The wisdom of KSP 1 Mods

[VlonaldKerman]

I’ve noticed a lot of discussion in this forum about game systems which I think benefit from the example of KSP 1 mods. For instance, there has been argument about the way in which colonies should share resources. Since this is the development suggestion/discussion page, I would like to highlight some places where KSP 1 mods have kind of “figured it out” to some extent:

 

- Basic life support (less punishing than Kerbalism)

- Colony Supply Management

- ISRU

- Supply route automation

- Interstellar capable engines

- Other solar systems

- Rocket wobble (many parts mods have very large/long or procedural parts to reduce joint connections and minimize wobble)

- Much, much more

 

In some cases, I think mods can be almost literally copied, and with minimal streamline and improved performance, it is basically perfect. In other cases, there are lessons to be learned- for instance the variety of extra large parts indicates that players in fact DO NOT like wobble or view it as integral to the late game experience at least.

I’m sure the devs are looking to mods for inspiration (and staff!) but it seems like a lot of people posting here forget that we already have blueprints for successful gameplay in a lot of key areas, and as a result they argue unnecessarily.

Am I off-base or redundant?

[Barrackar]

I am not sure what you mean by listing these mods. For example, with listing "ISRU" there is some ISRU in the vanilla KSP1, and there are multiple different mods "ISRU Tweaks" and "Less Simple ISRU." I haven't tried either of those mods but I assume they are very different from each other. You need to clarify which gameplay concepts you mean because it isn't clear just by a partial listing of mods.

For the general idea that mods - and their respective popularity - are an indicator of gameplay aspects to add to KSP2 eventually, I agree.

However, the idea any KSP1 mod could be "copied" and still work in KSP2 simply isn't how programming works. Basic mechanics working in the background are fundamentally different even if they result in similar on-screen elements.  Also, usually my experience with KSP1 mods is they are often in need of optimization and generally computationally taxing. This is alright for a mod where a person can choose to not use the mod but the base-game needs a higher level of optimization than found in most mods.

[VlonaldKerman]

10 hours ago, Barrackar said:

I am not sure what you mean by listing these mods. For example, with listing "ISRU" there is some ISRU in the vanilla KSP1, and there are multiple different mods "ISRU Tweaks" and "Less Simple ISRU.

I was thinking of mods like MKS, with deep ISRU mechanics. I didn’t want to starts listing mods because the list would be very long and I would certainly miss things! I can see how it’s unclear, though.

10 hours ago, Barrackar said:

However, the idea any KSP1 mod could be "copied" and still work in KSP2 simply isn't how programming works.

To clarify: I didn’t mean that the code could literally be copied and pasted- that would be impossible. I meant “copy” in the sense of, take note of the mechanic, and program a new system that takes heavy inspiration from the ground up, which, to your point, would allow for better optimization. In fact, for me personally, optimization is the whole point of buying a new game. If I wanted features that were buggy and laggy, I would stick with my huge KSP 1 mod pack. So I think we are in agreement.