Parkaboy

Nope, I think the reveal will be on the Kerbalcast, on Friday.

Will the person who guessed it win a no-prize?

If only we could harvest it as a resource and run our spaceships on it...

That's great! While the guessing game has been fun, I think the curiosity would kill me in another round!

Um... because they thought people would pay money to play it?

By the way Max talked about it, I don't think the .25 secret feature is going to be something big, so don't expect much or you'll be disappointed. I'm having fun playing the guess game, but I don't have my hopes up. My guess is that the .26 secret feature - the one for which this one is just the groundwork - is going to be much larger.

And I'm not disregarding what you said, or anything. Just pointing out that the argument goes both ways, so it doesn't help either of our cases.

Sure, he could be lying about anything. And he could as well be using that pic with the plane about to go in a bomb run against the KSC as a way to tease and get us off the right track. That same pic some people are taking as incontestable "proof". Since he never said that the pic was a clue, he wouldn't even be "lying", per se.

I'm going to quote qhat I've said in the .25 discussion thread (and by the way, why is there a separate thread for this if this subject is being discussed over there?):

Destructible buildings was one of the first theories thrown around, and I remember MaxMaps saying not long ago that nobody had guessed the secret feature, when it was already one of the most discussed guesses (along with the one about deformable terrain). Edit: Not to mention Max also said it wouldn't affect gameplay much - something we can't say about the destructible buildings idea. Having the VAB torn to pieces would definitelly affect gameplay fundamentally.

Well, that would be cruel, but would make the KSP YouTube videos even more popular.

I'm guessing right now the secret feature has something to do with debris on the KSP scene (the main menu scene). I think they're adding "life" to that scene: maybe we'll see kerbals and trucks running around, akin to what we have inside the VAB and the SPH - but something procedural, related to debris left on the area. Like disaster crews managing accident locations (maybe even fire trucks and guys in hazmat suits). Something that would be fun to watch, and would make you want to fill your courtyard with wreckage.

New explosion effects look very nice. Here's the full album: http://imgur.com/a/8OC9F

A hazmat suit? Is the secret feature... radioactive fallout?

Let's keep in mind that kerbals aren't intended to be plausible aliens. They're not even rubber-forehead aliens. They're stylized human beings. Their world is a stylized version of ours, their solar system is a stylized version of ours, and even their space program looks very similar to the human ones. They're not an "eventual alien race". They're human surrogates, and therefore the gender issue is pertinent.

I don't mean to be rude, but to claim the issue of gender representation in media is insignificant shows a huge lack of basic understanding about the issue. Of course it's just a game, but it is part of a popular culture that contributes to the maintenance of a misogynisic view of women (mainstream games are particularly bad on that regard) - a view that has amongst its most extreme consequences all sorts of abuse, both physical and psychological - when it could, with little effort, do it's small part to fight against such representation. This isn't a small matter. It's certainly bigger than whether we'll get better aerodynamics or if we need stock life support. PS.: I quite like the GregroxMun/Hayoo version.

Hi, just dropping by to say this mod pack is starting to look very good! I particularly like the large NERVA. I've been looking for a stock-like 2.5m nuclear engine for some time, and yours look very nice! On the other hand, I think there are a few parts that still could use some more work. The Argon tanks, for instance, look like they have their structural supports clipping into the tanks themselves... Maybe it's nitpicking, but they don't look right to me.

I recently did a career save (stock only) that was a fun experience during the earlier missions. I took advantage from the fact that there are some contracts that give a lot of science to avoid going the same science collect route as always. Here's what I did: - With just a command pod, I gathered all the science I could get from the launchpad and runway. This allowed me to unlock the first three or four nodes, giving me enough parts to build a basic spaceworthy rocket. - Then I took all the contracts for testing parts landed on Kerbin and in Kerbin orbit. - For the "landed" contracts, I treated those as if I was just testing the parts in my R&D facility: attached the part to a command pod, staged it and recovered the craft. Easy money and science --> useful to unlock a few more nodes, but not the main mode of advancement. - The "orbit" contracts I treated like satellite deployment contracts: if they wanted me to test the LV-1 engine, for instance, I created a small satellite with a probe core, batteries, solar panels and antennae (and, of course, fuel tanks and the aforementioned engine). After a few launches I ended up with a network of satellites around Kerbin, each one with a different engine type, and each on an eccentric orbit going from 70km to about 1000km high. That way, I could just use the same satellites over and over again if I get new contracts to test again those parts that were already on a sat that I put in orbit. By doing that I managed to unlock the whole tech tree while doing only two visits to the Mun and two to Minmus, and gave me a much more satisfying sense of roleplay.

In the stream, MaxMaps mentioned one example where a buff would be applied for the next five missions. I think that means for the next five ships launched. Maybe there's a deadline, I'm not sure. But from his words it did sound that the buff was applied at launch, since that's what the game considers a mission - unless he was talking about contracts. And come on, folks. Going to the Admin Building, weighting your options and selecting a strategy is hardly "getting a random power-up". It's more like choosing an advantage trait on an RPG game, if anything. I know a lot of people here wanted KSP to be more like a hardcore simulator, but you should have noticed by now that's not what Squad is aiming for. They want a game in the simulation genre, which isn't quite the same thing.

The only "Physics buff" that was mentioned in the stream, if the term applies, was a "reduced drag" bonus. The point of the system is that you can customize your play style. Don't like the "physics buffs"? Don't use them. Use something else. MaxMaps also mentioned increased science, reputation and funds bonus - all of those come up with nice in-game explanations. The reduced drag probably has some explanation, such as "we just came up with a new batch of an experimental coating material" or something. I personally like the idea of saving up an "engine efficiency" bonus to launch an interplanetary ship. Maybe I can even keep the bonus forever by refueling the ship in orbit and reusing it on several missions.

What he actually said in the stream was that they originally intended the Admin Building to be like an AoE style market (place where you could exchange science, funds and rep), but they discovered it wasn't fun, and then scrapped it and went for the more complex Strategies system.

My guess about this feature, now that I know about the "buff" system, is this: a penalty system. What happens if you don't play well? Sure, explosions, crashes, death and hilarity, but also: loss of reputation. I'm guessing if your reputation goes red you start getting the opposite of a buff: a random type of penalty. Maybe your scientists start going on strike and your science collection suffers from that, or your engineers get a pay cut and need to find a night job, and your designs suddenly aren't as efficient as they were, making it a challenge to come back from the hard times. Not sure how that ties with a future massive feature, however. Thoughts?

Those station parts are looking awesome, although, if I'm totally honest, I have to say I'm not crazy about that large observation module. Still, can't wait to see the IVAs! Good job!

They do, and I hope Squad keeps that, but they might not.

Another pic with more parts: If, as MaxMaps said, we're getting most of those parts in the game, then we might be getting two new cockpits and a passenger cabin that fits, I think, four kerbals. Edit: Ninja'd twice, oh my.