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Space Race Season 2 (RP-1) Recruiting and ideas thread


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Not sure whether this belongs in discussion, mission reports, or challenges, so if it needs to be moved, move it.

A bit over a year ago I started the first Space Race. You can look at it here if you want.

How it worked was that three players would install nearly identical modsets and play through RP-0, posting updates every three ingame months, in order, in a race to put the first people on the Lunar surface.

Unfortunately, it ended with a gradual loss of interest and fizzled completely towards the end. Now that it's confirmed dead and over, and has been for some time, I believe the dust has settled enough for another try.

This is the recruiting and ideas thread for Space Race season 2, or whatever we are going to call it. I'm going to ping @qzgy and @NSEP here. I doubt that they want to go another round, but since they were in the race, I would like to ask them on their input, what they would change going in another round.

CHANGES FROM SEASON 1:

Spoiler

The biggest change would be using RP-1 instead of RP-0 and using 1.6.1 instead of 1.2.2. RP-1 is a significant step up from RP-0 and adds new functionality and features, but also challenge.

 

Depending on the opinions of whoever decides to participate, season 2 could go one of two ways:

  • Complete Anarchy - An end goal is set (like landing people on the moon) and pretty much anything goes (leaving out abort systems, using non RP-0 parts, skipping milestones, plane cockpits in space, etc).
  • Adjusted Rules - Restricting some exploits used in season 1 to make it more realistic feeling, but relaxing some of the other restrictions.

 

Assuming the adjusted rules are chosen, here are a few changes I have already decided on:

  • No use of Non RP-0 parts (well, now non RP-1 parts) without a really good justification. In the RP-0 tech tree, some parts that aren't meant to be there were were there, but with an Non RP-0 tag. We allowed them a little last time. However, this was exploited slightly by I think everyone. I used a non RP-0 avionics module to help with early sounding rockets, and people also used a really advanced but lightweight scanner as well as a really advanced heat shield.
  • No strict goal by goal progression. The old system was a list of goals that had to be achieved in order. While passing those goals are important, some of them were fairly arbitrary (3 man craft, space station) so I am going to ditch that system in favor of one end goal.
  • Reduced use of non space parts in space. This one is mostly aimed at me. My first manned space missions were using bomber cockpits. I used that same bomber cockpit as a lunar lander cockpit, and was going to use it as a high visibility observation module for a space station. A case could have been made for the space station, but the other two would not be okay in these new rules.
  • Reduced restrictions on posting order. In the old system we would post quarter 1 player 1, player 2, player 3, repeat for quarter 2. In the new system I think I'm going to have it be everyone needs to finish posting that quarter before moving on. The exact player order doesn't matter. In addition, I'm removing the playing 6 months ahead restriction. Although players should try to remain generally around the same time, the old system meant often having to put down the game and pick it back up, and forgetting stuff, like how to fly your new expensive rocket that you planned weeks ago.
  • Speaking of launch failures, the mod that means engines have reliability is in now, I think, unless they took it out with RP-1. This means that I will allow use of quickload and reverting in any case except for this mod.
  • Another thing, if most of the players are ready to move to the next quarter but one isn't, the others can move on and the other one can catch up later. Not being against that one player, but IRL things come up, and I think leaving one person temporarily behind is better than a month long hiatus.

This list is incomplete, any more suggestions are welcome!

 

The end goal of season 2 is most likely going to be the same as season 1, successfully landing someone on the moon and returning him/her safely to Earth. I considered making this more difficult, but given the fact that I would like more players, and the loss of interest in season 1, I think it's best to keep the Moon as the goal. It's also independent of transfer windows.

Speaking of more people, I would like five people to play for this season, up from the three of last time. If more sign up, that's fine. If we have four, I can go with that too. I want to be as accepting to people as possible for this challenge.

If you wish to join, yay! Here are some things you should do:

  • Say that you want to join in a comment below.
  • Choose a launch site. This will be your site for the rest of the game unless you really want to change it. Two people cannot have the same launch site. I recommend something low inclination.
  • Post your flag, or design one if you haven't already. A stock flag is also fine.
  • Don't install the modpack until we are ready to start, I will compile instructions on how to install everything once we have the mod set finalized.
  • Keep in mind that this is a long challenge that may involve a lot of on and off playing (hopefully reduced now because of the rule changes).

 

Participants:

 

 

Once we have four participants, I will create a private message group where we will finalize everything. We will start hopefully soon, and it will be in a new thread. This one is just for recruiting and discussion.

 

If you want me to clarify anything, just ask! I can guarantee that I forgot something.

Edited by Ultimate Steve
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2 hours ago, ResonantWaves said:

I would most certainly consider! Depending on amount of free time, version and mod collusion, and/or the complete overhaul of Imgur into something quick and easily usable,  I think it would be quite fun!

In the last playthrough, the modset was a CKAN install of RP-0, with all of it's dependencies and recommendations. There were a few of its suggestions that were specifically required, and a few other ones that were required. Anything else from the suggested RP-0 mods was okay, though. Two of us ended up installing the RSS visual enhancement mod about halfway through.

RP-1 installation is a bit more complicated than that, but it's well documented.

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Thoughts on rule changes

3 hours ago, Ultimate Steve said:

Depending on the opinions of whoever decides to participate, season 2 could go one of two ways:

  • Complete Anarchy - An end goal is set (like landing people on the moon) and pretty much anything goes (leaving out abort systems, using non RP-0 parts, skipping milestones, plane cockpits in space, etc).
  • Adjusted Rules - Restricting some exploits used in season 1 to make it more realistic feeling, but relaxing some of the other restrictions.

Complete anarchy sounds fun, but otoh you'd have to figure out pretty well how to exploit the system. But it does mean you can play it in a more kerbal/risky style, without proper testing and what not.

If you do include restrictions on things like escape systems, tests, and other things like that, I'd make sure to clearly outline it.

3 hours ago, Ultimate Steve said:

However, this was exploited slightly by I think everyone.

I know at least I exploited this a bunch. It helped with somethings, since in certain cases it provided the perfect part for the job (like those op heat shields).Changing it would definitely make things progress slower.

3 hours ago, Ultimate Steve said:

Reduced use of non space parts in space. This one is mostly aimed at me. My first manned space missions were using bomber cockpits. I used that same bomber cockpit as a lunar lander cockpit, and was going to use it as a high visibility observation module for a space station. A case could have been made for the space station, but the other two would not be okay in these new rules.

Also guilty of this here. First capsule was a cockpit. The designed moon lander which I never really launched was also planning on using that bomber cockpit.

3 hours ago, Ultimate Steve said:

Although players should try to remain generally around the same time, the old system meant often having to put down the game and pick it back up, and forgetting stuff, like how to fly your new expensive rocket that you planned weeks ago.

It did, and it also provided a bit of a certain advantage in the sense of when you posted a milestone, or progress towards a milestone I would try and rush something just to beat the date you posted. Having more flexibility in this also helps because then someone could play on for however long they like at the pace they want.Also kinda a bit though hmmm whats gonna happen.

3 hours ago, Ultimate Steve said:

Another thing, if most of the players are ready to move to the next quarter but one isn't, the others can move on and the other one can catch up later. Not being against that one player, but IRL things come up, and I think leaving one person temporarily behind is better than a month long hiatus.

Yeah it would, though at some point that person does have to catch up. Which may be an challenge after too long.

4 hours ago, Ultimate Steve said:

No strict goal by goal progression. The old system was a list of goals that had to be achieved in order. While passing those goals are important, some of them were fairly arbitrary (3 man craft, space station) so I am going to ditch that system in favor of one end goal.

I think that would be a good change (frees participants up to do what they like), but it also probably means people will ignore things like space stations.

 

Also, one of the things that I didn't like so much about last time is that the career system meant you had to grind a bunch of money if you wanted to go anywhere, and force a bunch of commsat launches (as far as I remember). That got old. I knwo its kinda an inherent thing of career KSP but its something to think about.

 

I'm sorta interested to participate but I've honestly been in a bit of a KSP burnout so I don't want to commit yet. I also still have the old launcher sitting around from that save and am kinda curious if I could make it work.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I think I will join! This looks like a pretty interesting thing to do, and I want to be part of this.

My launch site will be Cape Canaveral, unless its already been taken. (If it is, I'll choose another site)

My space program's name is the Johnster Space Agency (JSA)

My flag looks like this:

Ry5cdoV.png

P.S: I might change the flag later if necessary, but it probably won't be. (Also, is this for 1.6.1 or another version?)

 

 

Edited by Johnster_Space_Program
changed site from kennedy space center to cape canaveral
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19 hours ago, Yeet_TheDinosaur said:

I'm interested in this. When does this start? What is the mod list? 

 

Mod list is RP-1, which is a realism overhaul based career mode modpack. While the modmakers have tried to streamline everything via CKAN, there are some mods that need to be backported in, so it's a fairly complex installation process.

Instructions to install (don't quite yet, we're not ready to start):

https://github.com/KSP-RO/RP-0/wiki/RP-1-v1.1-Installation-Instructions

Note, this can get quite beefy, so it is almost required that you leave out some of the bulk part packs (I'll explain fully later when it comes time to start).

 

There is a small chance we can get a GameData folder minus SQUAD straight from the RP-1 discord but I won't hold my breath for that. This will greatly simplify installation.

 

As far as starting time... We have four interested players, I believe. If we can all get the install working soon ish (I'll make a private message group to help, maybe tomorrow) then maybe within the week, assuming all four of us still want to. I do want at least four.

 

14 hours ago, Johnster_Space_Program said:

I think I will join! This looks like a pretty interesting thing to do, and I want to be part of this.

My launch site will be Cape Canaveral, unless its already been taken. (If it is, I'll choose another site)

My space program's name is the Johnster Space Agency (JSA)

My flag looks like this:

Ry5cdoV.png

P.S: I might change the flag later if necessary, but it probably won't be. (Also, is this for 1.6.1 or another version?)

 

 

Alright! I don't think the Cape is taken.

The game is in 1.3.1 as that is what RP-1 is updated for. With such massive modpacks, these sorts of things usually lag a few updates behind. It's likely that RP-1 stays in 1.3.1 forever, actually, as the game is now updated so frequently that it would be really hard to get all the mods on the same update.

Pinging @ResonantWaves. If all four of us are still interested, I see no reason we can't start setting up soon. I'll need a confirmation from all three of you. I'm going to bed now, but I might start ensuring that the installation works tomorrow.

Edited by Ultimate Steve
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On 7/12/2019 at 7:25 AM, Ultimate Steve said:

 

  • Choose a launch site. This will be your site for the rest of the game unless you really want to change it. Two people cannot have the same launch site. I recommend something low inclination.

Sorry to bother you, but I'm quite new to the game and never tried RP-0 or RSS. Is there a site which gives you the list of all launch sites? 

Are real Space Agency flags okay?

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6 hours ago, Ultimate Steve said:

The game is in 1.3.1 as that is what RP-1 is updated for. With such massive modpacks, these sorts of things usually lag a few updates behind. It's likely that RP-1 stays in 1.3.1 forever, actually, as the game is now updated so frequently that it would be really hard to get all the mods on the same update.

Alright. When we do this, I will probably just make a copy of KSP 1.3.1 and use that for getting all the required mods when this starts. 

6 hours ago, Ultimate Steve said:

Alright! I don't think the Cape is taken.

Good! I plan on using that launch site when we get started.

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11 hours ago, Yeet_TheDinosaur said:

Sorry to bother you, but I'm quite new to the game and never tried RP-0 or RSS. Is there a site which gives you the list of all launch sites? 

Are real Space Agency flags okay?

I don't think so, but if it's a launch site in real life, it's probably a launch site in RSS.

Real Space Agency flags are okay.

I would like to caution you, I haven't done anything with RP-1 yet (what we will be using) but it's an updated RP-0 (which I have played with in the past), and RP-0 is already a massive step up in complexity from the base game.

I will post a tips list and I will help you with any mod related questions you may have (how does this work, etc.)

5 hours ago, Johnster_Space_Program said:

Alright. When we do this, I will probably just make a copy of KSP 1.3.1 and use that for getting all the required mods when this starts. 

Good! I plan on using that launch site when we get started.

If you haven't seen the above post, be advised that I was wrong and RP-1 actually works on 1.6.1 so we will be using that.

I am testing the installation process, once I confirm it works I'll tell you how to do it.

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1 hour ago, Ultimate Steve said:

If you haven't seen the above post, be advised that I was wrong and RP-1 actually works on 1.6.1 so we will be using that.

Ok. I will use 1.6.1 since it works with RP-1. Also, when are you going to edit the OP to show the other participants?

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