loki130

I'm too busy with other stuff (and seasonally depressed) to work on this much now, but to answer some questions: I'm not sure how to change where autostrut unlocks, but I might try to see if there's any way to get the game to read all stock nodes as unlocked despite being hidden and see if that helps Rational resources will need another pass at some point but it's low priority Probably will do modular launchpads eventually, can't decide if I want to try to preserve the separate techs approach for that or just stick them in existing structural nodes (because I think the main point of the separate techs is to avoid cluttering nodes, but you get plenty of that from bdb alone already so you kinda just have to live with it regardless). USI sounding rockets gives you a starting probe core, parachute, and rocket, so should be enough for a couple early launches, and then recovery science return should let you do at least the first science tech, or powered flight and then you can get crew reports. I haven't seen any other mods that can fill the same starting niche of sounding rockets without shifting the balance in a way that then obviates the need for sounding rockets, aside from maybe kerballoons, which also gives you a starting parachute (though I don't remember if it has a starting probe core). So yeah you essentially either need to have sounding rockets or cheat yourself to a couple early starting techs. Flexibility in mod set is not really a major goal for this tech tree. Snacks is not yet supported, and I'm not sure it would work too well anyway, I don't think it has broad mod support. Kerbalism support is my next major objective, but we'll have to see how well that works and it may be a while before I can get to that.

Part 7: Carrying the Fire For most of a decade, the space program’s focus has been squarely on the challenge of landing a crew on another of Anehta’s moons. Now that the task is complete, the team suddenly find themselves a little unsure of what to do next. It’s a dangerous time: without clear goals to strive for, the program may founder and lose public interest. A number of options are worth considering: They could, of course, return to Eulb, engaging in more intensive study with better instruments. But the first Eulb landing was a complex, expensive undertaking with some uncomfortably thin safety margins for certain portions; substantial optimization of the vehicles and mission profile would be required, and it may still prove difficult to keep up a high pace of such landings. There’s also Enots and the moonlets of Anehta’s rings; these would require a somewhat different mission profile, but not an especially more challenging one. Elad present a more substantial technical challenge. But even if the team isn’t ready to attempt a crewed landing and return, there is still much they could do from orbit or with uncrewed landers; the moon has become somewhat neglected since the end of the Diplomat program. And speaking of uncrewed missions, that part of the program hasn’t been sitting idle; the next optimal launch window for Ahtpan approaches in a few years, but it’s a fairly generous window that could accommodate multiple missions, and the inner Aralc system also offers several options for exploration. Beyond that, mission planners note that the ideal launch window from Aralc to the neighboring star Sunorc is a few decades out at this point. Interstellar exploration seems barely conceivable at this point, but the technology isn’t unattainable. Meanwhile, any of the options for crewed exploration may entail longer missions, which requires the development of better habitation and life support technology, which could be addressed with a series of simpler test missions in Efil orbit. The next few missions slated for launch don’t commit the team to any single direction, so there is time to consider the possibilities, but a decision will have to be made sooner or later.

Version 0.3.1 github Changelog: - Added mod support: - Apoapsis Motors: a few more early kick motors - B9 Aerospace: distributed mostly in airframes even if they have LFO, not the easiest fit but they're in there - Commonwealth Rockets: some decent midgame engines - Commonwealth Aeronautics: mostly in supersonic flight - Coriolis Space Systems: centrifuges go in robotics, bit early but it's fine given they don't seem to have any life support function. - Eisenhower Aeronautics: nice to have some more methalox - Interkosmos: finally another exooceanography part - KARE: good to fill out the nuke jet techs some more - KODS: more methane - Moldavite: seem to fit well enough, all the algae and bioreactors go in the last ag tech - ORANGES - Periapsis Motors - Remotetech: placed the extra antennas, will need to look into upgrades another time - Rocket Motor Menagerie: Mostly dumped in the end cryogenics techs, but some nice variety I suppose. - Stockalike Mining Extension: Not certain if they work right, but added them all in and made an extra tech for mass drivers - Tea Kettle RCS: go in advanced solid NTRs - USI collection: all the ones I could find: - ART: also uses the new mass driver tech - Core: already in main MKS pack - Exploration: a nice use of the ocean exploration tech - FTT - Konstruction: I think it's included in main MKS now but double-checked anyway - Nuclear Rockets: includes another option for Nuclear Pulse Propulsion - Survivability: might be redundant with exploration? idk - Warp Drive: another option for the endgame FTL tech - Balance/tweaks: - Moved 10m heat shield to Expanded Inflatable Habitats - Shifted around a lot of node placement on the left side of the tree to make clearer branches (purely cosmetic) Figured I'd mop up as many of these as I could because I'll probably be busy with other stuff a while, but I'll tackle kerbalism eventually, and maybe even KSP-IE (dunno if I'll ever do pathfinder, it looks like a lot, but it's on the list).

I've been testing at regular 100% return but I'm also not terribly meticulous about picking up all the available science around kerbin and whatnot, and my main test run was on Efil in 2.5x Kcalbeloh so isn't a perfect match for something more stock. And yeah a lot of BDB probes are placed based on their science parts, one of these days I might see how hard it would be to patch in extra upgrades for these multi-function parts so the base parts can unlock earlier.

Might need a bit of advice now actually, I wanna tackle kerbalism soon but I'm not sure what the like standard setup is? It seems like there's a few different configs floating around?

Version 0.3.0 github Changelog: - Rework of several sections of the tree: - Habitation and lab section extensively reworked and expanded, now more cleanly split into hab, inflatable/centrifuge, life support/agriculture, and lab lines - Extended the Cryo branch with an extra lift/vac pair and generally reduced entry price - Tied the parachute techs, EVA, and inflatables together and added a rigid airships tech (I'll figure out how to give it the proper rdicon later) - General price tweaks - Moderate increase of later midgame tech costs to somewhat counter the science return spike that comes with crewed landings - Spiked universal docking cost just so you get a bit more time with the nice early BDB ports - Should now be no tech costs equal to the R&D level limits in either stock or Buruaecracy, avoiding the slight UI bug that causes - Added mod support: - Mk-33: Generally distributed across huge airframes, gigantic tanks, and huge construction. Tyrannosaur stuck in air-augmented rockets where it doesn't totally make sense but gives it a bit more unlock cost. - X-20 Moroz: Mostly goes in supersonic flight - Kerballoons: unlocked at start, upgrades in fabric techs - Hooligan Labs: unlock in fabric techs and rigid airships - Heisenberg Airship Parts: gets a rigid airship tech, though a lot of ancillary parts unlock in airframes and habs; may need to revisit if I ever do pathfinder - Other tweaks - Moved some of the Gemini RCS moved back to first RCS tech, because even if they're a tad over-efficient for it I don't want to force people to study ahead just to get nice complete Gemini pods - Slightly rearranged MMSEV wind turbines, tiny vertical turbine goes into first tech as a low-power but reliable option, big conventional turbine goes in second tech. - Tracked down a few extra loose PBI and MKS parts Be cautious installing this with an existing save, it probably won't break it but you may find that some previously unlocked parts end up locked behind unresearched techs or you have to pay the funds unlock cost again. A bit more detail on the tree rework: (I didn't have any advanced capsules or civcol parts in this test install, but don't worry the techs are still there) Habitation is now split a bit cleaner into 4 lines: A main habitation line with many more steps, such that the first tech basically only unlocks lander cans and then there’s a more, well, gradual progression of increasing USI-LS hab times (for parts without USI-LS support I’ve mostly gone by size); and Modular Station Construction and Crew Comfort are still here as offshoots, but a lot of ancillary parts like adapters, endcaps, short crew tubes, and airlocks are now distributed throughout the hab line rather than locked in Modular, so it's a bit easier to make early stations. A parallel inflatables and centrifuge line that acts as sort of optional lateral upgrades and tie neatly back into fabrics and EVA. A life support and agriculture line, which finally gives a good spot for the Gemini service modules in the first tech. A labs line, with an early tech unlocking some of the BDB single-researcher labs and then a late tech unlocking the large SSPX labs and the skylab combined hab/lab parts. The overall idea is that with a somewhat lower entry cost for these lines but more steps and greater cumulative cost, a lot of the BDB station parts are more likely to see some use (I also spiked the universal docking ports cost just so you get some more time with the BDB gendered ports) and habitation is generally more of a going concern through the midgame. The neat split lines does get a bit muddled in the later techs where some labs give good hab times and some hab parts have life support (I also put the bigger SSPX station hubs in the hab line rather than integrated life support), but it's pretty unlikely someone's gonna get to the end of one tree without starting the others, so overall I think it's better to group parts by their primary function rather than tie the whole branch in knots trying to account for every multi-function part. For hydrolox I've just added an extra step basically, with a bit of part shuffling and cost rebalancing; the entry cost is now much lower, more in line with how well these actually perform with stockalike tanks and planets, though the total cost of the whole branch is still probably a bit greater, but the later midgame needed a general cost increase anyway. Most of the cryoengines parts still end up clustered towards the end because of how closely balanced they are, but this at least gives some of the BDB engines more of a use. While I was at it, I've also uploaded my mods spreadsheet to google docs to make it a bit easier for people to check what's supported.

Part 6: To Touch the Sky Though there is much relief in the program at the safe return of the Solidarity 9 kerbonauts, this is no time to relax. Many in the team feel they have a mandate from the program’s supporters to see kerbonauts exploring the surface of Efil’s sister moons in the near future, and they intend to deliver. There’s little question now of the target: though Solidarity 9 dipped towards Anehta and its rings, Eulb still offers the best prospects for a safe landing and return. But this now requires a string of missions to demonstrate the viability of reaching Eulb and returning home before a landing can be attempted.

Version 0.2.5 github Changelog: - Added mod support: - Habtech 2: Doesn't work super well because it lacks much life support function and a lot of parts are essentially aesthetic, but distributed it as best I could. - Missing History: May have to check again for upgrades or whatever - Throttle Controlled Avionics: All in avionics, not certain how good the balance is - Balance: - Shifted some of the BDB, SSPX, and MMSEV hab endcap and adapter parts to unlock earlier, Modular Station Parts is now more specifically dedicated to hubs, tubes, and airlocks. - Swapped the regular and interplanetary BDB Hokulani wet workshops that I'd placed the wrong way round (interplanetary goes in agriculture) - Moved the BDB SIB tank down to Large Tanks because it is indeed a tad inefficient for its size compared to other Saturn tanks - Breaking Ground Experiment Control module moved back to EVA - Moved BDB Banyan NTR into Nuclear Aerospike - Reduced cost of Deep Space Astronomy given that there's not much in there so far - Reduced FTL tech cost a bit - Fixes: - Added patch for BDB contracts to fix tech requirements, a lot might not work great because of when science parts unlock but they will at least appear now - Added mechjeb upgrades patch, should unlock functions through avionics - Adjusted bonvoyage patch, all unlocks should be properly in avionics now I'm still thinking about rearranging the hab/lab branch some, maybe while integrating the gemini service modules a bit better, and perhaps extending the hydrolox line, but that'll take a bit more work, and I think I want to give a lot of the later midgame stuff a balance pass while I'm at it.

By the way a lot of the nodes you have as n/a here are just hidden if you don't have any the mods with parts for them

Again, I feel like a lot of this is based on what real historical technology these parts are intended to represent, which just doesn't enter into the equation for me. Though I want to create some of the feel of early spaceflight, I want it to emerge naturally from the gameplay rather than any enforced historical reenactment. With hydrolox there is some range of performance that could justify spacing them out a bit more, but if the various titan tanks are just different lengths of 1.875, I see no good reason to split them up; forcing a player to stack 2 short tanks rather than just having 1 long tank available with almost the same resulting performance is nothing more than an arbitrary inconvenience so far as I'm concerned, and in general I don't really see all that much point adding much cost or complexity to the tank tree generally; I guess it want to be a bit like RP-1, where there's never any actual technological barrier to building a 10m wide rocket, it's just more practical cost, launch complex, and engineering concerns holding you back. Here there is at least some token representation of the idea that it may take a bit of engineering research to figure out how to roll out giant tanks, but I don't really want it to be a significant obstacle that the player is constantly running up against. Saturn IB though I will admit I was a bit in two minds about, I might double check if there's any difference in its mass ratio or capacity compared to other tanks of its size; but if not, then it's basically just an aesthetic fluorish. I also don't feel like parts have to be clustered because they were intended to be on the same vehicle (apart from putting a few structural parts in the hab tree just for neatness sake, though I think a few also have CLS functionality); so if the Mk33 engines are overpowered, that informs placement of the engines, not the rest of the airframe. If someone wants to try to loft that thing early on with like vanguard engines, that's fine by me. That's more broadly why I'll probably never have a specific shuttle tech, it's ultimately just sticking airplane and engine parts together and those have their separate trees, so it's just down to the player to decide when they feel like trying to put them together; and given when dyna-soar was considered and X-15 was flying, that's not even particularly weird as an alt-history concept. IRL heat shielding should be a bigger part of that equation, but if that's not how the gameplay actually works then I'm not going to force it. Solid rockets are pretty cheap, but I'm not sure I'd wanna increase them much; the idea is that you can get cheap access to higher-performing parts in the early game if you're willing to deal with their inflexibility and accept a bit of a delay getting to the LFO parts that you'll inevitably need to unlock eventually. Later on, some of their IRL advantages just don't matter much in game, like simplicity and easy ignition only come into play if you have specific mods for it and the high TWR doesn't matter as much in stock or even 2.5x scale where your launch mass is lower and it's not a big deal to adjust your main engine configuration, so I generally figure that solid rockets are never going to be a priority past the early game and the later techs are priced around the assumption that they'll be a side project you throw some science at when you've got some to spare well after you've already unlocked any similarly priced techs on the more important trees.

I'm not entirely sure how mechjeb's upgrade system is supposed to work if I'm honest, I tried patching it but I'll take another whack at it From the editor, I save the tree as both a stock and yonge tree, edit the first line of the stock tree to read " @TechTree:FIRST " (or else you get issues with KCT), and then there's a python script on the github to read the yonge tree and write all included parts into an MM patch; you might have to edit the script to change the patch ordering for a different tree. Then the zzzzstock_nodes.cfg patch suppresses the stock nodes, except for start which is retained because you get a lot of compatibility issues without it. Some interesting ideas, but one broad thing to establish first is that even though the tree is constructed in some ways to try to recreate some of the feeling of historical eras of spaceflight, ultimately the placement of individual parts is always based on their actual gameplay function and not what historical technology they're trying to represent. - hydrolox engines: These probably could be extended by an extra step and maybe an earlier lifter/vac split. I chose not too because if the hydrolox line is too long and cumulatively expensive, it might not be worth it at that point of the game compared to just pushing for NTRs. Now that I've played with this tree a bit though, hydrolox engines aren't actually that big a step up when using stockalike tanks, so maybe the whole line's cost could be reduced anyway and spread out, and some of the NTR costs could also be increased a tad. But on the other hand, incremental engine improvements aren't as useful at that stage of the game, so smaller steps might just not feel that useful anyway. So I dunno, I'm a little split on it, I might look it over at some point and just compare how much could be spread out (because I think a lot of the cryoengines parts will still end up clustered towards the end anyway because they're similarly balanced). I wouldn't want to move any back into the standard LFO line regardless, though I'm still undecided on whether I'd rather that one BDB hydrolox aerospike be here or in the aerospike tech). - Shuttles: This is something I'm still not sure how to handle, because KSP doesn't really make much of a distinction between shuttles and heavy aircraft parts and I don't really want to make the latter too expensive. I added the huge airframes tech for Mk4 and I think I'll add Mk33 to it at some point (and maybe OPT if that ever updates) but overall I think shuttle development will just be limited by access to engines and rocket fuel tanks rather than arbitrarily separating out cockpits and cargo parts or whatever. - Labs: There's a lot I'm willing to reconsider about the whole hab/lab branch, but again it should be based on actual gameplay mechanics rather than any sort of historical reenactment. Sticking almost all the labs together in one tech is a weak point, but there's not much to divide them, the data capacity isn't that important, and to an extent they're naturally balanced against their size and so don't necessarily need to be split by tech. More broadly, I do admit it does kinda feel like there should be a distinct early station stage with some of the BDB parts before you can start making ISS-alikes, but A, a lot of SSPX and BDB parts are just similarly performing so there's not much reason to split them, and B, the separate modular stations tech is supposed to delay that progression a bit, but it would feel silly to charge all that much just for some slightly funky structural parts. I dunno, maybe there's some space there to splice out another early hab tech, and I can maybe look over the skylab parts again but I think they were all pretty high-performing.

I mean in real life I'm sure there might be nasty radiation concerns, but in this case Solidarity 9 passes well clear of the top of the atmosphere and that's good enough. In terms of actual gameplay, starting in a moon does offer some challenges, but that's part of why I wanted to play it. Interplanetary travel is tricky, I can't rely on mechjeb plotting it so I have to wait until the transfer window is about right and Efil seems to be in about the right place in its orbit for ejection, then fuss with the maneuver node a lot to try and find the most efficient trajectory. It's also annoying to get to Eulb because some quirk of the patched conics means that you can't do an ideal hohmann maneuver because of how large Efil's soi is relative to the distance between the moons, so again you have to fuss with the maneuver node to get a good enough trajectory. On the bright side, though, you never have to wait long for an intermoon transfer window, Anehta's high orbit makes it fairly cheap dv-wise to get to any of Aralc's other planets, and the same will probably apply to getting from Aralc to the other stars, and there's lots of potential gravity assists when you need them.

Part 5: Through Adversity As the program’s 16th year comes to a close, a thread of debate runs through the conference rooms and offices of the space center. Sequential Solidarity flights have tested the potential for more complex and ambitious mission profiles for crewed spaceflight, and it’s clear that the next logical step is to plan expeditions beyond Efil orbit. But the failure of the Eulb Biological Return mission has made some nervous regarding whether they have the technology and experience to carry out such a mission safely, and even within those advocating for such endeavor, there’s disagreement on the target: Eulb has long been regarded as the obvious, mathematically optimal target, but others have suggested that Enots or other moonlets in Anehta’s rings offer safer prospects for shorter missions in gentler gravity (a small minority even advocate for Elad as the most scientifically promising target, but they’re sidelined simply on the grounds of technical feasibility). No final decisions are made at this stage, but it’s clear that much will ride on the outcome of upcoming missions testing the equipment for either approach.

You might need to upgrade your R&D building, I think it's a slight bug where it gives you the wrong tooltip if the cost is exactly equal to your building research cost limit. This is something that could probably be handled here with an MM patch, I think I'd just have to go track down the contract defs and figure out suitable replacement techs

Are you using Deferred? I think that messes with how transparency is done in the editor