How to NOT lose interest in KSP - A guide by someone who got over a 2 year long burnout

[Clockwork13]

This guide is for those who are beginning to lose interest in KSP, and how to avoid losing interest.

There are 4 good methods that I know of to do this:

 

Method 1: Don't restart your career saves. Ever.

This is what many people do after an update or after a small burnout. They decide they want to start anew. This is what I did a few times, my advice to you is to NOT do this, don't even restart when there is an update. Progressing through career mode is fun, but it only stays fun until you get stuck at the beginning with no motivation to go further.

 

Method 2: Get lots and lots of content-adding mods.

To me atleast, the stock game is quite boring. Usually I am tired of the small amount of planets or lack of parts, etc. Look for mods, and find a mod setup that you both like and is as crash-free as possible. I'd recommend choosing only one single planet mod, one that contains a lot of planets. Having multiple at once may cause other issues, such as occasionally two planets way to close to eachother, or just more frequent crashing.

If you are a Steam user, make sure that you try not to update your game, cause that's going to screw up most if not all of your mods. It may suck that you can't play the update with everyone else, but most would probably prefer a ton of mods. If you really want to check out the update, you can copy your modded KSP folder and take it out of the Steam folder so you can update.

Oh yeah, GET MECHJEB! This seems to have helped me enjoy the game more, it would probably do the same for you.

Important: Do NOT overwhelm yourself with mods. Not having enough parts is just as bad as having too many. If you have 3 different parts from 3 different mods that do the exact same things, that's probably a bad sign. Instead of adding mods that do things like adding new kinds of fuel tanks, etc, I'd recommend mods that add in new ways of playing the game.

 

Method 3: Get visual mods.

 KSP is a lot more enjoyable when you have amazing visual features. Most importantly, get a skybox, clouds mod, and any other good ones you can find. Choose wisely and your performance will take almost no hit from them.

 

Method 4: Start a long-term project.

By "long-term project", I mean something that has no definitive end. Some ideas to try are:

• Build a planet or moon settlement. These are made extra fun with the Kolonization mod.
• Build a massive mobile space station. Not only could it serve as a cool base for your Kerbals to live in, but you could tour the Kerbol System with it. Maybe add some small ships that allow you to fly around it too.
• build a station space city, as in a massive space station for your Kerbals. If things get laggy, build 2 or more stations that you can use together.

 

Method 5: Try to do unusual things

When I say this, I mean anything that KSP can do, but wasn't designed to do. This can lead to some really interesting designs. You could build:

• Mechs
• Tanks
• Hoverboards

Some other weird things you could try are:

• Try planting a flag on Jool (I think this is still possible if you do it right)
• Get as close to the sun as possible
• Hire a bunch of Kerbals and send them into the Sun on prison ships.
• Try get a ship going as close to light speed as you can.
• Try docking a bunch of asteroids together to make your own artificial moon

 

Anyways, this is what helped me get over my burnout, and I hope it will do the same to other people who are losing interest! Note that I have tried and used every method here except for #5, because I know it works for some people, although not really me.

[maculator]

I think if you need a guide to not lose interest in a game, you have a problem.

But this is handy for new players anyways since you mentioned some things that new players may not know.

Everyone has this phase where he adds tons of mods and then finds out it isnt quit the fun he was looking for.

Currently I'm playing only with [x]Science and Science Alert and I'm focusing on getting all the science. This is quite a task and I can only recommend it to anyone whos looking for ideas what to do.

Science alert does what the name says, it gives you an alarm if you reach a area where you can perform an experiment and it even lets you execute them via UI what makes things a lot easier.

And [x]Science is a on the fly archieve/searchfunction/reminder what experiments are possible, what you already got and what you need.

So I plan my missions in advance and then go and try to get ALL THE SCIENCE!

Also worth mentioning is my little mod "Science - full reward" with those 3 I really have fun going for scientiffic trips arround the system.

I have about 50h playtime on my current career and half the techtree unlocked without even leaving kerbin.

 

But its total up to you what you want to do.

And if you are anoyed by starting over again just get module manager. Its the best thing ever I pushed all the science parts to the start node + a basic set of wheels. Then you just build your first rover and go arround the KSC-minibiomes and you got yourself a nice start.

Also having all the experiments right away + getting the full science reward takes away alot of the tediousness of a scientiffic career since you now only have to visit a place once to take home all the science.

 

 

For me less is more, I have the best fun right now with staying as close to stock as possible.

The mods above are totally essential to me + mechjeb, kerbalarmclock, pilot assistance

 

Mechjeb is no cheating if you played for 500h+. At some point you just don't want to launch 8 rockets manually in a row to dock them all just to build a station. But with mechjeb I got much mor abitiouse projects rolling since I know I dont have to do all that tedious work to do myself, I can focus on the mission rather then worrying about sending X rockets to orbit and dock them all manually and then land all my stationparts manually on the mun in close range. Mechjeb is like a good employe.

 

Please be gentle, english is not my foreign language.

[Dr. Jet]

1. Mods. But be VERY picky about content suitable for your playstyle.
2. Grab an alternative Tech Tree - stock one is too short and stupid. ETT or SETI is recommended.
3. Play extra-hard Career with 10% Science reward. Realistically slow and hard progress is very rewarding.
4. Play with life support (TAC LS preferrably)
5. Give it a break. Week or two NOT playing KSP will make you want to return. 
6. Start making mods yourself. It's not actually playing, but... terribly addictive. 

Edited February 29, 2016 by Dr. Jet

[Superfluous J]

Play another game. I know people here hate to admit it, but playing the same game for hours a day, every day of the week, for years is going to burn you out, even when the game is as fantastic as this one. Remember those games you used to play in 2013? They probably have sequels out right now, and they've probably been out for a year so are like $30. Get one of those, and come back to KSP when you're excited about it, instead of trying to hammer excitement into your third millennium of hours.

[Kerbal101]

On 2/26/2016 at 9:58 AM, maculator said:

Mechjeb is no cheating if you played for 500h+. At some point you just don't want to launch 8 rockets manually in a row to dock them all just to build a station.

If you played over 500h+, then you learned to:
- design aerodynamic and balanced rockets that do gravity turns by themselves and planes that have proper maneuverability/stability based on their typical speed
- orbit rendezvous from lower and higher orbit
- asparagus rockets, asparagus satellites, single stage to orbit planes, single stage to orbit rockets, space-assembled interstellar carriers
- land without heatshield from any orbit and influence air-breaking periapsis by angle to radial axis
- see orbital transfer windows without any tools

With deeper progress, installing automation actually becomes less and less desired. Automation just replaces human interaction.
Some such work requires upfront learning and practice, but the payoff is in skill and knowledge. So the central question is wither such skills and knowledge are considered  worth the effort by the individual.

Real life example - automatic transmission owners versus manual transmission owners.
Manual transmission drivers with long enough experience consider automatic transmission to be derogative. And they are right as person skilled with manual drive, will use automated transmission easily. But not vice versa. The skill will be missing.
In contrast, automatic transmission is usually picked by those who either DONT(<-edit! meh,..) feel very confident about switching gears, have some disabilities, feel overwhelmed by steering itself, or are simply either lazy or bored by driving.

But you can't classify automatic transmission as some sort of cheating against users of manual transmission.
Cheating is unfair advantage of one player against another player by breaking the rules. So long there is no competition, there are no rules and hence no cheating.

Personally my essential package is: KIS/KAS, KAX, KAC, KER, Docking Alignment Indicator, Waypoint Manager, ScanSAT, Contract Configurator (with SpaceTux contracts) and [x]Science!
For parts, I recommend: whole USI package (including LF), DeepFreeze, Near Future Technologies, Dr. Jet's ChopShop

I strongly recommend MechJeb for children aged 2-12 as well as players with disabilities and sandbox game mode.
I strongly oppose its use by other players, since it removes challenge - and in gaming challenge creates enjoyment - and career game mode.

 

In my experience there are only four reasons for getting bored with KSP:

- playing too much

- not asking the search engine if you are stuck with a problem

- having a bad contract pack (low wage combined with long planning and/or execution time) or playing without a good contract pack

- playing without good mods

Edited March 1, 2016 by Kerbal101

[maculator]

Well, this is your opinion. I love my current career and I love mechjeb and pilot assistant. Without those I wouldn't hve gotten so far in my "collect all the science"-quest. It takes away the tedious part and leaves me with the things I enjoy the most: planing missions, designing rockets, and doing crazy stuff with KIS/KAS and IR. I had great fun with learning to dock, landing on various planets etc. but for now I just enjoy beeing the commander.

[GoSlash27]

 For real... I'm old 'n' busted, and my back doesn't allow me to play KSP all the time.  My simple technique for not losing interest in KSP is almost the exact opposite of this.

 If I don't feel like playing KSP, I don't. Nothing gets me more excited about playing KSP as much as the release of a new update. New wrinkles, new rules. They're like Pokemon; gotta collect 'em all!

 I will drop an old career and fire up a new one in a heartbeat. It's actually the most interesting part of the game for me. And nothing gets to the core mechanics of the game like playing it with no mods. "MechJeb?!? BAH! Back in *MY* day, we played KSP with slide rules and we were thankful for what we had..."

 The learning is the most interesting aspect to KSP IMO. The doing is just a rehash of things I've done before.

Best,
-Slashy

Edited March 1, 2016 by GoSlash27

[Hotaru]

For number two, I would say instead "try a different mod setup." If you've been playing a heavily modded game, try a pure- or mostly-stock install. If you've been a stock purist, try mods. If you've done both, try different combinations of mods. If things get too easy, start adding things like life support, Real Fuels, Remote Tech, or OPM. If things are still too easy, try switching to 64k or even RSS/RO. All of these things have the potential to help keep things interesting.

That said, I have to agree with everybody who suggests "play something else for a while." I've been playing KSP about a year now and have already taken several months-long breaks during which I played Skyrim or GTA or Assetto Corsa and never touched KSP. When I finally got back in the mood and started KSP again, it was just as much fun as it had ever been, and a lot more fun than if I force myself to keep playing it when I'm starting to get burned out.

[YNM]

My problem with KSP is that I have bad computers. 3 GB useable RAM, 1GB VRAM, i3 dual core 3.1 GHz, x86 OS seems like not enough, when you're going bonkers with mods. No mods... Hmm, as texture's not high it's pretty bland...

Edited March 1, 2016 by YNM

[Kerbal101]

1 hour ago, YNM said:

My problem with KSP is that I have bad computers. 3 GB useable RAM, 1GB VRAM, i3 dual core 3.1 GHz, x86 OS seems like not enough, when you're going bonkers with mods. No mods... Hmm, as texture's not high it's pretty bland...

I paid around 160$ for Xeon(+supermicro motherboard) with 12GiB of DDR3 ECC.

The graphics card itself is pretty old and cost almost same as KSP itself. The OS is Debian-based SolydX, where KSP x64 runs pretty stable with 45 mods.

You can also wait till 1.1 materializes and see.

[evileye.x]

Play  brutal ironman XCOM 2 .  Then play brutal campaign in brutal ironman XCOM LONGWAR.  By the time you'll finish,  get bac to KSP 1.1 or...  1.3 or...  1.5 

[Navy2k]

1. Install RSS via ckan

2. Feel like a little schoolboy again while you watch your rockets burn.

3. profit

Only downfall is I can't play standard KSP anymore without getting bored very fast

 

Spent around 30h designing a Mars Ascent Vehicle alone, now i had the problem to bring this monster into Orbit. So i Designed a Tanker so i can send it up empty and still needed to design a SLS like Monster Rocket to bring it up. Had a lot of fun comparing Merlin engine designs with other real world rocket motors and ended up with some Falxon XX Style Rocket. Motivation is like in the first few 100 hours again.

Edited March 1, 2016 by Navy2k

[Dr. Jet]

25 minutes ago, Navy2k said:

1. Install RSS via ckan

Hm-m-m... The last stable and non-crashing RSS build was based on KSP 0.90 IIRC.

[Navy2k]

So why is my RSS install under 1.0.5 not crashing?

[Dr. Jet]

3 hours ago, Navy2k said:

So why is my RSS install under 1.0.5 not crashing?

Luck? Or Linux? 

[Navy2k]

Win 7 64bit

KSP 32bit -force-opengl

RSS and RO are both labeld 1.0.5:

 

[YNM]

On 03/01/2016 at 10:45 AM, Kerbal101 said:

I paid around 160$ for Xeon(+supermicro motherboard) with 12GiB of DDR3 ECC.

The graphics card itself is pretty old and cost almost same as KSP itself. The OS is Debian-based SolydX, where KSPx64 runs pretty stable with 45 mods.

You c.an also wait till 1.1 materializes and see

 

Hmm... I don't know, prices here are higher. Slight edit to my previous post that I have quad-core actually. I always wanted to try FAR but it always crashes... Nowadays I play ETS2. Personally I also think that the OS is also a PITA (win 7), as when idle it eats 15% of the RAM !

Edited March 2, 2016 by YNM

[maculator]

On 29.2.2016 at 1:55 AM, Kerbal101 said:

If you played over 500h+, then you learned to:
- design aerodynamic and balanced rockets that do gravity turns by themselves and planes that have proper maneuverability/stability based on their typical speed
- orbit rendezvous from lower and higher orbit
- asparagus rockets, asparagus satellites, single stage to orbit planes, single stage to orbit rockets, space-assembled interstellar carriers
- land without heatshield from any orbit and influence air-breaking periapsis by angle to radial axis
- see orbital transfer windows without any tools

With deeper progress, installing automation actually becomes less and less desired. Automation just replaces human interaction.
Some such work requires upfront learning and practice, but the payoff is in skill and knowledge. So the central question is wither such skills and knowledge are considered  worth the effort by the individual.

*snip*

Well I wrote good 2 pages of text to answer simply to realize that the answer is pretty short:

I learned that over the years, the hard way.

I do like flying my own big missions.

I love to assign stupid, simple, repetitive tasks to my buddy MJ.

 

And If you ever flew longruns around kerbin with and without pilotassistance, you'd know to appreciate it.