineers for 20 years, assuming periodic resupply of Fertiliser.

I was very pleased to find that the new hab module also came with an option to conduct Crew Training. Two of the Engineers were level 4, and they were able to train their four cohorts to the same level. This is excellent, because it means they will complete projects far faster than they would have at their previous levels!

Edited November 18 by RedDwarfIV

[Kevin_kerman]

how do you come up with all of the space plane designs? I really like them, awesome content by the way.

[RedDwarfIV]

5 hours ago, Kevin_kerman said:

how do you come up with all of the space plane designs? I really like them, awesome content by the way.

Thanks!

That's an interesting question. I've certainly evolved my spaceplane designs over time. Originally, I would frequently use forward canards, because they offered a lot of pitch control and stability. I set myself the challenge of making SSTOs that didn't have them. A lot of my spaceplanes are unmanned, which brings an interesting aesthetic all its own. Without a heavy command pod on one end, it doesn't have to be balanced at the other. Or, it means there's no counterbalance to the weight of the engines, which have to be pushed forward to compensate. I really like delta-wings, so most of my craft are delta, cranked delta, tailed delta. So most of them will be shaped like arrowheads. The Ronin science SSTO has a swept wing, and it's one of my least favourite designs from this playthrough. I think my favourite would be the Gladiator.

The different designs are very much because they all have different roles, or have been built to perform certain roles better than earlier attempts. I'm also limited by the size of the parts I'm working with. I could certainly mount 3.75m engine nacelles, but there are no 3.75m shock cones and no fuselage parts in that scale so they'd look out of place, which results in craft that have multiple engine nacelles per wing like the Marauder. I could use TweakScale to make larger fuselages and shock cones, but at that point it might not even fit on the runway. Perhaps I'll try it out, just to see what would happen?

Trial and error is the main thing, though. I come up with designs, they don't work, so I modify them until they do. I'm always pleasantly surprised when an SSTO works perfectly on the first launch.

[Kevin_kerman]

Have you ever thought about using the 7.5 meter cargo bays from near future launch vehicles for like a superheavy SSTO?

[RedDwarfIV]

2 hours ago, Kevin_kerman said:

Have you ever thought about using the 7.5 meter cargo bays from near future launch vehicles for like a superheavy SSTO?

Can't say I have, no. Honestly, I just haven't needed an SSTO that big. The largest ones I use are for retrieving extremely dense loads from orbit. Very heavy, but they don't take up much room. If I wanted a spaceplane for lifting interplanetary spacecraft sections, maybe I would, but I have conventional rocket launchers that are or almost are SSTOs, with return capability. Spaceplanes are just more difficult and time consuming to return to the launch site.

 

Unsatisfied with the Polecat (for reasons that will soon be explained), I designed a new cargo vehicle for carrying MaterialKits and SpecialisedParts into Kerbin orbit - the Spearfish.

 

This is the Polecat which I had previously attempted to dock to Mirage, before the upgrades. It almost immediately (in simulations) caused the station to shake itself to pieces and explode as a result of phantom forces. The newly upgraded station did not shake itself apart, though the Polecat did spend its entire time docked to the station dancing from side to side. After transferring its payload and being released, the vehicle went pirouetting off into space. I was glad to deorbit the thing, and will surely delete its design from the archives next I play. Good riddence to bad rubbish.

  

 

Using the extra MaterialKits and SpecialisedParts, along with the newly up-trained crew, I set about having Mirage construct a new vehicle to solve my issue of insuffient Transport Routes on Minmus. It took 13 days to build, and 4 days to reach Minmus on a high-energy trajectory.

 

This is the Sabretooth WOLF-GTV, or Ground Transport Vehicle. Capable of setting up a WOLF Transport Route for 30 units of Payload, twice that of the previous rover. I also happen to think it is a significant improvement aesthetically.

 

Either I put the wrong part on it, or using Global Construction to build the rover did something weird, but what I thought was the Transport Computer was only able to "Connect to Depot", which resulted in the rover being eaten by WOLF (in simulations). So I had the old rover and a member of Tarasque's crew rendezvous with it in Minmus' Highlands.

 

The transfer of the Transport Computer was successful, and once the Kerbonaut had safely returned to the station overhead, the Sabretooth carried out its first mission - setting up another Transport Route from the Highlands to the Greater Flats. I was pleased to see that this route stacked with the one previously established. So if I am inclined to do so, I can send down more Harvesters, aquire more resources, and get them to where they're needed.

An implication of the route stacking is that I can do it again, possibly any number of times, to ensure I can always move the maximum resources. If true, it means I actually didnt need to send the Sabretooth at all. Not that I'm complaining, with twice the payload it can do the job twice as effectively. Now it's here, no reason to complain.

 

I may need to send the rover to increase capacity on a few more routes. I may also want to land more harvesters. But the time is soon approaching to design a new base for Minmus, to take advantage of all these resources. Possibly even a WOLF base, one for generating MaterialKits, SpecialisedParts and Transport Credits, to be sent directly to Tarasque. Then, finally, I would have a fully operational and independent construction facility in Minmus orbit. No more shipments from Kerbin!

And if that is successful, why, I'll have finally proven everything I need in order to expand operations elsewhere. Leviathan will finally have something useful to do at Ike.

[RedDwarfIV]

I spent quite a while today trying to design a WOLF base that could convert basic resources into MaterialKits, SpecialisedParts, Fuel and Transport Credits. It got a bit complicated, so I started over with one that would just make Fuel and T-Credits, but stopped when I realised there were some basic resources I simply wasn't getting enough of. Namely Dirt and Gypsum. Dirt is used by Agriculture modules, Gypsum for the production of Fertiliser, which is also needed to make food.

Rather than sending a bunch of landers each with a single power and harvester module each, I launched two landers with four on board. This is the Stingray WOLF Mining Lander. To save time, I sent them on 3-4 day trajectories, and Minmus was far off Kerbin's equatorial plane. As a result, they had to dock with Tarasque and refuel before landing. One of them even ran out on approach, taking a transfer from the docked CRV to let it limp in the rest of the way.

 

The Stingray masses 70 tons. I have launchers for 40 ton and 300 ton payloads. Rather than go overkill, I designed the Typhoon launcher for 75 ton payloads.

 

Transport routes are definitely stackable, and I've been exploiting that to its full advantage. I now have plenty of Gypsum flowing in from the Highlands, probably far more than I will actually need, but better to have a surplus than a defecit. Speaking of defecits, I'm definitely going to need more MetallicOre, and I could do with more ExoticMinerals and RareMetals too - though those last two are in short supply on Minmus. I'll have to work with what I can get.

 

There are some improvements to be made to the Stingray, but overall I think it's proven the concept and its worth. I'll be launching more of them soon.

I'm also going to need to hire a lot of specialist Kerbals. WOLF bases won't work without them, and larger bases get very demanding of personell. Something to note is that while this is fine for Minmus, with such short transit times, it's far less simple elsewhere in the system. Physical bases are going to see plenty of use yet, even if I get most of my Minmus operations virtualised.