Jump to content

Kerbal Space Program Breaks Ground with a New DLC!


UomoCapra

Recommended Posts

Just now, nestor said:

We will be releasing more details in the upcoming previews. 

Stay tuned to the upcoming KSP Loadings...

Looking forward to those! :D

1 minute ago, fulgur said:

I hope it is integrated with KIS. I use KIS for all my rovers. I really don't want two inventories per kerbal etc.

I'm sure @IgorZ will figure out a way to integrate KIS into the new system (however it works) since I don't think this new system will be a total replacement for KIS.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, UomoCapra said:

Surface Features

Scattered across the Kerbin System, you’ll find interesting Surface Features, like mineral formations, meteors, craters, and some even more curious planetary features.

Finally a step in the right direction in regards to making planets more interesting. But if we have to pay for this? No. This is desperately needed in the base game because the planets are incredibly bland as they are and need serious attention.

Although this is certainly a step in the right direction, these new surface scatters should be in the base game and not the DLC. The functionality of being able to interact with them should be provided in the DLC, but the models for those terrain scatters should not.

As a final note, I hope there is some form of mod compatibility with this. In my most recent planet mod I model and distribute my own home grown planetary features such as crystals, rocks, floating islands (and provide them free of charge, by the way!) and would like to be able to implement the new mechanics that surround them in the same way the DLC will.

Obviously I do have a strong opinion regarding the condition of the Stock planets as they are, mainly because they've been neglected for so long. Locking desperately needed improvements behind a pay-wall is not the way forward, but the actual improvements are much needed.

Edited by Gameslinx
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, fulgur said:

I hope it is integrated with KIS. I use KIS for all my rovers. I really don't want two inventories per kerbal etc.

I agree, this is my primary concern too. I've been playing a heavily modded game, and I hope it would stay consistent and compatible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Gameslinx said:

Finally a step in the right direction in regards to making planets more interesting. But if we have to pay for this? No. This is desperately needed in the base game because the planets are incredibly bland as they are and need serious attention.

Although this is certainly a step in the right direction, these new surface scatters should be in the base game and not the DLC. The functionality of being able to interact with them should be provided in the DLC, but the models for those terrain scatters should not.

As a final note, I hope there is some form of mod compatibility with this. In my most recent planet mod I model and distribute my own home grown planetary features such as crystals, rocks, floating islands (and provide them free of charge, by the way!) and would like to be able to implement the new mechanics that surround them in the same way the DLC will.

I can get behind this

Link to comment
Share on other sites

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, The Dunatian said:

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Image result for spock memes

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, Gameslinx said:

Finally a step in the right direction in regards to making planets more interesting. But if we have to pay for this? No. This is desperately needed in the base game because the planets are incredibly bland as they are and need serious attention.

Although this is certainly a step in the right direction, these new surface scatters should be in the base game and not the DLC. The functionality of being able to interact with them should be provided in the DLC, but the models for those terrain scatters should not.

As a final note, I hope there is some form of mod compatibility with this. In my most recent planet mod I model and distribute my own home grown planetary features such as crystals, rocks, floating islands (and provide them free of charge, by the way!) and would like to be able to implement the new mechanics that surround them in the same way the DLC will.

Obviously I do have a strong opinion regarding the condition of the Stock planets as they are, mainly because they've been neglected for so long. Locking desperately needed improvements behind a pay-wall is not the way forward, but the actual improvements are much needed.

I am FOR this

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, sh1pman said:

What's the point? It's already done by modders. I'd rather they spent time and resources on something that we can't get with mods.

1 hour ago, Fr8monkey said:

Not to be that guy; but all those things you can get in mods for nothing.  I love the game and support it; but $15 for a mod pack that I already have everythng in it loaded in my game?

Shrug.  Thanks to Squad's having put effort into making KSP extraordinarily moddable, that means that there's very little that one couldn't do with a mod.  Practically anything that anyone could do, has been done in some fashion by somebody somewhere.  I don't see that as a reason not to want any DLC ever.

I find myself very excited by this, because speaking both as a professional software developer and as an avid KSP modder... functionality in a mod is not the same as functionality in the stock game.  It just isn't, for a wide variety of reasons.

To take just one example:  I am super jazzed about the addition of robotics to the stock game (with the DLC, I mean), and expect I'll be diving into it headfirst with a whoop and a holler.  And yet I have never even been slightly tempted to try Infernal Robotics, at all.  That's not any disparagement, even slightly, against IR-- I'm sure it's awesome, and obviously a lot of players have had a lot of fun with it over a long time.

But it's a mod.

Something as complex as robotics is going to have a lot of troublesome edge cases, a lot of complex behavior for the player to master, etc.  If I were to get that from a mod, I'd be at the mercy of the individual mod author's availability.  No matter how skilled and diligent and public-spirited a modder is, they're just one person, who does this as a hobby in their spare time, and who doesn't owe me anything.  Which means I'm going to be hesitant to "bet the farm" (read: "have my KSP career take a critical dependency") on something that's a labor of love by one person of uncertain future availability.

Whereas by getting this from Squad, I get a much better guarantee of maintainability over time.  (In software-development-speak, mods have no SLA; Squad owes me a product that works, the modder doesn't.)  That doesn't mean it's going to work perfectly, necessarily.  It doesn't even mean that it'll necessarily work better than something that a passionate and skilled modder has spent years honing.  But it means that it's a commercial product that the company supports, and has a commercial commitment to continuing to support.

To take a somewhat related example, consider stock CommNet, versus the RemoteTech mod that was the go-to solution for communications before that:

Back in KSP 1.2, they added CommNet to the stock game, and I was turning cartwheels over it, metaphorically speaking.  I adore that feature, had wanted it for ages, and I always play with my CommNet settings cranked up to hardcore difficulty settings in order to make it a very "intrusive" and important aspect of gameplay.  "But wait," I hear you cry.  "RemoteTech had already been around a long time before that, and it's actually more sophisticated and does a bunch of stuff that CommNet doesn't.  Why were you so excited about CommNet?"

Because it's stock.

I actually played RemoteTech.  Liked it a lot.  Had several KSP careers where I sunk many, many hours of game time into it.  But... it was unstable.  It made my KSP crash often, as in "I'd darn well better make a quicksave before I ever switch ships because there's a high likelihood the game will crash when I do so."  And the likelihood of that happening went up geometrically as my career progressed and I got more ships and the communications network ramified.  It also impacted my performance.  Eventually it got to the point that the instability was too much and I finally just abandoned it.

CommNet is a pretty simple feature.  There are many things that RemoteTech does that stock CommNet doesn't.  But I'm okay with that, because CommNet has been rock-solid stable for me, it has the key features of communications that I really care about, it runs smooth as silk, and it's maintained over time by a company that's professionally invested in keeping their product viable long-term.

Perhaps that sounds silly to people who expect perfection from their games and are incensed over various bugs that KSP has had over time, including some significant bugs that have gone long periods of time without being addressed.  I get where you're coming from, because I don't like bugs, either, and I sure spend a lot of time playing this game.  ;)

However... being someone who ships software for a living myself, I've seen what goes on "inside the sausage factory" myself, so to speak.  And therefore I place a lot of importance on knowing that something I care about a lot, and intend to use for a long time, has got "official" support with the commitment of the company behind it.

Other folk can come to their own conclusions about that, of course.  If you don't like the idea of stock robotics, don't buy the DLC, it's as simple as that.  Overall, the KSP community will vote with their wallets, which is great.  Personally, I'll be in the "shut up and take my money" contingent.  :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, RealKerbal3x said:

I'm sure @IgorZ will figure out a way to integrate KIS into the new system (however it works) since I don't think this new system will be a total replacement for KIS.

It's a DLC, so yeah, it will not be a full replacement for KIS. Still I wish the DLC would be compatible to the existing mods, since I will definitely buy it and I don't want to give up the mods I have installed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, UomoCapra said:

PC for $14.99 USD

It really seems like there's a lot in this DLC, but I'm wondering at the price of $14.99. With the base game for net new players going for $39.99, I would expect this to be a TON of stuff for a DLC that costs almost half the base game.

Otherwise, it's a pretty blatant "monetization strategy" to get as much money as possible from the game (which OK yes, game developers need to make money). But they know that this very active community will almost certainly purchase it, so they can price it however high they want regardless of total in-game value of the content.

Offering expensive DLC isn't necessarily a bad thing in terms of capitalism, but they need to weigh how much they're putting in for the price they're asking, is all I'm saying.

Edited by scottadges
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Gameslinx said:

These new surface scatters should be in the base game and not the DLC. The functionality of being able to interact with them should be provided in the DLC, but the models for those terrain scatters should not.

 

Thats actually a pretty good idea.  Improves the planetary looks for all players and incentivizes the DLC purchase in a non-intrusive way.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

AMAZING NEWS! Looking forward to true extensions to the game. I’m sure there will be a lot of we have mods for that comments. But mods need to be updated, and sometimes there’s a plethora of choices.

I like it when it’s “stock,” even through a DLC, and it’s a great way to sponsor ongoing development. We need more of this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, Snark said:

But it's a mod

I wholly agree with you on this one. Thanks a lot for explaining it. I love IR, and all the other mods out there. I love them so much because they make the game 1000x more fun. But yeah at the end of the day, they're mods. They have their limits. I know that and accept that as I play my game. That's why I'm so hyped about this DLC.

3 minutes ago, ShadowZone said:

UUUUUUH YEAH!
The things I will be able to do with this.

 

500 ton Kerbal BattleMech incoming!

Hahahahaha I read this in your voice XD So looking forward to it :)

Edited by johnkeale
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've got to disagree with the various "only if it's free" type comments.

As has been stated many, many, many times before, all development costs money. If anyone is expecting any developer to continue adding/bug fixing indefinitely to a game without additional income, they'll be sorely disappointed.

I for one will be buying this the day it is released. So far I've spent something between 2000 and 3000 hours playing this game, for a total outlay of less than £40 (base game + MH) so my fun to funds ratio is looking pretty good right now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...