The art of modular base building

[Taki117]

you're probably going to have to rebuild the module. There is a way around it if you still have engines attached to it. Do you have any screenies?

No engines, All of my modules have landed with minimal propulsion to preserve aesthetics (The only module landed by skycrane was the drilling rig)

In the SPH, legs deployed:

On the Runway, legs Deployed:

The result of undocking and moving the Rover:

[NoyB]

Taki117, What mod pack(s) are you using?

[THE_MAGGOT]

I'm having a lot of problems driving my rovers around (i'm using the same technique as most people with a rover directly attached under my moon base pieces)... if I don't land on a perfectly flat surface, they just keep falling over... and since I don't always land my rocket at the exact location, it's almost impossible...

any helps for the rover stability? it's more or less the same model as Temstar expect with 8 wheels, so a bit longer... yet it just keeps tipping over...!!!

[Dacker]

I've run in to another problem: The Fuel Tanker Rover and Kethane Extractor (the 2nd one listed not the 1st) are tipping over on launch. I cannot figure out why. I tried them with a different launch vessel - one I tested on the tower of power and trusses - attached to the decoupler just under the vehicle and still no go. I cannot for the life of me figure out why they are tipping over. I noticed that they are the ones where the vehicle is flipped upside down on the launcher so maybe that has something to do with it?

[Commissar]

my findings: carrying a 3-stack of kerbal cans, with a cupola, from the bottom requires a clamp-o-tron sr, standard clamp-o-trons are too flimsy, so the load shifts all over the place. tipped over my forklift (i'm using IR).

[Captain Sierra]

my findings: carrying a 3-stack of kerbal cans, with a cupola, from the bottom requires a clamp-o-tron sr, standard clamp-o-trons are too flimsy, so the load shifts all over the place. tipped over my forklift (i'm using IR).

Why do you have a three stack high in the first place?

[Commissar]

Why do you have a three stack high in the first place?

why not? other than the challenges of moving it. goota put my kerbals somewhere. hard part si due to the legs i'm using... the heavy legs, from b9 or kosmos, I think. really short...

[Captain Sierra]

why not? other than the challenges of moving it. goota put my kerbals somewhere. hard part si due to the legs i'm using... the heavy legs, from b9 or kosmos, I think. really short...

B9. Stubby things. Meant for use with the Atlas landing engine (like pretty much all B9 stuff, meant to go well with itself, not always other stuff).

[Commissar]

B9. Stubby things. Meant for use with the Atlas landing engine (like pretty much all B9 stuff, meant to go well with itself, not always other stuff).

yeah... i do have them on sliders, but the problem is that there's not enough room between the legs for a sr. docking port... might just use some KAS electromagnets to hold it in place after lifting it with a standard docking port... or a crane. those usually work... but are a pain to get over to duna... soo many options...

[Commissar]

well, i had a lightbulb moment, and decided to combine the forklift and the crane. hoists and transports modules. need some slight modifications, but it hauled the 25 ton housing module from the pad, to a spot on the other side of the runway (i'm gonna test fit all my base components BEFORE sending them to duna.)

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[Dacker]

I figured out what my problem was - I had the wrong part selected for "control from here." It defaults to a part that is sitting sideways, so the rocket always thought left was up. When I clicked on a different pod and selected "control from here" it worked fine.

[DeepSpaceDutch]

First of all; OP, thank you very much for this tutorial, finally a solid way to build my bases, yay!!

I'm just starting, only have a two prototype bases on Kerbin right now (but I'm expanding to Duna shortly)

KB Launchview (testing if modules fit and basic construction)

KB "Manley" (testing launch, orbital manoeuvres, reentry, landing and construction)

I saw a few methods in this thread on how to deliver the modules to the surface and I thought I'd share my approach using a back-pack type landing package;

Advantages in my view are;

- Landing horizontal (using the command pod that's on top of the back-pack the nav-bal is also orientated correctly)

- No residual landing parts on the module

- Lightweight (?, actually, this is a guess on my part)

- Re-usable through sub-assembly

- Controlled crash of the back-pack

Any feedback is appreciated!

[Justin Kerbice]

@DeepSpaceDutch: nice design for your carrier, mind sharing it ?

It looks very effective considering the fuel tank (I think its the stock big fuel tank, am I right ?) is full.

KAS can be a great help in building such structure, especially in space, as the mod allow us to attach parts with more than docks.

I just start myself putting stuffes on Kerbin's orbit, space station are so far...

[Commissar]

oh boy... i think i may have gotten some strange disease from base building... i'm now designing a mobile crane... to assemble an even bigger crane... to assemble parts for my base... I haven't actually put anything into space in at least a week...

getting my module transporter fit onto a rocket is going to be... interesting... considering it is quite a bit wider thean even my space station... and lacks any sort of convenient attachment point...

i have Extraplanetary lauchpads, and I can easily get the pad, and all the parts i need to duna, but putting them together is the problem...

[Cheezfriend]

excellent post, very helpful indeed. Will be using this as a reference when I build my base

[Rune]

Give credit where credit is due. My new Base Pack uses these techniques, which I learned from the first iteration of these bases. So even though I don't think Temstar posts anymore, thanks guy! You made my job way easier. I basically take the idea behind this, and standardize launcher and delivery systems, while reducing the number of different modules:

This is basically it, but you can easily double on the non-science modules to get more grandiose bases, and so on and so forth:

Rune. On the shoulders of giants

[brusura]

Very interesting reading Temstar, I'll have to try this

[FiReWaLL]

Ingenious, sofisticated and yet a simple solution! Great concept! Can't wait to try iot out!

[DeepSpaceDutch]

This is basically it, but you can easily double on the non-science modules to get more grandiose bases, and so on and so forth:

Hi Rune, how did you deliver those vertical orange tanks to the surface?

[ArmchairGravy]

Nice tutorial. I hadn't thought about using a detachable rover.

[Lord Banjo]

Point 3 Why don't they line up?, screamed at me The Claw!

[Shna_na]

This is fantastic. I've needed something like this for a while, how have I never found this thread? Thanks a bunch for making this, bookmarked it and added it to your reputation. You're making the community that extra little bit better .

[RW-1]

This is fantastic. I've needed something like this for a while, how have I never found this thread? Thanks a bunch for making this, bookmarked it and added it to your reputation. You're making the community that extra little bit better .

Seconded, fantastic job! I learned quite a few things reading this this morning. Thank you.

[Blind Dead McJones]

I like this idea, but I tried the "bottom loader" concept of construction probe and it doesn't want to line up when I test it at KSC. The magnetic attraction is clearly there when I drop the base module on the probe, but it doesn't make the connection and instead it just slides around on top.

[David H]

Wheres the probe pod? I'm able to control any part of this even though theres no probe.

Still. Evenly balanced. Got it to hover on kerbin. Just couldn't land safely.

Now have to figure how to get the tanks and all the other parts up there. Then theres the issue of landing the tanks, experiments, modules and all that other stuff.

I found the probe. Nicely hidden underneath.

Edited April 28, 2014 by David H