Caelib

Duna rovers incoming!

Looks nice. Can we get a skybox revamp now too?

Ah yeah, I remember now .. I had to re-read it to catch the "intermittently between each update" part - I originally interpreted it as just a different format, but still weekly. Thanks

Does anyone know why there isn't a KSP Weekly this week? Seems unusual that they wouldn't have one and also not mention anything about it?

It is not possible to "Dress for Success" without a new and improved Skybox and clouds ... just sayin' ...

Nice, how about a new skybox now?

The HECS II looks better for sure ... but let's get real for a minute ... KSP's stock skybox is almost 6 years old and seriously needs to be updated. Not only that, but how about some stock clouds? I do appreciate the part changes to bring them more in-line with other/newer parts, but why not change some larger aspects of the game that have a much higher "visibility" than a single part?

What is the size of the team doing active development on KSP these days? My perception is that is extremely small (2?) given the slow progress of things post-expansion. Can we expect the pace of things to pick up in the future?

I can confirm that it will indeed dock to a "Jr" docking port, but the air lock must be EXTENDED first.

I tried medium and Jr. Neither work.

It is a new part in the Making History expansion. I haven't tried docking it with itself yet, but I am doubtful that will even work because it's not "attachable" in VAB on both ends.

I'm able to overlook a lot of things, but the fact that the inflatable airlock just doesn't mate with other same-size docking ports is a major oversight. Nobody is ever going to want to dock two of these together. I love the idea of the part, but I'm really disappointed that the absolute, most basic form of functionality doesn't even work.

While I appreciate them adding new parts, a lot of these feel like half-hearted attempts ... it's like getting 2/3 of a jigsaw puzzle. If Squad was going to make historical parts, it should be complete sets -- we have a nice new command module, a service module that (almost) fits on top, but no parachutes that will surface attach inside. The Munar Excursion Module has a lot of problems as well with stability ... it's like, they made the part and it looks cool ... but it's virtually unusable due it's massive stability problems. That being said, they did a nice job with the engines, engine plates and fuel tanks.

The "doughnut" fuel tank has an issue where it does not correctly attach to 1.25m parts:

I appreciate this being added to the game, but the RCS + SAS is so unstable when docking it's virtually worthless (this is even with RCS toned down via CAPSLOCK). Basically, this module is NEVER going be balanced with the placement of RCS thrusters after ascent from the surface of Mun to an orbiter ... so it just spins out of control because there's no reaction wheel. In addition, simply performing an EVA in orbit sends it into a spin even when there's a pilot inside holding with SAS and RCS enabled. It took me a grand total of one attempt to figure out all of this so I am not sure who at Squad tested this and passed it.

I purchased on Steam in March 2013 and mine still reads the same. Weird.

So, it's less than a day before the launch and this information hasn't been shared yet. Somebody from Squad should speak up on the matter so we can plan accordingly.

Any word on how veterans will receive their DLC?

When you consider the value of this game and its replay-ability compared to most other games, the cost of the expansion is a small price to pay for the added benefit. I paid $20 for this game more than 4 years ago and I have put over 2000 hours into it - that is a cost of ONE CENT per HOUR! If somebody is too cheap to buy the expansion, they don't deserve to use those parts.

Those new de-couplers and the fairings are awesome! Now show me some stock clouds and a new skybox and my life will be complete

One could also extrapolate that the number of fixes is related to the number of developer and QA resources available. Releases (even small ones) require a fair bit of overhead so doing more of them means extra work. My perception is the same amount of bug fixes spread out among less point-releases.

I've been doing software development for 20+ years and I know exactly what it is like when a development team loses the vast majority of its senior development team. A lot of experience and knowledge left the game and it takes a very long time to recover from that loss. In my experience, it takes about a year to regain the same momentum, but the work is really slow/backlogged during that time. Just look at how long it is taking to get an incremental post-release patch out ... We've heard a lot about DESIGN and seen some art, but I suspect not much has been accomplished on the building-things side of the project.

I wouldn't expect to see this expansion before Summer 2018, based on the progress of things since the mass exodus.

I can't help but be pessimistic with the expansion, based on the amount of time it took to complete the localization update and the 1.3.1 patch. Based on the current progress, I doubt we will see this update before Summer 2018. I personally think the stock game is long overdue for some clouds and for the love of all that is good, please replace the skybox with something that isn't such a low resolution mess like we have now

I really hope you don't fall into the trap of dumbing down the game to facilitate consoles. Many great PC-based franchises have died a slow, painful death because of this.