how do you build your planetary stations?

[lammatt]

do you fly a fully pre-built station in a single launch window?

or do you fly multiple ships in close sucession in one window?

or do you fly one moledule a time in one window and you allow years of ingame time to fully build your station ?

[stupid_chris]

Do you mean space stations or ground stations?

[lammatt]

Do you mean space stations or ground stations?

what's the difference?

[TheCanadianVendingMachine]

Well, one is on the ground, and the other in orbit

[SkyHook]

I send my bases up in pieces, and construct them once landing with Lazor's construction plugin.

[lammatt]

so do you launch all the parts in one window?

or you wait like ~a year or so until the next window to open for another launch?

I send my bases up in pieces, and construct them once landing with Lazor's construction plugin.

[Redjoker]

Smaller bases you could do in one go but, it will require a more complex rocket. Most large stations are built by docking segment either in orbit or on the ground from multiple launches. This is because the delta-v to launch an object into orbit increases exponentially.

[Kimberly]

I haven't tried it yet, but personally I plan to use OrbitalConstruction to build bases on the planets themselves. All I have to do is land the spare parts that way, which is easier than a whole base at once or a set of disconnected modules.

[lammatt]

LOL... no one answers my question...

i was asking if you do it in ONE WINDOW or MULTIPLE WINDOWS

(of cos i know multiple LAUNCHES is more feasible... but hey... i am asking about the WINDOWS: do you launch multiple ships in ONE WINDOWS or one ship per WINDOW and wait ~a year till another launch... of cos if you time warp the transit which takes roughly a few months.. multiple windows are not very bad a wait)

[stupid_chris]

Well my question remains the same, orbital or ground? That puts for two very different scenarios.

[lammatt]

let's say... orbital then....

Well my question remains the same, orbital or ground? That puts for two very different scenarios.

[stupid_chris]

let's say... orbital then....

For an orbital station, it's much more practical to build it up around Kerbin and boost it to another planet after. That limits the size of it, but you can normally pull off a good station at less than 80t. If you plan on getting it bigger, then you might want to send it off in bits. Launching in the same transfer window is useful, but it might cause problems. If you want to do that, I recommend using the Kerbal Alarm Clock mod if you don't want to lose track of what you're doing.

[TheCanadianVendingMachine]

Oh, then I personally send each piece up then to the destination, here is a chart:

First Piece: VAB-Launch Pad-Space-Mun

Second Piece: VAB-Launch Pad-Space-Mun-Dock

etc.

[Zephram Kerman]

I do multiple launches of small components, but assemble them in LKO. Then I send those assembled groups in two or three transfer windows.

[Merinsan]

I do multiple launches.

I've done multiple ships in one window and single trips over multiple windows and everything in between.

I prefer sending it all in one window, but it can get difficult to manage and requires planning.

I've never built anything prior to transfer.

[SkyHook]

so do you launch all the parts in one window?

or you wait like ~a year or so until the next window to open for another launch?

Well I generally send each module up as I finish it, without regard to time.. I haven't done anything interplanetary since about 0.18 so launch windows aren't usually a problem.

[NoMrBond]

Stuff on the ground, generally in one piece since docking stuff on the ground is pants

Stuff in space, in as big a sections as I can manage if it can't be done solo

[espm400]

Although I haven't done much interplanetary stuff in .20, I used to assemble everything in LKO and fire it off all at once (be it space or ground station). Now however, I have DRE, so I'm going to have to re-think my ground strategy. I'll probably still send everything at once, but disassemble in the target orbit and re-assemble on the ground.

[Keome]

Orbital bases are a lot easier to send up in pieces. Make several parts for different things, send them up and dock them together to make the station. Being modular like that, you can mix and match the sections. Need more fuel storage? Send up a fuel section. Need more living space? Send up a hitchhiker can.

Just make sure your docking ports are all the same size, and your first core module will need some batteries and solar panels to keep it active, and maybe some fuel storage as well to keep the RCS going.

My stations are usually:

A core module with the command cupola, some RCS fuel, RCS thrusters. It's attached to the 6-way hub. Two sides have the long girders with solar panels. The other two sides have a fuselage section and docking ports. The bottom is just a docking port. The two side docking ports are for ships, the bottom one is for attaching the next module. There is also a docking port on top of the command cupola.

A habitat module is docked to the port on top of the command cupola. It's just two hitchhiker cans with docking ports on both ends. Room for eight Kerbals, plus the one in the cupola.

The bottom port is where I attach the fuel module, which is just an orange tank and a big RCS tank. Docking ports on both ends, and sometimes I add radial docking ports to the orange tank if I need more docking ports for ships. I also send one up with a Kethane converter as well. There are some addons with empty fuel tanks, to make getting an orange tank into space a lot easier, too, or just make a copy of the fuel tanks, and edit them yourself to make empty versions.

Keep adding parts, you can make the station as big as needed. It just takes time to dock it all together. It's also much easier to send sections up as dockable modules instead of trying to make some massive thing you try to launch all at once.

[Joshington]

I send all the pieces together, then rearrange them in orbit. I did a thread about my design in the Space Exchange.

[NeoMorph]

I sent my Duna Ground AND Orbit stations in one go... bit like the Apollo mission was ground and orbit but mine was a bit bigger. 5 Kerbals landed and 2 two were left in orbit to mind the space station. The ground component was also a mining module too with a converter strapped on. It meant that I had a system that could leapfrog from one point to another on the planet and not run out of fuel. The orbiting space station had a scanner to locate the Kethane supply locations. Each leapfrog allowed for a screwed up landing (either wrong location or no Kethane at that spot) and still gave it a chance to move to another mine or reach orbit to leave for home.

One thing I did eventually do was send relief supplies with a mining tug to store fuel in orbit. Was only feasible due to the air that allowed parachutes. I was going to look into an Ike mining op which would reduce the fuel needed to get to orbit but then the fuel would need to be returned to Duna orbit so it would be wasted. I wonder how to work out which would be more efficient.

I've also tried a three ship to Duna and got two there OK but number 3 missed.... Lucky it was a robotic ship that missed. The other robot ship and the manned one made it to Duna orbit fine... Different orbits but they did make it heh.

[Van Disaster]

Orbital stations get test-assembled in LKO, and then reassembled in a transit configuration so they don't bend all over the place. Stuff a propulsion module on and start raising apogee until there's a decent chance of escaping Kerbin ( that will take multiple orbits for a large station ) and off we go. Slowing down again is the fun bit...

My ground stations are generally just a single pile of HOME pieces which is only one shot anyway. If there's a rover to go it can go on a seperate launch in the same window.

[magnemoe]

usually in one piece, they don't weight much.

However I put down an planetary launchpad, you can put it land it on Minmus, Laythe or other places, mine for ore and convert to metal then rocket parts and launch ships like on the space center.

It consist of the launchpad itself, an miner lander, an melter and rocket workshop who was an rover, however as I landed on an decent ore deposit I could just connect the parts with KAS. Base also consist of an huge living quarter with three home habitats around an tower with hitchhiker modules who was build on this launchpad and an huge fuel carrier to take fuel from the kethane miner to the launchpad.

[Sof]

Try and make the station a symmetrical design and send them all up and construct around Kerbin. Then wait for the launch window and push it over as a whole. Stations need to be small, but big ones are impractical anyway.

If your station isn't symmetrical, you could see if bits of it could be assembled in a different order and then reassemble once you've got to your destination.

IE, you want your station to look a bit like an "F". Try taking the little bit off and making a "T" for the journey.

[Jon Tash]

I launch multiple pieces of my station/base in different windows because I usually have more than one mission a the time.

Last time I was playing KSP I was assembling a space station in orbit around Duna, I had several more module in preparation around Kerbin before the station was complete but at the same time I had a spaceship heading to Eeloo for reconnaissance for my future landing site. At the same time I had also a probe prepared to lithobrake on Moho.