I've been back playing 2 again since For Science came out, and really enjoying it. The UI is definitely a weak point on a number of fronts, though.
map view
- I don't hate the pixelated aesthetic as much as some people, but the map view in particular gets cluttered very quickly when multiple craft are in orbit. Icons should be slimmed down.
- I should be able to assign custom icons to each craft so they're distinguishable at a glance.
- Can I hide debris? I haven't figured out how, and so I end up deleting it instead...while collisions are unlikely, removing the possibility entirely isn't my favourite fix for the map clutter problem.
- I do not like that all ships get a number assigned after them, and that landers and satellites the primary vessel releases get named "Default name". They should inherit the name of the main vessel, and only then add a number.
- also, great that we can rename in the tracking station, but would be great if I could do that while flying the ship as well.
parts/resources/staging
- I dislike that part and resource manager are separate things. Parts manager should show my resources, and allow me to transfer between them.|
- I should also be able to rename and favourite parts, so I don't just end up with a list of dozens to hundreds of parts, only 5 or 6 of which I'll directly interact with.
- I do like the transfer functionality of the resource manager, except that removing an element from the transfer side doesn't work (presumably a bug)
- Active engines should stay grouped if they're all burning equally. On my "moar boosters and moar space tape" constructions, it's easy to lose sight of the liquid fuel engines in amongst the 20+ boosters firing at the same time with identical burn times.
- The staging button usually seems to need to be pressed twice to actually stage. But not always. The lack of predictability is really frustrating.
- dV calculations need to be fixed. They get confused when a secondary part becomes the primary ship
maneuver nodes
- Mousing over an AP/PE/AN/DN, closest approach node etc should work while I'm adjusting a maneuver node, not require me to click out of it and then make the element I want persistent in order to fine tune it.
- It should be easy to advance maneuver nodes to future orbits, or even days/month from now to try to find a transfer window
- Maneuver nodes should still be possible to create even when 0dv is detected. For burn time, it should just assume the most recent TWR persists. This is particuarly important
- AN/DN often seem to just disappear when they get under 1º.
cheat menu
- Add fuel levels to the cheat menu (refuelling missions are boring, and clearly a vessel that's in LKO and has a docking port could be refuelled, so it'd be nice to be able to do that without savegame editing.)
- Would this be a suitable place to add a manual fix for the vessel state. Had to edit a savegame in order to get orbit lines and maneuver planning. Can't see how I could have returned to the mothership without those.
VAB
- I find the save system very confusing. I name the vessel I'm working on, but the workspace is still unnamed, so when I go to load something, I can't see what I'm loading.
- Need to see tracked missions while in the VAB
- Staging menu should include TWR. Ideally both a local TWR for the body it's set to orbit, and a Kerbin-standard TWR to get an idea of acceleration speed.
- Copied parts should stay in the same stages, not automatically create new ones.
Flight View
- Switching to docking controls like in KSP1 would be great. I find do translating movements with my right hand to be confusing.
