Introduction, and a few questions regarding mods...

[MoeMelek]

Hi

I'm a Swedish space enthusiast who has followed space exploration for many years with great interest. I was very fond of the old 'Buzz Aldrins Race Into Space', but of course it was very limited (and won't really run easily on modern computers) and during the years I've searched for an alternative. Discovered Kerbal yesterday, and immediately bought it as it seemed like a dream come true.

Present skill: I've managed to build a two stage rocket and launch it to a (somewhat) circular orbit around 100km around Kerbal, make a retro burn, deorbit, and parachuted descent. Although I have yet to master a controlled landing location.

I have understood that aerodynamics, aerodynamic friction, and celestial bodies are nowhere near realistic in vanilla KSP, so I'm looking for mods to make KSP as realistic as possible. It is however quite overwhelming to start going through mods as there are tons in various stages of development and quality.

So to be specific, what I'm looking for at this stage is good and mature mods for the following purposes:

Mod manager (preferably one that has auto updates and allows me to easily switch back and forth between vanilla and modded KSP)

Realistic aerodynamics, and aerodynamic heating

Realistic representation of the solar system

Realistic rocket parts

Some kind of orbital insertion and trajectory calculator and/or auto pilot. (MechJob?)

Any other mods that will help with realism, or regarded as mandatory for a good game play experience

Also is there a mod to get the rocket parts in the assembly building arranged in a more intuitive way, more categories, etc? It's kind of a mess...

Any help is deeply appreciated

Edited March 6, 2014 by MoeMelek
wromg asronomical term used

[diomedea]

First off, a very warm welcome to this forum .

You placed some questions about mods that could actually be answered by more people if posted in the correct section, therefore I invite you to visit and eventually ask here.

However, to give a good start, please know about this very handy collection of mods. I started myself modding my game with what was listed there.

About mod managers, there are a number around but none with the list above (generally mod managers are external tools, not mods). Among them KSP Mod Admin, KSPMM, Kerbal Mod Manager. My advice is to check those and choose the one better fitting your needs, before installing mods: I didn't use one until after my 50th mod, and it was getting a pain to keep everything under control.

[MoeMelek]

Thank you for the info and kind welcome. I will have a look, and the mod thread was a nice one.

Among the Mod Managers KSP Mod Admin seems like the most evolved, will try that.

Also I found a thread Realism Overhaul which seems helpful with my realism ambitions. Although my crash rate might soar, I find it interesting with more realism