Jimmidii

A decade of KSP, and I’ve been here for most of that! It’s safe to say my understanding of orbital mechanics and real life space missions has been vastly enhanced by KSP. I guess I only have two things to say here. Congratulations! Also, thank you.

The rover I used to drive to the North Pole is untested on low gravity worlds, but would probably work pretty well. It relies on a wide wheelbase and low centre of gravity to remain upright, and has a lot of mass due to carrying a lot of fuel and running on fuel cells. If somehow it does manage to flip, it's a lost cause, but on Kerbin at least, on anything that's not really rough, I can let it run forward at full speed without paying too much attention to it as it's incredibly stable. The slightly offset height on the front and back wheels helps it negotiate slopes and deal with landing after small jumps.

I'll finally be able to fix some of my earliest satellites that I chucked into orbit having forgotten to include an antenna

For me, it's the intuitive grasp on real-world rocket science and orbital mechanics it's given me. The manoeuvre planner is the unsung hero in that regard. Being able to see instantly the effect of any burn and the effect of burning more/less... Early space programs would have LOVED that sort of tool. Watching space missions with an understanding of what they're doing, how, and why, is something I really doubt I would have had without KSP.

"Crisis on Infinite Kerbins" Also known as "My savegame folder"

I fear you're looking for KSP2 to be a different type of game than what KSP2 is aiming to be. I'd imagine something like you're looking for might be possible with mods, but it won't be the base game. In the meantime, I'd suggest trying Factorio, possibly with Bob's and Angel's mods, as they would likely be able to feed your complexity addiction. (Careful though, much like KSP, it's often a good way to end up watching the sunrise before you go to bed)

I've just stumbled across Kurt's 'like a glove' moment again; There were a lot of calls for a monument to be added to the game in that spot at the time, and it would probably have been worthy had it happened. It inspired a more general idea in me though, what if there were areas or plinths around KSC that could be used to display craft? A way of customizing your KSC with memories of your best or worst moments. I'd imagine it could easily use height/width/weight restrictions similar to early career restrictions, and maybe have parts locked in place or the craft converted to a single entity to reduce any performance hit.

All my experience from seeing torch engines in fiction before says 'moving planets'. I'm not sure if that's what'll be added in KSP 2, but the thought that it might be there is interesting... I doubt it as that probably means they'd have to deal with planet collisions as well. The explosion animations look good, definitely looks like they'll add more immersion.

I built a new rover and used the updated wheel mechanics to knock a few hours off my best time driving to the North Pole from KSC.

Think of the Hype Train like an interplanetary space mission. There was a lot of excitement around the launch as it accelerated to incredible speed. Right now it's travelling to the destination AT that incredible speed, but because nothing's changing or being talked about, it goes mostly unnoticed. Once it gets to the destination and we get the chance to start doing science, Hype will explode off the charts again.

I've found the Flea good for getting bigger non-reusable landers off the surface of Duna (EDIT: And Tylo!). That much thrust from that small a part is useful.

I'm not certain, but it looks like the fuel tanks attached to the wing tips might be slightly misaligned. If they're not pointing perfectly forward it might be contributing to your problems. You can use absolute rotation, rather than relative, to make sure they're aligned correctly.

Your main argument against LS now, that you're constantly repeating, is that it's too ambitious for the devs to add it with the time and resources they have left. If you're not convinced of that, what do you have against LS being in the game?

What's convinced you that they haven't already been working on an enjoyable LS implementation from the start? They've obviously gone into development of this with their eyes open, with new multiplayer, interstellar, and colony systems already confirmed. If LS is implemented, it's almost certainly not because they've suddenly decided to tack it on now.

You're making an awful lot of assumptions about what other people would find fun based on what you would find fun. You're also making an awful lot of assumptions about the game design abilities of the devs working on KSP 2 based on how you perceive the game design abilities of members of the forum. You're also making an assumption that this will be forced on you and not part of difficulty settings. I really don't think you need to worry about this as much as you appear to be worrying about it.