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I have heard many people debate about whether or not to have probes or crew be sent up in rockets first. The Probes First argue "That's more realistic." The Crew First argues "That's the kerbal way." I recently had an idea: boilerplate capsules. It's simply a variant you can toggle on any part that a crew can control from. Visually, it removes the windows and suchlike, but functionally, it lessens weight, removes the crew capability, and makes it a probe control point instead. If you want to send probes first, you can send a non-crewed boilerplate capsule that would allow a realistic progression. If you prefer the kerbal way, you can simply send crew up. Since it's up to the players, it can satisfy a larger group of people about the matter.

Unkerballed Start - Happy New Year! v1.3.1 original by SpinkAkron and theonegalen, now under development by theonegalen This is an unmanned start mod inspired by Yemo’s SETI, Unmanned Before Manned. It is structured around early probes and aircraft. Manned capsules become available as later tech. Download link is at bottom of this post. Overview Starting with the Stayputnik probe core, lack of control is the first challenge to overcome. The QBE is available at Stability (T3) and the OKTO at Flight Control (T4). RCS has been moved to earlier in the tech tree. Only .625m engines are available at start. More powerful engines have been moved up the tech tree. Multi-engine stages are essential. Making History's engine plates are made available earlier to facilitate this. Revamped tech tree - The tech tree has been de-squished, de-tangled, and rationalized. Orphan lines such as Nuclear Power and Colonization have been fully integrated. Additional nodes have been added to flesh out the early tree and where needed at various other points. The Precision Rocketry line has been expanded to cover additional tiers, splitting Rocketry into a Power/Boosters line and a Specialty line. This further slows rocketry advancement. NOTE: All inputs to a node are now required to unlock, not just one like stock. Links that didn't make sense have been removed. The only exception to this is that Just like the Community Tech Tree, on which this is based, most of the later nodes will have no parts in them unless mods using them are also installed. See the CTT thread for a mod list. To balance the delayed availability of powerful engines, many other parts such as docking clamps and station hubs have been moved up allowing for earlier station development. The intent is that the player spend more time developing the Kerbin SOI before heading out to the planets. Special thanks to @Pand5461 for the concept of later engine availability. That was the key that made the whole project come together. Early aviation with extensive mod support. The Soviet-style Reentry Pods now have their own tech line. They are simple and cheap, but ultimately a dead end. In a low-income playthrough they become a real option. Only the tech tree node placement of parts is effected. No parts or resources are changed, reducing compatibility issues. Two new .625m engines have been added. The LV-T05 and LV-T10 are re-scaled versions of the LV-30 and LV-45. The RT1 SRB is no longer necessary thanks to the stock Mite and Shrimp SRBs. Added .625m Fairing generously provided by @PocketBrotector from his Extended Antenna Progression Mod. Thanks! ON BY DEFAULT - Small parts means more parts so the VAB and SPH can now build craft with 40 parts at Tier 1, enabled by Custom Barn Kit. Screenshot of tech tree branches (click for full size) Compatibility The only mods that are incompatible are other tech tree mods. All parts added by mods will work as designed but their position in the tech tree may not be consistent with the changes made by this mod. If you’d like a mod adapted, I’d be happy to make a config for it, or accept one on Github. Custom configs are provided for the following mods so far: Recommended Mods Making History - Official Expansion Missing History - Adds the parts that Making History missed Restock Plus - You're already using this, right? No? Go get it! Contracts - Having a good set of contracts that compliment the tech tree is crucial. The stock contracts assume the stock tech tree. I use Career Evolution Contract Pack, usually paired with Giving Aircraft a Purpose, Bases and Stations Reborn, and Field Research. Strategia - replaces stock strategy system @SpinkAkron uses SETI Contract Pack made by @Yemo, UKS's spiritual godfather. As an alternative, Exploration Plus is very good for those who prefer a less guided career. He also uses Clever Sats Kerbal Academy Bases and Stations Reborn Remote Tech Contracts - currently not working. Unofficial fix HERE Rover Missions Redux Tourism Plus Giving Aircraft a Purpose Field Research I also use Kerbal Construction Time, Snacks!, Bureaucracy and highly recommend BARIS or EVA Repairs if you promise not to whine about your rockets blowing up. Above all, use what gives you the greatest enjoyment. Make the game your own. There is no wrong way to play! mod list for Spink's Let's Play Using UKS (YouTube playlist) Changelog: 1.3.1 Hotfix to fix the position of the bottom node on the LVT-05 when Restock is installed. Thanks to Graploos on KSP forums for the bug report. 1.3.0 Update for KSP 1.12.2 Fix LVT05 and LVT10 Engines not showing up with ReStock (again - thanks to multiple people who kept them going while I was away, especially @kcs123 and @hermano) Fix LVT05 and LVT10 Engine Drag Cubes and added compatibility for Waterfall and Rocket Sound Enhancement (thanks to @hermano for the configs!) Fix spelling of Unresearcheable to match SQUAD code Added .netkan file to make things convenient for CKAN users Updated version file for KSP-AVC users Updated configs for stock and Making History Updated config for ReStock+ (thanks to ahmedcharles on github for PR!) Added configs for @Well's mods KNES, Luciole, and X-20 (thanks to @Clamp-o-Tron for PR!) Added config for @SuicidalInsanity's Stockish Project Orion (thanks to @Clamp-o-Tron for PR!) Added configs for @benjee10's reDIRECT and SOCK (thanks to @Clamp-o-Tron for PR!) Added configs for @Nertea's RestockRigidLegs, CryoEngines, and CryoTanks (thanks to ahmedcharles on github for PR!) Added config for @CobaltWolf's BlueDog Design Bureau (incomplete - thanks to @Gordon Dry for PR!) Old changelog: Required mods: Community Tech Tree Module Manager Custom Barn Kit - OPTIONAL for VAB SPH allowing 40-part craft at Tier 1. Installation Instructions: 1. Uninstall any previous version of the mod when upgrading to the latest version. 2. Copy the UnKerballedStart folder into GameData. Download: UnKerballed Start on SPACEDOCK UnKerballed Start on GITHUB This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Introduction I've been playing stock KSP, or visual mods only, for a while and reckoned it's time to have a go at a modded career mode playthrough. I wanted something in the same vein as stock but with more and different challenges. In particular I wanted crewed spaceflight to be more demanding, and uncrewed spaceflight to be more autonomous. I settled on the following mods with UnKerballed Start, kOS, and Snacks! the headline performers. Episode 1 Mission 1: Sprite 1 As in stock KSP, there's not much design space for the first rocket, but unlike the 'Jumping Flea' it will be a completely unguided sounding rocket. Each of my playthroughs have a different naming scheme. This time round I'm using mythical creatures - so here's Sprite A. It only needs to reach 200m so I'm only partly fuelling it. Light the fuse and watch it go... 'Catastrophic failure'? Nope, I fulfilled the 'First flight' and 'gather scientific data from Kerbin' contracts! Onward to greater things!

Hi there! For the longest time, I've had trouble settling on a tech tree to use for my KSP playthroughs. TETRIX, Kiwi, Probes before Crew, and even just the standard Community Tech Tree are all good, but they each had some sort of issue or thing that I just didn't like. After sometime trying to change it for personal use through patching, I've instead decided to just go all the way and create my own custom tech tree, the Skyhawk Science System. Behold! (Hopefully the image displays properly, but if not, the link still works) This tech tree (currently just the layout, no part patches yet) will be based around a combination of the amazing Bluedog Design Bureau, Coatl Aerospace, SOCK, reDIRECT, Nertea's whole suite of mods, and more! It will attempt to create a "somewhat realistic" progression from launching sounding rockets into space to exploring deep space with antimatter torch drives. It won't completely accurately follow real-life, but I'm trying to strike a reasonable balance between the stock-alike "unlock things based on radial size" and the realistic progression of rockets to make sure everything has a reason to be used. I'll continue to update this thread with my progress as time goes on, but for now, feel free to take a look at the current tree plan and let me know what you think! And if you've got any questions about what I'm planning, ask away as well! BETA Release (Ready for testing! ) https://github.com/CessnaSkyhawk/SkyhawkScienceSystem/releases Mod Support: I've provided a list of mods which the tree currently supports right here: https://github.com/CessnaSkyhawk/SkyhawkScienceSystem/wiki/Mod-Support