What would be your 'boots only' modlist?

[eddiew]

Hey peeps,

So I've realised I set the science gain too high in my current career (40%). I've only been to Duna once, and never put boots anywhere except Mun, Minmus, and Duna. Despite a modded tech tree that needs way more points than stock, I've still near enough reached the end of it. This makes me feel like I'm in the end-game now, with not much left to push for.

Which got me thinking it might be time for a fresh run, something that would fill the gap until 1.0, and in which I would operate with a few specific rules in effect:

1) No probe landers. Not even on Minmus. (Probes may be returned and parachuted onto Kerbin however.)

2) No one-way crewed trips. Any permanent bases must have a crew extraction vehicle in orbit (or landed) that is capable of bringing them home. (I've always done this anyway, but for the record...)

3) "Satellites" for contracts cannot have engines.

I'm curious as to what you guys and girls would include a mod pack for this sort of gameplay?

My mod setup is already pretty heavy, being 2.3gb at the loading screen with opengl, so I'm leery of any more large parts packs. I've chosen B9 and SXT because I love SSTOs and spaceplanes, and the latter uses stock textures to keep a low memory footprint.

--

My current modlist for this setup includes:

- Outer Planets and Outer Planets Plus

- B9 Aerospace and Procedural Parts

- Lack's Stock Extensions and Kerbojet for new cockpit options

- DMagic Orbital Science, Orbital Material Science and Station Science (this is probably why I had way too much, even at 40%)

- Kerbal Construction Time and Stage Recovery

- ScanSat

- Karbonite (option for refuelling stations in the outer moons)

- KAS

- Antenna Range or Remote Tech - undecided as yet. I dodged RT once because it made probe landings impossible, but I just ruled out landing with probes...

- FAR, KJR, Navball Markers, Docking Alignment, Contract Science Modifier, Sane Strategies, and other things that improve the UI, sort balance issues, or fix bugs.

I don't want to include:

- TAC-LS. Been using it since 0.90, and it's good, but it seems at odds with having more distant planets. Transport ships would need to be vast to carry 50 years of supplies...

Edited March 11, 2015 by eddiew

[Doctor Axel]

If you want a more approachable lifesupport scheme, try http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/90841 <--- Snacks. It's VERY straightforward and a lot more forgiving, though you lose out on some of the nuances.

I really like Remotetech personally, and probe landings (which you aren't doing =P) aren't really impossible with it.

If you like doing the colony thing, look at ANYTHING ELSE from the USI package (same one that Karbonite is from) - it has a lot of fun toys for colonization.

And maybe check out Extraplanetary Launchpads? It's pretty cool these days.

[eddiew]

If you want a more approachable lifesupport scheme, try http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/90841 <--- Snacks...

Snacks looks like it could be a decent balance, thanks - I'll investigate and see what sort of weight penalty I'd be paying on a 50 year 4-kerbal mission.

I managed parachute landings with RT, I just couldn't see any way to do them on vacuum bodies, without taking away the lightspeed limitation (which I eventually did). I have been playing with MKS, actually, but since it was so geared towards sustainable life support it didn't seem really necessary without TAC. I'll see if the Snacks module still works though, and put it under consideration again if so.

EPL... is a maybe... I've had it installed for ages and never once actually bothered to use it :S I dunno whether I just need to work under tighter budgetary constraints or something, but it never seemed worth setting the shipyard and resource gathering up for the gain that would come from it. LKO launchers are cheap and easy. That said, with OP installed, it might be worth sending a single-shot mission with all the parts required to manufacture around Duna or Laythe, and use that as my launch point from there onwards. One I shall mull over

[robopilot99]

Try RLA Stock-alike. It has lots of great parts that are good for buildung small landers and such.

[Barefoot Friar]

I'll echo RLA Stock-alike. I use that quite a bit more than I initially thought I would.

I also play with Antenna Range and to be honest it hasn't changed a single thing I do. I was already including 88-88s on interplanetary missions, because whip antennas just don't seem right somehow. I think Remote Tech would be more of a challenge, and certainly more realistic.

[stupid_chris]

Add RealChute because you love me

Nah I'd add KER/MJ on top of that, because knowing how much DV you got in your return vehicle becomes a must at some point.

[DDay2021]

Although I've not used it Kerbal Construction Time looks like it would limit the rate of the science gain.

[Skorpychan]

Probably just Firespitter for the electric propellers, and Kethane/Karbonite for fuel mining. Beyond that, KER for data, and MechJeb because rendezvous is more a job for the computer than my overloaded brain.

[cantab]

Final Frontier, to track the achievements of your Kerbals.

Either Dang It! or Kerbal Mechanics, to make stuff break so your Kerbals have to fix it. Pick one and stick with it, switching between them on an existing save is liable to cause bugs.

Also, I suggest relaxing rule three and allowing limited manoeuvring capabilities. Otherwise sooner or later you will get into the target orbit and deploy the satellite, only to find that deploying it nudged the orbit just enough to be outside what's accepted. Which brings me to suggest the Kerbonov mod - it includes a tiny little combo RCS thruster and tank designed for small stuff.

Regarding the life support mass needed, well as I see it you have three choices.

A) Require less life support, or none at all, by changing mods. Easiest way, but will it really let you appreciate the challenge of the outer planets?

Make self-sustaining ships. For this OKS is the obvious choice. It's not easy though, and often a self-sustaining ship is just as heavy as one using consumables *and* I think still has one little consumable item to annoy you.

C) Get there quicker! For this I suggest Near Future Technologies, which features a range of high-Isp electric engines, as well as nuclear reactors (and solars) to power them.

[NotExactlyRocketDesign]

I've found career much more fun when science is ONLY obtained manually, i.e., not from contracts or strategies. So I use a 0.6x science multiplier but also use this: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/89297-0-90-ZeroScienceContracts-%28no-science-from-contracts%29

For strategies, I just use willpower. ;P But I imagine there are some mods out there that would make it easy to forbid yourself the Outsourced R&D and so forth.

[Alshain]

Add RealChute because you love me

I would. It's one of the mods I can't do without.

[Superfluous J]

I did a very similar game to what you're trying, in science mode (that's all we had back then) with the caveat that I could also only land on one planet or moon at a time and - once landed on - that planet or moon as off limits. To boot, Mun and Minmus started off limits so I could never go to them. My first mission was to orbit Kerbin. My second landed on Gilly.

You don't really need a lot of mods for this. I basically just used my core set of favorite mods and enjoyed the experience. The full modlist is at the bottom of this post.

[Specialist290]

Just letting y'all know I've dropped this in General Add-On Affairs, since that's where discussion of general mod-related content is supposed to go. Carry on; it certainly seems like an intriguing idea

[eddiew]

Try RLA Stock-alike. It has lots of great parts that are good for buildung small landers and such.

I'll echo RLA Stock-alike. I use that quite a bit more than I initially thought I would.

Double vote wins favours - what's its memory usage like? I've had to wave a sad goodbye to KW Rocketry because of Outer Planets (and because in the end, I build way more SSTOs than rockets now). Though I might sneak the vesta engines and fairings back in cos I love them

Add RealChute because you love me

I might actually do that; the massive g-force spikes are kinda annoying with stock chutes ¬_¬ I already do use both KER and MJ actually

Although I've not used it Kerbal Construction Time looks like it would limit the rate of the science gain.

Not really, it just limits how quickly you can go from the VAB/SPH to launching. It's a nice mod for those of us who don't like unjustified timewarping and end up with 20 active flights by day 5. Allows time to pass in the world around you, meaning more launch windows open up and you actually get to go places I may however make it really slow to build vessels, like three months for a basic 1.25m Munlander. Because that actually seems very reasonable...

Probably just Firespitter for the electric propellers...

Never really saw the point of propeller planes... unless they run on Eve and Duna? My impression was they're for subsonic applications only?

...Either Dang It! or Kerbal Mechanics, to make stuff break so your Kerbals have to fix it...

...

Which brings me to suggest the Kerbonov mod - it includes a tiny little combo RCS thruster and tank designed for small stuff.

...

C) Get there quicker! For this I suggest Near Future Technologies, which features a range of high-Isp electric engines, as well as nuclear reactors (and solars) to power them.

Small course adjustment doohicky sounds useful, I can appreciate the potential for a few m/s change being needed. I did consider NFT in my current career, but my suspicion is it's memory heavy. I could load it in and see what happens though

I've found career much more fun when science is ONLY obtained manually, i.e., not from contracts or strategies

I totally agree - I don't like science being grindable by deploying satellites, so I have contract science modifier nerfing the heck out of contracts since 0.90. Most science I've gotten from a contract in this career was 5 Haven't used outsourced R&D since my first game, when I realised too late how devastatingly overpowered it is.

I did a very similar game to what you're trying, in science mode (that's all we had back then) with the caveat that I could also only land on one planet or moon at a time and - once landed on - that planet or moon as off limits. To boot, Mun and Minmus started off limits so I could never go to them. My first mission was to orbit Kerbin. My second landed on Gilly.

Was that your Kerpollo youtube series? I liked the concept there, was fun to watch the minimal approach you took to everything, but I really enjoy a long running game that I can have an hour a day at for months. In fact I'm considering banning myself from biome-hopping, because most of my Munshots covered 2-3 biomes at a time and felt sort of 'cheaty'

Just letting y'all know I've dropped this in General Add-On Affairs, since that's where discussion of general mod-related content is supposed to go. Carry on; it certainly seems like an intriguing idea

No probs buddy, I wasn't quite sure myself where it best belonged

[Jovus]

One other thing I might try is Science Funding, which gives you funds and rep for each point of science you earn (without taking away the science). The idea is so that you can play in career mode, with monetary restrictions, but not have to do contracts.

It doesn't work so well if you do contracts as well, though I think it's thematic if you squeeze in the first record-setting scripted ones and the 'explore' contracts. It might add a fun new restriction to your gameplay while at the same time freeing up your focus. (That's what I find it does for me, anyway.)

[Superfluous J]

Was that your Kerpollo youtube series? I liked the concept there, was fun to watch the minimal approach you took to everything, but I really enjoy a long running game that I can have an hour a day at for months. In fact I'm considering banning myself from biome-hopping, because most of my Munshots covered 2-3 biomes at a time and felt sort of 'cheaty'

That's the one, though I'm not sure how a non-minimalist "boots on ground only" series would go. That was the whole point, to me, was that the entire concept was "do the least with the least". Otherwise it seems like you'll be just repeating the same thing over and over.

[eddiew]

One other thing I might try is Science Funding, which gives you funds and rep for each point of science you earn (without taking away the science). The idea is so that you can play in career mode, with monetary restrictions, but not have to do contracts.

Hmm, I might take a look into that, since I do like a good science-hunt - cheers

That's the one, though I'm not sure how a non-minimalist "boots on ground only" series would go. That was the whole point, to me, was that the entire concept was "do the least with the least". Otherwise it seems like you'll be just repeating the same thing over and over.

Well to me, the non-minimal tactic means you start with a little 1-man lander that barely squeaks home, work up to a 3-man-can, then find an excuse for a rover, then a refuelling/mining rig. It's a reason to explore each part and each mod, particularly stations, bases and rovers; things that aren't really required to visit every planet, but often turn out to be interesting to work with. That and I really enjoy designing and flying new craft, especially SSTOs. Every launch I do is an excuse for another hour or three in the SPH! And I'm probably more of a hardcore completionist than an hour-a-day man should be. I kind of want to have a surface sample from every biome on every body in the game. Even Eve

A low science return (in this case, I'll take it down to 20%, maybe even 10 if I have the stones) helps ensure you use the mods you've installed by pushing you to make use of every available avenue in order to unlock the higher tier tech, and gives you awkward questions like whether you want a nuclear engine for deep space missions, or a 2.5m lifter that can put a science-generating station into LKO - either opens up routes to unlocking the tree, but you can only afford one of them right now, so you'll have to choose and live with the results for quite a while.

All of it would make terrible youtubing however - while I enjoy incrementally ramping up mission scopes and making use of every part as a gameplay feature, I can imagine it would make tedious viewing