Speeding Mullet

January 9

Issue - Clicking the 'x' on any tank in in the left pane will just duplicate it as many times as you click it.

SM

January 9

Issue - Icon scaling prevents targeting body (i.e. minmus) while in map view.

SM

September 9, 2023

Duna - The boss gave me this laundry list of things to do and I'm going to cram it all into one day before the big meeting mission report

Swooping in with a 5 month necro to post this . With the latest patch out, I've spent some of my free time over the last 2 weeks getting stuck into this challenge. I decided to go big or go home, throw caution to the wind, and try and run as far as normal what is a typical mission for me. That is to say - over complicate everything, use too many parts, and be way too detail orientated for my own good. I also elected to have multiple packages on a rocket, with other rockets relying on multiple undocking and undocking procedures, with complex staging requirements to boot. I decided to go for the primary stretch Val Watney level, and also decided that in order to keep it simple I would also boost a space station to Duna orbit as a long-term orbital outpost. Why not right?

I had fun. A lot of fun. I really enjoyed basically every single part of the mission. But would the mission be even completable given the complexity? Would I succumb to the kraken?

You can view the full mission report here, and then below a few summary photos from the mission:

Spoiler

The main crewed ship, and the Duna station docking high above Kerbin

The Duna polar lander with its complex landing deployment, including fairing, heatshield, and braking module detachment.

The return to orbit lander on the surface at the North polar region of Duna. Absolutely astounding views of Ike.

Duna station on orbit, with the crew ship burning for Ike.

Ike landing with Duna in the background!

First crewed landing on Duna. Ike is in the centre of the imagine and just visible through the haze.

I love the visuals and music at Duna. It's so so good.

Second landing, at the pol by the return to orbit vehicle. Ike in the background again for the naysayers

Return to orbit for the crew, and the start of the end of the mission. Bugs started to accumulate at this stage and it was getting more complex to manage. Most had workarounds.

Due to fuel shortages some pretty funky orbital manoeuvres were required to A) rescue the crew in orbit around Duna, and B) set up the plane change around Duna to make the return to Kerbin efficient. The return burn was accomplished and the ship picked up the intercept with Kerbin. Please see mission report for more details.

Abandon ship! By this point the accumulation of bugs had got to the stage of not being able to view the main crew ship, or control it in any reasonable way. Hendros Kerman now had to represent all of kerbal kind and make it home in one piece.

Splashdown for all Kerbalkind, and mission (as best as possible) accomplished!

So what do I say in summary? This is by far the biggest mission I've run in KSP2. It took 24 hours of real time in designing, flying and recording the mission. In the final couple of hours it took all my might to work around the disintegrating save to get that one brave Kerbal home but make it home Hendros did. This was the most enjoyable couple of weeks playing the game since the release, and I hope you enjoyed the mission report!

SM

September 7, 2023

17 hours ago, isitbroken said:

Everyone collectively agrees with this and stopped playing. There is no polarization. We are all just checking in every few months to confirm that the game really is dead.

I'm still playing, please don't presume to speak for the whole community.

For what it's worth I'm currently running a multi-ship return mission to Duna and Ike and (with some stubbornness) having a rather fun time. I would assume that over time new features will be added, and bugs will be squashed, and the stubbornness/fun ratio will further improve. I'll still have had fun and enjoyed myself.

SM

September 1, 2023

13 minutes ago, Alexoff said:

It seems to me that the title of the topic is too clickbait and inciting - KSP2 and perfect in one phrase can cause indignation among many.

Perfectly in the context of OPs use of the word would carry nuance to the effect of - OP is emphasising that the game is playable and enjoyable, but some people may disagree. It's a "perfectly" legitimate use of the word

My experience as a well-seasoned player of both games - Having played the latest patch yesterday and today I agree with OP that the latest patch is a huge step forward. I threw together a reasonably complex 8 stage Duna rocket with 4 step EDL aeroshell deployment this evening and every single part of the mission from design to landing went perfectly and was bug free, with the exception of the trajectory line bug occurring (this was solved by quitting and reloading). In prior patches I had to work hard to avoid bugs, with this one I had to work to try and create them and mostly failed.

In prior patches I observed that you really have to be quite an experienced KSP player with good knowledge of how to mitigate existing bugs and a modicum of patience in order to enjoy the game, but I genuinely don't think that is the case anymore. Even without all the features that obviously have to be added to draw players over or in I still found my session to be a pretty compelling experience. There's a really good base to progress from here now, and I'd encourage anyone to give it a go.

SM

August 1, 2023

I did an Apollo recreation mission as part of the weekly challenges in May. 500t, 251 parts and with a total height of nearly 56 meters. I even went the whole hog on staging, sepatrons, LES, RCS, fairings and docking ports etc. to try and push as many issues as possible out of the mission. I wrote at the time that it was a very enjoyable mission and I stand by that. The main issues I faced though were as follows:

Massive gimballing causing wobbly uncontrollable rocket - Turned off gimballing for all but centre engine and rocket stopped wobbling into a total flip.
Wobbly rocket - Strutted every stage with eight-symmetry. sometimes twice. Wobble reduced to the point of being able to fly an efficient trajectory.
General lack of control - Underestimated the SAS required to control issues caused by 1 and 2. Added additional SAS wheel. Craft still wobbled around its prograde marker.
RCS useless and always firing - Turned off pitch, roll yaw on the RCS system, letting SAS deal with these functions. This made RCS highly effective and would encourage anyone to do the same if they are facing issues.
Docking ports cause total mission loss - Reduced explosive force and reduced docking acquisition angle. Seemed to mitigate docking issues. Always saved before docking or undocking. Faced multiple bugs.
Orbit lines invisible when lifting off from the surface with a stage separation action - Took off with the bug to get the screenshot, then reloaded and jumped the lower stage off the surface, separated the second stage then continued with mission.

Some of the issues above may have been resolved since I last played and there are clearly more as others are experiencing, but it's helpful information to anyone that wants to try a similar mission which was eminently possible even 2 months ago without the need to suffer. Yes, quick saving and loading very regularly was essential, but I've just always done that out of habit for playing KSP1 for so many years.

The core of the matter for me is that while I say eminently possible to do the mission and have a good time doing it, for it to be so I had to be an (I'd say very) experienced KSP player, have really good knowledge of the existing bugs and how to mitigate them, and have a modicum of patience. This isn't a good position to be in when you are trying to attract a new audience including younger players.

The graphic and title is obviously click-bait as Matt Lowne is a better KSP player than me, but it does in its way point to the core of the issue - A lot of less experienced players are suffering, and the only way to stop that is to report bugs if you play, help people who ask for it, and wait for bugs to be resolved. We all knew that anyway though.

SM

edit - whoa, what happened to the formatting, only noticed it was borked when I switched themes.

May 22, 2023

I've been away for a number of weeks so I've clearly got a lot of catching up to do with these challenges. Everything is becoming easier to work around as the patches and fixes come into play, but I still had a few issues to work through with struts and docking which I'm confident will be patched/improved soon. Very enjoyable mission and performance seems to have really increased in the latest patch for me also.

Here's the full mission report with detailed description, and here's a couple of summary images of the mission:

500t and 251 parts with a total height of nearly 56 meters. This is not a small launch vehicle. Couple of things that really helped with this Apollo style mission:

1) Turned off a lot of the gimballing apart from the centre engines on each stage. This reduced engine induced wobble
2) Reduced explosive force on decouplers/separators, and reduced the docking acquisition angle
3) Turned off pitch, roll yaw on the RCS system, letting SAS deal with this. This made RCS highly effective and would encourage anyone to do the same if they are facing issues with ineffective RCS

Minimal wobble on this rocket! Had to play around with struts a little to make it happen. Understand wobbly rockets probably isn't going away, but it would be nice to see it nerfed a little imho.

Beautiful view over the mare as the crew enters orbit around Mun

Flag planting ceremony completed

There's still a bug that makes orbit lines invisible when lifting off from the surface with a stage separation action, so I took this photo, the reloaded and jumped the landing stage a couple of feet before separation so I could see what I was doing on orbit.

Burning for Kerbin. I do love the engine plumes in KSP2

Back safe and sound. And bored? Tired? Come on crew!

Overall, a very rewarding foray back into KSP2 after a few weeks' absence. Really pleased with the progress the team is making on the game. It's improving a lot! On to the next weekly challenge which is Duna.

SM

March 18, 2023

1 hour ago, OJT said:

Mission briefing specifically requires Relays on the satellites

Ah right my bad. Seeing as CommNet isn't fully implemented in KSP2 and there's no published wiki for KSP2 parts, I thought we might be able to use our artistic license a little but them's the rules it seems. I've got little appetite to repeat the mission with 1 replaced part, so I'll go do something else for a while.

SM

March 17, 2023

Ah yes, the classic year and a half on orbit before departure to Duna! Very nice craft design, the Klass-1 is a well-proportioned launch vehicle. I'm looking forward to more complex mission reports coming out of the woodwork post patch 1, so I'll be following this one. Keep it up!

SM

March 17, 2023

This was a popular thread in KSP1 discussion long ago, created just after the great forum crash. It ran to over 100 pages and spanned 4 years before suddenly it stopped being posted to in 2017. I can only imagine you all just stopped building rockets that failed, so I doubt this thread will pick up any steam. Oh, who am I kidding. I'll kick things off then:

I call this "Back so soon?"

SM

March 17, 2023

KSP Version - 0.1.1.0
Operating System and version - Windows 11
CPU and GPU models - Intel core i5 12600KF / NVIDIA GeFroce RTX 3080
Description of the bug.
- Expected Behaviour - crafts remain in orbit around Duna, and individual craft can be switched between without issue.
- Observed Behaviour - when switching between "active" craft in mission, mission parts spontaneously leave Duna orbit at 15km/s
Steps to Replicate - Rocket upper stage with 4 decoupled relay stats. Decouple 1 craft, switch between vessels focuses on empty space and rest of vessel leaves Duna at 15km/s
Fixes / Workarounds (if known..) reload and try again
A list of ALL mods - None
Other Notes: Please see screenshots in spoiler. Possibly related to physicless engine fairing ejecting backwards through the craft on decouple?

Spoiler

SM

March 17, 2023

Replicated in v0.1.1.0, however, was not quick enough to get a screenshot. Report as follows:

KSP Version - 0.1.1.0
Operating System and version - Windows 11
CPU and GPU models - Intel core i5 12600KF / NVIDIA GeFroce RTX 3080
Description of the bug.
- Expected Behaviour - fairings decouple and drift apart
- Observed Behaviour - fairings eject forward through payload, then rapidly descend straight down to Kerbin
Steps to Replicate - Rockket with fairing, eject fairing.
Fixes / Workarounds (if known..) unknown
A list of ALL mods - None
Other Notes: None

SM

March 17, 2023

3. Transmitting Live From Duna (Version 0.1.1.0)

I knew the patch was coming and it would improve things so waited a couple of days to press on with the missions. Glad I waited as apart from 1 episode of my ship suddenly leaving Duna at 14,841m/s (solved by reload), it was basically a smooth (framerate and bug free) experience.

Here's the full missions report. Dinkelstein Kerman did listen to the controller's feedback about the solar panel size, but refused to compromise more than one size, citing "big raspberries" and muttering something scientific under his breath. Thanks to Mullet Dyne we now have the right network support and mapping capability at Duna to pick a site for the next mission, where the team will attempt to land a probe on the surface of the dusty world.

Here's a postcard from the mission, if anyone knows how to hide the last bit of graphics (F2 used to clear the whole UI out) let me know:

Dinkelstein Kerman's rocket was a massive success and set the scene for larger and larger solar panels. No wait, no, we told you already, cut it out Dinkelstein!

SM

March 16, 2023

I never had any doubts even with the major bugs on release but it's night and day, it really is. What a wonderful effort over the last 3 weeks by the team. Your continued love and confidence in the title you have developed is something you should be very proud of, and it justifies my excitement in the future of KSP2 which I've displayed pretty openly over the last few weeks.

Long weekend well-earned I'd say!

SM

March 14, 2023

Having attempted an Elcano Minmus yesterday (also tested rover on Kerbin), I definitely think wheels need some attention. I remember doing a Minmus Elcano in KSP1 (similar design powered by 20 ruggedized rover wheels) and not finding it as "floaty". I tested the KSP2 rover of a very similar design on Kerbin with the ruggedized rover wheels and it wouldn't even move. Even with the larger ones it barely got up some pretty modest hills on Kerbin, so torque could definitely be tweaked. You still have to design around the limitations of low gravity with downforce engines etc so in my opinion the compromise to realism in the interest of playability would be wholly justified.

Edit - Top speed is also way too low. Let me decide how fast to impact terrain!

SM

March 13, 2023

43 minutes ago, KincaidFrankMF said:

Great mission report! Re. rover wheels, the problem as I understand it is that lack of gravity = lack of traction. You go slower on the Mun than on Kerbin, and slower still on Minmus, because the wheels won't grip. And if you do manage to get up a decent turn of speed, you hit a bump and take off.

So I think that's just how it works, unfortunately

Cheers! Ah you are probably right there. I remember doing a Minmus Elcano in KSP1 (similar design powered by 20 ruggedized rover wheels) and not finding it as "floaty" though so there might have been some changes along the way. I tested the rover on Kerbin with the smaller rover wheels and it wouldn't move, and even with the larger ones it barely gets up the most modest hills on Kerbin so torque could definitely be tweaked in the interests of playability, I think.

You still have to then design around low gravity with downforce engines etc. but at least assuming you design for the gravity conditions of the planet or moon you are on you aren't immediately thwarted by a slight rise.

SM - I'll have another shot at the Elcano a few patches distant!

March 13, 2023

On 3/1/2023 at 7:14 AM, PakledHostage said:

Edit: I should add that I am really impressed by the precision of some of the flying that I am seeing in these entries.

Me too! I can't even beat my first try any more, must have been beginner's luck!

SM

March 13, 2023

Over the course of yesterday and today I had an honest crack at the Jeb level challenge (Minmus Elcano and return). I knew it was going to be tricky - My first visit to Minmus in KSP, my first rover in KSP2, and my first Elcano attempt in KSP2.

Unfortunately, after getting an appreciable distance under my belt the rover randomly evaporated, and despite restarting and driving about 1/10th the way round Minmus a further 2 times it happened again and again. On top of that reloading was corrupt so each time I had to start from the beginning as this was the only save that would load, so I settled for the primary mission goal and beat a hasty retreat back to Kerbin. Its a real shame as the rover absolutely would have been capable of doing it.

I found the rover wheels to be very lacklustre in terms of power, but the suspension travel was excellent. There's definitely some work to do on rover wheels in KSP2 as rocket engines were definitely required to help build up speed.

Here's the full mission report of the (failed) Elcano, but successful round trip to Minmus. Couple of postcards below:

Skycrane manufactured on Kerbin by Experimental Engineering Group. They recently rounded their logo to present a softer image to the public

Seans Cannery sure do make an itchy space suit

Periapsis rocket supplies did the grunt work in building the rover and it shows - Hardly anything fell apart on the way to Minmus

After the third genuine attempt was foiled, there was nothing to do but return home to face the music of failure.

Interesting plants we have on Kerbin. Must have been a good summer

So how would I describe this mission? Frustrating but fun. In essence the whole thing worked as intended in terms of my design being sound, fuel margins, TWR etc. but the mission was unfortunately borked by bugs that in the end I just couldn't work around. I'll definitely be back to Minmus post a couple of patches to make another Elcano attempt. Once you get off the glass, the mountainous terrain is interesting, and a real challenge compared to KSP1.

SM

March 12, 2023

30 minutes ago, Shimakazerun said:

Doing my challenge,But WHAT THE HELL is this!?

It's this bug:

Should be fixed in the first patch according to this post:

At least you don't have to go far to return to KSC

SM

March 11, 2023

10 minutes ago, rebel-1 said:

This is all very interesting, but we have not received an answer to why the game, where the graphics are very primitive, has such system requests, and on systems where MSFS works with 60 frames per second with great graphics at high settings, KSP2 barely works at minimum settings with 11 frames.

Here's a post on KSP2 performance that might fill in some gaps

Two identified areas are terrain optimisation, and fuel flow/resource optimisation. I'm pretty sure there's a heap more on the list of things they need to/want to optimise. Here's another post with information about optimisation:

I wouldn't call the graphics primitive in the slightest but I suppose that is a relative benchmark, much in the same way the dollar value of the game is depending on who you poll.

SM

March 11, 2023

7 hours ago, LeroyJenkins said:

Love the top most Kerbal's facial expression. It's like "eh? what are you doing to us?!" LMAO

Which is similar to the expression Ludlan gave me when he realised it was a one way trip to Duna:

The animations of the Kerbals in KSP2 are great, but there's a bit to do in terms of their movement/knockdown-ability etc. I don't want to see them ragdoll as badly as KSP1, but they do need to advance things a little in this area in the future I think!

SM

March 11, 2023

3 hours ago, Nate Simpson said:

See you on Minmus!

Minmus Elcano is still one of my favourite ever KSP missions. Look forward to visiting Minmus for the first time in KSP2 and crashing as much as I did in the first one!

Spoiler

Good luck over the next week with Patch#1 and I can't wait to see what you all have been working so hard on. With that in mind, remember to take time out for family and to relax. Thanks for all the communication and very interesting dev blog!

SM

March 11, 2023

1 hour ago, RocketRockington said:

one game is stable

After a long journey to get it to where it is today. I'm not going to get into the pricing argument as people see value very differently depending on their view point.

1 hour ago, RocketRockington said:

So either PQS 2.0 is worse than 1.0, or its not being utilized as well as it could be.

This has been covered by Nate, and Mortoc said that PQS+ has served them well but CBT will give better results in terms of performance and visual quality. I think it looks great already, so its just another thing that get's me excited about the future of the game. Hopefully you can enjoy the game more in the near future.

One interesting thing I learned about sayings with Emperor in (although I absolutely don't share your opinion on that) is that there's a big difference between "The Emperor Wears No Clothes" and "The Emperor's New Clothes". Made for some interesting reading!

SM

March 11, 2023

29 minutes ago, RocketRockington said:

Guess which one of these screenshots is modded KSP1, and which is KSP2?

It's obvious, but also for me not a very fair comparison. One screenshot is of a game that has just come out in early access, and the other is of a game nigh on twelve years down the line, eight years after full release, and subject to the best the (very skilled) community can do. This shot is also KSP2 (unmodded) and looks fantastic:

Looking back at some of my (not even old) screenshots of modded KSP1 this looks superior in many ways, so it appears it's really only in the last few years that good has become great for KSP1. I would say it's a very safe bet that KSP2 modded (and probably stock) fidelity will far surpass modded KSP1 down the line, and it certainly won't take 8-10 years to achieve that as it has with KSP1.

On a more general note and not in reply to your comment - I was mega hyped for KSP2, yet it hasn't (apart from the most glaring bugs which I'm confident will be patched in short order) disappointed me at all. Maybe my throttle is just set to zero on launch or something.

SM

March 10, 2023

Great little challenge! Took me a bit to figure out slow flight with such a small plane, the SAS seemed to be affected by the Kerbal moving his head or maybe I'm imagining things. It made it too difficult to land with 1 gear so kudos to those that managed it! Anyway:

Total Weight: 0.55t

Dry Weight: 0.46t

Mission report in full including engineers report and landing report. The small landing legs bouncing while stationary appears to create "vessel landed" signals. I could probably shave some weight off here and there and fly a cleaner profile, but this is about as min max as I can be bothered with

@azgar if you feel so inclined, a leader board would be great so people know where in the top 10 lightest to aim, but understand the theme is just to have fun!

SM

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