General Question assembling International Space Station 2.5 by Thorton

[Matte]

hi all!
i'm assembling the ISS 2.5 by Thorton and crew.
wel, i've yet finished a perfect STS-88 mission and mated Zarya to Unity;
my next is STS-96 supply mission.
however i have a question, mainly to Thorton, but if anyone has the answer please write.

is it better, if assembling the station from the beginning, to leave all the modules separated when docked, or to substitute i.e. Zarya and Unity with the early ISSR\ISS in the scenario file?

do i gain any advantage in using ISS instead of multiple modules docked together?

thanks
Matte

 

[Thorton]

You dont have a choice actually , because almost all of functions like CMG, solar and radiators control, EVA etc implemented directly in ISS core.
Separate modules has limited functionality, You can build station by docking beween each other some modules, but that pretty much all you can do with it.

Here is the example: you could dock, lets say Zarya, Zvezda, Unity and Z1 and perform STS -97 mission (P6 delivery), but when you attach it to Z1, you can't deploy it because at this time only ISS module has ability to communicate with other modules.

 

[Matte]

ok, so i'm doing it right, replacing any new ISS configuration with ISSR/ISS;
the same with the STRELA that has to be assembled in 2 different STS missions. right?

 

[Thorton]

Yes, Strela should be replaced in next mission after sts101