Large Info Dump

[Pikapolar]

 

Quote

Parts are arranged into size tiers within categories (finally!)

We can do that already in the advanced editing mode.

 

[Guest]

I think (and hope) that their UI design is a result of actual playtesting and not just random people analyzing low resolution screenshots.

 

About dropping funds, this game will be centered around colony gameplay, you pay what you launch from Kerbin, then you have to collect resources to build things launched from colonies, this would make funds obsolete very early in the progression anyway. 

[έķ νίĻĻάίή]

I still like the original HUD arrangement more (although I'll probably get used to it), but If there's going to be ways to rearrange the HUD in game I'm sold 

Spoiler

Or the community could make a mod for that, I don't know

 

Also, custom shortcuts would be cool

[Bej Kerman]

What's with all the criticism towards the new UI? If it's so bad, then how are you all putting up with KSP 1's UI?

[Gotmachine]

19 hours ago, prestja said:

Career mode has been replaced with a new mode internally called "adventure mode" which does away with funding and instead focuses on giving the player objectives they may optionally complete in addition to letting them discover the galaxy at their own pace. World firsts are emphasized, and science points make a return.

It isn't said that funds don't exist. You (and other people) are doing a big interpretation on that specific point.
The only factual information is "Simpson says adventure mode has a lot in common with the first game's science mode", which pretty much give no additional clue, especially since the last statement we heard in a previous interview was that it was a something different, in between career and science modes. The rest of the sentence explain what is KSP 1 science mode :
"[...] first game's science mode, which gave you unlimited funds but made you earn science points to advance the tech tree"
It isn't a statement from the developer, so I wouldn't read too much into it. It might be a way for the journalist to hint something, or not.

Edit : Same for life support. What they mention is that bases will have greenhouses. There has been multiple mentions that those bases are handled more or less separately from vessels and have some sort of separate "colony management" aspect in regard to on site ISRU, vessel construction and kerbal "reproduction". That doesn't mean we will get life support on vessels, in fact, if I were to make a guess, I think all the ISRU system we currently know will be moved from "vessel parts" to that base system, with vessels providing a few "colony supplies" you will need to transport from the homeworld.

Edited May 29, 2020 by Gotmachine

[mcwaffles2003]

13 hours ago, Jacke said:

Don't give the devs ideas!  I had to steel meself to get through Subnautica's deepest zones to finish the game.  You want a KSP 2 with an actual Kraken?  And worse?

Really should get on to trying out the latest updated Subnautica: Below Zero.

apparently you can kill the leviathans

13 hours ago, Cavscout74 said:

Lovely, so they are taking away the mode I spend 90+% of my time and replacing it with something called adventure mode that sounds to me like a big step backwards - random optional contracts for no reason other than what, Steam achievements?  Or will they lock more advanced parts behind these optional contracts?

It's been known for a while that career mode and science mode were going to be replaced with a new mode. The only news there is it's called "adventure" mode.

 

uh oh, where will the tabs for the mods go now?

Also, where are these images sourced from before imgur? I see nothing at pcgamer.com

Also, speculation was obvious but craft color customization confirmed!

BUILT IN TRIP PLANNER FROM THE VAB?! NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited May 29, 2020 by mcwaffles2003

[swjr-swis]

A few things that come to mind just reading through the text:

 

13 hours ago, prestja said:

• Career mode has been replaced with a new mode internally called "adventure mode" which does away with funding and instead focuses on giving the player objectives they may optionally complete in addition to letting them discover the galaxy at their own pace. World firsts are emphasized, and science points make a return.

Hmm. I need to see more details on this one. One the one hand rewards based on free-form exploring of the world and the technology sounds like a good way to go; on the other hand, I don't see much gain in removing funding altogether... that will definitely lose an engaging aspect to the game.

To me it sounds like they're repeating one of the -in my opinion- mistakes of KSP's sandbox mode: not really being a sandbox by virtue of arbitrarily removing certain aspects of the game (research, funding, missions). Please give me a game mode that gives me ALL of the game's options to play with as I please. Start a career game in KSP, cheat-menu yourself your own choice of starting funds, science, rep, and facility levels, et voilá, an actual sandbox. Make this a default game mode in KSP2, please.

 

13 hours ago, prestja said:

• There is finally a proper pause button.

KSP has two pause buttons that I know of: F3 (flight report) and Esc (in-flight menu). Or do they mean something else?

 

13 hours ago, prestja said:

Post-flight reports will point out areas the player's rockets can be improved upon.

Not sure about this one. We now have an engineer's report that warns us of areas to improve on *before* launching the rocket. Getting this *after* seems like a step backwards.

 

13 hours ago, prestja said:

• G-forces are now listed for each individual Kerbal.
• Rocket subassemblies are robust enough to produce one incredibly complex component in the VAB and simply attach it to an even larger rocket through symmetry rules.
• Parts are arranged into size tiers within categories (finally!)

Kerbals already have individual G-force bars in their portraits. I currently can (and regularly do) 'produce one incredibly complex component in the VAB and simply attach it to an even larger rocket through symmetry rules' with subassemblies. And assuming 'size' actually means cross-section (because literal size would be a rather chaotic selection of parts), that too exists in the stock game already. Why are these being listed as new features?

 

13 hours ago, prestja said:

Simpson says adventure mode has a lot in common with the first game's science mode

Seeing as 'science mode' has been touched  less than a handful of times in my 15k+ hrs in KSP, this doesn't sound like a good change, but I need more details.

 

13 hours ago, prestja said:

The campaign is "explicitly designed to be non-punitive" so you'll never reach a fail state

Yes, because in space flight everyone gets a ribbon just for trying. "Failure is not an option!" becomes "Failure is entirely impossible, so let's just do whatever."

 

14 hours ago, prestja said:

Truly getting into Kerbal Space Program inevitably means spending hours delving into YouTube videos on rocket science and the game itself.

I never once touched a youtube video to learn anything about the game (just play the game!). Inevitable? I highly doubt it.

 

14 hours ago, prestja said:

Even if you have a physics degree, there's still a steep learning curve to understanding how the hell to work Kerbal's interface. KSP2 fixes some obvious oversights and make the user interface a whole more elegant.

No physics degree here. I did not find it a particularly difficult UI to learn to use. Could use more tooltips and/or a more comprehensive help system - the KSPedia was a nice addition, but it needs some form of context-sensitive connection to the game, better organization of the articles, and more content (things I could've expanded on myself if they'd just used an easily edited format, but <shrug>).

I'll wait to see the actual UI in use.

 

14 hours ago, prestja said:

Flight tools are now clustered together in more logical ways

One thing a lifetime of gaming -and general computer use- has taught me: just because *you* think your interface is 'logical' means very little to *my* way of using your game/software. Think 'customizable UI' please. Let me be the final judge on where it is 'logical' to have each flight or build tool, or if I want them showing at all. That's how you win me over.

 

14 hours ago, prestja said:

Pausing will be one of the main ways players access KSP2's greatly expanded tutorials, which include a mixture of interactive tutorials to guide you through using interface elements, and animations that give you a crash course in rocketry.

That could be helpful.

 

14 hours ago, prestja said:

And the game will make suggestions, too. When a launch inevitably goes awry, the post-flight report can highlight a tutorial based on what went wrong

Can't wait to see how the game decides 'what went wrong'. KSP2: "I'm.. not sure what you're trying to do."  Me: "I'm sure you don't." <happily continues building and testing my recreation of an Indiana Jones jump-the-gap-in-the-rails mining cart roller coaster>

 

14 hours ago, prestja said:

 

• I want those portraits gone. Please please tell me that portrait placement is entirely optional and I can remove them and put some *actually* important flight information or controls in that spot. Kerbal portraits should be -at best- a peripheral feature.
• The staging stack always being on the same side adds consistency, I like that.
• I'm not attached to 'time warp', but 'time zoom' seems particularly incongruous. If you can't come up with something better, let's leave that one alone please.
• Please tell me that I can entirely remove the time controls -or any UI elements at all- from the bottom center spot. That spot needs to provide completely clear vision of the ground for any kind of precision landings. I don't even want to mess with transparency levels or anything like that. Completely clear.

 

Painting our rockets will be nice, if we're allowed to do it comprehensively and consistently. Blueprint orthogonal views sound like a really nice addition.

Saving a workspace instead of a craft... hmm. So we're abandoning the current craft file format. No more out of game craft file editing?

Built-in trip planner sounds good, as that is definitely a gap in current KSP and likely one of the main reasons so few players venture beyond Kerbin SoI.

 

Overall, they're adding some nice things. There's also some questionable claims in this stuff, which make me wonder about the dev team really being 'seasoned Kerbal fans'. I'm also seeing things that I really do not like and hope are either entirely optional, customizable, or just simply not there in the actual release. Wait and see.

[RealKerbal3x]

Let's see:

• I like the look of the new UI; it looks kinda holographic, reflecting KSP2 bringing Kerbal into the near future. I'm not so sure on the arrangement of the elements, but hopefully there will be a way to rearrange them.
• Life support: Yay! I've always wanted a simple life support system in the game. I hope it will be toggleable though, for those who don't want to have to bother with bringing food along on their missions. Toggleable features for the win!
• 'Time zoom': I prefer time warp, but it doesn't really matter. Besides, it only says that on the key. I can't see 'time zoom' written anywhere on the actual UI.
• The staging stack being on the same side in both the VAB and flight is a tiny, but useful, quality-of-life change. I've always wondered why they decided to make it switch sides.
• We don't know much about it yet, but I'm really excited for the VAB changes. 

I'm still totally buying this game. A little info doesn't hurt.

[SpaceFace545]

9 hours ago, Superfluous J said:

It's amazing how few of them you see when you don't go looking for them. Don't play on random servers and don't watch their YouTube channels and you should be able to enjoy the game even though they are enjoying it too.

But what if they came here

[swjr-swis]

28 minutes ago, SpaceFace545 said:

But what if they came here

I'd rather see them spending their free time on running a virtual space program than on becoming a virtual crime boss. But hey, that's me. Now get off my lawn.

[Lewie]

life support....*sighs* looks like my days of sending Jeb to Duna and back in a mk.1 cockpit are over. Sure hope we can disable/enable it.

I'm starting to question if the devs truly are fans of ksp. 

[RealKerbal3x]

13 minutes ago, Lewie said:

life support....*sighs* looks like my days of sending Jeb to Duna and back in a mk.1 cockpit are over. Sure hope we can disable/enable it.

I'm starting to question if the devs truly are fans of ksp. 

Why would they not be KSP fans if they're implementing life support? Life support can be a fun and interesting element of the game if it's done right - that's why people have been pestering SQUAD to add it since the game was in Alpha.

Even if life support isn't toggleable (and I highly doubt that) it'll probably be a simple system with a single resource (e.g, Snacks), balancing some element of realism with playability. And if you still don't like it, it's highly likely that you'll be able to turn it off. Just look at CommNet - in my opinion, it adds an interesting challenge to the game (it's like life support for probes!) but SQUAD realised that some people may not want to use it, so they made it toggleable. I'm sure it'll be the same for life support in KSP2

[έķ νίĻĻάίή]

I'll be honest, I'm basically open for whatever the devs throw at me. Just make all of the features moddable and I'm a happy man

Edited May 29, 2020 by έķ νίĻĻάίή

[mcwaffles2003]

3 minutes ago, έķ νίĻĻάίή said:

I'll be honest, I'm basically open for whatever the devs throw at me. Just make all of the features moddable and I'm a happy man

pretty much... 

I just want a stable, high performance, and pretty platform for mods that's fluid enough to take in the updates of the next 10 years (Tall order). The community can take it from there.

If they could defeat the kraken that would be nice too.

(I dont get why people be sayin "MOAR KRAKEN"... It's literally bugs and bad design destroying our ability to progress)

Edited May 29, 2020 by mcwaffles2003

[shdwlrd]

4 hours ago, mcwaffles2003 said:

Also, where are these images sourced from before imgur? I see nothing at pcgamer.com

It looks to be a future edition of PCGamer magazine. The date says July 2020, originally thought it was June. Probably an editor's proof.

[pandaman]

2 hours ago, SpaceFace545 said:

But what if they came here

Then just ignore them if they annoy you, and help them as best you can if they ask.

I doubt we will have an 'open for all' multiplayer server (and I won't use it beyond a quick look occasionally if there is).  More likely IMO is that MP will be for smaller 'private' groups anyway, so lots of kids (or adults for that matter) flying around and just trashing other players stuff is unlikely I think.

[Misguided Kerbal]

Just a comparison:

New UI

 

Old UI

 

 

Sorry my image editing skills are trash.

[mcwaffles2003]

12 hours ago, SpaceFace545 said:

Im going to quit this whole franchise if I see one of them, they're like a parasite. Starts as one but then he tells his friend  and then a youtuber starts to talk about it and then they're everywhere

dear god... if that happened the game would be swarmed with.. wait for it...

...

...

new players.

And we can't have that can we? were seasoned vets, these kids have no idea what they're getting into playing OUR game

[DStaal]

41 minutes ago, Lewie said:

life support....*sighs* looks like my days of sending Jeb to Duna and back in a mk.1 cockpit are over. Sure hope we can disable/enable it.

The devs have never specifically said that there will be life support.  Everything they have said or shown - including this article - focuses on colonies.  They've also said they want to make sure you can leave/ignore colonies and ships for long periods of the game.  (Note that the greenhouses described would also be the greenhouses shown in the initial trailer.)

What I expect to see is that to grow an off-Kerbin colony you need to have parts for life support in the colony.  However, that doesn't mean the Kerbals you control will need active life support - just that there will be specific milestones and colony abilities gateway-ed behind having that installed in the colony.

That would let you build like you can in KSP1 - but also give a more realistic feel to colonies, and provide some built-in places to hook a life support mod into place.

Admittedly, I'm not saying I know for sure what the devs are thinking - but I have yet to see anything contradict this, and I think it's a closer match to what's been said than a full life-support system.

[Guest]

 

I'm doing something mad, I'm actually buying this issue of PCGamer to read the article myself.

[Cokeblob11]

I think the new UI looks great, it’s much cleaner. I’ll have to get used to the new placement of certain things but that’s not a huge issue. Overall it looks like it will be more intuitive for new players, KSP’s UI is pretty awful for anyone unfamiliar with it, especially since most of the important stuff (staging and throttle) is delegated to hotkeys.

I don’t really care about time warp being called “time zoom” now. It doesn’t say “time zoom” anywhere in the actual UI so what does it matter what they call it behind the scenes?

I’m glad there will be a limited form of life support, I think this will be a great addition as long as it’s not too involved.

[Bej Kerman]

6 hours ago, swjr-swis said:

Saving a workspace instead of a craft... hmm. So we're abandoning the current craft file format. No more out of game craft file editing?

Among all of the assumptions you've made, this is the one I really want explaining. Was it ever said that you can't save craft?

[MechBFP]

43 minutes ago, Bej Kerman said:

Among all of the assumptions you've made, this is the one I really want explaining. Was it ever said that you can't save craft?

Crafts are obviously going to be shareable, so obviously there will be files that can be edited. Now whether or not those files can be EASILY edited outside the game is a whole different question. 

[Lewie]

2 hours ago, RealKerbal3x said:

Why would they not be KSP fans if they're implementing life support? Life support can be a fun and interesting element of the game if it's done right - that's why people have been pestering SQUAD to add it since the game was in Alpha.

Even if life support isn't toggleable (and I highly doubt that) it'll probably be a simple system with a single resource (e.g, Snacks), balancing some element of realism with playability. And if you still don't like it, it's highly likely that you'll be able to turn it off. Just look at CommNet - in my opinion, it adds an interesting challenge to the game (it's like life support for probes!) but SQUAD realised that some people may not want to use it, so they made it toggleable. I'm sure it'll be the same for life support in KSP2

No, I wasn’t talking about the life support thing and devs not bwing true fans, it’s just their seems to be so mich that’s just flat out weird/stupid , for example time zoom. And the new ui, any seasoned player knows how the ui should work...or if it should be mover around.

[RealKerbal3x]

9 minutes ago, Lewie said:

No, I wasn’t talking about the life support thing and devs not bwing true fans, it’s just their seems to be so mich that’s just flat out weird/stupid , for example time zoom. And the new ui, any seasoned player knows how the ui should work...or if it should be mover around.

Let's not get too worried about that yet. We're still over a year from release. This article just gives a cursory glance at the arrangement of the UI, which could change by the time the game releases. Hopefully there's a way to move the UI elements around as you see fit.

Also, note that it doesn't actually say 'time zoom' anywhere on the UI. That's just on the captions the article added - we don't know if that's actually the term used in-game. This is mostly speculation at this point, but I wouldn't worry too much. I'd reckon a 'Classic UI' mod will appear within a few days after the game's release, anyway.

Edited May 29, 2020 by RealKerbal3x