My orbital base of operations (nicest looking space station I've managed so far)

[dom.stb]

Here is my orbital base station for my munar kethane mining operation. I've been using it as a refuelling/refitting station for those two FLY tugs I have docked in that photo, which have been ferrying my equipment to the mun and back. It has that large nerva engine block at the bottom in case I decide to relocate the whole base to the mun at any point. Those nervas can also detach and be used as a tug for larger landers/rovers.

Having these resources in LKO has made the whole mining thing so much easier. I wish I'd done this ages ago.

It looks nice too (especially with those omni lights). Lots of mods (and mechjeb) are being used.

[dom.stb]

Here's a shot without the sun in the BG:

[Dr. Muttonstache]

Looks better than mine.

[Kromey]

Very, very nice!

Quick question: What's giving the red glow down there near your NERVAs? Gives the whole thing a somewhat ominous look -- I love it!

[Wabur]

It's beautiful! How long did it take you to assemble?

[dom.stb]

Not long, but it took a long time to get the design right (most of that time was trying to develop a standardised lifter that could handle all the parts). After that I just mechjebbed all the launches. All the parts are nicely RCS balanced so docking was easy.

I'll say one thing, having the LKO space station like this up makes everything else easier. The Mun feels like my back yard now.

[dom.stb]

Very, very nice!

Quick question: What's giving the red glow down there near your NERVAs? Gives the whole thing a somewhat ominous look -- I love it!

The red glow comes from the red "omni" lights from B9 aerospace (the white lights on the rest of the station are the white omnis). They've completely replaced stock lights for me because they're actually at a usable brightness (they don't light up the planet underneather them). Also, I would recommend that FLY tug too (from this pack, which also other good stuff too). The IVA view is amazing. I'll post a screen in a sec.

[dom.stb]

F.L.Y. IVA views: it gives you a beautiful panoramic shot of the whole thing and you can actually pilot in IVA really well. I docked the tug to my space station entirely in IVA view. The front docking port is really nicely placed in the bottom-centre of the window. Coming into rendezvous and dock in that thing in IVA mode with the UI hidden looks stunning.

Looking out the port window at launch:

Approaching the station:

Docking:

[EDIT] I don't have any screens of the control panel, but if you pan down, there's a really usable navball and all the other lights/info.

Edited May 18, 2013 by dom.stb

[dom.stb]

I finally put my base station on the Mun using the space station as a re-fuelling point. The Mun base barely barely made it into orbit, but it got the mun and landed alright. We lost one nuclear engine on the touchdown, but that can be re-balanced by switching off its opposite number.

FINALLY I landed something substantial on the Mun!

Leaving the refueling station K.O.R.S. ready for LMI burn:

Burning to reach munar capture:

Landed safe

Except from that broken nerva engine in the background there (shhh).

[cesarcurado]

Wow...

I wish I could build like this.

And even if I did, it wouldn't look as good on my computer

[Jaedinator]

Looks Amazing, whats the part count on this thing? Can you operate it without lagging too much? All my Space Stations (except for refuel only station) i assembled are just unplayable because of them going between 400-700 Parts ~.~

[dom.stb]

Looks Amazing, whats the part count on this thing? Can you operate it without lagging too much? All my Space Stations (except for refuel only station) i assembled are just unplayable because of them going between 400-700 Parts ~.~

Not sure about part count (I don't know how to check, since i assembled it all in space, can MJ do it?). The station with the two FLY's attached is just about my limit when it comes to frame rate. Today though I stupidly tried to dock that ring structure munar base station to it and my PC ground to a halt. In the end I flew the fly out to refuel the base from its own supply and flew it back to the station. It was the only way the lag was controllable.

I have a fairly decent PC, though occasionally I get horrible memory-based hang-ups when my mod count gets too high and the game hangs. I have to keep deleting non-essential mods to keep it on a level.

I love this community by the way.

[dom.stb]

Wow...

I wish I could build like this.

And even if I did, it wouldn't look as good on my computer

It's not so hard once you get the rendezvous and docking down. Like I said, once I had a good launcher (I made one based on the Anvil rocket set, but with a few more SRB stages and things), it's just a repetitive procedure of launching each part. I try to make the whole thing modular so each launched part has a couple of sub-parts that can be undocked and moved around and rearranged as neccessary. That at the bottom is supposed to be the station's engine, but it can be undocked and used as a really heavy tug if need be.

The worst thing is to get into space and then change your mind about something and not be able to change it without restarting. So i use many docking ports and keep those FLY tugs on hand for moving stuff about.

I ****ing love this game. This is nothing compared to the youtubers and many better forum members here. Plus many can do all of this without any mechjeb assistance or mods of any kind.

[leax256]

Not sure about part count (I don't know how to check, since i assembled it all in space, can MJ do it?). The station with the two FLY's attached is just about my limit when it comes to frame rate. Today though I stupidly tried to dock that ring structure munar base station to it and my PC ground to a halt. In the end I flew the fly out to refuel the base from its own supply and flew it back to the station. It was the only way the lag was controllable.

I have a fairly decent PC, though occasionally I get horrible memory-based hang-ups when my mod count gets too high and the game hangs. I have to keep deleting non-essential mods to keep it on a level.

I love this community by the way.

Mechjeb can. it should be under vessel info. I have also tested it with docking.