What’s a good mod loadout to get as close as possible to the feature list of KSP2?

[moeggz]

Been a while since I’ve dived into KSP1. I’m just looking for a list of working mods as I’m not sure which ones were abandoned and aren’t compatible with the current version.

[DeadJohn]

I suggest using CKAN. It's a separate program for installing mods. It has a filter feature which can filter out old mods that have not been updated for KSP 1.12.x.

Older mods from 1.11.x and older might still work, but if no one is maintaining a mod's metadata it may be abandoned.

What KSP2 features are you most interested in?

[moeggz]

Colonies with resources and interstellar.

[DeadJohn]

13 hours ago, moeggz said:

Colonies with resources and interstellar.

I highly recommend these base base building mods. I can't offer much help for resources and interstellar.

KPBS Kerbal Planetary Base Systems: This is my favorite base building mod. It has a full set of surface parts using a unique flat-bottom profile. Retractable wheel modules allow bases to be constructed by rolling them together on the surface; it's much less frustrating to use KPBS than stock parts when expanding surface bases.

SSPXR Stockalike Space Station Expansion Redux: This has some nice designs for orbital and surface labs, habitats, etc. Leg modules offer a self-leveling feature for uneven ground. The extendable crew tubes work like a grabber for constructing bases.

 

 

[jcxl233]

This is not an extensive list because I don't have thousands of hours in KSP.

Colony & Exploration

There are quite a lot of mods you can choose from.

Wild Blue Industries series of mods by Angle-125: Buffalo for rovers and ground exploration, DSEV for spaceships, Pathfinder handles colony building and resource harvesting, and Snacks for life support.

USI series of mods by Roverdude: MKS is the ultimate colonization mod, where maintaining a self-sufficient colony almost always requiring the setup of multiple outposts and transport logistics. Parts of this mod allow for "virtualized factories" so your game won't lag out. It plays very well with other mods within the USI series. If you are planning to use MKS, then I recommend stick with USI and do not install other life support or colonization mods.

 

Kerbal Planetary Base Systems: parts to build planetary bases. It does not feature any life support or other systems, but it plays well with almost all life support mods.

Stockalike Station Parts Expansion Redux: parts to build orbital stations and colony ships. It does not feature any life support or other systems, but it plays well with almost all life support mods.

TAC Life Support (TACLS): a standalone life support mod. Can be used with many other mods.

Interstellar

Near Future Technologies and Far Future Technologies: reactors for power generation, ion, fission, fusion and antimatter engines. A few well-known ones (e.g. Daedelus) are missing, but still very good series of mods. They also run surprisingly well and mostly expands and uses stock systems.

KSP Interstellar Extended: the most comprehensive interstellar mod. Reactors for power generation and propulsion, all kinds of crazy engines, photon sail, beamed power, and end-game warp drives. This mod is very complicated, performance heavy, introduces many new mechanics, and many tutorials are out-of-date, so be prepared to spend a lot of time researching and testing spaceship designs. Recommend start a sandbox save first and search on KerbalX for craft designs and Youtube for tutorials if you get stuck. This mod does not play well with Near Future Solar or Near Future Electric because they will nerf KSPI-E reactors into completely unusable.

 

[Fizzlebop Smith]

I just started an playthrough of this for my interstellar experience

And 

*outer planets mod

to ease my interstellar transition

I also have 

*Planetary Bases 

*Tokomak Industries Refurbished 

For the Colony / Space Station experience. The TKR has inflatable habitats that are kind of cool.

*Civilian Population

Is a rather large mod that tries to simulate the Colony Management aspect. You get pasts for greenhouses & schools and can combine with life support for some intense management play.

I use it because the late game allows kerbals to breed, go to school, join the agency, die of old age

 

More onto the resource management for a Colony experience. There is

*Extraplanetary Launchpads which adds a complex system of fabrication. Various different resource production chains go into making "Rocket parts" which you can use to fabricate & launch from a few different specific "launch capability parts" I think there are some that can be deployed from the inventor system of KIS

*Kerbal inventorysystem

adds tools & and an EVA construction on top of the DLC construction. It is a separate Inventory system but I think several mods use it as a dependency.

I also like

*OSE

which adds more resource to manufacturing chains

 

Near Future is quite large with all the various NF mods and dependencies. Learning all the new parts was too much for me.. for Interstellar travel I use 

*Interstellar Warp Drive Standalone

*FTL (Linux guru Gamer)

Adds a couple parts. Warp drives allow you to get their and drop a beacon. Later tech advancements unlock instant transport via FTL later on. Really loved the dynamic for a few parts 

 

To increase my immersion on the science collections I play with a couple more mods that help my colony experience.

 

*Cacteye refocused

*Moar station Science

These adds telescopes and a few different Science parts.

 

 

Edited May 3 by Fizzlebop Smith

[Pkmniako]

On 5/2/2024 at 11:27 PM, Fizzlebop Smith said:

I just started an playthrough of this for my interstellar experience...

To complete a bit more (For context, I'm the dev of the planet mod they linked), it was rumored that the last feature of KSP2, the one hidden in the roadmap, was to be some sort of story element in the game. This is something that Other Worlds also does, adding to a more complete "KSP2 in KSP1" package.

 

Now that I'm here though, I might as well give my own two cents.

Extraplanetary Launchpads is, at least for me, the best way to implement a progressive-friendly way of creating space centers on other planets. It requires kerbals working and resources, though if I recall correctly the resources it needed were not that complex. The parts for this mod are extremely ugly in my opinion though, but there are other mods like Kerbal Planetary Base System that are compatible with it, and that one is quite nice visually.

Meanwhile, if this previous mod you think it's too complex, or kraken friendly, you might want to try Kerbal Konstructs, which allows people to place static buildings, even launchpads. This is far less progression-friendly and more artificial though, so I don't really recommend it much unless you know what you get into.

For propulsion, Near and Far Future Technologies are very good part mod collections that give you all the tools to go interstellar in a reasonable timeframe (Funny fact, you can go interstellar with stock parts!) and are fairly beginner-friendly with very nice looking parts.

For destinations, so I don't only mention my own mod, there's also Kcalbeloh, a solid planet pack with a (big) blackhole and a few stars and a wormhole that takes you from the Kerbol system to the new planets without needing to go through the loops of true interstellar travel. It's also compatible with Other Worlds if you were to happen to install both at the same time.

Either way, whatever mods you install, I highly recommend KSPCommunityFixes. It greatly helps with the stability of the game, and tackles some bugs that can arise from the large distances to some interstellar destinations.