Director Smith

Aaah this explains a lot. I didn't get the tools stand-alone. I'll grab that and see if it fixes it. Hmmm. I'll look into it, but I don't want to have to wrestle with cosmetic issues at this stage. There wasn't any mention of Community Tech Tree elsewhere so I didn't know about it. Maybe I'm just a troglodyte but I'm of the opinion that mods should rely on other mods as little as possible... Still, that's not my place to say I suppose. Erk-! I didn't expect RoverDude himself to respond-! The issue is that your original tutorial is more than a little out of date, with the changes to off-world construction, the removal of oxygen, the inclusion of homesickness and the like; I don't even know where to start, with a pioneer module, a habitat, which countdowns are the most vital to watch, why I need a power distribution module rather than just solar panels and batteries... Crabman's 0.5 documentation is lacking in a number of regards, missing vital segments such as power or manufacturing and serving more as a manual than any kind of guided introduction to the mod's features and functionality. I've been scratching my head about the difference between using dirt or substrate for agriculture even, although whether that's because I'm too dumb and overwhelmed by the data dump into my lap, or because it's poorly taught, I can't tell. As I mentioned before, the way it's presented in-game, with all the features immediately available to unlock, is awkward too. Rather than letting the player focus first on basic survival, then expanding into first a supported and then self-sustaining colony, the player has to immediately figure out the difference between Ranger, Duna and Tundra-class modules and what each of them does, potentially spending funds on unlocking advanced modules, without first understanding the underlying mechanics of how a colony operates and sustains itself, or manufactures its resources. Again, I'm sorry to be such a bother; I recognise that the answer to much of this is probably glaringly obvious and I'm just proving to be a loudmouthed noob who can't learn what's right in front of him, but I had no-where else to go. Thank you for taking my problems seriously.

Quite apart from lacking documentation to demystify some of the more arcane secrets of what one requires to start up a colony, I have just two real issues to bring up. Firstly, once they're unlocked on the tech tree, where on Kerbin do the Kolonization parts show up in the VAB? I can't find them in any of the standard tabs for the life of me! If they're supposed to generate their own then well... They haven't, at least not for me. Is this a bug on my end, or something intentional I'm not getting? Second, might I humbly suggest that the parts be spread out somewhat along the tech tree? Having them all crammed into Advanced Construction is a touch overwhelming and I'm pretty sure that when you're just struggling to get your first habitats into orbit or onto another world, you're not really looking to be distracted by logistics centres and assembly plants. As a newcomer to the mod, I don't even know where to start anymore as having the whole thing dumped into my lap at once makes it a bit unintuitive. That's just my suggestion on the matter. Oh and if I don't have Karbonite installed, do I still make fuel by using ore the same as in vanilla, or is there some new way this mod introduces to do it? Thank you very much!

I figure that, by the end of all this, Jeb will get back alone, tell the world's assembled press everything and commit suicide. I can't honestly see it ending any other way. Czokletmuss, you are a heartless fiend.

Fantastic story! I'm eagerly awaiting the next instalment! It kind of makes my palty achievements of "Yay! I landed a probe on Mun!" kind of pathetic though. Also, can I ask just how confusing it is to use all those mods, particularly MechJeb? I can barely handle the basic game and even then, it's mostly guesswork and poking maneuver nodes until they look right. Surely a veteran like yourself can share a few tips for a rookie like me?