Telos Tech Tree

[Fraz86]

Telos Tech Tree

Basic principles

- Every node should offer meaningful progression and enticing new gameplay possibilities

- As a corollary to the above, when multiple parts are functionally similar with no important advantages over one another (e.g., merely different sizes or appearances), those parts should be grouped together into a single node, so as not to pointlessly deprive the player of creative/cosmetic options

- Parts that offer little practical utility in advancing the player's career should be grouped together with other such parts, so that collectively they will be more enticing, whereas an important part may have its own node

- Progress should be slower than stock (stock tree can be unlocked without leaving the Kerbin SOI)

- A reasonable degree of differentiation/specialization should be feasible as the player advances through the tech tree, but at the same time requiring progress to occur in a sensible stepwise fashion

- The necessity and incentivization of science "grinding" should be minimized

- The tree itself should not be huge, confusing, or difficult to navigate

Starting out

Where to begin - airplane parts or rockets; manned pods or probes? In this tree, the player begins with none of the above, but with the ability to quickly pursue any of these options. Starting parts include the external command seat (functions as a command module via dependency on TakeCommand), wheels, structural parts, batteries, antenna, thermometer, barometer, and seismometer (and the transmissibility of these 3 science parts has been increased to 100%). The external command seat strikes me as a particularly "Kerbal" way to begin, but also handily limits the players progression, as it presumably won't be safe for re-entry once heating is fixed, thus encouraging the player to pursue either probes or manned pods.

Starting out with multiple science parts, batteries, and antenna may seem like an odd decision, but it has several benefits:

- It allows the player to conduct a quick science-gathering rover tour around the KSC, providing enough science to unlock several nodes that will define the player's early emphasis (aviation vs rocketry, manned vs unmanned)

- It reduces grind by making it easy to collect a significant chunk of the cheesy KSC science in one fell swoop (100% transmissibility also makes this easier), rather than re-touring the KSC repeatedly as new science parts are unlocked

- When choosing nodes to unlock, the incentive to make a beeline for science parts is reduced when you already have several; thus encouraging the player to make decisions on the basis of design ambitions rather than science-gathering necessity

Science changes

Grind is reduced in the early game as described above, and further mitigated by setting the max science of all experiments equal to the base amount, thus removing the incentive to repeat experiments. This also slightly reduces the total obtainable science, which - in combination with the significantly increased science needed to unlock the entire tree (27,000 vs 16,918 for stock) - means that science will remain relevant farther into one's career. Experiment data scales and science part costs were also rebalanced.

Mods

- TakeCommand is a dependency, as explained above

- All of Nertea's mods (NFT, SSP, Cryo Engines) are recommended (there will be some empty nodes without Nertea's mods, but they are not strictly required)

- Porkjet's Atomic Age is supported

- Optional config for KeepFit, which assigns "exercising" status to Nertea's habitation modules and slightly increases their masses to balance this advantage

- Optional config for MechJeb, which currently adds the MJ module to all command parts and links functional progression to the unmanned techs

- Communication tech progression is designed with AntennaRange in mind, but could be adapted to support RemoteTech easily enough; stock is also fine but there won't be much reason to unlock the dishes

- Requires ModuleManager

- Parts from unsupported mods are automatically assigned to the starting node for now, but adding support is relatively easy

Downloads

Telos Tech Tree

Optional config for KeepFit + Nertea's Habitation Modules

Optional config for MechJeb

Further development

No particular plans, but I'm open to feedback, and if there's significant community interest, I would be happy to help provide support for other mods.

License is WTFPL

Edited June 2, 2015 by Fraz86