Sampa Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 I am interested in this. Might be worth a youtube playthrough at some point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daelkyr Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 I want this mod sooo hard it hurts. It seems like it could completely remove contracts from the game (in a good way). I am looking forward to seeing what brilliance you come up with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wiseman Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 I love this idea. I've been toying with a similar mod concept for a while now, which also centered around opening "projects" that would encompass a lot more than just a single contract. Up until 1.0.5 (and the penalty on declining contracts), I've always tried to bundle several contracts together, so I could plan a larger mission, to, say, the Mun. Instead of fulfilling one contract, I build a large craft or several smaller ones to hit a bunch of objectives in a short span of time, which I find to be more satisfying. I definitely like the idea of flipping the contract system around, and declaring where you want to go and then getting a bunch of contextual contracts to pop up all involving that objective. Would that be something that is possible with Strategia, maybe using Contract Configurator? In my ideal world, I would declare I want to open a project (a first manned spaceflight program, or one of the planetary exploration strategies you've previewed already), and the Strategy component modifies global costs/rewards. Then, you would see that most of your contracts now involve going to that body/accomplishing that objective, and there are two sets: Milestone contracts (first orbit/first landing/rendezvous/etc) and repeatable contracts (deploy satellite/perform science/etc). The strategy would be "finished" with a capstone contract, which would have a big reward much like the rewards on your previewed strategies, and finish out your work on the given body. You could keep the program strategy active to wrap up anything you still wanted to do, but there'd be not much else but the repeatable contracts at this point, and that should be good encouragement to move on. That seems like it would allow for the granular control of contracts (with all the "new vessel" goodness), but allow strategies to dictate your space program's immediate objectives. In any case, I'll definitely be watching this closely! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reiver Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 ... could you have a certain strategy affect the choices of contracts offered? I have visions of picking Luna, and then being fed a bunch of the optional subquests, as it were. :D (I have no idea how to 'end' it, but an Atmospheric Engineering contract could be cool, too. For those jetheads out there.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshwoo70 Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 I want it!! NAW!!!! :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightingale Posted November 20, 2015 Author Share Posted November 20, 2015 [quote name='Wiseman']I love this idea. I've been toying with a similar mod concept for a while now, which also centered around opening "projects" that would encompass a lot more than just a single contract. Up until 1.0.5 (and the penalty on declining contracts), I've always tried to bundle several contracts together, so I could plan a larger mission, to, say, the Mun. Instead of fulfilling one contract, I build a large craft or several smaller ones to hit a bunch of objectives in a short span of time, which I find to be more satisfying. I definitely like the idea of flipping the contract system around, and declaring where you want to go and then getting a bunch of contextual contracts to pop up all involving that objective. Would that be something that is possible with Strategia, maybe using Contract Configurator? In my ideal world, I would declare I want to open a project (a first manned spaceflight program, or one of the planetary exploration strategies you've previewed already), and the Strategy component modifies global costs/rewards. Then, you would see that most of your contracts now involve going to that body/accomplishing that objective, and there are two sets: Milestone contracts (first orbit/first landing/rendezvous/etc) and repeatable contracts (deploy satellite/perform science/etc). The strategy would be "finished" with a capstone contract, which would have a big reward much like the rewards on your previewed strategies, and finish out your work on the given body. You could keep the program strategy active to wrap up anything you still wanted to do, but there'd be not much else but the repeatable contracts at this point, and that should be good encouragement to move on. That seems like it would allow for the granular control of contracts (with all the "new vessel" goodness), but allow strategies to dictate your space program's immediate objectives. In any case, I'll definitely be watching this closely![/QUOTE] [quote name='Reiver']... could you have a certain strategy affect the choices of contracts offered? I have visions of picking Luna, and then being fed a bunch of the optional subquests, as it were. :D (I have no idea how to 'end' it, but an Atmospheric Engineering contract could be cool, too. For those jetheads out there.)[/QUOTE] I should say that don't have any intentions of touching contracts with this (outside of currency modifiers). Maybe this could be a future thing, but then I run into the problem that I either have fairly basic procedural contracts (which probably would be far worse than the stock contracts in terms of variety), or it would require a big development investment. So not something I'll consider until I get the core of it done. But as a concept, having strategies that modifies what type of contracts are offered is a very appealing feature. Still, we'll see how things shape up once I've got my desired number of strategies out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BudgetHedgehog Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 Well, colour me interested! Look forward to see how this develops :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theonegalen Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 The ability to choose a long-term focus for the space program sounds fantastic. I would actually use the strategies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pellinor Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 Great ideas. I'll definitely try this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightingale Posted November 24, 2015 Author Share Posted November 24, 2015 (edited) Until the release of Strategia (or at least until a beta release), I'm going to aim to have weekly developer diary posts. Since the first one happened to fall on a Tuesday, that'll be the day I do them. This week, I want to showcase some of the quality of life changes that I'm implementing for the strategy system. Commitment Levels One thing that I don't like about the strategies is the commitment level system. Right now, a player chooses to make a percentage "commitment" to a strategy, typically in 5% increments between 5% and 100%. Discrete choices are much better than a slider. With a slider, the player is just trying to put it as far to the right as possible. With discrete levels, it's much easier to balance them to make each level a more viable choice. For Strategia, I'll have two kinds of strategies. One-offs that do not have any levels (like the celestial body program strategies that I showed last week), and leveled strategies. Leveled strategies will have 3 levels (which conveniently lines up with the number of Admin Building levels). Initially I had implemented this using 33.3% commitment increments, but I quickly found some pretty serious problems with that approach. Using the example of Stagnated Research, if I took it at 33% commitment but later wanted to upgrade, I had no way of seeing what the 66% and 100% levels actually give me without cancelling the strategy. When most strategies have a setup cost associated with them, that's a pretty bad design. The other limitation was that any numeric values that are built in to the system had to be derived from the percentage. Which means if I wanted to set the science levels using a simple geometric progressing (say 100, 200, and 400), I can't do it. Naturally, this is all implemented through one config file that gets expanded (so I don't have to maintain three separate copes of the Stagnated Research strategy). Clear Requirements Stock strategies give you a reason why you can't use a strategy at the top of the strategy description. But it only gives one reason. If a strategy that I really want says it needs 100 science, then as a player I may go do something to get that science. Having happily grinded out some science, I'll be rather upset when I come back and find out that I was also 500 reputation short and didn't know it. This one is solve fairly simply with a section that shows the requirements for the strategy and gives a quick and explicit visual as to which requirements the player does and doesn't meet. Notifications The last problem with Strategies in the stock game is that they are just kind of... just background noise. As a player, I rarely see the need to go to the Administration Building at all. A big part of that is that the strategies aren't interesting - obviously a player installing Strategia is going to have a little bit more incentive to visit the Administration Building. Still, I felt that something more was needed. What I've implemented is a notification system. Any time a new strategy becomes available (or an old one is no longer available), the player will get a notification in the message area. This will allow me to make strategy availability depend on player progression, and give them a reminder about new strategies that they can try. The system is implemented somewhat like the world firsts milestones using a single message. So if the player manages to unlock 10 new strategies without checking the messages, they won't have to click through 10 windows. This also shows the last reason I made leveled strategies instead of using the commitment level. A player with Stagnated Research I will now get a notification when Stagnated Research II becomes available. Stagnated Research I should probably also quickly discuss the strategy that is showcased this week - Stagnated Research. Because I'm getting rid of all of the stock strategies when using Strategia, I felt that I still needed a way to help the player bootstrap reputation. The reputation gains apply to all contract rewards (including parameter rewards), even if there isn't already a reputation reward. For a one-time science cost, the player can get a sizeable increase to reputation gains from contracts. Any time they want to unlock more tech, they're forced into make a decision on whether to cancel the strategy, cancel and re-add it (paying the setup cost again) or to simply pay the increased research costs. Â Â Hope you guys enjoyed the dev diary. I'll be including a donation link on these posts, but no pressure! What I'm most interested in is feedback - feel free to post, tell me what you like, tell me what you hate! Â Edited November 30, 2015 by nightingale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sampa Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 [quote name='nightingale']Until the release of Strategia (or at least until a beta release), I'm going to aim to have weekly developer diary posts. Since the first one happened to fall on a Tuesday, that'll be the day I do them. This week, I want to showcase some of the quality of life changes that I'm implementing for the strategy system. [SIZE=3][B]Commitment Levels[/B][/SIZE] One thing that I don't like about the strategies is the commitment level system. Right now, a player chooses to make a percentage "commitment" to a strategy, typically in 5% increments between 5% and 100%. Discrete choices are much better than a slider. With a slider, the player is just trying to put it as far to the right as possible. With discrete levels, it's much easier to balance them to make each level a more viable choice. For Strategia, I'll have two kinds of strategies. One-offs that do not have any levels (like the celestial body program strategies that I showed last week), and leveled strategies. Leveled strategies will have 3 levels (which conveniently lines up with the number of Admin Building levels). [TABLE="width: 0, align: left"] [TR] [TD] [TABLE="width: 150, align: left"] [TR] [TD][URL]http://i.imgur.com/aCbKHqs.png[/URL] [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] [/TD] [TD]Initially I had implemented this using 33.3% commitment increments, but I quickly found some pretty serious problems with that approach. Using the example of Stagnated Research, if I took it at 33% commitment but later wanted to upgrade, I had no way of seeing what the 66% and 100% levels actually give me without cancelling the strategy. When most strategies have a setup cost associated with them, that's a pretty bad design. The other limitation was that any numeric values that are built in to the system had to be derived from the percentage. Which means if I wanted to set the science levels using a simple geometric progressing (say 100, 200, and 400), I can't do it. Naturally, this is all implemented through one config file that gets expanded (so I don't have to maintain three separate copes of the Stagnated Research strategy). [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] [SIZE=3][B]Clear Requirements[/B][/SIZE] Stock strategies give you a reason why you can't use a strategy at the top of the strategy description. But it only gives [I]one[/I] reason. If a strategy that I really want says it needs 100 science, then as a player I may go do something to get that science. Having happily grinded out some science, I'll be rather upset when I come back and find out that I was also 500 reputation short and didn't know it. This one is solve fairly simply with a section that shows the requirements for the strategy and gives a quick and explicit visual as to which requirements the player does and doesn't meet. [URL]http://i.imgur.com/z315ach.png[/URL][URL]http://i.imgur.com/iE28QjL.png[/URL][URL]http://i.imgur.com/1Pd8Rrd.png[/URL] [SIZE=3][B]Notifications[/B][/SIZE] [TABLE="width: 0, align: left"] [TR] [TD] [TABLE="width: 474, align: left"] [TR] [TD][URL]http://i.imgur.com/8vajiwZ.png[/URL] [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] [/TD] [TD]The last problem with Strategies in the stock game is that they are just kind of... just background noise. As a player, I rarely see the need to go to the Administration Building at all. A big part of that is that the strategies aren't interesting - obviously a player installing Strategia is going to have a little bit more incentive to visit the Administration Building. Still, I felt that something more was needed. What I've implemented is a notification system. Any time a new strategy becomes available (or an old one is no longer available), the player will get a notification in the message area. This will allow me to make strategy availability depend on player progression, and give them a reminder about new strategies that they can try. The system is implemented somewhat like the world firsts milestones using a single message. So if the player manages to unlock 10 new strategies without checking the messages, they won't have to click through 10 windows. This also shows the last reason I made leveled strategies instead of using the commitment level. A player with Stagnated Research I will now get a notification when Stagnated Research II becomes available. [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] [SIZE=3][B]Stagnated Research[/B][/SIZE] I should probably also quickly discuss the strategy that is showcased this week - Stagnated Research. Because I'm getting rid of all of the stock strategies when using Strategia, I felt that I still needed a way to help the player bootstrap reputation. The reputation gains apply to all contract rewards (including parameter rewards), even if there isn't already a reputation reward. For a one-time science cost, the player can get a sizeable increase to reputation gains from contracts. Any time they want to unlock more tech, they're forced into make a decision on whether to cancel the strategy, cancel and re-add it (paying the setup cost again) or to simply pay the increased research costs. [TABLE] [TR] [TD][URL]https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donate_SM.gif[/URL] [/TD] [TD][SIZE=1][I]Hope you guys enjoyed the dev diary. I'll be including a donation link on these posts, but no pressure! What I'm most interested in is feedback - feel free to post, tell me what you like, tell me what you hate![/I] [/SIZE] [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] [/QUOTE] Hey Nightingale, how about you also make use of the community Blog to help give us update or more details? Just an idea to help keep this somewhat clean. 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SmashingKirby148 Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 [quote name='nightingale']No love for this thread yet? A wise troll once told me, "no pics, no clicks". Nothing to click on yet, but here's the pics! So the first set of strategies that I wanted to show off are what I collectively refer to as the "Celestial Body Programs", which are broken into "Moon Programs", "Planet Programs" and "Gas Giant Programs". These strategies can't be turned on/off at a whim - once you choose one, you either have to complete it (and get a reward), or let the timer run out (and get a [I]stiff[/I] penalty). They have some pretty big upsides (vastly increased milestone rewards for the chosen body, cheaper research, big reward at the end) compared to the downsides (modest setup fee, vastly decreased milestone rewards for other bodies, giant penalty for failure). But we'll see how it looks with other strategies I come up with - I'm willing to call it balanced if a player isn't automatically choosing these over other strategies. Oh, and these are dynamic, of course. So players of RSS will get things like "The Apollo Program", "The Ares Program", and "The Zeus IV Program". Players of New Horizons will see options like "The Serran Program", The Arin Program", and "The Vanor VI Program". [URL]http://i.imgur.com/JM2FV7G.png[/URL][URL]http://i.imgur.com/LAoSPXc.png[/URL][URL]http://i.imgur.com/IkJpilH.png[/URL] I'm really happy with how the icons turned out for these. I was going to keep the black and white look of stock KSP, but for planets I wanted just a little bit more to it. I didn't do custom icons for any planet packs (for some I hard-coded a mapping to a "close" stock icon, others will just fall-back on a default icon). If there ends up being demand for it, I can always do some custom icon packs easily enough. [URL]http://i.imgur.com/kr15IkK.png[/URL][URL]http://i.imgur.com/a29oaxS.png[/URL][URL]http://i.imgur.com/4MBHpJt.png[/URL][URL]http://i.imgur.com/TERFZYy.png[/URL] [URL]http://i.imgur.com/8U6DtPF.png[/URL][URL]http://i.imgur.com/CHZZf7i.png[/URL][URL]http://i.imgur.com/tKNRz3U.png[/URL][URL]http://i.imgur.com/pF8G0uC.png[/URL] Let me know what you guys think![/QUOTE] Oh yes! This is going straight to my career mode. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
severedsolo Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 (edited) I have a couple of [s]issues[/s] questions around the "Stagnated Research" strategy. As a player, I'm not even 100% sure what reputation does. As far as I'm aware, it just makes you lose if you don't have enough (did they ever introduce that?) - and I'm vaguely aware it affects the number of three star contracts available. Meh. I wouldn't take the science hit for that. Also, it seems from your early screenshots that this is literally "give me 100 science and I'll give you x amount of reputation right now, plus contract increases" I take it that the other contracts will follow a similar vein. What's to stop a player like me, who could give two figs about rep, just keep activating the rep>science strategy to get free science? Perhaps it could be balanced, so the reward is released in a "drip feed" - so with Stagnated Research, in your second screenshot, there is 16 rep available. However, you only get that rep if you unlock the nodes with the strategy activated. (Example, you have 16 rep to give, 8 science nodes left. Each node gives you 2 rep) Having said that, I like everything else you talked about! I especially like the notifications (it makes a nice friendly reminder to use the admin building) - and the list of requirements. Edited November 24, 2015 by severedsolo Issues is a bit strong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Venusgate Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 I was just about to ask about the -500 rep thing, even though failing 100 days to get to mun seems a little ridiculous :P A -500 rep while being otherwise broke would pretty much be a game ender. I like the stagnated research though! Good counterpoint! Thought about scaling the different programs: boost reward% by increasing requirement of contracts? Like "Land a 3+ crew module on mun within 20 days" = 1k%+ milestones? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightingale Posted November 24, 2015 Author Share Posted November 24, 2015 [quote name='Sampa']Hey Nightingale, how about you also make use of the community Blog to help give us update or more details? Just an idea to help keep this somewhat clean.[/QUOTE] What, the blogs that are going away with the forum migration in 3 days? Sure, why not, all it takes is clicking a button. :) [quote name='severedsolo']I have a couple of [s]issues[/s] questions around the "Stagnated Research" strategy. As a player, I'm not even 100% sure what reputation does. As far as I'm aware, it just makes you lose if you don't have enough (did they ever introduce that?) - and I'm vaguely aware it affects the number of three star contracts available. Meh.[/QUOTE] I agree completely rep is almost meaningless in stock. Within Strategia, reputation will hopefully mean a little bit more, as I'm planning on using reputation requirements to lock away higher tier strategies. For example, if you want to turn on "Super Good Strategy III", you might need to have 500 reputation. [quote name='severedsolo']I wouldn't take the science hit for that. Also, it seems from your early screenshots that this is literally "give me 100 science and I'll give you x amount of reputation right now, plus contract increases"[/QUOTE] From the player's perspective, it's "Pay 100 science, and get 6 rep per contract (and contract parameter) completed". For example, with Stagnated Research III enabled, here's what your contracts look like: [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/BhDf0LV.png[/IMG] [quote name='severedsolo']I take it that the other contracts will follow a similar vein. What's to stop a player like me, who could give two figs about rep, just keep activating the rep>science strategy to get free science?[/QUOTE] I doubt I will have a strategy that does rep => science, but if I do it'll have to have some downsides. I should probably also mention that the numbers have only a little thought put into them, they're going to get a serious balance pass (both the research and rep numbers in this case). [quote name='severedsolo']Perhaps it could be balanced, so the reward is released in a "drip feed" - so with Stagnated Research, in your second screenshot, there is 16 rep available. However, you only get that rep if you unlock the nodes with the strategy activated. (Example, you have 16 rep to give, 8 science nodes left. Each node gives you 2 rep)[/QUOTE] That's pretty close to how it works. With Stagnated Research III, for each completed contract you get (0.3 Reputation) * <# of unresearched nodes>. So the reward gets worse the further you are into the tech tree. [quote name='severedsolo']Having said that, I like everything else you talked about! I especially like the notifications (it makes a nice friendly reminder to use the admin building) - and the list of requirements.[/QUOTE] Thanks! [COLOR="silver"][SIZE=1]- - - Updated - - -[/SIZE][/COLOR] [quote name='Venusgate']I was just about to ask about the -500 rep thing, even though failing 100 days to get to mun seems a little ridiculous :P A -500 rep while being otherwise broke would pretty much be a game ender. I like the stagnated research though! Good counterpoint![/QUOTE] Yeah, that'll likely have to change. Maybe level I strategies will (mostly) require -1000 rep (which shows up as no reputation requirement), but level II and III strategies will require more than zero. I really don't like how the negative rep requirements show up right now, it tends to be confusing. [quote name='Venusgate']Thought about scaling the different programs: boost reward% by increasing requirement of contracts? Like "Land a 3+ crew module on mun within 20 days" = 1k%+ milestones?[/QUOTE] I'm confused by this. Are you talking about the Celestial Body Program strategies? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sampa Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 Oh! I forgot that blogs were going away...rats... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inigma Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 Count me in as another interested party in Strategia offering program focus. Simply code a hook called "programFocus" which can be referenced by Contract Configurator groups to offer up a specific group of contracts that override weights found for contracts not referencing the group. No need to touch stock contracts for this. Info sharing between Strategia and CC could really make both shine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightingale Posted November 25, 2015 Author Share Posted November 25, 2015 [quote name='inigma']Count me in as another interested party in Strategia offering program focus. Simply code a hook called "programFocus" which can be referenced by Contract Configurator groups to offer up a specific group of contracts that override weights found for contracts not referencing the group. No need to touch stock contracts for this. Info sharing between Strategia and CC could really make both shine.[/QUOTE] No plans for Contract Configurator integration for the first release, but it could possibly be a future update. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Venusgate Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 [quote name='nightingale'] [COLOR=#333333][IMG]http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/images/misc/quote_icon.png[/IMG] Originally Posted by [B]Venusgate[/B] [URL="http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php?p=2313532#post2313532"][IMG]http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/images/buttons/viewpost-right.png[/IMG][/URL][/COLOR] [COLOR=#333333][I]Thought about scaling the different programs: boost reward% by increasing requirement of contracts? Like "Land a 3+ crew module on mun within 20 days" = 1k%+ milestones?[/I][/COLOR] I'm confused by this. Are you talking about the Celestial Body Program strategies?[/QUOTE] Yes. For people who want to be more ambitious than getting a single kerbal to mun within 100 days (I'm fairly sure you could do it by the 2nd day if you grinded) Although I may be confused on how you are implementing them. Your Program strategies look like a hybrid between a completable contract, and indefinite strategies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoloYolo Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 Is there a DL? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightingale Posted November 25, 2015 Author Share Posted November 25, 2015 [quote name='Venusgate']Yes. For people who want to be more ambitious than getting a single kerbal to mun within 100 days (I'm fairly sure you could do it by the 2nd day if you grinded) Although I may be confused on how you are implementing them. Your Program strategies look like a hybrid between a completable contract, and indefinite strategies.[/QUOTE] The rewards/goals of the program are still in flux, but the idea is that it gives a very broad goal (Land on Planet X), some bonuses for achieving it, penalties for missing it, and maybe something over time that helps to get you to the goal. [quote name='Kaboom!']Is there a DL?[/QUOTE] Not yet. Thinking about getting a beta download out before Christmas, but it won't be any good if I release it on the 24th and then everybody goes and plays something else bought on steam sales for two weeks. :) It all depends on how far I get with development. Right now most of the framework side is in place, but I've only got about 25% of the strategies that I want to get done in place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightingale Posted December 1, 2015 Author Share Posted December 1, 2015 Strategia Development Diary #3 - Professional Focus Things are moving along, although I didn't get nearly as much Strategia work done this week as I would've liked.  Every time I think that I'm getting close, I find out that one of effects I'm trying to do isn't possible to do in KSP and I have to go back to the drawing board.  I've probably got about 50% of the total number of strategies that I want all that I have, so there won't be too many more of these dev diaries before a beta comes out (personal goal - beta before Christmas). This week, I want to show off some of the trait-focused strategies that gives bonuses to a specific trait (Pilot/Engineer/Scientist).  I wanted the first-level variants of this strategy to be something that can be picked almost right at the start of the game (one or two launches should be enough to get enough to unlock these).  The first level gives bonuses to to contracts that have synergy with the trait, but only if an astronaut with that trait is present.  So if you take the scientist focus and do a Survey contract with just a pilot, you won't get the bonuses. I should also mention that there's some contract pack integration going on here - if you have certain contract packs installed, the contracts that you get bonuses to will change.  Of course, this is all automatically done via module manager.  Anyway, the idea is that you should be able to get your initial investment back with just one or two contracts. At level two, fun things start to happen.  The rewards from level one double, and we get something completely new in addition!  Of course, the setup cost gets a significant bump as well. And for level three, in addition to doubling the bonuses from level two, I wanted to try to give each trait something unique.  Of course, these are a lot trickier to balance, as the comparison is so much more subjective.  I'll see what people say about these in the comments (and in play-testing when we get to that stage). The last thing I should mention about these strategies is that I wanted them to be mutually exclusive - so a player can't choose both a Pilot and Engineer focus, for example.  I'll have to see how that works out though - if everyone always wants to take Pilot focus, then it probably means there's an imbalance.   Like what you see? Consider buying me a coffee or ten! It will not go directly to supporting this or other mods under my care, but it will help keep my motivation up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrHappyFace Posted December 1, 2015 Share Posted December 1, 2015 I'm not so sure about that engine ISP increase in the Pilot Focus III. Squad once tried to increase engine ISPs with kerbal experience, and that ended poorly (wasn't included in the game) Perhaps it could be something else, like a higher reaction wheel torque. Anything that doesn't increase your delta-V, which might be seen as cheaty or cheap by some people. Also, are the tourist contract bonuses for the pilot focuses, do they apply to stock tourist contracts too, or just Tourism Plus contracts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightingale Posted December 1, 2015 Author Share Posted December 1, 2015 17 minutes ago, MrHappyFace said: I'm not so sure about that engine ISP increase in the Pilot Focus III. Squad once tried to increase engine ISPs with kerbal experience, and that ended poorly (wasn't included in the game) Perhaps it could be something else, like a higher reaction wheel torque. Anything that doesn't increase your delta-V, which might be seen as cheaty or cheap by some people. I remember the backlash, and it definitely was on my mind.  Still, there's a difference between "all pilots increase ISP/thrust all the time" and "pilots increase it only when a late-game strategy is used".  And 2.5% is not a massive increase.   Looking at the Tsiolkovsky rocket equation, delta-v is directly proportional to ISP.  So a ship with this benefit that would normally have 1000 m/s of delta-v would instead have 1025 m/s. I hardly consider that game-breaking.  Also, since it's vacuum delta-v, you don't get the benefit right off the launch pad.  If it turns out it's too high, I will definitely nerf it in a heartbeat. That being said, I like higher reaction wheel torque - I may add that to the engineer since I think his benefits are a little lacking. Also, are the tourist contract bonuses for the pilot focuses, do they apply to stock tourist contracts too, or just Tourism Plus contracts? If you don't have Tourism Plus installed, the bonuses are for regular Tourism contracts (Tourism Plus disables those, which is why you don't see it in the screenshot above). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Filigan Posted December 7, 2015 Share Posted December 7, 2015 Cant wait to get this  =)  Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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