Grunnt

I have to take a small bite of this bait and say that Java isn't such a bad choice for game development at all, especially if you're a lone developer or a small team. Especially when using LibGDX these days you can be quite productive and make really nice things. Also, Oracle's Java runtime is performance-wise nothing to sneeze at, it's an extremely optimized beast of a thing. Yes, in theory any game is best developed using a highly skilled team of hundreds of C / assembly coders, but in practice small teams have to try to make something as efficiently as possible. Unity is an awesome platform for that, but Java isn't such a bad choice when it comes to being productive either (especially if you code Java in your day job ). Ok nom nom that was some tasty bait.

Looks really great, I love tiny ships and it's good to see this is possible

Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you my first useful SSTO plane: the XCXx! (named by my one-year-old who managed to reach the keyboard). It can be controlled remotely and has a capacity for carrying 2 kerbals. The small cargo bay contains a good supply of monopropellant for RCS maneuvring, a probe core, batteries and some small solar panals. Propulsion consists of 2 turbojets and a poodle rocket. It has about 1k m/s delta-V left in orbit when flown right, which along with the RCS is sufficient for docking and de-orbiting. Cost: 36,7k, of which about 35k recovered after landing back at KSC. Mass: 34t. All in all it works very well for me as an orbital taxi and recovery vehicle in my career game.

There's no mention in your post of using decouplers or staging. Possibly you are trying to get a single humongous rocket into orbit in one go? Staging and your ascent path are key. First (bottom) stage: solid fuel boosters. Second stage: engine with high atmospheric ISP (efficiency). Third stage: rocket engine with high vacuum ISP. Then the final stage is your pod with a parachute and a heat shield. Ascent: first go mainly up while the atmosphere is still thick (to avoid too much loss from drag) and when the atmosphere gets thinner slowly turn towards horizontal (to avoid too much loss from gravity). Doing a good gracity turn is quite hard and requires practice, but there's help for that on these forums.

Oh I hate going the wrong way on these contracts, happens to me all the time.

Yeah, after playing with FAR in 0.90 the atmosphere in 1.0 appeared pretty much absent. This did make the landings very exciting though: it was relatively hard to slow down before impact. But 1.0.2 seems to strike a good balance between the soup and almost-absent-atmosphere, so I would expect it to stay pretty much like this.

Use both. What worked well for me is to use a jet for the biomes nearby (all the KSC biomes, the shore, grassland, highlands, desert, I think there's even a patch of tundra nearby KSC). Make a two-seater jet with all the science equipment you got, take Jeb and Bob (a scientist) and start collecting science biome by biome. Works like a charm. Edit: so use the scientist to reset the instruments when landed, works much more efficiently than by dropping disposable science pods (though that sounds kinda cool). Edit2: also remember that you can drive jets just fine, which is especially good when visiting all KSC biomes. However, to reach the badlands and pole biomes by early-career jet is not really feasible: it takes ages to fly there. So for these ones you could build a rocket, maybe even one with a small jet strapped on top. But to be honest I have not bothered for the few science points that this would net me. Much better by then to fly to the mun or minmus.

I'm not sure. Must I have an opinion on the mouse cursor? I'd rather not.

Try to have a little understanding, white knights: the black knights love this game as much as you do. The black knights have a right to criticize the game, and it is good to respect this. You can just let the criticism be if you have nothing of value to add to the discussion. Try to have a little understanding, black knights: the white knights love this game as much as you do. The white knights have a right to disagree with your criticisms and it is good to respect this. You can just let the disagreement be if you have nothing of value to add to the discussion.

If you look at this from a meta perspective, you could also consider the emotional reactions a (big) compliment: apparently some / many of the players have become deeply emotionally attached to this game. If KSP were really a bad game nobody would care enough to post heated comments about how terrible it is that <insert bug here> is in the game. Overall I think the 1.0 relase was a great success. Good reviews, 10/10 on Steam and for me personally I'm having a blast with it. The balancing, aero and heat changes bring so much life to the game, much more than with a modded 0.90. Also, for players bothered by some of the bugs in 1.0, there's a good bugfix mod which helps. I have no doubt that these issues will be fixed soon enough.

I kind of expect Valentina to be an engineer and engineers to have a cool new ability (who knows, detaching / attaching parts? Strutting things up a bit while on the mun?). That would make Jeb & Val an awesome maniacal duo.

My favorite long overdue feature is to let the player choose where to build his space center (a.k.a. barn with a mud strip). Want to start on top of a mountain or on an island? No problem! Or if you want an extra challenge: start a polar space center!

Hello everyone! I've been lurking quietly in the shadowy corners of these formers but I can no longer hide. Lately I've been having some troubles while designing SSTO's. I managed to get one to space, which then promptly and spectacularly desintegrated upon returning to Kerbin. Anyways, maybe I'll try to get some help later. Wonderful community here!