Munar Outpost Lycoris

[IO]

Coming back to the game after... *checks notes* 3 year break wow. I attempted to make a base with a very similar design back in the day, but low framerate + glitches made me quit. Now with a beefy PC I finally managed to build it.

Experience from the first attempt was really helpful:

• I made sure to find a REALLY flat spot for the base.
• I tried to limit part count per module (I think it's under 350 total).
• I put time into researching least kraken-inducing way of construction possible.

I must say it paid off, the process was relatively painless albeit long. I think it took me ~3 week IRL, although interwoven with some other minor projects to keep things interesting. Framerate this time around is pretty good, and the physics warp slows down to ~x0.5, so not great but definitely playable.

Some more screenshots:

Next project: Minmus mining base.

[Kerbalsaurus]

That's a cool looking base right there! I especially like that little sci-fi touch with the giant radio dish.

Edited November 17, 2023 by Kerbalsaurus
Typos and such.

[TwoCalories]

On 11/16/2023 at 4:39 PM, IO said:

• I made sure to find a REALLY flat spot for the base.
• I tried to limit part count per module (I think it's under 350 total).
• I put time into researching least kraken-inducing way of construction possible.

Woah. Ok, I've got a few things I want to ask, if that's alright.

• What biome is Munar Outpost Lycoris in?
• What mods did you use to make the base modules?
• How did you get the modules to the Mun?
• What did you do to make it not Kraken bait?

That was quite a bit, but I'm just curious, since I'm looking to launch my own Mun base sometime in the foreseeable future.

[IO]

17 hours ago, TwoCalories said:

What biome is Munar Outpost Lycoris in?

Midland, why do you ask though? I didn't really take biome into consideration when picking the spot. I was mostly looking at proximity to equator and the scenery . Since I have tons of fuel leftover from the construction, I use it for biome hopping from the base.

17 hours ago, TwoCalories said:

What mods did you use to make the base modules?

The main one is definitely Stockalike Station Parts Redux, 90% of the parts used are from there: tubes, adapters, habitats, control modules, lab, hydroponics and most importantly legs. Legs don't work like the stock ones, they are completely rigid but they can be adjusted to the surface. This was probably one of the most important thing in keeping kraken at bay.

I used Kerbal Attachment System to connect the base with the reactor. Other than that I did use it pretty extensively during the construction: I would use a KAS hose to connect a module to my rover before the actual docking so I could control it (saving on probe cores and solar panel parts).

The reactor is from Near Future Electrical and it's a little over kill for the base tbh, I could probably get away with a smaller one. The big dish is an antenna from Near Future eXploration.

17 hours ago, TwoCalories said:

How did you get the modules to the Mun?

The old rocket way. Landing stage was always above the payload like so:

It did make it top heavy, so I would usually put it down very slowly (I'd always bring tons of extra dealt v), and then decouple as the module touches the ground. I'd then land my "sky crane" nearby so I could drain fuel from it using KAS. You still need a relatively flat spot for it too work though. Also I always tried to land as close to the base as possible so I wouldn't have to spend too much time on ferrying modules around.

17 hours ago, TwoCalories said:

What did you do to make it not Kraken bait?

Well there are mentioned earlier SSPX legs which make a pretty glitchless support. They only problem with ground support I have is not unique to them. When you have a large structure resting on the ground, parts of it will shift slightly when you go in and out of the time warp/rails. It makes sense: on rails there's no physics and parts align perfectly, and off rails parts will bend and sag slightly under gravity. So some parts may then clip into the ground in warp and then pop up when going off warp (or fly off if they clip it a lot). Luckily the legs let you shorten them evenly, so that fixes it.

As for the mentioned in the original post method of construction. I originally planned to use two cranes/robot arm to move modules around, but the hinges didn't really work for me. They would seem fine at one moment, but if quicksave and reload they would vibrate themselves into oblivion. So for moving modules up and down I would just use the legs again. I did use a crane for connecting the tubes though.

As the construction progressed I did get some kraken encounters: rovers convulsing when I attach a new module to the base with them docked. So I made an action group for quickly disconnecting/decoupling the rovers and that solved it.

Other than that I say don't use robot parts. I have some robot parts for rotating the small dish and the optical telescope (so non-structural in any way) and they still managed to glitch themselves at one point. I had some robot part on my old base and they caused a glitchfest.

I should also mention the ground anchor. I planned to used it because my previous base was on a slight slope and after every time warp it would slide down a little. I ended up not using it since it was too glitchy for me so the base just rests on the ground. Luckily, thanks to the spot being very flat, I don't have the sliding problem. I literally used ScanSat on max zoom and looked for a spot with <1m elevation difference. I don't think you have to go that hard, but be wary since a spot can look flat, but be on a very slight slope.