Teaching an older dog new tricks

[wbcundiff]

I bought a copy of KSP for my dad last Christmas and he has yet to play it on his own. This surprised me because when he was young he was a serious Apollo freak. When he was 16 he constructed two Apollo style space suits for himself and a neighbor and a Lunar landscape and LEM in scale to the old school 12" GI Joes. He used to be able to recite the radio transmissions from the Apollo 11 mission, in full. When Apollo 13 came out I might have thought it was a documentary on account of his narration.

Next month I am going to visit him to see if I can't get him past the intimidating computer game side of KSP and into the fun of building and flying. I am planning on taking some stockalike mods and a couple of the more handy plugins with me, such as Kerbal Engineer Redux and Crew Manifest. It is installed on his Mac and I'm not sure if I should expect any trouble from mods since I run KSP on a PC.

I'm looking for:

1) Mods to avoid on mac.

2) Tips to help a non-gamer get the hang of KSP.

3) best stock-alike mods and/or best mods for old school NASA hardware.

Thanks!

[Javster]

Stock-a-like mods? Try the Habitat Pack, or KW rocketry.

EDIT: HOW COULD I FORGET??? You NEED the FASA pack

Edited February 23, 2014 by Javster

[PhaserArray]

One of my favorite stock-a-like mods is the RLA Stockalike mod.

[TimMartland]

KW isnt really that stockalike. I play with lots of stockalike packs so here is some recommendations:

KSPX

RLA Stockalike

NF Propultion

Station Science

Porkworks Habitat Pack

StarShine Stockalike

Kerbonov Mk2 Cockpit

Kerbin Mini Shuttle

Procedural Fairings

[Guest]

Try not to get too many mods involved, as it can confuse new players. Plugins are okay, and if anything, FASA is the perfect mod for NASA fans.

[qromodynmc]

Yeah dont use much mods,lesser parts; easy to learn. But you can use fasa,he would like it.

[LordOfTheOrbits]

Generally any mods work on any system, I haven't seen any exception yet.

I would recommend FASA, KW rocketry and ferram aerospace reasearch.

[Kerba Fett]

If your dad's a non gamer are you sure he's even interested in playing it? A lot of people think of gaming as a pointless waste of time.

He might play while you're around to be doing something with you but that doesn't mean he'd be interested in playing solo.

If he does want to learn the game you might be better starting him stock in career mode. All the parts in the sandbox mode can be a bit overwhelming.

[wbcundiff]

Cool! I always have trouble keeping my own mod list short.

Here's what I'm thinking of.

Stockalike-parts-for-useful-esthetics

RLA-Stockalike

KSPX

Kerbal-Engineer-Redux

I'm thinking of stripping down NovaPunch to the 3m and 5m tanks and engines and adding procedural fairings to better facilitate a Saturn V.

Eventually I think I'll show him B9, Ferram, Firespitter and that Kerbonov mk2 cockpit. Building planes is his big thing right now.

[wbcundiff]

If your dad's a non gamer are you sure he's even interested in playing it? A lot of people think of gaming as a pointless waste of time.

He might play while you're around to be doing something with you but that doesn't mean he'd be interested in playing solo.

you could be right but I don't think thats it. He used to play flight sims fairly often, especially solo. we used to have tons of fun playing co-op Comanche 3. I think if I help him with the interface and show him what he can do with the game he'll be off and running. an unfamiliar interface can be a barrier to entry to some folks.

[Wayfare]

I'd suggest starting off with only some quality-of-life mods, like Enhanced Nav Ball and Kerbal Engineer, if even that. Leave the giant heaps of parts out of it for now - stock KSP will keep a man busy for quite a while without overwhelming him with seven kinds of RCS block and 5.149 meter xenon tanks. Plus, with stock parts he'll have an easier time picking up on tutorial videos which are fantastic for learning the game.

[goldenpeach]

I didn't tried this mod but, as you said your dad loved the Apollo program(who wouldn't?) he might love that one:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/66550-Saturn_v_rss?highlight=saturn

(A saturn V rocket)

The mod is made for RSS though.

[StrandedonEarth]

Haven't seen Kerbal Alarm Clock mentioned, that should be essential, along with Enhanced Navball. Given his interests as a youth, he should be able to make use of KER right off the bat too. You know, the basic data stuff KSP should come with stock

[likke_A_boss]

Bobcats American Pack has some pretty good Nasa rockets in there, too. And: FASA!

[Dispatcher]

I've got a brother that has KSP but he's more into Space Engineer because its easier for him. Regardless, I'd recommend stock parts at first (Career mode is perfect). I also recommend one mod: Kerbal Engineer Redux. You might show your Dad one or two Manley tutorials (from the newest series). Otherwise, either let him tough it out while you are there or if he asks if you want to play a little, make sure he watches you and that you are doing something fun. It might be that he simply thinks the Kerbals are childish or not needed. A little game play can get him past that.

[Gunso]

stock parts, kerbal engineer or mech jeb

more than that will overwhelm new player

i remember putting off this game for a few months after getting it and only start playing it again after watching some youtube videos and intensively going over tutorial videos

also give him this so he have some idea when designing rockets http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/w/images/7/73/KerbinDeltaVMap.png

[wbcundiff]

stock parts, kerbal engineer or mech jeb

more than that will overwhelm new player

i remember putting off this game for a few months after getting it and only start playing it again after watching some youtube videos and intensively going over tutorial videos

also give him this so he have some idea when designing rockets http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/w/images/7/73/KerbinDeltaVMap.png

Thats what I'm thinking as well. I have no experience with mech jeb but I've gotten a lot of use out of kerbal engineer. KER along with a delta-v map as you suggested would give parameters to the design and remove the barrier of real time calculation from a new player's experimentation. I had thought of using one or two stockalike mods if they fill in functional gaps in the stock parts and don't break the visual language of the stock parts. A player might find they need an engine of a different size but it would be helpful if those engines had the same visual cues as the stock engines so that everything makes sense together. FASA looks really cool, but there is a lot of stuff there from what I can tell. I will probably not throw that in until it seems he has the hang of the game.

[Guest]

I don't recommend MechJeb. It's stupid, performance intensive and only good for the simplest maneuvers, which are better done by hand, anyway. Also, install FAR and KIDS to compensate for different dV requirements. Stock aerodynamic model is horrible and creates bad habits, avoid it if possible. KER is a nice mod, and you could throw some purely eyecandy ones in, like HotRockets and CoolRockets. Also, RasterPropMonitor. It really helps immersion, and also displays some useful data.