What is the rationale behind playing completely stock?

[Thomas988]

My friend plays with dozens of mods, and he still hasn't been able to play 1.0.2. I do not want to wait half a year for mods to update (which sometimes they just never do). Plus, I feel mods can make some aspects of the game easier. I love the challenge stock provides, and for me anything additional takes away from that experience.

[SpacedCowboy]

"Mods or no mods". What a totally useless unproductive argument. I've seen too many threads on this subject. Just wish the moderators would sticky this dispute into one thread,,, so I could ignore it.

[moogoob]

I'm not what you would call a completely stock player, but one class of mods I won't install are parts. This increases shareability of your craft and forces you to think and build within the boundaries of the stock. I like that.

However I need my MechJeb, EVE and planetshine.

[EdgySpork]

Although I employ a variety of mods in my most recent 1.02 save, I haven't used or don't often use a majority of the parts or capabilities added with said mods. I guess I just keep them there in case the need arises for me to utilize them at some point.

[falloutaddict]

"Mods or no mods". What a totally useless unproductive argument. I've seen too many threads on this subject. Just wish the moderators would sticky this dispute into one thread,,, so I could ignore it.

It's not an argument or a dispute, did you even read the thread? -.-

What I don't understand is why you didn't just ignore it and instead chose to post and complain instead of contribute...

[Specialist290]

Alright y'all, let's keep this on topic.

[falloutaddict]

Alright y'all, let's keep this on topic.

Sorry, that last comment irked me... For 14 pages, it has stayed surprisingly on topic. =D

[jarmund]

I've always been reluctant when it comes to installing mods. And I still am, despite having around 20 of them installed on my main save.

The rationale is that I want the gameplay to be as the publisher intended. Exception are:

- A mod that adds something that is clearly missing. For example, the docking port indicator.

- A mod that adds complexity where the game is a bit too simplistic. Such as FAR, Deadly Reentry, TAC Life Support, etc.

- A mod that generally improves without changing or adding too much. For example the community science message thingy.

- A mod that improves in an area that is generally lacking. KAS is a good example of this, as it gives EVA more of a purpose other than licking surface samples.

- General fixerupper mods. Bugfixes and the like.

While I do not have any good examples, a big no-no for me would be a mod that changes and adds too much.

That being said, here's the list of mods that I use:

Toolbar

Crowdsourced Science

Action Groups Extended

Distant object enhancement

Deadly Reentry

Enhanced Navball

FAR

Flight Indicators

KerbalEngineer

HyperEdit (With strict guidelines of use. Only for testing purposes, always followed by a revert to assembly/launch. No scientific or monetary gain should be obtained from a hyperedited craft)

Docking Port Alignment Indicator

PreciseNode

Science Alert

TAC Fuel Balancer

TAC Life Support

[joekidd1992]

I play stock because I think it's a challenge. But, I've been thinking about trying a mod or two. I haven't played it enough to be bored with stock, yet, I guess, but having said this, I haven't played since about Sunday.

[Hotaru]

The whole issue of compatibility with other players hadn't actually occurred to me before reading this thread, but I'm starting to realize how nice it is to be able to compare notes knowing we're all on the same page. I've been trying to keep my current career mode mostly stock so far (I think my only part mods are RealChute and Procedural Fairings), this aspect is definitely an incentive to keep it that way. I think I'd at like to get at least as far as Duna with stock parts before I go back to playing with lots of mods.

[Superfluous J]

I play as stock as I can stomach for my YouTube series. Ideally, if you see me fly a ship you should be able to build it without too much fuss and fly it. It helps my viewers learn or - if they don't need to learn - at least gives us a common ground so they know what to expect from my ships.

That said, there are certain things I simply can't abide like lack of information, alerts, and the supermassive fairing bases, and a hodgepodge of things I want that aren't in stock like an inline drill or rudimentary life support. For these, I mod with wild abandon.

Also, I feel that you (or at least I) should be able to play the game competently with NO mods at all. You should be able to - in stock - perform an interplanetary mission even if it's not all that efficient. If you can do that, the mods are aids, not crutches. It's like long division. You should know how to do it, but never in civilized society should you actually be required to do it.

Edited May 27, 2015 by 5thHorseman

[herbal space program]

That's true, but the thing I don't get is those who think other parts of the game are the raison d'être, like building or planning, don't look down their noses at those who don't do those things themselves. It seems to be particular to piloting, and I'm at a loss as to why.

As somebody who looked down their nose at MechJeb in this forum, I feel I should hasten to add that I don't think that any particular aspect of the game is its raison d'etre, nor that MechJeb is all bad. I just wanted to express my personal opinion that those who have no interest at all in mastering the piloting part are cheating themselves out of some of the best aspects of the game. Learning how to do all that stuff proficiently was really one of the best parts for me. For those who have already mastered it and just want to build big quickly, using MJ makes perfect sense. I think even I would download it if I were to try to build another giant space station like the one I posted several months ago in the craft showcase http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/22251-Showcase-SPACE-STATIONS%21-Post-your-pictures-here?p=1518814#post1518814. Manually docking all that stuff took forever, largely because of the excruciatingly slow frame rate. I would not reproach anyone for not wanting to do that again.

Edited May 27, 2015 by herbal space program

[Captain Sierra]

I try not to use mods which step on the roles of stock parts.

This has been the reason I stopped using KW Rocketry. As of 1.0.2, however, I've gone ahead and thrown this rule out the window with reckless abandon, taking on Nertea's Cryo Rockets, which have a nice thing called efficiency which the stock engines lost. These have entirely replaced stock engines on my launch vehicles.

I also try not to mod stock physics too much, unless stock physics are just downright crap. Some of the in's and out's of the new aero are absolutely pathetic and its almost a step backwards (please don't read this wrong, I absolutely think the new aero as a whole is a massive improvement over what it was, but there are a few small areas, particularly relating to part occlusion & airflow that I find genuinely terrible in terms of what's happening simulation-wise). I'm considering FAR with a good degree of seriousness now.

Extending stock, supplementing holes in stock, and prettying up the game, I mod like it's going out of style. Scatterer & Planetshine are both on top of my visuals list for low impact. When I finally suck it up and throw Active Texture Management into the mix, Astronomer's Visual Pack goes right on there too, because God that pack is stunning.

When I do play stock, my logic is I want to enjoy the game as it is, not as what I make it to be (in case you're curious, I log about 8 times more hours modded to hell than I do stock so take that for what you will).

[Hotaru]

Another point is that it can sometimes be interesting to play with only mod parts. I had one career save in 0.90 where I removed about 90% of the stock parts--including all the engines and spaceplane parts--and used KW engines and tankage and B9 spaceplane parts exclusively. It was fun, not easier or harder than stock but a different challenge. Might try something similar again sometime. The downside, of course was it was a lot more work keeping things balanced, I had to do a fair amount of adding and deleting of parts and lots of config file editing, mostly to make sure I got parts at appropriate points in the tech tree.

[Galileo Kerbonaut]

I play with tons of mods... It makes the game so much better!

Just a few to mention

TAC Life support

Remote control

Kerbal Engineer

ScanSat

These mods make KSP a totally different game... and I love it.

Along with other mods like:

Dmagic orbital science

KAC

Final Frontier

Mods are mandatory IMO

[Aanker]

I play an almost entirely stock KSP. This allows me to share craft without obstacles, compare my craft against those of others, and generally not feel like I am turning to mods to minimize a challenge.

That said, I do use visual enhancement mods and things like the transfer calculation of Kerbal clock.

[PB666]

Not that there is anything wrong with it, that's how I started too before I knew better. Then I did know better and I still stubbornly stuck with stock because didn't want to deal with mods in case the were too complicated (before I figured out it is pretty much just drag and drop into gamedata folder). Finally I broke down and got mechjeb and a couple others like chatterer. But since then I've been grabbing up mods like candy. I just want to try them all and I've only scraped the surface. So my question is are there people who play a completely stock game and why? Because there are certain mods I just can't do without.

Kerbal Engineer for deltaV and other useful info (I upgraded from mechjeb after I learned all the fancy maneuvers and such)

Kerbal alarm clock (seriously, how can you play without this?)

KAS/KIS (very useful for all sorts of things)

I have also started using TAC (life support) remote tech (more realistic antennas) outer planet mods, not to mention all of the parts mods I've added.

So once again, not to say anything against anybody who plays stock but I do want to know how you do without a mod like kerbal engineer or kac? Also, what are some of your favorite mods to use, because I would love to add some more to my list.

I don't but I think you call it OCD.

If you are playing completely stock, never use mod, never modded, or never built a part you are missing 75% of the creativity of the game. Sure I have used electric powered generators that can power 1000X powered ion drives, but also I have built a space factory and put it up with stock engines so. Had a whole host of aero parts before 1.0 came out. I don't have 20 minute boot ups, I cull my mods. And I am really not in the mood for completely unrealistic mods like Warp drives or Interstellar travel that are based on completely faux science (to the loud protest of many in this forum, but I also have not created a Caenni drive either). I can imagine a fusion reactor driving ION drive in RL, or an ION drive with an ISP of 30,000. Not exactly seeing a nuclear pulse engine as viable (given the shock plate seems like Murphies law waiting to go wrong).

[WinkAllKerb'']

hum ocd until next gen ... i think i got what you mean xDr

http://i.imgur.com/gJY5QUc.png"]

if it's too easy to get 100 out of 100 have you ever tried to get 0 out 100 ? (may be the reward is elsewhere oh yeah i destroyed xxxx out of 100 target that's so a great achievement to be proud of even if 0 gold i m fine with that i gave thoose target a chance; ): ); ) )

Edited May 27, 2015 by WinkAllKerb''

[ShadowZone]

I use mods like KER, KAC and some other enhancements, but I prefer to build stock craft. Why? Well, for the challenge, really... "Okay, I could easily do this with Infernal Robotics, but is there a way to pull it off in stock as well?" gets my brain working and the reward for being able to overcome that challenge is really what makes this game special for me.

[EtherDragon]

Don't worry, no offense taken in fact I really appreciate your honesty!

No point in responding to all of this since you and are pretty much on the same page. I think my main point was yah this game is more fun for me with mods, so I was kind of curious what reasons people had for playing stock. Not to refute anyone or tell them that's stupid, just to know why.

Pretty much this. It's not that I don't know how to calculate the dV or maneuver modes, it is just not fun for me.

Which is why KSP is one of my top ten best games of all time. It's highly mob-able and there are tons of great mods available. Stock is fully enjoyable without needing mods, but people looking for certain quality of life improvements or different challenges can find plenty!

[Aragosnat]

I play stock mainly because. I'm still having fun playing stock. With every new major/save braking update I restart (kind of like how Unity 5 will likely be such). Have yet to reach and leave all the planets and moons that can be left from. While I would like to install a few mod. Just don't want to find out it has become abandoned or have to wait a long long time to get it updated. Plus it is easier to share with others. Just today someone decided to build one of my designs.

[Foxster]

I play an almost entirely stock KSP. This allows me to share craft without obstacles, compare my craft against those of others, and generally not feel like I am turning to mods to minimize a challenge.

That said, I do use visual enhancement mods and things like the transfer calculation of Kerbal clock.

I'm with you there. The mods I do use (MJ in particular) don't alter the physics or parts, and that is the sweet spot for me. Once you do start to take mods like that then you can no longer compare craft and you could, frankly, build absolutely anything with no limitations and so the challenge goes out of the game for me.

[One Wheeled Panda]

I'd like to say I play stock - but I don't.

I very quickly got mods for tedious work that I otherwise would use or create out of game tools or feel stock does not too well (e.g. managing multiple missions or maneuver nodes).

KER, KAC, Precise Node, Enhanced Navball (because scaling and repositioning), RCS BA, Simple Science Fix, Stock Bug Fixes.

Even my craft aren't stock although I'd like them to be for sharing and comparing. There's ScanSat (for ingame biome maps) and Godspeed Automatic Fuel Pump (because stopping a craft flipping by manually locking/unlocking fueltanks during launch, so COM moves forwards instead of backwards, is absolutley doable - but too hectic after a couple of times).

[serolrom]

The moment I discover mods, it's like candy. You never get enough of it. Soon, most of the time goes away in modding instead of playing. Testing, figuring out what is the perfect setup for me, etc. So I am quite strict there. I avoid mods, or I will end up playing Kerbal Modding Program.

Now, after reading most of this thread, I am too curious not to check out some mentioned many times (KER, KAC, TAC...). You guys might have ruined my playing time...

[Streetwind]

I play a lot of modded content... but I also occasionally play pure stock, especially after a major update like 1.0. It not only helps me appreciate the new additions of said update, but also helps me realize what mods I actually want - as opposed to just randomly pouring downloads into /Gamedata/ without rhyme or reason