macdjord

*snerk* Should'a kept it.

And thanks to the way orbital mechanics works, it really was uphill both ways~

When a navball icon is out of sight off the edge of the ball, add an arrow of the appropriate colour pointing to it. For paired markers (prograde/retrograde, target/anti-target, etc.), the arrow would only show when neither of the pair is visible, and would point towards the positive one. The size of the arrow would indicate how far out of view the marker is, from full size for 'just out of view' to half size for 'almost exactly 180 degrees away' (of course, unpaired markers like the node burn marker would ever get that small; the paired markers can get much more than than 90 degrees away without the opposite marker coming into view).

I should point out that, unless you're using RemoteTech or something similar, most of the utility in Smart Parts is in the early game, before you get fuel transfer and fuel pipes and good probe cores. Put this stuff too late in the tree and you'll only get it after you cease to need it.

Oh, I'm not proposing he add entire chapters about their money situation, or that he try to incorporate his entire picture of the Kerbal economics into the story. Just a few references to the fact that they have income sources and do have to concern themselves about money (not just 'Do we have enough? What can we do with it?' but 'How do we get more? Are we going to keep having enough?').

That covers Rokomax well enough - though, if you're doing any serious work on the earlier chapters, I think you should definately try to work in at least a couple references, in the Rokomax sections, to them being concerned about the commercial aspects of the venture. Maybe just Ademone mentioning they signed a satellite contract, and one of her people says they don't have the capacity to do a commercial launch yet, and she replies that's okay because the payload isn't ready either; just the fact that the contracts are coming in means the board will continue to fund the exploratory and research programs. The parts between the start of Project Moho and the first meeting with the KSA (where they first propose CORDS) are the problem area. For KIS, I'm afraid it still doesn't jive. Even with 100% volunteer labour, there's still materials, equipment, and manufactured items to consider, and a low-intensity economy like you described can only do so much; such an economy would have less demand for such things, but would also produce less of them as a result. At the very least, a few more references to the fact that they do have income sources would be good; them having to clear out of the VAB at some point because it's been rented out to someone, or someone commenting on what the new, larger grandstands mean in terms of increased ticket sales. Another thing that would make sense and would help keep things plausible if you mentioned it: an economy like that would lend itself easily to business dealing being affected by influence and emotion, i.e. you give better prices to people you like or because you're in a good mood; why not? You can afford it. So a world-famous media darling like the KIS might well find the prices people ask of them dropping a lot, simply because people like them and want to help them, and are willing to indulge such whims over hard-headed business practicality. "Right, six pallets of self-sealing stem bolts. They'll be ready next Friday. Delivery where? Wait, that Jebediah's Junkyard? Right, I'll put a rush on it, and we'll have it to you day after tomorrow. No, no, no extra charge - I wouldn't want to be the one to delay your next launch, is all! Say, if we're headed all the way out there, we might as well fill up the truck; anything else you wanted to add to the order, which we'll waive the delivery fee on?"

@KSK: One thing that's really bugging me as I reread this - where the heck is the money coming from? The Kerbal 1 and 2 and the Kerbin 1 and 2, okay, I can sorta see those being done by a group of enthusiasts using lots of volunteer labour, free parts from the junkyard, and probably a pretty hefty portion of Jeb's personal income. But the later stuff? The Mohos? Just building the command bunker would be, conservatively, in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Sure, lots of volunteers to keep costs down, and probably some public donations - but it's really straining suspension of disbelief that they could keep going like that without some sort of public support. Rokomax, on the other hand, could do what they were doing, if you make some hefty assumptions about how large a corporation they are. But the references to a board implies it is a publicly traded company; by definition and law, they have to act in the best interests of their stockholder's money. The first few launches, for publicity, would be reasonable, but they keep pouring money into it with nil prospect of a return on investment. Sure, they might be planning to sell satellite launch services in the future, once the space economy kicks in - but you don't show anything suggesting they are thinking about that. And even if they were, they've gone pretty deep in the hole for a very long-term and uncertain return. Basically, both parties are acting more like public projects, which have budgets, rather than private concerns, which need income. Which makes for a lovely space race narrative, but not for a lot of sense. Now, for Rokomax, this is easy enough to solve. After the second or third successful launch, have corporations start approaching them about satellite launch contracts. They don't actually have to launch any payed contracts at this point; the contractees need time to develop the satellites they want launched anyway. Rokomax just needs a clear revenue stream to justify continuing investment. KIS is harder. They do not - cannot - have the money reserves to pay for what they are doing out-of-pocket, no matter how much they might be willing to do so without care for whether they will ever earn it back. They need funding - a wealthy backer in the vein of Larry Page or Elon Musk, lots of scientific grants, a huge public donation campaign, or simply public funds. Of those, public funds or a wealthy backer are the most plausible, but they would also warp the story around them.

@KSK: You might want to think about going back over your earlier chapters and touching up the editing; I'm in the middle of a reread now, and I'm noticing a lot of issues in the early stuff that you've fixed in the more recent work: questions without question marks, missing or misplaced commas, and, most irritatingly, multiple characters speaking in the same paragraph.

In the semi-official sequel-by-a-different-author The Next Frontier, someone mentioned that the crisis had been resolved by the discovery that sentient Kerms could accept much smaller separations than sub-sentient ones, allowing them to plant enough new trees on Kerbin to handle this seeding; this was discovered before after the crisis had fast-tracked Duna and Lathe colonization programs, but before they actually tried to do mass migrations of Kerm seeds. D'know if that's how it's actually going to go down, though.

Eliminate non-functional actions from the action group screen (e.g. SRBs should not have a 'shutdown engine' option, since they can't actually be shut down, and the non-retractable solar panels should not have a 'retract' action.) Option to disarm a parachute which has been armed but not actually deployed Improve visibility of the in-game message texts (i.e. the quicksave/quickload messages, the transmission progress messages, the experiment result transferred/lost messages). These are all printed in light-coloured text, which makes them nearly invisible if they're over a light background. Adding a fine black outline to the font would make them readable on any background. A number of the part sequences need to be rebalanced in various ways in order to have sensible economy of scale. You should never have a situation where a small version of a part is strictly better than a larger part that does the same thing. For instance, the Z-series batteries all hold the same amount of charge per unit of mass, but the larger ones cost more, proportionally, than the small ones; this makes no sense; the larger ones should either be identical-but-bigger or better-but-costlier. Similarly, the Gigantor solar panel should be at least as mass efficient as the smaller retractable panels. On the other hand, the ladders all have the same mass despite massively different lengths, while the RCS quad has the same mass as the linear thruster while offering 4 nozzles to its one. Two of my previous suggestions, namely radial-mount drogue chutes and the ability to rename objects from the tracking station, are already in the game and should be removed from the list. (Note that my original suggestion was for radial-mount and 0.625 m drogue chutes; the radial-mount already exists, but the 0.625 m part is still a valid suggestion.)

When moving in the atmosphere, if you hit 'Return to Space Center' in the mission, it tells you that it can't save right now and that you'll have to revert to the last autosave in order to exit the scene. There should also be the option to return to the KSC without reverting; the active vessel would be dealt with the same way as if it had left physics range (i.e. above a certain altitude it goes on rails and ignores the atmosphere entirely; below that altitude it simply despawns immediately). Note: Do not remove the option to revert back to the last stable state; the player should always have the ability to exit the game quickly without permanent loss.

Download the latest version directly, and replace them all with that? Edit: Better solution: Delete all the existing copies, then download one new copy of the latest version directly from the source and drop it in you GameData folder.

What's their Isp at cruising altitude?

Maybe tie it into the Admin building's level? At L1, you can't change strategies, only cancel them, just like now. At L2, reducing commitment is free, while increasing it costs as much per percent increase as setting up the strategy of that percentage commitment (e.g. upgrading a strategy from 25% commitment to 50% commitment costs as much as setting up the strategy at 25% did in the first place; since strategy costs are non-linear, this means the total cost is considerably more than just setting up the strategy at 50% would have). Then, at L3, upgrading costs only the price difference, while downgrading (or cancelling) gets you a partial refund. The toolbar controls are counterintutive; when I click the right arrow, I expect to move my view to the right, not move the toolbar contents to the right (thus effectively scrolling left). There's also no way to quickly scroll to the ends. Also, some way to quickly see the whole list of buttons available, and select one in order to make it visible (look at how Firefox handles tabs - look at the pulldown menu to the right of the tab bar). A quick way to look at the orbits for satellite contracts and the ground locations for 'take sensor readings at' contracts without leaving the Mission Control building Its absurd that you can complete satellite contracts by holding the right orbit for 10s, then fly that same craft off to do other things with it. Switch to a system like the old Mission Controller mod used: once you're in the right orbit, a button pops up; when you hit that button, you lose control of the probe (because you've handed off ownership to the contractee) and the contract completes. You could keep the old-style contracts, too; just ditch the 'must be unmanned' requirement and rename them 'record orbital data' or 'study a particular orbit' [*]Satellite contracts that have a Mystery Goo or Materials Exposure Bay requirement should demand that the experiment in question be functional; presumably the contractee demands these items because they wish to use them, so you should not be able to complete the contract by supplying unusable ones. [*]Parts which are radially attached to the inside of an equipment bay should apply their mass at the bay's CoM, as if they were physics mode 0. This should only apply to parts which are inside the bay (i.e. they are shielded by it when the doors are closed), but it should work even when the doors are open. This only applies to parts which are attached directly to the bay (so if you are, say, using a large cargo bay to carry an entire probe into orbit in a spaceplane, you can't ignore the probe's CoM when balancing the aircraft); the idea is that pats inside an equipment bay represent 'internal systems', and the designers should be able to position them such that the overall CoM is in line.

Better yet: You should be able to rename/re-classify objects from the tracking station. It shows up too late in the tech tree. Also, while it makes things a lot easier, since you can use timewarp, you're still stuck repeatedly rerunning it until you get a new biome - which is also a problem for the gravity scan experiment. There ought to be a way to tell what biome you're over other than running an experiment.

Part test contracts for 'At Launch Site' and 'Kerbin - Landed' are currently free money. Accept contract, build craft consisting of command pod + test part, launch, run test, recover vessel for 100% refund. (This even works for SRBs, since you can just tweak them to 0 fuel so they don't go anywhere.) I propose changing it so that part test contracts never spawn for any of the KSC biomes, and that 'Kerbin - Landed' part tests require that you do them somewhere outside the KSC. Every time I get a new science part, the first thing I do is always collect science from every KSC biome with it. This requires no skill or resources, just time, which makes it very tedious. Either these experiments should have 0 science value, or they should be done automatically for you as soon as you unlock a new experiment. In the later game, this applies to all of Kerbin. In the early game, getting science from the various biomes of Kerbin is a matter of repeatedly launching expensive, carefully targeted sounding rockets, or taking advantage of fortuitous reentry locations from space missions; later on its a matter of slapping the new instrument onto a plane and tediously flying to each biome before returning to the KSC (total cost: 200 Funds in fuel - and several hours playtime). Maybe tie it to the tech tree? Start of the game, you automatically get EVA Reports and, once you've unlocked them, Surface Samples from all the KSC biomes. Once you unlock Aviation, this is expanded to Crew Reports and all science experiments you've unlocked (because Aviation gives you wheels and an engine, so you can drive around the KSC trivially (rather than having to awkwardly roll around in a reaction wheel-powered pseudo-rover)). Aeordynamics gives you Landed, Splashed, and Flying Low in every biome on Kerbin for every unlocked experiment. High Altitude Flight adds Flying High. [*]The barometer and atmospheric analysis should be be per-planet, not per-biome, when used on the surface of airless worlds. [*]Each asteroid should count as its own biome; doing samples of the same asteroid when its in orbit of different bodies should not give more results. [*]The biome/condition interaction should be more strictly defined and enforced. For instance, the KSC biomes are supposed to be surface-only, but by fiddling with launch clamps it's relatively easy to create a situation where, for an instant, you are 'Flying Low over the Launchpad', and then capture science for it. Similarly, the only thing that prevents your from running experiments 'While Splashed Down at Kerbin's Mountains' is the fact that there isn't (supposed to be) any water there; if you find a spot in the water that, due to the imprecision of the biome map, counts as mountainous, you can get science that isn't supposed to exist. The game should have a list of what situations are supposed to be possible for what biomes, and not return science results for impossible combinations. [*]There needs to be a better way to capture per-biome low-orbit EVA Reports than hanging off a ladder, hitting 'Take EVA Report' every few seconds and looking for a new biome. [*]Need a batter way to view and manage stored science results. Should be able to see results in a list rather than paging through them one-by-one every time. Should be able to filter on: repeatable/non-repeatable; current biome (i.e. 'if I transmit or discard this result, am I currently in the right place to capture it again?'); return value > 0; transmission value > 0; transmission value > 0 if analyzed in lab first. [*]'Show biomes in map' shouldn't be a cheat option.

Actually, let's expand that: every action that switches between two states should have all 3 action group options: on, off, and toggle. The fuel cells have on and off but no toggle, while a number of other things, like opening and closing air intakes, have toggle but no on and off. A couple new ones: Fix up ladder physics, so it obeys conservation of momentum, so you can timewarp with a kerbal on a ladder, etc. Save crew assignments with vessels; it's irritating to have to manually place Bob in the cockpit of my science-gathering plane every time I launch it, etc. Add a 'Derelict' or 'Defunct' vessel category for vessels which have reached the end of their mission (e.g. ground or orbital probes that have transmitted all the science they can and are not designed to return home; flyby probes that have finished their flyby and are headed off into nowhere; obsolete reusable exploration vessels which aren't capable of surviving reentry to be reclaimed) - useless, but still functional. Vessels would never be placed in the category automatically. This category, like Debris, would be hidden by default on the map, but unlike debris is never automatically deleted (in case you have ISEE-3/ICE moment and discover your 'defunct' vessel is useful again). Another new category: Satellite, for vessels which remain active and functional, but require no further human interaction (e.g. ScanSat mapping satellites, RemoteTech comms relays)

Oh, I know it's possible, I just can't imagine why anyone would do it. The advantage of a sub-orbital trajectory is that it lets you get into space for less delta-v than you need to get into orbit; there's no reason at all to go higher than 250km (where the In Space High science starts). Besides, beyond about halfway to Keosynchronous orbit, it's actually more efficient to go into orbit first than it is to keep burning straight up.

... a suborbital flight past Minmus? Hwa?

I can see a couple uses for ASL triggers. For instance, things like ditching stages or deploying drogue chutes during reentry. Those are things that you want to at a certain stage of your reentry sequence, i.e. at a certain point in the atmosphere. You want to fire drogues when the atmosphere is thick enough to have slowed you down so they won't get ripped off, but still high enough for them to slow you down and orient you before the mains fire; it doesn't make sense for them to go off earlier because there happens to be a mountain under you at the moment, especially since at that point you're still high enough up that the altitude of the terrain under your vessel now has nothing to do with the altitude of the terrain you'll actually be landing on. Alternately, if you're firing a suborbital sounding rocket, you want the experiments to trigger as soon as you are out of the atmosphere, i.e. 70km ASL. ... actually, now that I think about it, with the exception of firing parachutes just before landing, every task you might want an altitude trigger for is better served by ASL triggers than AGL. (Well, you might want AGL triggers for some things in the early stages of a launch, but that's a wash; you launch from a constant altitude, so you could just use ASL triggers and add 67m to everything.) Ahem. Despite what Star Trek may have told you, neutronium is not a super-strong material. It is super-dense, but it actually behaves more like a liquid than a solid. It also spontaneously evaporates at anything like normal temperatures and pressures. (Though, to be clear, 'evaporate' here means 'instantly turn into massive amounts of gas', i.e. closer to an explosion than boiling water.)

They massively nerfed the 909's sea-level Isp, and because lower Isp now means less thrust instead of higher fuel consumption, the 909 has hilariously little thrust near the surface of Kerbin - less than the 48-7S, in fact. (With the 909 nerf, we really need a new small general-purpose engine that fits between the 48-7S and the LV-T30. :-/)

I'd say that all that belongs in the tutorials, not in the main career mode.

All these worlds are yous, except Moho - attempt no landing there.

@Diazo: Feature request: Trigger on acceleration, velocity (surface and orbital), and air pressure. Also, I would request you leave the fuel breakers in; I'd rather not have to download anothe mod just to keep that functionality.

See, if you had remembered your oxidizer, you wouldn't have crashed an asteroid into the planet, and you wouldn't be looking at a tsunami now~