Tyko

You're seeing a problem with Stock. There's an open bug concerning it in 1.2 http://bugs.kerbalspaceprogram.com/issues/12235 this isn't new though and I haven't seen anything about it being fixed.

My current annoyance is stage separators...they're really useful, but all those little rings floating around...

mm-mm-mm, Jeb's craving some pork chops

Just tested and looks like it's fixed. Thanks and have a great weekend

@Padishar, I'm still seeing the crash when I use the Switch to Target function in the Target tool. I started from scratch to make sure it wasn't a mod conflict. Here were my steps. I downloaded an entirely new copy of 1.2 build 1569. I added KER. I built 2 basic comms satellites with only stock parts (they're 7 parts each) Launched both into LKO Selected commsat 1 from Tracking Station Selected the commsat 2 in the KER targeting interface Clicked the Switch to Target button in the KER targeting interface Crash to Desktop This was an entirely clean install, the first two ships I built and I'm still seeing that CtD behavior. The save file, log file and crash report can be found here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8lx4jp9i22tuykd/AABmQFHX-TBlWn7kxkD88B4Pa?dl=0 I hope this helps. Let me know if I can do any further testing. I'm off for a couple of days and I'm glad to help any way I can.

I just installed ASS 1.2.1 on top of KSP build 1569 and I'm seeing a white square in my toolbar (pic below). When I click on the white box the pink KerboKatz toolbar pops up, so I know it's tied to ASS. Is this being seen by others? UPDATE: once I loaded into the VAB the white square got replaced with the ASS test tube icon. I then backed out of the VAB back to KSC and the test tube symbol is showing up correctly. Now it's showing up in all screens, even in the main Start menu where I choose which save to load. Another update: might be related to this post:

Awesome! Thanks for getting this out Paypal'd some coffee funds to ya!

I'll say one thing...the community on this forum is a heck of a lot less inflammatory than Reddit. I thought we got a bit out of control sometimes Now I know why I don't spend much time there. @RoverDude I feel for you. Being called a liar or a company shill hurts...A few vocal people are grilling you, but your work and dedication are incredibly valued and I hope you're letting their accusations roll off...

The "how much ores" thing is luck based. I've had games like that too and it's annoying. As far as inclination, it takes a bit more planning, but twice in every Minmus orbit there's a nice sweet spot where you can plot a transfer without an inclination change. Even with an inclination change, it can balance out when you consider the added DV costs to lift off in the heavier Mun gravity.

I faced the same frustrations when I started playing and asked the same questions. There doesn't seem to be much drive to change it, so I decided to bring back a second copy of each experiment. In 1.1.x I created a custom science container part. This isn't necessary anymore with 1.2 and the new Science Storage Container. Just add that to your ship and run each experiment twice- once for your Lab and once for KSC.

I started a similar suggestion thread a few months ago titled Smart RCS Thrusters In that thread, @Snark and @Rocket In My Pocket both said that fine control mode also included some measure of thrust balancing. This may have changed with 1.2-Pre. I dropped the subject, but would still like to see something like what's being discussed here that offers more thrust.

There may be truth in some of it, but I have a hard time placing too much stake in someone who attacks just about everyone - including talking trash about 2 of the 3 remaining devs.

Totally fair once we accept that we're not modeling each piece of debris and each possible collision it's just a matter of deciding what level of orbit resolution is necessary to balance feel and performance/coding effort.

THIS is wonderful and it's why games at the end of development can continue to support a healthy mod community. Modders can spend more time getting creative and less time fixing things that break from updates. Thanks @Galileo

I was actually thinking more in terms of a generalization that wouldn't require tracking each piece. Just run a check of how many pieces of debris are in orbit and use that to calculate a % chance of bad things happening to vessels in orbit. This would be a lot simpler than tracking every single piece and running every possible encounter while still achieving the goal of penalizing players for leaving a lot of trash in orbit. I guess you could even do it by altitude bands (LKO/MKO/HKO) if you wanted some degree of resolution, but I was looking for something relatively simple to implement that would still give a feel for the risks.

+1 for Minmus - flat ground and low gravity make it a better choice for ISRU.

totally brainstorming - and I wouldn't want this for easy or normal levels - but at harder settings you could have a slight chance for debris impacts damaging vessels. That chance would be assessed based on the number of debris objects you had in orbit. You'd suddenly have an in-game reason for reducing debris. ( @pandaman's comments about renaming things noted, but you can almost always cheat in some way. This would be hard mode for people who wanted a challenge and presumably wouldn't be looking to cheat out of something they asked for)

These are some great ideas that have been executed in Mods, but could be added to the base game. The "land parts near each other" was well done by the @RoverDude in the USI mods. It provides for base components which are near each other to share some resources as if they're connected.

Building on what @Codraroll said, I think the Contract system could be used to provide direction and create a bit of a story. Here's a RL example. JFK set a goal of going to the moon. That goal required a bunch of intermediate steps and also came with a lot of funding from the government. After that was completed, we spent decades working in LEO. Now NASA has a new goal - Manned travel to Mars - which will also require a lot of intermediate steps and a lot of funding. I'd love to see the contract system work like that. Maybe there's a new Meta-Contract called a "Program" (like the Moon program) when you've achieved a certain level of tech, the game offers a new Program. Each Program would actually consist of a whole series of contracts that would build on each other to achieve the final Program goal. The Tier 1 Program would be "land a Kerbal on a moon (Mun/Minmus) and safely return home" - Orbit a Kerbal, rendezvous and docking in LKO, orbit moon with a probe, orbit moon with a Kerbal, moon landing. After the player completes the Moon Program, tier 2 mid-game Programs are offered . Here are some possible Tier 2 programs: Manned Mission to Duna, Set up ISRU and refueling station, Unmanned Exploration of Jool system...etc. Later on Tier 3 programs are offered - manned exploration of outer (or inner) planets, Stations/bases on other planets, etc

Great approach, but as soon as you modify a game component you're not "staying stock" anymore I believe that in some real life SRBs they can change the number of fuel segments. A system where you select a nozzle and then stack on fuel segments could be developed for SRBs.

I guess the question for me is "are expansion packs just Squad-developed mods?". IMO KerbNet and the new Comm system could really have been released as expansions and there were already mods out there that fulfilled those roles for me. Other examples are life support and new planet packs - also already tackled by numerous mods. The same is also true for parts packs. In all of these it would be interesting to see Squad's version of these packages, but I'd like to be free to choose the mod version over Squad's if I wanted to. Also (importantly) Squad versions will likely work on console, which isn't the case for mods.

LOL...I think major news sources learned a long time ago that there's nothing like a crisis to sell newspapers...

Agreed with @Bishop149. Buying KSP is probably the best $27 I ever spent on an Hours of Fun / Dollars ratio. I've spent more money on delivery food in one evening of play than I paid for the game itself. I've donated to mod developers and I'd happily contribute more to Squad if it meant a healthy ongoing development process.

There's also this guide.

The "keyed" idea - i.e. the magnets not only pull the docks together, but also assist by aligning them to 45 degree angle increments (or maybe a user adjustable increment). This would help a lot when assembling things in orbit. I'd imagine you still have to be close to the right orientation, but as long as you're within say a few degrees the dock would rotate the pieces to align