Pulstar

I think that such a feature would be delayed until the new skybox is done. There was talk of the current one, which is a flat bitmap texture, being replaced by a procedural skybox, which for one would look more realistic and way better especially when using zoom. But talk of the new skybox was a few months ago, so I guess more important features took priority. Not likely to change it before if the current one is just a placeholder. Also your idea would be easier to implement with it I think, you could make stars fade in and out depending on sunlight exposure and specific parts of the sky (would also work for sunrises/sunsets), if your point of view is in the shadow or not. I'm just not sure how taxing on GPUs it would be but then again solar panels detecting exposure and shadow individually aren't so I guess that wouldn't be an issue.

Speaking of resource generation, Space Stations would give more incentives to have them if they could grow food or something and resupply from them. Why haul around a couple tons of food for two way mission to Jool when you can haul enough for the initial journey, resupply from "Laythe Orbital Gardens", land or do whatever, then send the kerbals back to dock with the station to chill and eat all the food there until the return transfer window. Now there's simply no reason to keep your little green men in space suits chilling on a station from a gameplay perspective, or to dock with one apart from refueling. For science I think the problem with stations is difficulty of putting a station into orbit versus benefits. In real life while putting a station into orbit or assembling it is difficult, the main issue is keeping them continuously supplied. The latter in KSP doesn't really happen unless it is a refueling station. But why not send experiment specimens/materials/tools to a station? You send the necessary stuff, transfer it to the station's lab and start experiments. As mentioned earlier in this topic it takes a long time to finish them, it could be a fixed length or a varied random length. You can either have the "payout" be in a single message when the duration of the experiment is over or gradually over the course of the experiment. Although the latter would require a some new GUI elements so you don't miss the fact you're getting science. Once the experiment is over you can send something new there and work on that. 3-4 different kinds of experiments for the orbital lab total, with separate science pools and once long running experiment not draining the entire pool like other experiments. It would take effort to get those points, although it could resemble a bit of a grind (but then again you can farm science from all Mun biomes rather than go beyond for a long time, depends what you like). Another issue I see with this is how do you justify seeing how kerbin spiders weave webs in a Jool station as getting you more science, sans typical kerbal silliness. Overall I think that the problem with space stations is that they're not that good for interesting gameplay from a pure SCIENCE! perspective, landing is more fun. I think that if they tied into the greater logistics of going into space somehow, providing incetive to build and dock with them, people would also be inclined to use them for science as an icing on the cake feature. You need a station to refuel around Jool or to restock on tasty Kerbmatos from the hydroponics gardens, why not add a science lab to it so it can do something more as well? Even if the reward wouldn't be big or "instant" like from landing and getting a soil sample, you would feel inclined to do space station science because it would require little extra effort and you would want to send spece stations somewhere for other and arguably better gameplay reasons than science which you can get from other sources. Mapping or long term observation orbiters are another thing, I would personally be happy if probe cameras could do "crew reports" as you fly over biomes. After you take a few snapshots yourself you could leave it in orbit for long term study, by setting it in such a mode, and have the probe inform you when it has data ready to send back. Long term study for experiments could be a seperate but minor pool. Not big discoveries so you don't feel forced to time warp and do nothing (unless you are obsessed with getting everything ASAP, I know that there are such people). But that would need an event notification GUI like a log or calendar, which we need anyway for true multiple mission at the same time space program gameplay, if only to integrate Kerbal Alarm Clock features into the core game (which are really needed, especially the launch window calendar).

I think that's jeb's chandelier.

I'm pretty sure that's the Kraken.

Yeah, orbital map view has the same vessel filtering that appears as you hover the mouse over the top of the screen. It doesn't have the vessel list the tracker does though.

Saw it in Spootyman's stream yesterday (or was it two days ago? I forgot). I could swear there was a faster of option of recovering craft as you land before that in 0.21, which I forgot about. But it could be my mind plying tricks on me. Either way a very, very welcome addition.

Pretty much, that's the only thing lacking in the flight part of the game, well maybe some weather effects as well but for me that would just be a cherry on top. Not really feature complete though since flight is just one part of the game. I'm personally dreaming of an "atmospheric update" with a new drag model, functional heatshields and payload fairings to go along with re-entry heat damage, redone spaceplane parts (C7 and Bac9 joint effort, just imagine it!), different balloons and electric propellers/rotors. With the new science mechanics aerial probes would be really good on Duna, Eve and any future planet/moon with a non-oxygen atmosphere. Still the devs will do that when (or if in the case of some features) they think it should be done. Career mode is definitely underdeveloped even with all the good stuff 0.22 is supposed to bring very soon.

For one it railroads the player too much, the current system (once it gets added soon) is a lot more flexible allowing you to freely pick where you want to go and what kind of experiments you want to do, and what tech you want to unlock. Also it already requires you to go to other planets as the amount of science for studying Kerbin, the Mun and Minmus isn't enough to unlock everything.

Yeah, the discovery mechanic is planned. Although it will work with the current solar system with new bodies that get added and maybe some small old ones (Dres? Gilly? Pol?).

Well that material science bay module is meant for ages 4-8. Also it is unsuitable for small children. So comic sans fits.

Yeah, I was also thinking about money severely limiting the crazy science combines streamers have been making. Also don't forget there are supposed to be difficulty modes, as indicated by some minor lines in the persistence files (so far it just deals with crews respawning). I wouldn't be surprised if decreased max science yield or increased tech node costs would be one element of higher difficulty levels.

Unlikely from what I have seen during the streams bar some exploit or really clever craft design or mission planning, but if that is possible the research node costs or science yield from certain places/experiments will be reduced before release. EDIT: Oh Scott Manley did it, figures. I'll check that out.

It was during a dev stream I think, or it was a seperate video in one of the old KSP weekly's that got sucked into the April forum-gobbling blackhole. But I do remember it. It's possible it lies forgotten on Dan's HDD while they have been busy with other stuff. That happened with the hitchhiker IVA after all.

It's likely that probes and batteries will be moved way earlier based on player feedback, I also agree that they're a bit too deep and the stayputnik plus a battery should be tier 3 IMO. Also it is totally possible to mod the tech tree yourself, Chad (C7) said during the last squadcast that parts can be swapped around nodes pretty easily since it assigns parts to nodes via a .cfg file IIRC. I'm assuming it's just plain text you can edit yourself like other .cfg files. Also the option to mod in your own nodes and have a fully custom tree will come in the future possibly, but that bit is not guaranteed.

The tech tree's layout from what I understand is a compromise between learning curve, logical technology progress and difficulty curve. That first and last bit are for a lot of us a non-issue since we have been playing KSP for a while now, hence we focus on just the "logical technological progress" aspect. For us probes or indeed decouplers seem like the basic thing you should start with. This however is not the case when taking both learning curve and difficulty curve into consideration. The starting node allows you to build a rocket, a basic rocket and for some this will be the very first rocket they ever build. So the number of essential things is limited so that a new player can grasp how this whole rocket launching thing works, hence: - no decouplers, launch clamps or anything that requires setting up proper staging order apart from parachutes (because you don't want the player to kill Jeb) - no parts requiring more electricity than the command pod can store That way the amount of failure in trying to launch a rocket is limited and the learning curve is eased. Essentially theytwo ways you can fail with the starting node parts is not attaching a parachute, opening the parachute during launch, making it too heavy for the single engine and by making flight mistakes as you learn the controls. If you successfully launch your rocket, you should have an experiment done in flight or upon landing with enough tasty SCIENCE! to advance further. This is basically the game checking if you grasp how to fly and build rockets. If you do it gives you more parts to learn to use them. This is also why you get no choice in nodes until tier 3. The tier 2 node is supposed to check if the player gets how research works by introducing a proper experiment part. Adding probes, electricity management, asparagus staging, struts and yes even decouplers is a bit too much if you want the player to grasp how to build and fly rockets basic rockets. It's easier to master 2 or 3 concepts at once than a dozen or two dozen at the same time. My point is that the first two nodes are essentially tutorial nodes meant to teach the player how to play the game via an organic learning process, it is possible that there will be a (hopefully optional) tutorial or help messages in place to further aid the new player alongside them. If only so they know that you can right click on parts and so that they can understand how staging works. And so that they don't forget parachutes. But you get the idea, this is as much about teaching a new player how to go into space as much as it is about simulating how rocketry works and how it evolved.

Basic science part, allows you to study the effects of different environments on a blob of mysterious goo. Experiment results can be sent back to kerbin or recovered (if the craft returns to kerbin) for SCIENCE! points.

Inspired by the other topic I made this: Will probably add some polish to that and make probodyne, jeb's junkyard and similar company flags.

I enjoy making fictional corporate logos/ads so I may whip something up since this sounds like fun. Also I am a bit bored. To the photoshop cave! EDIT: WIP Rockomax flag, need to add stars in lower section, maybe work on the rockomax logo a bit and the slogan.

There's supposed to be a 0.22 experimental build marathon after the stream. Also it starts at 11 p.m. GMT so that's 1 a.m. CET.

I like Vall actually. The jagged icy surface has style.

I think the pod has basic experiments available since that was mentioned in the PAX presentation I believe, dedicated SCIENCE! parts down the road just give you a lot more options. Lack of probes early on is a bit odd. You can probably do experiments while in a suborbital trajectory so don't read too much into the lack of a starting decouplers. Testers would complain about it enough by now if it was an issue.

I used that to download the last hotfix and possibly 0.21 itself, not sure about the latter but definitely the former. It worked like a charm and made life much easier for me, as opposed to downloading the whole shebang from the KSP store while it was under siege by our fine community.

The game is at a pretty advanced stage now. It needs mostly career mode mechanics (research, missions, budgets, advanced crew management), some flight system upgrades (better aerodynamics, heatshields and re-entry heat, payload fairings, life support), art polish on existing assets (spaceplane parts, more planetary terrain features, better scatter) plus some other content (asteroids, new planets, resources, weather, terrain hazards, some exotic parts). I'm pretty confident about SQUAD and KSP's progress, mostly because HarvesteR has a very clear vision of what he wants the game to be about in matters of gameplay, scope and progression (something you couldn't say about minecraft IMO but I digress), and because the things that are left are mostly not that much of a technical challenge compared to the systems already in place. You have to remember that IIRC docking is in the game for only 10 months and was added 3 updates ago, other planets were added in an update before that, persistence was added a few months before that in early last year (again IIRC). Sure, some things changed (resources getting delayed) but I understand why the developers chose what they chose since career mode existed pretty much only on paper for the 2 years (IIRC, again) of development. Development seemed a bit slow this year, due to the needed under the hood changes rather than content (also development asymptotes as HarvesteR Called them). However R&D is looking really impressive and I am personally satisfied with the current direction of KSP's development. For a game development debut this is a very ambitious project, it has certain risks (I have seen so much vaporware in all these years I have been a gamer) yet despite that I don't regret spending my money on it and I'm not really alarmed that something may be going wrong. It may have looked like that earlier in the year, since people were a bit disappointed after 0.18 and 0.17 bringing in pretty big changes in content, but now I see that there is a clear plan on what has to be done to "finish" the game. Of course I still think it will take months (as in more than a year) to finish this, but overall development is IMO closer to the point completion than that of its beginning.

Mike (Mu) did, however from the context I understood it's merely a testbed for new planetary code. Whole topic is much ado about something that's not really going to be in the game, although some features of the planet may be added in a future one. Either way it was mentioned that adding more planets would make the game too top heavy at this point. So that's probably going to happen after the bottom (career mode) gets fleshed out. Also we could use new high-tech endgame propulsion before anything beyond Jool/Eeloo gets added, or at least stock mining/refueling. It takes over 3 orange tanks to get 3 kerbals to Laythe and back, with gratuitous use of aerobraking and of course LV-Ns. Then again having really borderline impossible targets that the average player can at best get a flyby of would be kind of cool due to the realism factor. I mean honestly, only one spacecraft has ever gotten close to Uranus and Neptune and no human spacecraft has ever orbited those planets (would be cool if we saw an orbiter probe sent to one of those in our lifetime though). Makes you kind of appreciate doing "just" a flyby to see something new, even if you can't land on it.

Could be the near polar regions, during my brief adventures with streaming (too much performance hit from recording while playing) I landed a rover near Duna's ice caps. There were very steep mountains there and I nearly crashed into one at 5 km altitude (IIRC) during descent.