Question about future updates

[Samo]

So I've been gone from this scene for a while (Haven't played since 0.19 actually...) and I'm thinking about getting back into it, but I need to know something first.

Now that KSP is out of early access/beta, does this mean that future updates will no longer corrupt old saves?

Edited July 19, 2015 by Samo

[NFUN]

Squad has said that they are doing their best to allow old saves to work, and are putting more effort into preserving save integrity now that the game is released.

[T-Bouw]

Indeed, they said as much.

Though keep in mind that 1.1 has a Unity engine overhaul in it.

Those changes typically do corrupt old saves.

[7499275]

I'm curious, I haven't been reading the dev blogs lately or anything, what will the next updates consist of? Like what can we expect?

[TrooperCooper]

Krakens... lots of powerfull Krakens!

[Vanamonde]

Backwards-compatibility for saves can't be guaranteed.

[basic.syntax]

v1.1 will be a major update to the game engine. Much of that is behind-the-scenes stuff, but I expect some things to be different.

• Wheels re-coded from scratch. Landing gear shares the same code-base. Any unusual designs exploiting quirks may not work exactly the same.
  
• Asteroids re-coded from scratch. Size class A will still be size class A, but because surfaces are procedurally generated, it's possible that a save with claws attached to an asteroid, may show those claw attachments floating a little over or under terrain. Here's an example of what happens when loading an old save, after they re-sized the standard reaction wheel. (That craft actually flies, and the reaction wheels work.)
  
• The "Tier 0" structures, that everyone calls "The Barn" - and held back from two previous updates to re-work it, ought to be ready.
  
• New skills for engineers (dV readout) and possibly something new for scientists.
  
• Entirely new UI. I expect most of the controls to be in the same places, but they may look a bit different.

  Before the applauncher was anchored in the top-right corner of the screen and the apps were laid out to the left. Now the plan is to lay the apps out downwards so they will take up the right hand of the screen. [Devnote Tuesday link]

  
  

Note that this is all months away, they are still in the process of rewriting stuff for the new Unity 5 platform.

I've read about these features or changes in various Devnote Tuesday articles and the 1.0 launch Reddit AmA. Squad doesn't publish lists of goals far in advance, because some folks will give them a hard time if any goal doesn't make it. The hype train runs on leaked rumors and goals

Edited July 19, 2015 by basic.syntax
re-worked "new UI" statement