Mun station is complete. Now what?

[The Ideal Gas Lawyer]

I just finished my munar orbital fuel depot and gassed it all up from 2 kethane mines but now I'm at a loss for what to do with it. I could take it to duna or eve (gilly) and keep mining kethane but what is the point? I've started to run into problems with the open endedness of the game. I'm really looking forward to career mode so I have more concrete goals

With the shuttle attached, it's 59% fuel and runs on poodles so it has almost 4km/s of dV but I don't think it would make it to Jool. Any ideas?

[rodion_herrera]

That's because your mindset is that you got the game expecting to err "GAME", when you know clearly that

a) The game is in alpha state

You bought it with full knowledge that the career portion won't be implemented anytime soon

I may be wrong (maybe I am LOL) but to me now it appears you're blaming the game or saying that the creators of the game are responsible for your dissatisfaction?

I don't see the logic in that.

[The Ideal Gas Lawyer]

That's because your mindset is that you got the game expecting to err "GAME", when you know clearly that

a) The game is in alpha state

You bought it with full knowledge that the career portion won't be implemented anytime soon

And now it appears you're blaming the game or the creators of the game for your dissatisfaction?

I don't see the logic in that.

I think you misinterpreted my post. I'm not at all dissatisfied nor am I blaming Squad. I'm just looking for suggestion because I've hit a wall creatively and I want to find a new, fun direction to go with what is already an awesome game.

[rodion_herrera]

I think you misinterpreted my post. I'm not at all dissatisfied nor am I blaming Squad. I'm just looking for suggestion because I've hit a wall creatively and I want to find a new, fun direction to go with what is already an awesome game.

Well seeing that you have such a great station in place, I don't see why it's "pointless"--if purely from a sandbox standpoint (see, here lies the difference, because my mindset is sandbox by default), what I'd want to do with it is to see what sort of engine/tank combinations would give me the best TWO and/or efficiency if say, I wanted to push/tug that station all the way to Jool or Eeloo, which is probably number one on my list of 100 things to do with it But yes, I apologize if my initial response sounded harsh--I just don't get how sometimes people express "now what" when I alone can't find the time to do all the things I want to do in the game, in sandbox mode.

[tntristan12]

So you have the infrastructure in place. You could start building a network of things to use it: land a colony and schedule crew rotations so you can use some of that fuel you've stored up. Launch a mission to someplace you've never been! Explore.

Part of the fun of the game is there's always things to do. Have you built an SSTO yet? If so, how can you improve it?

Or maybe you want to try your hand at using some mods you haven't used yet. Get Ferram Aerodynamic Research and see how well your designs fare under new drag models. Or get deadly re-entry and see how easy it is to send in some of your landers.

Your only limiting factor is imagination, and you'll find it.

[Specialist290]

Suggestion: See if you can crash it into the sun.

If you're worried about losing it forever by doing that, make a backup of your persistent file first.

[Scottiths]

Build a base on a planet now. That is considerably harder.

[Blaylock1988]

Build a base on a planet now. That is considerably harder.

What did you use to move the tanks around into position? just RCS?

[Scottiths]

No. I built a huge crane using kerbal attachment system. I also had a small rover pushing from the bottom of each piece. I'll post a pic tomorrow when I get a chance. It was epic :-)

[Temstar]

Wooah Scottiths, that looks uncannily like the base I'm planning. Down to details like the power towers and tracking station and fuel tanks. I guess great minds think alike.

Except mine has two launch complexes with crawlers for handling ships on the ground:

I used a rover that attaches below each pieces for construction:

[Pontiac]

Start moving on to a different planet, and start mining Kethane there. Keep working until you've got a network out to Eeloo. But by then, 0.21 might be out and you might lose all the work, but, hey... New parts in 0.21 hopefully.

For me, as I said in another post, I've built a sturdy rover and have taken it to the Mun and dropping flags at all the anomalies. So far, probably spent literally 24 hours watching this thing go. I work nights, and on my off shifts, sit next to my computer and watch it drive while I watch KSP flix on Youtube. heh

Although my current rover has proven itself on both the Mun and Kerbin, it won't do in really low gravity. So, I'm working on a very low profile, wide tracked, very light beast of a machine. Currently its in its teens in tonnes in weight, but I CANNOT flip it on Kerbin.

[Scottiths]

Wooah Scottiths, that looks uncannily like the base I'm planning. Down to details like the power towers and tracking station and fuel tanks. I guess great minds think alike]

I actually got the idea for the base from that screenshot, so it looks similar because it is by design. I loved that satellite dish. Also, I wanted to see if I could get it to another planet. I stripped most of the legs to save part count. Some of the launches were more difficult than others, but the hardest part was designing landers for each part that could be readily removed before connection to the base.

Here are the pictures of the crane and one of the delivery systems for the tubes:

Deliver: https://www.dropbox.com/s/md5opf1ctyv1r9j/screenshot137.png

Crane:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/346h0t3h07cp5x1/screenshot138.png

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vwpyo8pm8gowehn/screenshot142.png

I kinda built the crane overly large. I think the next time I build it I will make it half as big (It can currently drive over the entire base with clearance to spare. I also forgot to put lights on the crane itself, so it made building at night too troublesome.

*edit*

Besides, You idea was just too cool to not turn it into the MARB (Munar Arch Research Base)

Edited June 5, 2013 by Scottiths

[The Ideal Gas Lawyer]

Build a base on a planet now. That is considerably harder.

As awesome as this and the base it's... based on are, I fear the part count would be too high for my wimpy computer to handle :-/ Thats what always sinks my mega-stations and consequently why my current one is so compact

[Scottiths]

As awesome as this and the base it's... based on are, I fear the part count would be too high for my wimpy computer to handle :-/ Thats what always sinks my mega-stations and consequently why my current one is so compact

Its just shy of 300 parts... Station you built probably isn't too much less. Besides, take off 3 Hab units,1 electircal unit, and 3 fuel depot units and the base would look very similar and be under 200 parts easily. My computer is 5 years old, and it slows down near this but it is still playable.

[The Ideal Gas Lawyer]

Its just shy of 300 parts... Station you built probably isn't too much less. Besides, take off 3 Hab units,1 electircal unit, and 3 fuel depot units and the base would look very similar and be under 200 parts easily. My computer is 5 years old, and it slows down near this but it is still playable.

Hm. I'll give it a shot tonight with some HOME modules.

[leax256]

an idea is to map 100% (or at least close to) of the kethane deposits on the Mün. Send a probe in a polar orbit and let it scan.

[The Ideal Gas Lawyer]

an idea is to map 100% (or at least close to) of the kethane deposits on the Mün. Send a probe in a polar orbit and let it scan.

Done that already and that involves little more than setting up an orbit then using my netbook to go on imgur while I kill time

[The Jedi Master]

Minmus station now! Stations around EVERYTHING!

[Scottiths]

an idea is to map 100% (or at least close to) of the kethane deposits on the Mün. Send a probe in a polar orbit and let it scan.

Mapping is cool, but its not something you actively do. Sure, send the probe and get the polar orbit, but then its just a waiting game while you look at the forums. Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of fun mapping, buts its not something you really "do." If that makes sense Basically I wish mapping could occur while the game was on rails or under extreme high time warp.

I Got something you could do. You could challenge yourself to lift something really heavy. See:

I did it over 10 launches, but it holds over 100,000 units of fuel, and is under 150 parts

Spherical fuel tanks are awesome.

[Uberick]

Holy cow those bases are awesome! After I finish my Eve return I'm definitely building one

In regards to the OP. Find something that you haven't done, and do it I know EXACTLY what you're talking about. When I first got this game, I landed on the Mun, Minmus, and Duna in quick succession, and for a long time I found myself just sitting in a rut. I felt like I had "done everything". I mean, how much more can there be to do?

EVERYTHING

This game is literally filled to the brim with possibilities. I got myself out of my rut by setting a long term goal of landing on EVE and coming back alive. After that I built a space station, then worked on rovers, then built an SSTO, then worked on Ion probes, etc. Find out what it is you haven't done and go do it! If you like this game in the first place, you'll get completely sucked in on a new projects.

[cesarcurado]

Sell kethane on kerbin and use it in engines to run their cars.

Now seriously, experiment with the game to the end.

[Motokid600]

How long does it take to construct a base like that? Do you send everything up one by one or do you somehow bundle the tubes for instance into a undockable pack?

[The Ideal Gas Lawyer]

Welp, I'm in the middle of refueling my mining rig on Minmus (lower escape velocity and higher in the gravity well than the Mun) before it joins the space station and fuel shuttle on the way to Jool where they will be inserted around Vall. With all that gas so close by I might finally be able to land on Tylo. Maybe I'll also fly a spaceplane out to Laythe with those sweet SABRE engines in the new B9 pack and have some fun landing on islands