TCFirebird

Just to be clear, "Mod-Oriented Tech Tree" is it's own mod and doesn't just mean that your tech tree is built around mods.

This makes much more sense than generating fuel out of nothing or out of energy. This would also allow for conservation of mass. Use the existing community resources Waste and WasteWater (and maybe CO2, ElectricCharge), and converting to LFO to squeeze a little extra deltaV out of manned missions. You wouldn't be able to make very much, but it gives you something to do with those waste products if you aren't recycling. That's probably very different than what you originally had in mind, but it's much more in line with reality and game balance.

The OP (and Kerbal Stuff) says the license is GNU GPL, but in the download it has CC BY-NC-SA. The original mod has the same problem (says GPL on Kerbal Stuff but the readme.txt says CC BY-NC-SA). You should probably correct your licensing and you may want to update the readme.txt in your version to reflect dependency changes, additional authors, etc.

Another approach is to make the same modification to your save file that I made in the config. Make a back up of your save file (just in case), then open it using a text editor and search for the contract (Ctrl + F, Commsat). Under Commsat III, remove the requirement for connectivity to Commsat I. Delete this: PARAM { name = VesselConnectivityParameter id = VesselConnectivity state = Incomplete disableOnStateChange = False values = 0,0,0,0,0 ContractIdentifier = RT_KerbinRelay allowStateReset = True title = hasConnectivity = True vesselKey = CommSat I } That should allow you to complete it. Adding a requirement for the fourth satellite isn't necessary, it's just there as a suggestion.

I think MKS/OKS does a good job of allowing permanent installations without negating the concern for life support. A basic life support MKS/OKS setup has about the same mass as a Kerbal century of TAC LS supplies (and is much more expensive), so for any out-and-back missions it makes more sense to just pack supplies.

I've been using Community Tech Tree because most of my part mods support it. The other tech trees support my mods, but they choose part placement instead of the mod author. Just curious what others are using (and why). I left off mods like SETI Balance and Better Than Starting Manned since they alter more than just the tech tree. They would fall under "Something else".

I submitted a pull request to allow flexibility for a 3 satellite or 4 satellite network for the initial Kerbin network. Let me know what you think.

I believe the difficulty in beta is still a work-in-progress. If it's so easy that nothing burns up, why even have the mod?

I got a fresh beta release to make sure I had the right files and I didn't change them at all. Coming from LKO, temperatures don't get hot enough to start ablation (< 650C), on both hard and normal. Out-of-the-box hard settings are actually cooler than normal settings because of the "Use alternate density" option. If I uncheck that for hard, temperatures are about the same as normal. Coming from low Kerbin orbit (<80km), the only way to get a steep approach is to reduce your orbital speed, so the steeper your approach is the slower you're going and therefore less heat/Gs. There isn't enough time for gravity acceleration. I believe this would apply for Earth also, but the delta V requirements would be much higher (impractical). Coming from the Mun/Moon on the other hand, you have to balance between too steep and too shallow.

Sorry if I'm misinforming, I might have gotten my release and beta installs mixed up.

Visual effects are calculated separately than heat effects. Visual effects don't start until air density reaches 0.65 (you can change this in the config), but heat/ablation will start almost immediately upon entering the atmosphere. If you're running out of ablation shielding, try a steeper approach (see above).

Starwaster - it might be helpful to have some kind of tutorial/explanation of how to do a safe reentry using this mod. I see a lot of posts saying they come in very shallow approaches and are still burning up. I had the same misconception about reentry, thinking that shallow reentry = safe reentry (until I googled it). Using DRE (and in real life), if reentry is too shallow you will run out of ablative shielding and burn up. If reentry is too steep, G forces will kill the crew*. So the trick is to have your approach in the window between running out of shielding (too shallow) and G force death (too steep). From LKO (~75k Ap), the lower your Pe is the safer it is because your reentry speed is not enough for a G force death*. After a certain Ap height/reentry speed, G force death becomes possible and you have to find the safe window. And the window gets smaller the faster your reentry is, until at a certain speed there is no possible angle where your crew will survive. EDIT: Probably also worth mentioning that heavier craft will need shallower approaches to reach safe parachute speeds, which is why the wider shields have more shielding. *Depending on your drag. This is assuming your craft has enough drag to reach safe parachute speeds.

Heat multiplier on hard should be 20 (just like on normal). The beta release still has it set at 1.

These have already been fixed, just not released yet. If you download the part configs from github they'll work just fine.

Using Regolith and Module Manager, I know you would be able to give RTG a limited resource and have it start out active. You'd have to ask RoverDude if it's possible to disable the start/stop buttons using just a part config. That gets you most of the way there. EL can only fill pumpable tanks. Non-pumpable tanks always start out full (solid fuel is the only stock resource like this). For EL/MKS integration, you'd have to release a modified version of EL (or get the author to modify it) to check for Eeloonium before building an RTG (as well as adding the production in MKS parts). Decaying power generation would be the most difficult, and you would likely have to write your own resource conversion logic for that because Regolith can't handle conversion rates that change based on time.

Is your primary goal to be able to build RTGs with EL/MKS? Depleting Eeloonium would be fairly easy to implement for RTGs built in the VAB (and wouldn't have MKS as a dependency). I think the challenge with EL/MKS is you'd have to allow filling it once, but then never again.

Are attitude and throttle adjustments not subject to signal delay? Any part interaction like science reports and staging have a delay, but not reaction wheels and throttle. That was a happy surprise for me, because there is no way I was going to be able to land on Ike using just the flight computer.

The official tutorial ( http://remotetechnologiesgroup.github.io/RemoteTech/tutorials/c16network/ ) recommends four satellites.

Kerbin has a diameter of 1,200 km so that diameter of a 700 km orbit would actually be 2,600 km. Even so, a 3 satellite network should be possible with Communotron 16s, but it has to be pretty exact to avoid line-of-sight and range problems. I recommend adding a 4th.

I just noticed in the latest release for beta,the config for Hard mode has the heat multiplier at 1 (it's at 20 in Normal mode). It should be at 20 for both. Once you make that fix, you'll definitely get ablation. I was wondering why hard mode was much easier than normal mode until I noticed that.

Are the "Normal" settings designed to require using a heat shield? Using a safe reentry angle (20k per) and no heat shield, nothing gets damaged. Even coming straight down from Minmus only burns off extremities, and most pieces stay intact. I tried this with FAR and stock aero. DRE v6.4.0 Edit: I think it might just be that engines makes very effective heat shields. I switched to hard settings and my ship burns up if it's tilted but if I hold surface retrograde (go down engines first) it does just fine.

If you use CKAN it will handle all of the version control for you. It makes installing and maintaining mods super easy, especially dependencies.

Right, I saw the license in the OP. I'm trying to be polite by asking Talisar here (and I sent a PM).

Is this mod still being actively maintained? I'd like to make a few changes as well as have it published on CKAN. Here's what I'd like to do: Remove Pod - Doesn't really fit in with the theme Balance masses with stock parts and other mods Fix collision strength - These things are nearly indestructible Make hollow separators work as a decoupler Add 6 meter cargo bays Assign tech tree locations Remove Firespitter dependency Publish to Github and CKAN