Best Route through the tech tree?

[katateochi]

What do you guys think is the best order to unlock the tech tree in?

I've messed up I think, before 0.22 I was really getting into my planes so I unlocked plane parts quite early on. Now I'm regretting that, in fact I'm going to go back in time to before I did that and then focus on getting the other sensors unlocked sooner.

What routes have you taken and what advantages/disadvantages has your route yielded?

[SkyRender]

It really depends on where your skills lie. My own preferred path is Basic Rocketry, Survivability, Science Tech, Electrics, General Rocketry, General Construction, Space Exploration, Advanced Electrics, Electronics, Advanced Science Tech, Advanced Construction, and Specialized Construction (plus Advanced Rocketry, Heavy Rocketry, Fuel Lines, and Heavier Rocketry if I can spare the points). I am a man of science, clearly.

[katateochi]

yeah that looks like a better route for getting more sci sooner. In your post where you said you could get 9296 from Mun's surface, did that require having all the sensors unlocked?

[Deadpangod3]

I haven't gotten very far, but mainly I've just been trying to get the essentials, struts, tri-couplers, decouplers, sas, fuel tanks, science modules, batteries, solar panels, and docking ports.

I've gotten lots of science from mun and Minmus, but things get real more expensive fast!

I got 490 science from Minmus and I end up only being able to get three things

[capi3101]

I'm not all the way through the tree yet, but my strategy so far has been to acquire the tech necessary to rebuild my Apocalypse 7 rocket, the first really successful Mun lander design I built in previous versions of the game. That's dictated my progress so far. After Basic Rocketry, my next priority was Survivability for the LV-909 (which let me do reasonable efficiency Mun flybys), General Rocketry (for the LV-T45 - which can steer, which means I can build heavier boosters) and Stability (for TT-38-Ks, enabling basic onion staging at least). After that was General Construction (struts! and the TT-70 didn't hurt; I've never really liked the 38-K), Science Tech (for the Z-100 Battery packs, moar power of course) and Advanced Rocketry (for the FL-T800; not really essential but fewer parts is a consideration when you've got a low-end box like mine). Electrics (for OX-STAT panels) is my next priority, and once I have Fuel Systems (for fuel ducts), I can rebuild the Apocalypse (which uses true onion staging; having RCS at that point may also open up some more possibilities). I may have picked up Flight Control somewhere along the way; I want to say I have access to the Stayputnik but haven't used it yet.

[Kerbart]

Given the massive amount of science that can be earned on Mün and Minmus, any tech that gets you there the sooner the better. What tech that is depends on how you construct your rockets. If you're Scott Manley, "Start" seems to be the only node needed to unlock the entire tree under five missions.

[Oddible]

You can earn so much science doing about anything, it is really personal preference. Just make sure you maximize your science when you do anything - so completely farm our the science on ground, lower atmosphere, and Kerbin LKO (transmit several times before returning your science cans, do an EVA and get a report), same with higher orbit. Make a bee line for other science cans would be a help. Personally I got the electric techs so I could power my transmitters and fuel lines for more efficient rockets early.

Unless you're an uber hard core, just have fun with it, don't try to maximize science or it will be done before you know it.

[StarManta]

Obviously separators come first, then solar panels. Once you have those, you can get anywhere and do anything. So, at that point, unlock all the science parts to get the most out of where you can go.

[AmpsterMan]

There is more than enough data around Kerbin to get you through all of Tier 3. When tier 4 comes along I suggest getting the one that gives you solar Panels. Reason being that you can get to anywhere in the Solar System using Tier 3 parts and a Stayputnik, but no amount of batteries in the world would ever let you get past Kerbin's SOI and survive. Once you unlock your first set of Solar Panels, sending stayputnik probes with mystery goo all over the system to only do flybysis enough to generate a good amount of science points.

[nadreck]

Hmm, I really missed docking ports and made them a priority right after solar panels. To me refueling gives me incredible flexibility, so the docking port was needed before I even landed on Mün. Obviously, RCS is needed for the docking port to be usefull, and you get the fuel duct (makes launchers more efficient, and landers with a much lower CG).

[KSK]

For me, basic solar panels were a priority because I need them for any reasonable science mission, whether manned or unmanned. So I've gone around the bottom of the tech tree, much like SkyRender. This is purely a self imposed limitation mind. I prefer to go with 'realistic' re-entries, so anything that sits in front of the capsule heatshield is a no-no. Hence I don't tend to bring many science pods home.

Depends on personal play style though. I can see a couple of other ways down the tree. Heavy rockets to bring back big landers with science parts all over them, or an earlyish focus on construction techs to get to docking to let you build interplanetary ships in orbit and get your science fix around distant worlds. I'm not sure I see the point of early plane technologies though but I'm not a big spaceplane builder.

[bsalis]

Yup - priority on Science Parts and Solar Panels (though, you only really need the small panel).

Maybe in some future version the science parts will be unlocked by Tech Level, not by any particular Tech Node.

Aircraft parts are, sadly, the worst path to go deep into early.

[AmpsterMan]

I've actually found myself hitting a wall around tier 4 parts. On the one hand you can unlock solar panels. On the other, you are kind of forced to go to Mun and Minmus at that point. You know, I've come to realize the tech tee is much more "grindy" than I thought it might be...

[toomuchbrew]

How I have done it is by focusing on science and electricity. If you consider that you can transmit and get the same amount of science points, you can just send lots of small probes on a one-way trip to the other planets. Obviously, you won't get EVA, sample or crew reports though. They are worth a lot of points, but you can get through the tech tree pretty far on just probes and landing probes.

[Ariadne]

In my case: first aim - any solar panel for ability to gain electricity (to transmiting science data), second - atomic engine (as most efficient), third - science. Though unlock engine is difficult without at least SC-9001.

[KSK]

I've actually found myself hitting a wall around tier 4 parts. On the one hand you can unlock solar panels. On the other, you are kind of forced to go to Mun and Minmus at that point. You know, I've come to realize the tech tee is much more "grindy" than I thought it might be...

Hmm. Once you've completed Tier 4, you only need Electrics from Tier 5 to give you all the parts for a serviceable probe. (I think) Plus you can skip Advanced Rocketry from Tier 4 to save some points for the Electrics. You'll still need to go places to get the science but it does give you a bit more choice of things to do.

I'm about in the same position but a step further on. There's still some good stuff to get from the Mun but I'm about finished with Minmus and will probably have to start flying interplanetary missions to finish up the tech tree. I'd be interested to know if you could finish the whole thing from just Mun and Minmus missions though.

[Spaps]

Well, I'm just going through what I think is needed by me. And with a few mods installed, the numbers get huge