Sandbox Tech Tree

[XLjedi]

I am often trying to create craft within a specific limited set of tech tree nodes. 

Rather than disable the R&D facility in a sandbox game...  It would be extremely helpful to be able to enter the R&D facility and have the ability to just click on tech tree nodes to toggle them on/off so I can work with the specific subset of parts that I want in the SPH/VAB.

[swjr-swis]

I pretty much stopped using the sandbox game mode because of this. It's not a real sandbox if you can't tweak ALL settings at will.

So I got used to creating my own 'sandbox+' mode:

• Start a career game, with all settings as I want them.
• Immediately create a 'clean' save at the start of time, so I can always return to a pristine start by loading it.
• Call up the cheat menu, add the required funds/science/rep, and cheat or manually add in the things for the particular sandbox I need at that moment. Make a new save with those settings, so I can revert back to this at will.
• Optional: load the pristine save to return to a clean start situation.
• Rinse and repeat to create however many different 'sandboxes' I foresee using. This 'career' game is now my sandbox, in which I can call up whichever specific constraints I wish by loading the corresponding named save.

Those saves also retain many of the difficulty settings you change through the esc menu, so even that can be customized at will. All within a single 'save', through the magic of multiple savefiles.

 

But yes, I agree, it would be very welcome if the sandbox mode directly allowewd us to pick and choose tech tree and facility level limitations, among many other settings.

[XLjedi]

@swjr-swis  Yeah, that seems to be where I'm at too.  It's a workaround for sure, but I end up with a hodge-podge of save pseudo-sandboxes and multiple directories of craft.  While on that point, aside from a total revamp of the craft storage tool that might allow for creation of directories...  I'd settle for a way to easily save/edit/delete directly to the master save directory so all of these saves can efficiently access/edit the same craft.

[Fraktal]

I concur, this would be a very handy thing for someone who tends to build more than fly. As things are right now, building low-tech stuff has me opening a browser window either via Steam Overlay or on my secondary monitor, displaying the wiki's tech tree so that I know what I'm allowed to use.

[XLjedi]

40 minutes ago, Fraktal said:

I concur, this would be a very handy thing for someone who tends to build more than fly. As things are right now, building low-tech stuff has me opening a browser window either via Steam Overlay or on my secondary monitor, displaying the wiki's tech tree so that I know what I'm allowed to use.

In that case...   Do I have a tool for you!

I'm recruiting folks to solicit feedback and continue development, but it's pretty dang good as-is if I do say so me-selfs.  

[Electrollama]

I think this would be redundant with existing features in vanilla:

1) Advanced Part Filtering: You can disable a subset of parts based on size (similar to limited tech tree nodes). Otherwise, your idea could be implemented if the game added a custom filter category, like how the sub-assembly menu allows custom categories. The user could select which parts to include in the category.

2) Science Mode: This mode was designed to be Sandbox except for the existence of the Tech Tree. You'd still need to unlock nodes in the tree rather than toggling them like you said, but this isn't too much of a hindrance (see Tech Tree Speedrun).

3) Player Discretion: The feature wouldn't add playability. The player could just decide what parts to use, hence a sandbox. I think there are few enough parts that it's not hard to find specific parts, especially if you sort by mass.

[XLjedi]

3 hours ago, Electrollama said:

I think this would be redundant with existing features in vanilla:

1) Advanced Part Filtering: You can disable a subset of parts based on size (similar to limited tech tree nodes). Otherwise, your idea could be implemented if the game added a custom filter category, like how the sub-assembly menu allows custom categories. The user could select which parts to include in the category.

2) Science Mode: This mode was designed to be Sandbox except for the existence of the Tech Tree. You'd still need to unlock nodes in the tree rather than toggling them like you said, but this isn't too much of a hindrance (see Tech Tree Speedrun).

3) Player Discretion: The feature wouldn't add playability. The player could just decide what parts to use, hence a sandbox. I think there are few enough parts that it's not hard to find specific parts, especially if you sort by mass.

Has nothing to do with difficulty in finding parts...  or sorting by mass or tech level.  There are 61 nodes and over 400 parts!  Not surprisingly, I have a difficult time remembering which parts belong to which tech nodes.

If I had the ability, in any mode, to toggle off a tech tree node, then it would be redundant.  

Since I cannot deselect a node in any mode, it's not redundant.

I have noticed how the save config file in career mode enables tech tree nodes.  I could probably create a simple script to edit the save config file for the tech nodes I want.  The only mild downside there is I would have to most likely reload the save in order to change the tech tree mix.  It's a slightly better solution than having multiple saves.  

I have not looked to see if there are hooks available to create a mod that would let me do what I want.  ...but I may have to take a look at that today.

Edited January 31, 2020 by XLjedi

[Paaaad]

Now that I think about it, I think there are tabs in the advanced mode that sort by tech level... I don't think it goes node by node though. And I know you can order the displayed parts by mass. Just click "Mass" under the search bar.

[XLjedi]

8 hours ago, Paaaad said:

Now that I think about it, I think there are tabs in the advanced mode that sort by tech level... I don't think it goes node by node though. And I know you can order the displayed parts by mass. Just click "Mass" under the search bar.

Who said I wanted to do this?

To be clear...  I want to be able to toggle on/off nodes on the tech tree and only have those parts available to work with in the buckets and sections that they typically reside in on the tech tree.  

So if I were to select these:

The SPH and VAB would only have the following 43 parts unlocked within their respective categories:

I would prefer that these 43 parts appear in their typical categories in the SPH/VAB part selector areas.

The goal here is to limit the overall selection of parts available to the specific categories on the tech tree that I chose to toggle on/off.  This is not a display/filter issue or some problem that I have finding parts.  I want to put specific constraints on which parts are available so I can design craft for specific points during career leveling.  ...or work with a science track specifically geared more toward spaceplanes, or rockets.

Edited February 1, 2020 by XLjedi