Looking for Alternative Endgame Science Goals

[Matrix Aran]

Hello there. I've a problem that many of you may share: I have too many mods, and as a result, I've had to target more than a few for the chopping block. My goal is to only need to run basic active texture reduction and still have a relatively stable install of KSP.

One of the culprits I'm looking hardest at is Interstellar Lite. In my current save, while running aggressive active texture reduction, I estimate that it accounts for nearly 250MB of memory when sitting at KSC, while I only really have one vessel that makes much use of it, a space station with a nuclear reactor giving it cheap, nearly unlimited power. This makes it a clear candidate for the axe.

However, I do love Interstellar for the goal it offers you at the end of the science tree, with some spectacularly expensive nodes to chase after and cool toys to play around with when you get there.

This brings me to my question: Are there any mods out there that offer an interesting "endgame" to the science tree, that are more "lightweight" on memory than Interstellar? I'd very much like to hear folks experiences with them.

[jordanjay29]

Have you checked out Near Future Technologies? That's one similar to Interstellar, but excludes the extra science progression. NFT's challenge is more in building crafts that can manage to power the engines, which are extremely hungry. NFT is also broken up into parts, so you need not install all of its components to make it work, just the tech tree, and whatever parts packs you want to include (engines are probably recommended, electrical as well).

Other science mods to consider:

Station Science

Orbital Materials Science

Rover Science

Munar Surface Experiments

Non-Science "Endgame" Mods:

MKS/OKS, build planetary or orbital bases. If you're memory-starved, I'd suggest installing only one of the pair, instead of both.

Kethane or Karbonite (resource mining)

[Matrix Aran]

How do NFT's propulsion and electrical packs perform in practice compared to Interstellar? Memory use in particular is a big consideration. I had seen the packs the other day while trying to browse for alternatives but I wasn't sure if they would be any lighter on resources.

I do already have Station Science installed, coupled with fine print I have plenty of science generation at my disposal so I'm more looking for new ways to spend the science than ways to generate it.

I have tried MKS/OKS, however I feel that both systems have far too many parts required to actually have a sustainable base running, particularly volume wise.

I also gave Karbonite a try while it was bundled with MKS, but it was nearly half the size of the mod's install, and ultimately it wasn't really of much use to me.

[jordanjay29]

I honestly can't answer that question, as I haven't tried detecting how much memory they use. My suggestion would be to backup KSP to another folder, and delete all the non-stock mods from that KSP install. Run KSP to get a baseline of memory usage on your system. Then add in Interstellar, run again and check memory usage. Swap with NFT, run again and check memory usage. Then compute for your normal install to see if swapping with NFT would be beneficial for you.