Only My Second Venture into Space. Need just a bit of help...

[ellindar]

After my first space flight orbit, I knew I wanted to get a space station going in orbit. After MANY tries I finally got a pretty big honking thing out there lol. Pics below. However, I turned on the lights I had installed which looked awesome and they lost power after one orbit. I never put an electrical generator or solar panels etc.

So I watched a tutorial on how to dock and my station has 4 separate docking stations. What i would like to do is fly up there, dock with it, and install an electrical power source. While I could dock with it, how the heck do I take parts up to it? How do I install them once I do? Do I have to hook up the lights to this source somehow? I'm really lost on what to do next, any help or just a point in the right direction would really be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

images

I re-added the picture of the launcher, I can try and get a better one, but it has 6 of the large fuel tanks with the largest engines, with a 7th in the middle of them all. the Station is stacked above it with tons of struts to get it thru the launch lol. There are also 6 booster rockets, one on the outside of each of the 6 larger engines. I also have two extra fuel tanks on top of each main engine.

This last one shows the configuration better. I can't zoom out any further lol.

I can't seem to turn the station so I somehow guess I need to add rcs fuel... not sure how. ugh. lol

Edited October 16, 2013 by ellindar

[KasperVld]

Well, on your screenshots I see some loose ends on your space station, but none of those have docking ports attached to them. Without those I'm afraid you can't dock to it. Electricity is automatically wired through the entire space station, so that's not a hurdle

[Seret]

While I could dock with it, how the heck do I take parts up to it?

Assuming you do actually have docking ports, all you need to do is dock the required power components. So make yourself a power assembly, a structural component like a truss with some bigass solar arrays and some batteries on it would be fine. Make sure it's got at least two docking ports, one to attach to the station, one to detach from the vehicle you use to dock it.

Once you're doing assembly in orbit you might want to build yourself an orbital tug. This is a vehicle that stays in orbit, and is used for moving other bits around. Nuclear engines and plenty of RCS fuel for docking are the way to go. Just keep refuelling it when required. If you've got a decent sized launcher design, you could launch the tug with your power assembly already docked to the top. Zoom up to your station, dock, then undock the tug if required. Job done.

Another alternative if you're planning on sending kerbals up to the station is using a lifeboat to power it. You should probably have some way of recovering the kerbals back to the surface (just in case something goes wrong). Put a few extra solar arrays and batts on the lifeboat, leave it docked to the station permanently and use it to power it.

[Tw1]

If you're not adverse to modding your game, there's a great plugin called KAS, which has means of carrying and attaching things, but there may still be a bug hindering orbital attachment.

You launched that in one go? Most impressive. I'd like to see the launch vehicle, that would be quite a sight.

Welcome to the KSP forums!

[ellindar]

thanks for all the help! I think I understand the concept now and yes, there are literally 4 docking stations so no worries there. I love the idea of a lifeboat. The core of the station has tons of actual living space, how do you actually get kerbals to go live in it?

@Tw1: I did get the entire station in one go (many attempts at it tho and it was hard to handle). The second picture link is broken, I will try to fix it as that's the launcher I built.

[Khan_Tiger]

Well, on your screenshots I see some loose ends on your space station, but none of those have docking ports attached to them. Without those I'm afraid you can't dock to it. Electricity is automatically wired through the entire space station, so that's not a hurdle

The docking ports are all hidden in plain sight.

[Seret]

The core of the station has tons of actual living space, how do you actually get kerbals to go live in it?

You can have Kerbals inside any of the pods, spaceplane cockpits, or the hitchhiker module. There's also a little seat if you want to mount them outside. To have Kerbals in your station, you'll have to include those parts.

To turn your station the best thing to use is reaction wheels. The pods also generate some torque. Ideally you want to put your torque-generating part in the centre of the station. You can use RCS to turn the station, but it would mean burning fuel. Using torque just uses electricity, which is effectively free if you've got solar panels or RTGs.

Being able to turn your station is handy for docking, it's loads easier to dock if you can turn a docking port towards your docking ship as it approaches.

[ellindar]

Well, needless to say I was very frustrated when my huge station went black. So I built a new addition complete with solar panels, batteries galore, a nuclear generator, you name it lol, plus 4 extra fuel tanks. Then, after FINALLY figuring out rendezvous and docking and literally running a clampatron into another on the docking station i realized, I think the clampatrons I put on the station are on the wrong way!!! I was unable to dock. With SOME luck I realized I had also installed a shielded docking port. So I on my new ship and new edition I changed the docking ports and away I went. After many more frustrating attempts to get on target, I finally closed in, inched my way up and BOOM. I docked. The sense of achievement when finally docking and seeing that entire station immediately light back up and its sas kick in was just awesome. Its been QUITE awhile since a game was able to inspire the way this one does. I'm now thinking about bases on other planets and launching those missions from the orbiting station. I'm also going to make the station 5 times larger with continuous new additions with better port systems! Here is the 'shuttle' i built to deliver payloads and the station power extension I built just after docking!

image upload no size limit

here's a little better picture of just the shuttle and the station extension before docking:

how to capture screen

[Mr Shifty]

Nice work!

Be aware that large stations can cause your framerate to slow down to unusable. Once you get about about 500 parts (and that includes both your station and any ships being docked to it), you'll get lag. It's typically better to make simpler, lower part-count utility stations, unless you're just going for aesthetics.