Jump to content

Life Support Mods: Which do you use and why is it better than the others?


Recommended Posts

So I'm considering getting one of the Life Support mods out there, but was hoping you guys could help me decide which one.

If you are using or have used Life Support mods, would you please help me out by responding here and telling me which one you like best and what you like about it? Why is it better than others out there? Can I add it mid-career or will it kill Kerbals already in flight? And anything else you think I haven't thought of yet...

Thanks!

Danny

Edited by CrashTestDanny
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm gonna be lazy and literally copy pasta this from another topic....

I use TAC. I think I like it more than the USI version, and I haven't honestly tried any others. That's just personal preference, though. I gather USI is maybe "easier"(?) since it has less resources involved. I've yet to run a "big" mission to really grasp the amounts required and gauge the difficulty for myself... But, it just fits I think. Build a craft, load the fuel, good to go...or are we? What do my Kerbals eat!? What do they breathe!?

I know that with TAC, at least, you can tweak the consumption rates. Although a bit lacking in context, I'll say this anyway: There's different sized containers, and using one of the smallest combination types (i.e. all 3 resources in one), a crew of 5 Kerbals had (I think) 14 days of not-dying, at default rates.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like TAC because its not too simplistic but not so complex that it makes certain designs impossible. It is true though that its default settings makes it so you basically don't have to worry about it (because one small tube of AIO LS gets you like, 300 days for a single kerbal) so it does require tweaking the consumption, but even so.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I use TAC, but I'm going to switch to USI once my manned Craft are back in Kerbin SOI.

Here's what's good about TAC:

- Sorta realistic

- Different Rates of consumption, different grace periods

- Ressources individually recyclable

Here's what's bad about TAC:

- Eventually - once you figured out the proportions - the three ressources collapse into one meta-ressource "Supplies" that you strap onto the ship for a certain amount of days.

- Eventually - once you figured out the proportions - the recycling equipment collapses into a predefined set of parts that you just always add to a ship that extends the amount of days of the supplies.

- Lately, TaranisElsu (the maintainer) did not have much time, and i thasn't been updated in quite a while. This may change, but RoverDude seems a lot more active at the moment.

I have gone quite "soft" of late (I'm also dumping RemoteTech in favor of the 1.1 antenna mechanics). So I think for me, USI-LS will be more fun than TAC-LS.

tl;dr:

- USI-LS is the Kerbal Way, closer to Stock

- TAC-LS is the Human way, better for the Realism Overhaul

Link to comment
Share on other sites

- Eventually - once you figured out the proportions - the three ressources collapse into one meta-ressource "Supplies" that you strap onto the ship for a certain amount of days.

- Eventually - once you figured out the proportions - the recycling equipment collapses into a predefined set of parts that you just always add to a ship that extends the amount of days of the supplies.

This only happens with TAC-LS alone. If you go further, let's say we add a SETI-greenhouse mod, it recycles 3 resources at a different efficiency (100% O2, 90% water, 80% food), so you'll have different strategy for different resources.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This only happens with TAC-LS alone. If you go further, let's say we add a SETI-greenhouse mod, it recycles 3 resources at a different efficiency (100% O2, 90% water, 80% food), so you'll have different strategy for different resources.

But this still means that effectively, you are limited by food and can extend your supplies 5-fold.

Sure - the ratios of the inital amount of ressources change. But is the gameplay really that different? It's still "strap on supplies in a certain ratio, add a certain amount of gear for recycling. Enjoy."

Edited by Kobymaru
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I cuurently use TAC-LS basically I dob't think the LS mods actually differ that much. Basically they just add a little to the planning of each mission although they can add to the general hilarity of the game. E. My first mission to Duna didn't have enough supplies, forcing me to send a ~20.000 m/s resupply mission, what I dad to do was fly up vertically away from the sun to reach duna within no mor than 80 days. Using an LVN it took me about two and a half hours of burn xD

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I killed half the engineers on my orbital dockyard because I'd spawned a new ship & all the station lifesupport supplies ended up on it - they started running out of oxygen literally 5 mins before I could dock the resupply ship. Other than that I've not noticed any difference in gameplay. Once there's some mods which give Kerbals more effective stats, then I think LS mods ( expanded out to quality-of-life mods ) might start being more interesting. There's been quite a few started over the years but none really seem to have taken off.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used TAC previously and liked it. If you want it to be simple, just load up enough Supplies containers for your mission and it's simple; there's a tool available in the VAB to tell you how long stuff will last. If you want it to be complex there are other parts there to do more complex things. Adding it to an existing career probably will kill your Kerbals though. You can just make it so the deaths aren't permanent and they turn up back at KSC, or there may be ways to work around it.

I'm currently using USI-LS, it's OK, I'd say it does the job. In some ways it's more configurable than TAC - the default is for it to put Kerbals "on strike" rather than killing them, but you can make it fatal if you like. However by using a single supply and single waste resource I feel there's less opportunity for richness and variety. USI-LS is also a bit rough around the edges compared to TAC, the utilities are less capable.

For example consider a modded KSP where you've got other stuff doing things like mining and planetary bases, and suppose you can get oxygen and water from the environment on Laythe, water but not oxygen on Duna, and you can't get either on the Mun. With TAC-LS it's easy to see how bases in the different locations would differ since there are different ways to get the required resources for life support. With USI-LS it's much harder to get that kind of richness and still have things make sense.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Am I the only one who likes and uses Snack?

I've also tried Snacks in the past. I think it's very nice, but it's random consumption rate gave me some trouble... Recently I've also tried USI LS (because I thought a future stock LS would be kind of like it), but ended returning to IFI LS that I think has the best balance between gameplay and reality...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This thread is quite old. Please consider starting a new thread rather than reviving this one.

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...