Jump to content

Chilkoot

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    451

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Chilkoot

  1. Chilkoot
    Spot on - Playable frame rates is what everyone wanted at the end of the day, and it looks like we're pretty much there. The new terrain system will permit a ton of new features, but unless IG is gunning for Starfield-level surface detail, it's less of a priority now than it was compared to release. I think people were viewing it as a magic bullet for the FPS crapshow that was version 0.1.0, but it's been proved otherwise. Based on Steam hardware survey data, the "gold standard" of min spec right now is the GTX 1070. As of 0.1.5, the game is definitely playable on that card, so there's far less urgency for a new terrain system. I hope Steam reviews start to reflect this dramatic performance increase soon...
  2. Chilkoot
    This has come up a number of times... I mean it's fun to think about, but chloroplasts don't generate anywhere *near* enough energy to maintain animal life. Even on the relatively bright Earth in equatorial regions, a jellyfish that has a symbiotic relationship with algae lives an almost entirely sedentary life resting on the bottom of shallow ponds and still requires additional food sources to live. There is a reason plants can't uproot and run away when something tries to eat them - photosynthesis just doesn't provide enough energy. If the game is going to enforce rigid science otherwise, it would make no sense to throw science out the window for photosynthetic Kerbals.
  3. Chilkoot
    I can't help but get excited For Science! I'm really trying to temper my expectations based on the reveal a few weeks ago, but the thought of having some kind of progression, skill trees, locked parts... All the mechanics that make a game a game and not a test environment. Science mode is what transformed KSP 1 from a toy into a obsession for a lot of players, and I'm super stoked to see if it can turn around the fortunes of KSP 2.
  4. Chilkoot
    People want consistency. An art director can't enforce insanely realistic propellant plumes, and then slap on cartoonish re-entry effects just because. Cartoonish is a style and a design decision. So is photoreal (ish). You can't just haphazardly mash those two together and expect it not to be jarring and comical - in a bad way.
  5. Chilkoot
    I'm less worried about rough edges with the For Science! update than what we've seen of the fundamental gameplay loop it introduces. My concern is that the new "Science Mode" will be more of an update to KSP 1's science mode, and not a fundamental re-imagining, which is what it badly needed. The recent presentation with the same-y parts and tech tree didn't instill a lot of confidence that the old science paradigm was burned to the ground, and a new, better one built from the ground up by experienced gameplay designers. We saw the effects of a sacred cow mentality already with the rehash of the solar (Kerbolar) system, and I'm worried the same "don't touch anything" mindset will prevail through Science mode and beyond. Nate being a huge fan of KSP 1 is great, but whether he's been able to let go of KSP tropes enough to design something new and better is still an unknown. I'm still very hype for science mode, but have tempered expectations for very different reasons.
  6. Chilkoot
    Definitely true, and Windows' instability in the bad old days was in no small part due to users installing every manner of weird UI and integrated nonsense - just because it was out there. Both platforms are mature and stable now. I haven't seen a BSOD on my Win 10 box in >5 years. It's more reliable than the dial tone. Native Mac support for games is a tall order, just like native Linux support. Building it isn't so hard, but maintaining the support structure for a whole "official" platform is expensive, and the payoff is almost never there unless you're a millions-of-sales title, and KSP 2 may never hit those numbers. Side note for those holding on to Mac mainly for the command line: Linux subsystem for Windows is worth checking out. It lets me have most of my Linux/GNU cake while still eating Windows for gaming, audio/video editing, etc., without a dual boot. Pretty decent tool.
  7. Chilkoot
    PC gaming has become crazy expensive over the last 12-ish years. It's outpaced inflation by 2x-3x. Some real-world advice on a budget: look at used parts. There are a ton of used 3xxx-series Nvidia cards on the market now since many forms of mining have dried up. Most mining rigs are under-volted and well-ventilated, and the harvested GPU's still have years of great service left in them. You can often pick up a near-pristine 3070 for 1/2 or even 1/3 retail. I've seen a lot of Intel 12700k's on quality Asus/Evga boards posted lately, as well. Look for high-end names that have good thermal control and quality capacitors. Quality used parts that were treated well are going to outlast low-end new parts, and you will get twice the bang for your hard-earned buck. The used parts I would avoid are keyboards, mice, drives and possibly PSU's. Get those new and with the full manufacturer's warranty.
  8. Chilkoot
    I'm still v. hype for new game modes. Any word on a release for Science? I've been out of the scene for a while and am trying to catch up on news...
  9. Chilkoot
    If people didn't care about video games, these forums would not exist. Obviously they do care, and many have invested untold hours into the franchise. It's more than a bit disgusting to see someone try to just hand-wave that part of someone else's life away because "it's just a game". Football/soccer is just a game, but look at the emotional investment and response it elicits around the world from players and backers alike. And frankly, I think you would be more than a little embarrassed to calculate how much time you yourself have spent commenting on "just a game" here on this site. If you weren't similarly emotionally tied to Kerbal, you wouldn't have bothered to make thousands of posts about it.
  10. Chilkoot
    The flight controls were poorly implemented on PC, no question. Thinking of dusting off the old Sidewinder FF to see how it feels. It's also pretty disconcerting when the UI overlay is updating at 30FPS and the action is moving at 100FPS - makes a bad situation worse on PC, IMO. Pretty much everything else controls better and and feels more natural on kb/m than a controller. I've played both PC and XBox versions extensively via GamePass, and with a semi-modern PC, there's really no comparison. Single game-breaker bug so far: There is one NPC in the Crimson Fleet campaign that can get stuck above the ceiling where you can't interact with them, preventing you from progressing. Reloading last auto-save from about 5 minutes earlier fixed this. Bring a drink. You'll start tinkering and suddenly realize it's 3 hours later. The ship builder isn't as sophisticated as KSP (nor should it be), but it's extremely satisfying.
  11. Chilkoot
    I don't think you could be more on the mark here, and I'm hopeful this is the design path Intercept is following. From the trickles of information we've seen on how extraction, resource shipping routes and colonies will work (and the dude that designed it), it looks like that's what they have in mind (fingerscrossed). After spending 1000's of hours in MKS/USI, colonies for me, at least, will be the holy grail moment for KSP 2.
  12. Chilkoot
    Maybe different tolerances, but I spent like 3 hours roaming around just the first planet and I only left b/c of the popups to "get moving to the next destination" (intro quest). Compared to Kerbal, for example, the celestial bodies are absolutely *packed* with things to explore, gather, and other challenges (no spoilers). I was really hoping to see more attention to interesting planetary features like this in KSP 2, but it's too early to say it won't happen.
  13. Chilkoot
    Hm - good question. Like Skyrim, it delivers on both fronts, but so far the exploration part seems quite a bit stronger than the RPG part (IMO), where I would say Skyrim was weighted in the other direction. I'm perhaps not far enough along in the game to really weigh in on that one. Todd's the dude that made the decision that it was OK for a shooting-driven game in 2023 to run at 30fps on Series X by putting priority on eye candy (his words). The problem with 30fps is that you need to stop moving to see that eye candy or it's a juddery mess. His response to fan outcry was essentially the financially privileged equivalent of "get gud". You can generally play a game like Kerbal at low FPS without significant impact, though 30 is getting down there. Any game where part of the core mechanic is to quickly assess, aim and react should be tuned for better responsiveness. Looking through reviews and forums, it's absolutely the primary criticism of an otherwise really great game.
  14. Chilkoot
    A bit off topic, but it's a ... stellar game (sorry). Probably as bad of a time sink as KSP 1 was/is.
  15. Chilkoot
    Is it an inanimate object though? Is the story of Beowulf an inanimate object? I think it's safe to say it's not an independent, living entity, but it's also perhaps less of an "object" than, say, a doorknob or a slab of concrete.
  16. Chilkoot
    For now, yes, and while the release pace has slowed quite a bit, there's no evidence that T2 has pulled the plug yet. The future is def. uncertain though, as reviews and what we can glean of sales are both pretty disheartening. Every publisher has a tolerance for losses, and we have yet to see how long T2 will keep financing the Private Division line, who have had some dead-fish releases recently (including this one). It's also concerning that the CM's appear to be in a bit of a "Baghdad Bob" cycle, though they are constrained in both what they can say and the info they are made privy to, so we can't read much into that. The stark fact is that everything will be sunshine and roses in public communications until the day we officially hear the opposite. Really hoping that day never comes, but history has shown that games that get off on the wrong foot with reviews almost never recover, even if they are brought to a great state eventually. There are exceptions, but KSP's franchise legacy is no guarantee that this game will be one of them.
  17. Chilkoot
    Right now, we're all just flying for the sake of flying, so every bug becomes the focus and feels like a big deal™. If we're flying to try and accomplish something, we see the bugs as barriers and focus on getting around them to achieve our goal. This game isn't just ready for Science Mode, this game needs Science Mode.
  18. Chilkoot
    Says the guy not paying salaries
  19. Chilkoot
    It's min spec for Baldur's Gate 3 and Hogwart's Legacy. It is easy? No. Is it possible? Absolutely. *E: That came out snarkier than intended. I mean to say that there are some recent games with much more challenging visuals that have min spec of 960/970. I don't see KSP2 as a GPU-bound game with good optimization, and there have been a number of 3D professionals chiming in on the abysmal implementation of the terrain rendering. On an older 1070 (non-Ti) laptop, I get pretty great framerates at 1080p *unless* there is celestial body terrain in the frame, and then it grinds to a halt. Also, with an apparent target demographic of younger players this time 'round, keeping the min spec low is probably high on the priority list. I do have high hopes for CBT - maybe a little too high lol
  20. Chilkoot
    Possibly/probably? There's a lot riding on the CBT implementation and the performance improvements projected - terrain has been the #1 performance bugbear plaguing this game since day 1, and even with the 1.4 improvements, it's still pretty awful. If Intercept wants to make KSP2 enjoyable on a 1070Ti - or even drop the min spec to something like a 970 - they must, must, must fix the terrain problems.
  21. Chilkoot
    There's a scene in the making of the Phantom Menace documentary where Lucas is overheard saying, "You can ruin these things, you know" (referring to franchises with cult-level followings). Fingers crossed that KSP 2 is not the Phantom Menace to Squad's Star Wars trilogy.
  22. Chilkoot
    After seeing playable framerates for the first time roving around Minmus, my hype meter is going up again. Colonies will be the cornerstone release for me, I think - the "thousands of hours" clock will likely start ticking the day that feature releases.
  23. Chilkoot
    Just to clarify, it was *critical* bugs first, followed by performance, then features, then "other bugs". We've seen a lot of focus on "other bugs" in the patches (annoyances, not game-breakers). This poll had ~100 responses, so it's getting statistically relevant, but the respondents are all forum members here, so a narrow demographic. The way Intercept has been focusing on bugs does jive with their stated roadmap of fully solidifying the base sandbox, then moving to content, so this is perhaps Intercept sticking to their own roadmap, and not listening too closely to the community for priority.
  24. Chilkoot
    On-surface FPS has definitely improved. The bouncy wheel jank is gone for me this patch, too (which was a major buzz kill).
  25. Chilkoot
    It's a real concern. Reviews and presumably sales are in the tank at the moment (31% positive last 30 days... yikes!), and the publisher will only bankroll so much for so long. I think optimism is starting to collide with reality on this title.
×
×
  • Create New...