Sof

haven't returned from Moho, Eve or Tylo and I didn't go to some of Jools smaller moons.

Lol at the massive increase when the new update comes out.

Except what you linked to doesn't prove anything. Asides from the fact that you didn't even bother to test the stock tree out for yourself, there is plenty of expanding that can be done into the tech tree. It is introductory because they don't want to make the first few science missions impossible for new players. However, this doesn't then mean that later levels of tech aren't going to be challenging for the more experienced people. Do you honestly expect to be challenged by the first few "levels" of any game you are good at? If anything, the tech tree is going to get a lot longer as the game progresses. The later levels for things like base building and resource mining are going to require plenty of science. And with the addition of realistic drag and re-entry, maybe people won't be doing Minmus landing/returns with the first level of research.

The thing is with jokes is that they tend to be funny. Without the awkward pause and the embarrassed look on your face followed by the forced nervous laughter, that I'm sure you are well used to, it can be hard for people on the internet to know when someone is being sarcastic or attempting humour.

Yeah, this isn't anything new. I preferably don't use jet engines on rockets because of how outrageously overpowered they are in comparison. It is entirely possible to get a jet rocket into space without even using rocket engines. Intake spam doesn't help it either. Overall jet engines have such a huge ISP compared to rockets that I consider it cheating to use them in vertical take off spacecraft. Second only to mechjeb.

Considering that the Mun is on 0 inclination relative to Kerbin and the plane of the solar system, the chances of an encounter with the Mun aren't all that low (The fraction being the diameter of the Muns SOI over the size of its orbit) The same goes for Ike when coming in or trying to leave Duna (this is more likely than with the Mun) and is also fairly regular with Jool an its moons.

Exactly. They did have tutorials before but they took them out. A lot of the fun to be had with KSP at the moment is through trial and error. Later once the game has got a lot more complex, squad will probably add a tutorial explaining all the different aspects. Whereas now, where everything is subject to change and you don't have to worry about funds or dead Kerbals, you can just experiment without penalty or look online for the time being.

They did have tutorials in the past. There was a way to have a step by step on how to land on the Mun and other tutorials. They took them out because they got outdated quickly. It was a hassle to keep going back and changing them for each update so squad removed them.

I went to the Mun first time I tried before ever orbiting either Kerbin or the Mun. The entire trip was a direct burn because I knew nothing about how spaceflight worked and the map wasn't like it is today.

SC13 went bad because of the DRM sure, but the smaller city sizes had nothing to do with dumbing down. The real reason behind the smaller sizes was due to the increased complexity of the various resources they were moving around. Larger cities would make the minimum requirements exceed most PCs. Since, in order to build the best city possible, you now need just as much planning over several different cities that work together.

People are complaining about the science "goo" canisters being "unhardcore"? Did you people never read the descriptions for the parts before now? Do you not realise you are flying green men around with googly eyes and massive heads? This game is a funny take on space programs hiding a rather complex physics simulator behind it. The reason they went for the career mode now instead of making re-entry heat has been explained many times in the weekly updates and various other squad sources. They want to have the ground work in place for all aspects of their game before they can keep building on it. What they didn't want to do was only work on the sandbox mode until 0.8 and then realise they couldn't find a way to shoehorn career mode in as none of the parts or abilities are compatible with R&D and some sort of economy. However, I don't see how any of this would alienate a hardcore player. Don't like the career mode? Don't play it. The tutorial isn't in place yet, the tech tree is version 0.01. It is simply a first trial run of the final product. They are releasing that now because there is a lot of work to be done on it and that is the first piece to put into place. How else are they going to restrict the unlocking of parts, and how else would they test this before the game is complete if they don't try now? Re-entry heat, in order to fit into the game, would require many different heat shield parts, that would continuously have to be redesigned as new parts got made. There would have to be tutorials put into place and the right shields unlocked at the right time in the tech tree as it would be very hard to just guestimate your way back down. Thus they wait for things like resources and re-entry because, even though we know the game can do that in its current state, Squad are looking ahead to the release of the next update, the next year of updates and the final game. They are the ones making the game. If they know that adding "hardcore" features in now just causes headaches later, why shouldn't they wait? The hardcore crowd got along perfectly fine before with mods to suit their tastes.

Duna is the easiest place to do a return trip by far. Lets look at the facts. While it has a small SOI, it is almost exactly in plane with Kerbin. So much so that an equatorial escape trajectory will always intercept Duna's SOI providing you launched at the right time. Barely any need for a plane change. It has an atmosphere to aerobrake so you don't have to bring loads of extra fuel like you would for Moho. However, this atmosphere is thin enough to barely affect ascent again, unlike Eve which is next to impossible to take off from. Ike can be irritating, but requires very small velocity changes to avoid, and gives you something nice to look at from the surface.

The only place I can forgive myself when that happens is Laythe. At least they can breathe and fish for food.

Are you in the plane hanger or the VAB? either way, the symmetry is determined by the first piece you put down. If you're building a rocket to carry a rover, start with a rocket part first.

Timewarp could be like sleeping in minecraft. Everyone on the server has to do it.

80Km for pretty much everything. My space station all my satellites and any interplanetary craft being constructed are parked in 80x80km orbit. All missions to the Mun and beyond start here too. The only other useful orbit above 80 is geostationary. Everything inbetween is pointless.

Got my Jool Explorer mothership in orbit around Laythe. Should have enough fuel for the landers to visit everywhere apart from Tylo.

They are all overpowered though. One of them is 1400KN thrust (100 less than the mainsail) and weighs half as much with better ISP at all altitudes. All the fueltanks are lighter for the amount of fuel they contain too.

Its useful for the orbital insertion stage. That last kick needed to get into orbit after dropping the first mainsail stage. Poodles and nukes are too weak to achieve orbit before falling back into the atmosphere, and another mainsail would just be too heavy/eat all the fuel.

The only problem being that massive polygon count in the top corner.

I use mods to provide temporary fixes for parts of the stock game that don't work as well as I'd like.

Why don't you set that to the abort action group? Keyboard key backspace, but can also be used by pressing the abort button at the top of the screen. I generally just use the abort action group for the abort sequence and then another one for the solar panels. Everything else has its own default key anyway.

yea, cos those pictures aren't just pitchblack asides from Burlie...

I don't believe a realistic space battle would be boring. It is all down to how the film is produced. The right effects, music and actors can make anything interesting. Also, anyone who claims Star Wars is sci-fi is wrong. It is a space opera. No part of the story actually involves science, and space is just a medium for the plot to exist in.

Is it just me or do none of the new fuel tanks have a dry mass? At least it doesn't say in the part description. Also a few of the new probebodies have no inbuilt SAS, and the various new SAS parts weigh more and provide less torque than the stock parts. On the other hand, the engines and fuel tanks give more bang for their mass than stock, making these new engines less of an alternative, and more of an overpowered option.