KSP: Hard Mode

[Captain Sierra]

How many of you use 'hard mode' mods? Things like RemoteTech, FAR, Ioncross, Deadly Re-entry . . .

I ask this just as a community poll. I'm curious who plays like this. I just started a new KSP instance with all of these. Clearly I suck and safe re-entry. My 'heat shield*' blew up in like 2 seconds after shock heating hit.

Anyways, if your hard mode mod of choice is not in the poll. let us know below.

*this is quoted because it was a heat shield part but didn't do sh*t to save me.

Note: this is in general for the traffic on the poll.

[DChurchill]

I've used Deadly Reentry. I've been meaning to install FAR. Ioncross looks cool, but since it's not really persistent, I'm not all that interested. If you're not currently flying that particular ship, then it doesn't deplete its resources. I haven't even looked into Remote Tech.

[Whackjob]

No option for "None".

[regex]

in 0.20 I used FAR, Deadly Reentry, the Thrust Corrector, and Ioncross. Never really got into playing with RemoteTech, but from that list I'd say that's the only "hard mode" mod. If you are at all smart about building your rockets, FAR makes it incredibly easy to get to orbit. Ioncross has so many ways around resource shortages that you really don't need to worry about it; it just adds more parts. Deadly Reentry is another one you just have to be smart about.

In short, they're not "hard mode", they just change the way you do things.

[acealeam]

In 0.20 I used to have FAR, but I really saw no change. All that happened was it patched infinigliding, really. Sure every hundred missions or so, you may stall, but it's never been an issue for me, so I don't use it.

[Whackjob]

Hard mode: Starting off with the Kerbal Space Port on the surface of a quark star.

"What do you mean I need six point three million meters-per-second of delta-V?"

[Ralathon]

All of the above with the exception of TAC (Although I'm considering switching to that, since Ioncross is rather buggy). I also play with Figaro Satellite constellation and force myself to have a decent GPS constellation around every planet/moon with a base on it.

[regex]

Hard mode: Starting off with the Kerbal Space Port on the surface of a quark star.

"What do you mean I need six point three million meters-per-second of delta-V?"

That's only hard mode for those of us with computers that can't support your creations.

[Zeroignite]

I run DRE, and honestly wish it were less forgiving. I really want to also run FAR, but it doesn't play nice with MechJeb's aerobrake predictions, and I kind of rely on those.

[SkyHook]

I run FAR, RT (when it gets updated), but no deadly reentry. The thermal limit of the parts seems to be too low, and doe not function fairly IMO. Then again, that was several months ago, so maybe the mod has changed..

[Beeman]

I want to use a lot of those mods and I've certainly tried a couple of them. I feel, however, that they need a bit of work. I'd prefer TAC life support over IonCross because it seems to have bigger ambitions and wouldn't require me fiddling about with config files or anything(more or less) to add the life support resources that I'd more or less like to see in the game.

On top of that, Deadly Reentry I tried for one flight and I didn't enjoy it as much as I'd hoped. I sent a rocket into orbit and deorbited the three-man pod with the fitted heat-shield and the shield burned up before my pod could get half way through the atmosphere. Considering I was dropping from about a hundred kilometer orbit, it just seemed odd to me. Of course, I don't know a whole lot about real-world reentry heat so I didn't really know what to expect other than my apollo-lookin' pod surviving reentry from low kerbal orbit without additional heat shielding.

That said, when .22 hits...maybe after .23, I'll pick up a lot of these mods and give the game a hardcore go.

I really wish the vanilla game would incorporate some of these things, though, even as toggleable or scaleable options via a difficulty menu so people wouldn't necessarily have to futz about with mods to get the game playing just as they want with simple challenging aspects turned on or off or scaled up or down.

[Mercy]

*Slightly Bothersome Reentry

[Specialist290]

Currently running Deadly Reentry, and while it doesn't exactly live up to its name as much as I'd like, it has added an extra bit of challenge. I like "stress testing" my designs to see how much I can get away with without using a heat shield.

I'll probably check out TAC Life Support once it gets a little more fleshed out. Ioncross is good in concept, but the fact that there's no persistence is what ultimately turned it off for me.

[SkyRender]

I run TAC... and that's about it for the mods listed. FAR wouldn't do a thing to my game, and I pretty much don't care for re-entry heat effects. Plus, I don't really need RemoteTech to convince me to set up satellite arrays.

[spudcosmic]

No option for "None".

Then don't vote.

on topic:

I use FAR and ioncross. I've been thinking about getting deadly reentry and Remotetech but I already have too many mods as is. I have been also watching TAC life support very closely because unlike ioncross, TAC calculates resource usage even on inactive vessels. However, TAC doesn't have recyclers or ways of generating resources so it's not very usable.

[Mulbin]

I use TAC and Ampyear Power management.

TAC life support is great, it has persistent O2 use as well as O2 supplies in your space suit for EVA which is what I need for Mun missions... hopefully Ioncross will add the features, or TAC will add the features of Ioncross.

[CheftonUTD]

Started playing with RemoteTech for the last week, also always try to keep my manned missions in communication range as much as possible.

Also very keen to try TAC but might wait until it's a bit more 'finished'.

[Geschosskopf]

In short, they're not "hard mode", they just change the way you do things.

I agree with this. KSP (regardless of what the MJ-haters apparently think) isn't a twitch game, it's a thinking game. I suppose the closest analog to it's gameplay is something like the Total War series, where you do all your planning in like a turn-based strategic part (the VAB/SPH and some test runs), broken up with actually carrying out what you've been planning. If you do your planning well, then the actual execution is uneventful. So, all these mods (and anything like them that eventually become features) simply affect the planning phase of gameplay. They make you take a few more things into account, or just reinforce things you were doing anyway because they're good engineering practice.

Thus, the only people who'd really be affected by any of these mods are those who don't spend much time on R&D but instead just slap things together and hope for the best. Or those who consciously exploit the lack of proper aerodynamics or whatnot currently in the game. But for folks who put in serious R&D effort, such mods affect neither how they play nor how they approach the game.

[DChurchill]

*Slightly Bothersome Reentry

I didn't think it was particularly deadly, either. You just can't bomb into the atmosphere at a steep angle on a Munar return, but I wasn't doing that anyway. All DR did was add to my part count. The decoupler is cool and the heat shields are nice, though.

[Eric S]

Yeah, the problem with DR is that we're doing reentry at a third the speed that NASA does, so they either have to fudge reentry issues towards being worse than reality, or just not be that hard.

I've played with FAR, DR, and RT. Each of them added interesting challenges, but once I got used to them, were just different playing styles. Heck, my first RT launch was a three satellite constellation, launched with an unmanned ship. Did it two different ways. One with a ship with enough delta-v to manhandle the orbits, and one with just enough delta-v to pull it off. Both of those were different challenges. The first never lost contact with ground control, and the second passed in and out of contact, doing maneuvers only when it was in contact.

[The Destroyer]

I USED to use FAR...

[rpayne88]

"Other." Everything but TAC. For some reason, it kills my frame rate.

[Spyritdragon]

I had IonCross on .20. Haven't installed it back on .21.

I tend to switch between savefiles, one hosting RemoteTech and IonCross, one just letting me free.

IonCross kindof lacks a bit for me because i can just switch to my High-Farr probe and timeaccelerate if i want to save almost-suffocating Kerbals. None of my ships use oxygen while im not around, which kindof bugs me. Thats why i've left it out recently.

RemoteTech is fun because it has seperate probe cores - i can have fun like i normally do flying probes to Eve and stuff, but i can add the challenge by working on my RemoteTech network when i want to, on the same savefile. The fact i can still use the old ones which don't need remote control effectively allow me to turn the mod on or off for specific craft.

Going to look into TAC life support soon :-).

[Tiron]

"Other." Everything but TAC. For some reason, it kills my frame rate.

They're checkboxes, you can hit more than one.

As for me, none of the above... I've played with an early version of Deadly Reentry, though.

FAR screws up Mechjeb, DR just really doesn't do that much, and Life Support I haven't really looked at. Remotetech I've thought about but never seriously looked at, because it seems like it'd mostly just make things more annoying... with the saves getting screwed up every few months, anyway.

My big problems with the above are mostly in two categories: Adds more tedium than real challenge, increases part counts.

Remotetech I might do anyway if I didn't just KNOW that I'd end up setting up a network, and then having to relaunch the entire (@%( thing because my save got broken again. Remapping everything is bad enough by itself!

[Yuming]

I would use remote-tech if it did not have delays in signals. I know it is more realistic, but the fun for me is setting up a stable communications satellite network, not having to pilot probes differently.