How many Green monoliths are present in the game? (spoilers)

[xendelaar]

I just learned, after  reading @JAFO's  caveman 1.11x challenge rules... that the green monoliths grand you random tech upgrades for free?! My mind is blown! This game never ceases to amaze me! 

 

So my first questions are:

• how many monoliths are present in the game? one per planet?
• actually... i just had one question
• ...
• profit?

 

If there are many green monoliths, this could open up a nice challenge/ mission idea for players:

Unlocking the entire tech tree with as many monolith visits as possible! We could start a new game with the science reward slider set back to 10% or something and start from there? It would create a great incentive to hunt down those green stand-up guys ... 

 

Edited February 18, 2021 by xendelaar

[Guest]

I think there is one per planet, randomly positioned for each new game. I didn’t realise they unlocked tech though either

[jimmymcgoochie]

There’s one per planet/moon, but their positions are randomly generated for each save game so they won’t be in the same place twice. The tech bonus is particularly useful if you’re playing with an extended tech tree mod as it’s unlikely you’ll have any nodes left in the stock tech tree by the time you start going to other planets. They can be very hard to just stumble across by accident, so I suggest you use the SCANsat mod to detect them from orbit and then help to hunt them down on the surface; the anomaly scanners also find the other Easter eggs in the game such as the [REDACTED] and [SPOILERS] on Duna and the  on Kerbin and the Mun.

[Blaarkies]

On 2/18/2021 at 1:02 PM, jimmymcgoochie said:

 SCANsat mod to detect them from orbit 

Its stock since many versions ago, called "KerbNet". Every probe core has it, but you need a connection to KSC to use it. Some probe cores have different detection rates. I believe the RoveMat probe core has a 100% detection rate for anomalies, even from orbit. With that, you just need to filter out the easter eggs from the green monoliths (from orbit they all look the same, unless you know where all the easter eggs are)

@xendelaar There are 15 green monoliths in the stock Kerbol system. You will find 1 on each celestial body, except for Kerbol and Jool (who knows, maybe they still spawn there as well, i guess KerbNet could confirm that). 
I remember some threads on the forum with lots of details around green monoliths. Some things to watch out for:

• It unlocks tech at random, so its better to get them later when they will unlock more expensive tech nodes
  • I don't know how random though. I think it is only next-in-line researchable techs, basically those that currently pass the requirements and are "unlockable" 
  • There are 2 placeholder tech nodes in stock that are not visible and don't have parts associated with them. Getting those is really bad luck
• Once you discover it with a Kerbal close by, the mission reports will mention what tech you received
  • Maybe probe cores can do "discover" them as well

Edited February 21, 2021 by Blaarkies

[xendelaar]

18 minutes ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

as it’s unlikely you’ll have any nodes left in the stock tech tree by the time you start going to other planets. 

That's also another issue.. getting to other bodies early in a career is very difficult.. hunting anomalies during that stage would be near impossible...  darnit.. I need to write a mod for this hehe

 

[jimmymcgoochie]

16 minutes ago, Blaarkies said:

Its stock since many versions ago, called "KerbNet".

I still say SCANsat is better as it provides permanent maps with the anomaly locations on them while scanning in the background (plus you get more science by doing the scans and usable maps of terrain and biomes). In my experience KerbNet isn’t nearly as good and the odds of spotting an anomaly are pretty low for most probe cores.

[Fraktal]

2 hours ago, xendelaar said:

We could start a new game with the science reward slider set back to 10% or something and start from there?

Stock game's already possible with that, if you don't mind having to visit Minmus orbit before landing on the Mun and having your first couple interplanetary visits not use Nervs.

[xendelaar]

54 minutes ago, Fraktal said:

Stock game's already possible with that, if you don't mind having to visit Minmus orbit before landing on the Mun and having your first couple interplanetary visits not use Nervs.

hehe, thanks for the reply! yeah, I know you can easily adjust this when you start a new custom career game.

I did a similar challenge a couple years ago with all reward sliders set to 10% . it was... very... challenging haha. 

my idea now is to create  an environment where hunting down anomalies would be really rewarding. It could be a new (refreshing) take on a career challenge?  

 

Edited February 18, 2021 by xendelaar

[Blaarkies]

1 hour ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

I still say SCANsat is better as it provides permanent maps with the anomaly locations on them while scanning in the background (plus you get more science by doing the scans and usable maps of terrain and biomes). In my experience KerbNet isn’t nearly as good and the odds of spotting an anomaly are pretty low for most probe cores.

Of course SCANsat is different, but also not available on console. With KerbNet using a Rovemat core, you literally have a 100% chance to spot anomalies. After that you simply mark them using the navigation system. If "plus you get more science" is what you want, just run a Mobile Processing Lab in the background instead of fiddling with satellites at all.

I'm not against using mods at all, but suggesting SCANsat over stock for finding Green Monoliths is a bit like suggesting Hyperedit to get a splashdown landing...stock already has that covered.

Edited February 18, 2021 by Blaarkies

[Fraktal]

1 hour ago, xendelaar said:

hehe, thanks for the reply! yeah, I know you can easily adjust this when you start a new custom career game.

I did a similar challenge a couple years ago with all reward sliders set to 10% . it was... very... challenging haha. 

my idea now is to create  an environment where hunting down anomalies would be really rewarding. It could be a new (refreshing) take on a career challenge?  

 

You say you did that a couple years ago? Heh. After 1241 hours in the game, I'm yet to play with anything other than 10% science. Far as I'm concerned, it's how KSP was meant to be played. Hence why, when I was looking at overhauling the stock tech tree, I was thinking of applying a 0.1 multiplier to all science rewards by default due to so many people complaining that the stock tech tree is too easy to unlock if you grind in Kerbin's SOI, which I aimed to fix by making the grinding mandatory - but then realized that if I did that and someone additionally set the difficulty multiplier below 100%, they'd get stuck very quickly from having run out of science in range of their current parts and thus being unable to develop the parts that would let them gain access to even more science. Hell, even in a 10% game you can get deadlocked if you unlock the tier 4 nodes in the wrong order (ie. if you unlock aircraft before the Terrier, since by that point Kerbin's entire remaining science won't add up to another 45 points even if you fully grind out the KSC itself, preventing you from proceeding any further unless you edit your save file or pull off a REALLY lucky suborbital flyby of the Mun).

But if we were to add in anomaly hunting to give the player a heads-up, that would indeed be rewarding.

[xendelaar]

9 minutes ago, Fraktal said:

You say you did that a couple years ago? Heh. After 1241 hours in the game, I'm yet to play with anything other than 10% science. Far as I'm concerned, it's how KSP was meant to be played. Hence why, when I was looking at overhauling the stock tech tree, I was thinking of applying a 0.1 multiplier to all science rewards by default due to so many people complaining that the stock tech tree is too easy to unlock if you grind in Kerbin's SOI, which I aimed to fix by making the grinding mandatory - but then realized that if I did that and someone additionally set the difficulty multiplier below 100%, they'd get stuck very quickly from having run out of science in range of their current parts and thus being unable to develop the parts that would let them gain access to even more science. Hell, even in a 10% game you can get deadlocked if you unlock the tier 4 nodes in the wrong order (ie. if you unlock aircraft before the Terrier, since by that point Kerbin's entire remaining science won't add up to another 45 points even if you fully grind out the KSC itself, preventing you from proceeding any further unless you edit your save file or pull off a REALLY lucky suborbital flyby of the Mun).

But if we were to add in anomaly hunting to give the player a heads-up, that would indeed be rewarding.

'Anything other than 10%'? Does this also count for the reputation and funds part? The 10% challenge is pretty daunting at times. I really had to think what to research next because, like you said, you can make a wrong decision and get stuck on Kerbin. 

I completely agree with you that the current tech reward system is a joke. I recently played a game with all reward sliders at 20% and found that it was as if I was playing a normal difficulty career game... no challenge whatsoever.. 
I've also been thinking of making the career game more fun.. it seems like the vanilla career misses something. it's just some random excrements you're doing. bring x to y and do stuff. and that's that. i would like to see a more story driven career game. let's say company x wants a ground base on minmus. so you build one and ship it a certain biome. next, you'll get a mission where you have expand the base with a habitat and scientist. completing the mission will give a certain tech/ or new part?  doing a better job would give you more parts from a node? i don't know.. something like that.. stuff brakes down and you have to come and fix it? bring special samples to the base to unlock more part. stuff like that. other companies would have other unique storylines yielding different tech nodes or just parts. or scenario's where you have to pick between two options which result in other storyline branches and rewards.  the sky is the limit and I'm just spitballing haha, so please forgive my ranting..
I know you can make missions with the mission editor but these also feel kind of bland to me.

Anywho.... I'm going to look if I can add (45) more green monoliths to the game so that I can make up a nice (relatively easy) challenge for myself.  If one monolith is spawned at every planed at random... it shouldn't be too difficult to add some extra objects to the mix? 

Did you ever try the no contracts challenge?  With this challenge you're only allowed to get money from world first achievements. The goal is to upgrade all buildings to tier 3. It's a fresh take on a career run!! 

[Blaarkies]

1 hour ago, xendelaar said:

you'll get a mission where you have expand the base with a habitat and scientist

But KSP already gives these contracts?  

Expanding bases and orbital stations, and adjusting orbits of satellites, and recently they added repair/assemble missions for rovers. There isn't a lot of depth to these extra contracts, they are quite random as well except for being linked to an existing craft you have somewhere. 

It would be cool if there were more of them though

Edited February 18, 2021 by Blaarkies

[king of nowhere]

2 hours ago, Fraktal said:

You say you did that a couple years ago? Heh. After 1241 hours in the game, I'm yet to play with anything other than 10% science. Far as I'm concerned, it's how KSP was meant to be played.

as i don't like grinding, after i got good enough to fulfill all the normal career contracts, i stopped dealing with science trees and am now only playing challenges.

so, the game can be brought in different directions.

[xendelaar]

37 minutes ago, Blaarkies said:

But KSP already gives these contracts?  

Expanding bases and orbital stations, and adjusting orbits of satellites, and recently they added repair/assemble missions for rovers. There isn't a lot of depth to these extra contracts, they are quite random as well except for being linked to an existing craft you have somewhere. 

It would be cool if there were more of them though

maybe I was not being very clear in my rant haha.

yes, these missions are clearly currently available.. but they are so random that they feel a bit silly to me. also they don't provide ANY use, whatsoever. just funds and rep.

it's more about a coherent story that unfolds (or several parallel stories) where the player decides on what to do next  (expand, explore, fly, drive, dip, dive, orbit, unravel mysteries, search for kraken, long extinct alien races..  etc..) . so building a new habit results in unlocking a certain part because it makes sense, story wise. or it could function for something useful. but he could also chose another mission where the player has to put a satellite in orbit for the base, which gives coordinates of a certain rock that's valuable, which you could retrieve. or not.. I don't know..  or maybe set up a ore production base to increase your max fuel consumption per launch?

the possibilities could be endless. It's just limited to my meager imagination haha.

 

 

 

11 minutes ago, king of nowhere said:

as i don't like grinding, after i got good enough to fulfill all the normal career contracts, i stopped dealing with science trees and am now only playing challenges.

so, the game can be brought in different directions.

there could be more scenario's one could choose from, off course. I'm currently also performing only challenges and uploading those video's in the hope that perhaps 10 people willwatch them hehe. KSP is great in many fronts.

[Fraktal]

2 hours ago, xendelaar said:

'Anything other than 10%'? Does this also count for the reputation and funds part?

2 hours ago, xendelaar said:

Did you ever try the no contracts challenge?

I'm yet to play career, mind you, and only recently got to Duna for the first time ever before I reset the tech tree, downgraded all facilities to level 1 and cranked up aero heating to 120% in order to experiment with the addition of 1.11's EVA science kit and how much it alters the 10% tech tree progression while I'm waiting for the Duna->Kerbin transfer window.

I thought of my first career game being 10% science as well, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to pull it off without running out of money early on due to having to fly a LOT of missions to progress early on. I'm yet to see any green monoliths either and of the black ones, I only found the munar equatorial one so far.

Edited February 18, 2021 by Fraktal

[JAFO]

9 hours ago, king of nowhere said:

after i got good enough to fulfill all the normal career contracts, i stopped dealing with science trees and am now only playing challenges.

  Excellent!

You are hereby cordially invited to take on the Caveman Challenge, at whatever difficulty level you like.

[Superfluous J]

14 hours ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

I still say SCANsat is better as it provides permanent maps with the anomaly locations on them while scanning in the background (plus you get more science by doing the scans and usable maps of terrain and biomes). In my experience KerbNet isn’t nearly as good and the odds of spotting an anomaly are pretty low for most probe cores.

It's also not available to Cavemenpeople.

[king of nowhere]

9 hours ago, JAFO said:

  Excellent!

You are hereby cordially invited to take on the Caveman Challenge, at whatever difficulty level you like.

too grindy. i tried it once. after two hours of launching atmospheric rockets to test parts for pocket money, i got bored. and while i can pilot with no sas or go to orbit with only srb or do other broke-ass stuff, i'd rather avoid it for prolonged times.

my kind of challenges is making big missions with ambitious objectives. like getting all science from all jool biomes, or completing a grand tour with the kerbalism mod

[Snark]

Moving to Gameplay Questions.