WOLF Tutorial for Kerbin

Chapter 1. Introduction

Roverdude’s WOLF mod, part of the USI’ MKS mod and contained within the USI Constellation package, provides a means for developing truly large networks of colonies without having to tempt the kraken to come due to large part counts. Descriptions of the design philosophy and parts can be found on the MKS Wiki , including other tutorials created on earlier versions of the mod. I relied heavily on the WOLF Parts page in the Wiki, specifically in the Modules section, to help determine which WOLF components were required for each resource.

This tutorial is written using the latest and final(?) instance of the USI Constellation. The objective is to demonstrate the minimal path forward to use WOLF for setting up a working colony building system.

Mods used in this tutorial:

• USI Constellation
• Firespitter Core (replaces Firespitter packaged with USI Constellation to remove the Firespitter parts)
• Module Manager to manage configuration modifications
• KSP-AVC for in-game version checking
• (OPTIONAL) Mechjeb 2 to help with launches and rendezvouses
• (OPTIONAL) Navball Docking Alignment Indicator CE-2 to help station docking

The plan is to establish WOLF depots as necessary so that:

1. Ships can be refueled in Kerbin orbit
2. Ships can be built in Kerbin orbit
3. Kerbals can be sent from Kerbin surface to Kerbin orbit

Using these same methods, depots can be similarly made on and around any other planetary body, from the Mun to Eeloo. A separate tutorial will look at setting up WOLF Components on the Mun.

Chapter 2. Kerbin Operations

Survey KSC And Create A Depot

The first task is to create a depot on Kerbin. Any biome can support depots, but the simplest to start with is the KSC biome. This one is alo the easiest to connect to for routes going to orbit since all ships start in the KSC biome.

Creating a depot involves two steps: surveying the biome with the WOLF Surface Scanning Module and connecting a WOLF Depot part to the biome.

A simple construction allows us to do this. Note that the survey cannot be done when attached to a Depot, so we use a separator to physically separate the two.

When launched on the KSC runway, stage the ship to separate the depot, then use the Surface Scanning Module’s part action window (PAW) to “Survey WOLF Biome”.

Also shown in this screenshot is the WOLF Dashboard. It is accessed by clicking on the wolf icon in the menu bar.

Once you see the message that the biome is surveyed, change to the depot and use its PAW to “Establish Depot”.

The Depot will vanish, so you can reconnect to the Surface Scanning Module part and recover the vessel.

The WOLF Dashboard has changes now under both the Depots and Harvestable Resources tabs. By default, on Kerbin, new depots come with a starter set of Food, MaterialKits (MK), Oxygen, Power, and Water. Depots created off-world, including Kerbin orbit, only have Power.

The Harvestable Resources are available for use with other WOLF components now. Generally, you use Harvesters to harvest the resources and then use Extractors, Refineries, and Fabricators to make more complex materials.

Switch to the remaining part and recover the vessel to clear the runway.

One key note here: if you go to the tracking station, you will not see any parts. WOLF depots and their extensions do not stay around, but rather work in the background. To find out what depots have been created and what resources are available, use the WOLF Dashboard.

Survey Kerbin Orbit And Create A Depot

Next, we’ll establish a depot in Kerbin orbit (KO). Orbital depots do not need to be at a specific altitude, other than in a “low” orbit. This again requires first surveying the biome with the WOLF Surface Scanning Module and then connecting a WOLF Depot part to the biome.

Note that the TS-12 Stack separator is not enabled; this is to prevent accidentally releasing the depot too soon.

I used MechJeb to insert the ship into a 80k orbit. Once there, the same steps are performed as on the runway:

• separate the depot
• surveying the biome
• establish the depot

Once the depot is established, it appears on the WOLF Dashboard

Note that the KO depot does not have the same default resources as the KSC depot

There are also (not surprisingly) no harvestable resources in orbit. Seeing that two USI resources are listed, as well as water, implies that these are potentially harvestable in other orbits, though.

Now we can begin expanding the depots with additional capabilities, connecting them and sending WOLF materials between them with routes, and extracting those WOLF materials into usable KSP materials.

Note for cleanup, I used the tracking station to switch to and deorbit the booster so there is less orbital debris.

Build Refuel Station

Build a station in LKO with a WOLF Fuel Hopper (2.5m). This part uses two WOLF Fuel resources to produce 180 Liquid Fuel and 220 Oxidizer a day once connected to a depot.

Note that this part can be changed after it is installed to one of the other fuel types for a cost of 22 SpecializedParts (SP) and 110 MKs.

Four ports are added to the bottom if we want to expand the fuel storage later. For now, we’ll keep the empty booster stage for Lf+Ox storage.

The Clamp-O-Tron Construction Port Sr. ports on the top and bottom of the station are from the USI Konstruction mod, part of the USI Constellation, and allow parts to be welded together at a later date. This will be useful when we add other key structures to the station.

A large tank of monopropellant is included on the bottom for later storage, though it will have to be manually replenished with a ship from Kerbin. If decided later, another hopper could be added that only does monopropellant. There are many different fuel types included, including Karbonite and Karborundum.

My standard practice is to put Kerbin stations in a 120 km orbit. I used MechJeb to get there, then used MechJeb’s Maneuver Planner to circularize the orbit myself and aligned the orbital plane to have as close to zero inclination as possible by matching planes with the Mun..

Once there, attempting to connect the Fuel Hopper to the depot gives a message that there must first be “(2) Fuel” available, so we need to produce the fuel at the KSC depot and develop a route from the KSC depot to the KO depot before connecting the hopper.

Refine WOLF Fuel

Use WOLF modules to refine 2 WOLF fuel units from water in the KSC biome. To do this, use the Planner in the WOLF Dashboard by clicking on the WOLF in the hangar and then clicking on the Planner tab along the top of the window. Make sure the Depot is set to “Kerbin: KSC” as this is where we plan to place this depot.

We’ll add WOLF parts as necessary until all the Available column is no longer red. First, a Refinery is chosen and changed to the “Fuel (Ore)”Recipe. To choose the recipe, either repeatedly click “Next Recipe” or “Previous Recipe” until the desired recipe appears at the top of the dialog window, or repeatedly click the button above “Next Recipe” until the desired recipe appears at the top of the dialog window.

Once chosen, positive Fuel and Power appear in the resource list, but negative GeologistCrewPoint, Maintenance, and Ore values appear. Crew points are handled by actually adding crew members of that particular skill. I tend to wait until all other resources are addressed before adding crew just to reduce the number of times I have to go to the Astronaut Complex.

Adding the Maintenance module adds plenty of Maintenance points, but brings along the need for an Engineer, Kolonist, and Mechanic.

Adding a MHU-500 configured for Ore takes care of the Ore needs.

At this point, we need to add crew, so we go to the Astronaut Complex and hire the needed people.

Using whatever parts you want, add enough room for the new crew and place them in there. I used two MK1 Crew cabins (two seats per part at 550 funds each), though I could have used something like a PD-10 Hitchhiker Storage Container (four seats at 4000 funds). It’s up to your personal choice.

Adding the crew now requires adding Habitation and LifeSupport.

Once these two parts are added, all Available resources are green so we’re good to go so we can deploy the ship. First though, there is no controlling part, so I added a simple USI Avionics package before deploying.

Once on the runway, select any part and use the “Connect to depot” option in the PAW.

The WOLF Dashboard shows now that there is a lot more going on in the depot.

The WOLF Dashboard also shows on the Harvestable Resources that we’ve harvested five (5) Ore, leaving 20 for future use.

Two notes here:

1. Any crew on this ship are no longer available in the game, you can’t retrieve them. If you have special kerbals or ones with high stars, you may want to hire a new one and use them.
2. The actual numbers for the resources may change between games. If your numbers differ from mine, you may have to use additional Harvesters to get what you need.

Try To Build A Cargo Route To KO

Now that Fuel is available at the KSC depot, we need to get it to the KO depot so we can connect our fuel hopper.

Build a simple booster to send two WOLF Cargo Kontainer (1.25m), each of which provides a single transport unit, from KSC to LKO. We only need two at this point as the hopper requires two Fuel resources.

The ship needs a WOLF Transport Computer to record the stop and stop of the transport route. I recommend mapping the “Connect to origin depot” and “Connect to destination depot” to hot keys for ease during launch and flight.

Ensure there is enough dV to reach low KO.

Before launching, connect to the origin depot on the WOLF Transport Computer. There should be a message stating you’ve started the route.

Once you reach a stable orbit and attempt to connect to the destination depot on the WOLF Transport Computer’s PAW, you’ll find out you need transport credits. Exactly how many depends on how efficiently you flew the ship to orbit and how high you went. This example requires thirty-six (36)..

We cannot complete this route until there are enough TransportCredits (TCs).

Note 1: One WOLF design decision is how you build transport routes. Ideally, you want to require the lowest number of TCs as possible. This is done by making the ships and flights as efficient as possible so that the overall mass of the ship, including things like fuel and stages, does not vary much between the origin and destination depots. One way to accomplish this is to use single stage to orbit (SSTO) ships such as space planes that get most of their oxidizer from the atmosphere. For simplicity of design and to demonstrate creating Transportation Credits, I’ve used a single stage vertical ship. You may have better designs that are more efficient.

Note 2: You can use the MKS Transfer Resources capability to reduce TC costs. Accessed from the fork lift icon in the menu bar, the Transfer Resources dialog allows transferring resources (not crew) between ships within 250 meters of each other. Given this, it’s possible to send up a ship for cargo routes, refuel the ship from the target station using this capability, then complete the transport route for zero TCs. In my head-canon, I can justify this by paying the full TransortCredit cost for the initial route to establish a route bringing the fuel up, then refueling later transport chips from that. You can decide for yourself if that is cheating or not. For the tutorial, we won’t use this to establish new routes but will pay the TCs for each expansion to the shipping route.

Create Transport Credits

TCs represent the cost in fuel and materials required to move supplies from one depot to another. If we use an electric rover to move between depots in Kerbin biomes, the cost is zero. However, for ships that consume fuel, the cost is higher. There is no means of predicting the TC cost of building a route without actually attempting the route.

Open the WOLF Dashboard and go to the Planner tab. Make sure that the Depot is set to “Kerbin: KSC”.

Use the WOLF modules to create the necessary WOLF transport credits. The first step is to use multiple WOLF Transport modules, each one providing ten (10) TCs.

From here, we do the same process as when we created the Fuel resources earlier: repeat adding parts and crew until all Available resources are green. For this need, I wound up with a large ship with a crew of five. Again, I used a USI Avionics Package to control the ship.

Once launched to the runway, use the PAW for any WOLF part to connect to the depot.

There are now forty (40) TCs available.

Now we can go back to the transport ship and to add the route from KSC to KO. This time, when you connect to the destination depot, you should have success.

The WOLF Dashboard, under the Routes tab, now shows the two cargo spaces area available going from KSC to KO.

Build Fuel Route From KSC to KO

We’d now like to build the route from KSC to KO so we can connect the hopper at the station, But looking at the Resources that are available at the KSC depot, we see there are zero (0) Fuel available. When we built the ship to produce the TCs, we used the fuel we had already produced. Therefore, we need to add another production of two WOLF fuel credits.

Note that not as many WOLF parts are required this time since there are extra resources already in the depot.

Deploy this ship to the runway and attach to the depot.

Now there are enough additional fuel resources so we can build a cargo route from KSC to KO for the fuel. This is done by clicking on the Routes tab in the WOLF Dashboard.

Click “Manage Transfers”, and in the new popup window, ensure the route is “Kerbin:KSC => Kerbin:Orbit”. Click on the Fuel option, change the Transfer Amount to 2, then click Transfer. The new route appears in the bottom of the window as well as showing up on the Routes tab of the WOLF Dashboard.

You are now transporting two Fuel resources from the KSC biome to Kerbin Orbit. This is a continual process, meaning, you don’t have to manage this anymore. Behind the scenes, whether you're in view of Kerbin or time warping, there will always be two fuel resources available in Kerbin orbit. We’ll work next on seeing how to use those resources.

Connect KO Refuel Station

Return to the station and notice that the WOLF Dashboard shows there are tow (2) Fuel resources available in the KO depot.

Connect the station to the depot.

Start the hopper and notice that there are small amounts of Liquid Fuel (Lf) and Oxidizer coming into the station.

This is the smaller hopper, 2.75m, so the refresh will be slow, but the fuel tank will refill. For this station, it takes 96 days to completely fill the remainder of the fuel tank. For the Lf , it loads at 180 Lf / day. This station has three tanks, each holding 6480 L, so it requires (3 * 6480 Lf) ÷ 180 Lf per day = 19,440 ÷ 180 = 108 days to completely fill.

What this means from a game playing standpoint is that you can now have ships return to KO and refuel instead of having to land and relaunch from Kerbin.

Chapter 3. Expand Kerbin Operations

Instead of building ships on Kerbin and using a booster to get them into orbit, we can instead build them in orbit using the Konstructor parts. These require additional resources such as SpecialParts, Alloys, Polymers, etc., but mostly MKs.

We could ship up the MKs to the Konstructor, or we could add a new hopper to the station and use WOLF to do it for us. Then we only need to send up small amounts of the other parts as necessary. Setting up the MK hopper requires flying more ships initially to orbit in order to increase the units available for transport from KSC to orbit, but we‘ve done this once and know we can do it for around 40 travel credits.

Adding TransportCredits

Looking at the current Depot resources, it appears we have two (2) extra Mks and four (4) TCs already available.

Building out the remaining structure needed for the TCs looks like this for me.

Once deployed, there are more than enough TCs to launch, and the needed two (2) MKs.

Expand The Route For MaterialKits

The route is expanded using another ship built just like the cargo ship used for the Fuel route.

Design Note: The route does not have to be expanded. Instead, once the fuel is refilled, the fuel hopper can be removed from the depot and the fuel route removed, then a new route for the MKs could be built for the MKs hopper. Once the MK tanks are filled, the fuel hopper can be reattached. Having the single route does not allow for parallel fuel and MK loading, so it takes more time to fill both hoppers. In this tutorial we’ll just add more to the transport route. This is an example of one of the WOLF tradeoffs that can be made: do you create more supply routes to ensure each hopper is continuously refilled, or do you manually adjust them as needed to allow for smaller routes

Connect to the KSC depot before launch.

Launch into a low circular orbit, then connect to the KO depot.

Once the route is expanded, use the WOLF Dashboard to create a new route for the Material Kits like we did for the Fuel route.

Adding MaterialKits To The Station

We’ll build a Manufacturing hopper configured for the MK recipe and add it to the existing refuel station. To ensure there is a large amount of MK storage available, we’ll add separate empty 5m MK containers to the station. Also included is a separate taxi to bring the module to the station. The taxi can be used for other later module’s, too.

VAB Ship: WOLF MaterialKit Expansion

Launch the new station hopper and attach it to the existing station and depot.

You can start the hopper, but there is no storage for the MKs, yet.MK kontainers can be sent up to store the required MKs and attached to the station using the new docking assistant.

The MK hopper is connected to the KO depot and the hopper is started. The hopper produces 2,000 MK per day, and there is room for 128,000 MK in the kontainer, so it will take 128000 ÷ 2000 = 64 days to fill the kontainer. If larger craft are to be made, more MK kontainers can be sent as needed.

If we weren’t also refueling the other hopper, we could disconnect the refuel and redo the fuel route to speed up the MKs, or we could create another transport route. For now, we’ll expend time loading rather than resources creating routes.

Add The Konstructor to Station

While the Mun station is refueling and the KO refuel station is loading material kits, we need to launch the KS-250-O KonStructor and attach it to the refuel station with the taxi.

This ship includes the KS-250-O KonStructor - Orbital Shipyard, and additional connector points are added in case we need to add other modules later. Because this is the first station piece that will have an occupant, there are the essentials needed to allow an extended stay from the Life Support aspect:

• A PPD-10 Hitchhiker to provide habitation space
• A 2.5m Life Support tank to hold supplies
• Two RT-500 Recycling modules to extend the supplies

Also, a set of empty Kontainers are provided for when additional resources are needed to build a ship. If we need these resources, we can use a resupply ship to send what’s needed, dock at one of the ports, transfer the resources to the station, and get rid of the resupply ship.

We’ll launch the ship like the others, into a 110km orbit, then approach the station. There, we’ll attach the taxi that was sent up earlier, separate the Konstructor model, and attach to the station.

The KS-250-O KonStructor - Orbital Shipyard needs 4000 MK to deploy. Once we have that, click the Deploy button in the Konstructor’s PAW.

The next step is to Open Konstructor, giving the Konstructor window. This is done in the Konstructor’s PAW, clicking Open Konstructor.

To build ships, first select the ship, make sure you have the required parts, then click the Build button. This example shows how we could build another MK Kontainer in orbit, rather than shipping it. After a few orbits, we would have the MKs, but we would need to send up some SPs, Alloys, and Synthetics.

Chapter 4. Transporting Kerbals

In addition to allowing transport of materials and fuel, WOLF can build routes to transport kerbals between depots. Crew routes require WOLF terminals at both the originating and destination depots. Adding the depots is as simple as connecting the WOLF part to the depot, but before you can use them, you may have to add additional Habitation to the depot in order to support the Kerbals that will pass through. Once you have the depots, you fly a ship with WOLF Crew Kontainers and a WOLF Transport Computer to create flights that require TCs, similar to how we made the Fuel and MK flight routes.

Building Terminals

We’ll build a KSC terminal using the WOLF Terminal (10m). For the orbital end, we’ll use the WOLF Terminal (3.75m). Note that these have different capacities: the dome supports twelve (12) kerbals while the 3.75m terminal only supports six (6) kerbals at a time. We’ll place the 10m terminal on wheels so that we can explore our options on creating a crew route, using either the launch pad or runway. The crew transport craft’s Transport Computer must be within 500m of the terminal and in the same biome in order to begin a route.

I use the Malemute Rover to ship crew to the Terminal when the route is finally opened. Here’s an example. I include an engineer to remove the struts, wheels, and landing legs. The engineer and another kerbal adjust the Malemute port as needed so the Malemute can dock. . Finally, the ground tether is turned on and the terminal connected to the depot.

Next, we’ll build a terminal on the orbital station. We’ll build the component in orbit using the Konstructor then use the station taxi to retrieve it and attach it to the station. We’ll not use a Konstruction port on the top end as this is the last planned module of the station.

Also included in this module is another PPD-10 Hitchhiker Storage Container, more recycling modules, and room for more supplies. The terminal can hold up to six crew, but we need to have room elsewhere or we can’t receive any other crew. Later, if we need it, we can add MKS Kerbitat modules and Agriculture modules to support larger crews.

A RC-001S Remote Guidance Unit is included with a small thruster solely to keep the module stable until the taxi attaches. It has both Clamp-O-Tron regular and senior ports so it can be held out of the way at the station until it can be recycled at the station later by an engineer.

Opening the Konstructor window on the station shows that to build this module we need:

• 17,391 MKs
• 93 SP
• 36 Alloys
• 16 Synthetics
• 1 Robotics We’ll use a small resupply ship to bring up the extra pieces, as well as Supplies and Monopropellant to fill up the tanks.

Once attached to the station, transfer all the resources to the larger tanks. I found it easier to use the Transfer Resources tool before actually connecting to the station rather than moving them once docked.

Now we only have to wait a while to get the needed MaterialKits, not quite eight (8) days.

While writing this tutorial, I encountered a “feature” where the Konstructor said I was “missing one or more required resources” even though there were enough. I went to the tracking station and then back to the orbital station, and the message was gone.

Use the taxi to pull the terminal module into the station. You’ll need to detach the small controller before connecting the terminal to the station.

Once the terminal module is in place, compress the construction ports between the modules to wind up with a single long station.

Go ahead and start the Habitat and Converter options on the PPD-10 Hitchhiker Storage Containers, as well as the Life Support on the RT-500 Recycling Modules in preparation for crew arriving. And finally, before returning to the space center, don’t forget to connect the terminal to the depot.

Adding Habitation For The Terminal

Whether you use the SSTO or launched transports below, you’ll be notified that four (4) additional Habitation are required before the route can be started. Adding the Habitation requires adding several other Components, resulting in a situation like this:

The bottom right shows that we have enough resources remaining in this biome. If we didn’t, we can get some from other biomes. See Chapter 5 - Adding Depots for a tutorial on this topic.

Adding the ship shows we now have plenty of Habitation.

Build Crew Route From KSC To KO

Crew routes, like any routes, are built by using the Transport Computer to track the travel of a WOLF Crew Cargo Kontainer from an origin depot to destination depot. Both depots need to be within 500m of a terminal. There will be TCs required for the journey, so there are trade-offs on what type of vehicle is used. For this tutorial, I’ll use a vertically launched ship, even though it requires more TCs. I include a sample SSTO, though, to show a comparison. You may be able to do better.

Launched Crew Transport

Before launching, if you didn’t earlier, be sure to connect the terminal to the depot

Now, connect the crew route to the KSC depot before launch and go into an orbit that brings you within 500m of the station.

Attempting to connect to the terminal without refueling requires an additional 63 TCs at the KSC depot (yours may be different).

It may be easier to go with a flown crew transport instead of a launched one to save on the number of modules we need to build.

Flown Crew Transport

The SSTO ship can be in any configuration that works for you, but we need to ensure it at least can carry the 2.5 Crew Cargo Kontainer and Transport Computer.

To fly a crew transport from the KSC runway, place the terminal near but not on the runway. I find placing it near the water tower is a good location. When you take off, connect to the terminal when you’re within 500m.

Connecting without using Logistics requires an additional 21 Transport Credits at KSC while using Logistics allows for connection with no additional TCs.

Given the difference in launch approach, it makes most sense to use the SSTO ship and add 21 TCs to the KSC depot.

Once this is connected to the depot, we can go back to to the space plane and connect to the depot.

Now when you click on the airport icon in the menu bar, you get the Crew Transfers window, and it shows the flight from KSC to Kerbin.

Transferring Crew

However you build the crew route, with launcher or spaceplane, once the route is established, the airplane icon on the menu bar opens the Crew Transfers window.

In order to schedule a flight, there needs to be Kerbals in the KSC terminal. We’ll use the terminal bus to help move the crew into the KSC terminal. And send an Engineer to the station as a demonstration.

For demonstration, we’ll move a single kerbal engineer to the station to do some cleanup. The kerbal does not have to be transferred into the terminal as long as the bus is connected. If you need to take the bus away, go ahead and transfer the kerbal inside the terminal. Note that there is no IVA for inside the terminal. Also note that though we created two terminals, one near the launch pad and one near the runway, since the completed route was from the runway, you must depart from that terminal.

Once we have the kerbal attached to the terminal, he shows up on the Crew Transfers window. Select the flight on the left side, select the kerbal in the middle section, then click Launch on the right. Two notes:

1. Kerbals are not available during flights. There is no means of getting them back other than them completing the trip.
2. The warning on the right side that this is not a full flight. Ideally, we’ll fly full or mostly full flights going forward.

This flight takes slightly over two days. You can check the crew transfer window while doing other things later to see the flights’ progress. The time remaining is shown on the right side of the Crew Transfer window.

Once the time is up, you can go to the orbital terminal and find the passenger. The Crew Transfer window shows a countdown to zero, then allows you to disembark the passenger(s). This is done by selecting the passengers in the middle pain and clicking Disembark.

The passengers are placed in the terminal (which does not have an IVA).

You can click on the 3.75m Terminal and click Transfer Crew to move the kerbal to a different part of the station. This makes room for other kerbals to come later. I’ll move him into one of the KS-250-O Konstructor - Orbital Shipyard for now.

Looking at the Life Support Status window, the kerbal should be good for a few years. However, as more kerbals arrive, the resources may become strained. At that point, you may want to add other non-WOLF MKS modules to the station such as the Agroponics and Kerbitat components in order to extend the supplies and habitation timers. Look at the MKS Wiki for strategies in those areas.

The final step is being able to return Kerbals. This could be done by trying to reuse the crew transport that was originally sent up, refueling it, and returning it to the KSC. Alternatively, you could either send up a better lander with the Crew Transport container, or even build it with the Konstructor. Whichever way you choose, the techniques are the same as what we’ve already developed.

One note: you will need to have TCs at the originating depot, the KO depot, so you would need to either send all the raw materials to KO, then add the WOLF parts, or build the TCs somewhere else and ship them to KO. I have not attempted this yet.

Chapter 5 - Adding Depots

If you find that your resources are different than shown in this tutorial, and eventually you don’t have enough of a harvestable resource, you will need to create a depot in another biome, harvest the resource there, and build transport routes to move the resource from one depot to another.

This section shows what would happen if we ran out of SUbstrate when adding the additional Habitation required for the terminals

A simple vehicle can be used to explore the Shores biome, which surrounds the KSC, and create a depot. We can then add the necessary WOLF components to harvest the Substrate and then build a transport route between the KSC and Shores depots.

When we build the route, we want to use the largest WOLF Cargo Kontainer available, the 5m, and multiples of them so we can build a large route quickly. By using an electric vehicle, there will be no associated transport costs.

When launched, we back up off the end of the runway and once stopped:

• drop the depot
• perform a WOLF survey
• switch to the depot
• establish the depot

We then switch back to the transport, use the WOLF Transport Computer to connect to the origin depot, drive back to the runway, and use the WOLF Transport Computer to connect to the destination depot.

The WOLF Dashboard shows there are two routes now: our original one from KSC to Kerbin orbit, and now one from Shores to KSC

The Harvestable Resources tab shows that we have 25 Substrate available in the Shores.

Using the Routes tab on the WOLF Dashboard, we’ll click the “Manage Transfers” button and see that there is no Substrate resource available. We have to harvest it first.

Before leaving though, we may as well create a route from KSC to Shores in case we need it later. This is done by using the WOLF Transport Computer to connect to the KSC depot, rolling back into the Shores biome, and connecting to the Shores as the destination depot.

At this point, we can recover the vessel.

Chapter 6 - Other Topics

Transferring Resources

MKS Provides a means to move resources from one ship to another when they are within 500m of each other, without having to actually be connected. Called Transfer Resources, it can be used to refill a ship that is building a cargo or crew route, significantly lowering or removing the TC costs for routes.

The screenshot below shows how we could have built the crew transport route from KSC to KOwithout a TC cost.

It’s up to you to determine if this is “cheating” in your game. At times, I’ve justified that the cost of moving the fuel to the station is already paid for, so taking advantage of it is fair game.

Transfer Resources is also useful when resupplying a station. Often, attaching a large ship to a station invites the kraken to visit, so transferring remotely can be very helpful.

Recycling MaterialKits

Ships and parts that are no longer needed can be recycled by an Engineer on EVA by clicking on a part and using the “Disassemble Part” in the PAW. If the part is near an MK storage container, the part will be converted into some number of MKs and stored.

For example, the engineer that was sent to the station at the end of the tutorial can be used to break down the resupply ship, rather than sending it back to Kerbin for disposal. The Poodle engine when disassembled equates to 875 MKs that are added to the station's MK store. This can be done for the rest of the ship to help restock the station. Be sure to move any consumable resources out of the part first, like Lf/OX, Monopropellant, etc., before disassembling the part or the consumable resources will be lost.