Your Base and Station purpose?

[corvustech]

Personally, I use them for mission hubs. A good station makes it easy to send a lander to and from a moon or planet, especially near low grav locations like Minumus. A space station is basically a starship without high-thrust propulsion (though RCS is nearly required due to docking spin). It's much less expensive to send a ship with fuel to use a lander that you've already got docked in space, than send a lander (and therefore need to use more fuel) with each flight.

They also function as science stations; use up your science Jrs and goo cans, then fly to the station, get them refined and transmitted from the lab, then reset the experiments and go get more science.

Finally, a ship or station permanently in orbit makes it much easier to complete Kerbal rescue missions.

That's all just stock. If you use resources, Interstellar Lite, or Station Science mods then colonization of space has a purpose.

[sal_vager]

I build station just for the look of the thing mostly, and as docking destinations as docking is fun

Ground bases however are great for precision landing practice, that's quite a bit harder and more fraught with danger, so is even more fun

[yaur]

I've a station with the science lab in mun orbit to refresh the goo containers and material experiments on reuseable landers. And sometimes orbital fuel depots can be usefull.

Just keep in mind that you are sort of doing this for RP perspective. From a fuel and RL time efficiency you are better off building one time use landers that have multiple science modules that you can discard once they are used. With this set up you do suborbital hops rather than get back into munar orbit after each landing.

I do sometimes setup a refueling and science return base in LKO. Its probably not strictly more efficient, but I like having a standard tanker that I know will deliver a certain amount of fuel, that I know will deorbit with out breaking up, and that I already know when/how much to burn to get it to KSC. It also provides some options from available missions... depending on how much time and how tired I am I can either go explore some celestial body, bring more fuel up, or bring a spaceplane/taxi up.

edit: Strike that I finally got around to doing the math and it will save you some dV for minmus if you hit every biome.

Edited September 18, 2014 by yaur

[problemecium]

And Refueling Stations are a really inefficient thing: Refueling the ship directly is ALWAYS more fuel saving than shipping it to a station and move the ship there too, no matter where the station is.

Yeeeahhhhh, no. Refueling stations do have a point - I can put huge reserves of fuel in orbit without also having huge piles of empty tanks and rocket engines in orbit driving up the part count, and moving a small, efficient ship to the station is actually more efficient than hauling the big thing all the way to where the ship is.

Also, said station can park an orbital shuttle, allowing the crew to move to a space taxi, and vice versa.

My main use for stations, though, is Science farming. I can put a big thing with a lab and a terrible TWR in orbit around, say, the Mun, and have a tiny lander attached to it. I can land it on the Mun, gather data from one biome, and then go all the way back to Kerb- except no: I can just go up to the station I have right above it, stuff the Science in the lab, and repeat. After three or four missions, the lab is filled with thousands of points which can be recovered or at least transmitted at a bonus (I actually do both for maximum profit). Then it only takes one "Science ferry" mission to grab all the data and schlep it back for massive rewards. Plus, contracts to plant a flag on the Mun or return data from Munar orbit become pieces of cake.

In short: stations can't do anything that's impossible for another mission format (then again, can any mission do anything that can't be done another way?), but they can do some things significantly better.

Edited September 18, 2014 by parameciumkid

[Franklin]

Well in stock its bases for flag planting, also fuel depots are nice.

If you use mods things changes, kethane or other mining mods make fuel depots far more useful, construction mods makes bases and huge stations very useful.

See the thing is even then, it's not all that useful. I mean, Kethane stations add resource procurement to the gas station process, so you're tacking on an oil rig to your diesel pump, but even then it's just a convoluted pit stop.

And in the big scheme of things you don't need a gas station (and much less an oil rig) to get anywhere in the system. You can get to Jool's moons and back without ever building a station. So really they're just big art installations people throw into the mission mix to give themselves something to do in a game that, despite all our building and moving things, doesn't have much to do.

Of course the retort to that quibble is always "but there are mods to add content", so it's never really addressed.

[Franklin]

I guess if it were otherwise impossible to get to a planet (or better, whole regions of the outer system) without first establishing a rendezvous gas pump then I'd say stations have a purpose. But as it is the system is tiny (by design, for some reason), so if you're not stupid you can get anywhere from anywhere else with the right rocket.

[Levelord]

Well I had a few uses for them...

A giant interplanetary re-fueling depot that also doubles as a snack bar.

Laythe ocean outpost

Small ocean research colony with landing pad

Ring station that acts as living quarters

Edited September 18, 2014 by Levelord

[Franklin]

gas station, gas station, science station, art installation.

i'll admit the ring one looks cool, though. may rip that one off some time.

[TimePeriod]

Science station is my NR1 reason to build them.

+Fuel capacity

+Refit the science modules

+Ship Science back to Kerbin.

[Godot]

My Mun Orbital station is there to refill my Lander and reload the experiments, so I can visit multiple Biomes without havbing to return to Kerbin for each Biome visited.

Other orbital bases, like the Duna orbital base, for example, are for refueling, restocking of lifesupport supplies (I play with TAC Lifesupport) and as a safe haven, should anything go wrong with manned missions there (For Duna, for example, this allows me to visit Ike as well, instead of having to return to Kerbin after Duna landing)

My orbital base around Kerbin on he other hand is primarily there to give Kerbals a good view of the planet. While it also usualy gets fuel tanks and a space scooter, Kerbin orbit is close enough to Kerbin, to immediately send rescue missions, in the rare case that something bad happens (that doesn´t result in the loss of all hands)

[lazarus1024]

I guess if it were otherwise impossible to get to a planet (or better, whole regions of the outer system) without first establishing a rendezvous gas pump then I'd say stations have a purpose. But as it is the system is tiny (by design, for some reason), so if you're not stupid you can get anywhere from anywhere else with the right rocket.

Maybe. However, some missions just aren't possible without some way to refuel your ship. Within vague reason you ARE limited in the size of your ship. Combine that with the bigger the ship is during each phase of a mission, the bigger every stage of the ship has to be earlier in the mission.

There gets a point where you cannot build such a vessel to carry out certain missions without refueling it somewhere. Or there are cost efficiencies in doing this.

Now, you could refuel with a purpose built mission, sure. Or you could do it with a station. Using a station you can get some efficienies and there are also some inefficiencies in doing it that way.

However, docking with a ship and refueling it (or have the ship dock with something and refuel it) can deffinitely make missions possible that wouldn't otherwise be possible.

[BananaDealer]

Well I had a few uses for them...

A giant interplanetary re-fueling depot that also doubles as a snack bar.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16683090/KSP/screenshot148.png

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16683090/KSP/screenshot150.png

Laythe ocean outpost

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16683090/KSP/screenshot111.png

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16683090/KSP/screenshot147.png

Small ocean research colony with landing pad

http://i.imgur.com/zgDQKKt.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Z9hAPLA.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/eCMxxZP.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/IBUY22Z.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/AcJiOEb.jpg

Ring station that acts as living quarters

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16683090/KSP/screenshot121.png

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16683090/KSP/screenshot145.png

Pretty sweet designs.

Really like the Munar one.

[SlyReaper]

And Refueling Stations are a really inefficient thing: Refueling the ship directly is ALWAYS more fuel saving than shipping it to a station and move the ship there too, no matter where the station is.

Not really the point. Get a full orange tank into orbit, and it will refuel multiple smaller, cheaper launches. Yeah, it's costly to get fuel up there, but "up there" is where it's most useful. I tend to get a fuel depot into orbit, and then stick docking ports onto all my SSTOs. Ever flown an SSTO spaceplane to Laythe and back? Having an orbital fuel depot makes that possible. Have another fuel depot around Laythe itself, and you could land there and return to Kerbin, though I've not done that myself yet.

[Jett_Quasar]

I build space stations, moon bases and space planes, take pictures of them, post them on these boards and get all kinds of rep.

So basically I do it for one reason - because I can & it's cool and fun (OK I guess that's three reasons).

JR

[GreeningGalaxy]

Science! Or something. Mostly its just a challenge for myself to see how many things I can dock together and how well I can plan a multi-part mission without screwing it up. It can also quickly become a test of how far you can haul things if you aim for somewhere like Jool, low solar orbit, or (Kraken help you) Eeloo.

I almost never use stations as fuel stations- I still don't get how it makes any difference if you fly the fuel up all at once for each mission or over the course of a long time with smaller tanker launches. I suppose for gameplay's sake you could hyperedit-refuel the station and just pretend you're spending whole days launching refuel missions and use the station so that you don't have to build mega-lifters for your huge ships, but I haven't built anything big enough for that to become a problem yet.

[SorryDave]

I stick all those Kerbals I rescued into a space station so I don't have to kill them.

I also launch fuel with a vertical SSTO to a fuel depot and reuse rockets that stay in space.

I build bases for the same reason I build rockets, for fun.

[Godot]

...

I almost never use stations as fuel stations- I still don't get how it makes any difference if you fly the fuel up all at once for each mission or over the course of a long time with smaller tanker launches....

Example Mun ...

I put a station up there (with a Lab in order to refill experiments) as well as fuel with the amount of 2 orange tanks. That´s 2 missions.

Now I launch a spaceship with a small reusable lander "on board" to Mun orbit, park the spaceship at Mun orbit and use the lander to land on Mun (with my scientific experiments) and then return to the orbital station in order to refill the tanks and reuse, store the experimental data in the return ship and reload the experiments.

Depending on the efficiency/size of the lander and the own piloting skills you now can do 5 or even more landings with the fuel and facilitis you have at hand in orbit around Mun .... without having to return to Kerbin or launch another ship to Mun.

And Rendeuzvouing and docking with the orbital base is rather easy with the right timing for the start from Mun (shortly before the orbital base is directly above you) and a little bit practise in docking (as well as a good balanced design with a good placement of RCS thrusters)

[Mystique]

Example Mun ...

I put a station up there (with a Lab in order to refill experiments) as well as fuel with the amount of 2 orange tanks. That´s 2 missions.

Now I launch a spaceship with a small reusable lander "on board" to Mun orbit, park the spaceship at Mun orbit and use the lander to land on Mun (with my scientific experiments) and then return to the orbital station in order to refill the tanks and reuse, store the experimental data in the return ship and reload the experiments.

Depending on the efficiency/size of the lander and the own piloting skills you now can do 5 or even more landings with the fuel and facilitis you have at hand in orbit around Mun .... without having to return to Kerbin or launch another ship to Mun.

And Rendeuzvouing and docking with the orbital base is rather easy with the right timing for the start from Mun (shortly before the orbital base is directly above you) and a little bit practise in docking (as well as a good balanced design with a good placement of RCS thrusters)

I do the same thing, I just don't call that orbital bunch of fuel tanks a station Usually it doesn't even have an engine - it's one or several big tanks (capable of fully refilling lander with LFO+monopropellant 5-6 times, usually it's more than enough, I get bored in process faster than fuel runs out, especially on Minmus), science lab, docking port for lander on one end, chutes and inflatable heatshield on another (I use it for reentry in order not to waste delta-v on lander every time I go for science-fishing). All other stuff, including power source and engine is mounted on lander - it needs power to transmit data on the go anyway plus I use its engine to save weight during whole mission. I found this more efficient than having engine-equipped fuel tanks in orbit, even though they can mount bigger engines to reduce burn times.

P.S. The only viable orbital base I see for now is refueling base using Davon supply mod. Once you built it, it becomes more or less automatic and can provide infinite supply of LFO+MP over time. I usually use 2 supply hubs for bigger shipments + big spherical take as fuel depot. Taking into account it's fully automatic, it doesn't require lots of power and, most important, parts, so framerate losses when nearing it with regular mission craft are acceptable. Also there is a small hauler that can detach big fuel tank and take it to mission craft and back in order not to dock with whole station itself.

[Tygroux]

I'm using remote-tech, and I have a shuttle with a command module and its crew in orbit.

Make the installation of those early relays far easier, until I can get a proper com station up and running, probably beyond minmus.

I tend to set-up those everywhere I plan extensive mission.

For now it's the kerbin system, then advanced outposts around gilly, Mike...

[Zephram Kerman]

If you have karbonite, put a station over Kerbin at about 73km to manufacture fuel while you're elsewhere doing missions. That's a lovely fuel depot because you don't have to resupply it.

[Story Books]

I'm still working on my first station, but I'm going for the flying gas station angle. Just seems to make a whole lot of sense. (Though as I discovered, getting a full sized rocket to rendezvous with the station can be tricky.)

[Beachernaut]

I build stations for efficiency and to cut down on tedium. I build bases (usually fairly small) because I like to.

I'm currently working through career mode without transmitting any science (all science is brought back to Kerbin). Using Kethane means that a station in orbit being refueled from a small moon is much more efficient than launching all that fuel from Kerbin. My mobile science/fuel station with a lander allowed me to collect all my science from Mun and Minmus with 2 launches instead of dozens. Mining Kethane on Mun and transporting it to my station in LKO allowed me to launch my Jool exploration ship empty from Kerbin. Getting 2 empty orange tanks to orbit takes much less fuel than getting 2 full tanks to the same place.

Granted, setting up this system is expensive at the start, but after it's set up it vastly decreases costs for interplanetary travel. Also, designing ships for dual purpose helps. For example: My Jool Exploration ship will be going on a 1 way trip to the Jool system packing a lander and Kethane miner/transport. The ship itself is designed to function as a station for refueling and science storage once it gets there, and with the kethane miner/transport, any further trips to Jool only need be designed with enough fuel to get there.

[Cuky]

I build my stations to have something to meet with in orbit. Also, while building my current station in 340km polar orbit I have learned to launch my rockets much more efficient. When I started with this station I needed to use one large stage, one smaller stage and 2 LFO boosters (same as first stage) to get my station modules into orbit. Now, I run those boosters at just about half of fuel capacity and I had reduced the size of second stage by half. I think there is still room for improvement and I think I will soon be able to change those 2 LFO boosters with few small SRB's. All parts are 3,75m with 3,75m extended fairing from KW, or inline 3,75m fairing if module is a bit narrower.

[GreeningGalaxy]

Example Mun ...

I put a station up there (with a Lab in order to refill experiments) as well as fuel with the amount of 2 orange tanks. That´s 2 missions.

Now I launch a spaceship with a small reusable lander "on board" to Mun orbit, park the spaceship at Mun orbit and use the lander to land on Mun (with my scientific experiments) and then return to the orbital station in order to refill the tanks and reuse, store the experimental data in the return ship and reload the experiments.

Depending on the efficiency/size of the lander and the own piloting skills you now can do 5 or even more landings with the fuel and facilitis you have at hand in orbit around Mun .... without having to return to Kerbin or launch another ship to Mun.

And Rendeuzvouing and docking with the orbital base is rather easy with the right timing for the start from Mun (shortly before the orbital base is directly above you) and a little bit practise in docking (as well as a good balanced design with a good placement of RCS thrusters)

If I was going to do that, I'd probably just launch one of my tanker-lander combo transit vehicles out to the Mun with all the fuel I'd need for however many landings I wanted to do. I guess that's arguably the same thing as a refueling station, but in this case it would function more like a regular ship mission. I suppose you could theoretically save on the amount of parts loaded at once if you flew the tanker out first and then the lander (thus reducing the amount of launch vehicle needed for each launch) but it would also be about the same if you docked in Kerbin orbit instead of at the Mun.

I suppose a station could make for some good infrastructure if you do a lot of reusable transit vehicles, and they suddenly make a whole lot more sense if you're running a mod that adds in-situ resources like Karbonite or KSPI- docking in orbit to refuel is totally better than having to land the whole ship on Vall and then make it back to orbit in once piece.

Stations are certainly fun, I agree with that much at least.

[justidutch]

I first started playing in .23. When I finally maxed out all the science, happily learning the game in the process, I wanted to build large majestic structures so bases or stations were an obvious choice. My first attempt was to make a small orbiting village, and it looked like this:

Then I quickly abandoned that because I wanted to make something remotely useful like a base on Minmus. I got around to building, launching and landing two structures, a small apartment block and a fuel depot:

After that 23.5 came out and I started a new career, and near the end of completing all the science I wanted to get architecturally expressive, so built this as a housing complex and fuel reserve. I'm sure there's plenty of room for discos, restaurants and drive-through snack bars:

I had trouble launching it, so designed something a little different and managed to get it barely into a stable orbit. I then got one fuel tank docked.

The living space is purely role-play and/or architecturally interesting, plus a challenge to launch something that large and wobbly. I was going to add a lot more components to this station, like a number of docking bays, more space for additional fuel tanks, and living quarters in a ring configuration to role-play gravity simulators.

I just returned from a 4 month hiatus and am waiting for the .25 release before I begin again. I have many plans in mind for massive orbital stations. No reason for them other than the challenge of building huge objects within a budget and without getting a ridiculously high part-count.

Edited September 19, 2014 by justidutch