AlexinTokyo

Use the KSP UT (i.e. seconds after epoch). It's there in game, and in the save files, and it's universal across all games independent of the time display settings. If you want/need a usable date displayed in your forms, use a format converter to get in into Kerbin or Earth time. Seriously, in almost all cases this will make your life easier.

In the Steam Library window, right click on KSP and select 'Properties'. The in the 'Updates' tab, select 'Only update this game when I launch it' in the 'Automatic Updates' section. This will prevent the game being updated in the background. IIRC, though, you won't be able to launch the game through Steam after the update unless you update it first. You will be able to launch the game directly from the KSP.exe, however. Alternatively, you could copy the entire game directory to a separate location, and launch that through the exe. This separate location will not be updated (or even known about) by Steam, and you can keep it in parallel with the updated Steam version.

During the SQUADcast, I'm pretty sure Max promised us 0.90.0 videos from the media team, "later in the weekend." Anyone seen any sign of them?

AFAIK there's been no official word on whether 0.25 (or earlier) ships or saves will be properly compatible with 0.90.0. On the other hand, we do know that the strut and fuel line parts were completely rewritten, so I certainly wouldn't bet on it this time.

From: Australia In: Japan Also, regarding the New Zealand / Australia thing: it bears remembering that a 'region' is a different thing from a 'continent', and that not every country is part of a continent. Case in point, New Zealand isn't, and neither are the UK (hence the phrase "continental Europe" to specifically exclude the UK) or Japan. So, maybe, a better question would be what 'region' is everyone from, and the answer for Australia / New Zealand / Vanuatu / New Caledonia / etc. should be Oceania.

There is after 0.90.0 goes live; stock pilots or high-tech probes. Now? Don't know.

My real question for you, metl, is what mission parameters you're considering that make it so critical to have exactly one pilot, one engineer, and one scientist on an Apollo-style mission? I'm not asking this to be antagonistic, I'm genuinely interested.

I don't know of anything that can do what you describe. The only thing I can think of that might be able to is KOS. (http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/68089)

Can you switch the function keys from laptop function first to regular in BIOS (or OS)? If not, you can remap the quicksave and quickload keys to something more accessible. At least, I think KSP exposes the bindings for those keys. The more I think about it, the more I do like your idea that quickloading give you a warning dialogue if the currently active vessel isn't active in the save.

Unfortunately, KSP internally has no concept of 'a mission'. The game doesn't know when what you consider a mission should start or finish, and you can have multiple missions going on simultaneously. So a warning of the sort you suggest wouldn't really be feasible. As a work around for you to prevent this kind of thing, I suggest using Alt-F5 and Alt-F9 (assuming you're on Windows) to use named quicksaves. That way you can name the quicksave the same as the mission itself, and you always know where you're loading too.

From the same post: Once again, emphasis mine.

OK, I finally was able to find that reddit link: *Emphasis mine.For the tl;dr crowd: The lowest-level pilots (and probes) will enable standard SAS The basic SAS is the same as always. So can we please put this argument to bed and focus on the awesome that is KSP 0.90.0? Please?

You are correct that the units aren't strictly necessary, but it is still nice to be sure that the game is using the units you think it is (or should be). And I must have had a brainfail when I used a capital 'k' for kN; I have edited it to be correct.

I was going to write a post saying something like, "Where are you looking, the units are all there," but then I checked and indeed they aren't. This is an oversight on SQUAD's part, which should probably be fixed at some point. Anyway, to answer your question, the units are as follows: Mass: tonnes (t) [1t = 1,000kg = 1Mg] Thrust: kilonewtons (kN) Specific Impulse (Isp): seconds (s) Time: seconds (s) Velocity: meters per second (m/s) Electric Charge: Arbitrary unit known an 'EC' (Unknown what this represents in real units) Fuel capacity: Arbitrary unit known as a 'unit' - 1 unit of liquid fuel or oxidiser has a mass of 5kg. For mono-propellant, 1 unit is 4kg, for solid fuel 7.5kg, and for Xenon it's 100g Torque: kilonewtons (kN) I think that covers all of the major ones. If I missed something, let me know. Welcome to the forums and happy Kerballing

I think I'm going to make this compulsory reading for my project engineers (IT). And for the sales guys who sell our projects to the customers.

Regarding the changes to SAS: I'm fairly sure I read in a reddit post (linked from the forums, I don't do reddit) that the lowest-level pilots and lowest-tier probes will have the same abilities as the current (0.25) implementation of SAS. So any ship with a pilot or any probe core will behave like current ships; you'll only have a problem if there are no Pilot Kerbals on board. Higher-level pilots or probe cores will get additional abilities to rotate the ship to a specified point and hold it there. My only concern is that this will constrain you to specific, high-tier, probe cores if you want the new functionality on unmanned ships. There are times I like to use the Stayputnik because it fits the visuals of my ship (or because spheres are great for mounting lost of stuff on), but I won't be able to do that and use the high-level SAS functions, even if I've unlocked enough tech to have them. It's only a minor restriction though, and definitely not a big deal. Maybe when they fix the tech tree in a later version, they can make it so you can buy 'software upgrades' which change all probe cores to allow access to the new abilities.

The Isp wasn't changed. They kept it constant but quadrupled (IIRC) the thrust, which has the effect, simultaneously, of quadrupling the fuel consumption. Unfortunately, that was the same update where "simulate in background" stopped working. You used to be able to Alt-Tab out during a burn and the game would happily continue in the background, so a 30-minute ion burn basically meant a Scott Manley video. Now, I rarely do ion probes.

That spreadsheet is using Earth (24-hour) days. By default, I think alexmoon's window planner now uses Kerbin (6-hour) days. Can you reconcile the dates if you convert between the two?

In the rescue missions, you certainly fail if the Kerbal dies, and the failure is instant at the time of his death. I'm fairly sure (from reading other threads, not done it myself) that if you get the Kerbal back to Kerbin and recover him without him entering a vessel first, you do complete the contract, but you don't get the rewards for having him board a ship. As I say, I've not tried this method, so I could certainly be wrong.

The rocket exhaust is hitting the structures underneath and being cancelled out. Try moving the engines further outboard, I'd recommend modular girders.

If you want an in-game pork chop plotter and don't want MechJeb, try TriggerAU's Interplanetary Transfer Window Planner.

On the off chance that one of the devs is reading this, I'm going to flag this as an exceptionally good idea that they want to implement in stock.

Back in the days before Funds, my usual start to a career was: Atmospheric or suborbital hop Orbital flight Mun Free Return Minmus landing After that, you should have enough science to do basically anything you want.

Atmospheric and drag models are scheduled for review during beta (in some currently unannounced update) not in the upcoming 0.90.0 update. At this time, no details about what that model will be have been published, to the best of my knowledge.

Suzaku I - Investigator launched from KSC Dateline: Kerbal Space Center By: Walter Kronk-Kerman The first mission in KAXA's Suzaku Program, christened 'Investigator', was launched yesterday from KSC. The Investigator will attempt to place a number of scientific probe craft around Eve, to gather data for the planned crewed mission. Photograph of the Investigator on the pad awaiting launch. Mission Director Gene Kerman explained the scientific goals of the Investigator mission. "If all goes according to plan, the Investigator transfer vehicle will place three separate probes into different orbits around Eve. Two of these, known as Scout and Pathfinder, will be satellite probes. Scout will mount a newly developed Synthetic-Aperture Radar sensor to create a high-resolution scan of the surface of the purple planet. This will allow us to determine, hopefully with a high degree of accuracy, an appropriate landing site for the Suzaku Crewed Vehicle. "Pathfinder will mount a Multispectral scanning sensor, developed by The Scientific Committee on Advanced Navigation, which will report back data about the conditions on Eve's surface and in the atmosphere. Pathfinder will be inserted into a much lower orbit than Scout, which is planned to have an approximately circular orbit at an altitude of roughly 750 to 800 km above the surface. "The third probe carried by Investigator, called Trailblazer, will be very different. Initially, Trailblazer will be inserted into a low orbit around Eve, just beyond the limits of the atmosphere. After reporting on gravitational parameters in low orbit, and based on data provided by Scout and Pathfinder, Trailblazer will be commanded to initiate a deorbit maneuver, after which automatic landing systems should bring it to a semi-controlled halt on Eve's surface. "If the probe survives to this planned landing, a second set of scientific experiments will collect data on atmospheric composition, temperature, and pressure, as well as further gravitational parameters. A seismic sensor will also provide evidence of any tectonic activity on Eve." The Investigator has now been confirmed to be in a stable pre-departure orbit around Kerbin, allowing KAXA scientists and technicians to calibrate and test on-board electrical systems and sensor packages. All systems are reported to be in a 'go' status at this time. In slightly less than 2 hours, the Investigator Transfer Vehicle's engines will ignite to push it into an orbit designed to intercept our neighbour planet in approximately 170 days. The Investigator Transfer Vehicle and its payload of probe craft, seen just after separation from the final launch vehicle stage.