Suggestions on how to handle this planet setup

[weedenbc]

Currently doing my first play through of the DLC and here's the planetary system I have:

My main base is the one in the middle and I currently have fairly well-developed outposts on the swamp world to the SE (which has the teleporter link and the oil biome) and the forest world to the W (which doesn't have much to offer except for metal volcanoes). Each have a single caretake dupe keeping things running. 

I am trying to figure out the most efficient way to travel to the two undiscovered planets using the new rocket setup. I have access to everything up through large petroleum engines. No matter how I configure a rocket with a small petroleum engine, it seems to max out at 6 tiles which is a one-way trip from my main planet to the undiscovered one to the NE. According to this post, large petroleum engines are pretty much limited to the same thing unless I want to stack two large liquid fuel tanks and two large oxidizer tanks on it. And even if I switched to hydrogen, I'd only get a range of 9 (again unless I added double tanks) that still wouldn't get me round-trip.

The forest planet to the W doesn't have oil, so I guess I'd have to setup a fuel depot or something with oil send over to it from the main planet so I could refuel the rocket? Is that how we're supposed to do this? Or am I missing something?

 

[Electroely]

The simpler option is the radbolt engine. If you can set it up to have 3 free module slots, then you can fit a trailblazer module and go wild on these planetoids. You don't need an orbital cargo module if you use the interplanetary launcher. But I think you can also manage this with a petroleum engine with just one fuel tank...

It should be able to make the round trip between your Irradiated Forest asteroid and the planet to the west. It only counts as 3 tiles:

You can use the interplanetary launcher and a payload opener to easily deliver the petroleum directly from your main asteroid to your irradiated asteroid, and from there use a payload opener to pipe it directly into the rocket. You could carry oxidizer inside a storage bin in the rocket.

You could use a petroleum engine for the other asteroid as well, if you use the marshy asteroid as a refuel station:

I'll take 2 trips with a refuel in between, but it should be easily manageable with a payload opener piping its output directly into your rocket's fuel tank and a storage bin with oxidizer in it.

A small petroleum engine should work for both of these planets as well, provided you can fit everything you need into its module cap.

I do wish the hydrogen engine had just one more tile of range with that one fuel tank, though...

[babba]

@weedenbc ONI players have the best names and profile pictures, welcome to the club

[Brian.oni]

As an alternative to the doubling of fuel modules (or launching fuel) try building a liquid cargo tank (I use a small), and store the extra fuel in there.  The extra oxidizer can be stored in a bin in the spacefarer.   Once you've landed and set up a platform, attach to it a liquid unloader port, filtered for petroleum in this case.  Power it with a solar gen and you can run the output right back to your gas tank to automatically refill for the trip home.   Or if you've brought extra you can build some reservoirs to create a gas station on the new planet.   

Just need to remember to always load the extra fuel/oxidizer if not creating a stockpile on the new planets.  But that could be automated pretty easily.  Fuel line towards rocket, two metered valves branch off up feeding a line to fuel tanks, 2 metered valves branch off down to a line that feeds a loader.   Set valves for 450 each means 900kg petrol to the gas tank, and 900kg to the cargo (but I guess you need to make sure theres always room as well).

[weedenbc]

13 hours ago, babba said:

@weedenbc ONI players have the best names and profile pictures, welcome to the club

LOL, thanks! That's my Steam profile pic and I totally forgot I was using it!

Thanks for the advice. I was reading up on the Radbolt engine in another thread and that seems to be a better alternative to the Hydrogen engine. But then I guess I need to set up a radbolt generator up near the space biome. Right now I'm using a shinebug farm to generate radbolts for research but it's way down in my base. 

[Red Oolong]

You can also reach those planets with a sugar or CO2 engine if you wanted. For sugar, just use oxylite as oxidizer and bring some sugar along in the command module to refuel for the trip home. For CO2, you can launch some CO2 ahead of time and use the payload opener to refuel. Personally I like CO2 rockets for their speed.