Turning KSP into a management game

[Algiark]

Are there mods to add more aspects to KSP's management? I feel like the budget system in KSP was just tacked on and never fully explored, and I hope some mods could change that.

[Geonovast]

Never used myself, but this might be up your alley.

 

[StarStreak2109]

KCT adds a time constraint to your rocket builds, thus preventing you from launching one rocket after the other. In career/science mode it also adds a further time constraint on unlocking nodes in the tech tree. You get points that you can distribute in order to emphasize the one or other aspect of your space program (e.g. building rockets over space planes or developing science over building stuff).

You can further enhance this experience with the mod Scrapyard, which provides an inventory of recovered parts, which can be reused and thus keep your costs down.

While these mods are great at adding said time constraint to your game, it really becomes interesting, if you add life support into the mix. Having to plan ahead to have for instance resupply drones available for your station in orbit, provides more of the kind of experience you may be after.

[AngrybobH]

On 9/3/2018 at 3:59 AM, StarStreak2109 said:

it really becomes interesting, if you add life support into the mix

This is something that added a whole new dimension to KSP. To go even further, I would recommend MKS with the USI life support. I have used many different life support mods and game mechanic altering mods that add difficulty and complexity but MKS has the right balance for me. It adds a colonization system that requires management but rewards you with science and funds. It also lets you (with the correct parts on your ships) resupply from a planet that has infrastructure without having to actually fly that boring mission. Add the above mods plus maybe Dangit and you have disasters and crises waiting to happen. Imagine needing supplies on Duna in 400 days(or everyone dies!) but the supply ship blew up when the second stage ignited and a new ship will take many more days than you are comfortable with to build. What do you do? That is the type of problem I enjoy solving and goes way beyond just funds and science collection.

Alternatively, there is Kerbalism that is a life support mod and much more. It adds radiation belts and part failures plus revamps the science collection. I feel like this mod could use some fine tuning and polish(better integration with other mods) but all in all it gives a real sense of space being dangerous. It's not so much adding management to the game but it makes you think about redundancies and protecting crew which adds weight and cost.

[StarStreak2109]

I have never tried Kerbalism, although it sounds like an interesting concept. My personal opinion re MKS is very mixed. On the one side I like the underlying ideas, but overall I find the whole pack bloated and overly complex.

I recently found that Pathfinder by @Angel-125 is a much more streamlined and user-friendly alternative to MKS, much like MKS Lite used to be.

 

[AngrybobH]

12 hours ago, StarStreak2109 said:

overly complex.

I was coming from a career save with KSPI-E and TAC-LS to kerbalism to MKS so it doesn't seem that complicated to me. Plus I like a bit of complexity. I never tried the Pathfinder mod but it looks about like MKS (or as you said MKS lite). I have had problems with WildBlueTools/BARIS not playing nice with other mods, even ones they say are compatible. Which is the reason for not trying it and dropping Kerbalism. But, that does give the OP yet another option for complexity/management type of thing to consider.

I would also suggest to the OP contract configurator(with packs of contracts) and Dmagic's Orbital science(also scan sat). Better contracts with contract packs(all different kinds available) and the orbital science adds longer term missions that can take hundreds of days to complete once the designated orbit is achieved. That ties up your cash in a mission and potentially limits other contracts you can do. I'm sure there are many mods that say they do one thing but don't sell the fact they add complexity to how you play a career save when you consider money management. This game, with mods, is as complicated and micro-managey as you want to get. For instance look at RSS/RO/RP-0 thats almost a different game.