[1.12.x] - Modular Kolonization System (MKS)

[FirroSeranel]

1 minute ago, Finnyk said:

can i have EL parts hiding again as an option (except survey stake and mallet)? it was so good, i dont need them if i have MKS =( i deleted those hex cans and others from EL folder, but they are still in a game.

 

There's a mod that does exactly that, actually: https://github.com/cerebrate/MKS_EL

Edited March 18, 2017 by FirroSeranel

[Finnyk]

thx a lot)

[Urses]

Hi RD

I have to make a Account only to say thank you for your great work

I realy enjoy to conquest the space with Help of your mods

I read about your idea to make the Logistiks incorporate the orbital sphere and though the stilewise Option where a upgrade hoob for the logistikscenter, something like a drone command Module. Without Personal it works like a normal with Pilot  (2k m). Manned it eneable lokal Logistik to go to 500km mark orbital. I think more is overpowered XD.

Sorry for my Bad english. I'm not native and it is like my 4th language. 

Once again thank you for great work and if you find the idea worthfull use it at your wish.

Urses

 

[TauPhraim]

I hired level 2 kerbals in the new AC. Bu then out of the AC, they got turned into level 0.

Does anyone else have this ?

[FirroSeranel]

1 minute ago, TauPhraim said:

I hired level 2 kerbals in the new AC. Bu then out of the AC, they got turned into level 0.

Does anyone else have this ?

 

Nope, I've hired level 1 and 2, and had them remain correct. Do you have any other mods that change types of kerbals, or modify how they're hired?

[TauPhraim]

2 minutes ago, FirroSeranel said:

Nope, I've hired level 1 and 2, and had them remain correct. Do you have any other mods that change types of kerbals, or modify how they're hired?

I have lots of mods but don't see one that would impact that. Maybe KerbalStats, but that is pulled by EL.

I notice there is code adding "logs" to the recruited Kerbals, but mine don't have such logs. But the logs are for Kerbin, Mun, and Minmus, and I don't have these, since I'm using a planet pack.

[FirroSeranel]

3 minutes ago, TauPhraim said:

I have lots of mods but don't see one that would impact that. Maybe KerbalStats, but that is pulled by EL.

I notice there is code adding "logs" to the recruited Kerbals, but mine don't have such logs. But the logs are for Kerbin, Mun, and Minmus, and I don't have these, since I'm using a planet pack.

 

Ah, that could be it. If the workaround he's using to artificially level up kerbals is to grant them mission logs so the game engine grants the XP normally, and you don't have the planets for those logs, that could do it. Just a theory though.

[TauPhraim]

Just now, FirroSeranel said:

Ah, that could be it. If the workaround he's using to artificially level up kerbals is to grant them mission logs so the game engine grants the XP normally, and you don't have the planets for those logs, that could do it. Just a theory though.

Strangely I have some other mod (Kerbal academy) that also gives "fake experience", but does not seem troubled by EL not the planet pack. But that one is not giving regular "flyby" etc log, it is giving "special experience" instead. That could be the difference.

[FirroSeranel]

7 minutes ago, TauPhraim said:

Strangely I have some other mod (Kerbal academy) that also gives "fake experience", but does not seem troubled by EL not the planet pack. But that one is not giving regular "flyby" etc log, it is giving "special experience" instead. That could be the difference.

 

 

Sounds plausible. You could try changing it to that.

 

[TauPhraim]

2 minutes ago, FirroSeranel said:

Sounds plausible. You could try changing it to that.

 

It looks like the cause is the planet pack: I checked Kerbal Academy's code (actually Contract Configurator's), and what they do is a bit more complicated than what MKS does indeed.

If anyone can confirm they're using a planet pack and it's not working for them either, I should probably be able to come up with a fix.

Edited March 18, 2017 by TauPhraim

[DDay2021]

Found what may be a bug with the 2.5m Resource Converter, it tries to produce chemicals when it's configured to produce Fertilizer(G).  The MKS_Processor250.cfg currently reads as:

Spoiler

 

    MODULE
    {
        name = ModuleResourceConverter_USI
        ConverterName = Fertilizer(G)
        StartActionName = Start Fertilizer(G)
        StopActionName = Stop Fertilizer(G)
        Efficiency = 1    
    
        INPUT_RESOURCE
        {
            ResourceName = Gypsum
            Ratio =  0.003
        }
        INPUT_RESOURCE
        {
            ResourceName = ElectricCharge
            Ratio = 4.5
        }
        OUTPUT_RESOURCE
        {
            ResourceName = Chemicals
            Ratio = 0.006
            DumpExcess = False
        }
        INPUT_RESOURCE
        {
            ResourceName = Machinery
            Ratio = 0.0000130
        }
        OUTPUT_RESOURCE
        {
            ResourceName = Recyclables
            Ratio = 0.0000130
            DumpExcess = true
        }
        REQUIRED_RESOURCE
        {
            ResourceName = Machinery
            Ratio = 650
        }
    }

   Shouldn't it read something similar to this?

Spoiler

 MODULE
    {
        name = ModuleResourceConverter_USI
        ConverterName = Fertilizer(G)
        StartActionName = Start Fertilizer(G)
        StopActionName = Stop Fertilizer(G)
        Efficiency = 1    
    
        INPUT_RESOURCE
        {
            ResourceName = Gypsum
            Ratio =  0.003
        }
        INPUT_RESOURCE
        {
            ResourceName = ElectricCharge
            Ratio = 4.5
        }
        OUTPUT_RESOURCE
        {
            ResourceName = Fertilizer
            Ratio = 0.006
            DumpExcess = False
        }
        INPUT_RESOURCE
        {
            ResourceName = Machinery
            Ratio = 0.0000130
        }
        OUTPUT_RESOURCE
        {
            ResourceName = Recyclables
            Ratio = 0.0000130
            DumpExcess = true
        }
        REQUIRED_RESOURCE
        {
            ResourceName = Machinery
            Ratio = 650
        }
    }

If you'd like I'll try to figure out the pull request on Git.

[Wyzard]

1 hour ago, DDay2021 said:

Found what may be a bug with the 2.5m Resource Converter, it tries to produce chemicals when it's configured to produce Fertilizer(G).

 

That was fixed in the new version released yesterday.

[FirroSeranel]

How good are the adjustable cradles at handling slopes? The adjustability of them suggests they could take something like 30°, but do they actually grip at that steep an angle? I need a resource from Minmus's Slopes, and if I can find a spot within 2 km of another facility, I won't have to man it, I think. But all the shallow areas of the Slopes are too far away from the Lesser Flats, which is where the other facility will be.

[RoverDude]

1 hour ago, TauPhraim said:

It looks like the cause is the planet pack: I checked Kerbal Academy's code (actually Contract Configurator's), and what they do is a bit more complicated than what MKS does indeed.

If anyone can confirm they're using a planet pack and it's not working for them either, I should probably be able to come up with a fix.

If you want to take a crack and changing that, I'd be happy to take that PR, then I can bundle the goodies back up and push them to @TheReadPanda 's github

9 minutes ago, FirroSeranel said:

How good are the adjustable cradles at handling slopes? The adjustability of them suggests they could take something like 30°, but do they actually grip at that steep an angle? I need a resource from Minmus's Slopes, and if I can find a spot within 2 km of another facility, I won't have to man it, I think. But all the shallow areas of the Slopes are too far away from the Lesser Flats, which is where the other facility will be.

You should be reasonably ok if you're using tethering.

[FirroSeranel]

Hi @RoverDude!

I want to say thank you for making and, much more dauntingly, maintaining the USI mod constellation.

I've had most of your mods installed for literally ages and ages, but though I've dabbled here and there, I've never really taken the time to learn it. I always wind up getting bored with KSP before I'm at a point where I'm considering a non-Contract economy, and colonization. Then when I come back, the latest major update has invariably demolished my save, making me start over, whereupon I get bored about the same place all over again. That pattern, and that combined with how daunting USI is at first, kept me from really digging in. I was like a "mod lurker" I guess you could say. XD

Now I'm 6 launches into a 7 launch facility that's the first of five facilities I have planned for my Minmus colony, which I intend to build up to the point that it can be my primary place to manufacture and launch ships, to bypass Kerbin's gravity well, and I have to say, this mod does exactly what it says on the tin. It adds complexity and challenge to the endgame, and brings back the sense of wonder and learning, the frustration of failure, and the exhilaration of eventual success, back to the game, for experienced players.

It took a little while to get into your head as far as the exact -kind- of abstraction you used, but it does feel as close to what I think a "stock" colonization system would feel like, as it can.

Now that I'm understanding it (or at least I think I am, after many days of research and a judicious application of spreadsheets), it's a pretty slick system. It does suffer from some of the flaws and drawbacks of the game and, more specifically, of Unity, that all great mods do, but you seem to really care about making it work as well as it can, and I appreciate that.

I'm exceptionally broke, and woefully unable to contribute to your coffee fund, but if I could, I would. Since I can't, I figure a few nice words are the least I can do.

Cheers!

Edited March 18, 2017 by FirroSeranel

[Urses]

17 minutes ago, FirroSeranel said:

I'm exceptionally broke, and woefully unable to contribute to your coffee fund, but if I could, I would. Since I can't, I figure a few nice words are the least I can do.

Cheers!

A nice Word in a right time Help more then a 1000$

My 2 pence

And you talk from my soul.

We have a great modder comunity and I wish i has the Chance to Show it to the Boys and girls that we realy appreciate what you all do for us.

God speed on all your ways, trials and misships. 

Urses

Edited March 18, 2017 by Urses
Misspealing

[RoverDude]

@FirroSeranel - Thanks are more than enough, and I really appreciate it!  Also, glad you're enjoying the mod.  For what it's worth, given KSP's general stability post 1.2, I'm being very careful not to change anything major   If anything it will be new bits/mechanics without the large-scale changes previously.  And very likely, once a couple of bits are done, a 1.0 release.

[DStaal]

I'm happening to notice that none of the MKS parts are probe control points - Any particular reasoning?  I know the Orca pod is, but I was finding it a bit odd that I needed a connection to Kerbin to control some automated rovers that were within arm's reach of my Minmus base, which has probably a dozen Kerbals in residence.  (Spread over several vessels.)

If you don't have any specific reason to avoid it, I may through in a PR with one for say the Tundra/Duna Pioneer.  Or if people have better suggestions, I can put it someplace else.

[FirroSeranel]

2 minutes ago, DStaal said:

I'm happening to notice that none of the MKS parts are probe control points - Any particular reasoning?  I know the Orca pod is, but I was finding it a bit odd that I needed a connection to Kerbin to control some automated rovers that were within arm's reach of my Minmus base, which has probably a dozen Kerbals in residence.  (Spread over several vessels.)

If you don't have any specific reason to avoid it, I may through in a PR with one for say the Tundra/Duna Pioneer.  Or if people have better suggestions, I can put it someplace else.

 

Yeah, I think the logistics centers make sense to be probe control points. After all, they require pilots anyway (or Quartermasters) already.

[FirroSeranel]

1 hour ago, RoverDude said:

@FirroSeranel - Thanks are more than enough, and I really appreciate it!  Also, glad you're enjoying the mod.  For what it's worth, given KSP's general stability post 1.2, I'm being very careful not to change anything major   If anything it will be new bits/mechanics without the large-scale changes previously.  And very likely, once a couple of bits are done, a 1.0 release.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only major upgrade I'd suggest at this point, would be another set of models for the top-tier colonization modules, totally equivalent in a 1:1 match to the Tundra series, but designed graphically for land use. It just feels... really odd, to me, to have a bunch of sideways, windowless cylinders as the top-tier stuff, when the Duna modules feel so much nicer for ground colonization. Compared to the very polished Duna modules, having a couple of cradles for the Tundra that clip through the parts and don't really look like they have solid attachment points, seems, well... just a tad beta to me, the last lingering portion of the mod, visually speaking, that could use a little love. As the mod gets closer to a 1.0 release, that'd be the one thing it could really use.

@Nils277's Planetary Base Systems mod includes some pretty amazing models for larger land-based base components, but that mod only goes into basic life support production. It supports USI-LS, but not Kolonization, so far at least, so just Mulch+Fertilizer=Supplies. Any possibility of some kind of joint project to create a new land-based Tundra equivalent, either based on, or inspired by, those components?

Or, alternatively, as a much smaller tweak, a "Next Texture" button for the Tundra modules to rotate the numbers and labels 90° would let them look more sensible if people orient them vertically.

Another option would be to work with Nils to create adapters to convert between his structures and the Tundra series for horizontal use, and maybe a Konstruction Port in his main cross-section shape, and possibly the garage shape. It already blends seamlessly vertically, so combined with the 90° texture switch option I mentioned, Tundra components would fit in beautifully as towers to provide major manufacturing functions in a high-end colony, with PBS's flat-bottomed buildings functioning similarly to the way trusses and ranger hubs blend in with Duna modules.

Or... yet another possibility would be to flesh out the Duna/Ranger series to become fully functional, and capable of a complete resource chain, all the way up to vessel manufacturing, with no Tundra parts at all, and rather than have the Duna series be "less than" the Tundra, just explicitly make it land, and the Tundra orbital. It'd only need a few more modules, and as they're all basically identical except for textures, it shouldn't be too time-consuming. It'd even be fairly equivalent in terms of part count per base, as fewer adapters and things are needed to make the Duna work, so even though it'd take a few more modules (due to single bays), it'd about even out, I think.

I think the fleshed-out Duna option is my favorite actually now that I've mulled on it.

Edited March 18, 2017 by FirroSeranel

[RoverDude]

40 minutes ago, DStaal said:

I'm happening to notice that none of the MKS parts are probe control points - Any particular reasoning?  I know the Orca pod is, but I was finding it a bit odd that I needed a connection to Kerbin to control some automated rovers that were within arm's reach of my Minmus base, which has probably a dozen Kerbals in residence.  (Spread over several vessels.)

If you don't have any specific reason to avoid it, I may through in a PR with one for say the Tundra/Duna Pioneer.  Or if people have better suggestions, I can put it someplace else.

Sure, makes sense for both pioneer and logistics centers to have that function.

13 minutes ago, FirroSeranel said:

The only major upgrade I'd suggest at this point, would be another set of models for the top-tier colonization modules, totally equivalent in a 1:1 match to the Tundra series, but designed graphically for land use. It just feels... really odd, to me, to have a bunch of sideways, windowless cylinders as the top-tier stuff, when the Duna modules feel so much nicer for ground colonization. Compared to the very polished Duna modules, having a couple of cradles for the Tundra that clip through the parts and don't really look like they have solid attachment points, seems, well... just a tad beta to me, the last lingering portion of the mod, visually speaking, that could use a little love. As the mod gets closer to a 1.0 release, that'd be the one thing it could really use.

The Tundra ones are based off of NASA lunar base plans

That being said, there are plans for additional part ranges.  Really just a matter of finding the time.  I could also be coaxed into more high end Duna modules if someone logs a Github issue

 

[MaxwellsDemon]

I'm not all that keen on the revised recruitment system-- is there a simple (basically a non-coder here) way to deactivate that portion of the mod?  If there's an obvious way to turn it off, I have apparently gone right by it.

[RoverDude]

7 minutes ago, MaxwellsDemon said:

I'm not all that keen on the revised recruitment system-- is there a simple (basically a non-coder here) way to deactivate that portion of the mod?  If there's an obvious way to turn it off, I have apparently gone right by it.

Nope, not at this time.

[MaxwellsDemon]

Okeydokey.   I think I'll fall back to the previous version.

Mind you, I see where it could be useful, but it doesn't fit into my gameplay.  No offense, and love your work!   

[DStaal]

47 minutes ago, FirroSeranel said:

The only major upgrade I'd suggest at this point, would be another set of models for the top-tier colonization modules, totally equivalent in a 1:1 match to the Tundra series, but designed graphically for land use. It just feels... really odd, to me, to have a bunch of sideways, windowless cylinders as the top-tier stuff, when the Duna modules feel so much nicer for ground colonization. Compared to the very polished Duna modules, having a couple of cradles for the Tundra that clip through the parts and don't really look like they have solid attachment points, seems, well... just a tad beta to me, the last lingering portion of the mod, visually speaking, that could use a little love. As the mod gets closer to a 1.0 release, that'd be the one thing it could really use.

@Nils277's Planetary Base Systems mod includes some pretty amazing models for larger land-based base components, but that mod only goes into basic life support production. It supports USI-LS, but not Kolonization, so far at least, so just Mulch+Fertilizer=Supplies. Any possibility of some kind of joint project to create a new land-based Tundra equivalent, either based on, or inspired by, those components?

Something you may want to keep an eye on: