KSK

I'd be up for that if folks didn't mind me cribbing chunks of my fanfic and reposting them in a different thread. And yeah, that Eve example sounds like classic Fan Dumb.

Yeah me too. It's the one scene that felt badly out of place. I get why it was in there, as a clear cut signal that Anakin Has Turned to the Dark Side, but it was a lazy way of doing it.

Yeah - it's the first game that's really motivated me to put pen to paper. As a writer, I think I get the best of both worlds with KSP - it's a mostly blank canvas with enough detail (a scattering of names, the kerbals themselves and a handful of memes if you need them) to quickly establish a recognizable setting for your story. I take @Curveball Anders point about an 'official' backstory but I actually think that Novasilsko's story would work quite well because it really just tops-and-tails the current setting without placing any extra restrictions on it. (Quite the opposite in fact, the Progenitors - for want of a better name - could make for an interesting source of fanfic material in their own right). Instead it provides a distant prequel (somebody else created the kerbals) and one possible present-day story arc (kerbals discovering their origins) and that's it. It says nothing about how a species that began as a failed experiment evolved to become a spacefaring civilization. It doesn't tell us anything more about that species than the stuff we already know from the game. And it doesn't seem to preclude any other stories set in the Kerbol system. I'm actually struggling to think of a fanfic (in whatever format) that wouldn't work OK with Nova's story. Certainly my own one wouldn't be affected. A Quest for the Monoliths (going to other worlds for Science!) sounds like something that Kerbfleet would get up to, amongst its many other adventures. And all the extra-Kerbolar entities hinted at in other stories could easily be accommodated.

Hmm, put like that, Thompberry reminds me a little of Vader (except that brain-inna-jar is much more retro-cool than an ugly black mask ). The first time I watched Revenge of the Sith, I kinda felt sorry for Anakin. For the most part he was doing the wrong things for the right reason, driven by fear of a future without Padme. The second time through, I needed a side of mustard to go with the ham but that's another matter. Anyhow, the novel Dark Lord was quite an interesting look at the early days of Anakin/Vader and for the most part, it was the suit that drove him over the edge. Which figures - stuck in a black armour case, completely dependent on it for everything, including all the messy aspects of being a living being, unable to see, hear or breathe without assistance. Not to mention putting up with bits of dead flesh falling off you on a regular basis and having to be cleaned out. Not sure which is worse - suit or jar. Either way, it's no surprise that the being inhabiting either of them went to the dark.

I'm sure the sentiment is appreciated but... Moar looks unlikely to happen for a bit.

One of life's great stresses combined with a technically demanding chapter. Definitely sounds like that one will need to ferment for a while. But, like a pickled mosquito head, it will no doubt surprise, then tingle, then delight. And I never yet heard of no pickled mosquito head that wouldn't improve if you left it a bit longer in the jar. Take all the time you need and best of luck with the house buying! We'll still be here when you get back.

Only Squad know for sure but here's my version for whatever it's worth. In a very real sense, my kerbals have walked amongst their gods (although they're no longer referred to as such) since prehistoric times. They have no need to turn to the skies in search of deities.

Both of those would get my vote too. "Packing for Mars" could easily be re-titled 'everything you didn't know about human spaceflight and were afraid to ask'.

"We choose to land in this place. We hope to land in this decade without exploding, not because that is easy, but because it is hard, because that goal is a waste of our energies and skills, because that runway is one that we can't be bothered to fix, one we are willing to postpone, and one which we intend to ignore..." Edit: Back on topic, I don't really see any reason for this suggestion other than to add a bit of Nintendo difficulty to the game. Feel free to use the runway as you see fit but does it really matter that much if other players don't play by your exact rules?

Nah - I prefer a little precision marksmanship, Boromir style. The link isn't remotely forum friendly due to much bad language, but a search for 'boromir' and 'catapult' will do the trick if you're curious and haven't already seen it.

Well the good business reasons I had in mind were along the lines of 'we do it this way because otherwise we go broke'. I'm aware (or can imagine) all the points you raise and am very much aware that all that testing takes time and money. But we've also seen that Squad are in this for the long haul and that they do, in time, fix the bugs, change things in response to feedback etc. So they're obviously finding the resources from somewhere. But the consistently overoptimistic deadlines do get tiring. It suggests that some part of the pipeline isn't working and that somebody somewhere has a consistently wrong understanding of how much can be done in a given amount of time. It also suggests that lessons either are not being, or cannot be, learned, which is depressing whichever way you look at it. Let me also be quite clear - I'm also well aware that none of the above may be Squad's fault at all. They undoubtedly have external pressures and deadlines they have to meet. In which case I feel for them - they can't talk about all that internal stuff and yet they end up carrying the can when things go wrong.

Blaming the victim is rarely an acceptable response either, even if you feel the 'victim' has an exaggerated grievance. And actually I can't agree with your post at all. Load/save functionality is basic stuff for almost any modern game. It should just work and I don't think anybody would expect it not to work regardless of what research they might have done. It actually baffles me how something so basic managed to slip through multiple layers of accreditation and supposed quality control. For the record, I have no skin in this game since I don't own a console and have no intention of owning one. Again it's a matter of degree. This isn't an 'OMG, I can't believe Squad have painted the Round8 the wrong shade of gold - AND MY WORLD IS RUINED' thread. This is a legitimate (and actually reasonably civil) complaint about basic stuff (for any game, not just KSP) not working. And frankly, I'm not entirely surprised when people grumble about the game being rushed any more. Release-early-then-patch has been the consistent pattern for the last several updates. There may well be very good business reasons why things need to be that way but it doesn't stop it from being true.

No - I can't think of any better sci-fi references. Dragon's Blood (Todd McCaffrey) gets close, albeit with a fictional genetic code, but that was published in 2005.

OK, found it.

Sure. I'll dig out my copy and see what I can find. It was kind of a side plot so I'm not terribly surprised that it wasn't on Wikipedia. In the meantime you might have some luck searching for Egan plus junk plus DNA.

Hi KerikBalm, Not sure if you were looking for pre 2006 references in the scientific literature but if you'll settle for a sci-fi reference, it's mentioned (in a re-encoded human context) on Greg Egan's 'Distress' - published in 1996.

Great stuff - bring on the A2!

For the stock game there's no real reason to from a gameplay perspective, because there are no game mechanics that would be affected. An interaction chamber, Hitchhiker module or four Mk1 capsules stacked end to end, would all work equally as well as each other for transporting four kerbals. However, I completely agree that a) a revamped IVA view for the Hitchhiker and b) more varied parts for accommodating kerbals would be good things to have.

Sorry for the slight threadjack but I'm loving the comments section for that blog post! Apparently quoted from one of Streng's papers: "Audible “pings” and pressure excursions occurred when liquid O2F2 dripped onto uncooled portions of the apparatus." ....any pressure excursion that leaves you with intact apparatus is a good pressure excursion.

How fantastically meta. Conspiracy theorists are all in the pay of .... a conspiracy.

Yes - some cackling may have been evidence when I got that joke. Incidentally folks, recommend following that link, especially for fans of understated dry humour. Here's a snippet: "The great majority of Streng’s reactions have surely never been run again. The paper goes on to react FOOF with everything else you wouldn’t react it with: ammonia (“vigorous”, this at 100K), water ice (explosion, natch), chlorine (“violent explosion”, so he added it more slowly the second time), red phosphorus (not good), bromine fluoride, chlorine trifluoride (say what?), perchloryl fluoride (!), tetrafluorohydrazine (how on Earth. . .), and on, and on. If the paper weren’t laid out in complete grammatical sentences and published in JACS, you’d swear it was the work of a violent lunatic. I ran out of vulgar expletives after the second page. A. G. Streng, folks, absolutely takes the corrosive exploding cake, and I have to tip my asbestos-lined titanium hat to him." Personally I'm thinking that 'asbestos-lined titanium' is probably also a fair description of certain important parts of A.G Streng. Truly a man that would have Jeb backing away slowly, mumbling excuses about washing his hair that night.

It's maybe not a very helpful answer but - define madness. Once you've done that, try and write that definition down and describe it. Me, I'd define complete madness as not knowing who or what you are. Losing yourself completely, becoming totally detached from the world. How that manifests itself in your character is up to you. I'd also distinguish (possibly incorrectly) between madness and insanity. An insane character will do entirely irrational things - from the point of view of what everybody else in your setting considers normal - but they will be behaving according to some internal rules and motivations. Just broken ones. Thompberry in Jim's Emiko Station story is a good example. Now there's a character who's most definitely a couple of cans short of a six pack. In fact ol' Thompberry is down to his last can - and he's lost the wiggly plastic thing that held them all together as well. But there is a twisted logic and motivation for the stuff he does. He's insane but not completely mad. One of my characters was starting down the path to complete madness but (fortunately) didn't get irretrievably far down it. He had the bad luck to be in telepathic contact with another personality in the midst of tearing itself to pieces. That's pretty much how I described it: shards, chunks of fractured memories tumbling in the void. For a good while my character was the only thing holding those shards together, and they were starting to melt, overlapping with his own memories and experiences to the point where he was starting to lose track of which was which. He couldn't sleep - every dream he had was full of echoes of similar dreams. Eventually, his own personality would have become just another shard amongst many, all tumbling alone in his skull, with no connections between them or links to the outside world. Yeah - this is in my KSP fanfic - why do you ask?

Very few arguments from me here. I could quibble over your 0.625m parts idea but that's personal preference (and off-topic for this thread. ). Points 1 and 2 are spot on, IMO, likewise your 'schizophrenic mixture' comment.

Fair points but I'm also hoping the rocket part revamp doesn't go too far. I agree that more could be done to make the rocket parts fit together better (aesthetically speaking) but I'll be disappointed if they go fully 'spaceplane' and we just get small, medium or large sci-fi shiny parts. Three reasons, the third being by far the weakest. 1. The visual appearance of parts is a nice indicator of your space program's technological progress. 2. Early NASA or Soviet space hardware (especially the Soviet) stuff wasn't particularly sleek and sci-fi. Not viewed from the 21st century anyhow. 3. I like the junkyard aesthetic, at least on the early tech tree tiers. Wouldn't mind a complete overhaul of the part descriptions though - the kerbal komedy descriptions get a bit old, especially when applied to high tech spaceplane, sensor and ISRU parts.

I humbly submit that Phoenix Energy of Nevada Innovative Systems Inc. would be an appropriate company name for this lot. Would make for a lovely letterhead. On a more serious note, agree that whilst 'science' in the sense of a body of specialised knowledge isn't (and doesn't need to be) for everyone, a bit of scientific, or more accurately scholarly training would be useful for a lot of people. Are you getting information from a reputable source? If somebody is trying to sell you something that seems too good to be true - get a second opinion on it before buying. Not everything is a conspiracy - if 95% of informed opinion on a topic points in one direction then it's probably time to take that direction seriously. How do I decide what informed opinion is, if I don't know anything about the topic myself? That sort of stuff. Skepticism in its original and proper sense. edit. Having had a quick look on Wikipedia, I think Scientific skepticism is closest to what I have in mind. Please ignore my comment on 'the original and proper' meaning of skepticism - it looks a lot more complicated than I thought!