What are the best mods to start a new career?

[glorsh66]

What are the best mods to start a new career? 

What are the best mods to start a new career mode?  (I have never played long enough in the vanilla version).
I don't like the sandbox mode, so I like where there is some handholding by the game, so you know your next objective.

What I want: 
- more mission types (without removing old ones)
- New parts, that are balanced.
- Balanced and well-implemented game mechanics that work well with career mode.

[Vanamonde]

This discussion of add-ons has been moved to Add-on Discussions. (Which I do not use and so can not help with.) 

[Admiral Fluffy]

I don't know, but @linuxgurugamer might be the right person to ask.]

Scatterer makes the game look better, waterfall too. Thats all I really know.

 

[zer0Kerbal]

I would suggest 'Komplexity' and 'SimpleConstruction!'

[jimmymcgoochie]

I’ll try to go through these in order. In most cases you can find these mods on CKAN, which I recommend you use to avoid a whole lot of pain as it very rarely makes mistakes, usually gets all dependencies and also allows you to update mods when they’re available. This is neither an exhaustive list nor a list of “mods you must use”, I’m just giving you some options to take a look at and see if you like the looks of them.

More mission types (I assume you mean in-game contracts from Mission Control?):

• Contract Configurator is a requirement for most contract packs, you’ll probably need that;
• A variety of contract packs exist, each with a different focus- launching relays, building and using stations and bases, replicating real-life missions- so look for some that fit your goals.
• Strategia- completely replaces the Administration strategies to offer a variety of options- focus on crewed or probe missions, to different planets or moons, boost a particular Kerbonaut type or trade one in-game resource (funds, fame, science) for another. 

New, balanced parts:

• Restock+, fills some holes in the stock part lineup (e.g. 0.625m tanks, 3.75m Poodle-esque vacuum engine, hemispherical tanks in all sizes and it also includes 1.875m and some 5m parts that replicate most of the Making History parts) and adds a few novelties like a forwards-facing rover wheel. Not everyone likes the part retextures that Restock itself adds, but many other mods I’ll be mentioning have a similar style as they’re made by the same modder (Nertea) who’s subsequently been hired by the KSP2 team, no coincidence there.
• Near Future mods- each specialises in a different area, so NF Propulsion adds fancy PIT and VASIMR thrusters while NF Exploration includes a lot of probe-oriented parts, they can be used independently or together. There’s also Cryo Engines, Kerbal Atomics and Stockalile Station Parts Expansion Redux (SSPXR for short) which adds a lot of really nice parts for stations, large spaceships and surface bases. The only mod I know of to include a part with actual moving fish inside it.
• SSR MicroSat- a dinky little probe with all the necessary parts to kit it out as a cheap but effective probe or relay, useful for early exploration.
• Anything from Wild Blue Industries by Angel125, I’ve only had a chance to use a few of them but they’re all well-made and have a wide range, from airships to rovers to warp drives.
• X-20 “Moroz”, a versatile little shuttle with a range of possible uses, can cram a lot of Kerbals into a small space.
• Honourable mention for Luciole as while the parts can be a bit overpowered in some cases, they also look great and expand the options for small-scale rockets that few other mods touch.

Utilities and career helpers:

• Stage Recovery- can catch and recover dropped boosters and stages, either using parachutes or by simulating a powered landing. Very tweakable to increase or decrease the rewards from recovered stages and can make a big difference when you’re struggling for funds early in a career.
• Bon Voyage- it’s a rover autopilot that can drive around a planet or moon in the background instead of spending hours tediously driving it by hand.
• SCANsat- adds a variety of parts that can create different maps of planets and moons from orbit over time and can also detect surface anomalies, resources for mining and help you track down every biome to maximise science gains.
• Kerbal Environmental Institute (KEI)- automates the science gathering around the KSC. If you didn’t know, there are over 20 “biomes” in and around the KSC buildings that all give their own science data, which you could visit by rolling a pod around, or just use KEI to do it all in one click. Can be a bit overpowered if you’re playing on high science multipliers, especially if you invest the science into getting more experiments, but it’s possible to do the same thing yourself so not cheating.
• MechJeb- some love it, some hate it, but once you’ve done your hundredth launch, rendezvous or transfer burn you’ll want something that can do it all for you with minimal input and MechJeb can automate almost everything, from launches to plotting nodes, rover driving to plane flying and docking to landing.
• Kerbal Space Transportation System (KSTS)- allows you to record a flight using any rocket or spaceplane, then re-use the recorded flight profile to launch payloads up to the mass and altitude of the recording, for the price of the vessel and fuel used. It can also be used for on-orbit construction using space stations, drop payloads near existing vessels for instant rendezvousing and ties in with Stage Recovery (and another recovery mod called FMRS) to subtract the cost of recovered boosters from the total, so once you’re tired of launching everything yourself you can just select what you want launched, what orbit you want it in, pay the cost of the craft and launch and then sit back and wait for it to be dropped off in the desired orbit. Orbital construction can lead to Kraken-induced vessel destruction on occasion, so be warned.
• Extraplanetary Launchpads- taking ISRU to the next level by mining resources, turning them into parts and then creating new vessels- anywhere, any time. Your latest creation too huge and heavy to be launched from Kerbin? Just build it on Minmus instead!
• Soundtrack Editor- this one isn’t on CKAN as it needs to be installed different to most other mods. It allows you to add your own music to the in-game music player, so if you want to start blasting the music from Interstellar while doing a tricky docking or some smooth jazz in the VAB, go for it! There are plenty of websites that offer royalty-free music to download, including by Kevin MacLeod who wrote much of KSP’s soundtrack, while the mod Astronomer’s Visual Pack also has an optional extra full of music (and links to get more) that’s worth looking at.

Visuals and stuff- most of these will put a lot more strain on your PC, dedicated graphics cards only for most of them.

• Environmental Visual Enhancements (EVE)- allows the addition of clouds and other effects, requires configs to do anything. Required for all planetary visual mods that I know of.
• Scatterer- atmospheric and water effects as well as sunflares, also required for many planetary visual mods but can be used alone.
• Spectra and Astronomer’s Visual Pack (AVP)- both contain configs for EVE and scatterer to make the planets look pretty. Other options are also available, search on CKAN or the forums.
• Waterfall- no GPU needed for this one, I’ve run it on integrated graphics without issue. Adds more realistic rocket plumes that change depending on external pressure and throttle setting, requires a config to work properly for stock parts (with or without Restock) but some mods (e.g. Near Future) have the configs built in. There’s also a mod to add Waterfall effects to SRBs so they don’t feel left out.
• Distant Object Enhancement (DOE)- makes planets and moons visible at a distance, as well as vessels at closer range. You can see Venus, Mars, and Jupiter from the surface of Earth with just your eyes; DOE does the same thing in KSP.

There are literally thousands of mods out there to choose from, the best way to find out what works for you is to try them. Just don’t go over the top and add ALL THE MODS!!1! all at once or you’ll quickly get buried under a bewildering wall of new parts and features that you don’t know how to use.

 

[DeadJohn]

19 hours ago, glorsh66 said:

What are the best mods to start a new career? 

What are the best mods to start a new career mode?  (I have never played long enough in the vanilla version).
I don't like the sandbox mode, so I like where there is some handholding by the game, so you know your next objective.

What I want: 
- more mission types (without removing old ones)
- New parts, that are balanced.
- Balanced and well-implemented game mechanics that work well with career mode.

TLDR: consider Bluedog Design Bureau because it has great parts, a very active forum thread if you have questions, and also bundles new contracts. Then add BDB's dependencies. Finally, consider a planet pack like JNSQ for more challenge that's well-balanced with BDB rockets. Finally, if your PC has enough memory and speed, add Scatterer and EVE for greatly improved graphics.

There are a many good paths to take regarding parts mods. Some of my favorites are (these are all big mods, so use just one of them at a time):

• Nertea's "Near Future" collection of mods. It's several smaller mods, sort of grouped by function: NF Electrical (batteries, solar panels, new nuclear reactor mechanics), NF Spacecraft (crew capsules and associated parts), NF Exploration (probes), Stockalike Station Parts Expanded Redux (SSPXR for stations and bases, doesn't have "Near Future" in name but same author), etc.
• For historical USA rockets, Bluedog Design Bureau (BDB). It's a huge mod, but includes a comprehensive set of great-looking parts as well as new new contracts for using those parts. Newer USA rockets like SpaceX and ULA Vulcan are not part of this mod, but that's okay because BDB's Saturn, Titan, and Delta 4 variants can lift huge loads.
• For European rockets, Knes. As an American, this mod helped me learn more about older French and ESA rockets. It includes some conceptual spaceplanes, too.
• For USSR Soviet rockets, Tantares.

These notes apply to all of those part mods:

• Parts are similarly powerful to stock parts. Stock parts are arguably overpowered compared to real-world rockets; simple KSP 2-stage rockets can get to the stock Mun.  There's nothing wrong with that, but if you want something where your rocket designs are more dependent on 3 stages consider a resized 2.5x or 2.7x planet pack.
• JNSQ is my favorite planet pack; more challenging but not frustrating, and with great graphics. KSRSS 2.5x is also very nice, but adds more inclination complexities to the game and is IMO for a more experienced player.
• Plan to use Community Tech Tree (CTT). It's a good entry into a modded tech tree and I think it's compatible with just about any part mod. If using BDB, there's a newer Skyhawk Science System, but that's a bigger leap from stock than CTT.

 

[glorsh66]

On 5/24/2022 at 6:12 PM, jimmymcgoochie said:

A variety of contract packs exist, each with a different focus- launching relays, building and using stations and bases, replicating real-life missions- so look for some that fit your goals.

What are the best mission packs? 

[glorsh66]

On 5/24/2022 at 8:29 PM, DeadJohn said:

TLDR: consider Bluedog Design Bureau because it has great parts, a very active forum thread if you have questions, and also bundles new contracts. Then add BDB's dependencies. Finally, consider a planet pack like JNSQ for more challenge that's well-balanced with BDB rockets. Finally, if your PC has enough memory and speed, add Scatterer and EVE for greatly improved graphics.

There are a many good paths to take regarding parts mods. Some of my favorites are (these are all big mods, so use just one of them at a time):

• Nertea's "Near Future" collection of mods. It's several smaller mods, sort of grouped by function: NF Electrical (batteries, solar panels, new nuclear reactor mechanics), NF Spacecraft (crew capsules and associated parts), NF Exploration (probes), Stockalike Station Parts Expanded Redux (SSPXR for stations and bases, doesn't have "Near Future" in name but same author), etc.
• For historical USA rockets, Bluedog Design Bureau (BDB). It's a huge mod, but includes a comprehensive set of great-looking parts as well as new new contracts for using those parts. Newer USA rockets like SpaceX and ULA Vulcan are not part of this mod, but that's okay because BDB's Saturn, Titan, and Delta 4 variants can lift huge loads.
• For European rockets, Knes. As an American, this mod helped me learn more about older French and ESA rockets. It includes some conceptual spaceplanes, too.
• For USSR Soviet rockets, Tantares.

These notes apply to all of those part mods:

• Parts are similarly powerful to stock parts. Stock parts are arguably overpowered compared to real-world rockets; simple KSP 2-stage rockets can get to the stock Mun.  There's nothing wrong with that, but if you want something where your rocket designs are more dependent on 3 stages consider a resized 2.5x or 2.7x planet pack.
• JNSQ is my favorite planet pack; more challenging but not frustrating, and with great graphics. KSRSS 2.5x is also very nice, but adds more inclination complexities to the game and is IMO for a more experienced player.
• Plan to use Community Tech Tree (CTT). It's a good entry into a modded tech tree and I think it's compatible with just about any part mod. If using BDB, there's a newer Skyhawk Science System, but that's a bigger leap from stock than CTT.

 

Do I need to setup additional tech-tree mod, so new part must be researched in the career mode? 

Are there any working alternatives 

to

Career Evolution Contract Pack or Contract Pack: Historical Progression.

Something that makes satellites, and yearly game viable.

 

[DeadJohn]

4 hours ago, glorsh66 said:

Do I need to setup additional tech-tree mod, so new part must be researched in the career mode? 

Are there any working alternatives 

to

Career Evolution Contract Pack or Contract Pack: Historical Progression.

Something that makes satellites, and yearly game viable.

 

I mentioned Community Tech Tree before. It's compatible with the part mods I listed, but you might also be able to keep the stock tech tree. Each major part mod's forum thread might discuss the tech tree up front.

Regarding contract packs, BDB includes contracts for new parts like weather satellites, photography surveillance satellites, and lunar impactor surveys. The contracts encourage you to use some new parts as you unlock them.

I don't remember details for those 2 other contract packs you asked about. I know that there's one historical pack that IMO had way too many small details, and replicated a lot of real life failures like "fail to reach orbit with probe X"; it felt like a grind to me.

[Fergrim]

you keep asking for "best" when there are "best" versions of totally opposing game types.

When you're playing vanilla, which one annoys you most often:

A) Obscure rules that stop you from doing whatever you feel like doing

B) Lack of obscure rules/mechanics that create additional challenge by forcing you to handle challenges more realistically - IE life support.  Or the fact that the tech tree starts with manned flight rather than probes

C) Lack of interesting/end game challenging places to visit

Basically, are you more frustrated that you can't.

Does the idea of a hyper realistic aerodynamics system make you excited or do you already feel the frustration at it taking ten times longer to design a jet that doesn't randomly  fall out of the sky.

I like realism to the point of tedious.  For example,  a favorite mod for me is 'researchbodies'.  It makes it so you can't see or plan trips to any planet except those that you've discovered and thoroughly researched via ground based telescopes.

Also there's a setup for probes where any probe you launch, has to be flown using a NASA looking computer and bans you from using any third or first person view like would be standard in stock- so having no pilot involves all the challenges of flying something remotely.

etc

Knowing that would help a lot.  Also, remember KSP is at 1/10th scale or so which makes things much easier.  This is why people love real size real solar system (though of course, it's always played with real life thrust/weight ratio rockets and fuel tanks so even though it's a more challenging scenario your rockets are also about 10x more powerful.

And of course there are a ton of mods that simulate part failures and requiring maintenance etc

SO yeah which side of that are you on?