WOLF — some useful tips
WIP
If you are using the latest pre-release constellation, some of this info is already wrong. The constellation is a package with all Umbra Space Industries mods together. It is recommended to delete the previous installation when updating.
You can send comments or questions to Tacombel
This is not meant as a step by step guide, so I recommend reading it from start to finish.
Some of design documents by Roverdude
WOLF - Transport credits and routes
If you want to check the forums for WOLF related posts, start here WOLF is born
Check WOLF — Industry without the part count if you haven't already for a step by step guide.
A lot of WOLF parts are far to the right in the tech tree, but there is extra science when you perform a WOLF biome survey with the Surface Scanning Module. 50 for each biome in kerbin and 250 for each one in The Mun and Minmus. There are also science points for deploying depots.
The planner is your friend
Plan backwards
Karbonite is simpler. Although I am now replanning my logistics, sending ore everywhere, as I can convert it to LF, OX, MP, LH2, Fertilizer and several other fuels with convert-o-trons.
In Kerbin, make fuel from water
The surface scanner is considered a WOLF part when establishing a depot. It also stops hoppers joining a depot, so, if you get an alarm saying that "depots must be detached from other WOLF parts before deployment" look for a surface scanner in your ship and remove it.
When starting a depot, the MHU-100 doesn't need power to operate -at the price of wasting resources-, while the MHU-500 is more efficient.
Some resources (top area of the planner) have the same name that the harvestable resources (bottom area of the planner), but they are not the same.
There are products (fuel, food) that can be produced from recycling your waste, but there is not enough of it until your colony grows.
Every part that is connected to a depot needs all its prerequisites provided in advance, so if you are going to separate the modules in different launches you need to plan in which order.
I will add a Fuel Hopper to my LKO station to refill its Karbonite tanks. Then, with a BSX-100 Karbonite Distiller I can get water, LH2, Oxygen and monopropelant. With a BSP-125 Karbonite Converter I can get LF and oxidizer. Simple.
To configure the module, check the available recipes in the previous pic, then press the button marked in black until the text marked in red shows the correct, recipe.
And to resume, we need to bring 5 units of WOLF Karbonite to the depot Kerbin:Orbit for the hopper to work. To lift this to Kerbin:Orbit we need 5 route capacity and so, I launch a cargo rocket to LKO. As a guide for design, the TC cost is the mass in tons that is lost between the origin and the destination while the Cargo Space of the route is the mass of the ship in tons when you close the route.
After connecting it to the depot I increase my cargo space by 2 at the cost of 7 Transport Credits, so to transport my 5 Karbonite to Kerbin:Orbit I will need 3 rockets, for a total of 21 TC in Kerbin:KSC (Now you need TC in the depot to connect the route and know the capacity it provides. In the future this will change and you will know the capacity of the vehicle before connecting it to the depot so you can test several designs until you find what you need and then start developing the depot to provide the necessary TC)
With this data go back to the VAB, open the planner and drag 3 x Transport Module and 1 x MHU-500 Bulk Harvester (Karbonite) and keep adding modules and crew until all the negative numbers dissapear.
This is one that will provide 10 Cargo Space for 29 transport Credits.
Plan your routes ahead. You can modify what is transported by a route, but you can't recover the TC invested. Think about, for example, a base at the Mun. I can make a simple ship that will create a route with 3 cargo space at my Mun Base. Mass at the launchpad is 50 Tons.
If I take it directly from KSC to the Mun it will cost 46 TC payed at KSC. But I can divide the trip in legs.
1- KSC-->LKO: Mass in LKO 8T-->Cost 42 TC, so I have a route of 8CS for 42TC payed by KSC
2- LKO-->LMO: Mass 6T-->Cost 2TC, so I have a route of 6CS for 2TC payed by LKO.
3- LMO-->Mun: I discard the stage that took me to the Mun before starting the WOLF route calculator, so I start with 4T. Mass landed 3T--> Cost 1TC
The second option is going to be more cost effective TC wise, but it implies setting up TC infrastructure in LKO and LMO.
And the second option is more flexible. If I stop using my Mun base, in the first case all 46 TC at KSC are lost, while in the second case I can use the first leg to carry things to LKO.
By the way, this ship is horrible. Previously I sent another one that was 10CSx29TC to LKO.
Time to transport things to the moons and back. We need TC to move resources to and from the depots, but we can't transport TC, so we need to manufacture them in orbit.
- In the VAB, open the WOLF Dashboard, select planner and with the arrows select Depot Kerbin:Orbit
- Drag a WOLF transport module to the build area
- Start adding modules as necessary to cover all necessities but resources. To get 10TC to use in routes from Kerbin:Orbit I had to add:
Habitation x 1 PPD x 2 Maintenance x 1 Transport x 1 Life Support x 1 Several crewmates
- Finally I need 4 x fuel, 4 x material kits and 5 x water which I lift from Kerbin.
I check the WOLF Dashboard and see I am missing some resources
so I start adding modules to get the resources I need while solving all the negatives in the planner
And then transport the resources to Kerbin:Orbit_ depot to make the TC module in orbit work.
For Kerbin SOI created this ship. It creates 13 Cargo Space from Kerbin:Orbit to Mun:Orbit for 4 TC.
And use this route to take suplies to Mun:Orbit
LifeSupport Hopper arriving to Mun Station. You can see 2 Fuel Hoppers and a lander. As the lander has a Surface Scanner it is necessary to undock it every time I want to connect a hopper to the depot.
Everything working. A continuous supply of Karbonite, supplies and monopropellant, directly from Kerbin.
When you have your orbital depots working, you can start to plan your planet and moon infrastructure. The mechanics are the same, go to the VAB, select in the planner your preferred biome (you can plan for any biome that you have scanned. It is not necessary to stablish a depot) and start adding the required modules, starting from the final product. It is not going to be easy.
This is what you need to transport or build in the chosen biome to get 10 Transport Credits. If you use this Cargo Space to take Karbonite to orbit you will be able to connect 2 x Fuel 3.75 hoppers able to produce 4000 units/day
And checking the harvestable resource part at the bottom of the planer tab I can see that although I added the extractors for all the necessary resources, there are some that are missing, so I will have to get them elsewhere and bring them here.
It is possible, like in Minmus in this example, that some resources are not present in the whole planet. In this case you can import them or use indirect production chains, using extractors. You can then dump the harvesters that where allocated for that.
This is the final result, where I am missing MetallicOre and will bring it from Minmus:Lowlands. Also, you can use the figures in column Harvested to search for a convenient biome to stablish your base. Those are the Harvestable Resources that you need in place, assuming you get your oxygen from water.
It is useful to design the full infrastructure and then, in the planner, switch the target depot at the top until you find the place where less resources are missing. Or, if you have knowledge of the geography, plan all the supply chain so you minimize the distance to the rest of the resources. Remember that on land you can have free (TC wise) routes using electric rovers.
By the way. I said it was going to be difficult. And you still have to take it to its destiny.
Just as with the stations, you can mix an MKS base from your WOLF depot. Just keep in mind that in most cases it is going to be easier to supply directly from Kerbin Orbit than setting up local infrastructure, so the decision of what you are going to do is a matter of choice. Economically is not worth.
Usually I set up a base that is capable of supporting itself just bringing fertilizer. The supply ship to the left has 4500 fertilizer, enough for +5k days worth of suplies.
If I want to advance toward autonomy I can set up a depot that produces fertilizer, like this one.
Or instead of fertilizer supply food directly. Or I could take a ship and create a route between Kerbin and my base and supply the fertilizer directly from KSC.
This ship provides 3 cargo space for 46TC from KSC to The Mun.
Then I expand my infrastructure in KSC with 45TC and 2 fertilizer for 3.5 million and setup the route.
And the only remaining thing is to move a hopper to my Muna base.