Search the Community

Better Specialization Settings v0.0.4 @ 2019-05-22 This mod provides a bunch of settings to allow finer customization of gameplay revolving around crew specializations (i.e. Pilot, Engineer, Scientist). The bulk of its functionality is focused on making crew specializations more relevant and meaningful in sandbox and science sandbox play. There are also settings to allow customization of the level requirements needed to perform certain tasks in career mode. Oversimplified tl;dr: Make autopilot/SAS require a pilot in science/sandbox Make wheel/leg repairs require an engineer in science/sandbox Allow adjusting engineer level required for wheel/leg repairs in career Make parachute repacking require an engineer in science/sandbox Allow adjusting engineer level required for parachute repacking in career ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Preface: stock KSP settings In stock KSP, the primary setting affecting gameplay behavior related to crew specializations is the "Enable Kerbal Experience" setting found under "Advanced" in the difficulty options for new games: In Career mode, this setting is turned on by default, which means that kerbals need to gain experience in order to level up and unlock more abilities, such as different SAS stability modes for pilots, or wheel repair skills for engineers. In the Science or Sandbox modes, it is turned off by default, and all kerbals start with their level already maxed out. This option can be changed at the start of a new game (but not for existing saves), which means it is actually possible to play a Career game without having to level up your kerbals, or play Science or Sandbox modes with the experience system turned on. However, this setting is very coarse-grained and has other side effects. Consider: When the setting is on, certain tasks can only be performed by specialized kerbals of a particular skill level, e.g. a pilot of particular skill level is needed to access various SAS stability modes like normal/anti-normal and radial/anti-radial. But with the setting turned off, many of these tasks can suddenly be performed by all kerbals regardless of specialization. Scientists and engineers can fly vessels with full SAS and all stability mode options. Pilots and scientists can repack parachutes and perform repairs. You can do almost everything with just a scientist, etc. This behavior cheapens the specializations, so the specialization type of a crew member does not matter as much anymore. And because this is the default setting for Science and Sandbox games, it can contribute to the gameplay in those modes feeling more shallow. Now, I'm not actually opposed to having an "easy mode" option where the skill levels and specializations do not matter very much. The real problem here is that there is a lack of a middle ground between the "on" and "off" settings. Why can't we have a setting where we don't have to deal with the XP and leveling up aspects, but where the different specializations are still meaningful in terms of needing certain types of crew to fill different roles and do different tasks? This mod was born to address that flaw. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Autopilot/SAS For players with mods that add other crew specialization types: when "pilot" is mentioned here, it includes any modded crew specialization that has the "Autopilot" skill. Stock behavior: If Enable Kerbal Experience is on, SAS and the stability modes available to a vessel depends on having a command module with a pilot of adequate skill level for crewed vessels. For uncrewed probes, a part with the required SAS service level is needed. (SAS service level is analogous to pilot experience level: cheaper, simpler probe cores have lower level than the more expensive and advanced models. For example, the QBE is equivalent to a Level 0 pilot and only has stability assist, whereas an OKTO2 is equal to a Level 2 pilot.) For KSP versions before KSP 1.6, if experience system is turned off, then none of the above crew skill requirements and part SAS service level requirements are respected. SAS and all stability modes are available with any type of crewmember in a command module, or any probe core. This actually makes it pointless to use more expensive, "better" probe cores when a cheaper one would still give full SAS. To fix the issue, since KSP 1.6+ an additional option called "All SAS Modes on all probes" is available in the "Advanced" tab of the difficulty options when the game mode is Science or Sandbox: If the option is turned on, the behavior is the same as having experience system turned off in earlier versions, as already described above. If it is turned off, then the intended behavior is for any type of crewmember to be able to provide all SAS stability modes on crewed vessels, but uncrewed probes would still need to have a part with the required SAS service level. However, testing has shown that when "All SAS Modes on all probes" is off, SAS availability for crewed vessels actually depends on having a crewmember with either Autopilot Skill, Repair Skill, or Science Skill, i.e. these are being used as a proxy to test if there is a Pilot, Engineer, or Scientist on board the vessel. This works for stock KSP, but if you use any mod that adds crew specialization types that don't have any of these skills, then it is no longer true that "any crewmember" is able to give full SAS control. What this mod provides: If "Enable Kerbal Experience" is on, stock behavior as described in the previous section will be used. Full requirements are imposed for SAS availability. If "Enable Kerbal Experience" is off, but "All SAS Modes on all probes" is on, stock behavior will be used: none of the SAS requirements are imposed. For backwards compatibility, this mod adds the "All SAS Modes on all probes" option to older KSP versions before KSP 1.6. This option is located under the "Better Specialization Settings" tab of difficulty settings dialog, rather than under the stock "Advanced" tab. If both "Enable Kerbal Experience" and "All SAS Modes on all probes" settings are off, then custom behavior of this mod will be used. This is governed by a setting called "Require pilot for SAS": (KSP 1.6+) (KSP < 1.6) When "Require pilot for SAS" is on, SAS and the stability modes available to a crewed vessel will depend on having a command module with a pilot. Crew level is irrelevant as it is always maxed out. Other crew types will not be able to provide SAS. Uncrewed probes will need to have a part with the required SAS service level. If the setting is off, then any type of crewmember will be able to provide all SAS stability modes on crewed vessels. Uncrewed probes will still need to have a part with the required SAS service level. This is a bugfixed version of the KSP 1.6+ behavior when "All SAS Modes on all probes" is off, in that truly (almost) all crew types will provide SAS. (Tourists, and the modded specialization type "Civilian" don't count.) ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Wheel/leg repair For players with mods that add other crew specialization types: when "engineer" is mentioned here, it includes any modded crew specialization that has the "Repair" skill. Stock behavior: If Enable Kerbal Experience is on, an engineer of level 3 or above will be required to repair damaged wheels and landing legs. Much, much older versions of KSP needed only level 2 to repair legs, but that has not been the case since around KSP 1.1 when the old ModuleWheel, ModuleLandingLeg and ModuleLandingGear were replaced by ModuleWheelBase and its submodules. If Enable Kerbal Experience is off, any type of crewmember can perform repairs. What this mod provides: If Enable Kerbal Experience is off, an option "Require engineer to repair legs/wheels" is available. When this option is on, it will limit the ability to perform repairs to engineers only. Turning this option off will cause stock behavior to be used instead. If Enable Kerbal Experience is on, an option is provided to override the engineer level required to perform repairs. If this option is not used, then the stock reqirement of level 3 will be followed. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Parachute repacking For players with mods that add other crew specialization types: when "engineer" is mentioned here, it includes any modded crew specialization that has the "Repair" skill. Stock behavior: If Enable Kerbal Experience is on, an engineer of level 1 or above will be required to repack parachutes. If Enable Kerbal Experience is off, any type of crewmember can repack parachutes. What this mod provides: If Enable Kerbal Experience is off, an option "Require engineer to repack parachutes" is available. When this option is on, it will limit the ability to repack parachutes to engineers only. Turning this option off will cause stock behavior to be used instead. If Enable Kerbal Experience is on, an option is provided to override the engineer level required to repack parachutes. If this option is not used, then the stock reqirement of level 1 will be followed. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ License All rights reserved. Download Better Specialization Settings v0.0.4 for KSP 1.7.x (backward compatible with KSP 1.6.x - 1.3.x) Caution: Dev build. Backup your saves before proceeding. Requires Module Manager (please obtain separately.) Download includes the Harmony library, version 1.2.0.1. See this comment for explanation. Installation: Delete older version, if any. Place contents of GameData into your installation's GameData folder. Source: GitHub Changelog: v0.0.4 ~ 2019-05-22 ~ KSP 1.7.x - 1.3.x Dev Build - Harmony 1.2.0.1 included Add restrict parachute repacking to engineers Add adjust level requirement for parachute repacking Fix bug in engineer (repair skill) requirement check for wheel repair v0.0.3 ~ 2019-05-13 ~ KSP 1.7.x - 1.3.x Dev Build - Harmony 1.2.0.1 included - Add restrict wheel/leg repair to engineers - Add adjust level requirement for wheel/leg repair - Rename mod due to feature for career mode - Refactored code v0.0.2 ~ 2019-04-17 ~ KSP 1.7.x - 1.3.x Dev Build - Harmony 1.2.0.1 included - Refactored code, improved robustness, optimizations - Backward compatibility for KSP < 1.6.x v0.0.1 ~ 2019-04-15 ~ KSP 1.7.x - 1.6.x Dev Build - Harmony 1.2.0.1 included - Prototype autopilot/SAS restricted to pilots