Gradual Progression Tech Tree

Note: Requires ModuleManager and incompatible with HideEmptyTechTreeNodes

A KSP tech tree designed with 3 main goals:

• Take better advantage of some major part packs, in particular BDB and Nertea’s mods, without being held back by concerns over compatibility with different mod combinations.
• Make tech progression a bit more “rational”, focusing on increased capabilities rather than arbitrary distinctions of size that inconvenience the player without substantially affecting what they can achieve.
• Give an RP-1-like feeling of early progression, advancing gradually from early sounding rockets to first satellites to crewed spaceflight, while still working with the actual gameplay balance rather than getting caught up in historical reenactment.

Aside from start, the tree is created using completely new nodes, meaning that only supported mods will appear on the tree, though as a fallback option there is a Lost and Found node that shoud contain any unsupported pats. The supported mods list and some compatibility notes are recorded in the mods spreadsheet on the github, but to start out with these mods are highly recommended to properly fill out the tree and play as intended:

• Airplane Plus
• Bluedog Design Bureau
• Cryo Engines
• Far Future
• Heat Control
• Kerbal Atomics
• Near Future Collection
• Restock
• Station Parts Expansion Redux
• USI-LS
• USI Sounding Rockets

These mods also integrate quite well with the tree:

• Civilian Popuation Modernized
• Coatl Aerospace Probes Plus
• Deep Freeze
• Dmagic
• Feline Utility Rovers
• Kerbal Planetary Base Systems
• Malemute
• Mk2 Expansion
• MkIV Spaceplane System
• OSE Workshop Reworked
• Planetside Exploration Technologies MMSEV
• SCANsat
• Supplementary Electric Engines
• System Heat
• WaterDrinker

And these mods are also variously well supported:

• Artemis Construction Kit
• Blueshift
• Bon Voyage
• Boring Crew Services
• Breaking Ground
• Buffalo 2
• Bumblebee
• Completely NonAggressive Rocketry
• CryoEngines Extensions
• Extraplanetary Launchpads
• Firespitter
• Fuji
• GemstoneLV
• Ground Construction
• HullcamVDS Continued
• Internal RCS
• JX2 Antenna
• KAS
• Kerbal Foundries 2
• Kerbal Reusability Expansion
• KIS
• Knes
• Making History
• Mk3 Stockalike Expansion
• MKS
• Mk-X
• MOLE
• NRAP
• QuizTech Aero Pack Continued
• Radial Heat Shields
• Rational Resources
• RealChute
• Research Bodies
• RLA Reborn
• Sandcastle
• Simple Adjustable Fairings
• Smart Parts Continued
• SpaceY Heavy Lifters
• SSR Microsat
• Sterling Systems
• SXT Continued
• TAC Life Support
• Taerobee
• Tantares
• TantaresLV
• TantaresSAF
• TantaresSP
• Tarsier Space Technology
• Tundra Exploration
• Universal Storage 2

Again, see the spreadsheet for links and details

There are no extra parts or modifications added except that there are two tweaks to science value returns:

• stock_magnetometer_nerf.cfg reduces the stock magnetometer science return from 45 to 5 to be more in line with stock magnetometers, because it seemed silly to split them up
• usi_science_nerf.cfg reduces the return of the USI sounding rockets science parts from 25 to 4, to be more balanced as entry-level science parts.

GPTT was created using ksp-techtree-edit (https://github.com/linuxgurugamer/ksp-techtree-edit), but modified to use ModuleManager instead to remove the dependency on the YongeTech plugin (which has issues with Kerbal Construction Time), by saving the tech nodes as a stock tree, adding a patch to hide the stock nodes, and converting the part unlocks into a single MM patch using a python script; admittedly a somewhat clunky approach but it makes it easier to keep editing the tree with the editor. The Additional Patches folder holds (in addition to the 2 scripts above) various patches to cover parts added as MM patches, which don't appear in the editor, and part upgrades for at least a few mods.

GPTT is distributed under a CC-BY-NC-SA license (and redistributes tech icons made by Nertea for CTT under the same license), meaning variants or derivatives can be made so long as any previous authors are credited, the use is non-commercial, and the same license is used--and in fact I actively encourage this, because there's every chance I may move on to other projects in the future, and the tree has to be actively maintained to keep or expand mod support. I've added a design document to give a sense of my original intentions for the tree layout to guide any such efforts, though don't feel bound by that if you want to go in a different direction. In the meantime though, you can use pull requests to add any patches, and I am open to adding support for any requested mods.