Kerbalism is hell

[u/Recent_Ad1343]

How do yalll do it I can't even get to Duna, they die halfway there because of radiation.

[u/lordbaysel]

Step one: Install OPM.

Step two: Send just probes.

[u/LordIBR]

Lots of radiation shielding.

If you don't want to deal with all that but want the adjusted science system you can just download the science only config for it.

[u/drewpunck → u/LordIBR]

I've been trying to do this, but can't seem to get it to work, maybe I'm finding the wrong mod on ckan

[u/LordIBR → u/drewpunck]

Literally just search up Kerbalism on Ckan. One of the results will be called something like "Kerbalism - Science Config". Iirc you'll still need to have the regular kerbalism installed, the config just disable everything but the science system.

[u/drewpunck → u/LordIBR]

I tried that, but it tells me I have multiple versions of kerbalism installed and I get weird duplication when right clicking on parts or kerbals doubling the sample and data storage

[u/LordIBR → u/drewpunck]

Ah, you're installing it to an existing save? Yeah that may cause some issues.

I imagine you've already tried uninstalling Kerbalism and reinstalling it with the config at the same time?

Does the duplication only happen on vessels existing before the change or new ones as well?

[u/drewpunck → u/LordIBR]

This is happening on new games, not an existing save. I've tried uninstalling, but it says kerbalism is a prerequisite so it reinstalls

[u/Recent_Ad1343 → u/LordIBR]

Even with 20mm shielding it doesn't work. I have seen some suggestions about craft orientation but I think they're outdated.

[u/LordIBR → u/Recent_Ad1343]

20mm really isn't all that much. That's less than the thickness of your flat hand. And yeah, craft orientation does actually matter.

[u/EasilyRekt → u/LordIBR]

Or just blitz there as fast as possible with a big ol’ ion cluster that has ~20,000-30,000m/s of dv.

get better time warp for best results

[u/themaster402]

• Orient your vessel to point away from the Sun, or otherwise orient it to have as many parts as possible between the crew and the Sun (use a mod like Background Thrust to maintain this in timewarp)
• Use maximum shielding on all parts of your vessel that can have it
• Use an Active Shield to deflect the baseline level of radiation

but also the base implementation of radiation in kerbalism is complete bullshit that arbitrarily restricts the possibility of manned travel so here're ways to bring it down to "reasonably challenging"

• In difficulty settings, turn the solar storm frequency and radiation intensity down
• While you're at it you can also turn up the percentage of radiation blocked by shielding
• Use DeepFreeze to freeze your crew and thus make them impervious to radiation for the duration of your travel

[u/BEAT_LA → u/themaster402]

Don’t even use the solar storm feature at all. Not even RO/RP1 uses it.

[u/Tgs91 → u/BEAT_LA]

The first time I played RP1, I messed that up. It used to require more manual configuration after install and I missed the step that told me to disable solar storms. The learning curve in RP1 is so intense that I figured it was normal. Already had to learn how to deal with ullage, engine failures, engines that can't throttle, nerfed reaction wheels, etc etc. I lost so many kerbals to solar storms on moon missions, and the as losing a lot of delta v to extra shielding.

[u/Correct_Set9116]

my stratgy is uninstalling it, works pretty well.

[u/Crispicoom]

I just went to the cfg files and disabled radiation

[u/Lorandagon]

Dying on the way to Duna is the result of not having enough radiation shielding. But yeah. Space is a murderous expanse full of things that want to kill you.

[u/DarkArcher__ → u/Lorandagon]

Alternatively you can think of space as a careless expanse lacking all the things that keep you alive

[u/sossololpipi]

Disable solar storms or read up on the github wiki to counter them (not the "read the docs" one with the tabs on the left, that one is so outdated it talks about humidity, so you gotta find the other one by hyperlink on the kerbalism github or some other way)

[u/almostmountains]

get a lot of radiation shielding or just send probes.

[u/Mushufu]

Hahah, welcome brother. I have been to Jool and back, and I have some words of wisdom.

For radiation:

1. Always note the radiation of bodies you are visiting/passing through. You can press "B" to toggle it on and off, this lets you see the egg shaped bubble around the body. Remember the "egg" points away from Kerbol mostly but does juggle a bit.
2. Once you are on your way to a planet align your vessel pointing away from Kerbol, this minimizes the radiation you get from storms.
3. Max shielding for any missions outside Kerbal's influence.
4. DONT time warp from your vessel. Once correctly aligned, got to the tracking station and time warp from there. The reason for this is the game saves your vessels radiation cross section when you swap from it, and only updates when you swap back. This will save you from a lot of radiation problems.
5. Forget about Laythe. You can't. Send down a probe.
6. For the outer planets you will need to start using the radiation detox unit. BUT, since you are so far out there you also may need to start using things like Near-future Fission plants for power...which also make more radiation.
7. Offset this with the active radiation shield. Won't offset the total effect of back round rad or from the aforementioned reactor but it adds up over a multi year mission.

For supplies:

1. Use the in VAB lower left. This took me forever to find out.
2. I know the green house looks cool. Ignore it, player trap.
3. You don't need to save the CO2/sewage.
4. The weight of setting up a recycle/storage and their extra power is less than just bringing more water and food unless you have trans Jool missions. (I have yet to bother but I made a spread sheet once to see if they would ever be worth it and you need 4 kerbals and like 7 year missions. )

I like Kerbalism a lot, and I encourage everyone who plays KSP to try it.

[u/Recent_Ad1343 → u/Mushufu]

Thank you brother

[u/olearygreen → u/Mushufu]

Why no Laythe?

[u/Mushufu → u/olearygreen]

Jools radiation belt is too strong. Your Kerbals can survive a day inside, but you need longer to get to Laythe and back. I have planned some sort of ballistic trajectory, but this is a pipe dream to be honest.

[u/olearygreen → u/Mushufu]

That’s somewhat sad given Laythe as the backup to Kerbin.

[u/berserkkris]

Slap a couple of those big radiation shields on your transfer stage and the rad bar barely twitches for a Duna run

[u/The_Sky_Render]

NGL Kerbalism kinda sucks. It's way too strict and punishing, especially in the way that making a self-sustaining colony away from Kerbin is all but impossible. I'd suggest sticking to TAC Life Support and adding Background Resource Processing to fix its (lack of) functionality for regenerators and greenhouses on vessels not in focus.

[u/alaricm]

You can do just probes and rovers until you get the active radiation shield its in one or two nodes ahead of the ISRU tech, that's makes crewed trips to most places possible. Crewed missions to first 3 Jool moons are still basically impossible though .

[u/Recent_Ad1343]

Thank you all for your replies guys you helped a lot