Devnote Tuesdays: The "Onward to 0.26" Edition

[Scotius]

Kerbals gaining experience? Yay! Space Academy - here we come And upgradeable buildings? That sound like finally i will be able to realise my old dream of building spaceship in a shed

[KevinTMC]

Really excited by a lot of this news, especially about the Editor overhaul.

Better ways to align one part with another in the Editor would be a godsend. The thing I dread doing more than anything else in the VAB is putting wheels on a rover body...I usually find myself trying to attach six or eight of them, a pair at a time, zoomed way in with a strategically-placed structural panel for reference, trying to nudge things just a pixel or two at a time.

(Of course, it adds insult to injury that, once a part is placed, you can't pick it up again without it shifting on you.)

I find myself in a lot of painful alignment situations, actually, where symmetry settings are helping me only partially if at all. But rovers are the worst.

This issue also often goes along with another Editor biggie: the difficulty of precisely balancing mass radially. The COM indicator is no help at all here. Tedious keeping track of things by hand, too-rough guesstimation, and the adding of unnecessary parts are all unhappy results of this problem.

[The Destroyer]

I am hyped for 0.26 one week after 0.25? WHAT IS THIS MADNESS

...I'll buy the first hype train ticket

[sjwt]

This is all very exciting! though I'm a little concerned about Kerbals affecting ship performance. would love some more info about this.

a ship should perform the same no matter who is at the controls. the player is ultimately the one piloting.

"Your Kerbal has gained enough exp to level up"

"You have chosen to incress his hunger stat"

"All Kerbals now weigh 0.1 tonnes more and require 20% MOER BOSTERS!^H^H^H^H^H^H^H food"

[KandoKris]

EP for Kerbals AWESOME

time to hop on that Hype train

[tater]

Adding dv to your craft due to kerbal skill? Meh. I'd rather see that used for some sort of autonomy on their part.

[Alephzorg]

The ability to switch between mirror and radial symmetry alone is very exciting. There won't be a need anymore to build your rover in the SPH and then manually edit the file to bring it to the VAB to put it on top of your rocket. Sweet.

Kerbal experience, I hope it won't just level up whatever abilities they have but also keep track of their accomplishments.

And biomes, we'll finally have an incentive to go to more places on a planet, not just for the scenery anymore.

[Frank_G]

I have to confess that i am simply overwhelmed by the list of upcoming features and i can say, that i really like what i read here. Thank you for the detailed roadmap and all the other informations. Godspeed!

[tg626]

Meh...

Build rover

Attach command pod

Use Select Root plug in to make command pod the root

Detach rover and save as subassembly.

PROFIT!

[spyker92]

I wonder if they'll sneak in gas giant #2 if they're finishing biomes. 2 birds with one stone! Would be a great "secret" element of the immensity and depth coming along with this patch!

[Darnok]

Guys don't forget about sandbox mode, allow kerbals get experience there too please.

"Your Kerbal has gained enough exp to level up"

"You have chosen to incress his hunger stat"

"All Kerbals now weigh 0.1 tonnes more and require 20% MOER BOSTERS!^H^H^H^H^H^H^H food"

Kerbals weight is added to craft weight? I didn't noticed this one.

Edited October 15, 2014 by Darnok

[KerbMav]

<p><strong>Felipe (HarvesteR)</strong><span><strong>:</strong><p><span>... at the moment all we want from it is the added simplicity of working with a single Editor scene (the scenery is loaded on top from separate scenes). Also, this should make it very simple to add a switch to the editor UI to let you simply flick between Mirror (SPH-style) or Radial (VAB-style) symmetry modes. On the same build, on the same vessel. </span></p>

In my opinion, you shouldn't be able to do it instantly, or at the very least it should always stay calibrated vertically in the VAB and horizontally in the SPH. You can't just switch buildings instantly.

It reads to me, as if only the build mode can be switched, not the building, so basically what EditorExtensions does for now.

<p><strong>Mike (Mu):</strong><span> I’ve been putting the finishing touches to the new Kerbal career logging system and building the new experience system. Kerbals will each be assigned an experience trait when they’re generated and, as they gain experience levels, their trait will boost a vessel’s performance in a variety of areas. </span></p>

I agree. Maybe smarter and more experienced Kerbals can produce higher science gains. I think that when .25 was being produced they mentioned more famous and experienced Kerbals having higher reputation gains upon recovery.

I'm wondering if Squad is finally implementing that auto-node execute they promised. Kerbal Experience could have a lot to do with that.

Adhere to the laws of physics, yes, please.

science gain - more observent/thoroughly/precise

transmission speed/power requirements - concise reports

more efficient lab work (time, power) - skilled "lab-rats"

reputation gain - experienced kerbonauts having a "hero" status at home

execute nodes - doing a better job at this "auto"-piloting action (if ever implemented)

keep attitude ("SAS") - less wobbling (speculative and no equivalent for probe cores present)

run faster, jump higher, better balance in low-G

more fuel efficient at zeroing EVA speed relative to a target - not implemented, just a thought

not losing grip on ladders - feels like this has always been in, just without the skill

And:

Is one veteran per ship enough? Will there be positions to fill in/different skills to train for?

<p><strong>Jim (Romfarer)</strong><span><strong>:</strong> I’m working on a new system to organize parts in the VAB/SPH part lists. Basically we are planning on introducing a bunch of new categories and subcategories for parts. Think of a category as the whole ordering system we have atm. and subcategories as the tabs currently in use: pods, propulsion, structural etc. This ordering will remain as it’s own category in the new system, but we are also adding more ways to order the parts.</span></p>

This is difficult to not over-complicate - longtime players will "just know" where to look for a part, so adding to many new clicks might result in tears.

<span>Rogelio (Roger):</span></strong>Even though I like to animate Kerbals and doing environments for the release videos, getting into the game models production has been a lot of fun.</p>

How about combining the two and implement new animations for Kerbals?

But, to quote the grand plan post "The last big feature missing from career mode," it sounds like this update may mark scope complete, so aerodynamics, planets, etc. (things that already exist, to some degree, unlike building upgrades) will probably come in the next update or possibly one more after that.

"New planets" are not a "feature" really and "new" aerodynamics are not either - one is "additional content" the other "polishing".

But regarding new planets: It was said, that they would come until there was actually something to do (on the existing planets) - whilst lately it was "until the existing planets are up to par with Kerbin and Mun in design".

[juanml82]

Guys don't forget about sandbox mode, allow kerbals get experience there too please.

Kerbals weight is added to craft weight? I didn't noticed this one.

I think it is. Either I'm lousy at designing rovers, or putting a kerbal on a seat away from a smallish, light rover, CoM caused it to flip over while taking off

[Streetwind]

Kerbals weight is added to craft weight? I didn't noticed this one.

I think it is. Either I'm lousy at designing rovers, or putting a kerbal on a seat away from a smallish, light rover, CoM caused it to flip over while taking off

Kerbal weight is never added to a craft except when the Kerbal is sitting in an external command seat. Then you get something like... 90-ish kg of added mass for it.

[Overfloater]

Porkjet's also involved in Mk-3 parts?? O_O

Sounds promising.

[Darnok]

Kerbal weight is never added to a craft except when the Kerbal is sitting in an external command seat. Then you get something like... 90-ish kg of added mass for it.

Yea I am aware about command seat, shame that weight doesn't matter when kerbal is inside craft, it would be cool imo

[ratchet freak]

2 points I'll add:

1. something not being in the "top ten" is no indication of how wanted a feature is, the voters are just a (experienced) subset of players, finding out what people actually want is an artform more than just looking at a poll

2. I wonder how probe cores will be, will they have a default exp or will different tiers of cores have different attributes?

[Virtualgenius]

I wonder if upgrade able buildings includes the island runway and inland space centre

[Justin Kerbice]

Not a single words about documentation. too bad. It's sounds good to "allow modding", but guesswork is (very very) bad for both modders and users, as improper use of some undocumented things could messed-up badly with the entire game and makes users angry and modders unhappy.

[Th3F3aR]

As the Kerbals XP influence influences something in KSP is a wildly discussed topic in here i'd give my 2 cents on that too.

Personally i like the idea of Kerbals lvl'in up not that much, but if it is planned in terms of can Kerbal X fly ship Y or kan Kerbal Z do research on Material U i'd really like the idea of it.

I Expect a kind of "How should i group my crew to get it efficient" would be very nice.

An example : You got 5 Kerbonauts, 2 of them have experience in being Captain and "flying" the spacecraft, those 2 are the only that can fly crafts above a 50T mass or something.

You got 2 of those Kerbs that are more the research guys, they boost your science output or are as only kerbs legitimated to to research (Mobile ResearchLab) on the picked up surface material.

The last Kerbonauty is trained to do Work in his spacesiut, he is more experienced in this and uses a) less monopropellant and "manouvers" better ( c)As lifesupport is not of relevance i'd leave that open).

You could also split competences into flying/docking

As i said just my 2 cents in terms what i'd like the Kerbal XP to be

[Kartoffelkuchen]

Sounds like a great plan! Really looking forward to Fineprint integretation!

[Padishar]

Very nice to hear about the editor improvements. I have said before that Part Angle Display is perhaps the single best mod that's been released over the last year (at least), and I would love a gizmo system closer to, say, max's or maya's. Translation would also be great, although in both cases configurable snaps will make or break the feature.

Thanks, Nathan, the cheque's in the post...

The overhaul to the editor UI is easily the most exciting part of this announcement for me, even if it will (or should) remove the need for my mod (and the extensions for translation and object snapping that I've been planning). I guess I'll be putting development of Part Angle Display on hold for the time being until we get more details of the coming improvements. I also hope, that whatever the improvements are, the editor is made more accessible to plugins...

A very welcome side-effect of this will be that I should have more time to get back to the mission planner enhancements (basically multi-vessel support including splitting and rejoining ships) I have been wanting to get done to the KER vessel simulation code...

Edited October 15, 2014 by Padishar

[KerbMav]

Kerbal weight is never added to a craft except when the Kerbal is sitting in an external command seat. Then you get something like... 90-ish kg of added mass for it.

Aha?!

2. I wonder how probe cores will be, will they have a default exp or will different tiers of cores have different attributes?

This would be THE opportunity to make manned/kerbaled missions meaningful, making probe cores less efficient at gathering science and unmanned missions giving lower reputation.

I Expect a kind of "How should i group my crew to get it efficient" would be very nice.

An example : You got 5 Kerbonauts, 2 of them have experience in being Captain and "flying" the spacecraft, those 2 are the only that can fly crafts above a 50T mass or something.

You got 2 of those Kerbs that are more the research guys, they boost your science output or are as only kerbs legitimated to to research (Mobile ResearchLab) on the picked up surface material.

The last Kerbonauty is trained to do Work in his spacesiut, he is more experienced in this and uses a) less monopropellant and "manouvers" better ( c)As lifesupport is not of relevance i'd leave that open).

A roughly outlined but interesting idea.

[SkyRex94]

let's hope the mk3 cargo bays will be just big enough to fit a Science Lab.

And maybe also a mk3 Landing Gear, which is two wheeled and bigger than the current one.

Then we can build big useful planes.

Fineprint sounds good.

Biomes everywhere also, and Squad: If you'll revise the current ones, please reduce the number of biomes on minmus and the moon! They are already Science Mayhem Land and in terms of difference, there isn't so much scientific difference between 'These Flats' and 'These other Flats' , and you could use the chance to flesh out the Science System a bit, make it more explorationary and less clickfestish.

[Parkaboy]

I like the idea of more experienced kerbals giving performance boosts to a ship. People keep assuming this would be unrealistic because a "pilot" wouldn't make a ship fly "better", but a kerbonaut isn't just a pilot: he can be an engineer capable of tweaking the ship's systems to run more efficiently. The player is still the pilot, but maybe we could get "specialties" such as:

- Engineer: gives a small fuel efficiency bonus

- Scientist: collects increased science or gives a better bonus when working at the lab

- Officer: gives a reputation bonus when completing mission objectives

and so on. Although it would be boring of all the bonuses were related to the currencies, since we already have the strategies system to deal with those.