Devnote Tuesday: 1.2 is getting ever closer!

[Alshain]

5 minutes ago, passinglurker said:

Its not fine when the stats conflict with each other so you can't add a part that doesn't conflict with one thing or another without getting told its imbalanced. 1.25m engines are a good example of this which is why I replaced them entirely with a set of engines balanced around the poodle, skipper, and aerospike creating a consistent set in a variety of sizes. consistency is the key to good balance, and stock has massive gaps in its consistency

All of those engines are perfectly fine.

[KSK]

53 minutes ago, passinglurker said:

The vagueness over the rocket revamp is mildly disconcerting, but this is tempered by the satisfaction of watching some of the stock purists lose thier minds over this. Modding isn't taboo and honestly its just as fast to crack open blender as it is to try to mold the planet express ship or enterprise out of wing panels.

No but neither should modding be compulsory, not least because it leaves the console players out in the cold. Personally I don't believe that Squad will do that to the console players and so agree with those folks suggesting that we'll get the revamp in a later update, with the modders just getting the assets early.

In the meantime, the dev notes are very unclear and I can definitely understand people getting upset at the idea that 'there's a mod for that' might be the new official line on new features.

[Elthy]

Maybe the consoles are the reason we dont get the parts officialy. Afaik with Unity 5 they made physical correct materials possible (in the terms of reflection etc.) and the new parts were designed around that, but the consoles are to weak to show it. (I know, their GPU isnt THAT bad, but KSP isnt realy optimised for good graphics).

[passinglurker]

7 minutes ago, Alshain said:

All of those engines are perfectly fine.

Nope garbage. The twr is to weak, they mass more than most 1.25m payloads (flip happy rockets) I could go on, but anyone who finds those fine won't have a problem seeing any mod as "balanced"

[AlmostNASA]

Woot! Woot! (FOGHORN!) HERE WE GO!!! 1.2!!!!

[DV-13]

14 hours ago, SQUAD said:

Furthermore, Nestor has some exciting news about the engine parts Chris was working on previously. If you haven’t seen these parts, well… they look awesome! Unfortunately, these parts didn’t make it to this release, but we know you are excited about them and the good news is that we will be releasing these files for you to add them to your creative inventory. Go nuts and show us what parts you can build with these great 3d assets!

I wonder if really small amount of people have seen those. I suppose, that Nestor is talking about this picture. 

(Pls, don't ban me)

[tater]

Stock balance can be summed up pretty easily: if it's a rocket part, it should be lousy, if it's a plane part, sprinkle with pixie dust for added "buff." That goes for the way they look, too.

[Dman979]

14 hours ago, RogerCoyote said:

Hi! Talking about consoles. This patch that you're talking about includes version 1.2? Or only is a patch to fix 1.1.3?

Thank you!

I'm interested in seeing an answer to this question, too.

[severedsolo]

42 minutes ago, passinglurker said:

Nope garbage. The twr is to weak, they mass more than most 1.25m payloads (flip happy rockets) I could go on, but anyone who finds those fine won't have a problem seeing any mod as "balanced"

(emphasis mine) Sounds like someone doesn't know how to use fins.

Too weak for what? I have no problem getting 1.25m payloads into orbit with those engines... I actually think the Swivel is a little overpowered!

Here's a "typical 1.25m payload" (literally the smallest thing I can think of I'd launch, minus the panels (except maybe a Mk1 Pod)). Not one of the 1.25m engines is heavier than the 3.025t this comes in at.... even removing the antenna and panels it's still 2.910

 

 

 

[StarStryder]

3 hours ago, Capt Snuggler said:

its was regarding the same topic. ie whether porkjet's recent work will become stock and if its a privacy issue to keep asking about it.

No, they were discussing the "rumour" that Porkjet may no longer be working for Squad. 

[KerbMav]

1. Am I severey underestimating the problems new/exchanged parts can cause and thereby the amount of testing needed? If so, how so?

2. How are these assets being released to the modding community - and does assets mean the parts without configs or more like textures or stuff?

Edited September 7, 2016 by KerbMav

[0111narwhalz]

10 hours ago, Alshain said:

they killed VTOL craft anyway,

^{[Citation Needed][Disputed]}

[Angelo Kerman]

14 minutes ago, KerbMav said:

1. Am I severey underestimating the problems new/exchanged parts can cause and thereby the amount of testing needed? If so, how so?

2. How are these assets being released to the modding community - and does assets mean the parts without configs or more like textures or stuff?

I know that from a modding perspective that new parts can take awhile to get the functionality right. I went through several revisions of MOLE's 1.875m interstage adapter (essentially a shroud for 1.875m parts that lets you attach one 1.25m engine or up to 7 0.625m engines), for instance, to make something that had compelling game play. Multiply that by a few dozen parts in the stock game, and some parts are bound to not make the cut. It sounds like the engines that Squad will release are just the art files (3d mesh and textures), and if the modding community wants to finish them out into usable parts, it'll take some extra work to do so.

Edited September 7, 2016 by Angel-125

[klesh]

As time goes on, I am more disapointed by KSP's development.  

[Terwin]

17 minutes ago, KerbMav said:

1. Am I severey underestimating the problems new/exchanged parts can cause and thereby the amount of testing needed? If so, how so?

2. How are these assets being released to the modding community - and does assets mean the parts without configs or more like textures or stuff?

Assuming they are only adjusting existing parts and not adding any new ones, you have:

18 LFO rocket engines + LV-N

16 pods/probe cores

23 non-spaceplane fuel tanks

6 solid fuel rocket engines

10 decouplers(not counting the pylons which may classify as space-plane parts)

3 landing legs

5 parachutes 

3 reaction wheels

3 RCS ports(including vernors)

3 fairings

4 heat shields

7 solar panels

5 batteries

7 docking units(including klaw)

and lots of structural and aerodynamic parts(including nose cones)

 

just minor balance tweaks to all of those would require huge amounts of testing.

 

not sure about #2

 

Edited September 7, 2016 by Terwin

[Red Iron Crown]

1 hour ago, DV-13 said:

I wonder if really small amount of people have seen those. I suppose, that Nestor is talking about this picture. 

(Pls, don't ban me)

Quoted for visibility, and to assure everyone that this "leaked" picture has been OKed by Squad for public consumption.

[Alshain]

Those are beautiful, I really hope they put them in the game.  I don't want them as a mod, I just want the game itself to look good on it's own.

What are the white/yellow things above?  Are those the shrouds?

Edited September 7, 2016 by Alshain

[Daveroski]

So, 1.2 is getting closer. Thinking about that makes me feel good.

The new functions and and all the tightening up makes me feel good.

The picture of the new part designs although not in the next update makes me feel good.

I'll be in my bunk.

 

[TheSaint]

1 hour ago, DV-13 said:

I wonder if really small amount of people have seen those. I suppose, that Nestor is talking about this picture. 

(Pls, don't ban me)

Hey, I know, maybe someone can create a mod that will replace the crappy stock models with these without changing any stats or affecting play balance at all. You know, like Squad should have done in 1.2. 

[Red Iron Crown]

5 minutes ago, Alshain said:

What are the white/yellow things above?  Are those the shrouds?

Boat tails.  

[Alshain]

2 minutes ago, Red Iron Crown said:

Boat tails.  

Interesting.  I never considered the need for that, but now I want them... if they ever make it into the game.

[tater]

They also look shiny... 

[Red Iron Crown]

10 minutes ago, TheSaint said:

Hey, I know, maybe someone can create a mod that will replace the crappy stock models with these without changing any stats or affecting play balance at all. You know, like Squad should have done in 1.2. 

Two of them appear to be new engines if the numbering scheme on the boat tails is anything to go by.

[TheSaint]

6 minutes ago, Red Iron Crown said:

Two of them appear to be new engines if the numbering scheme on the boat tails is anything to go by.

"We couldn't use all of the models, so we decided to use none of the models."

[StahnAileron]

3 hours ago, Alshain said:

How about having balanced parts?  Because mod parts are very often not balanced with the stock game.  That's why I avoid using mod parts.

Personally, I think balance leans a little too much on the subjective side instead of the objective side. I do think balance is important so a game's design doesn't fall apart or made moot, but it's up to the individual player to decide if a game is balanced well or not and whether to "cheat". Balance is important, don't get me wrong (otherwise a game won't be interesting/challenging/fun/whatever makes you play it), but I was focused a bit more on meta-experience rather than purely in-game.