[WIP] - Full Realistic Tech Tree Overhaul

[Visari]

#1 - Remote Tech 2 - Need viable sat network

#2 - MCE - Science instruments could have a significant costs associated to them, to discourage spamming multiple experiment modules on the craft in a single mission. (Obviously this would be balanced in with my mission pack)

#3 - Make experiments have matching base/cap values. So when you do your experiment you potentially have all the science that circumstance can generate.

#4 - Make instrument single use per flight. So, you either keep the data and bring it back (getting 100%) or you transmit and only get a fraction. This still keeps s form of diminishing returns but at least it gives returning science more interesting.

#5 - As I'm also working on the power balancing, transmitting data might shorten the lifespan of your mission depending on whether you are able to generate enough power to support transmissions energy cost. (Currently testing with 150watts per packet)

#1: This should be a must and a given if realism is to be followed.

#2: Great idea, I too believe science parts should be the ones comsuming power, not transmission (as much).

In addition, as mentioned earlier, I believe there should be no data loss on any transmission at all, but rather a limit on what can actually be transmitted.

#3: This is the first thing I edited in Sciencedefs.cfg after playing 0.22 for 15 minutes. So much better, I hate the grind, or leaving behind science at all when going through the real challenge of getting the science back to kerbin.

#4 & 5: As with #2 - either transmittable at minimum power costs using RT networks (probe-capable science with sensors and the like) or return to kerbin (physical samples) imo.

Also, I really suggest more orbital science. less flying over biomes, more having different kinds of instruments to measure things at different heights (think of leaving the magnetic field to do solar radiation experiments), with such science being worth more as a step to get manned missions to the Mün.

I understand you're not a 3d artist, so for now I suppose placeholder items could be an idea, using either stock sciency stuff or ask permission to modify AIES parts, that has some real good looking things that could make do as science parts.

Anyway, just my thoughts on this.

I like your plans, keep it up.

[Jay2Jay]

I was thinking about making a tech tree like this myself, so I was wondering if I could help out some? Note: I don't have any modding experience for KSP, however I do have some experience modding. I do not know any programming languages, but I do plan on learning C++. LISP, JAVA, and Lua (minor experience in Python and Java but I don't remember anything). I don't have any trouble when learning programming languages as long as I learn the Syntax first and the actual "words" later.

I was thinking of doing something similar so that you started out with Kerosene and a basic oxidizer for propellants and gradually made your way up. My idea was for decisions. Do I go after more advanced fuel types now, or do I upgrade my basics first? Should I continue using current materials, or invest in costly advanced materials that will save me time and money down the road? And such. Having to decide between making your rockets more powerful or more efficient is the basic premise. So, in other words I would like to work with you, especially since I made this account specifically to ask you these things. If you think I need more experience first, I understand, and am willing to focus on smaller mods to prove myself to you first.

Thank you for your time,

Jay2Jay

[MedievalNerd]

@Visari

#2 - I wasn't inferring that science parts would consume power, but that would be interesting. Would you mean that they consume power per use, or that they have a general power consumption?

#3 - Yeah, having both a partial base value with a partial Xmit value can do some fun grinding. So perhaps matching base/cap values, with a lower Xmit factor but, with single use instruments that are balanced by Krone cost. (MCE)

#4 & 5 - Yeah, perhaps a yes/no solution would be best. Some experiments can be transmitted others not. Right now I'm toying with 150wats per packet. (should be noted that it's a bit arbitrary for me to say this since it's in conjunction with my probe/electricity tweaks and my tech tree)

@Jay2Jay

Howdy Jay2Jay, I have very little experience myself. It if wasn't for Nathan there would be quite a few things that would have taken me 'wayyy' longer to do/find, etc. I'm not touching anything plugin related for now, I try to make use of what's available already. In mods and the likes. (You need permission of said creator if you would release something that uses their plugin obviously)

Right now i'm still in process of balancing. Yes, it's never ending. Plus I'm tweaking science costs, and also starting to look at part prices so that I can figure out how much it costs to send what where. And figure out mission payouts.

But I'm starting to think it would be way easier if people play the tree and give me feedback about whether they hit snags in progression or if something is too difficult. One caveat though, it's that you would absolutely need to use the mods I use, and even more importantly the custom .cfg files I'm making. The reason being that things like, not playing with KIDS, or using stock energy will greatly put off balance the 'flow' I'm envisioning. So in order for the feedback to be relevant it'd be important to play it in the same conditions I am.

I'll play it again tonight and try to get maybe 2-3 tiers balanced, and ask r4m0n to put it public. Then you can try to help balance this beast with me. I say beast, but the real beast is the 'first' intended tech tree I originally posted about. R4m0n pulled a rabbit out of his hat and now newNodes can be linked to other newly created ones without any funky connection issues. But that's going to wait a bit, I'd like to get a sense of balance with this more simple tree. That way once I get that close to a decent stage, i'll be able to apply what we've learned to the realism tech tree.

I'm also a bit concerned in releasing it too early, unbalanced then people will just get a bad experience and not come back. There are so many facets to balancing, and I'm no expert statistician, so it'll take a bit of time. We'll get there.

[Patupi]

For RTGs, one could modify his stock RTG and use the resource generation module from Kethane. Invent a resource, whatever they have in RTGs. (Not bothered to check right now , lol) And then put the consumption to something decent and boom. Like how the interstellar mod handles nuclear reactors.

In KSP, probably Blutonium byproduct or something. In reality, it's been a while but I know early ones used Strontium 90 as it gave off quite a lot of electrons directly as radiation. Not technically Radio Thermal Generator. I think they were called something like Radio Isotope Batteries? Been too long since I checked up on that.

As for compatibility with Firespitter, might not work it's not on my list of mods. :/ One could tweak the power consumption rates to fix it. Or just remove the SP tweaks i'm doing. Although that would offset the balance of the tree a lot.

Hmm, maybe, but there'd be a load of parts to alter the power on. He's got at least three electric propellers from memory and helicopter rotors and vertol fans (not sure if there is an electric version of the latter actually. Have to check)

[MedievalNerd]

In KSP, probably Blutonium byproduct or something. In reality, it's been a while but I know early ones used Strontium 90 as it gave off quite a lot of electrons directly as radiation. Not technically Radio Thermal Generator. I think they were called something like Radio Isotope Batteries? Been too long since I checked up on that.

Hmm, maybe, but there'd be a load of parts to alter the power on. He's got at least three electric propellers from memory and helicopter rotors and vertol fans (not sure if there is an electric version of the latter actually. Have to check)

Yeah, that could be an option. But considering that you'd then have to check half-life/degredation values and meh. That seems like a bit of hassle. I'd rather look at their overal lifetime and use an average. Also, considering for 'how long' some of them last, perhaps a it would be trivial to have a resource to begin with. (Will you ever do a 20+ year mission in ksp?... Well, maybe with earth-sized kerbin )

As for firespitter, as I mentioned I'm not factoring it into the tree. So on top of tweaking the electrical values, the parts won't appear in areas where you would expect them to be. I tried to keep stock nodes in logical locations, but considering on how many splits my tree has, it wasn't really possible.

Should be noted that the primary focus of the tree will be early rocketry on up. I'm not going to have people start with only planes. You start with 0.625 engines only, and you pick your progression. (better fuel engines, better SRBs, etc.). (Preferably with KATO engines from Nathan using Modular Fuel Tanks)

I've had illusions of grandeur and create customized experiments based on celestial bodies, but it's proving to be not something you can really do 'stock'. A kind soul wrote me a quick plugin, but I'm running into issues when trying to build the code. (Super noob at KSP plugin creation)

The work continues.

[Visari]

Would you mean that they consume power per use, or that they have a general power consumption?

Power consumption on use, maybe make them stay active for a small period of time before science is 'gained'.

But thinking about it, if remote tech is to be used with this, power consumption will be directed to keeping contact more than anything else, so that would balance out power usage I suppose.

Plus I understand now you were talking about MCE, of course.

Increasing their price sounds like a good idea aswell, to prevent people from hoarding up science experiments to places they can't use them (using basic pod + science to go anywhere and just see if there's science).

Edited November 4, 2013 by Visari

[Jay2Jay]

That sounds great! I'd love to help you balance things out (I am pretty good at balancing) and I figured out the syntax of the .cfg files (really, really easy) so that's a plus, (someone named Grey or something similar helped/explained it to me) if you need me to do anything within my ability and within reason I am at your service. Me using the same mods as you is a given, no problem whatsoever, so no worries on that. I am still in high school so my time to help is limited, but not by much, so like I said, anything at all to help!

Thanks,

~Jay2Jay

Edited November 4, 2013 by Jay2Jay

[MedievalNerd]

Much success with ethernet's gracious code. We can have planet specific experiments! Woo! Just tested the compile .dll and it worked! Going to add all planets, and then when I create an experiment I can refer to this new module when including it to science parts! This could lead to a interesting diversity of probe cores. With giving them specific bodies they are 'meant' to explore for experiments.

Either that, or make 'theoretical' nodes, which unlock new experiments to existing parts.

Maybe this is a little too hardcore, but I think I'm interested in the idea of redoing all experiments, and making them planet specific. The advantage of this is it allows for finer tweaking of the impacts of experiments and their costs. Right now we have fixed multipliers for celestial bodies. IE, 10 science point experiment is worth 40 points on Mun (x4) and 70 on Jool (7x).

So any tweaking of science experiments values or new ones, has quite the butterfly effect when it goes through all the celestial bodies. This is even pushed further depending on how many situations the experiment is applicable to (land, low/high atmosphere, low/high space).

Now to see if I can find a way to make these modules check a tech level before showing up in the part itself.

[Visari]

approved.

My idea of kerbal science is not finding every holy in which you can do science and with which experiment you can do science there. In addition, it doesn't make sense to do barometer readings on different ground biomes, yet there's only one global low-altitude air reading.

Jumping to get the air-biome EVA report? No. It's funny for a one-time stunt mid-air.

and then the worst part, going to 4+ places to do lots of science, then getting one more science part and having to go to those places again to do science. :<

Essentially I'm clicking a button for a little bit of text. that can be funny sometimes.

The player basically finds the most effecient route to get through all the science as it is. What I'd love to see instead, is the challenge of getting to a place to do more specific science there, so the sense of getting those (perhaps actual, factual, true) results/samples back to kerbin.

[MedievalNerd]

Yikes,

I vainly tried to figure out how to create a way to dynamically change internal probe experiments, as opposed to having a list list of duplicate probe parts (IE, reuse the same mesh a few times and assign those specific planet experiments to them), and I have to say, hat's off to people who write plugins, I have no idea what I'm doing.

I'm going to drop the idea of planet specific experiments, I lack the skills to make that possible without having either way too long list of actions on a probe, or long list of probe parts. Which would be annoying considering how already full the VAB is, or gets over time.

Sorry!

[Jay2Jay]

By Nathan, do you by any chance mean the guy that worked on MFT? (Can't remember if he made it or is maintaining it ATM).

[Visari]

Nathankell, manager of MFS, DREC, MCE, creator of solar system rescale, among other things.

[MedievalNerd]

@Jay2Jay - As Visari said, the almighty NathanKell indeed. I've been nausing the hell out of him, so he's being extremely helpful. And the template of the plugin was actually written by ethernet, when I asked about body limitations on the science thread. So kudos to him too!

OK,

So without having the super cool, 'select your planet/experiment' VAB UI, I'm going to try and use planet specific experiments to give some flavor to probes. I might duplicate the probes once over, to have a both "sensor & physical" version of each experiment. We'll see how it goes.

I was able to test a Kerbin only experiments. I setup a high atmosphere experiment for Kerbin. First one would be just to get into atmosphere and you can transmit back Data, and the other would be to gather samples and land safely back. With a combination of body/condition you can basically create misison profiles for probes. (IE, Mun probe for orbital tests(Low/High space), Surface scans(Surface), or Sample collection (Surface + 0.0 Xmit).

Playing with Earth-Kerbin totally changes the scope of things obviously, when sending ~200kg into orbit requires quite a bit of planning!

I'll go through a quick list of 'missions' to get an idea of balancing and then I'll put out a first version of the Tech Tree, along with all my tweak .cfgs and the Body Exclusive plugin which I'm finishing up. By using the tweaked module (KerbinExperiment, MunExperiment) you can create your own experiments and contain them to specific bodies.

It's making some form of progress, just taking longer than anticipated.

Cheers,

Edited November 6, 2013 by MedievalNerd

[Jay2Jay]

I was thinking about the science and I came up with a few ideas...

Maybe the experiments take a certain amount of time to complete, and are constantly generating science until they are complete. Once complete, there is a final bonus, and by doing several experiments in the same area you get a bonus, up to a certain amount of experiments. There could be no decrease in the amount of science you get from communicating it over a long distance, but you get a small bonus if you take the sample back too. After a certain amount of experiments, you no longer get any science from them, until you conduct them somewhere else.

This eliminates the whole 'science spam' thing of just doing a bunch of experiments, and eliminates some of the grind-y-ness of science. The different experiments for each planet could still be implemented so that maybe you have to do research on each planet in order to get these set experiments?

I hope that these ideas are not too difficult to implement and that they are good!

[MedievalNerd]

I was thinking about the science and I came up with a few ideas...

Maybe the experiments take a certain amount of time to complete, and are constantly generating science until they are complete. Once complete, there is a final bonus, and by doing several experiments in the same area you get a bonus, up to a certain amount of experiments. There could be no decrease in the amount of science you get from communicating it over a long distance, but you get a small bonus if you take the sample back too. After a certain amount of experiments, you no longer get any science from them, until you conduct them somewhere else.

Yeah, if you would want to have science function on a time base, and generate science based on location and everything. That would require a custom plugin. The closest thing I can think of is Fractal_UK's science lab part in his Interstellar Mod. I'm not skilled enough to start messing with that level of detail for now.

This eliminates the whole 'science spam' thing of just doing a bunch of experiments, and eliminates some of the grind-y-ness of science. The different experiments for each planet could still be implemented so that maybe you have to do research on each planet in order to get these set experiments?

I hope that these ideas are not too difficult to implement and that they are good!

Things I'm doing to eliminate "grindiness":

#1 - Experiments do not have partial return. The base & cap values match.

#2 - Experiments are either transmittable or not. (Data vs sample) This avoids diminishing return situations.

#3 - Less experiments, higher payout.

#4 - No biome sensitive experiments. (Unless I figure out an easy way to adding this to the plugin)

In an ideal world, I would prefer that experiments get unlocked/researched, which can then act as "modules" which can be dynamically attached to probes. But that's way harder than it sounds. Nathan, Fractal_UK & Ethernet provided me with some great references/code samples, but I'm too much of a noob to take it to the level where it needs to be to do this. Perhaps I'll go for round two down the line, but right now code 1, Nerd 0.

So for now I'm adding specific experiments to probes, and will try to scale them to into the tech tree. (Kerbin > Mun > Minmus > Duna/Eve, etc.

Cheers,

[MedievalNerd]

Ahh, so maybe I found out how to check for the biome, but I haven't tested it yet:

    public bool checkBody()
    {
        if (vessel.mainBody.BiomeMap.Map.name == "biomeName" && vessel.mainBody.name == "Duna")
            return true;
        ScreenMessages.PostScreenMessage("This experiment can only be performed at biomeName on Duna!", 3, ScreenMessageStyle.UPPER_CENTER);
        return false;
    }

I'll try it out a bit later tonight. So I could make a MunEastCrater Module, so the experiment would check if you were near Mun & over said biome. (with stock checks for situation)

[Visari]

#4 - No biome sensitive experiments. (Unless I figure out an easy way to adding this to the plugin)

Ahh, so maybe I found out how to check for the biome, but I haven't tested it yet:

[...]

I'll try it out a bit later tonight. So I could make a MunEastCrater Module, so the experiment would check if you were near Mun & over said biome. (with stock checks for situation)

Would be awesome if you got it to work. I'd love to see biome specific experiments, though part count can become a problem.

Though I understand the tech tree as it is doesn't seem to start the player out with planes, I'd love to see it implemented someday (maybe as an optional patch). Then biome specific experiments would be especially important.

[MedievalNerd]

Would be awesome if you got it to work. I'd love to see biome specific experiments, though part count can become a problem.

Though I understand the tech tree as it is doesn't seem to start the player out with planes, I'd love to see it implemented someday (maybe as an optional patch). Then biome specific experiments would be especially important.

I haven't got to test the biome specific stuff yet, since I've been hassling over the instantaneous aspect of science, and that science instruments don't take energy.

Little tidbit of the history of this project, before Science was implemented and I was working on a series of missions for MCE that would require the user to gain 'data' at key locations (set altitude, area, wtvr). This data collection process would expend energy and convert it into Data. (using the Kethane Plugin).

Now trying to bring that idea into this new concept. I was thinking of doing the following:

#1 - Include the Kethane plugin to probes, so that they can expend energy to convert it to Data.

#2 - Have this customized plugin also inherit from the ScienceModule so that it can be assigned situation masks. (Can only collect data while orbiting X body in y situation)

#3 - Add an additional check to experiments to see if you have enough of "Data" on the craft before the experiment can be triggered.

#4 - Not sure if I can pull this one off, but have the probe expend the data once the experiment is performed.

#5 - All these custom experiments will be implemented inside stock probes and tiered into the tech tree as to unlock "new missions".

I've also been working on balancing the costs for the tech tree. What I'm doing is writing experiments a bit like missions in a way. Quick list of first experiments:

(Sub Orbitals)

#1 - Kerbin - High Atmosphere - Sensor Readings (100% transmit) + 5 Units of Data

#2 - Kerbin - High Atmosphere - Sample Collection (0% transmit) + 10 Units of Data

#3 - Kerbin - Low Space - Sensor Readings (100% transmit) + 5 Units of Data

#4 - Kerbin - Low Space - Sensor Readings (0% transmit) + 10 Units of Data

(Orbital)

#1 - Kerbin - High Space - Sensor Readings - (100% transmit)

#2 - Kerbin - High Space - Sample Collection - (0% transmit)

Then I'd have some flybys:

#1 - Mun(Moon) - High Space - Sensor Readings - (100% transmit)

#2 - Eve(Venus) - High Space - Sensor Readings (100% transmit)

#3 - Duna(Mars) - High Space - Sensor Readings (100% transmit)

I only wrote the Data for the first tier, since I'm not sure how to balance that just yet.

Also, thanks to Nathan (yet again) he's done some sweet math over the solar panels, and found a nice article that talked about their weight/performance. And I've created a tiered tweak to solar probes. So essentially they were heavy enough for the power they generated, but 'too heavy for their size' so ultimately over powered in the sense of the amount of physical space they took. So I scaled it down using the static panel, which creates ~20 Watts and but only weighs 135 Grams. Panel4 is essential as efficient as the static, but has 6 cells with matching weight to power ratio. Panel3 has a ~15% improvement over it's predecessor with no weight gain. Panels 2 & 1 are a bit heavier, but do get a weight to power ratio improvement. TLDR; power is getting there.

Cheers,

[MedievalNerd]

So good news!

The custom experiment module is coming along nicely. What does it do?

#1 - Allows you to assign specific bodies to experiments!

This is something I really wanted, since experiments are by default applicable to all bodies, it was rather difficult to play with new experiments without having a butterfly effect of new science to be available down the road.

#2 - Allows you to set an amount of "Data" required to be able to execute an experiment.

#3 - Added a custom resource method that restricts the generation of this data to the same situation mask as the experiment. (Data is created at the cost of ElectricCharge)

This is basically some added difficulty. Extra power, and also adds the requirement of staying in the situation mask for more than a fraction of a second. Also, I could easily make either 'ore' or 'ketane' be a requirement as well. So you could have 'Moon Kethane Science Mission" or "Duna Ore Science Mission" or whatever! Hopefully it'll be modular enough to anyone's liking.

Once this functionality is working 'ok'. I'm going to consider having a MFT style interface in the VAB, where you could assign specific 'mission packages' to your probes, as opposed to having it be on a probe model progression.

Cheers,

[dnulho]

Do you need or want any pre-alpha testers or any other help? I am specifically interested in working on a MCE storyline of some sort. Maybe building some side-storylines that don't give any science, just additional cash for other projects. I could see some sort of Minmus Colony or Laythe Kethane Mining Facility. Let me know what you think about this idea, I can start building a sample mpkg if you like. what ever you want me to do, I will do to the best of my ability.

Progress,

Dnulho

[MedievalNerd]

Do you need or want any pre-alpha testers or any other help? I am specifically interested in working on a MCE storyline of some sort. Maybe building some side-storylines that don't give any science, just additional cash for other projects. I could see some sort of Minmus Colony or Laythe Kethane Mining Facility. Let me know what you think about this idea, I can start building a sample mpkg if you like. what ever you want me to do, I will do to the best of my ability.

Progress,

Dnulho

Yes, I do!

I've just been endlessly caught up in one tweak after another, and my latest being to write a plugin to handle body specific experiments and also a module that requires you to "record data" before an experiment can be triggered.

The body specific experiments are quite easy and that's been working for a while now, but it's the latter that's been proving troublesome. Now it's finally working well enough. Data is generate at expense of EC, and I 'think' i've successfully tied in the situation awareness to that as well. (Thanks to ethernet's awesome code in his Space Station mod, seems pretty annoying to get the vessel's situation (FlyHigh/low, Space high/low, etc.)

There are some 'odd' behaviors with my plugin. Seems that I've screwed up something with the in-flight GUI buttons, since sometimes it seems that the action will disappear (for the custom experiments). But using action groups seems to be a viable work around for now. I'm pretty sure that once I release the source code, most modders will point the finger and laugh. But hey, I'm not a programmer so this plugin has been quite the endeavor.

I'm finalizing the code for situational awareness of the Data recorder tonight. And will finish assigning the experiments to the stock KSP probes maybe later tonight. I'm thinking that tomorrow I could have a first draft version of my tech tree up, along with the countless tweak files needed to make it work. I'll release all of it in a single package to make it easier. I will have to ask r4m0n to put the tree live.

As of now I haven't balanced the tech tree points much. About ~90% of the first tier is unlocked with 2 sub orbital experiments.

I'm going to try and make progression based on experiments which will be assigned to probes as they unlock themselves in the tech tree.

Probe Tech Level 1 - (Kerbin - High Atmosphere Readings & Samples)

Probe Tech Level 2 - (Kerbin - Low/High Space Readings & Samples)

Probe Tech Level 3 - (Mun, Duna & Eve High Space Readings)

All experiments will be one shot only, no need to grind. They will be either 100% transmittable (Readings) or not (Samples).

It's almost there, I just suck at coding. Thank the gods of gaming that NathanKell, Ethernet and Majiir have been so helpful!

Just a huge disclaimer though, it will 100% require people's feedback in terms of progression. So go into it expecting nothing for now, it's in a raw form.

Cheers,

EDIT: Updated first post with Update #2, going over the feature list of the changes I've been making and also mentioning the fork with RPL.

Edited November 12, 2013 by MedievalNerd

[dnulho]

Are you interested in my making a mission pack/story-line that does not give science, but instead gives some extra cash and gameplay/roleplay diversity and depth?

If so, where do you want me to start, and where do you expect Kethane and Ore discovery/use to begin?

Something else to bring up - and I am no expert by any means- but have you taken a look at the achievements plugin? http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/52535 As I understand it, there are a large number of achievements that you can work towards. When you achieve them you get 5 SP. The question is would it help? As is, or modified... maybe it is worth looking into, maybe not. Just thought I'd bring it up as an option... If you are interested in allowing me to start building a storyline MCE package, let me know.

Progress,

Dnulho

[Lucius]

Cannot wait to test this mod out MN! Waiting to hear about any release, you're doing an awesome thing!

Also, if we do NOT include certain mods, a la interstellar for instance... the mod will still be fine, just some techs will be useless, yes?

[Visari]

Most mods will be plugins or parts mods required for realistic balance, such as FAR, DR, TAC LS.

It should work, but will probably not be balanced at all.

The point here is testing balance, so make sure you're using all listed mods if testing.

Interstellar is not just parts, it also includes mechanics such as waste heat, so make sure you use 'm.

[MedievalNerd]

Cannot wait to test this mod out MN! Waiting to hear about any release, you're doing an awesome thing!

Also, if we do NOT include certain mods, a la interstellar for instance... the mod will still be fine, just some techs will be useless, yes?

Hi Lucius,

Sure, you can obviously use the tech tree without any tweaks or mods. But in some instances some nodes might be empty as you said.

I highly suggest that people try this out with my tweaks, and but also NathanKell's Real Solar System and his MFT's KATO Engine tweaks. (Renames engines and tweaks their mass/power to make it more fitting with the new planet sizes)

I'm really on the verge of releasing a 'first' version. It's just that everything spiralled out of control, and instead of just making that darn tree, turned into making a plugin. lol

Last night's tests seemed to be working great, a bit of awkwardness with the new modules but as I said, I'm sure that the more seasoned modders will be able to point at the obvious coding errors in my plugin. (Which I'll fix)

I'm thinking of putting the tech tree 'public' in TreeLoader, which I believe will make it visible to TreeEdit users at least. That way I can start getting feedback/complaints on it and tweak values.

The added layer of complexity comes with my desire to nuke the existing experiments. This makes it very awkward for someone to try the tree without the modded science. Since A) the basic instruments aren't available. Science cost is based on my custom experiments.

@Dnulho I would suggest you wait to get your hands on the tree. That will give you the answers you are looking for, and give you a glimpse into Tech node costs. One thing is though, I'm going to make my custom experiments be balanced as a whole. I might shove goo/science lab further down the tree, and have those more extensive experiments be used to fill in the gaps of the later tech nodes. But with time, I intended to have enough custom experiments.

Also, I already had some early missions written for a story driven campaign, that the KSP is funded by a corporation called the Data Collection Agency. But that's a whole other story.

Cheers,

EDIT: FYI, I'll be releasing my plugin that adds CustomExperiment and DataGenerationModule, so that people can create their own specific experiments. (Collect 20 Data Units, while in high space of Mun)

Edited November 12, 2013 by MedievalNerd