Jarin

See, you're completely correct, in a rational world. But corporate cost-cutting does not exist in a rational world. It exists in a world where someone who knows jack-all about actual development makes decisions based on the idea that some or all of the QA department can be outsourced to people who will pay them to do it.

I really don't want to go back to having to do extensive girder scaffolding around every damn rocket I make just to keep them from falling apart.

I mean, the communication has been spotty-to-nonexistent since KSP2 was announced, why expect that to change now?

I'm an adult, I thought the tutorial voice was fine. It fits the tone of the base game. "Serious" folks can mod it out just like they always have with RSS and RO.

I mean, judging by the preview event, you're half right. The game is pretty. It might be in "works" status with a patch or six. Edit: I'm going to try to quit harping on what is very obviously T2 forcing an unready version out the door. We'll see how things clean up with post-launch updates.

Remember the part where it's a sequel, not a rollback to KSP 0.25 with a graphics overhaul? We were hoping for a physics overhaul too, like was suggested throughout development, not the same noodle-rockets and clippy rover wheels we had eight years ago

Also None, because I'm not buying at launch anymore.

I'm not going to complain too hard about super-tall rockets getting noodly without some structural support, but that's like... a 6-part stack, not even remotely out of normal scale, and it's flopping around like it's trying to get censored by the youtube algorithm.

Interstellar is step 3 on the roadmap. At best I wouldn't expect new uber-engines until we're moving heavy colony infrastructure in stage 2.

"Well above for everything but GPU". So I guess we'll see.

One thing I deeply do not miss about early KSP1 is how floppy the part joints were. But looking at the new footage coming out of the ESA event, it looks like it's back. Hard to believe the "Slaying the Kraken" line when rockets are looking like this: (timestamp 6:25 if the link doesn't work) Just look at that noodle launch. Just ringing the dinner bell for the Kraken to come feed.

My hopes wouldn't be sky-high about a first-release early access title having amazing stability, but I'm hoping to be surprised!

I will admit, that I did not consider the Kerbal Ornithopter Program market. Finding the edges of the new physics system will undoubtedly provide a lot of content for those folks and I look forward to the youtube videos. You know, I may just find motivation to re-do my 'maximum speed possible on airbreathing engines' testing...

Bej, your point is taken, but I think you're reaching the point of nitpicking here. The fact is, yeah, there's some new bits, but there's also a lot missing. Time-warp thrust is big, sure, but mods do have that in KSP1. "It's not modded" is useful for stability - I'm all for it! - but if you already put in the work to use those mods, there's nothing new there. No new ships to build, no new missions to plan. Buying KSP2 at EA launch is for two things: feedback-testing, and sightseeing. Nothing game-changing yet that would let someone who played KSP1 into the ground find new things to do. Nobody's saying that KSP2 shouldn't exist, or that the last five years were wasted on nothing (at least, nobody in this thread, there's jerks out there in the interwebs saying all sorts of dumb stuff), but for someone who just wants to play a game? Well, there's probably an hour or two here of looking at it and going "huh, that's neat I guess", at the differences from KSP1, and then nothing. Judging whether that's worth the buy-in right now is going to be a conundrum for lots of folks I suspect.

Buying the game now really needs to have the mindset that you're testing an early-access game, with the intent to give feedback - because even more than many EA examples, that's what's happening here. At release, it's not likely to have much at all that isn't already in KSP1. You're not getting new gameplay here, yet (in fact there's significantly less). At best you get to play with a few stock procedural parts and a shinier VAB. I'm right there with anyone not wanting to effectively pay to be part of a QA team. Especially at that price-point. Long-term? Sure, I expect there will be tons of good reason for people to pick up KSP2. I expect the roadmap will take 10 years, but it is what it is. Me? Assuming the whole thing doesn't implode on launch day, I'll probably pick it up the week after release to see how the new physics feel, play with the new VAB, then put the game on the shelf 'till the next update.

Probably buy day 2 or 3, after checking the initial impressions. My Fridays tend to be busy anyway, so I wouldn't be playing 'till Sat or Sun even if I pre-ordered.

The anomalies in KSP1 have always had sci-fi or supernatural elements to them. From the face on Duna to the dead Kraken.

You also won't be spending the whole trip at that top speed. Acceleration and deceleration time will increase it significantly.

I mostly just used contracts as a source of recruits from the endless stranded kerbals (seriously, who's leaving them all up there?). The only other thing I did was when I was bored, challenging myself to see how many contracts I could complete with a single launch.

Aside from changing the text-string in game, I'm pretty sure the article said the engines will be balanced against KSP1, not against real-life.

I'm fine with gamey science, but I desperately want it to be something other than just "science points". What I really want is for there to be a reason to go certain places, aside from "it was there" or "it had a higher research multiplier". I want to have to get exotic particles from a dead kraken on one of Jool's moons to unlock future tech.

As silly as it was, I kinda liked running my "Kerbodyne University" field trips: More seriously, I like the classes for how they differentiate individual kerbals, but some kind of skill system could do the same.

It would be the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

I mean yeah, but SAS will usually have regular adjustments, not a single specific course adjustment in the middle of a long burn, then nothing else.

That's definitely what I thought. That gimbal twitch didn't look like any kind of SAS response to me.