Coccalime

This is the most important thing for people who don't like the idea to realize. If you don't want contracts, just don't click on the building. If you don't want to collect science don't take EVA reports or don't use sensors. But there's no reason to not allow people to do it in sandbox if they want to. Like people have said sandbox is supposed to let you do what you want so if you want to have contract records and science archives then why not.

You're totally right, i just think a small warning should be put next to the option if it is added to the settings menu, that way people wont just turn it up to 20 patches and complain that the trajectory was wrong.

Definitely should be added to the settings window, but there should be a disclaimer about the accuracy of the nodes after each encounter. I remember reading before that if the number is increased too high the paths become very inaccurate.

I definitely agree that science should be gatherable in sandbox mode, and contracts could be interesting too. My only concern with contracts would be that the game wouldn't really know what contracts to generate without the progression of a career mode, not saying I wouldn't like to see it just that it might be a little difficult. Science though should most definitely be gatherable and you should be able to access the science records as well. That way even if you end a flight, you can still have a list of your accomplishments. Also I don't think you should count using the debug menu as "in the game" this should be the default way sandbox mode works, not just a debug way of playing career.

Perhaps when multiplayer is implemented there could be some sort of marketplace for designs. Sounds interesting. That said it shouldn't prevent you from importing designs if you want to. It would be nice though to see an ingame craft sharing system to get more people involved that aren't on the forums.

Eh even though you could just do flags i like the look of those little probes better. I might do something like this on my career save. Good Idea!

I've never landed a manned mission any distance further than minmus, and never a probe further than duna. I quicksave before almost every burn. Even though i generally dont have to reload them i really wish i could just handle the consequences for screwing up.

First I want to preface this post with I know this game is in development. The purpose of this post is to discuss what I think work and don't work about career mode in its current state (.24) with the hopes that maybe it could impact future iterations of career mode. I'm posting this in the general discussion section because I want to hear what others opinions are on what i think. Major topics: - Pacing - Tech Tree - Contracts - Science collection Pacing Pacing is the number one reason i have abandoned 2 out of my 3 careers so far. I want to be able to do missions in what seems to be a logical manner to me. This would be sending probes and satellites (as well as maybe small rovers) to other bodies before I visit them. I also feel like my first missions should always be unmanned, perhaps launching a few satellites around Kerbin and collecting basic data with sensors. I don't really feel like it makes sense to risk the lives of my kerbals when just starting a new space program. I think this would best be fixed through the tech tree which I will talk about next. Tech Tree In my opinion the groupings of items in the tech tree are not so great. While i understand the idea of unlocking technologies 1 at a time I would rather unlock things by size, so i can make cohesive ships, rather than by tech, which is usually at a seemingly random size. What I would really like to see from the tech tree to fix this is perhaps separating the tech tree from the part unlocks. In this system you would unlock a technology in the research labs, and then you could go to something like a foundry to implement the technology into a certain parts. An example of this would be to research energy storage, then use that research credit to unlock the small satellite battery while leaving the large satellite battery locked. I think this would allow you to specialize your space program better for the different phases of a space program. Contracts Overall I love contracts, they've added a much needed goal orientation to career mode. All I want to put in this section is my ideas for additional contract types. New contract types - Satellite launches (ie. put a satellite with a communicatron in orbit around Mun) - Maintain a station around X body (would give passive science over time as long as the kerbal hadn't been in space for too long) Science collection This is a smaller factor to what bothers me when playing career mode and is somewhat linked to the tech tree. The basic idea here is that I feel like I should have access to scientific instruments earlier. Personally I think the gravioli detector would be the most important to have early on so that you can get science from space probes that wont be in the atmosphere. However it's the last sensor that you unlock. Summary Overall this most recent update has had a hugely positive impact on career mode and I can't wait to see more. I just hope to see myself enjoying the early campaign more in the future. Because currently I find the early game to be fairly boring and I only start to gain interest once I reach the mid-career level of technology. Let me know what you think about my ideas and how you feel about the pacing and other parts of the current career mode. P.S. Sorry for the wall of text I'm new to using the forums

My Virgin Galactic inspired craft named the Black Sorcerer (I figured it was the opposite of white knight) Key features: - Capable of flying up to LKO - Both parts of the plane are fully recoverable - Enough RCS to dock with LKO stations - Two clamp-o-tron jr. docking ports - Docking lights - No illegal clipping in editor Negatives: - Due to game limitations you cannot save both halves from the same flight - The wing is very difficult to fly on its own - Easy to lose control in upper atmosphere - Very little fuel is left after gaining orbit (requires a refuel to significantly change orbit above 100km) - Quite a few ugly struts Will edit later once I make a dedicated forum post

I really like the idea of having constant income from satellites and stations. One extension to this that i think would be great would be to also allow for science point mining. This would work only with manned stations with the science bay. While manned it could constantly generate small amounts of science, this would simulate basic experiments being done in the station. To prevent this from being abused with time warp and what not, there could be a time limit stating that a certain kerbal could only "work" in the science bay for 15 days or something before they no longer generated research points. The reason I really would like to see this is because it would give a reason to rotate crew members in stations just like they do in real life. Unlike in KSP where a kerbal can man his post forever.

I think the idea of talking about balance before currency is introduced is just silly. In real life you could send tiny satellites into space with rockets like the Saturn V and it would seem over powered, but it wouldn't be practical cost wise. These new parts are based off of real world equivalents so i don't really think they are over powered, and once money is implemented they will cost much more and as such they will be much less practical. The rockets only seem over powered because they don't have a downside yet, but they will in the future because they will be much more expensive.

I watched the video a minute ago. Jeez this craft is amazing. Clearly I've been playing completely wrong.

You can embed the gallery so that we dont have to visit the site by replacing your imgur link with "[noparse] [/noparse]" just so ya know. Its very nice looking too.I also think the craft looks nice but you should use the smaller jet engines since you're at low altitude. In my opinion it would look better if yiid section was right side up so it was white rather than speckled black. I'll need to dl to see how it flies but slow isn't my thing so i probably wont like it. Edit: So after flying it around for a bit my only i actually like it a lot. I did swap out the engines, and if you add fuel lines between the body and engines you can more than double the crafts range. Also i would suggest moving the front wings back a bit so that the craft doesn't lose control as easily and trying to move the wheels back a bit to avoid tail strikes ripping off the entire back on liftoff. But overall I like it a lot and it has a pretty good resemblance of a passenger airliner if only it were the right colors.

As I'm sure many of you know Virgin Galactic will be launching the firstconsumer available trips to space. They will be using the ships 'White Knight Two' and 'SpaceShipTwo' to give customers a sub orbital weightless experience for 20 minutes. With the system 'White Knight Two', a purely atmospheric plane, carries 'SpaceShipTwo' up to a high altitude. Then once they are high enough 'SpaceShipTwo' disconnects from 'White Knight Two' and uses its rocket engine to reach the edge of space for a short sub orbital flight. So even though building a launch system like this would be challenge enough this is KSP, which means we have to do everything bigger! So The Challenge Build a orbit capable space plane that is 2 separate stages. One with only atmospheric engines and one with only rocket engines. The atmospheric engine portion must decouple not just turn off. Both stages must be able to land on the runway by themselves. (This will require two flights, one to show the space plane, and one to show the atmospheric plane.) Extra Rules - The space plane portion can have everything except the two atmospheric engines (this includes all srb's and separatrons) - The atmospheric plane portion can use only atmospheric engines - Landing is required but not necessarily on the runway - Orbits don't have to be even but both ap and ep must be greater than 70km - The planes must originally be launched horizontally and with no launch clamps (like a plane) - No parachutes at all - As the title says, stock parts only (this also means no mechjeb) Scoring +10 points for each 10km above 70km (circularized) +20 points for docking with a space station +5 points for unpowered landing +30 points for landing on runway (15 per half) -2 points per extra radial air intake -5 points per extra other air intake -10 for needing part clipping My example This craft would get a score of 29 Anyway, can't wait to see any entries. Also This is my first challenge thread so please leave feedback.

Pretty fun looking challenge although i think it would be better with a few more rules. Namely i would suggest maybe a landing rule so people would have to land after buzzing the tower. Maybe extra points for runway landing (or just a mention) and no parachute landing? I see you wanted to make it just for fun but then its not really a challenge.

Colmo i can\'t enter this for the K-Prize because the upper wing use during take-off decouples and the wing shoots into the ground like a missile.

The Coccalime Aerospace Industries (CAI) are back from a land of building space planes i bring to you.... The Terraform IX! I Realize it should\'ve been Terraformer but too bad. Also i made it IX not XII because i didn\'t count the solid boosters. This is my first successful rocket to take my three kerbals to the moon. I say that specifically to point out that they haven\'t gotten back yet. I haven\'t really decided what to do yet, such a dilemma. Any how I thought i would share my great success. After the landing there was much partying and dancing. Here are the highlights! On the launch pad. After launch. On the mun. Anyway i would love to hear about what i should do to modify this. Next stop Minmus! Edit: Changed the acronym thanks for the catch Phoenix Aerospace

Sad to see my first plane go down with 15 downloads and only one comment. would love to hear about how it worked out.

This looks really nice! Love the stock planes, i\'ve personally been building a lot of them myself. Haven\'t been able to figure out the giant wings yet though. How do you do that?

Thank you so much! This .cfg has helped me so so much to run KSP on my macbook pro while im away from my PC. Its really great very noticeable improvements in performance.

I built a very small one. maybe not so much a ship as a plane but i like it . Fits in the mini catagory. Also only used stock parts Link: http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=14679.0

Looks nice! love stock planes. downloading now, tell you what i think later.

Looks amazing ! I\'m away from my good computer right now but i\'ll try to test it in a week. Would love to see a video of a rescue mission though (seeing as i haven\'t even managed rendezvous let alone docking), seems like it\'d be crazy. Also just gotta ask do you have a joystick or gamepad or something? I could never manage to fly like that with my keyboard. Good luck on version 2!

I must say i don\'t usually like mod-needing designs but this looks unbelievable. I\'m going to assume you have a joystick (right?) because i can\'t pilot a fourth as well with my keyboard =P. Still very nice job.

My first day with the new(ish) space planes. Decided to make a virgin galacticesque ship that could orbit. Named it Black Sorcerer II because i figured a black sorcerer was the opposite of a white knight . Final product can maintain a low a orbit and then can de-orbit and land with a glide (if you\'re lucky). In the pictures you can see that i\'ve recently added a second set of RCS onto the back (You can see them in the ground picture but not in the orbital ones, however i did successfully put the current one in orbit too). Flight help I\'d love to see any tips you guys come up with about how to make this fly even better but if you can\'t get it to fly here\'s how i did it. - Keep SAS on all the way down the runway until the plane is about to fall off the end - Pull up right before the end and disable SAS - Tilt up to about 70 then re-enable SAS - Continue till you start to lose momentum (about 14000m) - Keep the nose up and disconnect (the first plane wing section should tap off the back 2 tail-fins then it should flip over the top without damaging the 2nd craft - Activate boosters and aim almost straight up - Once out of the atmosphere use normal maneuvers to get into orbit - If you do everything right you should have about 2 half full tanks while in orbit Again this is my first orbital space plane and i would love to get any feedback you have, enjoy!