Recommendations for Late-Game Tech-Tree Mods

[thylordroot]

Greetings,

I've been working on a career mode save since 0.24, and have now gotten to the point in my game where I am doing interplanetary travel. There's just one problem: I've almost managed to complete the tech tree, and I just left Kerbin. About 3800 or so science remains in my tech tree, which seems like a reasonable amount except the following:

• Three of these nodes are (in fact) from mods. Two are for procedural fairings, the other is for Kerbal Attachment System. The remaining nodes are related to spaceplane nodes that I never bothered to unlock.
  
• I have a couple of mods that provide additional science: namely, ScanSat and Station Science. I wasn't expecting ScanSat to have science (though I will gladly take it), and I have not done much with Station Science (although I presently am working on an interstellar craft utilizing it). These are the only two mods I'm aware of that add science in my installation.
  
• Contracts have been providing more science than I was expecting them to. Some of the stock contracts I have been offered provide 300 science for something like testing a part that has splashed down.
  

I thought it might be interesting to what was out there for late game stuff, and I am looking for balanced mods that add high-level tech tree nodes. Here is a list of mods that I currently have installed (many of which add parts):

• Ferram Aerospace Research
  
• Deadly Reentry
  
• RemoteTech 2
  
• Kerbal Engineer Redux
  
• Procedural Fairings
  
• Procedural Parts
  
• Firespitter
  
• Kerbal Attachment System
  
• TACLifeSupport
  
• Station Science
  
• SCANSat
  
• kOS
  
• Ubio Welding Ltd
  

I know that the Interstellar Pack has some very-high level tech tree nodes (some of which require thousands of science points to unlock), though I am not sure how wise it is to install at this point (particularly because of the waste heat issues). Nonetheless, it does serve as an example of what I might be looking for. If you know of any mods that extend the tech tree in this manner and which are reasonably fair (i.e., well-balanced), I would love to hear your ideas. Thanks in advance!

Regards,

ThyLordRoot

Edit: The following is a list of mods that have been suggested so far to meet this goal.

• Interstellar Lite (suggested by SpaceLaunchSystem) - http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/91867-0-24-2-Interstellar-Lite-Tweakscale-Integration-v0-12-3-Sept-7
  
• Community Tech Tree (suggested by RoverDude) - http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/100385-Community-Tech-Tree-1-1-last-updated-19-11-14
  
• Near Future Tech (suggested by RoverDude) - http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/52042-0-25-Near-Future-Technologies-%2817-11-14-All-packs-CTT-compatibility%29
  
• Mod-Oriented Tech Tree (suggested by StreetWind) - http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/90938-Mod-Oriented-Tech-Tree-%28November-4-v0-2-97%29
  

Edited November 28, 2014 by thylordroot
Added list of suggested mods.

[SpaceLaunchSystem]

I know that the Interstellar Pack has some very-high level tech tree nodes (some of which require thousands of science points to unlock), though I am not sure how wise it is to install at this point (particularly because of the waste heat issues). Nonetheless, it does serve as an example of what I might be looking for. If you know of any mods that extend the tech tree in this manner and which are reasonably fair (i.e., well-balanced), I would love to hear your ideas. Thanks in advance!

Regards,

ThyLordRoot

I think your best option would be Interstellar. It has some extremely high tech tree items (like the Alcubierre Drive)

[thylordroot]

I think your best option would be Interstellar. It has some extremely high tech tree items (like the Alcubierre Drive)

SLS, maybe I will give Interstellar a shot. My biggest fear here is that I will shut down my satellite network because I have not prepared any of them with radiators. However, I am looking through the ISP Lite git repo, and it appears that waste heat may not be implemented yet; in this case, this may work out just fine. I will put more research into it and see if I can successfully integrate this into an existing savegame without a ton of relaunching.

In the interim, any other suggestions would be well received. There may be other mods worth checking out for this purpose, so I would love to hear suggestions for them.

[RoverDude]

Or grab the Community Tech Tree - about 90,000 science to unlock that, then grab Near Future Tech.

Oh.. and I have a CTT compatible Alcubierre drive that's a tier 12 (i.e. far far right) tech item

[Streetwind]

I're recently been trying out this one: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/90938-Mod-Oriented-Tech-Tree-%28November-4-v0-2-97%29

It's pretty good, supports everything on your list apart from Station Science, and even unsupported parts still work because all stock node names are somewhere in there (just heavily rearranged/repurposed). I run Station Science too, the parts are accessible quite early on (probably before you have the means to really launch and operate a space station with your mod selection).

The only thing I found inconvenient is that 0.625m parts come really late, means you'll be launching your commsats with LV-909's or large amounts of RCS. But that's complaining on a fairly high level.

It bears mentioning though that this probably wouldn't be something you want for an existing save. More for a new one.

[thylordroot]

I've decided I will put links to the suggested mods in the OP for my own and others' convenience. Thanks all for your suggestions, and feel free to make more!

Or grab the Community Tech Tree - about 90,000 science to unlock that, then grab Near Future Tech.

Oh.. and I have a CTT compatible Alcubierre drive that's a tier 12 (i.e. far far right) tech item

I have been looking at your mods, and already have Karbonite installed. As for Community Tech Tree, it looks interesting, and I think the Alcubierre Drive is a reasonable endgame goal. This one looks to be the least deleterious for an existing game, but I will have to do some testing. Thanks for your input.

I're recently been trying out this one: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/90938-Mod-Oriented-Tech-Tree-%28November-4-v0-2-97%29

tt

It's pretty good, supports everything on your list apart from Station Science, and even unsupported parts still work because all stock node names are somewhere in there (just heavily rearranged/repurposed). I run Station Science too, the parts are accessible quite early on (probably before you have the means to really launch and operate a space station with your mod selection).

Wow! That is a huge tech tree. I understand that what you mean by the above is that Station Science is not explicitly supported, but that you have not enountered problems thus far. The fact that it does integrate most of my mod list is quite promising, though. This is definitely worth a look.

The only thing I found inconvenient is that 0.625m parts come really late, means you'll be launching your commsats with LV-909's or large amounts of RCS. But that's complaining on a fairly high level.

This is an issue in stock, too. I guess the rationale is that miniaturization happens late and that the small parts are the culmination of advanced electronics technology. Then again, Kerbals have managed to invent the command pod before the wheel in stock, so I am not sure how well that holds.

It bears mentioning though that this probably wouldn't be something you want for an existing save. More for a new one.

It's hard to tell, but this tech tree looks like it may rearrange things. I suppose only testing will reveal whether or not this is the case. Fortunately, I have about 900 science saved up in my game, so if it does, maybe I can recover from this.

Thank you both for your suggestions. It looks like I have a few options to consider this weekend.