ariscol

Oh man, I love this idea! If I may, however, I'd go a little further than just an option to delete all debris. I think it'd be super-nice, if, in the tracking station, you could filter not only by craft type, but also by name, and then we would just need a "DELETE ALL" button that would delete all craft that were currently in your list (based on your selected craft type(s) and partial name). That way I could not only delete all debris, but I could also, say, delete all debris from a particular craft (e.h. debris with "Minmus Lander" in the name), or all relay satellites with the name "Duna 1st expedition", etc.. That'd be so flexible, it'd be a huge help for those of us who are neurotic about keeping things clean.

Oh, man this is just a perfect microcosm for this game. So many people who love this game and have awesome ideas and put significant time and effort into fixing/adding/improving. I mean, the community should be proud, and it shows that the developers really struck gold with their game idea. On the other hand, to the community, it feels like the devs are so hopelessly buried in bugs, new features, problems, and suggestions, that, if not for the community's help, nothing would ever get done... Anyway, I appreciate the tip on the mods, and the plug to give them a hand. If nothing else, it's nice that we have the option of solving our own problems.

IIRC, squad did deliberately do some work on the water mechanics in one of the patches. I can't think why they'd bother if it weren't to deliberately support boats and sea planes, as it did have that effect. Am I remembering wrong? Priority is a fair question, but I wouldn't agree that it's fair to say that watercraft are not a part of this game yet.

Ya'll are hijacking the thread...The point of the thread, the real suggestion here is: Some parts have flavor text that is highly misleading or just plain wrong because it's "in character", and some parts are sorely missing some good help text about how and when to use them. The idea above is one way to fix it. Simply tweaking the existing item description is another even simpler approach.

I noticed the same problem and figured something bugged out on my rocket. If this is consistently reproduceable, then this should be fixed right away!

You were kinda confused when I mentioned engine plates. I love engine plates, the idea is great, and their use is fairly intuitive. When I mentioned them, it was just in context of the mastodon engine, and I was just expressing that using the mastodon with engine plates is the only reason I could imagine why someone might ever use that engine at all. Basically the same thing you pointed out in your comments about that engine. The dV reference is just pointing out that it might be hard to know how whether it's actually better to cluster 5 Mastodons or just go with the mammoth, or 4 Mainsails or whatever. You have a description that says this engine is awesome, but it's not easy without dV readouts to tell whether that is the case. You can easily look the 1:1 and realize that it's not great, but what if I cluster 5 of them on an engine plate...is that useful? It'd be hard to say without knowing the dV. The description definitely doesn't guide you through any of this, and that's my real complaint. I loved your comments, BTW, some of them were very instructive, and everything was very constructive. I really like the idea of having two spots for text (flavor text goes here, and player instructions go there). This is not a novel idea, in fact, I have played a few games that do this.

I LOVE this game I LOVE that there is a vibrant, active community that provides help, mods, ideas, etc. Notwithstanding, I feel like the game could be more welcoming to new players, especially the sort of people that don't want to turn to google to figure out how to use that cool new part they just unlocked. I feel like there are some parts that could use a little retooling in their part description in order to give the player a better idea of what the part was intended for and how to use it. Also, I get that the funny flavor text in the descriptions is a fun quirk of the game that plays into the overall feel of the game (and I like it!), but it often gets in the way of communicating what the part does. Below are some specific examples of what I mean: S1 SRB-KD25k "Kickback" Solid Fuel Booster - The description here talks about it being designed to be recovered. This is misleading. As a beginner, I was really confused about how that was supposed to work... Kerbodyne KE-1 "Mastodon" Liquid Fuel Engine - The description touts this engine as a "behemoth", and the pinnacle of power...huh? it's neither the biggest, strongest, most efficient, heaviest....what? My guess is that this engine shines when clustered with the new "Engine Plates"? Dunno. The description leaves everything up to imagination, and trial and error. Without dV readouts, that is probably beyond the average player? The Not-Rockomax Micronode - The description (and even the name itself) makes reference to the Rockomax Multi-Point Connector, and I get that it's (sorta?) funny, but I feel like there'd be value in clarifying that it is simply a smaller (and squarier) version of a structural piece with connection nodes on all 6 sides instead of 2. And while we're on this topic, I've built a lot of crap and never used one of these, because cubic octagonal struts work just as well (often better), for a small fraction of the mass. So, what's this part good for?? SP-R06 through SP-R25 - Given the way the thumbnail image looks, it'd be nice if the description clearly indicated that these are equilateral triangles of varying sizes. SP-T06 through SP-T25 - Given the way the thumbnail image looks, it'd be nice if the description clearly indicated that these are right triangles of varying sizes. Small Hardpoint & Structural Pylon - 1) Why are these parts not categorized under "Couplers"? 2) Why are these two parts named completely differently, despite being different only in size? SPS-06 through SP-S25 vs. M-1x1 & M-2x2 - I guess it's cool that we got "better" parts in the expansion, but why are the new square plates half the weight of the old ones? Nothing in the description offers any guess as to why one might choose the M-1x1 or M-2x2 Inflatable Airlock - What is this for? My thought is that compared to structural tubes with regular docking ports, I guess they make light and aerodynamic connectors for surface bases or orbital stations? I don't get it. As far as I can tell, it only docks with other Inflatable Airlocks, and it doesn't do any sort of flexing to aid with surface docking...I feel like the description here should offer an idea for a use case...? Aerodynamic Nose Cone vs. Advanced Nose Cone - Type A - Nothing in the description makes it clear if the Advanced Nose Cone - Type A is supposed to be a clear upgrade for the Aerodynamic Nose Cone, i.e. is the aerodynamic improvement worth more than twice the mass? Even figuring that out for Kerbin alone would be a painstaking chore. Protective Rocket Nose Cone Mk7 - This thing is heavy, and it's unclear whether using it is advantageous or not. I honestly don't know the answer to that. I often use it for aesthetics, but I've never been sure if that resulted in a net loss of dV for a launch from Kerbin. Am I the only one that wonders these things? Engine Nacelle vs. Engine Pre-cooler - Again, it's really unclear which of these is better, or if there are factors that make the answer "neither". Furthermore, and even more frustratingly, it's completely unclear whether these are supposed to be "better" than simply using the other air intakes. The description is silent on the details... Air Intakes, in general - What the heck is effective base speed? Is higher better? Why? Intake Area? Amount? Mass? It's completely unclear how to appropriately design air intake based on the information provided in the SPH. Rovemax Model S2 - The description on the S2 here seems off, considering that you unlock it way before the M1. Wheels, in general - In the advanced tweakables, Friction Control and Traction Control...Can we get tooltips for tweakables, or something? It's not clear how these ones work unless you do a bunch of experimentation (or googling). Radiator Panels vs. Thermal Control Systems - It's obvious that TCSs turn to keep the sun off of them, but what is less clear is whether being in direct sunlight makes a Radiator Panel less effective or completely ineffective. A little help with the virtues or drawbacks of these two types of parts would really help in deciding which one to use. HG-5 High Gain Antenna - Based on the description, one gathers that this is a very special antenna because it is both direct AND relay. This is the only stock antenna that says anything along these lines. However, the "Antenna Type" is listed as simply "Relay". It would be nice to clear up that discrepancy. Crew Cabins, in general - the Mk1 and MK2 (casing problem?) crew cabins are both .5t per kerbal. The Mk3 is better at .4t per kerbal. And then we have the PPD-10 Hitchhiker Storage Container (which is the most commonly desired shape, by far, for me) at a lousy .625t per kerbal. I can't fathom why this would be. There's no benefit that I'm aware of that would explain or offset the extra mass of the PPD-10...what gives? There are probably several more opportunities for improvement. I gleaned this list during a single run through the parts list as I jotted down the ones that jumped out at me. I realize that these are really nitpicky things, but I imagine that they're also really simple to address...? Of course, if things are the way they are by design, fine, I could live with that, but it'd be easier with a little explanation

Until 1.2 whenever I was piloting anything in the regular view (not map mode), I could see a green box indicating anything within several km long before I could actually see the vessel. This box also included a little bit of text telling you your distance from this nearby object. Not sure how far away it would start to pick stuff up, but it was significant, at least 10-20km. Since I installed 1.2, I never see the little green target box indicator at any distance. This makes rendezvous in orbit a lot more difficult for me, since I usually guide myself to the encounter for about the last km with at least a little help from visuals. In orbit, however, especially in the dark, you can't see anything small (say just a basic capsule on a rescue-from-lko mission) until you're something like 25m from it. So you have this impossible task of flipping back and forth between map mode to check distances and back to the piloting screen so you can control the craft. I've been looking for a setting somewhere that turns this off and on but haven't found anything. So then I wondered if it might have something to do with the new com stuff? or maybe it has to do with something in career mode that I haven't upgraded/researched yet? Anyone else had this problem?