Lord Aurelius

Without seeing the original article, it's hard to guess how big of a risk that might be. If it's some kind of visual thing observing the watch movement, then it's not really a new risk and would be relevant to all watches/bracelets (and if you simply look at the keyboard while someone is typing you can often get that information anyways). The only way I can think of that being a smartwatch issue is if they've found a way to remotely access the smartwatch and do something like use the accelerometer to deduce the keystrokes. Also, simply deducing letters and words out of context is minimally useful unless someone is doing a targeted attack and can correlate them with specific usernames/passwords of interest (which could also be done more universally using a keylogger or computer vision system to read the keyboard/screen).

I'll cast another vote for an earlier 1.1 update. Even if no new features are added, the game is pretty much being rewritten entirely by the sound of things and I believe that it would be wise to unbundle that massive change from yet more new features. Better to make sure everything still works before trying to add new features on top of it, and the optimizations alone are a substantial feature in and of itself (that and the new wheel model, looking forwards to that one).

Saying SimpleRockets is a ripoff of KSP is like saying Terraria is a ripoff of Minecraft. They have the same theme and a few high-level gameplay similarities, but that's about it. If you want to talk about ripoffs, take a look at how similar most of the FPS games from a given time period tend to look. Far more similarities there than a complex 3D space flight sandbox vs a highly simplified 2D mobile port.

Per aspera ad astra ("Through difficulty to the stars").

I can think of a few cases where digging out a smartphone would be difficult/awkward (crowded bus/subway where you barely have enough room to stand, athletic activities, meetings or similar events) where it would be nice to quickly see if it's worth the hassle to deal with an incoming call/text/email and also have the option of sending a quick canned response. But you're right, most people don't really need this functionality, especially at the ridiculous prices being asked for smartwatches currently. That, and most smartwatches are pretty terrible at actually being watches (poor battery life, screen has to wake up so you can even see the time).

I have a Thrustmaster HOTAS X and it works fine (whenever I get around to actually setting it up anyways, it takes up quite a bit of space on my already crowded desk). It's the cheapest non-sketchy option I've seen for a full function stick with throttle (which is why I got it). It's $40 right now. http://www.amazon.com/Thrustmaster-T-Flight-Hotas-Flight-Playstation-3/dp/B001CXYMFS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1442024901&sr=8-1&keywords=thrustmaster+hotas

Disclaimer: I don't own a smartwatch and haven't really played with one so take that into consideration when reading my post. First off, be aware that new versions of both watches have been announced and will be coming out in the near future. Were you planning on getting one of the old models to save money? As far as which watch to get, it probably comes down to what you want out of a smartwatch. What is the main purpose in your mind for a smartwatch? If mainly what you want is a watch first that can also provide notifications and run simple apps, it seems like the Pebble is a better bet (more durable/water resistant, e-ink is always on, much better battery life, cheaper). If you want more of a full-blown wrist computer (or just to show off all the crazy stuff you can do on your watch) the Moto 360 fits that bill. I personally lean towards the minimalist idea of the Pebble. You'll always have your smartphone with you anyways so the main use case I can see is to let you know if the most recent email/text that buzzed your phone is actually worth digging your phone out for, which the Pebble does just fine. It still runs simple apps so you can still use it for things like a music player remote. Plus, since it's a third party watch, it will work with any smartphone OS (including windows phone).

I don't know if I would call that a sin, I don't particularly like flying rockets either. I do enjoy building and designing them however (and letting mechjeb fly them for me). Which, incidentally, leads to what is probably my greatest KSP sin: I'm completely dependent on mechjeb for interplanetary missions (and for any kind of advanced maneuvers really). I really need to brush up on my orbital mechanics...

Those lemon games are why I no longer buy games at full price. For me, the last straw was Mass Effect 3. I got ME 1 & 2 for $5 each on a steam sale and enjoyed them so much I preordered the collector's edition of ME3... Yeah, I don't buy games at full price anymore (plus I have a large enough backlog from Humble Bundles to keep me occupied far longer than I should really be playing games...).

@falloutaddict Gotcha, that makes sense. Bringing up Civ 5, that only strengthens my point since it's $30 now and is frequently on sale.

I'm very much aware of those facts (which is why I said what I did about apples to oranges) but from the perspective of a consumer buying a game right now, KSP as an unfinished game is $40 and a bugfixed, polished Skyrim is $20. Both support mods that provide nearly unlimited content. Also, Skyrim brand-new at $60 was more polished and had far, far more official content than KSP (although it was still quite buggy unfortunately). It's always the case with games that you're going to get a lot more for your money if you buy an older game (plus it's much easier to know which ones are the good ones and any major issues will likely have been fixed) and this same argument could be made against buying pretty much any game at the initial launch price.

In terms of pure number of hours of playtime this game offers, this game is a great deal, especially when compared to most FPS "AAA" titles that cost $60 and are relatively short with minimal replay value. In terms of value vs certain other games (especially other indie titles and older great AAA games), it does start to look a little overpriced. KSP is a great sandbox that allows the player's imagination to run wild, but there isn't much actual authored content (mods notwithstanding), and the game is pretty unpolished/unfinished and really should still be labeled as an early access title at this point. For example, a game like Skyrim is $20 retail now (and can frequently be had for $5 on sale) and has a tremendous amount of authored content in addition to more mods than you know what to do with. I realize that it's a little apples vs oranges comparing KSP to Skyrim, but in terms of content and polish Skyrim handily beats KSP (and most of the bugs in Skyrim have been worked out now). Even compared to other indie sandbox/building games, KSP is kind of expensive since most of those are in the $20 range and can offer just as many hours of enjoyment. Part of the reason it's likely priced like it is has to do with lack of competition, other than the simplistic mobile rocket building games there aren't really any other games that have the unique combination of building sandbox and spaceflight. I think another good rocket building sim would do KSP a world of good (and given their success thus far it's likely only a matter of time).

I said 50% mainly because the game engine still isn't completely done yet and much of the game (i.e. career mode) is still MIA and most of the content is still placeholders. Many other games start with a solid game engine and still take a long time to develop simply because planning and developing a balanced, polished game (and all the features and game mechanics that entails) takes quite a bit of time to get everything working well. Right now the game engine is still unfinished (hopefully the Unity 5 update will largely address that, but then there's multiplayer...) and there's still some game mechanics being added. Once all the systems are finally in place, it will still be quite a bit of work to balance and polish everything (for sandbox at least), not to mention the amount of work (and possibly new systems) that career mode needs to be more than just a grindy, limited sandbox. I'm not trying to say this in a bad way, the game is still a lot of fun for what it is, but we're still a long ways from a "finished" product in my opinion.

I believe that would likely be Windows/Linux (I'm pretty sure they use thinkpads up there) so it's already been done.

Trying to be serious here, Android is the only thing on this poll that makes sense (most smart tvs run a derivative of android anyways). Unity supports Android (and iOS and Windows 10 Phone) as well, and the newer devices are actually quite powerful (even more than the Wii U in some cases). Based on the Wii U announcement, Squad set a goal early on to port KSP to as many platforms as they could, and tablets/smartphones seem like the logical next step given their increasing performance and Unity support. Edit: I wouldn't be surprised if someone has already ported DOOM to a smart microwave or vacuum (it's been done on a printer).

I'm going to go ahead and define my idea of finished as the game being stable, balanced, polished and coherent. Right now the game is none of these things. The 1.1 update will likely make a big difference on the stability side of things, but as of right now this is something that still needs work. The editor especially is still prone to random glitches that require exiting the VAB (or even the game entirely) to resolve. Balancing is something that can't truly be done until the game is feature complete (which it isn't), but Squad could still do a lot better than they are now. I still cringe at the wildly varying weights per kerbal of the command pods in particular. Polish likewise is something that is done at the end of development, but again Squad could really do a lot better than they've been doing. New parts are being added every update, but there's a plethora of commonly used older parts that are still stuck with their old ugly models and textures. The biggest area where the game needs work is coherency, especially career mode. Many of the features are still half-baked and need quite a bit of work. Specifically, there needs to be an endgame, a goal to work towards in career. Right now the closest thing to that is unlocking the tech tree, but once you've unlocked the tree there's really no further goals to pursue unless you make them up yourself. That said, here's a short list of features I would like to see added to the game to fit my vision of complete: Life Support (various mods) Right now manned missions are OP, the additional weight is negligible but it dramatically increases the available science (plus infinite EVA fuel) and there is no penalty for stranding kerbals, especially with all the free ones that are handed out in rescue missions. The new antenna mechanics will penalize probes, further increasing the desirability of manned missions unless life support is implemented to balance things back out. Kerbal Actions (KAS/KIS) As of right now, Kerbals are pretty limited in what they can do. They do a great job of pushing (and running into) things and can do limited repairs and gather a little science, but there is so much more they could do. Base Building (MKS/OKS/Extraplanetary Launchpads) Establishing an extraplanetary colony has been proposed for decades (and has gained more attention recently with all the mars talk), this would be a natural extension for the game and would mesh well with many of the other features and provide a nice endgame goal for sandbox. Time Based Science Since science can be done instantly, there is zero reason to stay anywhere for any length of time. I've done too many missions where the lander touches down, the kerbals jump out and take samples, the science action groups are toggled, the kerbals retrieve/reset the necessary experiments, and I'm off again to land in the next biome. Time based experiments would add a great dynamic where you have to plan out your experiments ahead of time (instead of just spamming all of them everywhere) due to limiting factors like life support/batteries/flyby trajectory. It would make satellites and surface bases (and rovers and aircraft) much more viable as well. Story Mode for Career One idea I've liked (and seen mentioned repeatedly) for career mode would be a basic story revolving around anomalies and having to explore progressively farther from Kerbin to find new ones. The first one could be revealed on Kerbin once the first satellite is in orbit, at which point you would send an aircraft/ICBM to investigate, which could reveal one farther away on Kerbin, which leads to the Mun, and so forth to guide the player through the solar system. To keep things interesting, it would be great if the placement was randomized at the start of each career so you would have to actually search for them (using a scanner on a satellite) instead of just going to the coordinates on kerbal maps. Bonus points for awesome cutscenes of the likes of the update videos. Procedural Solar System This is a bit of a stretch feature, but it would be awesome if we could specify a seed on a new game that would randomize the solar system (planets, sizes, locations, atmospheres, etc). If the seed is left as the default, you would get the system we have now. Anyways, on the topic of the original poll, I view this game as around 50% done. The core gameplay of launching rockets is close to being done, but there's still some areas (like career) that really need to be fleshed out before the game is really feature complete (not to mention multiplayer). At that point a major balance and polish pass (likely multiple) will be needed, and maybe then the game would qualify as finished. As it stands, it's still very much an early access WIP.

I did a bit of digging and KSP on ARM actually is looking like a fairly reasonable proposition given the performance of the newer devices. This article is a little old, but it shows ARM performing comparably (and faster in many cases) compared to the atom CPUs. I know that atoms aren't exactly performance chips, but they're probably at least in line with what the wii u has. Not to mention that more and more android devices have 3GB+ ram now and that 64 bit support will soon be mainstream.

They might as well port the game to android as well at this point. I'm pretty sure that some of the high end android devices have comparable or better cpu performance than the wii u (I don't have any hard data on this, just an educated guess given that the wii u basically has the same cpu as the xbox 360). Not to mention how awesome it would be to play this game on a mobile device (hp stream 7 notwithstanding).

I have a laptop with Nvidia Optimus and Nvidia provides an excellent Linux driver that enables full 3D acceleration and CUDA support. Linux is a very common platform for GPU computing (and increasingly gaming), from my experience Nvidia is most definitely not neglecting the Linux community. While it may be true that Nvidia's open source linux driver lags behind AMD's, the Nvidia proprietary driver is current and works flawlessly with full acceleration.

I think it's a great addition to fill the gap between the basic jet and the turboramjet. Now we have an engine for (most) aircraft use cases. Now Squad just needs to add a few propeller engines (especially an electric prop for non-oxygenated atmospheres). Mods do it already, but they would be a great fit for stock as well. As far as the other parts, they're looking good, although I'm a little concerned about the IVA visibility in the new MK1 cockpit. Porkjet's MK2 cockpit has atrocious IVA visibility, hopefully this new model won't have that same problem.

The best rocket is just as big as it needs to be and no bigger. In other words, when you reach orbit you should have very little extra fuel left (at most enough to deorbit the upper stage). As for thrust, you want a lot of thrust in the lower stages to get the rocket up to speed until you've done your gravity turn (this is what SRBs are for), at which point you just need enough thrust to keep pushing out the apoapsis so you don't fall back into the atmosphere. The exact numbers will vary based on the specific rocket/payload and ascent profile, but that's generally how it works.

I'm not sure how technically inclined you are, but if you want to maximize KSP then you'll be better off building a PC since you'll be able to focus your spending on the components that make the biggest difference. KSP is CPU bound so you don't need to spend big bucks on a high end GPU, but you'll still want something better than integrated, especially if you want to use visual mods. Since you're looking at Steam machines I'm assuming that you would be fine with Linux (which is better for KSP anyways since it's been 64-bit for a long time) and you'll want as much memory as you can reasonably get your hands on (about 16GB). I would also recommend a SSD to drastically reduce game load times with a lot of mods. A Steam Machine could work just fine, but it's hard to recommend a specific model since a lot of them aren't listing any technical specifications. What you'll want to look for is an Intel CPU (make sure the model number doesn't end in T, Y, U, or M, these are low voltage/mobile parts that won't have as high of performance), an Nvidia GPU (better linux driver support) GTX 950 or higher, minimum 8GB of RAM (more is better, especially for KSP on 64-bit linux), and a SSD (realistic minimum if you also want other games/software is 256GB).

There have been quite a few posts asking this question, and the short answer is yes, it is virtually guaranteed to work. Windows 10 is fundamentally very similar to Windows 8.1, mostly its just a UI change and a few new features (and a complete rebranding to get away from the stigma around Windows 8, same thing Windows 7 did for Vista). I've been running the technical preview on an extra laptop for awhile and all the games I tried (including KSP) worked without issue (once the graphics drivers got updated anyways).

Check out apod.nasa.gov. It's a huge library of space photos and many of them make great wallpapers.

@RocketTurtle I'm not an expert on jamming systems, but the currently in service Growler is a modified F-18 and it looks like it can still carry a relatively normal combat load. I've also seen external ECM pods that look like they can add a similar capability to regular combat aircraft. They must work reasonably well since the military has retired pretty much all the dedicated jamming aircraft at this point. For stealth, that wouldn't surprise me. I think the idea is that you fly in and fire your ordinance such that it's too late for the enemy by the time they see you. Going back to my earlier point about robust, upgradeable airframes, it looks like the latest version of the F-15 has a similar frontal stealth profile to the F-35 and F-22 even though it's a much older aircraft. @LordFerret Exactly my point when I was alluding to improved countermeasures. It doesn't really matter if the enemy fires a missile at you if you can easily shoot it down and then proceed to burn a hole through their plane.