Uncertainty Regarding Two Mods

[Wrecker013]

The continued thought between two particular mods that I'm still trying to decide between for KSP has irritated me to the point of needing a second opinion, since I can't seem to reconcile to any point on my own. The two mods in question are the life support mods USI Life Support, and TAC Life Support, and I cannot decide which one to use.

 

On one hand, we have USI Life Support which also allows for the usage of the USI family of mods cleanly, bringing a significant amount of well-made content that is hard to pass up. However, the simplicity of USI-LS (although perhaps I've not progressed enough in a given game to understand its true potential) is acting as a bit of a turn-off for me. Additionally, it seems to be the less compatible of the two by virtue of the fact that TAC is more popular and seems to be considered first for compatibility in other mods, although none of this has necessarily been a problem yet (plus the lack of oxygen/CO2 as a dynamic somewhat irritates me).

 

On the other hand, we have TAC Life Support, which regards a larger amount of resources to contend with and includes the aforementioned oxygen/CO2 issues, in addition to being more seamlessly integrated into things like Universal Storage. Furthermore, it doesn't have what I feel to be the strange support grace period USI does that I haven't found a way to remove, and stocks command pods with supplies as one would expect. But still, it lacks the accessibility to the rest of the USI content and is more simple on its options, as well as, I suppose I could say, the character of USI.

 

Those are my observations anyway from my current perspective, and I don't know how to choose in a way that finishes the competition between the two for me once and for all. Any opinions at all are valued.

[Streetwind]

Welcome to the forums  

You can change the grace period without supplies in USI-LS just fine. I seem to recall having it done in the past, at least - if my memory isn't faulty.   I don't remember what the setting is called, but I think it was towards the top of the config window.

As for which one to use? Honestly: flip a coin, use whichever it points to, and the next time you start a new playthrough, use the other one. As you have pointed out, both have their advantages. So you should not be asking "which one do I use", but rather "which one do I want to try first".

Edited September 27, 2017 by Streetwind

[Tyko]

7 hours ago, Streetwind said:

You can change the grace period without supplies in USI-LS just fine. I seem to recall having it done in the past, at least - if my memory isn't faulty.   I don't remember what the setting is called, but I think it was towards the top of the config window.

It's in the USI LS Settings menu that you can only see when you're in the KSC view (Looking at all the buildings). All of the time measurements are in seconds.

[JorgeCS]

Same here... But since LS is a new thing for me to think about in my new career game, I will first stick to the 'easier' one, USI... and in the future maybe I'll change to the more complex TACLS

[Gilph]

Hi,

I have used both, and have also experienced a lot of the same concerns you have addressed. My solution is this:

1. If I wish to run a career using life support and wish to use MKS for bases and resource manufacturing, I use USI-LS
2. If I wish to run a career using life support and some small bases but don't want to use complicated manufacturing, or habitation, I use TAC

USI has some support for TAC, but it is user driven and feels somewhat incomplete. You can tell it's a bit of a kludge. The complexity in USI is not in the life support part, it's in the resource and manufacturing part. The usage and consumption of Supplies is easy, the recycling is somewhat easy, and the manufacturing of them is hard. I really do not recommend TAC in USI. I don't think you will be happy, although some say they are content with it. The design of Supplies, which bundle air, food, and water into a single unit has a lot of drawbacks, but it works in USI.

TAC and KPBS are a really wonderful combination, along with the other manufacturing/recycling mods to support TAC. Using them is comfortable, intuitive and easy, just like USI-LS and MKS work nicely together. The overall TAC design is really nice and make a lot of sense with the separation of resources and how you need to manage them, as long as you don't try and crowbar it into USI.

Hope this helps.

Edited October 4, 2017 by Gilph
fix wrong sentence