zeekzeek22

I'd even be happy with a "at release, I'd say we were 85% done with science, 75% done with colonies, and halfway done with multiplayer"....so it can imply that they are some vague amount further along now two months later. But at the end of the day, regardless of the amount of info they give us, some fraction of the community will have criticism and umbrage of how far it was or wasn't. But still. In the same way I feel about real world space things, I know that every day, a group of people show up to work and make progress on their work. Progress towards a KSP update, or progress towards Starship, or something else cool. Even if we see nothing, progress happens every day!

HYPE! Hope folks are still having fun, exploring! Also, we're almost 3 weeks out from Patch 2...which means 2 weeks out from Patch 3! Belated real-world space update: RIP iSpace Hakuto lander. That's 1/4 on recent moon landers. StarShip went full Kerbal, and we all scratched our heads...a lot. All the more reason to not put destructible environments in KSP2! I'm not even done parsing out all the good stuff out of Space Symposium. China's making their own Artemis Accords, and Long March 9 is now officially off-brand-StarShip. ISS got extended...again...again...again... RocketLab is going to refly an engine...so a real world version of "recovering" your vehicle resources after a splashdown!

HYPE!!! How are people liking the new update? Getting those FPS gains? Real-World Space Updates: Relativity is all-in on a bigger rocket...but with a very long horizon. Starship scrubbed this morning...let's all appreciate not having to engineer valves in KSP2. JUICE launched on it's 1-second-window crazy trajectory...and if you think your double gravity assist to Jool was impressive, think again. OrbitFab raised more money for depotsdepotsdepots! And around the world, thousands of space engineers are starting their week building more cool stuff to inspire us!

I expect patch 3 to have shorter patch notes, but a few big improvements...things they've been working on since launch. And maybe a big test-change to the UI

I work on CCOR, you can google "NOAA CCOR", "CCOR-2", "SWFO-L1". In short: In-space white-light coronagraphs (think of any really cool eclipsed picture of just the corona/solar prominences) that take what historically is a 6-8 foot long telescope and squeeze it into 2 feet. Why it's cool: These are the first "operational" coronagraphs...it marks a shift from "we look at the sun for brief periods for science" to "we want a 24/7, 3D model of all the solar wind, and will keep replacing them for continuous coverage, like the GOES weather constellation". From NOAA's budget request: "Coronagraph imagery from the L5 observation point was identified by the NSOSA independent Space Platform Requirements Working Group as the single most impactful new observation to improve NOAA’s space weather mission." (in reference to CCOR-3, which is still a ways out). It's a good time, though the cleanliness requirements for sensitive space telescope optics is....well it is what it is

HYPE! Patch next week! FPS for everyone! Glad they got this one out the door in 4 weeks. Setting Patch 3 timer to 4 weeks! Real-world space news updates: Starship launch was speculated for 4/10, but now insiders say 4/17! Dawn Aerospace starts rocket-powered test flights of TSTO spaceplane drone. NOAA is budgeting for the follow-on (SW-Next-L1) of my program (SWFO-L1) before we've even delivered , but otherwise, quiet on most fronts. All our favorite rocket and spacecraft builders are working as hard as the KSP2 dev team!

Best WAG guess is that last time they did thursday so they had friday to evaluate the response and implementation, and that turned out to not be enough time...so two days to bounce back this time! Can't wait for that patch notes and to see what kind of performance improvement we get! One step closer!

This makes me think of a more extreme version of people doing cockpit-only landings...doing a probe core Mars lander that is limited to the views on camera modules you put on...you can cycle through them, but at the end of the day you only have your instrumentation and a few camera views to make your landing. Hard mode!

Oh really? Sorry I was shooting from the hip with what worked in KSP1. So you can't split to two crafts in atmosphere...hmm.

put a control node on your SRBs so they're trackable/recoverable vehicles. Just like in real life, adding recovery hardware is heavy, expensive, and it's a trade to decide if it's worth it.

Well there's also the question of: do we want functionally different space suits, or just consmetically different space suits? End of the day I'd like it to add depth to gameplay without requiring the tedium...kindof like the thrust limiting on SRBs. Great depth for experts, totally ignorable for casual/beginners. It's definitely a "tedium balance" question as to whether or not you want to create scenarios in destinations that require specific suits...I think it'd be better to have the suit differences not be required for gameplay...Like if there's something relating to resources: you can pick up resources with a regular suit, but you can pick up more, or faster, with a better suit. But is dialing a number (speed, quantity) an interesting enough purpose? Maybe the hazmat space suit gives unlimited time near lava, while a regular suit is limited time until the Kerbal bursts into a puff of flame. Again, I like the idea of it being inventory slots...jetpack, heat suit, camera pod, jackhammer, science experiment. I'd be fine if the cosmetics of the suit changed with the contents of the inventory, even though it doesn't make realistic sense changing the whole suit appearance mid-EVA as you take something out of your Kerbal's inventory. That way it's a piece of gameplay you might discover purely for the cosmetics, but actually pay attention and use it for the bonuses.

Just a wild hunch. Actually a hunch I believe less and less since Patch 2 is taking longer than Patch 1.

I'll echo the sentiment that all the features exist in vaguely playable states...at least they've said as much. It's just a matter of really fixing the core system pretty well. Once that's done, I feel like the time between roadmap updates will be 40% bugfixing the new features, 40% prepping the next update, and 20% continued work on core optimization like the new terrain system. I'd guess about halfway between patch 2 and 3 they'll really rev up on the science update, and patch 4, if it happens before science, will only be minor fixes.

I feel like patch 2 will disappoint some people because patch 3 is where we'll get some meaty fixes. Still excited though! Cannot wait for the freaking science and resources!!! Based on zero facts at all, I have a hunch science is coming after Patch 3.

I think the comments about "having to select suits is a bit of tedious micromanagement that doesn't significantly add to gameplay" hits home. But that does beg the question: did the Kerbal inventories in KSP1 add to gameplay? That was arguably micromanagey. So. What is the golden middle? I think a combination of blanket upgrades that occur when you upgrade the astronaut complex (no micromanagement) and inventory stull like KSP1 (micromanage your Kerbals' strengths if you want to but don't have to?). So, really just KSP1's system, just a bit more fleshed out and a micron more interesting. Just gotta thread the needle of "rewarding and fun for those who do it, unnecessary and inconsequential for those who don't" That said, the micromanagement of Kerbal roles is allegedly going to play a bigger role in gameplay...perhaps it's just part of KSP2 to have some dial-up on the kerbonaut micromanagement.