Theseus

According to steam 592 hours. But I've also spent a dozen hours or so on installs dedicated to massive mods.

Top ten for sure. KSP could be a good springboard into deeper and more serious space sims, but at the moment it's the only game of its kind worth playing (IMHO). So it's a cool little game about shooting rockets into space, and it's taught me everything I know about orbital mechanics. But shooting rockets into space is just about it. It's a shame, really, because 1.2 introduced more depth to the game with the communications networks, and I thought more elements would be added like near future propulsion, base building, resource utilization for construction on other planets or in orbit, and more interesting planets, but since then updates have been about localization, reskins, and an expansion I've touched exactly once since I bought it.

With all due respect to Squad and their hard work, but why are they prioritizing reskins over adding basic tools for those operations that are a tad more complex than launching stuff into space and watching it explode? Tools like a basic alarm clock, transfer window planner, docking port alignment, and VAB dV calculator should've been in the base game years ago. As long as modders keep updating their mods to the latest versions of KSP I have nothing to complain about, right? But what happens if some modders decide they're done with the game while Squad plows ahead with the updates? Am I supposed to stick to an older version of the game just so I'll be able to launch a probe towards an outer planet without wasting hours making sure the probe will actually reach its destination?

I'd love to see more science experiments, but as others have already said, there's no point in having a lot of different ways of unlocking the entire tech tree before you even leave the Kerbin SOI. Instead, charting bodies with experiments could be a way of unlocking planets, at least in Career and Science. So, instead of going in blind and sending a manned craft to the surface of Duna, you first have to send a probe to Duna's SOI and then to its surface in order to make sure it's safe. The more you chart a planet, the more options are unlocked (different missions, space station in orbit around the planet, resource utilization etc).

Neat, we share the exact same birthday and birthyear Anyway, here's my first ever screenshot, 2016-01-02, when I started with a career save.

Honestly, that sounds like the best and easiest way to set up a colony. You dump an initial base manually with rockets and everything, and then you build new modules and upgrade them just like you do with the KSC, simply by clicking on a building and upgrading it with funds. Some further ideas: The modules would be a Base Center (houses Kerbals up to a certain number depending on what upgrade tier the center is), VAB, SPH, Resource Extractor (lowest tiers extract ore for oxidizer and liquid fuel, higher tiers ore for vessel parts), Refinery, Energy Generation (solar, fuel cell, nuclear...), Research Center, Launch Pad, and Runway (for bodies with an atmosphere). But upgrading an off-world base would be more expensive, and it shouldn't happen instantly. You manage supply routes in the Admin Building (and view them in the Tracking Station), and depending on the amount of funding you allocate to a base and supply route, constructing new vessels and base modules would take longer or shorter time. The game handles the resupplying automatically, with no autopiloted vessel travelling between the KSC and the new base, to keep things simple, but the player should have the option to build their own vessel, fill it up with supplies and Kerbals and fly it to the base manually if they so wish. With the highest tiers (which should be locked away in the research tree) of Extractor, Refinery, VAB, SPH, and Research Center (for cloning Kerbals :P) a colony can become self-sufficient and no longer reliant on the KSC for supplies. Depending on where you put your base you would have access to certain modules: - Orbital station: Center, VAB, Energy Gen, Research. Relies entirely on the KSC or another colony for resources and Kerbals, but obviously you can construct larger vessels. - Atmosphere absent: Center, VAB, Extractor, Refinery, Energy, Research, Launch Pad. More ore available for fuel and vessel parts, and easier to manage. - Atmosphere present: Center, VAB, SPH, Extractor, Refinery, Energy, Research, Launch Pad, Runway. More research, funding, and fame generation, less ore, but harder to manage. With these differences between types of colonies, the best strategy would be to set up colonies on different bodies, like an orbital station that would build the vessels, a planetary base that would give more funding and research, and a moon base that would supply everything with resources.

I like it. Colonization of other planets and constructing vessels off-world is something I hope will someday be implemented in KSP. I'd also like to see research tiers locked behind whether you've visited certain bodies or established labs on them. That way you're forced to visit other planets rather than unlocking everything while in Kerbin SOI. Oh, and repeatable tech after you've unlocked everything else: better ISP for engines (up to a certain point), better fuel consumption, better signal strength for antennas etc. Basically more incentives to go outside of Kerbin in career and science modes.

I returned to KSP after a couple of months of not playing, ironically not because of MH (which I still bought because I want to support Squad any way I can), but because of Kerbal Star Systems, which blew my mind with its awesomeness. Honestly, MH pales pretty quickly in comparison to some of the mods out there. I'd be willing to pay for a DLC that incorporates mods like NearFutureXX, MKS, optional graphical enhancements, and a version of KSS that will run on computers not currently sitting at NASA Ames.

Hopefully the next DLC will be something that focuses on long distance travel among planets. Currently we have a bunch of engines that can be strapped to rockets and SSTOs in order to get them to orbit, and one (ONE!!!) engine suitable for long distances if you want to transport more than one Kerbal. I'd like to see huge nuclear engines for the big interplanetary ships, experimental drives, and more habitat and science parts (inflatable habitats and similar). I don't care for the argument that KSP should stick to just realistic gameplay, because currently everything past low Earth orbit is hugely unrealistic, so KSP in itself is pretty unrealistic unless you focus just on low Kerbin orbit and some historic missions to the nearest moon. Also, and probably off-topic, but why can't Steam achievements be implemented? I no longer believe in the argument that achievements aren't suitable to what KSP is supposed to be, not when there are tons of milestones and several game modes and missions in the game. It's probably the game I know for which the achievements could be the most varied and interesting (e.g. Leave Kerbin's Atmosphere, Reach Orbit, Land on Duna, Have Ships Landed on Six Different Bodies At the Same Time, Escape Kerbol's Orbit, Return a Kerbal to the Surface of Kerbin Who Has Been to Eelo, Discover all the Easter Eggs in the Game...).

With ISRU, mobile labs and the recent relay networks, it's possible to build a pretty good infrastructure outside of Kerbin, and the way forward from this in my opinion are mobile construction bays/yards, especially for long multipurpose missions to Jool and Eelo. I think it could be pretty easily implemented into the game. You have an inflatable mobile VAB that has energy, cooling, comms and personnel requirements (the more engineers you have on site the faster you can build things, and the more scientists you have present the faster you can upgrade the VAB), and you can put a limited number of these in the solar system (to not go overboard). You start out with a small VAB with basic printers that can manufacture things like simple solar panels, monoprop tanks, shortrange comms etc. As you upgrade the VAB (with money and resources), the structure gets bigger and faster and you're able to build larger fuel tanks, drone cores and engines. Up to a limit, though. Kerbin is still the primary launch site, so the most complex parts will still have to come from there. The same way you extract fuels from ore you now extract carbon compounds (for stuff that need polymers) and metals from the ore, and they are put in separate holding tanks on your mining vessel after extraction. These two new resources are used when building components and upgrading your mobile VAB. It's important where you put your VAB. You can either put it down on the ground of the planet/moon where it is close to the resources, but you will have to build a simple launch pad and won't be able to build some of the heavier stuff, or you can put it in orbit, where it's easier to assemble heavier stuff, but harder to reach resources. Manually transporting resources to orbit would get tedious very fast, so an easy way to prevent this would be to establish a logistics link to the miner on the surface: basically, you put a mining vessel on the ground, mine for resources, get it back into orbit a couple of times and then the game gives you a stream of resources automatically (to prevent glitches, problems etc the mining vessel would remain on the ground but you'd still get resources as if you did every run yourself). To balance things out the inflow of resources to a VAB in orbit (even with several mining vessels) would be noticeably lower than to a VAB on the ground. A couple of other things that a mobile VAB could do but wouldn't be a priority in my opinion: parking an existing vessel near it in order to reposition components, add new stuff, or cannibalize them for resources. I'm not a developer, so I don't know how much work would go into implementing these changes into the game, but the new stuff would be an inflatable dome/bubble that when deflated can be shipped to its destination on a regular rocket, a smaller and reskinned version of the VAB when going to the construction screen, one or two reskinned ore containers for the new resources, and a link (visible in the tracking station) between your VAB and mining vessel. This could be a good basis for further colonization of other planets and moons. Apart from the mobile VAB another new thing I'd like to see is one more science experiment: a space telescope. Depending on where in the Kerbol system you are, and in which direction the telescope is facing you get different results.

Region/planet-specific soundtrack. The music is great and all, but there's only so many times you can hear a track before you get tired of it, and KSP has the same soundtrack for everything outside of Kerbin, so: The closer you are to Kerbol, the more the music changes. Close to the star it's more hellish and rumbling (like a slow drumming with a male choir in the background), and at the edge of the system the music gets chillier (the kind of ambient music you hear in winter levels in other games). Plus, some planet-specific tracks, for like, Moho, Eve, Duna, Jool and its moons, and Eelo. So, like ten new tracks. I don't know, is that too much?

For the last couple of hours I've tried to dock a fuel ferry to the asteroid base I am building around Minmus, but the clamp-o-trons won't connect, even though I get a perfect fit on the Dock Align mod. I've tried docking the ferry to two different vessels on the asteroid. The two mods I have installed are MechJeb2-2.5.6.0 and DockingPortAlignment-6.2. and the version of the game is 1.0.5.1028 I've checked and double checked that all the ports are facing the right way. I've tried so many times I usually get a reasonably good fit every time. Tried on another vessel on the same asteroid - same result. The debug log keeps repeating the same line without any change when the two docking ports connect. What is going on? Do I suck so badly at docking or is it not my fault? Thanks for any help.