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illumiz

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  1. It helped me to see a graphical representation of this. The important thing to realize is that the natural logarithm function in the rocket equation is limiting the gains from adding more fuel. See this simple graph of Y = ln(X): As you can see, as we linearly increase X we get diminishing increases in Y. In the rocket equation 'X' is related to your fuel & payload mass, and 'Y' is related to your delta V & Isp.
  2. On my last Mun return mission, I couldn't quite get the return vessel's periapsis within the atmosphere for reentry before it ran out of liquid fuel. Jeb very graciously hopped out and gave it a push. There was a scary moment when I realized I wasn't paying attention to his backpack RCS fuel and nearly stranded him behind the vessel...
  3. I *want* to enjoy progressing through career mode, even though my ultimate goal is always simply to unlock all the parts. I crave a reason to slog through the tech tree instead of loading up a sandbox game. Sometimes I think that KSP could offer players like me more satisfaction. In general I would describe these two suggestions as ways to "individualize" each career mode playthrough, so each iteration of the Space Program is more unique. First suggestion: give the player random starting Kerbals, and makes Kerbal stats & roles more important. The idea is to make the player more attached to the employees of their space program. Currently they feel very interchangeable and impersonal. It would be great if (for example), when given a certain contract the player would naturally think "X would be perfect for that mission, but Y isn't really suited for it." To achieve this, give Kerbals randomized personal goals similar to contracts. Fulfill them in order to level up the Kerbals (instead of the old way of leveling up). Jeb wants to be the first Kerbal on Minmus, Bill wants to collect atmospheric data from Eve, etc. Could also include negative goals, such as: Jeb hates flying alone (if you send him alone he won't level up), Bob wants to talk to his kids (he won't level up without an antenna on the craft), etc. Achieving a goal would level up the Kerbal and unlock another goal to be pursued for the next level. (Bonus idea: generate contracts for specific Kerbals based on their achievements: "Have Jeb take tourists to the site of his historic Minmus landing" etc.) My other suggestion is the gradual improvement of parts based on their use in the game. The more often a part is used, the better use your program can make of it. The idea is that these would be very minor improvements to things like mass, Isp, fuel capacity, drag, etc, and they would be randomized so that each playthrough would offer different bonuses. Maybe implement it this way: each part has three phases of use: Phase 1 - Experimental, is a short period in which the part is not being used to its full potential and has randomized deficiencies. A small number of missions that are recovered with the part on board could move it onto Phase 2 - Mass Production, during which the part has "stock" values. It would take a good amount of use and recovery to move onto Phase 3 - Fine Tuned, when the parts are given randomized bonuses. I believe that the career game could feel much more rewarding with something like this implemented. TLDR: the bolded stuff. Maybe it's too ambitious or against the spirit of the game. Maybe it's an awesome idea. I'm just throwing it out there, let me know what you think.
  4. I have the same problem. GTX 970, Windows 10. I see the ENB text in the upper left when the game loads, and I can press shift+enter and see some more text, so obviously something is working, but the game doesn't look any different (except for the lack of AA). Also I don't see any in-game options for AF, so I assumed that I was to turn that off in the nvidia control panel.
  5. I've been playing since the very beginning. I'm not sure when I bought it and I've only ever lurked on the forums until today, but this post made me want to sign up and chime in. I've kept playing, on and off, throughout the entire development. One of the interesting things I can appreciate about my relationship with KSP is how it has taught me the basics of rocket science, aerodynamics, and orbital mechanics slowly over time as new features have been added. Simple stuff like the practical meaning of twr, Isp and dV, what a gravity turn is, how to manipulate an orbit, etc. More complicated things like the Oberth effect, rendezvous maneuvers, lift, drag, and CoM concerns for design of rockets and spaceplanes, the actual rocket equation, etc. Tangential tidbits like the existence of ion and dual-mode engines (I am still floored by the idea of a SABRE engine, so cool), interesting facts about the space race and NASA's missions, etc. Each update exposed me gradually to the actual science and history behind space travel. I'm a smart person but my field is energy, electronics, and a bit of programming - not aerodynamics or rockets - and the fact is if you asked me 5 years ago how to catch up to an object orbiting ahead of me, I would have said "thrust towards it". It's been a deeply rewarding learning experience that I don't think can be replicated, something that only happened because I was exposed to the game features so gradually and over such a long time. I really appreciate that aspect of this game and it's what has kept me coming back. I'm not surprised by the development, which I perceive as focusing a lot on the "gamey" aspects (tech tree, contracts, career mode in general). I'm happy that the devs have enjoyed the success they have, and I believe this development focus is part of that. Although, if I had my way (I know, I won't) I would ask the developers to focus more on expanding the flight, construction, and visual aspects, and less on career mode. Also I think a lot of the more popular mods should be absorbed into the stock game. But it isn't something that I really care that much about, and I'm more than happy to let the devs focus on what they want - like I said it's been a rewarding journey they have led me on. Also, why isn't this game cell-shaded? In my experience people usually hate cell-shading so I don't expect much agreement, but it just seems to fit perfectly with the aesthetics of this game. I know, I know, it's an idea out of left field...but seriously, it would be perfect. Is there a mod for this?
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