Mods in Stock

[Zaphod12]

10 hours ago, RatchetinSpace said:

I opened this topic expecting to see the usual B9 aerospace and Outerplanets complaints, saying they should be stock(Not hating on those mods but they wouldn't do to be directly added).

However, the mods you've mentioned here all have a place in the game in my opinion. KSP is lacking in Station and Base parts especially.

The only problem I can see is the surface experiment mod requires KAS and KIS, and I don't think those mods in their current form are good to add to the game (Again, not hating, I actually use these).

Even if Squad didn't add these directly, they could take great inspiration from them, especially the base systems.

I know I sound a bit too far fetched but what about adding KAS and KIS to the stock game, it would open so many opportunities.

But you are right that KSP is lacking Station and Base parts to the game. (I would really like to see these two base/station mods being implemented, with the station parts getting proper IVA's first)

Edited September 8, 2016 by Zaphod12

[Daveroski]

Chatterer.

Can't have telemetry without chat now can we?

And instead of mechjeb which many would say was too complicated. I think it's marvelous and use it often but it is a bit more than I actually need from an autopilot. Something more simple and basic like the one in RT would suit me down to the ground. Figuratively speaking.

I too would like to see KIS and KAS in the stock game. While I think there could be possibilities for KISS I think KAS too may be hoping for too much.

I would love to see EVE or something like it in stock. I love looking at the sky from orbit. And if KSC was marked on the map, clouds wouldn't really be that big a problem for me.

 

 

 

[OrbitalBuzzsaw]

Y u no haz Mark 2 Expansion???!!!

[Zaphod12]

10 minutes ago, Daveroski said:

Chatterer.

Can't have telemetry without chat now can we?

And instead of mechjeb which many would say was too complicated. I think it's marvelous and use it often but it is a bit more than I actually need from an autopilot. Something more simple and basic like the one in RT would suit me down to the ground. Figuratively speaking.

I too would like to see KIS and KAS in the stock game. While I think there could be possibilities for KISS I think KAS too may be hoping for too much.

I would love to see EVE or something like it in stock. I love looking at the sky from orbit. And if KSC was marked on the map, clouds wouldn't really be that big a problem for me.

 

 

 

I agree, adding the Chatterer mod would be pretty cool.

5 minutes ago, OrbitalBuzzsaw said:

Y u no haz Mark 2 Expansion???!!!

I haven't used it yet, I only put mods on here that I have already checked out.

[OrbitalBuzzsaw]

@Zaphod12 Try it!

[Diche Bach]

Not sure if it has already been mentioned, but the most blatantly obvious one that should have been added to the game some time ago is Kerbal Engineer. Seems like a very clean little module with little overhead in terms of game infrastructure (some yeah, but not bad) and it is so helpful for building proficiency with various flight activities.

I used Mechjeb years ago, and think it is great, and will use it again. But if Mechjeb were not available, I'd be okay to just do things manually with KER. Without KER, I think this game would start to feel like throwing darts at a board with your eyes closed.

The Editor Extensions and Hangar Grid ones too. I simply cannot stand to build stuff in either SPH or VAB now that I have got accustomed to using that mod.

The Alarm Clock one too.

The other two I think are absolutely essential to me (though I acknowledge they are probably a bit more controversial) are Community Tech Tree and Camera Focus Changer.

I adore the Visual Enhancements ones, but I think those are not a good choice for integration into vanilla. I've got what I considered a pretty solid rig (it runs Skyrim and Fallout 4 on Very High if not Ultra settings just fine and with heavily modded builds) but those visual mods seem to cause my RAM usage to spike through the roof and progressively bog the game down. Disappointing, because they look so good I wish I could use them.

Edited September 9, 2016 by Diche Bach

[Vanamonde]

Overlapping threads have been merged. 

[Francois424]

KAC, KER and OPM are my main three.

The new Visual enhancements by Galileo are really good, and easily customizable by editing .cfg files. So you could have multiple settings in the menus. As an example when he worked on Tekto, clouds started really close to the surface.  After I modified them there was several layers from 80km down... but it really eats performances, my weaker PCs could not run it, but my man rig could.  For me it's something I install whenever I do a serious run, either sandbox or carreer.  But I agree it should be optional.

 

[Codraroll]

Station Science by ethernet is my main, among those that haven't been suggested.

Ever felt an urge to build a space station? Of course you have.

Ever felt a need to build a space station? Uhh... there was a contract... something...

Ever felt you could use your space station for anything useful? Apart from a convenient place to store your Science Lab, or as a glorified gas station? Hardly. They're nice to look at, fun to plan, and building them is good docking practise, but space stations serve sorely little purpose in Stock.

 

Station Science is the solution. It adds a set of science experiments to be performed in orbit around the various bodies. But unlike instruments such as thermometers or barometers or gravioli detectors, you can't just send them up, click a button, and be done. No, these science experiments need infrastructure. First and foremost, a Science Lab. With the lab, you can perform basic plant growth experiments, but for more exotic stuff you need more. Want to observe certain subatomic particles in a zero-G environment? Haul a cyclotron into orbit. Animal experiments? Up you go, Zoology Bay. Add them to your station, and you'll be able to conduct more, cooler, and more rewarding experiments, with a decent reward every time a contract asks for it to be conducted. There's no need to deorbit the Zoology bay once you've conducted the zoology experiment, the contract may appear again and offer a similar reward if you repeat it.

Also, those labs, cyclotrons and zoology bays use a fair amount of power. Do you think large rigs of 8-16 Gigantor XL solar arrays, like they have on the ISS, look cool? Of course you do. Have you ever felt the need to use one - or for that matter, any - of those big boys on your station in stock? Well, to run a cyclotron at full power, you need four Gigantor XL-arrays, if I recall correctly. The most exotic particle experiments require two cyclotrons running at full power for quite some time, so the mod gives you a pretty good reason to build a full ISS-style solar rig, and slap together banks of Z-1k batteries.

In short, the mod turns space stations from vanity projects into good gameplay elements. It gives you reasons to build, use and revisit space stations in orbit around Kerbin, Mun, Minmus and other bodies. It adds to KSP a type of space science and research that is common in the real world; more than just "measure the temperature in orbit once and be done with it forever". I highly recommend the mod to everybody, and urge the developers to have a look at it.

[endomen]

Infernal robotics: KSP needs parts to fold up so that they can take up less space

RasterPropMonitor: Without this, IVAs are just IVs.

DMagic Orbital Science: Adds lots of experiments like sciesmic pods, magnetometer booms and other useful stuff.

HullCam: What do almost all probes have on them? CAMERAS! Stock KSP needs cameras.

If you want realism:

Igniter: Like in real life, engines can only be ignited a few times.

Dang It!: Parts can occasionally break, and parts that have been used more are more likely to.

EDIT: Also, OSE Workshop and KIS to save bringing a whole base in 1 launch!

Edited October 10, 2016 by endomen

[Sharpy]

I think I might agree to Mechjeb with autopilot, if it's the end-of-tech-tree, 1000 sci points node, and costs as much as four Mammoths.

Otherwise, your whole challenge of reaching Mun is to click 'launch to orbit', click add encounter - Mun, click execute maneuver, then click perform landing.

You know how the probe cores made the pilots redundant later in the game?

Mechjeb makes players redundant.

[Bombaatu]

For gameplay mods to move to stock, I'd suggest KAC, Transfer Window Planner and Docking Port Alignment Indicator would be my top picks. If you're talking parts/science, I'd vote for MOLE/Pathfinder/Buffalo by @Angel-125, Surface Mounted Lights by @Why485 & Surface Experiment Pack by @AlbertKermin

[RizzoTheRat]

To me one of the massive benefits of KSP is the ability to add mods.  I always play with KER, ScanSat, RemoteTech and KAC, and quite often use KAS/KIS if I start messing about with surface bases.  However I can't see any need to have them in the stock game as they're all available as mods and take seconds to download and install.  Although it looks like something akin to RemoteTech will be in the next version.

For those mentioning autopilots but not keen on MechJeb, give RemoteTech a try, the flight computer allows execution of nodes you've already set up, I tend to use it a lot so I don't miss nodes.

[Technical Ben]

IMO Kerbal Alarm Clock and/or it's features should be stock. If I have more than one rocket/ship/satalite/probe mission going at a time, it encourages less accelerated time abuse, but then risks loosing everything because I miss a node.

[AlexTheNotSoGreat]

I feel like Kerbalism would be a great one to make into stock KSP, with toggles like the communications in 1.2

[Sharpy]

Easy Vessel Switch, and Easy Board.

Absolutely boggles my mind why they aren't stock.

 

---

EVS: Alt+left-click a vessel to switch to it - absolutely essential when working with more than two toggleable parts.

And while you may think it's only for things like building a base through KAS, imagine what happens when you miss docking a craft, it hits the station and breaks an orange fuel tank with 8 solar panels, 8 RCS thrusters, 2 docking ports, 3 lights, 10 segments of fixed ladder, and one engine.

Instantly, 30 'crafts'.

Try to switch between the base, the craft, and an EVA kerbal using [,].

And no, on the map, the zoom level is far too low to be able to pick out one of the two.

The mod also makes doubleclick select a visible vessel as target, and disables camera shenanigans when switching vessels, but these while nice, aren't as essential.

 

---

Easy Board makes the B key for a kerbal on EVA work as a toggle.

Hunting for that single frame where '[ B ] Board' is visible between the kerbal grabbing that down-facing hatch and getting launched into space is not my idea of fun.

Edited September 19, 2016 by Sharpy

[CAKE99]

Kerbal Engineer Redux, (all of it),

Hyperedit (not just a basic horrible version of the orbit editor which is in the prereleases)

Kerbal Alarm Clock

[Higgs]

a little birdie and a youtube video told me there is a feature hidden in the code of KSP. Plasma Trails. Seeing as 1.2 is supposed to have some decent performance upticks, would it be possible to turn on the plasma trails?

[todofwar]

Kerbal alarm clock and Kerbal engineer. And maybe mechjeb

[monstah]

KER and KAC have been mentioned to death here already, but one I feel deserves more attention is Wider Contracts App. It's SUCH A SIMPLE change to the interface, yet it improves so much usability of said app.

[Higgs]

Been chewing on this with my cousin, but, I'm in agreement. Mechjeb must become stock. DV read outs? MJ has em. Orbital info? Has that too! Twr? That too! Autopilot? Yup!! Sorry but MechJeb > KER.

[Weinsen]

I just wouldn't expect them to add anything close to Autopilot on Stock game.
But it's really hard (at least to me) to play a career game without proper dV readout, or anything taking care of other missions that I set before (put KER and KAC in this line). I have limited time to play, and having to use calculation sheets and keeping notes within this time would take part of the fun (a bit).

Another issue to me are the fuel tanks. If I want to use LV-N, for instance, there are a few options with only Liquid Fuel, taking one with Oxidizer and setting it to 0 is actually taking unused volume to space. (Fuel Tank Plus here). Being able to choose between pure Liquid, Lqd/Ox, only Ox (why not) and Monoprop. would minimize the total number of parts, and being able to choose the texture would be like having 30 different parts in one.

After the 1.2 pre-release, i think they did what they wanted about ScanSat / RemoteTech (even its not the actual way the mods work).

Also, for aesthetic and functional reasons, Surface Lights also were quite helpful.

Edited October 3, 2016 by Weinsen

[dietz33]

Sorry first for my bad english.

I am a big fan of KSP and what the Devs are doing is absolute awesome !

i know stock is stock and mods are mods. wich should stay as such, but !

i am playing this game since alpha and for my opinion  we really need stuff implemented in the game like at least:

 

kerbal engineer

enviromental visual enhancements

kerbal alarm clock

something like haystack

dockingport alignment in the navball

stage recovery.

(Trajectories)

 

in advance - this would be awesome as well : 

KIS/KAS and  Infrernal robotics.

 

 

What do you think about ?

 

Thx , your greatest FAN !

[Tau137]

If anyone on the DEV team cared even a single bit, this topic would not have even been created...  So suck it up, kerbonauts, and thank the developers for at least making the game open for modding!  And give praise and support to the creators/keepres of your favorite mods!

 

[kurja]

Anything that could give phase angle to a target body in plain numbers.

Delta v, twr and such essentials are sorta in there - we need to compute them outside of the game, but at least the needed figures (specific impulse, total mass, etc) are available. I sorta like this approach, bare essentials are there and if I want to make my crafts and missions more precise I have to figure it out, just giving me an in-game stage-by-stage delta v in VAB wouldn't have forced me to learn these things  Not to say that I wouldn't love using ker/mj for anything more complex.

But transferring from one body to another, the best we can in stock is to look at map view and guess. A phase angle readout is much needed.