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[KSP 1.8 - 1.12+] - Probes Before Crew [PBC] Version 2.93


_Zee

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@Vexxel This config looks good at a glance, nicely done.  My contract pack still won't do anything new or special with OPM, but other OPM users can at least grab a starting point for the science multipliers.

@BTAxis As has been mentioned a few times before, Restock+ is not supported by PBC. Most people just plug it in anyway and it seems to sync up for the most part, but there will be oddities here and there.

Additionally, the HG-5 antenna is a stock antenna, it is not provided by Kerbalism. Several vanilla antenna values are altered by PBC, the only exception is if RemoteTech is installed, in which case all antenna values defer to RemoteTech. Details on this can be found in the "Recommended Settings" section of the OP, I recommend you read through it as there are suggested settings to go along with the antenna changes.

Edited by _Zee
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I have been really liking this mod, but I feel like I'm "stuck" in my playthrough because of the antenna ranges. I did crewed mun/minmus landings with only a couple of the 90sci nodes unlocked because I desperately needed to get enough science for the 25GM antenna. Even with the tier 3 tracking station, this is just barely enough to let me send probes to just a couple of the other planets, and the connection is pretty weak and spotty. Even though I've only unlocked a single 160sci node, it feels like I have no choice but to spend my next couple thousand science on antennas. And that's probably doable, but I don't think that's how it was designed to be played.

What am I overlooking? Am I supposed to send flyby probes with trajectories calculated so carefully that they gather science and then come back into antenna range automatically? Am I supposed to build a big interplanetary constellation of relays? Am I supposed to get every single morsel of science from every biome in the kerbin system before even thinking about another planet?

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11 hours ago, Qazerowl said:

Snip

I've been playing with KiwiTechTree, not PBC, but I had the same problem. I've always felt the antennas were placed too far ahead (especially when playing with JNSQ + Kerbalism), so I finally decided to move most antennas one tier earlier via config editing. Progression is much smoother now, and more enjoyable . Play the game the way you want to! 

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5 hours ago, EchoLima said:

I've been playing with KiwiTechTree, not PBC, but I had the same problem. I've always felt the antennas were placed too far ahead (especially when playing with JNSQ + Kerbalism), so I finally decided to move most antennas one tier earlier via config editing. Progression is much smoother now, and more enjoyable . Play the game the way you want to! 

Now all we need is a config that removes the return from orbit requirement for achieve stable orbit

Edited by Starslinger999
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Are there recommended mods so that I won't start the game with a Stayputnik probe core? It makes the sounding rockets look weird with the ball as a nose.

 

Edit: I don't want to remove the Stayputnik from the starting node, I'm just wondering if there are alternatives I can install.

Edited by acr_8133
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  • 4 weeks later...
On 8/24/2022 at 3:56 AM, _Zee said:

Are you stacking antennas or just trying to use 1 for the whole ship?

And have you set your DSN modifier to 0.35?

I'm using like 4 antennas, and I have the DSN modifier set to 0.35 to reduce it's range. All of my difficulty settings match the recommendation images in the main post.

If I build a craft with four DTS-M1 antennas, and have a level 2 tracking station, that's only enough to have a weak connection to Even and Duna, and only when they're close, not even a majority of the orbit. And when the tracking station isn't facing duna? Forget about it, no way I could put enough antennas on a satellite to be a good enough relay. I managed to get such a satellite around duna and it took years to send back the relatively basic science data with kerbalism. So again, I'm not saying it's impossible to progress, but I'm just kind of lost what my first few interplanetary missions are supposed to look like.

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Just wondering, I see this mod comes with celestial body science editor. When I set the values to stock, it goes to a vanilla game. When I select default, the values are increased. Which setting is the mod intended to be used with? The first setting for Kerbin on stock is 0.3, whereas the setting on default is 0.8 across the board for Kerbin.

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3 hours ago, Randomizer23 said:

Just wondering, I see this mod comes with celestial body science editor. When I set the values to stock, it goes to a vanilla game. When I select default, the values are increased. Which setting is the mod intended to be used with? The first setting for Kerbin on stock is 0.3, whereas the setting on default is 0.8 across the board for Kerbin.

The setting that tells you 0.8 is the correct one. The main post lists all body science values under the "For those who love the details" section.

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21 hours ago, Qazerowl said:

The setting that tells you 0.8 is the correct one. The main post lists all body science values under the "For those who love the details" section.

So even though my mod lists consist of PBC, CTT, Restock+ and no other part mods I still should be using the inflated science values? Just want to know what everything should be before I being my career.

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1 hour ago, Randomizer23 said:

So even though my mod lists consist of PBC, CTT, Restock+ and no other part mods I still should be using the inflated science values? Just want to know what everything should be before I being my career.

The modified values that this mod comes with are not inflated. The main post shows that science values for Kerbin are slightly higher, but the science values for every other planet are about half of what they are in vanilla. Also, the science values of the experiments themselves have been changed: most of them have been lowered. To quote the main post: "Science rewards have been reduced overall. I recommend you do not set the Science slider below 70%, and that's under the assumption you are at least using DMagic Orbital Science (If not, consider moving the slider higher)." I had mixed feelings about DMagic in the past because it felt like the extra science made the game too easy, but I would recommend the mod for this playthough because A the tech tree was balanced around the extra science, and B most experiments have been tweaked to be applied in fewer situations. In vanilla, it felt like you'd land on a planet, click "run" on a dozen experiments, and then leave. With this mod, most of the experiments are not biome-specific anymore, many of them are used only in space or only when landed, etc. I'm playing with lots of other mods that make the game harder, but I found myself designing missions around the specific situation requirements of certain experiments. I went from feeling like DMagic added too many things in vanilla to wishing it added more experiments for this rebalance.

But to summarize: the whole point of including different science modifiers for the bodies is that you use them. If you pick "stock", it resets the modifiers back to the vanilla game's numbers. Meaning, it undoes the changes made by the mod. If the intent was to use the unchanged values, the mod author wouldn't have changed them in the first place. Read the OP.

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17 hours ago, Qazerowl said:

The modified values that this mod comes with are not inflated. The main post shows that science values for Kerbin are slightly higher, but the science values for every other planet are about half of what they are in vanilla. Also, the science values of the experiments themselves have been changed: most of them have been lowered. To quote the main post: "Science rewards have been reduced overall. I recommend you do not set the Science slider below 70%, and that's under the assumption you are at least using DMagic Orbital Science (If not, consider moving the slider higher)." I had mixed feelings about DMagic in the past because it felt like the extra science made the game too easy, but I would recommend the mod for this playthough because A the tech tree was balanced around the extra science, and B most experiments have been tweaked to be applied in fewer situations. In vanilla, it felt like you'd land on a planet, click "run" on a dozen experiments, and then leave. With this mod, most of the experiments are not biome-specific anymore, many of them are used only in space or only when landed, etc. I'm playing with lots of other mods that make the game harder, but I found myself designing missions around the specific situation requirements of certain experiments. I went from feeling like DMagic added too many things in vanilla to wishing it added more experiments for this rebalance.

But to summarize: the whole point of including different science modifiers for the bodies is that you use them. If you pick "stock", it resets the modifiers back to the vanilla game's numbers. Meaning, it undoes the changes made by the mod. If the intent was to use the unchanged values, the mod author wouldn't have changed them in the first place. Read the OP.

Correct me if im wrong, but the values for the Sun, on stock were 1 I think, and for the default values they were 2.5, I cant remember if it was vice versa.

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Like I said before, all of this information is in the first post in this thread. There are 6 more charts going over other changes in detail. You should read all of the information in the original post before repeatedly asking the same question. Click on the spoiler tag in this post to see the comparison for the vanilla/modified science values for all bodies.

Spoiler
Celestial Body Science Multipliers
++ Vanilla Vanilla Vanilla Vanilla Vanilla Vanilla || PBC PBC ++
Body Landed Splashed FlyLow FlyHigh SpaceLow SpaceHigh || Landed AllElse Notes
Kerbin 0.3x 0.4x 0.7x 0.9x 1x 1.5x || 1.5x 0.8x (SpaceAny) and AllElse for Kerbin
Mun 4x       3x 2x || 3x 2x  
Minmus 5x       4x 2.5x || 3.5x 2.5x  
Kerbol     1x 1x 11x 2x || 6x 2.5x (SpaceLow) and AllElse for Kerbol
Moho 10x       8x 7x || 5x 4x  
Eve 8x 8x 6x 6x 7x 5x || 4x 3x (Land&Splash) and AllElse for Eve
Gilly 9x       8x 6x || 4.5x 3.5x  
Duna 8x   5x 5x 7x 5x || 4x 3x  
Ike 8x       7x 5x || 4x 3x  
Dres 8x       7x 6x || 4x 3x  
Jool     12x 9x 7x 6x || 5x 3.5x (FlyAny) and AllElse for Jool
Laythe 14x 12x 11x 10x 9x 8x || 5.5x 4.5x (Land&Splash) and AllElse for Laythe
Vall 12x       9x 8x || 5x 4x  
Tylo 12x       10x 8x || 5x 4x  
Bop 12x       9x 8x || 5x 4x  
Pol 12x       9x 8x || 5x 4x  
Eeloo 15x       12x 10x || 6x 5x  

 

Edited by Qazerowl
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  • 3 weeks later...
On 9/19/2022 at 2:35 PM, Randomizer23 said:

Just wondering, I see this mod comes with celestial body science editor. When I set the values to stock, it goes to a vanilla game. When I select default, the values are increased. Which setting is the mod intended to be used with? The first setting for Kerbin on stock is 0.3, whereas the setting on default is 0.8 across the board for Kerbin.

The answers @Qazerowl provided are pretty much perfect.

For added clarity - PBC includes not only the submod that allows you to change the science multiplier values, but ALSO includes the preset multiplier values intended to be used with PBC already applied. So you don't need to mess with Celestial Science Modifiers in-game unless you intend to set your own personal custom values (or maybe you want to return the values back to vanilla for some reason, you can do that too). 

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On 11/10/2022 at 10:32 AM, lucius57 said:

I want to use this mod in career mode but the R&D facility is fully upgraded. Is there a way to disable the full upgrade of the R&D building to where it can be upgraded as usual?

Sounds like a separate issue. PBC has no effect on the career buildings.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm playing this with JNSQ and have added JNSQ Probes Before Crew Rebalance / Contract Pack. JNSQ scales the Kerbol system up by ~2.7x. The documentation for JNSQ suggests setting the DSN modifier to 4 so it scales up with the bigger system. What should I set it to with this mod? Would it be the suggested 0.35 x 4 = 1.4?

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  • 2 weeks later...

@FloatingMongoose It's hard to say. I shaped the antenna ranges around both the planet distances AND the anticipated point in your career you'd unlock them. Both of those variables change with JNSQ and I'm not familiar with it. Since JNSQ increases distances considerably, its probably best to start with the safer assumption (JNSQ's recommended 4) and turn the value down as you test it more. 1.4 might end up not being enough in the end.

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  • 1 month later...
17 hours ago, bobisback said:

Does this mod support Mark One Laboratory Extensions (M.O.L.E.)?

List of supported mods is in the first post in this topic. AFAIR this one is not supported but it'll work - added parts might be in weird science nodes though (too early, a little bit late, etc.).

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Quite new to modding KSP so I have a question about contracts. I got PBC to go with KSRSS Reborn but I also got History of Spaceflight Pocket to go with BDB and Tantares parts and some other like bases, GAP to go with the planet pack. How does one go with packs, shall I keep one, KSRSS and PBC only or more? Can I add installed packs (but turned off during in new game difficulty options) during playthrough to, lets say, complete historical missions when I unlock the parts (they are on a times and with a penalty)?

EDIT: Also, is you contract pack replacing the stock one? I can find it where the custom ones are.

Edited by Czejenesku
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