DunaManiac

July 25

10 hours ago, Alpha_star said:

Mmmm, interesting.

It sounds like KSP2 hadn't been killed entirely but instead kept being developed with a much smaller team and not everyone has been laid off. I'm wondering whether we could ask him some questions about 0.2.3's state and the state of the WIP stuff that probably got discontinued after the layoff (eg. Blackrack's new KSP2 clouds).

That's also true for me, probably a reason for me not being desperately dissapointed after the initial EA. For a game like KSP2 that has a lot of initial promises one should learn not to set their expectations too high. Still it has improved a lot over the last year and is now just as fun as KSP1 for me.

I wouldn't read too much into this: Furio is no longer working with Take 2 and AFAIK is doing this in an unofficial capacity. Furio likely doesn't have any information about 0.2.3 or other WIP projects prior to when he was let go in 2023.

May 22

12 minutes ago, Superfluous J said:

Not one single person arguing about this "gave" 7 years of their life to KSP2. The only people who did that are now laid off and are far too busy trying to secure a livelihood to argue on the Internet about how much it sucks that they can't play a fun game they were hoping to.

I agree completely: that statement is ridiculous. My point is whether the vast majority of people who play KSP genuinely believe that they have "given" their lives for it. Maybe I'm an optimist, but I would bet no.

May 21

2 hours ago, Bej Kerman said:

There's a difference between "disengaged" and simply not treating it like the single most important thing in my life. If someone is devastated over this and sees it fit to act like they've lost 5 (7?) years of their life to KSP 2, well I really wonder what they were doing during that interval of time

I'm not sure where you're getting this straw man that people who are angry at intercept or take 2 is somehow psychologically dependent on KSP and is "the single most important thing" in their lives. Undoubtedly there are people like that and I would agree with you that that is an obsession. But real life isn't that black and white.

Can we just agree that what happened to KSP2 was a travesty? That it's okay to appreciate something despite its flaws? Even if not for the game's sake than the jobs lost along with the way?

I would suggest you take your own advice and stop worrying about what random people are saying on the Internet. I'm definitely guilty of this sometimes.

May 21

1 hour ago, Bej Kerman said:

Am I wrong in saying it's just a game?

You're right: it is.

But for a lot of people it's more than that. Call me sentimental, but in my case it's actually had a big influence on my life choices. I've been along for the ride since 0.25. Which is why why it pains me a little to see it die in front of my eyes and what's happened to the community. If you think I'm weak for expressing some irrational sentiment, that's fine.

That's not to say I am uncritical. The game is a mess. But it seems pointless to me to continue to argue about a game you claim to have disengaged from.

May 21

3 hours ago, Bej Kerman said:

Or, like others, not make video game announcements the centerpiece of your life. I'm not sure who was actively suffering from a lack of development updates, but it's hyperbole to imply those years hurt.

Honestly I don't see the point of making pronouncements about how you are above it all despite commenting in this thread 3 times.

It just seems self righteous.

May 18

37 minutes ago, Infinite Aerospace said:

I think (opinion) that the biggest mistake Intercept made with Kerbal Space Program II was how their Early Access roadmap was arranged, and in what development order the game followed. From launch until present, we have a 'refined' version of box standard Kerbal Space Program, same system, more or less same generic parts, same engines, et cetera just 'refined'.

Where I think it's wrong is, the more complex roadmap items, Colonies being the stand-out one due to the sheer scale and number of new mechanics involved is the sorta thing that should maybe have been first. With Kerbal Space Program II being more a 'colony simulator' first and foremost, then the game we all know would be layered over that over time.

That way would have got the core mechanics, and interface of Colonies in-place as the foundation and built the game up around that. It would also have offered veteran Kerbal players something a bit different, rather than the Kerbal sandbox experience we've all played to death.

I would agree: I think this was essentially HarvestR's criticism of KSP2: KSP2 should have had colonies as the base and everything else built around, otherwise you invite unfavorable comparisons with KSP1 and create the expectation that in order for KSP2 to be successful it would have to match KSP1's performance. All of which KSP2 suffered heavily from.

If KSP2 came out as a full release with all the promised features as planned that wouldn't be as much of a problem: there would be lots of new features to explore.

May 4

On 4/30/2024 at 9:34 PM, Flush Foot said:

If this is the reason:

then I’m both sad for you all and also upset for us

It's a little ironic that it seems that the KERB before the delay to "monthly" cadence seems like the last KERB we'll ever get.

May 1

1 hour ago, NexusHelium said:

I agree. Wait for an official statement.

We know private division will continue to support KSP but we don't know if that means development or something else and we won't know until Intercept Games themselves provide an official statement. We know LITERALLY NOTHING but rumors and some bits and pieces. We can't honestly stitch everything together without getting some error or having some hopeless scenario that turns out to not be true.

For once in the timeline of KSP 2 after launch, can we please just be patient and let them figure it out?

Normally I would agree with you but if the game is cancelled we may not ever see an "official statement:" KSP2 could be unceremoniously shoved back into development hell or eventually resume development just as easily as there being an official announcement.

But I do agree that speculation won't help: I think it's Dakota and Mike's responsibility to accurately inform us on the situation rather than us being asked to "sit and wait." Because that won't help anyone either.

This is one of the situations where you have to hope for the best and prepare for the worst: and there is little reason to hope right now.

April 27

On 3/16/2023 at 9:32 PM, DunaManiac said:

Probably my favorite shot of a new save I've been doing. A scene of an MCTV docked to Cornerstone Station for the first temporary expedition to the station.

Quite a few things have changed since then.

April 19

Here is the A-25 Condor: the Program's newest improvement on the SSTO concept perfected by the A-19. The A-25, in contrast to the A-19, has a sleek, futuristic look: more like the SR-71 than the Skylon.

Seen here is the A-25's predecessor, the A-19 Aquilae. Like the A-19, the A-25's job is mostly to transfer a lot of crew at a time to a station. Although the Aquilae is perfectly competent at its job, I wanted an SSTO with more crew capacity as it's gotten to the point where I need to launch a dozen kerbals at a time to my orbiting motherships. The A-25 has a crew capacity of 12 crew and 2 pilots and can carry some KIS equipment and BG experiments. The A-25 also retains the A-19's innovation of combining rudders and airbrakes (seen above). I originally wanted the A-25 to be able to operate with a higher fuel margin than the Aquilae, but despite having more fuel I ended up with less: while the A-19 had 200-300 m/s in orbit, the A-25 now has 100-150 m/s. However, by disabling the top RAPIER, the A-25's thrust is alligned with the center of mass, unlike the A-19 which required me to constantly pitch up while running the engine at full blast.

And the A-25 takes off on its inagural flight! Aboard are Vaysa and Gemdrin Kerman on a mission to the low orbit station Cornerstone. This will allow us to test 4 important skills: takeoff, rendezvous, docking, and re-entry. It's become somewhat of a rite of passage: Merlin, Accipiter, the partial SSTO A-12 and the A-19 have all had their maiden flights to the station.

Some of you may notice I'm taking off at an angle: this is because Cornerstone is at a high inclination.

After roughly a day in transfer, A-25 Condor finally reaches Cornerstone. Seen here is Flight Engineer Gemdrin configuring the controls for a docking.

And a successful docking! Gemdrin and Vasya exchange greetings with the 4th Cornerstone crew of 3 and offload some equipment, particularly some new life support equipment that was originally scheduled to be delivered by A-19 Aquilae.

Re-entry is always tricky at an inclination because you can only leave at certain times and one often has to change inclination to meet the KSC.

And we have landed! The A-25's first crewed flight is a success, which is certain to inspire the next generation of cargo-carrying SSTOs.

April 17

9 minutes ago, The Aziz said:

Nothing better than a bunch of random people trying to tell the professionals with years of experience how to work.

Customer is always right and all that BS, right?

Don't see how this is a productive or justified comment at all. People are trying to give feedback on communication which most people are unhappy with in a civilized manner. Would you rather people personally attack the CMs?

If you want to have a conversation and people to listen, leave the snarky one liners behind.

April 2

March 23

4 hours ago, debdeb said:

I understand why this was done, but i just hope that something will be put in place of the KERB on a bi-weekly basis, because going up to a month without any real development communication is something that will most likely affect the community, maybe a bi-weekly colony teaser?

Probably isn't happening given IG's track record with the KERBs and Dakota's status as the sole CM. I take it today's announcement means that IG simply doesn't have the resources to do much community engagement. I would love to be proven wrong.

5 hours ago, Dakota said:

Being so focused on Colonies development, the team has decided to move K.E.R.B. reports,

Hold on, what about the multiple bugfixing updates before Colonies? If the team is so focused on colony development they can't even maintain what little community engagement they've had, have those just been pushed to the back burner? Shouldn't performance and stability issues given the size and complexity of colonies and their potential impact on performance be top priority?

March 16

7 hours ago, Dakota said:

Orbital Test Colony over Jool

Nice to see the colony sneakpeak today.

My suggestion for the next sneakpeak would be a more in-depth screenshot: perhaps a screenshot of the (work-in-progress) UI or a particular part with a short explanation as to its function.

March 7

I think I agree with the idea that we aren't getting enough communication. If the stated purpose of EA was to allow more player feedback as the game is worked on, it doesn't make sense to me to keep colonies secret. Since it's one of the things people are the most interested in, it would make sense to share more about what the team is working on to allow that feedback. And I don't mean a random screenshot: I think an AMA or a Dev Diary or a Show and Tell would do a lot for community engagement and stir up healthy debate and criticism that might improve the final product. I honestly think it's more likely than not that it's not in any state to even discuss.

14 hours ago, Tony Tony Chopper said:

The most important hint was that the next update should be done faster than For Science! as said by Nate. Since it took 10 months you would assume 0.3 coming well before October.

Don't know why people lend so much weight to this statement given Intercept's track record of release estimates.

February 8

1 hour ago, The Aziz said:

If your "adultness" can't handle it, then maybe this game, ironically, isn't for you, play something that's more manly instead.

I feel like I should say here that gameplay is a subjective experience. Some people like KSP2's style, others don't. The way I see this is that this sort of argument boils down to "if you interpret this in a way I don't like then get out." I'm sorry, but I see this all the time and it's still a non-argument. What might be "lightheartedness" for you might be "kiddieness" to others, and that's a fact of life. Respectfully, I think people shouldn't be going around telling people to "go play another game" just because they point out their dislike for the style of the game.

I think I should say I agree with the take that KSP2's humor is overbearing and simply doesn't work for me. I'm someone who focuses on the realism. Different people have different play styles, some who emphasize realism and others who don't. I don't see why we can't try to accommodate as many play styles as possible, and if the developers are trying to accommodate everyone they should take the people who offer constructive criticism into account.

That's not to say I don't appreciate KSP's lightheartedness and kerbalness: that's exactly what makes it special and sets it apart from other games. I think KSP1 nailed the balance between realism and lighthearted fun that allows a serious colonization campaign of the solar system and someone like Danny2462 to coexist in the same game. How many other games are like that? On the other hand I think there is a difference between "lightheartedness" and overly cartoonish. The bright color pallettes and silly faces and in my opinion uninteresting story are things I don't find enjoyable. I think KSP2 is trying to lean heavily into the lighthearted aspect of KSP but I think at the cost of some of that emphasis on realism that I play KSP for. And if people are reading this just to respond "go play orbiter, nerd" then I think you should consider how everyone here has a passion for KSP: otherwise none of us would be here in the first place.

October 22, 2023

One of my favorite images I've taken recently: a grainy, low resolution photo from Eve. Visible here is a significant mountain range in an area near the Eastern sea's northern tip.

The probe itself: the second probe landed on Eve (The same mountains can be seen in the distance). I built it out of armor plates to give the impression it could survive the forces of Eve's atmospheres, with two protective covers to be lowered once it had landed.

October 21, 2023

A small update, as lately I have little time to play KSP for the past few weeks.

The latest probe to arrive at its destination is ESAI: Eve Surface Atmosphere Investigator. Unlike the original Eve landing mission, ESAI, as its name suggests, aims to land on Eve's surface rather than its water. Towards the extreme north of scanned terrain is a relatively flat area near one of Eve's largest lakes. The team hopes that landing ESAI here will allow us to get the best of both worlds from Eve's surface and ocean: we'll hopefully be able to study both in detail. The closer ESAI lands to coastline, the better.

At Eve, the aeroshell rockets through Eve's thick atmosphere at over 5 and a half kilometers per second: nearly double Kerbin's orbital velocity!

At approximately 25 kilometers up, the heatshield is detatched, exposing the bottom of the craft. A small camera wakes up, and begins taking pictures of the ground below. The images are notably featureless due to Eve's thick cloud layer.

As the craft continues to descend, the details of the clouds become more clear. Interestingly, these clouds look quite different, as is clear by a side-by-side comparison with images collected by the Eve Atmosphere Probe and ESAI (EAP on left, ESAI on the right). This may result in a significant breakthrough being made in the study of Eve's atmosphere.

Several hundred meters above the surface parachutes are deployed and landing gear extended. Surface is mostly featureless, but notably has boulders of a much brighter color.

Several moments later, we touch down. As part of the startup procedure, the metal covers protecting the sensitive equipment onboard is lowered, and the first grainy photos can finally be taken from Eve's surface.

The spacecraft itself, visible here, has a number of important experiments onboard. It has a small sample collection mechanism to analyze surface composition, several science cameras pointing in two directions (though its purpose isn't to take pictures), and a small radar scanner to scan its immediate surroundings. The landing site is approximately 750 meters above Eve's sea level. What's clear is that the surface is not rocky like the KSC had feared. Instead, the surface is smooth, with a thin layer of sand above a smooth, rocky surface. The surface even seems somewhat moist, as if it had rained recently. Whether it does, in fact, rain on Eve is an important question to be asked. However, it is clear that the probe will not last particularly long. The probe's reinforced body can only last a few days before being crushed by Eve's thick atmosphere, and its fuel cells will not last much longer than that. However, the achievement is undeniable: our second probe has been successfully landed on Eve.

October 21, 2023

I'm really happy to see that the team is making some progress on Science. however, I won't get on the hype train just yet. December is pretty late, considering at that point the game will have released 10 months ago - how come the team's apparent expectation it would be done in only a few weeks stretch out that far?

8 hours ago, Intercept Games said:

In this mode, you collect and transmit Science from unique biomes across the Kerbolar System; and then redeem Science to unlock new part technologies.

My major complaint is this: how exactly is this new science system any different from the science of old? We still have the hated science biomes, and an arbitrary "Science" unit for a tech tree. This seems like a far cry from the totally revamped science system that a lot of people expected before release, and more like a simple rebalancing of KSP1's science system. Could anyone from the development team create a dev diary or devchat to shed light on this topic?

8 hours ago, Intercept Games said:

In future updates, this mode will allow for resource collection and utilization, as well as the establishment of automated resource delivery routes.

This might just be a misunderstanding on my part or poor wording, but does this quote suggest that resource collection is exclusively for "Exploration Mode," meaning that in ordinary sandbox mode we will not be able to use any ISRU converters for vessels and colonies?

This image I find interesting, because of the very nice looking science-lab type (perhaps?) part. It is interesting that apparently certain experiments can only be returned to KSC for science rather than transmitted for a reduce penalty. It would be cool if this stimulates robotic sample-return missions early on, with sample collection containers and sample collection experiments.

8 hours ago, Intercept Games said:

The Research and Development Center is open! Science can be used to unlock new categories on the tech tree, allowing the creation of more advanced vehicles. You can scout and preview future nodes to plan through dozens of part families.

So far the new tech tree seems pretty much the same as before, which is not what I was hoping for. My main question is this: are we still going to start every new career with a command pod + SRB a la the original, or are we going to first get access to probes or aircraft and then graduate to manned flight? I would be disappointed if the latter turned out to be true.

8 hours ago, Intercept Games said:

Mission Control is also open for business - meet Dr. Keri Kerman who will send you on increasingly-challenging quests from learning about basic rocketry to attempting to build and maneuver an entirely new kind of vehicle.

Once again, this seems to be similar to the contract system of KSP1, albeit without the randomness and a more tutorial approach, and with science as a reward rather than funds. Are these intended to be simple guides designed to point newbies in the right direction, or are they an important part of gameplay that cannot be ignored?

8 hours ago, Intercept Games said:

With this update there will also be significant improvements to quality of life and performance! As we continue development, we strive to make KSP2 playable on a wider variety of PCs.

That's a pretty big promise to make, and has been made many times in the past. I will be watching to see whether it comes true.

All in all, happy to see the new reentry effects and that wobbly rockets are being addressed and worked on, but I am still skeptical (perhaps more than most) about the new science system.

October 4, 2023

A priority for the future is robotic exploration of the Nearby Worlds: Eve and Duna.

The RED Program, or Robotic Exploration of Duna Program, seeks to lay down the groundwork of a manned mission to Duna. It will consist of a series of probes launched in groups at the upcoming launch windows.

Objective: Study atmosphere, surface conditions, planetary composition, and magnetic field strength of Duna. Will create a small satellite constellation around Duna, explore two Points of Interest for a future manned landing

REDP1: Duna Atmopsheric Survey Orbiter. Due to launch within the next few days. Despite its name, DASO's purpose in addition to studying Duna's atmosphere in great detail to prepare for REDP4 and the future landings is to study the surface and help pick out landing sites. The DICE orbiter, currently in orbit of Ike, has mapped most of the southern hemisphere of Duna, but the northern hemisphere remains mostly unexplored. DASO will aim to explore the unexplored regions in much greater detail.

REDP2: Duna Operations Command eXplorer (DOC-X). In a similar vein to the idea of the original Moon Advanced Survey Strategy (MASS) 5 Minmus Operations Command eXplorer, MOCX that operates to this day, DOCX will in the short term conduct an intense exploration of Duna's surface. It will deploy a large radar antenna to study Duna in greater detail than we currently have, and bring along a resource scanner to study Duna's surface for refinable ore deposits. This knowledge will be critical in the future exploration of Duna.

REDP3: Duna Weather Monitor and Surface Exploration Vehicle (DWM-SEV). The aim of the Weather Monitor-SEV is to study in great study one of the Points of Interest that the combined work of DICE and DASO will discover. It will be a dual mission, not a stranger to the Program, which will aim to land a lander and a rover at Point of Interest 1. The lander, the Weather Monitor, is intended to be more important and will do what its name suggests: monitor Duna's weather from its location. It will also take seismographic readings and atmospheric readings, all of which will go into our decision for picking a final landing site. The rover on the other hand, will sample the surface and test out surface conditions directly: is it rocky and filled with boulders that would make landing difficult? Is it sandy and will make our craft sink? Or is it nice and flat?

REDP4: Duna High-Flying Glider. This mission, unique among the others, is a plan to use a propellor to power a glider on Duna. This will allow us to explore large swathes of the surface, but would be quite technically difficult to accomplish. However, the glider will be sent to analyze the second point of interest, and hopefully join our other probes at the other Point of Interest.

September 30, 2023

On 9/29/2023 at 11:38 PM, TwoCalories said:

This is a cool mission report but there's a lot to read so I just started reading from the last few chapters. Is there anything that I should know about the story/progression going forward?

Sorry for the relatively late reply. Basically, in the short term my plan is to complete my outpost around Minmus. My station is mostly complete, and the final phase of my plan to colonize Minmus will be to finish Citadel base on the surface. I've already brought the core module and drill module.

In the longer term I plan to build two more large motherships to explore Eve and Duna, perhaps build an outpost. But the main goal will be to eventually set up a colony in the Jool system, likely around Laythe and Pol.

September 30, 2023

As this is the Dual Moon Study Mission, landing on the Mun was also a priority.

The vessel designed by the Program is the Unmanned Sample Return Vehicle. It's mission, as suggested by the robotic arm, is to collect samples from the surface of the Mun. A question many asked is: why send a probe to collect samples if Kerbals can? Indeed, there was a heated debate in the bowels of the Program boardrooms. Kerbals haven't set foot on the Mun since Nova-E II, one side argued. However, a robotic mission was chosen for the main purpose of preparing for a future sample return mission: at Laythe. See, at Laythe, it will be quite some time before we are capable of sending a kerballed mission to Laythe, so our near-term solution is to send a robotic sample-return mission to the far-flung moon. As a result, it was imperative to test a robotic sample return mission much closer to Kerbin, at the Mun.

An artist's conception of the USRV in action

The robotic arm uses a unique sample-collection method. As opposed to a simple robotic arm to scoop up material, our arm instead is fitted with a small compartment. In order to collect the samples, the surface will be "stamped" by our arm, which will collect our material. There will be less than a proper arm, just a couple of grams, but this method is far cheaper and more reliable. Once the arm is finished with its work, the arm will transfer the regolith into the upper stage, which will then rendezvous with Azimov in orbit for return to Kerbin.

Federation Geostationary Communication Network Satellite, 6 currently in service in Geostationary Orbit, placed by Merlin VII, Accipiter V, VI

Minmus Total Coverage Project Satellite

Another late addition to the Dual Moon Study Mission is the Minmus Total Coverage Project. The aim is to solve the problem of spotty coverage around Minmus, especially due to the fact we are now maintaining an 8 kerbal outpost. The people behind the MTCP had been pushing for the Program to approve a mission for years: and the response was "not enough money, tough luck." However, the MTCP was finally approved as two satellites to be brought along by Azimov, to be inserted into geostationary Minmus orbit. This will solve our communication problems, establish the first communications network beyond Kerbin, and at the lowest possible price.

The result of these deliberations is that all these probes will be attatched in this configuration to a service hub, designed to maintain the onboard computers of the spacecraft until they reach their destination.

However, the most ambitious part of the Dual Moon Study Mission is this: the Minmus Resource-to-Orbit Transfer System. Fully fueled, ROTS can transfer up to 4 orange tanks: 150 tons of fuel up to Foundation Station. It will operate as the workhorse of the Minmus colony. It will handle transfering fuel from Citadel to Foundation and transfer life support supplies and other essential cargo down to the surface. Plus, it is fully autonomous, allowing the tanker to operate without without direct kerbal control. Fully fueled, it can weigh nearly 200 tons. Its dry mass is 50 tons.

In conclusion, the modules, probes, and landers that we will be sending on the Dual Moon Study Mission will be arranged in this configuration. We plan to have this completed in a year and a half, or even less. In the meantime however, we'll be stepping our robotic exploration of the nearby planets, and gearing up for our next objective beyond the Kerbin system.

September 24, 2023

At the KSC, considerable thought was put into how exactly fuel would be transported and refined. The major debate was whether it was more economical to mine ore on the surface and transport it directly to Minmus orbit to refueled on orbit, or whether to refine ore on the surface and transport and store purely fuel on Foundation. The science team at the Program dedicated to study the matter after studying samples brought back from Citadel's landing site believe that the latter option is more efficient. In addition, there has already been consideration put in to IKS Azimov's next mission. After the gravity wheel debacle was revealed the Program began to push for splitting Phase III into two missions: the first with the secondary focus of bringing another engineer to deploy the gravity wheel, and the second mission to primarily fulfill Phase III's objectives.

What the crew came up with was the Azimov Dual Moon Study Mission - the first mission ever to visit both Minmus and the Mun. Planned for roughly one year from now, it will take advantage of the gargantuan radar array installed on Azimov that has as of yet sat unused. We will use it to conduct the most in depth study of the Mun and Minmus ever attempted in history. It's even a propaganda boon: spaceflight to the Mun and Minmus has finally become routine!

However, onto more practical concerns. This is the Azimov-Foundation Adapter Module, or AFAM. Seeking to alleviate the issue of the lack of clearance for Azimov when the gravity wheel is deployed that hindered us from discovering the fatal error in the gravity wheel, a new module will be installed that will add that clearance, as it were. It's not a waste of money, however, because it will serve two purposes: the first is to ease the transfer of crew and equipment from Foundation to Azimov by including a small module to add more storage space.

Seen here is a clear demonstration of the clearance it will provide. The front node of Azimov is shown docked for reference. However, the second purpose of the module is to include a specialized receptacle for a new spacecraft: the Skipper. The skipper was intended to fill the role of a small craft to be ordered around wherever it didn't make sense to send the large, nuclear powered MGL. Its main purpose would be to help service our small satellite fleet in Minmus orbit that requires servicing every few years, especially the MASS 5 and MOCX probes, with the latter providing the "brains" of our entire Minmus operation. A secondary purpose would be to assist in extracting crew in an emergency, or to land at a small site of scientific intrest too far away from any base to study. Two designs were submitted to the program.

Design 1 seen here. Design 1 has a unique spherical capsule design capable of holding two kerbonauts. It requires external RCS thrusters and is less responsive to controls, but it has the advantage of being able to use a standard docking port.

Design 2's primary disadvantage is the need for a specialized docking port to be inserted aboard the AFAM. However, it has built-in RCS thrusters into the capsule and is somewhat smaller, while it can still hold two kerbonauts.

Bill Kerman seen here evaluating a simulation of the interior of Design II, smiling wildly for the camera.

To decide, a simulation of both designs were produced. Crews rated the performance of Design II much more highly over Design 1, complaining of cramped interiors and extremely poor visibility in the latter. In addition, based off of performance reviews, Design 2 was ultimately selected to act as the Skipper.

Given our purpose is to study Minmus, it was decided that a complimentary probe would be brought aboard Azimov to Minmus orbit, and be released to continue the study after we've gone. Don't let the proportions fool you: this is the largest probe ever designed by the Program. Christened the Minmus Comprehensive Resource Study Orbiter (CRSO), it was designed primarily to showcase Azimov's ability to launch large spacecraft to places that it would be impractical to transport directly. It is outfitted with a large camera, an enormous multispectral and resource scanner to study Minmus, a kerbnet scanner, various smaller cameras, and a large radar dish.

CRSO was also designed with future servicing in mind: an area to interface with the central computer has been provided so that future kerbonauts aboard the Skipper can service the vessel. Experimentally, it has the capability to be tied to a visiting spacecraft via a tether, ensuring that the Skipper does not waste precious fuel maintaining separation.

September 23, 2023

Phase II: Final Operations and Return

Rovin and Lobas construct a small unmanned science station next to Elysium base

After staying for several hours, Rovin, Isapond, and Lemore are finally ready to leave Elysium. With Lobas and Isalin left to their work, and the new science stations brought by the MGL, the crew settles in for their flight to Foundation Station.

Taking off a a high angle, we leave our first manned outpost on Elysium behind.

Back in orbit, the crew have begun the final preparations for Azimov's departure for Kerbin. Onboard is the old crew of Foundation, Elysium, the Azimov Operations crew, and our drill specialist, all exhausted after years in cramped spaces and eager to return home to Kerbin. With our fuel tanks now at an acceptable capacity, thanks to the tireless efforts of Isapond and Shelvan Kerman, there is no longer any fear of not being able to get home.

Remaining structural braces are ejected from the station, originally designed to stabilize the superstructure during launch, now useless in the vacuum of space.

Seen here is one of the brand new science modules attatched to the station. Triburry Kerman, chief medical officer and cryologist, has already begun to conduct tests on the biological samples Azimov has brought.

After finally transferring the new crew aboard Foundation, and the old back aboard Azimov, we depart. Foundation now has a six strong crew, 3 more than last, and we have set out what we wanted to do: expand Foundation into a proper outpost. It now is our largest station, has ample supply and fertilizer reserves, can sustain itself for years purely based on its own onboard agroponics, and it has the largest gravity wheel ever built.

The station seen here: it is not yet complete at the moment. The last major addition will be completed during Phase III, when we will add an aft fuel storage area, capable of holding 4 Jumbo-64 tanks, equivalent to 80% of Azimov's fuel capacity.

However, a major setback rears its ugly head: the deployment of the Gravity wheel was postponed till after Azimov had left, due to the fact that there wasn't enough clearance between Azimov and the gravity wheel when fully deployed. The gravity wheel was designed to be inflatable, allowing it to be deflated during flight, before inflating once in place. This meant that it could be easily launched, but meant that deploying the gravity wheel safely would be a major challenge. However, as an inflatable gravity wheel on a smaller scale had already been tested on Cornerstone, little difficulties were expected. As planned, Foundation chief engineer Vermund, the only qualified engineer onboard the station, planned to inflate the section, the crown jewel of Foundation Station, and containing most of the crew's living quarters. However: disaster struck. The wheel simply would not inflate. An external inspection by Vermund revealed that there was some design flaw in the wheel that meant that the locks meant to hold the gravity wheel in place were stuck, and to deploy the wheel one would have to manually interface on EVA and managing the controls inside. However, given the risks involved, including permanently damaging the wheel or even total loss of atmosphere for the vessel, it was decided that two qualified engineers would be necessary to deploy the module: one more than we had. Despite the program's leaders being furious that Azimov's crew was just there, it couldn't be helped: Azimov was already en route for Kerbin. Fixing the gravity wheel will have to wait for Phase III.

Foundation Station as of Year 12 after completion of Phase II

Final envisioned design approved year 9

Despite this disappointment, the crew decide to complete their mission as planned. After two 3 minute orbital insertion burns, Azimov finally returns to LKO. It has been away for 45 days.

The remaining crew onboard numbers 8: two more than the maximum passenger capacity of the A-19 SSTO. As a result, the A-19 will have to launch twice to recover the crew in stages. This can be done extremely cheaply and easily thanks to its SSTO design.

Flown by Pilot Lemnand Kerman, the first launch brings home 5 crewman: our drill specialist Girick, the original Elysium crew, and the original Foundation crew brought by Phase I.

The second crew finally departs Azimov only a day after the first crew. Flown by Lomal kerman, the last to leave are Agamin Kerman, Mission Commander of Phase I, and the Azimov Operations crew. The Operations crew spent the last day on Azimov hard at work at putting the station to sleep. After their last few hours in space, Azimov is left alone in space, devoid of crew. It is left in orbit until another mission may call it. Despite being cooped up on Azimov for over a month, the Operations crew still pays tribute to their time on Kerbalkind's first true spaceship.

Returning on the second crew is Sherdon, Nelbro, Veteran Bill, and Agamin Kerman.

In conclusion, Phase II was just as complicated, if not more so, than Phase I. We expanded our station in Minmus Orbit to the largest station ever built by the Program, we built our first fuel-mining outpost on Minmus' surface, we completed the first spacecraft refueling not on Kerbin in history, and we returned our long-suffering crew of Elysium to Kerbin. We now have an 8 strong contingent of crew left at Minmus, with more on the way. Most importantly, Phase II shows that refueling in space is in fact practical: an important condition for the next phase of the program: Phase III, where we will expand our orbital prescence yet again, establish our largest and first permanent manned facility on Minmus, and solidify the self-sufficency long envisioned by the Program. Then, we can move on to yet greater sights: the stars.

September 21, 2023

1 hour ago, Periple said:

Communication is a lot of work! Especially when you have to be extra careful to make sure you don’t say anything that could be misconstrued.

Developers have other things on their plate and if they have to make a presentation every week that’s bound to suffer!

I understand that developers have to work a lot, but just like there are separate software engineering and art departments in development teams there would also be a PR manager, like @Dakota, for instance. It's not like the entire development team is stopping to work on a feature video. That's why all the "they can't communicate! It would take away valuable time from developing!" arguments doesn't hold water. To me it would not be incredibly difficult to hire an ordinary graphic designer/community manager to work on previews biweekly. However, I'm not ignoring the fact that developers oftentimes don't have the resources to actually have one. But for large team backed by a multi million dollar corporation that argument becomes much weaker.

To me the communication strategy of the developers is not very good. Half the time things that attempt to build hype actually end up producing backlash, through no fault of their own. Building hype in this instance doesn't work because you first need a large, enthusiastic playerbase with high expectations for it to work. Now we have a dwindling playerbase with only a few hundred players maximum on KSP2, with more bleeding out every day. Generally there are two models for communication: constant, but useless updates (glorified advertisements), or longer-form, specific updates spaced out over a long time. KSP2's model is the worst of both worlds: spaced out and very vague. When you add in no consistent schedule into the mix, said updates spread out across multiple platforms, and various platforms feeling like others are receiving favoritism, you have a very salty playerbase. I can't believe that this is the intended strategy, and I don't blame the devs in any of this: I blame the fact they weren't given enough resources from the beginning.

Profiles

Forums

Developer Articles

KSP2 Release Notes

Posts posted by DunaManiac