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The Comprehensive Cooperative Easter Egg List of KSP


Starwhip

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An idea I just had, of a list of all the Easter Eggs in the game as of right now. 1.0.2. There are other threads, but they are outdated both in version and in date.

I'll start us off with the "Stayputnik" probe core.

Easter Eggs for Parts


The United States' Vanguard spacecraft, launched after the Soviet Union's Sputnik, lifted no more than a few feet before exploding. As such, many reporters nicknamed it the Stayputnik. Apparently this made it into KSP.

Its description reads: The Z-200 is a stackable variant of the Z-100 battery pack, with increased capacity. In emergency situations, please refrain from "reversing the polarity".
This is a reference to the phrase, "reverse the polarity of the neutron flow" from the popular science fiction television show Doctor Who.

This part has a cost of 42. Could this part be the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything, as popularized by the novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?

This part's name alone seems to be a reference to the novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

With the description: "Despite the big scary trefoil painted onto the side of this engine, its radioactive exhaust, and tendency to overheat, the LV-N Atomic Rocket Motor is harmless. Mostly. Note that the LV-N is the only LV series engine to run solely on Liquid Fuel - the future is glowing bright!"
This is a reference to HHGttG's Encyclopedia Galactica's entry on Earth. For centuries, the E.G.'s only entry on Earth was one word long: "Harmless." That is, untill Ford Prefect visited Earth and spent years researching our planet (and drinking a lot of beer). After that, his research for the encyclopedia was accepted and the entry finally updated to the much more thorough "Mostly Harmless."

On this part, you can see it says "Kurvy!" written on the part. Probably related to the fact it's very curvy.

Its description reads: "The HECS core capabilities go far beyond its sleek, 6-sided futuristic casing. This probe core provides advanced guidance assistance technology, and comes fitted with internal reaction wheels and decently-sized batteries. Despite concerns that one day, autonomous spacecraft cores could become self-aware and turn against their creators, or even become very stubborn against opening pod bay doors, Probodobodyne insists that these unmanned AI-driven devices are the way of the future."
In "2001: A Space Odyssey" HAL 9000 was an autonomous self-aware spacecraft core that turned against his creators and refused to open the pod bay doors.
This part's name might also be a reference to the magical computer named Hex in Terry Pratchett's Discworld.


The image file for the launch clamps has a picture of Clamps from Futurama hidden in it. You'll find him if you open the image in a editor (like Paint).
WfWf9uV.png

The Oscar-B Fuel Tank says "Do not wash in cold water, or feed after midnight." This is a reference to the movie, Gremlins, where getting them wet or feeding them after midnight turns the cute cuddlers into demons from hell.

Easter Eggs for Mechanics

WARNING: This section contains game mechanic spoilers, such as science collection. Do be careful. If you want to discover these on your own, please, skip this section.


Obviously a reference to 2001, A Space Odyssey, when HAL-9000 refuses to open the pod bay doors for Dave: "The computer gave an odd report no matter how many times we sent the request. Open the sample bay doors... "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I can't let you do that" was the only reply. The doors did open very promptly when we opened the fusebox panel. Very curious."

Loading Hints


Another Adams egg is found when the game is loading. One of the phrases the pops up is: "Finding answer to Ultimate Question" as the green loading bar progresses, and only then "Finding Ultimate Question." This is basically the plot of HHGttG. Long ago, a race of super-smart beings built the ultimate computer of all time, "Deep Thought" and asked it the Ultimate Question of "life, the universe and everything." After a few millennia contemplating this question, Deep Thought revealed that the answer is 42. It further elucidated that while this is truly the correct answer, the problem was that the question was imperfectly asked. And so began the saga (trilogy of books) of the search for The Ultimate Question. The pursuit of TUQ is what caused the construction of Earth (and ultimately you and me) in the first place.

A reference to this xkcd comic. Scroll to the bottom.
Up Goer Five

What else? You post 'em, I'll put them up!

Edited by Starwhip
Actual part names...
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Huh. I'd always presumed that SQUAD had made up the name "Stayputnik" o.O

So did I. That moment when your history textbook actually says something INTERESTING, for once. :D

- - - Updated - - -

Do... do we have to find the Easter Eggs ourselves? :P

If you find one, put it here. I'll be adding to the list too! :)

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"reverse the polarity" is also used a lot in Star Trek.

There are many eggs of the writing of Douglas Adams, who wrote Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The writing style of all the parts (MK-55 THUD Liquid Engine especially) is in his style ("he failed miserably, and this is what we got"). One of the parts (can't remember which) contains the phrase "Harmless. Mostly." This is a reference to HHGttG's Encyclopedia Galactica's entry on Earth. For centuries, the E.G.'s only entry on Earth was one word long: "Harmless." That is, untill Ford Prefect visited Earth and spent years researching our planet (and drinking a lot of beer). After that, his research for the encyclopedia was accepted and the entry finally updated to the much more thorough "Mostly Harmless."

Another Adams egg is found when the game is loading. One of the phrases that pops up is: "Finding answer to Ultimate Question" as the green loading bar progresses, and only then "Finding Ultimate Question." This is basically the plot of HHGttG. Long ago, a race of super-smart beings built the ultimate computer of all time, "Deep Thought" and asked it the Ultimate Question of "life, the universe and everything." After a few millennia contemplating this question, Deep Thought revealed that the answer is 42. It further elucidated that while this is truly the correct answer, the problem was that the question was imperfectly asked. And so began the saga (trilogy of books) of the search for The Ultimate Question. The pursuit of TUQ is what caused the construction of Earth (and ultimately you and me) in the first place.

Edited by DarkGravity
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The Probodobyne HECS part refers to the possibility of "autonomous spacecraft cores becoming self-aware and turning against their creators, or even becoming very stubborn at opening pod bay doors." This is 2-layered egg. 1st: in "2001: A Space Odyssey" HAL 9000 was an autonomous self-aware spacecraft core that turned against his creators and refused to open the pod bay doors. 2nd: HAL 9000 is an Easter egg in its own right. The letter after H is "I". The letter after A is "B" and the letter after L is "M." Arthur C. Clarke was egging IBM corp when he came up with HAL.

Edited by DarkGravity
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If your at the loading hints, almost all could count as easter egg or cultural reference:

For the ultimate question/answer you actually have to different loading hints:

  • Calculating Ultimate Answer
  • Answering Ultimate Question

Other loading hints with references are:

  • Patching Conics - Reference to the patched conics physics model
  • Treating Kessler Syndrome - Clearly the Kessler Syndrome is no illness you can treat.
  • Generating Ablation Cascade - Ablation cascade is another word for the Kessler syndrome. So the Kerbals are generating the problem first to treat it later ;)
  • Inventing Witty Loading Hints - Clearly a self reference, as this is no important task for a space program ;)
  • Untangling Space Tape - Space tape may be a reference to Kapton, a foil that is used in EVA suits and spacecraft because of its high operating temperature range. Clearly it should not be entangeled in the first place ;)
  • Pointing correct end towards spave - Might be a reference to the text on some weapon systems "Point towards the enemy" or so

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On the mk 2 to mk 3 adapter, you can see it says "Kurvy!" written on the part. Probably related to the fact it's very curvy. (Kurvy means... something else in another language, let's not go there)

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The Probodobyne HECS part refers to the possibility of "autonomous spacecraft cores becoming self-aware and turning against their creators, or even becoming very stubborn at opening pod bay doors." This is 2-layered egg. 1st: in "2001: A Space Odyssey" HAL 9000 was an autonomous self-aware spacecraft core that turned against his creators and refused to open the pod bay doors. 2nd: HAL 9000 is an Easter egg in its own right. The letter after H is "I". The letter after A is "B" and the letter after L is "M." Arthur C. Clarke was egging IBM corp when he came up with HAL.
Probodobyne HECS might also be a reference to the magical computer named Hex in Terry Pratchett's Discworld.

These are both quite good, well spotted! :D

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On the mk 2 to mk 3 adapter, you can see it says "Kurvy!" written on the part. Probably related to the fact it's very curvy. (Kurvy means... something else in another language, let's not go there)

That's still in the game? It seems like something that the devs would have taken out.

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the name of the nuclear rocket "NERV" could be a reference to the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, it is the name of an organization in it

I think this is more a reference to NERVA being an acronym for "Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application", which was the term used back when it was tested during the cold war.

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I think this is more a reference to NERVA being an acronym for "Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application", which was the term used back when it was tested during the cold war.

then why not call it a NERVA like everyone used to?

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