Stock game communications range

[swjr-swis]

1 hour ago, eatU4myT said:

I suppose my only remaining grumble then is that the antennas appear too late in the tech tree (or everything else appears to soon!)

There are lots of grumbles to mention about the stoch tech tree, those just being some of them. Plenty of threads on this forum talking about it.

Don't expect too much logic or realism out of it; just see it as a way of gauging progress in your career.

[bewing]

Well, once you decide on your own personal playstyle I think you will find that unlocking the tech 'tiers' in order is a bad idea. Some people want airplanes. Some people want manned expeditions. Some people want robotic expeditions. You only need antennas if you are doing robotic probes. And the antennas unlock in pretty much the same tech nodes -- and certainly along the same branch of the tech tree -- as all the stuff you need for robotic probes.

Additionally, by the time you get back from landing on Minmus, you should have more than enough science to unlock a huge percentage of the tech tree. At normal difficulty, you can (in fact) unlock basically the entire tech tree with one Minmus landing (without even a full set of science devices).

But the basic point is that the tech tree is supposed to make things a bit of a challenge. KSP is all about problem solving. So you have very little tech, and you need an RA-2 antenna for your next expedition? OK, so what clever thing are you going to do to unlock it? It is doable, in multiple ways, I guarantee.

 

 

[Xd the great]

Eg. Collecting science from labs. In LKO.

[swjr-swis]

3 hours ago, bewing said:

You only need antennas if you are doing robotic probes.

Not only. They have a function for science transmission as well, which is an option from the very first tier.

[eatU4myT]

4 hours ago, bewing said:

you can (in fact) unlock basically the entire tech tree with one Minmus landing

That's part of the problem though, not the solution. For me, I don't want to be able to fly Kerbals to Minmus before I can launch a probe to Eve!

I get that it's different for everyone though. I saw something about an "unmanned before manned" tech tree mod, anyone had good/bad experiences of that?

Thanks

[bewing]

2 hours ago, swjr-swis said:

Not only. They have a function for science transmission as well, which is an option from the very first tier.

I was using the word "need" in a strict sense. Antennas are nice to have for science transmission on manned missions. But you don't need them -- unless you are sending a robotic probe that is supposed to do some science. Because on a krewed mission you have to bring your kerbals back anyway, and they can bring the science back with them.

Edited September 26, 2018 by bewing

[linuxgurugamer]

Bring kerberos back? What an original idea

[Tonka Crash]

In my current game I launched a big, heavy probe packed with all the science instruments I had with the best available 4 HG-5's to Eve on the first transfer window that came up and lost touch with it en-route to Eve. Later as my tech level increased I launched a relay satellite that wasn't much more than a solar panel, probe core and RA-15 on a much higher dV transfer to Eve to arrive a few days before the science probe. It turned out to be enough to re-establish contact when the probe entered Eve's SOI. You could also consider this a rescue mission. I'm relatively new to the game and this was the first interplanetary probe I'd launched in a career.

Also as has been pointed out, drill through the tech tree for the options that benefit the way you want to play and not just the cheapest available. I put aside most of the airplane related branches as long as possible and concentrated on unlocking science instruments and probe technology.

[swjr-swis]

2 hours ago, bewing said:

Because on a krewed mission you have to bring your kerbals back anyway, and they can bring the science back with them.

Well ok, in a strict sense then... we don't really need to bring back kerbals, do we?

[Tyko]

10 hours ago, swjr-swis said:

11 hours ago, eatU4myT said:

I suppose my only remaining grumble then is that the antennas appear too late in the tech tree (or everything else appears to soon!)

There are lots of grumbles to mention about the stoch tech tree, those just being some of them. Plenty of threads on this forum talking about it.

Don't expect too much logic or realism out of it; just see it as a way of gauging progress in your career.

We didn't send out anything further than Mars or Venus until the early 70's - after the first Moon landings. The tech tiers needed to do an Apollo style moon landing are pretty close to the long range direct antennas...

Edited September 26, 2018 by Tyko