Wheehaw Kerman

I’m hoping that Resources is going to introduce this kind of constraint - an abstracted interplanetary/interstellar economy. Right now For Science! gameplay suffers relative to the original instead of having to refine designs and architecture, all you have to do is spam m04r boosters…

Honestly, we can’t function without money - and we function better with freer markets. That Lunar Gateway (or for that matter the device you’re reading this on, the electricity grid that powers it, the networks that convey data to it, the grocery store where you bought your last meal) would be impossible to build without an insanely complex supply chain utterly dependent on a developed economy, and that miracle of synchronized collaborative research, engineering, production, integration, testing, training, licensing, flying etc., etc., etc. would be impossible to organize and execute without money. Money is a *tool* - the financial system is essential to how we organize people, allocate resources, turn them into products, and get them distributed to market (and that is barely scratching the surface of the role of money in a technological society). If you want to replace money, you are going to need some system to do all that at least as well, and some way of managing the transition without causing megadeaths. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but…

So leaving out the existence of corporations, funds, and contracts, not to mention consumer goods, how do the Kerbals prioritize and allocate production - rockets and butt…, er, snacks and coffee? This is all sort of moot given that we’re going to find out when Resources drops (hopefully it won’t be some sort of unaccountable autocratic command economy, but I expect it’ll amount to basically that), of course.

Do tell?

Look, if the Culture ever contacts us I am filing a refugee claim immediately, but until then… Thing is, something akin to money is so insanely useful for compensating economic actors for work and risk, assigning value to resources and products and allocating them that I can’t really imagine any advanced society being able to operate with it.

You can’t have a sophisticated and complex industrial economy of the sort needed for space programs without money.

…and by space pirates you mean “your friends in multiplayer”? Soooo looking forward to multiplayer.

Nope - just a lot of [redacted].

I think I’m with you on this in general if not in every detail. Arguing over flavour of headcanon is a bit pointless, but I absolutely get what you’re driving at. Some observations on a similar note: I like Kari better than Wehrner. War criminal references aside, “overcaffeinated overachiever” is incredibly Kerbal. Making coffee Kerbal was inspired - on a par with snacks. I’d like her better if she sounded old enough to not be a potential child labour law violation, though. And I miss Gene. Maybe if they stuck Kari in a white vest? I haven’t turned P.A.I.G.E. off… yet. I can sense it coming, though. I’m going to be really annoyed if they turn Jeb into anything other than Literally Ed Baldwin From For All Mankind (or is Ed literally Jeb? I’m not sure. Also, in my headcanon Val is Literally Molly Cobb - one of my buddies think’s she’s more Ellen). Jeb doesn’t argue with Legal or leave passive aggressive notes - he just puts himself in the pilot seat on every mission (just like Ed, but I digress). Regardless of Kerbal equivalent of gender, shade of green, or whatever, the new Kerbals don’t have the same steely-eyed missile kerb vibe that the originals did. They look more like cartoony little alien barista/aspiring reality show contestants than astronauts. The originals had the Right Stuff - some of the new ones really don’t. Kerbals should give off speeding to work in Korvettes while wearing sixties casual menswear vibes. I will be going full on Angry Deke Slayton with Kerbonaut Candidates that don’t conform to my mental dress and deportment code as soon as the game lets me. Overall, I think KSP2’s vibe gets a little too close to borderline Paw Patrol vibe and strays way too far from the early NASA vibe that I frankly loved. This makes me sad, but not enough to get upset - I’m sure IG’s marketeers are tuning the game to appeal to a broad age spectrum, and that’ll be good for the game… I hope. Heck, my first successful Mün *landing* is mine: it took me long enough :).

Last night I had Jeb do a Münshot, and the re-entry came in over Kerbin’s night side. The way the heat shield lit up was gorgeous - it gave a real sense of intense heat far outside of normal experience. The trail, not so much, but wow, that glow…

Was there ever any credible doubt?

I certainly hope so, and if development starts snowballing as the common foundations of the game get built, intervals between roadmap items could decrease. This is all purely conjectural as I don’t work in the industry, and I think closer to eighteen months is more likely, but if Colonies drops by this spring, I could see Multiplayer by Christmas 2024.

Ran into that exact issue yesterday - I expect the devs are aware and a fix is in the works (and that we’re going to get a launch window calculator with alarms RSN).

This was yours? If so, I can’t say how much I love this video and how many times I’ve watched it over the years. It hit me like a roundhouse kick in the guts the first time I watched it - completely blew me away. The choice of music, of shots, everything. Brilliant job and I look forward to the new version with HUGE anticipation.

I like that idea! I enjoyed working within that part count constraints, but to your point they didn’t really map to reality super well…

I think this is a good point to repost this video:

Yeah. I’m conflicted about Von Braun. I’m not sure that having a key role in getting humanity to the Moon is quite enough by way of atonement… but anyhow, cheers, and see you at DebDeb!

Not sure it would have been exactly the same - AFAIK Squad didn’t have quite as big a grand sweeping vision for monetizing the Kerbals, and their artistic direction was quite different. For example, I fearlessly predict we are never going to see IG reference a war criminal with a major character. But arguing over how our respective headcanons differ slightly in taste is even more pointless than yelling at clouds, screaming that Nate is a kitten-eating reptilian alien, moaning about the price of the EA, graphing declining player counts and extrapolating them to Take Two’s bankruptcy bringing down the world financial system, etc. - even more too silly to argue about. We both have better things to do, like celebrate the fact that the game has vastly improved and is now really playable, and maybe cultivate symptoms so we can skip Christmas with our in-laws and play instead. *achoo* *reaches for used COVID test* [kidding - my in-laws are lovely people.]

Thanks! But does this impact crash and data sharing? If so I’ll wait until the EA is out of the woods.

Sass? Yeah. And sass is like vindaloo masala. Some is delicious. Too much of it and not only is the meal ruined you can’t feel your lips and tongue for an hour. But headstrong recklessness? This game does KSP1 Jeb a massive disservice in that respect. Jebediah [expletive deleted]ing Kerman just doesn’t do things like leave passive-aggressive notes and be lectured by Legal about training requirements. He struts out of the tiki bar into the cockpit like he owns the spacecraft and plunks his little green butt into the pilot’s chair, from whence it can only be removed by Security, wielding tasers. Hopefully they will have some character growth as the game grows, and have the tone get a little bit less Paw Patrol, increasingly so deeper into the game.

I kind of miss the part count and cost constraints, A LOT. The early missions are too darn easy. Zero challenge. I get that the game has a huge potential market among scientifically illiterate major corporate space opera media and toy franchise fans who have never heard of those Newton and Hohmann guys, and who need the first hits to be low challenge and free, though…. But if the rest of it is this easy I’m going to get bored.

The most obvious one to me is the new vibe. Take the Kerbals, the voice acting and writing, and the animations. They’re a little too childlike, cutesy, and funny by maybe about 20%, almost like they’re being positioned to star in other forms of media and become a franchise aimed at folks who hang out in Left Coast coffeehouses, and their kids. It’s the kind of change that could only have happened at a large corporate dev. I kind of liked the Space Age buzz cut simultaneously steely-and-bug-eyed LGMM (Little Green Missile Man) vibe the Kerbals gave off in the first game better. It’s not the same on that level. It’s not a huge issue for me, but the game’s lost a little appeal for me there. Not enough that I’ll assign Kerbs violating agency dress code with unprofessional haircuts to ice scraping duties in a small and unsanitary penal colony on the South Pole of Eeloo, but I’m tempted.

“Don’t try this at your own space center” levels of phenomenal? I’m waiting for Interstellar. The second it drops I am lightning a really big candle and not looking back.

I think it’s a safe bet that we’re going to see *a lot* more missions as the game expands. Each roadmap item is loaded with mission potential with the possible exception of Multiplayer (?). Resources could drive a bunch of missions in the Kerbolar system…

I’m happy. Sure, there are a few bugs, and some polish, tuning, and nerfing needed, but overall, it’s laid any residual doubt that the game wouldn’t succeed to rest. Things will only get better. Has anybody else lobbed a probe onto a Kerbol escape trajectory yet?