The_Rocketeer

Does anybody have a successful, persistant stock/"non-cheaty" Career-mode save that includes game-altering/feature mods like KAS/KIS, LS or functional parts packs? I always feel like my expectations are dashed whenever I try to start a new career game integrating some sort of mod - the features are locked away too high up the tech tree and I'm railroaded into playing someone else's way to unlock them. Am I missing something, or is Sandbox just the way?

A great tip I wish I'd been given early on is, make sure both ships are aligned parallel with the north/south axis of the planet, i.e. the docking port of one ship should point due north (note: not point at the north pole), and the docking port of the other should point due south (note: not point at the south pole). Then use translation thrust and the stock aids on the navball to get the target in front of you, and just close in at a gentle speed. It makes it much easier to find your initial approach position and know your docking ports will be facing each other properly when you get close, not on some crazy impossible angle where you have to translate/rotate around to get there.

Squad. But it should be noted they're nothing like alone in this. The "kraken" is a community term for a whole diversity of bugs that only really have in common that they tend to have something to do with the limitations of the physics model. They may or may not actually have anything to do with each other, and fixing even one slight kraken bug would probably mean code-changing levels of fixing, each change potentially bring a raft of new problems. So we're stuck with it. Kraken, it turns out, is an apt name - like the mariners of old, we navigate its territory never knowing when it may be about to strike, utterly powerless in the face of its awesome presence... P.S. glad u fixed ur station

The amount that I don't care if they are removed is equivalent to the amount I don't care if they're not. I think I have never noticed resource exhaustion issues in the VAB.

I'm a little surprised that after so many years of demanding it, no modder or group of modders has got organised to produce a "total conversion mod" that combines standalone mod features and tools to -even partially- fix these things in a single package. I've seen this done with other games, often by modders working alone, on many occasions. If a mod package existed that effectively demonstrated the demand for and scope of the changes you want, even if it couldn't deliver any of them entirely, it would probably attract more attention than dreamy, needy forum posts (I'm guilty of writing these too).

Oh I don't know. I think the pulsating of the lights is a metaphor for my creativity, pulsating with equal banality, futility and narcissistic vanity... Actually that's a big fat lie. I have never once actively noticed that the VAB lights pulse at all. And on that basis, I don't care.

It was not intended as an analogy - it was a demonstration of principle. Being able to use (a game component that is unbalanced) in the way that the game intends it be used does not mean that the game is balanced. I read from @GoSlash27's post (as quoted) that the lack of balance is not something you find problematic. I do find it problematic, because it breaks the intuitive connection to how parts should behave in the game. Spaceplane-intended parts don't need to always be the best parts to make a spaceplane from, but they should always make a good spaceplane, and a better spaceplane than rocket-intended parts. There is a case for ambiguety of intended purpose, but where the intended purpose is unambiguous, the advantage should always be to the purpose-specific part, not to the bag of bits. Making a spaceplane from spaceplane parts should be easy, but improving on it with generic parts should be hard (note not impossible).

I strongly support a balance pass. When it comes to unreasonably buffing parts that don't need buffing, I agree - I don't want any super parts either. Much better to nerf everything into line with the weakest part. Disagree. Being able to use features for intended purpose does not equal a balanced game. RTS comparison: Here is a superweapon that will destroy all enemies - it belongs to Team A. Team B has absolutely no counter for it, but that's ok, because its sole intended purpose to destroy Team B.

This statement is a paradox - you just gave free advice. @Scarecrow I've found many different games within KSP. If the only game for you is to reach each world and return, then sure, sounds like you've finished.

@Hotaru surely you are only limiting yourself here? How do stereotypically female kerbals demoralise you less than completely sexless kerbals? Why do you assume that kerbals with eyelashes are more female that kerbals with longer heads? I think you ar trapped by your own prejudices here. @FleshJeb fair enough, I was being selective in my narrative, but for what it's worth I don't think balanced sex representation is a common good. I think neutral representation is good, i.e. designing the game to shut down the conversation in the first place. 'Balanced representation' is a road to endless variety - blacks, whites, males, females, gingers, vegans and even hedgehogs will all eventually be demanded on the basis of balance - which would be nonsensical and awfully wasteful. But you used another word here, which was gender. That's a whole other kettle of fish that I have much less patience with. All that aside, beer and farts are certainly great... so long as there are no ladies present. [Snip]

I can't tell if you're being ironic. Assuming so, very funny! Heterosexuals. I like being around women--They're fun and they smell good. OK, that last part is a lie, they drink beer and fart a lot. This part has me lost. I can appreciate the "beer etc" joke, but I'm confused why you quoted me...? @GoSlash27 behind the limitation of literate communication, I think we two are in broad agreement. [snip]

Originally in KSP, every human on earth was equally represented by the monomorphic 'male' type Kerbal. Then someone at Squad had an idea to boost sales - add female Kerbals! Even though this was just a gimmick, a cheer went up from sex-equality activists everywhere. No one is yet sure why they thought it was a victory for equality to use superficial stereotypes to discriminate between representation of males and representation of females, but they sure did.

If the original kerbs had been named Tracy, Stacy and Karen I think the same thing would have happened as happened when they were called Bill, Bob and Jebediah, i.e. the vast majority of people assumed the kerbal species was monomorphic or just didn't care. Kerbals AREN'T human. They are virtual anthropomorphised alien puppets used by us to pretend we are exploring their virtual alien solar system. They don't have a gender, sex, or any social behaviour or reproductive biology outside the player's imagination. The player is free to imagine they are a perfect society or a misogynistic tyranny (or even a misandristic one come to that - perhaps in their imaginary burrows the females enslave the males and force them to the surface to seek future burrow sites and fight off/sacrifice themselves to the kraken). In any case, KSP makes no statement about morality or ethics, and quite bloody right. I play games like this to expand my imagination and escape for a few quiet hours. The last thing I need is for horrid human pettiness to follow me in there.

I don't see how adding two female Kerbs named after real female space explorers is a step towards equality. None of the male Kerbs are named for male space explorers. But Kerbals are not humans, and for all we know about their biology they might be made of guacamole and breed by spreading themselves over tubs of nachos and cheese. What you are doing is taking something that has nothing to do with sex equality and trying to make it seem like it should be about sex equality. Please don't do that. Edit: Actually, it just occured to me that a REAL step towards equality would be to add a female kerbal named Neil. So let's do that

It's moot for mods that are still supported. That would be the point. But there's much more to this than that. I have a legal relationship with Squad, which empowers me as a consumer. I don't have that with any mod developer ever.

@The Aziz ok, first KSP is focussed on whatever you do when you play it. It's set in space, on planets, and the game typically involves travelling to, exploring or just mucking about on those planets with wonky contraptions you built out of a selection of not-quite-specification parts. Themed subsets of not-quite-specification parts to travel to, explore and generally muck about on those planets in new and diverse ways is A-ok by me. I would say I have more interest for this than Making History at the moment - I got it free and haven't tried it yet. @evileye.x That argument goes for pretty much everything currently modded in KSP, and it always falls down right here: Mods have drawbacks. Official/paid content always has advantages that mods can't touch, like contractual obligations on support.

I was being a little flippant before, but I'm genuinely intrigued now. What purpose would this serve? To find any angle you can use the angle-snap widget. I don't see how a visual aid on the floor would assist...?

Hot tip - the big door with the crawlerway outside it, that always faces East.

I'm pretty sure this is exactly how all EULAs work. It entirely and only depends on trust between user and producer - the user trusts the producer not to abuse the power they give them by agreeing to the EULA, and the producer trusts the user not to lie about agreeing to it. The reality is in nearly all cases they're not legally policable, let alone enforcable, but there has to be something, otherwise producers would be laughably exposed to copyright infringement, quasi-legal software piracy and so on. Edit: I am speaking exclusively about EULAs in the context of videogaming, of course.

Wonder what the US has against San Marino?

@Derb based on the website I linked, yes, but only if the copyright owner actually had legal copyright protections under US law.

Then, nope. Not unless the copyright infringement was in the USA. https://www.bradley.com/insights/publications/2012/03/international-copyright-protection-how-does-it-w__ From the above: Edit: Or rather, yep, so long as the in infringement WAS in the USA! (I should read more carefully)

Don't know. I live in the UK. My purchase was through Steam (based in USA), but at the time the terms of the EULA were with Deported BV (based in the Netherlands), representing Squad (who were based in Mexico)...

@Diche Bach So I finally googled and found this article: http://uk.ign.com/articles/2012/03/02/to-protect-or-serve and I don't know if that's current or not - it is pretty old - but I'll take it as a fair representation of the lack of clarity we've been batting between us. For me, it boils down to this. I know that to play games with an EULA, I'm presumed to have agreed to the EULA. If I disagree with the EULA for whatever reason, I know what I'm supposed to do is not play the game, and walk away entirely. I don't have the option to reject the EULA and still play the game. Even if the EULA is completely illegal, that still isn't an option - I would have to legally challenge the EULA in court for amendments to be made to make it legal, and then still ultimately accept it or reject the game in its entirety. And that's the point where this all comes apart. If I play the game without accepting the terms, I'm acting immorally because I know I don't have that option. Of course I have to reconcile my sense of moral rectitude with my general laziness... so I should technically read EULAs (which I almost never do) and agree to them all whole-heartedly (which I obviously can't) before playing.... but who can be bothered? But that does mean I am compromised to some extent - I can't pretend that I know I've behaved properly and that I'm on the right side of all this. So I can't rely on the moral highground to save me if the legal waters start to rise, I just have to keep hoping they don't. Or I could start reading all my EULAs, and see you next Christmas?

I fear you are describing the present on fast-forward. Unfettered except for the fact in law that you did not own or have any further legal right to the software. The copy you possessed would effectively be unlicenced, i.e. pirateware.