Pax Kerbana

lololol Just remind Billy Boy that you rescued him from a pale green death on Minmus, he doesn't really get a say in the matter!

Bummer. I tried it out last night and I successfully flew upside down with a negative angle of attack (relative to the surface) with a 4x whiplash powered 30 Kerbal SSTO I'm working on. Shame I don't have any mods. I am thinking hard about getting them tho... the RO pack at least. I'm afraid if I start on mods I'll end up hating the game (too many options, I'll get lost figuring out what I want/don't want).

I've been working on something like this. A trial concept craft exists but not to my standards. I'll see if I can polish the design and maybe I'll even remember to post it.

This is a brilliant and original challenge. I may or may not participate, depending on what your pointing scheme is. Shall there be rules?

Much beauty. Keep going!

When everything relates somehow to Delta-V. When you find yourself explaining orbital mechanics just so you can talk about space. When you think about space everyday, and need KSP to get the space out of your system.

But you took the hook anyway. Programming is a part of what I manage, and I agree it isn't easy dealing with the intricacies. But I don't have to deal with the intracies (unless things are going south), because I hire good people who can get the job done right, on time, and on budget. FWIW, programming doesn't even make the top 10 of total difficulty, unless the contractor has no idea what they're doing, in which case it's extremely difficult. Are you saying Squad has no idea what they're doing? What you have obviously failed to realize is I'm talking about overal management. Not how to code. I don't care about coding. I care about the end result. And a good manager knows how to get the right people, give them the right resources and put them in the right place at the right time. Do you want to keep going? What's the dollar figure of the average size project for which you are directly responsible? If you want we can break out the percentage for programming. Or are we not taking about management? Because that's what I'm taking about.

You know the beauty of the Internet? The murky waters allow a herring to challenge a white shark. Or maybe in this case, an ocelot unknowingly calling out a jaguar. I never professed knowing much about hunting small game. But I do know about hunting. Hunting is fairly universal, you want to eat something, you go and get it. Each prey requires different methods, but the end result is the same, and the methods are similar. Each cat employs different tactics, some are good and some are bad. I am an excellent hunter. As one hunter to another, I am simply saying Squad is employing bad tactics. You don't like the message so you challenge the messenger. Wrong tactic. If you want to turn this into a measuring contest, be my guest. What's the average size project you directly manage? Dont make the mistake of doubling down on game development being unique or "not an exact science." You might be a bigger cat, but based on your preoccupation with intricacies, I doubt it.

Maybe. However if Squad was well managed nobody would be. Is Sqaud did things the right way, not the cheapest way, the game would be done now and they would be working on the next big project, with the owners hoping for a buy out. I used to think Squad was making a great name for themselves, but now am waiting to hear that they're closing up shop, never to be heard from again. The owners have their money and they're dreaming other dreams. Its a trap most people fall into, do things as cheap as possible and maximize profit, thinking this is the way to success. It can be, but often is limited to a few years before the management realizes they don't have any trees left to cut; in their rush to clear cut they've destroyed any future growth and simultaneously rendered the land worthless. When people do things right, and emphasis being great at something, the success is ultimately more profitable in the long run, especially for the owners if they're bought out. Its unfortunate, but Kerbal will never be finished.

You could always try again in 5 years, Squad will be mostly done with the basic game elements by then.

Building a shuttle for Laythe. Other than that I don't have a use for them. The constraints of fitting modules into a cargo bay are significant. A vertical launch non-SSTO isn't very cost effective. Small cargo (the only type that can be placed into orbit with a shuttle) are very easy and cheap once you've got the S1 booster. The shuttle itself, if it is to be of any real use, must be large and will be more difficult and costly to maneuver. Total mission time is significant, requires long flight times and the inevitable "trying to hit KSP" on re-entry. There's nothing a shuttle can do that a rocket can't do better, except for crew and payload return. SSTO crew planes however, with or without external liquid fuel drop tanks, are very efficient and worthwhile. Return for Kerbonauts is usually in a Mk1-2 pod, which is very easy, safe, and my preferred method... but is annoying for crews of more than three. So a 6 Kerbal plane with a Mk2 cockpit and Mk2 cabin is great for LKO. Add some jet fuel drop tanks and now you're talking easy. A few days ago I was just fooling around with some wings and ended up making an amazing 18 Kerbal hypersonic SSTO in a near perfect V-shape with bottom ram scoops, just like a real one might some day. Now that thing is fun. Too bad I don't have a use for it. Imagine all the great things the world would have if we just had a use for them... someone please open the space market by opening a Moon resort. That's all we need... a decade after the first moon base there will be real plans underway for a Jupiter station. Because what wealthy adventurer wouldn't want to see Jupiter in person?! I wonder if there will be heated towels? Maybe at Spa Europa.

Haha this may be the best description of Kerbal I've ever read!

Anything in orbit around Kerbin automatically has life support re-supplied. Life support pods & snack packs warning will stop any warp when any ship is about to run out of either. life support generator and snack house will keep life support running indefinitely (5 years or something) but have massive mass and need electricity to run. kerbals start to conserve and stretch the life support and snacks by rationing but during that time you can't make the do anything other than pilot a ship. No Eva, no science.

We in the way back machine to point nine ohh.

As much as I love KSP, I disagree. What we have now is excellent for what is actually complete. The "overall" of KSP isn't close to being complete, and no, they have not done a great job managing it. If a major developer decided to make a game similar to KSP, it would be done in 2 years and released without major bugs. It would have everything we want in it, better graphics, and be fast to boot. Don't get me wrong... I love KSP and the little green frogmen (this by far is the secret to KSP's success). Squad being inexperienced in game development isn't the bad thing. The bad thing is they haven't learned yet how to develop. I mean, 1.1.2 was just released and it crashed 20 minutes into my first game. Really? I imagine the problem afflicting Squad is the same problem that hurts many companies. A small group of people at the top are so petrified of loosing control that they intentionally avoid hiring experienced people.

The tech tree and Kerbal cost structure need to be fixed first. Change tech to be more organic, research along a path where tech takes time to develop. Select a tech you want to research and 2 years later you can prototype the first part. Cost for program down-payment and yearly costs. Allow the player to speed up development via the admin options or on a per-program basis with increased fees. Allow access to all basic tech at the start... batteries, small wings, etc. Some techs are given to you for nothing but prototype costs, because you've used a part enough to gain experience with the system. Use the Reliant enough and Wernher von Kerman proposes prototyping a Swivel (you still have to pay for the prototype). Research program costs can be kept under control by setting a cap on research allocation, example: a 2 year program costing √15k total (√7.5k per year) takes 3 years because you have set the max yearly research expenditure at √5k. Fix Kerbal hiring so that Kerbals of different experiences are offered. The more experienced they are, the more they cost. The better your rep, the more likely you will attact experienced Kerbals. Greatly reduce the cost of Kerbals relative to parts (they are far too expensive, needs to be balanced). Recruit a Kerbal by paying a small signing bonus and then pay a yearly salary for a 10-year contract. Some will say they don't want to be Kerbal KR, fine I appreciate the sentiment, but what is Career mode for if you don't have to manage a space program? The costs would be easy to manage, have all committed yearly costs summed up to display next to your funds. The admin building could have a place where you see KR contract costs, and forecasted costs for the next 2, 5, and 10 years. Add a continuous fund stream (financed by Kerbal Government) that will help mitigate any real impact from HR costs. If you kill a bunch of Kerbals, your rep is hit, and you lose a portion of the funding. Okay, now we have a functioning tech and hiring process, we can talk about making the game "harder". Because Squad has gone through all of the above effort to finish Career mode, I propose a very simple solution. We all know they love slider bars, and fine, not really my style but it works. I therefore propose a slider that will scale up the Kerbol system (at the same time reducing density). It could go from 10% (current game configuration) to 100%. Maybe the truly insane would want more, but I'm fine with 10x lol.

Create a floating base on Laythe? I just finished building a 100t space station around Laythe (75t dry/without the service module) to serve as a "long duration" hab for my Laythe crews. I was going to just have a land base but experimenting with the new water has given me some ideas... Also you could make a base on Duna that could refuel planes. Or link three asteroids into a big space base. Or make a base in the canyons of the Mun (have done this, really cool place for a base) or Dres (who goes there anyway?). Have you ever had a Kerbal stand on top of a Mun arch? Lots to do, even when the game gets "easy" Eventually I will try an Eve ascent again... haven't since the old days. I think I'm going to try RO too once the update comes out...

I like it the way it is. IIRC Squad will let you hire Kerbals with more starting experience but got more money. Three years from now when they revamp career.

I thought it was settled that they're frogs? No?

Ahh! Nice write-up and description. I do something similar, but only with SSTOs where I often have the cockpit tilted off axis from the direction of thrust. That shuttle of yours is absolutely gorgeous BTW!

That reminded me of another thing I do... Bury one of those little batteries on the "up" side of a pod or adapter, so I can know which way is "up." Don't always do it, but usually do. Turn the battery off, and it is good for emergencies like "oh crap Jeb, you left the solar panels facing the wrong way"

Don't take this as a criticism, because your vessel looks pretty sweet. And it is a game, after all, with impossibly dense materials, so really anything goes. I do not think space "warships" would be armored. If they ever existed, they would likely rely on self defense mechanism similar to the Phalanx or some sort of microwave or laser weapon. Space attack warfare would probably be limited to launching weapons over great distances, years in advance. Humans don't fight that way. Weapons could be launched as asteroids in disguise, but I imagine that this would be noticed by any nation (or civilization) that commences in space warfare. Most likely it would be similar to modern sea (surface) warfare... but much more dangerous. Major players know where every "warship" is at any given time. They move around and hopefully they're not going to blow you out of the water today. Any weapon worth firing would completely destroy a single vessel (like the Moskit), so heavy armor isn't really effective, better to be light and efficient. Warships would probably be more akin to glorified troop transports with pods for fast assault on space stations or maybe even planets/moons. The thing is, they could only be used for the first strike... after that they will all be blown out of the sky when the defending group launches land-based or orbiting weapons at all known locations of the enemy fleet. I think the only armor you would see on such a vessel would be for defending against debris and energy weapons, something like a metal foam that can completely stop a fast moving space rock and absorb energy from a laser type weapon as a nice side effect. So something similar to your wing panels. One of the best Kerbal "warships" I've seen was one made by a player that would launch a debris shield of (back then) ridiculously strong structural pylons. An incoming missile would strike the pylons and explode, leaving the main ship intact. Props to Mad Rocket Scientist haha!

Music for Dining in Space also PantyRaids newest album has some amazing content. Highly recommended. Blackmill

If the game was finished, like something you could buy complete with polish, I would be okay buying "Monsters of Eve" expansion pack. But until career, tech, and clouds are complete, the answer is definitely no. Life support, no. Any "basic" things... Things that a Kerbal should be able to do (like run a hose between craft) should be considered part of the original "contract" if you will. "Mysteries of the Mohovian Robots" I will gladly pay for.

I always try to make a realistic com set up. Dish on mount, antenna placement realistically as possible, back-ups.