The Space

No, I don't think it's rude to express my opinion on the original poster's issue. I don't really get your argument about comparatively useless parts in sandbox. You are the only one limiting yourself from using certain parts in sandbox. We are already "artificially restricted" in career mode because of the tech tree and I personally like that because in my opinion progression brings a nice element into KSP by giving the player a sense of accomplishment and technical progression in their own space program. I also believe that Squad intends career mode to be the so-called main game because career offers more gameplay features than sandbox and everything that can be done in sandbox can also be done in career but there are many features unique to career mode. I think it's perfectly fine for some parts to be primarily designed for career even if it means some people will start using them instead of some older parts in the sandbox. I don't believe sandbox can be completely balanced in terms of parts while maintaining progression (which already exists) in career. In my opinion sandbox is all about having fun and testing some crazy designs and not about strict balancing of parts. I don't have inside knowledge from Squad but I believe they have a reason to make the new engines more powerful and wouldn't just randomly pick stats for the engines. It was also said in one of the past Squadcasts (unfortunately I can't remember which one it was) that Devs wanted the new parts to be end-game content and a reward for experienced players. Based on that I don't see the need to change the new parts as I believe that's how Squad wanted those parts to be.

It's called progression. Once you progress in a game you unlock better parts. If you don't like the way Devs intended this game to be feel free to use mods or stop playing. We are probably going to get more 3.75m parts in the future and then you'll actually be thankful to have the new parts to lift heavier payloads. By the way the developers never said every single engine added to the game in the future would be no better than already existing engines.

To me it seems like most of the people complaining about the new parts don't play career and only focus on sandbox which is just fine but it clearly seems like Squad intends career mode to be the main game since career offers more much more gameplay features than sandbox. My point is that it's perfectly fine not to play the career mode if you don't like it but try to understand at the same time that some features and parts are designed primarily for career mode and perhaps Squad intended those parts to be the way they are even though you might think they are overpowered in sandbox. I personally don't believe parts should or even can be completely balanced in sandbox because the whole point of sandbox is that you can instantly access every part without any costs or drawbacks. I agree that some of the new engines probably should be higher in the tech tree and cost more science points but I don't see why their thrust and isp should be lowered. Progression in various aspects of the game including new and better parts is part of career and if we keep that in mind perhaps we can enjoy the game even more.

It would be nice to be able to launch from the second KSC some day. I also hope the devs will add other launch sites and runways to Kerbin in the future.

Yeah I find it funny how some people are already complaining about "overpowered parts" just couple of days after the release of 0.23.5 even though the devs said many times that the new parts would be bigger and more powerful than the ones we had before. The new parts are the way they are because that's how developers wanted them to be.

One of the best updates in a long time. Asteroids add so many possibilities to the gameplay and I really enjoy the reduced water lag, new joints, better maneuver nodes and of course the new parts. Good job Squad!

Let's just calm down and wait for the 0.24 which might introduce money to the game. I believe the new engines can be "balanced" if needed by having them cost more science points and money in the career mode. In my opinion changing stats of parts just to make them more balanced in sandbox doesn't make sense since in sandbox you already have unlimited amounts of everything and you don't need to unlock parts or pay for them. Sandbox is all about experimenting and having fun and not having everything strictly balanced. Once heavier parts and more planets are added to the game you might really need every single kilonewton of thrust the new engines give you to reach new planets or move bigger payloads.

Your link seems to be broken. I don't think the developers intended every part to be completely balanced and exactly as good as every other part. It still takes skill to get your space station into orbit using the new parts. The new parts just offer a way to get your station into orbit using less parts in the lifter. In most of the games i have played you unlock better items once you progress in the game. That's exactly what's the case here: once you have collected enough science (and probably money in later versions) you gain access to parts that are better at a specific task than some older parts. Being a little bit more powerful than other parts or "unbalanced" and being overpowered are two different things. The developers are making this game based on their vision how it should be. If you disagree with them on some of the game's mechanics or features that doesn't automatically mean those mechanics or features are problems that should be fixed.

What exactly was the problem? Developers have their reasons to make the new engines powerful. Back in 0.16 when mainsail was added people thought it would be op and look what happened: now everybody happily uses mainsails in their lifters. In my opinion it makes sense to add new parts that are more powerful than the older ones especially if it costs more/takes more time to unlock and use these new parts. It also gives you a sense of accomplishment to unlock a part that's better than some of the older parts in the career mode. I don't think the new engines are overpowered. You unlock them later than most of the other engines and their cost is much higher. They are only useful for lifting stuff into orbit but there are much better engines to use in vacuum so it's not like they make other engines obsolete. As for the asteroids by not tracking them you can completely forget about them because then they won't hit Kerbin or destroy your space stations.

Solution: don't use the new parts and don't track asteroids.

Now the ion engine is not overpowered but usable. At least now you don't have to do 3 hour burns for interplanetary transfer.

The new engines are fine. They will be balanced by high cost and maybe moved further in the tech tree.

I have been waiting for resources to be added since it was first mentioned before 0.19 so I really hope they didn't decide to completely cancel resources.

Resources or more celestial bodies. They could also optimize the loading scene so it wouldn't take 5-10 seconds to load it.

Windows 8 64-bit AMD A6-5357M APU @ 2.9GHz and 3.5GHz with Turbo Core 8GB DDR3 1333MHz RAM AMD Radeon HD 8750M 2GB I start getting some serious lag when my crafts have over 250 parts. I'm playing at 1366 x 768 resolution.

Clear performance decrease. Loading times are now from 5 to 10 seconds and the game runs slower especially around the ksc.

Definitely new planets. You can never have too many planets

Watch random videos on youtube and read forums.

Here's my ship on escape trajectory out of Sun. It has been travelling for over 11 years in-game time.

Vanilla so the game doesn't get too easy

Cities with NPC Kerbals in them and some forests.

I hope toolbox will be in 0.20

I don't think any of the solar panels are "overpowered" because once we get parts like resource processing units and such we might actually need all the power solar panels can generate.

I personally don't use it but i wouldn't mind if some features of it were added to the game as long as they don't add autopilot. That would just make the game too easy in my opinion.

Jeb would be the obvious choice for mayor