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Which game play mode for me?


travisneids

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I'm looking for some additional opinions on which game play mode I should choose.

Fairly new to the game however I've added a number of mods that make it more realistic and provide additional parts:

  • 6S Service Compartments
  • Alcor
  • ConnectLivingSpaces
  • DeadlyReentry
  • KAS
  • KerbalEngineer
  • KW Rocketry
  • LazTech SpaceX
  • Realchute
  • RemoteTech2
  • TacLifeSupport

The things I'm really looking forward to:

  1. Setting up a comms
  2. Space bases
  3. Space stations

I started in Career mode and patience is not a great quality of mine. While falling asleep in bed last night (and doing my best to block out girlfriend's DVR'ed General Hospital episode) I decided, "Why not just rock Sandbox mode?". Well after thinking about it a bit in the car this morning (and doing my best to block out girlfriend's holiday planning) will I get bored or lack the drive to do more?

Some rules I want to follow:

  1. If a Kerbal dies, he is dead. I don't have enough resources to stop a Kerombie Apocalypse.
  2. No such thing as "Revert to...". This isn't golf.
  3. Keep it near 2014. In this round I don't plan on using technology that is only defined in Robert Heinlein books.

You are all super smart and great at thinking outside the box. What am I not thinking about? and ultimately, which game mode should I choose?

Thank you!

Neidz

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What you want to achieve resembles closely my way of playing. That is, career game with all difficulties set (e.g. no respawn, no revert), and all add-ons that compel to consider every aspect of space-faring (communications, life-support, crew management, etc.). And really, I use almost all the add-ons you listed (and many more).

However, you (honestly) started telling to be fairly new to the game, and such a setting would be quite difficult to manage without knowing KSP and those add-ons in depth. Trying to do so may bring into awkward situations, and quickly drain the pleasure of playing KSP.

So, I would suggest to start doing that in steps instead (I did, really). Best starting with a sandbox game in stock, and add add-ons a bit at a time, letting you have enough time to experiment and acquaint with how they work. Don't think any game you start to be worth keeping further than the time you need to get going with those add-ons, the next time you will do better.

Once you get all the pieces of your setup as you like, I'd still go for a sandbox game first, so to see how all parts can work and how best to build your crafts with those. Then, you should have ideas for your future plans when doing it in career.

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If you're new to the game, I always recommend starting a science or career mode game, regardless of mods. It gives a good introduction on how to build small rockets before giving you the tools to build monstrosities and avoids the part overload lots of new players get when starting.

That advice stands regardless of mods.

That being said, if you feel comfortable building rockets already, then start career if you want the full on challenge mode, start science if you want to progress without worrying about your budget, and start sandbox if you want to get right to the rockets.

Also, what SkyRender said: get FAR.

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If you have DRE you will need procedural fairings. I also say get FAR as others have.

One tip, in RT for setting up a comms network, if you launch a craft all the way to 3000Km then circularise (obviously with a 5Mm omni antenna) it keeps connection to KSC all the way up then starts to move retrograde. Once nearly over KSC you can put it into a 2800Km orbit with a period of exactly 6 hours and it will stay over KSC to act as your main comms relay.

If you want the feel of actually running a space program, get Kerbal Construction Time. It makes the game real as much as FAR DRE TLS or RT. If you use TLS then it can be important that it takes days to make a craft...

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Fairly new to the game however I've added a number of mods that make it more realistic and provide additional parts

How new is new? If you can't (at least) go to and come back from Duna in stock I would ditch all those mods except KER and definitely not install FAR.

Career mode is mainly designed so that new players have achievable objectives and don't get overloaded with parts. IMO you should stick to that. Of course, as a sand box game there is no "wrong way" to play it, but trying too much to fast can be frustrating.

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I'm a purist so my recommendation would be only use Kerbal Engineer until you've got 100+ hours of playtime as the rest of those mods will just "pollute" the new-comer experience. IMO, you will appreciate the mods a lot more once you're better at the game and need something new to tinker with.

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If you have DRE you will need procedural fairings. I also say get FAR as others have.

What does Procedural Fairings have to do with Deadly Reentry?

I play with KW and use those fairings instead of PF. I like the challenge of having to design my rockets to fit into the existing fairing sizes - not having them auto-fit :)

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I really appreciate the feedback. As always, you all kick ass.

New is maybe the incorrect term. I have 92 hours logged on Steam however I've only now really started to appreciate what KSP is and have finally started to learn about space and everything it involves.

Can I easily reach Orbit? Yeah! Efficiently? Can someone define that word please? lol

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Career Mode is a long way from being fully implemented at the moment. However, it does offer a good way to understand the economics of rocket construction in KSP.

The rockets I fly in Career Mode bear no resemblance to the rockets I used to fly in Sandbox.

The launch vehicles I use now are not as "efficient" in terms of the sheer size of payload they can lift, but they are vastly more efficient in terms of cost.

As I progress through increasingly hardcore custom difficulty settings, the launch vehicles I use get smaller and cheaper. I'm getting better at designing them and planning their missions.

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