Why do we need mods?

[Tau137]

it's been so many years, any yet most popular mods are still mods?

Why, for the love of ***, are the most popular mods are not in the base game yet?

Where is KAC?  Ok, may be not MJ, but at least KE? Why E.V.E. (and/or scatterer) is not in the game yet (imagine how many more new recruits that would bring, just for the sake of visuals)?  Why not KAS/KIS? Or Infernal Robotics? Life Support is a different story though, but the list can go on and on.

I understand that producing a game like this is not a trivial task, but... SERIOUSLY?  What the <Jool> is going on in your heads, dear developers?

[Superfluous J]

Many people don't want MJ functionality in the game. Until recently, KER readouts were actually on the "Not gonna do it" list, and calculating those numbers can be very fidgety. IR hinges are buggy. Not "spaghetti kerbals lol" buggy but "oh no my ship is destroyed because the game is buggy" buggy. EVE is a resource hog (a worthwhile use of those resources but a hog nonetheless).

KAS/KIS functionality I agree with you on, as do I KAC. That's basic stuff that should be in the game. Life support is arguable I don't like the idea myself but others think the game is woefully incomplete without it.

However as I've said before, it's not like Squad can just take KAC and plop it into the game. There's this little pesky deal with getting permission first, and the fact that most mods (I don't know about KAC in parcitular but wouldn't be surprised) say that anything that uses its code must be open source. I doubt Squad would be willing to open their entire source code up just to give you a Periapsis alarm.

I note you didn't include RemoteTech in your list of mods that should be stock. Or FAR. Or Deadly ReEntry. I suspect what was going on in their heads over the past few years is the stock implementations of what people liked most from those mods. I They'd instead done KIS/KAS/KAC implemenations, you or someone would likely have posted today "Why don't we have FAR or DRE or RT in the game?"

[Tau137]

Yes, Sir, I am perfectly aware of all the arguments on all sides, and all new and past developments in the stock game, as well as most popular mod developments.  Just could not hold the emotions, sorry.

Generally, stock implementations are lagging at least two years (and that is A LONG time) behind the mods, and the release versions usually show no more that seriously trimmed (read - castrated;  and more often than not seriously bugged as well) versions of the original ideas (Deadly Re-entry, FAR, RemoteTech, ISRU... ScanSat is not even fully there yet).  Surely there are "gameplay reasons" (i.e., "aim for the dumbest client"), and there are also those "pesky issues" such as permissions etc. (hm... I wonder how many modders would refuse that, but it is just my curiosity, nothing to do with "reality" and copyrights).

Anyway, the point is - I think KSP dev team is not paying enough attention to the the community, and in this particular case - community mod usage and how those mods could further improve the success of the game (including financial aspect).  It is quite clearly not mine but their business, but I thought that I might be allowed to voice this concern here on the forum.

Edited October 11, 2016 by Tau137

[Hannu2]

KSP is almost only game in this genre. There are huge number of different play styles. In my opinion it is very good idea to keep stock game open for them all. Devs have to always make compromises if they take mod functionality into the stock game. Most technical mods are too complex for average player which will probably never leave from Kerbin's SOI. If Squad implements some version of it, there are complaints from average players and also technically oriented players who think that the game have been simplified too much and they have to still use mods. It works better if the stock game is very easy and simple and there are mods with different technical level and humor content so that everyone can choose what they want.

Another thing is memory limitations of 32 bit version. It is now history, but it has prevented devs to add new content years. Whatever mod they had been chosen, most player would have complained that it is not their favorite mod.

[ISE]

Good lord, please do not ask this question without enough information/time with mods. Mods are very important to me in KSP.

Edited October 11, 2016 by ISE

[Vaporized Steel]

The reality is, KSP out of the Box must be a challenge. That's why stock parts offer a select amount of parts with limitations in size that allow you to do basically anything in KSP while still maintaining a challenge.
I think KSP has fixed size stock parts (without the option of rescaling) to maintain the general difficulty of constructing things that allows all possible missions in the game to be completed without making them necessarily more easy.

Apart from graphical and instrumentation mods all mods make the game easier by introducing custom parts, engines or other peripherals that will make the part selection to vast for a Layman to keep his head above water.

When I first started KSP back in V 0.21 I think I had my time pretty much occupied with learning whats in stock. Now I to desire many mods to expand my game. But KSP has quite alot of stock applications ready for a new guy to spend weeks if not months figuring out the stock game to it's fullest potential.
I can Imagine as a new guy you'd not want twice as many parts because i.e. Joe or Tom are still playing with arguably a already vast collection of parts from a new guys perspective.
I have some fervour for a stock tweakscale function that may be unlocked in the debug panel just to toy around with miniature or oversized vessels. But it's not that I care that much that I would want it that way necessarily.
But then again, the download link for anything you'd want is 2,3 or 4 clicks away from where you are now. So why people desperately want things in stock so much is beyond my understanding.

[eddiew]

Because a game that supports easy modding and develops a good community, can end up driving sales based entirely on mods created by that community. You can keep your development team small, and not invest as much time or resources as you would have to with a game that only the devs can make changes to.

That's not a knock against Squad; it's a very sound model, and they're certainly not the first. Who plays vanilla Skyrim these days?  

[Tau137]

I rely on KAC and KIS/KAS and MJ and IR and DR and SS to be updated reasonably fast (great thanks to the people working on these mods and the developers to making the game open to mods)...

 

I still want stock clouds though

 

[Guest]

Yeah, why isn't the entire Realism Overhaul suite with Real Solar System and Principia part of the base game package? I mean, seriously, that's the only way to play, really. Makes you wonder...