I don't really like magnetic boots on the surface of planets

[lBoBl]

The new magnetic boots are awesome to walk on your ship on EVA, I'm sure James Holden would approve.

However they kind of break immersion on the surface of planets. I get that people might eventually want to move kerbals at a decent pace within their colonies but can't we limit this interaction to vessel parts, since colonies can have roads?

And personally I think I'd rather have my Kerbals stride along at a snail's pace, rather than quickly waddle on a planet that is supposed to have 1/3rd g gravity, even if that ends up being time consuming once colonies get implemented.

If you're not convinced that this is important, it's because footprints are not (yet) in the game. And I totally think they should be, as quick as possible.

Because THIS puts a biiiiiiig smile on my face. E-v-e-r-y-t-i-m-e.

Spoiler

And it's been many many times.

Spoiler

https://imgur.com/a/2xRou0F

 

[SkyFall2489]

So, basically use a different system for walking on terrestrial surfaces? 

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

3 hours ago, lBoBl said:

the surface of planets

How many times have you had a Kerbal endlessly sliding down the side of a crater she can't get out because you exhausted the EVA pack and the surface was like ice?

I kinda prefer my Kerbals to be able to climb and not slide helplessly.

[Majorjim!]

Could this be solved with the incredibly simple and obvious toggle option. ‘Magical magnetic boots’ on or off? There could even be a light on the boots indicating if it’s on or not. Half the fun of landing on new planets is seeing how different moving is in the differing gravity. 

[justmeman117]

4 hours ago, Majorjim! said:

Could this be solved with the incredibly simple and obvious toggle option. ‘Magical magnetic boots’ on or off? There could even be a light on the boots indicating if it’s on or not. Half the fun of landing on new planets is seeing how different moving is in the differing gravity. 

This. Speaking of Holden, the mag boots in Expanse were toggleable, and the characters frequently did that on screen.

I do think it's an awesome feature. Mainly, I look forward to having my kerbals able to walk around on, say, the deck of a ship going 20 m/s (if I can get boats to work, the water physics are... perplexing), or even better, maybe even inside a cargo bay of an aircraft going 100 m/s (though that may be wishful thinking). Also, it would make proper gravity rings possible (I mean like, big ones, made out of cargo bays). In KSP 1, although grav rings do technically work, because its a moving reference frame (just like the boat or the cargo plane), the kerbals would just ragdoll against it.

 

But on non-metallic surfaces... Like the surfaces of planets... It feels off somehow. And yeah, half of not only the fun, but the learning, for the younger generations, is the literal experience of different gravities. There are times on minmus or gilly where I've wanted something like mag boots, but more often than not, I prefer walking on planets without them. And I feel like EVA packs fill that niche anyway. If the gravity is light enough to make long distance running annoyingly slow, then it's light enough to zip across the surface in a fuel efficient hover... I've actually never ran out of EVA fuel doing that (I mean, jesus, for most of KSP 1's history, you had like a 500 m/s DV EVA pack), and nowadays in KSP 1, you can carry extra EVA fuel with you (presumably a feature eventually coming to KSP 2). I also tend only to do this in like, odd scenarios or emergencies. Normally if I know my kerbals will need to hoof it, I just send along a rover. Or in Minmus's case, I like sending along an ion powered hover car that can hop into parabolic arcs to get around long distances.

 

I do think mag boots should work on roads however, if that really is going to be a thing in the base building mechanics.

[Tazooka]

+1

I find the movement on other moons/planets very ridged and I miss the sense of different gravity like on the Mun and Minmus when walking around.

For EVA on ships mag boots are a great feature. But I don't get how a dusty/icey moon makes your boots stick

[Bej Kerman]

17 hours ago, lBoBl said:

If you're not convinced that this is important, it's because footprints are not (yet) in the game. And I totally think they should be, as quick as possible.

I'm not convinced that this is important, because frankly it's not. There's a million things each sector of the dev team has to be getting up to, and adding an option to make Kerbals borderline uncontrollable isn't one of them at the moment.

(Also, I hate the Expanse. For all the times I hear people banging on about how realistic it is, there's just way too much pointless squabbling between all those flat and dry characters, to be happening on a military vessel.)

[LameLefty]

After 10 years of ragdoll Kerbals slip-sliding down craters slopes, dunes, and even stairs at the Island Airport control tower, I’m perfectly happy they’ve finally gotten some coordination and boots with reasonable grip. 

[justmeman117]

25 minutes ago, Bej Kerman said:

I'm not convinced that this is important, because frankly it's not. There's a million things each sector of the dev team has to be getting up to, and adding an option to make Kerbals borderline uncontrollable isn't one of them at the moment.

(Also, I hate the Expanse. For all the times I hear people banging on about how realistic it is, there's just way too much pointless squabbling between all those flat and dry characters, to be happening on a military vessel.)

I mean... In defense of the Expanse's writing (I wont defend the acting, they do play it deadpan, and its not everyone's thing), of the crew, only Jim and Alex have any prior military background, and both of them are from different (opposing) militaries, both disenfranchised with them for different reasons. Meanwhile, Naomi has terrorist baggage with a mob boss for a side kick.  Besides that, theyve had at various times, Jim's assassin, a cyborg spy, a detective, and an ate up marine who ended up defecting (now thats a turnaround), in tow, and thats all before getting to the predicament theyre stuck in. In any other universe, everyone on the boat would be enemies for some reason or another.

Military vessel or not, this is about the least military crew you could give it, and it's actually weirdly wholesome that the most they do is squabble, instead of ripping each others throats out (except that one time Holden left the spy to die for screwing them over).

Ps, there's nothing undramatic about military life anyway. I was a USAF jet engine mechanic for over 5 years, and I cant talk about it without it sounding like a crap soap opera. The military likes to present itself as hyper disciplined as a recruitment tactic, but all I ever knew was a crappy work culture surrounded by drama queens, squabblers, and people with actual drama mixed in (like my buddy who got brain damage from a jet fuel allergy the military doctors refused to diagnose for 3 years). So I never found that aspect of The Expanse particularly unrealistic. By n' large, I thought the internal squabbles of the crew in that show were pretty tame compared to some of the crap that actually happens IRL.