Kerbal Space Program

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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by jztemple2 »

Rip wrote:Has anyone done anything useful with the Mechanic Jebediah Pod 2.0?

The eye thing is cute but unless I can attach a docking port to the bottom without blocking its built in thrusters it seems pretty useless.
I tried it but didn't find anything useful for it to do.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

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Alarm Clock has helped out a lot. A little more work on figuring out station designs then on to figuring out space planes.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

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Wow, placing RCS thrusters in the right place made docking go from a headache into a breeze. Yea Center of Mass!
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by Rip »

Trying to learn planes now.

Anyone got some good craft files? I really don't like designing the planes much at this point but my program could use some good reusable passenger xfer vehicles. I would also like to use them for refueling space stations.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by Rip »

Just noticed Steam downloading the update for this.

Economic Boom!

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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by Stefan Stirzaker »

Didn't get to play last night, how is the new update?
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by jztemple2 »

Stefan Stirzaker wrote:Didn't get to play last night, how is the new update?
The economic changes allow you to do some trading between reputation, science and funds via Strategies. I didn't spend any time on it besides reading the descriptions, since it's aimed at the campaign player and I'm not ready to start another campaign.

The difficulty settings are basically multipliers to the three categories to get more or less Science, Funds and Reputation for the same Contracts. Again, aimed at the campaign player.

There are a number of new space plane parts that were actually developed by a fan and adopted by the developers (with proper attribution). They look pretty neat.

Probably the most odd change is to make the buildings of the space port destructible :shock:. For the campaign player, this change will make you carefully where those expended stages land. For the non-campaigners, it's more things to blow up :lol: .
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

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New post from the KSP people, who are offering a free Kerbal Space Program Economic Boom wallpaper.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by Stefan Stirzaker »

Beta has been released!
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by jztemple2 »

More details in this article, The KSP: Beta Than Ever FAQ. Pretty massive changes in the update.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

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With the update, my install is now crashing. Time to delete some mods, I think. I'll miss you, Planet Factory, even though I never visited any of your planets.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by Sepiche »

Played around with the beta a little last night and really like some of the changes I saw, but I'll probably let them make a few balancing passes before I really dive in.

In theory I really like having limits on how heavy and how many components your craft can use tied to upgrading your buildings, but it's really tough making a decent craft with only 30 parts and 18 tonnes and with a price tag of something like 200k for the first upgrade I was starting to get stuck.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by jztemple2 »

I started off another career with a difficulty of Easy, to give myself more cash early on. I'm still a bit vexed over the tight limits in some of the contracts, where to accomplish a test there are narrow bands of speed and altitude. Also I'm not one to try to combine contracts on flights, which would be more financially efficient. Still, it's pretty much fun. I'm still downloading the updates direct from Squad as I haven't transferred my purchase to Steam yet. I don't want some update breaking my tweaks or mods.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by tiny ogre »

KSP is 40% off on the steam sale today. At $17.99, it's the cheapest I've ever seen it.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

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The Procedural Parts mod is a blast.

Image
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by coopasonic »

It's amazing to think that this which I have spent more than a hundred hours playing is finally going to be released...
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by jztemple2 »

I'm still getting the newest version via the KPS website, I never converted to a Steam key. I'm trying to figure out if there's any value to transferring to the Steam version of the game, other than the automatic updates. I'm not even convinced that automatic updates are a good thing, as many times as I've seen mods broken by an update.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by Rip »

Trading Cards.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by AWS260 »

Apollo wrote:Version 1.0 is on the way! http://kerbaldevteam.tumblr.com/post/11 ... perimental
A whole bunch of preview videos have come out over the past couple of days. It looks like there will be a ton of new changes -- improved aerodynamics, re-entry heating, procedural fairings, resource scanning and mining, new parts, engineering reports, etc.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by Holman »

They started a 5-day countdown on April 22. That means release is tomorrow!
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by Isgrimnur »

Released. -25%, $29.99 on Steam.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by Unagi »

Wow. It's been a long journey with this game, I look forward to giving their final release a spin.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by jztemple2 »

I still have my account over on Squad so I'm downloading from there. Their servers are working great, I'm maxing out my ISP's download rate, so it's a two minute download for the entire game. I'm assuming that Steam is just going to patch the 0.90 beta.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

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Changelog (lengthy):
Spoiler:
=================================== v1.00.0 ============================================================

* New:

Editor:
- New Engineer's Report Toolbar App, provides warnings and advice during construction, notifying players of possible design issues with their ships.
- Added 'Cross-Section Profile' Filter to Parts List.
- Added Thumbnail images for Craft files in both Launch Dialog and Craft Browser screens.
- Added 'Merge' button to Load dialog, allowing ships to be loaded without replacing the current one
- Added confirmation dialogs when overwriting a save, launching or leaving editor without saving.


Aerodynamics:
- Complete overhaul of the flight model.
- Lift is now correctly calculated and applied for all lift-generating parts.
- Drag is now pre-calculated automatically based on part geometry, and applied based on part orientation in flight.
- Both lift and drag are dependant on density and the speed of sound; both properly calculated from temperature and pressure.
- Stack-mounted parts can occlude each other for drag calculations.
- Lift-Induced drag now properly simulated.
- Stalls are now properly simulated.
- A new body-lift system meaning parts can induce lift even if they are not designed to do so.


Heat Simulation:
- Completely revised part heating model, energy flux is considered, not merely temperature.
- All game temperatures changed from ‘Kervin’ to proper Kelvin.
- Radiative, conductive, and convective heating and cooling are simulated.
- Parts can have individual radiative, conductive, and convective properties.
- All parts now emit a blackbody radiation glow if they get hot enough.
- Conduction between attached parts is more accurately modelled.
- Parts can occlude other parts from being exposed to sunlight, celestial body albedo/radiation and supersonic flow.
- Reentry/hypersonic flight heating is now simulated.
- Added difficulty Setting to scale aerodynamic heating.
- Atmospheric temperature, and thus density, takes latitude and sun position into account.
- Celestial bodies accurately emit thermal radiation making nearby craft warmer.
- Service modules, fairings and cargo bays can be used to protect parts inside from heat.
- Heat shields provide (finite) ablation-based protection for parts behind them.


Parts:
- New procedural Fairings added, in 3 sizes
- New Heat Shields added, in 3 sizes
- Service Bay parts added in 1.25m and 2.5m sizes
- Several new Landing Gear parts added, in many sizes.
- Many New large airliner and shuttle style wing sections added.
- Large wing sections have internal fuel tanks.
- All old spaceplane parts overhauled with a more up-to-date style.
- Old Avionics Nose Cone overhauled and repurposed as a standalone, non-autonomous SAS module.
- New atmosphere scanner part added.
- New Inline Xenon Tank part added.
- New RT-5 'Flea' Solid Rocket Booster added.
- New Fuel Cell parts added (small and large), convert LiquidFuel and Oxidizer into Electricity when turned on.
- New models for Circular and Ram air intake parts.
- New models for Engine Nacelle parts.
- Several new nose cones and tail sections.
- New Airbrake part.
- New module for Airbrake parts, responds to Brakes input and can also be used as pitch/yaw actuator.


Internal Spaces:
- Added new IVA space for the Mk1 Inline cockpit
- Added new IVA space for the Science Lab
- Added new IVA space for Mk3 Shuttle Cockpit
- Added new IVA space for Mk3 Passenger Cabin
- Added new IVA space for Mk2 Passenger Cabin


Resources:
- Added 'Ore' resource, which can be mined across the Solar System
- New drill part added
- Ore container tanks added
- ISRU Ore processor unit added, converts Ore into Liquid Fuel, Oxidizer or MonoProp
- Three new Ore scanner parts added
- Added new MapView overlays displaying Ore density for all Celestial Bodies.
- Support for moddability of resources added (including atmospheric and oceanic)
- New Difficulty Setting to scale resource abundance (both stock and modded).
- Asteroids can also be mined for Ore.
- Engineer Kerbals are able to ‘overdrive’ drilling equipment for increased yield (and less safety).


Kerbals:
- Female Kerbals added, with new randomly-generated female names
- Valentina Kerman (Pilot) added to initial Crew Roster
- Kerbals are now able to clamber onto ledges within reach, because their jobs weren’t dangerous enough already.
- Kerbals can now climb out of ladders onto ledges.
- Tourist Kerbals added. They have zero skills, are unable to control vessels, and are required to keep their heads inside the vessel at all times.
- Kerbals now cost increasingly larger amounts of Funds to hire in Career Games.


R&D:
- R&D Tech Tree completely revised. Several new nodes added; many, many parts reassigned for a better progression.
- Kerbal Scientists are now able to restore inoperable experiment modules.
- The Science Lab has been retooled to run long-term research on experiment data, providing much higher amounts of science over time.


Graphics:
- New Smoke effects added to Launchpads
- New Surface Effects added whenever rocket engines fire near terrain
- New Water Effect added whenever rocket engine fire near water
- Revised all part shaders for improved rendering of lighting effects and shadows.
- Main Flight UI can now be made transparent.


Career:
- Added new Tourism contracts and tourist kerbals.
- Added ISRU resource extraction contracts.
- Added Grand Tour contracts.
- Replaced Rescue contracts with Recovery contracts, which can ask the player to recover a part, a kerbal, or both, and can spawn on the surface of planets, with “props” nearby.
- Added two 'immediate' Strategies to convert existing Reputation and Science into Funds.
- World First contract line now extends all the way out to Eeloo, and is dependent on player progression.
- Record contracts are now always active, and will complete in order even over the course of a single mission.


Tutorials:
- All tutorials revised and rewritten to explain most game features.
- Expanded Flight Basics Tutorial to cover the essentials of launching into orbit.
- Added new Return from Mun tutorial.
- Added new Science and R&D Tutorial.
- Added new Docking tutorial.


Flight:
- 'Warp To' action added to orbit context menu. Allows warping to a specific spot along your trajectory.
- 'Warp to next morning' button added to KSC toolbar.
- Asteroids can now be found orbiting near Dres.
- Engine thrust now varies according to Isp and throttle setting, instead of the other way around.


Controls:
- Completely revised Input Mapping system.
- Flight input bindings is now much more straightforward and more flexible as well.
- Duplicate control bindings for Docking/Staging modes now replaced by a much more robust system based on secondary key bindings.
- Joystick Axes are now consistently enumerated and persist across sessions.
- Up to 10 joysticks with 20 axes each now supported.
- Added secondary channels for Axis Bindings.


Cameras:
- New 'Chase' Camera mode added, old mode now called 'Locked'.
- Added Camera wobble/vibration effects during flight (engine vibration, explosions, ground roll, G-force, and many more)
- TrackIR support added to all game views (toggleable independently in game settings). (FreeTrack also reported to work)
- Added FOV control to main flight camera. (Hold ModKey and zoom)




* Bug Fixes and Tweaks:

Editor:
- Fixed several issues with editor attachments, attachment node orientation and symmetry.
- Shift+Clicking a 'frozen' part in the editor will detach it from its parent.
- Fixed several bugs with cloned parts and persistence.
- The editor no longer requires a full scene reload to load new craft files.

UI:
- The KnowledgeBase panel for Vessels now shows 'Max Accel' and 'Estimated burn time to 0m/s' (as shown on navball) fields.
- Several part context menu actions now properly apply to symmetry counterparts automatically.
- Added new custom cursors.

Simulation:
- Fixed 'infiniglide' bug.
- Switching SOIs no longer causes the next orbit to change at high time warp rates.
- Added a warp speed limit when approaching an SOI transition.
- Kerbal EVAs should no longer fly off when disembarking in space.
- SAS now disengages autopilot modes automatically (and falls back to stability assist) in cases where the target vectors would change very rapidly.
- Parachute deployment should no longer cause vessel disassembly at high physics warp rates.
- Deployed parachute sway now actually has an effect on the vessel.

Parts:
- LV-N “Nerv” Engine now runs solely on Liquid Fuel and has no gimbal.
- OSCAR-B tank can now be surface attached
- Air-breathing engines now drain fuel evenly from all tanks in a vessel.
- Fixed radial decouplers not applying ejection forces correctly.
- Parachutes no longer cause massive G spikes when opening.
- Control Surfaces can now be deployed as flaps, controllable via context menus and Action Groups.
- Stats of Antennas revised for a proper progression with the more advanced models.
- Added nicknames to all engine parts.
- Revised and balanced part costs.
- Balanced fuel amounts for Mk2 and Mk3 tanks.
- Balanced engines (Isp/thrust/mass) in line with the new aerodynamics.
- Added fuel gauge to LV-1 “Ant” engine.
- Materials Bay now faces away from the part it’s radially attached to.
- RoveMate rover body is now a probe body as well.
- The unshrouded solar panels are now non-retractable.
- Balanced probes electric charge usage, mass and crash tolerance.
- Lowered crash tolerance of the Structural Pylon to 70 from 999!
- All parts given ‘bulkhead profile’ tags in cfg files. Profile tags inferred automatically for parts missing this field.
- Cargo bays now properly detect enclosed parts, and can be grouped to make larger bays.
- Experiment Modules, Solar Panels, Antennas and such will not deploy while stowed inside a fairing or cargo bay.
- RCS thrusters will not function if stowed inside a closed cargo area (or fairing).
- Lifting surfaces will not generate lift if stowed inside a closed cargo area (or fairing).

Audio:
- Much improved flight ambience sounds for Kerbin and other bodies with atmospheres
- Added new sound effect when pulling high G forces.
- Eliminated audible gaps on several looping clips.

Effects:
- Improved sound/particle effects for all Air-Breathing engines
- Splashdown effects no longer spawn underwater.


General:
- All part textures converted to DDS format, load times are now 3x faster.
- Fixed a serious persistence bug which prevented Scenario/Training saves from updating scenario modules properly.
- Fixed persistence bugs which caused state data from Upgradeable Facilities to carry over to other saves.
- Fixed an issue which caused Kerbals to not be generated randomly enough, which led to slowdowns with larger Crew Rosters.
- Fixed issues with the terrain during scene switching making scene load times faster.
- Fixed terrain scatter generation which was causing memory leaks.
- ‘Elon Kerman’ added to name pool.
- Crew name generator can now output 10,000+ female names
- Fixed an issue with markers in the KSC scene potentially causing the game to lock up.
- Restructured GameData folder, integrated the NASA folder into the Squad one.
- Valentina Kerman added to Main Menu’s Space scene.

Gameplay:
- All contracts other than World Firsts or Records are halted until the player reaches space.
- Prevent “stacking” of various contract types.
- Resource parts added into satellite, station, and outpost contracts.
- Prose of contracts involving kerbals re-evaluated with gender appropriate text.
- All contracts in career given balanced income for all three currencies.
- Science and reputation no longer scale with the celestial body of a contract, and are handed out more conservatively in general.
- All strategies in career given equivalent exchange rates.
- Aggressive Negotiations strategy given a discount on building repair/upgrade.
- Recovery Transponder strategy now lowers maximum recovery rate, while raising minimum recovery rate.
- Facility upgrade costs re-evaluated, lowered by about a quarter overall.
- Kerbals now properly receive experience for suborbital flights.
- Part Test contracts now request much saner flight parameters.
- Survey contracts choose much saner locations to survey.
- Sensor Experiment Modules are now able to perform experiments in all situations.

Debugging/Modding:
- The R&D Tech tree is now defined in a cfg-file.
- The cfg file for the Tech Tree is defined separately for each save.
- GameVariables methods are now all virtual and can be overwritten by mods.
- Added a new set of debug tools to tweak Physics parameters.
- Added a new set of debug tools to tweak R&D tech tree nodes and part assignments.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by coopasonic »

Yay! Reading the changelog makes me smile. I can't to start this thing all over again.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by Pyperkub »

Hopefully this part is true:
Tutorials:
- All tutorials revised and rewritten to explain most game features.
- Expanded Flight Basics Tutorial to cover the essentials of launching into orbit.
- Added new Return from Mun tutorial.
- Added new Science and R&D Tutorial.
- Added new Docking tutorial.
Good grief was it tough to try to learn w/o going onto the internet.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by AWS260 »

The new procedural fairings are fantastic.

The new aerodynamics are very different!

The new resource scanning might be cool, but I wouldn't know, because I forgot to put an antenna on my scanning satellite. Version 1.0 might be new, but some things -- namely, my inability to get a spacecraft right on the first try -- never change.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by Holman »

Do the new aerodynamics mean that you can no longer launch blunt-headed toadstool monstrosities into orbit?
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by Stefan Stirzaker »

Haven't played for a while in prep of v1.0. I love the changes, still a few quirks/bugs that need polishing but I'm very very glad I got it as early as I did. I love the sonic booms and the heat effects, haven't had anything get to hot and ablate or explode but I expect it will be soon lol. Time to get the space program up and running in career :)
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by jztemple2 »

I never played the 0.90 release so I don't know if it was there, but I like that in career mode you get science and funds for altitude and distance achievements without having to have a contract for them. It makes more sense to me that way. I still think the science tech tree is a bit odd in what you unlock when, but I guess they had to do it somehow.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by coopasonic »

coopasonic wrote:Yay! Reading the changelog makes me smile. I can't to start this thing all over again.
Progression is quite a bit more difficult to me than it was the last time I played around with it. I suppose that is a good thing. It wouldn't be fun if it was too easy. A lot of it is new to me since the last time I played. Space Tourism contracts, Strategies and space center building upgrades among others.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by Apollo »

I've already put 500+ hours into Kerbal Space Program but I have to admit that I am still incredibly excited to see the release of version 1.0. It's been a year since I've touched KSP and there are enough changes and improvements that it almost seems like a new game. And with the new fairings I think I can finally build a true Apollo-type spacecraft.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by Rip »

I haven't played in some time. Sounds like the perfect time to go see what has changed.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by jztemple2 »

I hardly played 0.90, so there's a lot new to me. I like the fairings and the heat shields, and having realistic re-entry heating make designing the entry vehicle that much more of a challenge.

Unfortunately I'm a bit burned out on some aspects from earlier versions. I keep trying to like the career mode, but the contracts I feel are so confining; like don't just put a satellite in orbit, put in this *exact* orbit. And for so many of the new parts testing contracts, the parameters are so tight that I feel like I'm designing vehicles for some bogus numbers. Also, and this is just me, I never found the aircraft portion of the game that interesting. I'd rather build rockets than airplanes. However, I do like gathering science just for fun, if you will, so what I did was start a career but hacked the save file to give me as much funds and science as I need to unlock stuff as I go along.

Also, I'm really interested in being an engineer, not a pilot, so I've got the newest Mechjeb installed and it's great as usual.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by Rip »

jztemple2 wrote:I hardly played 0.90, so there's a lot new to me. I like the fairings and the heat shields, and having realistic re-entry heating make designing the entry vehicle that much more of a challenge.

Unfortunately I'm a bit burned out on some aspects from earlier versions. I keep trying to like the career mode, but the contracts I feel are so confining; like don't just put a satellite in orbit, put in this *exact* orbit. And for so many of the new parts testing contracts, the parameters are so tight that I feel like I'm designing vehicles for some bogus numbers. Also, and this is just me, I never found the aircraft portion of the game that interesting. I'd rather build rockets than airplanes. However, I do like gathering science just for fun, if you will, so what I did was start a career but hacked the save file to give me as much funds and science as I need to unlock stuff as I go along.

Also, I'm really interested in being an engineer, not a pilot, so I've got the newest Mechjeb installed and it's great as usual.

Same here. Shocked there isn't a 64bit exe anymore. Started a new career and went to grab the east launchpad science.

I liked the old buildings better. Can you not so soil samples anymore? Decided to save and go back this weekend when I have more time to catch up on what has changed.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by coopasonic »

Rip wrote:I liked the old buildings better. Can you not so soil samples anymore?
These two things go together. Part of the career progression now is upgrading the facilities which unlock some features.

My biggest hurdle at this point is my next step is the moon and I don't have maneuver points (I don't remember what they are really called, but I can't click my flight path and set a maneuver to intercept the Mun). Yeah, I can do it without, hitting the gas as the Mun comes over the horizon and watching for the intercept real time. That's fun for Mun, but I really hope I have it back before I have to go beyond.
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Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by AWS260 »

jztemple2 wrote:Unfortunately I'm a bit burned out on some aspects from earlier versions. I keep trying to like the career mode, but the contracts I feel are so confining; like don't just put a satellite in orbit, put in this *exact* orbit. And for so many of the new parts testing contracts, the parameters are so tight that I feel like I'm designing vehicles for some bogus numbers. Also, and this is just me, I never found the aircraft portion of the game that interesting. I'd rather build rockets than airplanes. However, I do like gathering science just for fun, if you will, so what I did was start a career but hacked the save file to give me as much funds and science as I need to unlock stuff as I go along.
I agree that Career mode feels fiddly and grindy. I prefer Science mode -- you don't have to worry about money or reputation, you just explore your way up the science tree.

p.s. The cheat menu is Alt-F12, then hold down the Alt key for additional options (I haven't checked to see if this still works in 1.0). You can use it to give yourself extra funds/science without having to exit the game to hack a save file.
coopasonic wrote:My biggest hurdle at this point is my next step is the moon and I don't have maneuver points (I don't remember what they are really called, but I can't click my flight path and set a maneuver to intercept the Mun). Yeah, I can do it without, hitting the gas as the Mun comes over the horizon and watching for the intercept real time. That's fun for Mun, but I really hope I have it back before I have to go beyond.
I like to use the Protractor mod for this. It doesn't do any flying for you, it just tells you when to launch and when to do your orbital burn in order to reach another moon/planet.

There's also Oleg's illustrated calculator, if you just want to eyeball it.
Cortilian
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Joined: Fri Jan 14, 2005 10:30 am

Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by Cortilian »

Rentery is hard. Even with a heat shield my poor science jr. can't handle it.
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Sepiche
Posts: 8112
Joined: Mon Feb 21, 2005 12:00 pm
Location: Olathe, KS

Re: Kerbal Space Program

Post by Sepiche »

Cortilian wrote:Rentery is hard. Even with a heat shield my poor science jr. can't handle it.
It definitely takes some getting used to. I was having problems getting a capsule attached to 2 science modules through the atmosphere before I realized I could pop my parachutes much earlier than I thought which slowed me down and kept the capsule from flipping over and burning up.
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