Here's Your First Look at Kerbal Space Program: First Contract

[Monkeh]

I'm so gonna use all my 32 gigs of ram with mods, the GameData folder shall blot out the sun!

[Superfluous J]

I've seen this attitude before on the forum and elsewhere, and I just don't understand it.

...

If contracts are to be even half as moddable as PartModules are, we're really in for a treat with the things the community comes up with.

Thank you for this voice of reason. There are two types of changes Squad can make to the game: Those that exist somewhere in a mod, or those that nobody wants. This game's been in a very moddable state for what, 3 years now?

It's good that they're thinking about default throttle setting.

...

I do a bunch of launch-but-not-really-launches, so remembering to throttle down so I can quicksave would be annoying to me. I can imagine a happy medium is hard to find.

Although we can throttle down instantly...maybe we just really need a full throttle hotkey?

One of the first new mods I can see installing after 0.24 is one to start throttled down to 0. Better Than Starting Throttled, perhaps

Hopefully it's set in the config and I can just set it to 0 while I'm changing my conics settings to those that benefit people who ever leave Kerbin's SOI.

[kujuman]

A TWR of 2 would be even more annoying because, as I'm running with FAR, I never design my rocket to have a TWR of over 1.5 in the first place. [...] Yes, there is a happy medium - 0%.

That's why I don't think 100% throttle is the perfect behavior either.

I don't consider 0% a "medium" because it doesn't give us anything, it's just sticking with less-than-perfect-but-better-than-many-other-alternatives. But that's just semantics

Maybe have a setting (oh yes menu creep time) for "Start at Launchpad at Full Throttle" (true/false)? That plus a Full Throttle key?

[Red Iron Crown]

Is it really a big deal to adjust the throttle to your liking before pressing the spacebar? I mean, I'd use a key that jumps straight to 100%, but it's such a minor, minor detail.

[kujuman]

Is it really a big deal to adjust the throttle to your liking before pressing the spacebar? I mean, I'd use a key that jumps straight to 100%, but it's such a minor, minor detail.

If it's a big enough deal to add to an update and feature in the preview video, it's big enough to complain and debate about

[Red Iron Crown]

If it's a big enough deal to add to an update and feature in the preview video, it's big enough to complain and debate about

I'm not even sure the default 0% behavior has changed. It's mentioned in the video that he fixed the staging off camera, maybe he set the throttle to 50% during this off camera period, too?

[Floppster]

Is it really a big deal to adjust the throttle to your liking before pressing the spacebar? I mean, I'd use a key that jumps straight to 100%, but it's such a minor, minor detail.

FloorIt uses z to jump to 100%

[Semmel]

Thx for this nice video Squad! Looking forwards to contracts!

Also, fellow commentators, please be reasonable. If you fillet every word thats said during such video, Squad is unlikely to release further videos in the future because they feel uncomfortable doing it. Whether Miguel said "we'll" or "will" does not change the fact that we will get contracts or how they will work eventually. Harvester said in his update definitely that procedural contracts are a thing. So don't go crazy over it ;-) *hugs for everyone*

Cheers,

Semmel

[BudgetHedgehog]

I'm not even sure the default 0% behavior has changed. It's mentioned in the video that he fixed the staging off camera, maybe he set the throttle to 50% during this off camera period, too?

He specifically says:

You'll notice I fixed the staging off camera, but actually, I did nothing else. The game now defaults to 50% thrust on launch. Helps newbies have fun, you know?

[Tw1]

What convinced you?

The system looks smooth, and seems to achieve the balance between "do your own thing, and get rewards along the way" and "Give me aims and missions for my space program" that came up in many discussions in times before. It also looks enjoyable, and immersive- helping you imagine you're running a real space program.

The science system was at its core, a click-to-collect-points mechanism common to many simple games. It's got nothing on what real space science is like.

It made KSP feel like an ordinary game, which it hadn't for me until this point.

This looks more like the space program simulator I signed up for.

That said, I'll have to wait until it comes out to give my official verdict in my capacity as person on the internet with an opinion number 980494140572201627341676422716432.

I'll try to answer that:

No procedural contracts.

Are you sure? Listen to the video again, at 0:46 to 0:50 specifically.

Edited July 12, 2014 by Tw1

[Red Iron Crown]

He specifically says:

Oops, missed that, thanks for the clarification.

[Klingon Admiral]

Time to uninstall my 0.23.5 installation. This looks just so awesome.

Also, anyone else going for a Kethane/Interstellar money generator by ressource harvesting?

[BFalcon]

Looks pretty sweet, though it doesn't look like percentage of funds you get back has anything to do with distance from the space center. Oh well.

That might be so that you don't lose money when you're trying to land in the various biomes... bearing in mind, also, that the KSC will, eventually, be destructible, you probably don't want to be trying to land too close.

This is going to make staging interesting - how large a stage can we bring back, can we risk popping parachutes on stages BEFORE we dump them and will that help to bring the stage down in one piece so that we can reclaim the money...

This is going to be interesting...

[ripvanlemon]

I just wanted to say that new KSP logo thing at the end of the video is pretty awesome.

[ola]

Just a clarification: this is exactly the kind of response I was hoping for. A response that tells me, although slightly more diplomatically, that I'm a pampered fool. I'm looking forward to the release and I'm certainly looking forward to what the modders will do with the new stuff.

I've seen this attitude before on the forum and elsewhere, and I just don't understand it.

1) MC was designed from the start to give us a taste of what career mode would be like. MC is a mod which gave players a preview of career mode before it was developed, not a game feature Squad copied because they had nothing else to do.

2) Why is the assumption that contracts will be "half-baked"? We honestly have no knowledge one way or the other, but I would lean on Squad doing a fuller job (even if it's just making modding it simpler) than MCE has been able to do, as much development as it has gotten.

You're quite right, and I stand corrected. MCE is really nice, but it is also kind of a hack.

3) April, May, June, July...yup, six months

I can't count.

The real problem is that we're spoiled by the hundreds of actively maintained mods and hundreds of thousands of hours modders have probably put into the game. "We have mods for Missions, Squad should do something else." Um, like what? Spaceplane parts? New planets? Resource detection and collection? Better aerodynamics? Heating effects on reentry? Life support? Base modules? Parts parts and moar parts? Navigation utilities? Warp drives? New launch sites, both on Kerbin and off? Performance enhancements? Stronger joints? MFDs? Shuttle engine controllers? New effects? Ropes and winches? Yeah, there are mods for all of those, so Squad should just sit back and not work on them at all. And considering the growth of the modding community, Squad is basically unable to compete at something they should have a monopoly on.

If contracts are to be even half as moddable as PartModules are, we're really in for a treat with the things the community comes up with.

I've played the game since 0.17, so I've seen at least a bit of stuff get reimplemented into stock. You are quite correct on all accounts. I seem to recall that 0.24 contains quite a bit of stuff which is supposed to make a modder's life easier. 64-bit is the greatest thing that has happened to KSP since I started playing it, IMNSHO, since we can all use as many mods as we want! KSP is a really good game in itself, its mods makes the game a wonderful piece of engineering.

[John FX]

Whackjob, could you explain to me why this would be useful?

Because he is Whackjob and requires ALL THE ENGINES!

[Cdr_Zeta]

Howdi,

Saw the vid - looks grrreeaat ! Altho how will this interfere or work with Mission Controller Extended? I dont use that mod now, but I discovered new memory for KSP with OpenGL useage; missions add flavor; it also has contracts of a sort but I neveer got that far.

ALSO, opening nodes in Science is kool; but all the parts are researched and three is a price underneath them; I assume Science only unlocks the nodes now but maybe the parts must be paid for to be researched; thus adding more flavor and more challenge; is this part of the deal?

I dont want to have to unresearch everything...!

I plan on restarting KSP when .24 comes out; updating mods etc; keep up the good work!!

Cmdr Zeta

[montyben101]

There are still no pictures of the ullage/venerier motor!?

[cpast]

so recovery Cost and part value loss were 2078 - 1625 = 453

So we got a little more than 78 % of the part cost back.

I originally got 78.4%, but on recalculating, it's actually an even 80% for each of the parts.

CM: Original price is $600; this includes the cost of the monopropellant contained within (incidentally, that seems to mean that a part can have resources with a value more than its cost to add.) The monopropellant is 10 units at $1.20/unit, for a total of $12 of monopropellant and $588 of module. The recovered value from the module itself is $470.40; that is exactly 80% of the $588 cost of the module proper. The monopropellant is fully refunded; only parts seem to have maintenance fee.

For the tanks, one tank costs $425 including fuel and oxidizer. It has 90 units of fuel at $0.80/unit, for $72 of fuel; it has 110 units of oxidizer at $0.18/unit, for $19.80 of oxidizer. This means the tank itself (excluding resources) is $333.20. $266.56 is recovered per tank; $266.56/$333.20=0.8, so 80% recovered again.

The parachute costs $422 to add, and recovers $337.60, for, again, 80% of the cost refunded.

[dryer_lint]

But wait... we get funds back for returning a part, but we still can't recover spent booster stages? That's kinda silly.

[cpast]

But wait... we get funds back for returning a part, but we still can't recover spent booster stages? That's kinda silly.

Not really. It means you have to spend serious effort on recovery, and can't just plop a bunch of parachutes on lower stages to get full recovery without even needing to think about it.

[John FX]

Anyone else catch the bit near the end where he says `reputation helps mission quality`

It might alter the value of recovered parts

At last kerbal stats affect stuff in some way

[Red Iron Crown]

Anyone else catch the bit near the end where he says `reputation helps mission quality`

It might alter the value of recovered parts

At last kerbal stats affect stuff in some way

I interpreted that to mean the quality of missions that are offered to you, but I could be wrong.

[Apollo13]

Saw the vid - looks grrreeaat ! Altho how will this interfere or work with Mission Controller Extended? I dont use that mod now, but I discovered new memory for KSP with OpenGL useage; missions add flavor; it also has contracts of a sort but I never got that far.

Go to the MCE thread. I asked malkuth about MCE plans, given what I saw in the video. MCE will integrate its missions with the KSP 0.24 mission structure. MCE will add reputation as well and remove its native parts recovery. More changes TBA.

Like you, after KSP 0.24 launches, I will begin anew with a blank tech tree and work my way up again. I will also begin MCE career anew as well.

Edited July 12, 2014 by Apollo13

[NFUN]

I interpreted that to mean the quality of missions that are offered to you, but I could be wrong.

Or that the quality of your mission performance is affected by survivability, giving you more reputation.