1643

What happens if you add a parts mod like KW Rocketry or Near Future Tech (that has integration with research tree) half-way through a full campaign career?

1644

Nothing. Bad things only happen if you have spacecraft in space using a mod pack that you remove. then those vehicles don’t get loaded anymore.

OK, Let’s take a look at this awesome list!

Mod List:

  • Transfer Windows Planner or Astrogater - Yes! Got to have it. Im using Astrogater right now, because TWP wasn’t up to date when I started. Both are cool.
  • X Science - Yes! Must have as well. I hate going to the journal screen to figure out what science I missed where.
  • Docking Port Alignment Indicator ? - 3 for 3 - Must have. Docking mechanics in the vanilla game are the one thing that still stinks.
  • Scatterer + EVE? - I use this one as well, but it’s the first thing I dump once I get into the 300+ parts stage of KSP.
  • Chatterer - I just love the flavor this adds to missions =)
  • Graphics Enhancement Assembly https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/161683-171-graphics-enhancements-assembly-gea/ (No idea! Will check it out)
  • In addition to GEA, other options include Astronomer’s Visual Pack and Spectra.
    I’ve often seen them described as GEA being a good improvement, AVP being almost too pretty, with Spectra being the most realistic. Or stock visual enhancements & stock visual terrain

All of that: I usually do SVE and be done with it, but I’ve not given these a try yet. OK, So let’s condense here: Of the rest I almost always end up using Alarm Clock, Scansat (much better then kerbnet!), KAS?KIS, Distant Objects, Indicator Lights (sometimes), Snack!, Kopernicus and OP. Mods not on the list you might consider are Hullcam, Better Burn Time, Final Frontier.

The ones on the list I’m not sure you need anymore might be: DMagic and Surface Science (as there is already too much science!), RemoteTech, Commnet (Use these if you need the timing thing, other then that the built in Commnet works very well), Achievements (Outdated mod, many of the achievements are no long in game, but still achievements I think?),

Kerbalism, I’ve tried this a number of times and never got very far with it. In the long run when you get a dozen manned missions going at once I weigh whether adding life support and habitat functions make it more fun or not… and I seem to change my mind every time LOL! But Snacks! is usually enough to give it extra toughness without becoming too grindy.

If you are looking for added game play, you may try Strategia, which makes the admin building useful and provides some space program guidance with your choices.

Parts mods I shy away from having more then a few. I like having space stations and base stations, so I usually end up doing with Frontier, KPBS, or maybe some Umbral, and I also use the near future stuff because its fairly light and still adds parts that KSP hasn’t added over the years as many other packs do. A lot of people like the Roverdude stuff (Umbral Space Tech) but they are really big, and there’s a ton of parts in there and it gets complicated. If you like complicated, then I’d use his parts for everything including life support.

I will usually break down and add mechjeb once I get to the point where I am sending 6 probes to Jool and want some guided assistance landing, orbiting etc, but that is mostly just being lazy.

All in all a great list!

1645

That is so awesome! Thank you thank you thank you for going through my list. I will add hullcam, better burn time, and final frontier.

In CKAN there is a whole bunch of Near Future stuff. Which ones should I pick? I don’t want complicated at all, just want to kinda keep things base and low for my first game. It’s why this playthru I didn’t add Bluedog Design or KW Rocketry.

BTW there is some kind of burn time entry in the latest KSP. Does that mean Better Burn Time is no longer needed?

Here is my list. Still need to add Near Future, BBT, Snacks and maybe Strategia like you mentioned. But I need to wait to see which Near Future stuff you think I should add. Also in my system which isn’t shown is the Other Worlds Cercani extra solar system.

Kerbal%20Mods
Kerbal Mods.png1768×1349 195 KB

Also @Fozzle - when you start a new career do you play with the G-Force and pressure limitations on?

gforcejpg
gforcejpg.jpg1100×734 133 KB

1646

My experience is that I go hog wild with mods, then start up and play for a few hours and am overwhelmed. Lately, when I get the urge to dig back into KSP, I use a minimal mod loadout or just try some of the good missions.

1647

Here’s what my solar system(s) look like :)

screenshot5
screenshot5.png1942×1236 193 KB
screenshot6
screenshot6.jpg1824×1389 151 KB

1648

Is there a 1:1-ish recreation of our solar system mod? (Not necessarily distance, but all the planets, minor planets, etc.)

1649

Yep there certainly is. If you use CKAN it can be installed for you. Everything is realistic. That will be my secondary install. Great thing about KSO is running multiple versions of the game by just copying the directory to a new folder.

1650

Sorry about the typos in that last post. It was made hastily at work =) What Better Burn Time does is take the total burn time needed, divides it in half for you already, and gives you a countdown timer to the very second you should hit the juice. It’s just a QOL feature really.

When I use near future, I tend to use the station parts mostly. Sometimes the bigger engines and stuff, and SpaceY and Extra Space Y I think it is called. Again, sometimes as KSP has been really good about adding those missing parts into the game in the last three years, so I feel like parts mods aren’t as needed as they used to be.

I usually leave most of the default settings along on Normal unless I am feeling like torturing some Kerbals =)

Your list is making me want to restart with some mods! Argh! lol I’ve been playing a vanilla playthrough with nothing but Atrogator, science, and chatterer. The bare minimum=)

1651

Are you talking about Nertea’s Stockalike Station Parts Expansion redux here? None of the other NFT mods sounds like that.

1652

I like Nertea’s Station Parts Expansion a lot. Also, doesn’t he have some new big parts expansion too? I don’t use a lot of parts mods, but if I do use any, I tend to go with Nertea.

I’ve played with Kerbalism a few times and have generally favorable impressions of it. I probably won’t use it for my next career game, but only because I want to try other things. I think it’s worth trying once, even if you ultimately decide it’s not for you. The UI is nice, and there are some neat features. If you use Kerbalism, you could skip some of your other mods (Scansat, life-support), but Kerbalism is also designed to accommodate mods like those on your list.

1653

Yes - it’s called Restock + and it adds in a lot of items they felt Squad should have included with the game, so they’re filling in gaps:

We believe that there are a number of places where KSP is missing key parts - for example, the 3.75m and 0.625m size classes are a little sparse. Restock+ aims to create parts that fill these niche, and is a carefully curated, fully optional project (that requires Restock to be installed of course).

I’m still trying to decide if I want to add this too or not:

  • New Engine parts
    • KR-1 ‘Boar’ Liquid Fuel Engine (Nertea): A single version of the Twin Boar engine
    • KR-10A ‘Corgi’ Liquid Fuel Engine Cluster (Nertea): A 3.75m upper stage LF/O engine
    • LV-303 ‘Pug’ Liquid Fuel Engine (Nertea/Porkjet):
    • LV-T15 ‘Valiant’ Liquid Fuel Engine (Nertea/Porkjet):
    • Mk-1H ‘Torch’ Liquid Fuel Engine (Nertea): 0.625m lifter engine
    • RT-1 ‘Mallet’ Solid Rocket Booster (Nertea): 0.625m SRB
    • RT-2 ‘Striker’ Solid Rocket Booster (Nertea): 0.625m longer SRB
    • STS-1 ‘Anvil’ Solid Rocket Booster (Nertea): 1.875m giant shuttle SRB
  • New Fuel Tank parts
    • Kerbodyne S3-3600 Nosecone Tank (Nertea): A 3.75m fuelled nosecone
    • Kerbodyne S3-1800 Tank (Nertea): A compact size 3.75m tank
    • Oscar-C Fuel Tank (Nertea): A 2x Oscar-B size tank
    • Oscar-D Fuel Tank (Nertea): A 4x Oscar-B size tank
    • Oscar-E Fuel Tank (Nertea): A 8x Oscar-B size tank
    • Stratus-V Miniature Monopropellant Tank (Nertea): A probe-sized RCS tank. Replaces MH tiny RCS tank if installed
  • New Aerodynamic parts
    • Protective Rocket Nose Mk18 (Nertea): 1.875m nosecone
  • New Command parts
    • RC-XL001 Remote Guidance Unit (Nertea): 3.75m RGU
  • New Coupling parts
    • TD-18 Stack Decoupler (Nertea): 1.875m decoupler. Replaces MH decoupler if installed
    • TS-18 Stack Separator (Nertea): 1.875m separator. Replaces MH separator if installed
    • TT-14 Decoupler (Nertes): Tiny radial decoupler suitable for 0.625m boosters
    • Clamp-O-Tron Docking Port ‘Grande’ (Nertea): 3.75m docking port
  • New Structural parts
    • Kerbodyne ADTP-2-3A (Nertea): A hollow version of the fuelled 3.75 to 2.5m adapter
    • Kerbodyne SKLE-2-3 (Nertea): A skeletal 3.75 to 2.5m adapter
  • New Payload parts
    • AE-FF0 Airstream Protective Shell (0.625m) (Nertea): a 0.625m fairing base
    • AE-FF1-L Airstream Protective Shell (1.875m) (Nertea): a 1.875m fairing base. Replaces MH 1.875m fairing base if installed
  • New Science parts
    • SC-9001R Radial Science Jr (Andrew Cassidy): A radial version of the materials bay
    • Mystery Goo™ Inline Containment Unit (Andrew Cassidy): An inline version of the goo canister
  • New Electrical parts
    • Z-10K Rechargeable Battery Bank (Nertea): 3.75m stack battery
  • New Communications parts
    • HG-20 High Gain Antenna (Andrew Cassidy): A version of the HG-5 with 4 dishes and 4x the range
    • Communotron DTS-J1 (Andrew Cassidy): Stack mount equivalent to the DTS-M1, based on Juno’s high gain antenna
    • Communotron HG-61 (Andrew Cassidy) Stack mount equivalent to the HG-55, based on the Galileo main antenna
  • New RCS parts:
    • RV-102 RCS Thruster Block (Nertea): Dual axis RCS block
    • RV-103 RCS Thruster Block (Nertea): Triple RCS block
    • RV-105-A RCS Thruster Block (Nertea): Quad angled RCS block
    • RV-105-XL RCS Thruster Block (Nertea): Five way RCS block
    • RC-12 RCS Thruster Block (Nertea): Dual axis RCS block, mini size
    • RC-13 RCS Thruster Block (Nertea): Triple RCS block, mini size
    • RC-14 RCS Thruster Block (Nertea): Quad RCS block, mini size
    • RC-14-A RCS Thruster Block (Nertea): Quad angled RCS block, mini size
    • RC-15 RCS Thruster Block (Nertea): Five way RCS block, mini size
    • Small Radial Gyroscope (Andrew Cassidy): radial mount gyroscope with a small amount of torque

Some of these parts overlap in purpose if the Making History expansion is installed and will not show up if this is the case.

1654

Yes! Yes I am…sorry about that.

1655

OK, based on your extended thesis and dissertation I too have decided to do my first mega playthru on mostly stock. OK, so you didn’t do any of that but now I doubt my own modding goals on what I want to do with the game and need to see what default offers lol. Want to hear something pathetic? I have over 200 hours in this game and have never landed on another body. I was so wrapped up in the old remotetech game years ago that all I did was build a super complex communication and scanning system around Kerbin. Plus I loved geeking out to science experiments.

1656

Get it done! Start up a sandbox game, load up the Kerbal X and try to land it on the Mun and/or Minmus. Low effort, high reward. (Honestly, when I fire up KSP these days, this is what I do 70% of the time.)

1657

Kerbal X? Do you mean just any version of Kerbal as in Kerbal v.X? Or something else?

1658

I believe, if you are loading sandbox there are a bunch of already saved rocket and spaceplane configurations. The Kerbal X is one of those.

1659

Yeah, that’s the one. Kerbal X is an included stock spacecraft, a staged rocket that can easily make it to the Mun or Minmus and return to Kerbin. No ship building required.

1660

Is all the stuff from “Making History” in the full career? Or is that just single missions?

1661

All the parts are in career. But mostly Making History is about scenarios.

1662

Oh bummer. So are those scenarios fun? Did anyone of them end up in the career? If not, are there any mods that put them in career mode?