KSK

Oh noes. Not a chewing out. The horror. How will the delicate sensibilities of the True Fans ever cope. Or do ‘popcorn movies’ preclude even rudimentary character development moments, such as being called out for stupid decisions? If that’s anyone’s idea of a subverted expectation, it would explain a lot.

If that’s sufficient to cause dissonance in the average Star Wars fan, then it goes a long way towards explaining why I no longer care for, or have any wish to engage with them on matters of Star Wars. Many Bothans died to bring you this information. Edit. Expanding on that a bit. Sneaking around, espionage and guerrilla tactics, and plain old running away from superior forces have been at least as much a solution to military threats in Star Wars as ‘blowing things up in X-Wings.’ Episode 4 featured hiding in smuggling compartments, heroes disguising themselves (not terribly well) as the enemy and semi-covert infiltration of an enemy facility to knock out a crucial piece of equipment. Episode V featured disabling enemy vessels with an ion cannon before making a run for it. Episode 6 featured offscreen espionage to locate the enemy, followed by an attempted covert strike on another crucial enemy facility, followed by a proper combined forces assault with fighters, corvette sized vessels and capital ships. Strangely, none of this appeared to cause any viewer dissonance at all.

Technologically smart, dumb as a sack of hammers in almost every other way. Gullible, astonishingly little foresight, irrationally obsessed with shiny trinkets - and obtaining new shiny trinkets as often as possible - and quite willing to enslave, exploit and murder other members of our species for the pettiest reasons or differences of opinion. Technologically, we’re quite impressive. Socially, we’ve barely moved beyond tribes of chimps screeching and flinging dung at one another.

Remind me what that definition of insanity is? Something about repeating things over and over again...

Yeah - I’d think that Uomo would be the first person to speak with about all this. Actually, thinking about it (and you’re probably way ahead of me) I’d take a look at the Take Two EULA as well. Don’t know how legally enforceable it is but it’ll likely be TT’s default position when it comes to third party works. I remember being distinctly unimpressed with their EULA and associated terms and conditions, particularly when it came to attribution of third party works, but I haven’t checked it for a while, so it’s possible that it’s been updated since then.

Quick post on the thread as a heads-up, with a link to your own thread was what I was thinking of. No sense duplicating effort but the more links to your stuff the better, in case one thread or another falls off the front page. I'd certainly put my name to a fan petition but I'm not optimistic. If I recall correctly, one forum-goer was in discussions with Squad a number of years ago, regarding publishing a KSP guide. I don't think they ever got anywhere. Admittedly, things might have changed now that TT own the kerbal IP, although they don't seem to have been doing much with it, so I'm none too optimistic there either. But if we don't ask, we sure as heck won't get.

About the only idea that springs to mind is that you could maybe add a post to the ‘writers talking about writing’ thread further down this page. Link for ease of finding and future reference. If nothing else, you could probably find a few more interested names there. Other than that - colour me interested! Best of luck getting everything set up and I look forward to reading those novellas!

Dawn of Man? Build an Iron Age village starting in the Paleolithic with (literally) seven villagers, three animal hide tents, a fire pit and a crafting tent. Surprisingly restful, at least in the easiest freeplay level - I haven't progressed beyond that yet, so possibly not what you're looking for in a survival game, but it still requires planning and a bit of patience. Also the first game I've played where upgrading to wattle-and-daub thatched huts and raising goats felt like a real achievement. It's a slightly old school city builder in some ways, where the point of building a village - is simply to build a village that you find pleasing. The actual mechanics of building your 1st or your 10th village probably won't change that much. Then again, you could say much the same about SimCity, at least in its earlier incarnations.

Pfffft. You need to think of a proper challenge for the likes of Jim. Yay! If you want to go a bit more British, there's always 'Jeb Kerman - Pilot of the Future'. After all you don't get much more of a kerbal arch villain than The Mekon. It's a proper 'k word' and everything.

Only Wernher Von Kerman, formerly at KASA, has provided any explanation...

My theory... Flash Kerbal Fits with Jim’s love of retro sci-fi, has enormous potential for spacecraft designs and there’s no shortage of classic lines to squeeze in: ”Jeb, Jeb - I love you! But we only have 14 hours to save Kerbin.”

You’re probably right. And - to be completely clear - the rest of this post isn’t snarking at you. Still, if Endor managed to survive the Death Star II explosion, dropping an Ewok dinosaur-killer sized chunk of debris on it should have finished off what was left of its biosphere. Mad props to the Emperor’s Force ghost though. Force welding the zillion and one shards of metal that survived the detonation of a planet destroying energy source, back into a coherent piece, is quite the trick. Makes astral projection over galactic distances look a bit tame.

@ProtoJeb21 I like your post but I’m going to have to respectfully disagree with your point about subverting audience expectations. Subverting expectations is an excellent way of throwing in a twist that the audience just didn’t see coming, which changes their whole perspective on a film, and which breaks them out of their comfortable rut, turning a good film into a really memorable film in the process. As an example I give you six immortal words. ”No Luke - I am your father.”

And that, right there, sums up the Star Wars fandom. Familiar = rehash. Different = Not Star Wars. Either way there is much internet bile spilled and great outrage from the defenders of the faith. Not to mention that it’s become increasingly difficult to separate the genuine criticism from the misogynistic twaddle. Not impressed by the teaser. Looks like a begging ‘don’t hate on us’ plea to the more rabid elements of the fanbase. Chubby Lando, the Emperor (seriously?) and what looks like Yet Another Superweapon. Even the title is lame. Hopefully it’ll bear no resemblance to the actual film.

Likewise - thanks for the mention and for the little shout-outs here and there. I did like the part where Zigbald gets Jeb's quote nearly right - and then forgets Jeb's name! I like your four characters, even more so for the fact that they're not the familiar Original Four orange suits. Looking forward to more.

Happy to be surprised by the plot but I liked the setup and the contrast between your protagonists. They're classic (grizzled old vet, caring leader and eager greenhorns (should that be bluehorns for kerbals? ) but they're nicely drawn. Looking forward to the next chapter!

All things serve the Beam - often in somewhat oblique ways.

I think it’s very unlikely, even drawing on the private sector, given the current NASA appetite for risk. As demonstrated by Commercial Crew. Before anybody gets upset, I’m not saying that NASA’s approach to managing Commercial Crew was wrong (I simply don’t know enough about the details to make any kind of judgement) but that level of perceived need for detailed micromanagement is not going to get boots on the Moon in five years. Apollo was at least as much (probably more) of an organisational and project management tour-de-force as a technological triumph. The NASA that made Apollo happen is not today’s NASA, which now comes with several decades worth of preconceptions, bureaucracy and organisational cruft. Streamlining all of that is going to be enough of a challenge, let alone the technical hurdles. Not impossible but unlikely.

Oh man, I don’t think dual booster landings are going to get old any time soon. Test flight - two boosters recovered. First commercial flight - all three boosters recovered and the fairing too just for an encore. Heck of a way to mark Falcon Heavy’s transition to an operational system.

I’m reminded of the pusher plate protection system from Project Orion, which would have squirted a thin layer of oil over said plate after each pulse unit detonation. Apparently that would have been enough radiation protection. Of course that oil film was attached to a solid slab of steel and a honking great array of shock absorbers but even so, I’m wondering if the right bubbles might be more effective at absorbing bomb effects than you’d think at first sight.

I wonder - might there be a July 2019 edition, filled with tales of kerbals journeying to a certain nearby celestial body...?

Oh, I like that. Fits well with 'forum canon' too. In-game, the Map Screen is a technical aid, so Sun is appropriate. Out-of-game discussions are less formal, so Kerbol is fine.

Amen to that.

Mmmmm - streaky kerbal. Is that anything like eggs and green ham, do you suppose?

Ye cannae break the laws of optimism Cap’n.