Base logistics

[Jarin]

I did it! My actually functional permanent Minmus installation! (Skipped Mun because I hate landing and near-zero gravity makes life easier)

Setting this up, however, brought a problem to my attention. The vast majority of Kethane on Minmus is located on hilly regions, but I found a few hexes on the plain and set up my base there. It's not a resource-rich area, though, and I expect I'll be running it dry before terribly long. So, my question is this...

My current plan is to lift a set of larger fuel/kethane storage tanks to append to the base, but I'm wondering if I need to design it to be easily-relocated later or not. Those of you who run long-term resource bases, how do you handle kethane exhaustion? Do you try to pack up the whole facility and move everything to a new hex? Or do you build remote mining vehicles that can mine decent quantities, then return to base for refining?

This question gets even messier if I want to install the remote launch facility mod and need "parts" resource mining. The bigger the base gets, obviously, the harder it is to relocate, so I'm curious how others handle this sort of logistics.

[Scotius]

This is one of the reasons i've never tried building permanent fuel bases off-world. After resources are exhausted, your base is next to useless. We would need nearly infinte deposits (with low rate of extraction), or a science location(s) that would give long-time profit. As of now only reason to build a base is it being cool. Or challenging. Or if you plan on writing AAR

[Rainbow-Dashie]

I never made mining bases in Kethane, i tried, but i could never land all the equipment for some reason...

Instead i would build large interplanetary cruisers, loaded with tiny "miner drones" and kethane scanners, and when my ship was running low on fuel, i would fly out to a moon or planet, scan it, then launch 20-some drones down to the surface to mine the Kethane. Bring it back to the ship to be refined, and Ta-Da! Infinite fuel! (sort of)

[SkyRender]

Well done. Now install TAC Life Support and add a new level of challenge: keeping the Kerbals at your base alive.

[FellipeC]

This is one of the reasons i've never tried building permanent fuel bases off-world. After resources are exhausted, your base is next to useless. We would need nearly infinte deposits (with low rate of extraction), or a science location(s) that would give long-time profit. As of now only reason to build a base is it being cool. Or challenging. Or if you plan on writing AAR

You mean the planet may run out of kethane?

[Tw1]

With Minmus, the gravity is low enough you could easily use rockets to convay kethane from further out to the base, without many losses.

The diminishing science thing though, that's one reason why I hope that we get the ability to collect actual data, rather than just points to earn. Collecting data means you could poke around for a long time.

[shoveycat]

I think thats the exact area where i set up my base (!)

[Jarin]

Well done. Now install TAC Life Support and add a new level of challenge: keeping the Kerbals at your base alive.

That sounds like a rather interesting challenge, actually. I assume there's some way to "produce" oxygen at an outpost? At least I wouldn't have to worry about power for heating, since I'm running KSP Interstellar (not cheating... I had to earn something like twice as much science to unlock the mod parts <.<). I'd have to bring Jeb home before installing it, though. I'm sure it has quite the learning curve...

I think thats the exact area where i set up my base (!)

If kethane distribution is fixed and not randomized, then yeah, I bet it is. There's literally only one spot on the planetoid where you have kethane on the "plains" of Minmus. Right on the eastern edge of one.

I think I'll try the "mining shuttle" strategy and see if I can't keep this base fixed where it is.

[Unfawkable]

Is this Kethane stuff a mod?

[Monkeh]

Yes it is