Should remote tech now be integrated into stock KSP?

[SmashBrown]

I've wanted to try it for a while, but now with the satellite contracts it would make a lot of sense, it would give your satellite's true purpose other than just being science/cash cows. Maybe introducing some "main" mission contracts which are standard for everyone at certain points, teaching you how to set up a satellite in geo stationary orbit to begin your communication network, enabling you to send probes further out.

Also, I haven't done a station contract, but the mod station science would also make a lot of sense in regards to this as well.

What do my fellow kerbonaughts think?

[Superfluous J]

I think RemoteTech is better as a mod. It adds a *lot* to the game but really changes it fundamentally.

Signal delay is evil though and must be destroyed.

()

[Sokar408]

Implimenting RemoteTech would be pointless without some sort of life support as well, because otherwise all you have done is make sure people will use manned craft for everything. There is also the debate that not everyone would like it. I'm personally all for adding life support and implimenting RemoteTech, because both are things I refuse to play without, but I have to stay objective and admit it might not be for everyone. Ofc adding both to the difficulty settings, allowing people to turn it off, might be a great way of having our cake, and eating it too.

[SmashBrown]

Yes having them on the difficulty settings would be a must. Life support is one I forgot about actually, maybe we can build a space greenhouse for grand tours to keep our Kerbals fed!

[PDCWolf]

I'd go to a slightly more complex (more antennas as a starting point) version of AntennaRange. As for the "not for everyone" argument, I believe some form of life support and need for communications is as expected from a sim-based space game as are fuel, electricity and rocket engines.

[SmashBrown]

Ooh, also, scansat.

[djnattyd]

No.

As a mod RemoteTech is fine but as a fundamental part of the stock game, it's full of nope.

I don't want to spend weeks IRL unlocking antennas so I can then unlock dishes that will let me build a satellite to be able to unlock more dishes just so I can travel to the far side of Kerbin.

Now Antenna Range, maybe since it isn't as restrictive but having to build a fully blown communication network just to do the most basic of things wouldn't be fun *for me*.

[Sokar408]

Ooh, also, scansat.

Ohhhh yeeaaaaa

[rodion]

no, that's definitely not practical. i agree that it would be nice to make the satellites do something after you've launched them, and i hope that's looked into closely for future updates in the stock game, but using RT for that is like setting your house on fire because you're cold. new players already have to take a high school course in newtonian mechanics just to understand how to do certain essential things in KSP, if we have to give them primers on the nuances of constructing commsat constellations too then i think we'll be stretching it with the average person.

[Talavar]

*nope* .. lol.. I enjoyed messing around with it, but don't think I'd enjoy being required to play with it all the time.. Only if it was "optional" hardmode. or something.

[MalfunctionM1Ke]

I am more for Deadly Reentry and ScanSat or Cosmetics like Distant Object Enhancement or Environmental Visual Enhancement.

Remotetech is very very difficult.

[lajoswinkler]

It's way too difficult. Maybe as a hardcore mode of playing, maybe.

Deadly Reentry is not nearly as difficult as nervous nellies have imagined it in their myths, so it should come first. It really needs to be stock.

[WeatherMAN]

I play with it on all the time and consider it one of my 'essential' mods - but I think it is better off being a mod as it is likely a bit too hard for most and it would entail a lot of work for Squad to be able to integrate it into the game and yet balancing the experience for those who want it and those who don't.

[dudester28]

Many people are missing the point on this issue. Some mods are better left as mods. If these mods (RemoteTech, Life Support, Deadly Reentry) were integrated into the stock game. It would make the game less enjoyable for some people.

Perhaps they could be included in a DLC, but certainly should not be forced down the throat of everyone.

[Troubletcat]

The signal delay feature definitely no. Without a comprehensive autopilot (which I don't want to see added to the stock game either) it just makes flying unmanned craft way too painful.

As for connection requirements... Ehhh... I think we can all agree that Squad needs to do SOMETHING to make having satellites serve a purpose. The launch contracts don't cut the mustard there. Building up a comms network adds another layer to a feeling of progression and persistence to the game, as do space stations and planetary bases. None of which have any very compelling reasons to be built at the moment.

But I'm not sure RemoteTech is the right way to go about it. I think it makes things much too hard for more casual players and new players. Maybe if it was only enabled on hard mode, but if that's the case, might as well leave it as a mod. I think that there must be a better solution to making satellites useful. Don't know what it is though.

[timsfitz]

Maybe to give satellites more of a purpose there should be various science packages like weather, atmospheric study, GPS, spy, teloscope, and even TV. Various companies and organizations would and do pay for these kinds of things IRL.

[magico13]

RemoteTech as a whole should stay as a mod. It's far too restrictive on playstyle to be integrated into Stock. I could see AntennaRange being added as an optional feature (I'd love to see DeadlyReentry, AntennaRange, and TAC Life support equivalents be options in the Stock game), but still wouldn't make it a required feature.

[Boomerang]

It would have to be an opt-in difficulty option.

RemoteTech is one of my absolute go-to mods. I love it. But I also wouldn't wish it on someone who's entirely new to the game. I'd hate to see someone playing around with a probe for the first time, only to lose control when it disappears over the horizon from KSC.

It adds plenty to the game, but I don't think it's a stretch to say that having to worry about comms on top of everything else is too much for beginners.

So now you've only got people playing on higher difficulty settings using the feature.

And considering all of the wrangling and perpetual bugginess that RemoteTech has required from it's authors over the years, I have to imagine that implementing a stock-quality version of it would be highly time and effort intensive.

All for a feature that plenty of people would end up avoiding entirely.

Keep it to a mod. People who want it will find it easily enough when they've mastered the basics and are ready to take on additional challenges in their game.

[federicoaa]

No, but something to differentiate the antennas would be good, like antenna range

[Pecan]

RemoteTech's a brilliant solution to the problems of RemoteTech.

Much as I've wanted to like it, because probes, I just can't see the point of it. It's not difficult but it is grindy and, once you've got everything in place, it just makes it harder to find a particular ship (sooo many flights in progress!) without adding anything to the play. Unless you love programming and want to use KOS to get anything done - then it's a coding game.

Definitely not stock.

[Ippo]

I use a modified RT setup, like this:

- multiple launch sites / stations around kerbin;

- standard range model;

- nearly infinite range for ground stations.

bin, but not for interplanetary stuff. Also, it's a more realistic model then the one used by RT: that's right kids, sometimes realism is easier than abstractions.

[Ippo]

And my phone cut a piece of the post. It removes the need for comm relays around Kerbin, but not for interplanetary stuff.

[19chickens]

Nope. I found RemoteTech and LifeSupport really hard. That and with ActiveTextureManagement and a couple of other mods RAM usage is 2.5 GB on the title screen.

[annallia]

Not sure how I would like life support. I mean I see where you are going with on realism but I don't see why people shouldn't be able to spend that 6 months on time warp for that transfer window to wherever without worrying about their Kerbals on every single ship, station, or planetary base (not laythe/kerbin) running out of snacks.

As to remote tech... I would say only if it was optional. If they were to put it in the game settings on a toggle the way destructible buildings and respawning kerbals is then yes by all means add it because it does add something to the game. However, I would rather see something between what we have now and remote tech which as others have said would be antenna range. Don't require LOS for probe ships to work and don't include the damned signal delay (the big reason I don't use RT) and just make it so you need relay stations/satellites to call home.

It would give satellites more of a use and not increase the difficulty all that much, or at all really.

The other thing I would like to see is a reason to leave a probe someplace. For example put a probe on Eve with atmospheric sensors on it, every month or so in Kerbal time it would send a science transmission that will always be worth science (not much but some) and basically be something like a long term experiment instead of the usual one and done.

[The Destroyer]

Ehh, nah. I've never used it because I don't really feel like setting up large networks for one mission... and signal delay...

evil.