bsalis

I filled in the survey. Like others, I see the benefit and dangers. Main problem is that it seems to be a free-for-all where money talks, and things like community and environment concerns are out the window. In the USA they managed to get exempt from the Clean Water Act!

Thanks for the compliment. Which is why i'll spend a bit of time to put down my thoughts here in a long post - seems a good place as any. For starters, to reiterate, i'm not that fussed about either feature. IMO both should be done as an expansion pack. On Multiplayer A big part of the game as it currently stands, is how it is sandboxed and provides the player with many tools. It's sort of light on actual content. It is really the players that generate the content. By building crafts and setting themselves missions and challenges. Another aspect is that it is more social than people think. People share crafts, and post pictures and stories of their missions and accomplishments. The "Gameplay Questions and Tutorials" section is filled with shared knowledge and collaborative design efforts. I expect Multiplayer to unlock even more player generated content and activities. There will be things people start doing in both co-op and competitive styles of play that we do not currently even anticipate. However, some things that I can think of that we will see are... * Collective projects to build space stations and bases, possibly with division of labour to match skillset of players (builders vs pilots). * Competitive Races, Challenges and other Mini-games. Expect all sorts of these, of building/piloting/both/other nature. (Robot Wars with kOS would be pretty neat IMO). * Co-op missions, such as Mun return, Apollo style. With someone as Mission Control seeing map view and other data, and a pilot in the capsule with IVA only. * All that stuff about sharing crafts and collaborative design. That can actually happen in-game, in real time. Where you build and fly crafts of others and chat about it right there. (like, i'll be able to tell Vanamonde in person that his latest SSTO Spaceplane sucks like the last one) * Then there's the Mods! A whole slew of new multiplayer mods. Many of which would assist/lock-in play types listed above, such as a Mission Control mod. On Resources The feeling I get from many on Resources is that it provides purpose to actually going somewhere. To paraphrase what someone else said: "I've landed - now what?". Well, my answer to that is "Science". I think the scope of Science can, and should, be expanded in both how it is gathered and used. Such that it would be far more involved, interactive and satisfying than Resources could ever be. Just think of this could-be scenario on gathering science... You land on the Mun and hop out on EVA. You have a Geiger counter in hand, and a rover. You drive around listening to the ticks to locate some very radioactive rocks to collect. You bring them back to the science lab. Then you use a Gamma-Ray Spectrometer to do the analysis which works like a mini-game, where you have to pick the radioactive nuclides yourself. Then you transmit to Kerbin and get more science yield for higher radioactive samples and better analysis. (in multiplayer, your friend could ride shotgun and do the analysis since you keep botching it). As for how science is used, i think the tech tree should just be one aspect. Science should be the lifeblood of your Space Agency in Career mode. The source of both money and reputation. When tackling Career mode and planning missions, you need to think of science payoffs, costs, inventory, risks, and basically how to stay in business and not go broke. Those science labs don't just fall off trees you know.

I'm not that fussed about either. However, given the choice, I choose Multiplayer. If I wanted to do Mining, I'd go play a game about mining.

I did this a while ago. Alas, I do not think this qualifies according to the rules. However I thought people here might be interested. An honorable mention mebe? Anyhows... This is a K-prize qualifying run, all under kOS control. Clicky pic below to play. Video is on Skydrive.

With a properly designed spaceplane, this is not that hard. Here is my entry, a VTOL SSTO Spaceplane... The landing is in a video on Skydrive. Clicky pic below to play. All I did was drain excess fuel to lighten the load, open the rear intake to move the CoD back, and set a notch of trim to pitch up. Oh, and I *intentionally* put it into a tumble. No SAS on this landing baby!

I have noticed this too. NFI why it is so.

Another angle to this not mentioned yet is a release date may only be announced when the version is done and ready to release. That way it will not be late and you can promo it and built hype... do a Kerbalcon with the finished version etc. So there is a good chance .23 is completed experimentals already. I'd rather have the new version than a release date.

Woot! Congrats Squad. Some good coverage that is well deserved.

Awesome work. There is no such thing as too much Laythe. I can't see the pic! Looks missing.

So many many hours of grinding and crafting for the full skin set? No thanks.

The game and the community is pretty awesome. It's just one of those things, where you don't feel you found it as much as it found you. More fate than luck. It still ceases to amaze me how different the community is from much of the interwebs. Like when someone posts in the Gameplay Questions section why parachutes aren't working when landing on the Mun (yes - more than once!), and people respond sensibly and politely with useful help. Always gives me a chuckle and realisation of what a wonderful community this is.

I am interested by anticipating disappointment. Time will tell. ...much keen to loot me some Alliance goods!

Was a great update. We finally have the mythical and much talked about career mode! Though for me personally it got old real quick in its current form. Did not even unlock the whole tree. Carrier mode though... that might have been more interesting.

Each to their own. How about trying to get there and land with only 3 parts.

Probably a single 909 will do for the lander. Smaller batteries and a couple of the smallest surface mount solar panels should cut down on weight. The capsure for re-entry only needs two of those parachutes, not three.

I pick a different gravitational constant. There's no reason the game has to have identical physics. The way I have viewed it is that whatever physics you see in the game is what they really are in the game world. So, patched two-body approximation is how gravity actually works, not N-body.

There are two aerospikes, so they are balanced. The second is on the underside, up the front. You can see it in the last pic at the bottom left corner. The Kerbin re-entry pic has a good view of it too. There are a lot of unusual aspects to this design that make it work. It the sort of design that fits together like a jigsaw puzzle.

I am back once again for a .22 K-prize. I am *finally* submitting the Boxkite, of which the original was built a few versions ago. I think it might even genuinely be a novel style of SSTO that is my own creation. Note that this craft has a 16:5 intake:engine ratio. Sorry for the many pics - this was a long flight. Bill prepares for flight. Ballistic! (has a little more TWR than needed really) In orbit. Tis a long one this craft. I'll skip the Pe pic, because.... where are we? It's Duna! In a questionably safe landing configuration. Yowsers. Bill needs clean underwear now. Good thing he packed them. We have arrived. Bill is happy. (I must admit to some F9 abuse... quite a few attempts to land in one piece - sure you can see why. I did nail this first time many months ago, before the Duna "art" pass when there was those low flat plains) Back at Kerbin. I overshot. Gliding in on a long final. Victory.

Daredevil!

Never mind other peoples crafts, I want to see Brotoros new toys. When will we see this SSTO Spaceplane you mentioned. Good to see you expanding on your tools.

I don't really have a favourite. I do like to be able to reattach a rover, such as the following three configurations. On a Spaceplane (which was lifted on a rocket, which is why it is here on Laythe)... On an SSTO Spaceplane... On a Skycrane using just simple docking ports... On the latest versions of the above crafts, the rovers are identical, with docking ports above and below. Such that they are all interchangeable.

To add to this. Reaction wheels have no friction and do not saturate in the game. Reaction wheel force is additive when you have multiple parts that have them.

My pick... http://www.youtube.com/user/bionerd23

I voted. I like how they have a release date for game!

Hows about a 3 seater VTOL SSTO Spaceplane with a probe core! Ok, maybe not the easiest to build, but easily the most suitable and fun way to collect yo kerbals. After tracking down mine in orbit around Laythe, I took it for a spin for some happy snaps.