Superfluous J

Load up your backed up version of the older game, and perform ... whatever you're doing Then try it in the new version. If you can, record the attempts or do them on different computers so you can watch the differences (if any) in quick succession.

Hard to do with alt-f12 not working But not impossible. Start a career, save it, edit the file and add like 10 zeroes after your money and you essentially have Science Mode with contracts. Put 10 zeroes after your science and you have Sandbox with contracts.

I sometimes miss returning from Jool in nothing more than a lander can and a parachute, straight down at 5+ km/s.

None of the funny stories I have to tell about KSP end abruptly with "And then I didn't have enough fuel to continue so I stopped."

I enjoyed Ben Bova's Mars. I think it mostly fits the bill though it's about 25 years old now so any recent discoveries will of course not be included. But as far as I know it was realistic for the time. It's also part of a series that includes a lot of planets, apparently, but I only read this and its sequel Return To Mars which - in my opinion - was not as good. Mars left you with questions. Mars 2 answers them and you realize that you didn't actually want them answered. Or at least, I did.

Basically to go out to Duna or Jool you burn as you enter night. To go down to Eve or Moho burn as you enter day. Just get the node in the area and at the right amount prograde, and then drag it back and forth a bit on the orbit to find the spot where you gst the highest apoapsis (or lowest periapsis) around the sun. Then tweak prograde to actually encounter the target orbit.

I think they made it that size so you'd get eclipses from Mun, and Mun turned out that size for whatever reason (I think "because it looks about right from the surface even though it's really too big").

I really like 2 (of course, it's what I said ). I like #6. Maybe extend it so a scientist can capture the extra science that hasn't been gotten yet, that they would have gotten had they been there the first time. 1, 3, 4, and 5 encourage probes over Kerbals and it's already too easy to just send probes everywhere. I'd love 7 to be expanded into either a whole bevy of things (to represent anything from space telescopes to suicide Jool Atmospheric probes that you have to get to a certain depth in Jool's atmo to get full reward) or - just maybe - a replacement science system for career where all science doodads are removed and you must complete contracts for science, that dry up as you get more science points for a world.

Sounds like you had a stuck key or something like that.

I'm going to be that guy that mentions that all of these planet packs are fairly simple text files and you can just open them and read them to see how the planets are defined.

Better than what I'd have used (TiltSideways and TiltUpAndDown)

Oh I'm used to bugs I play ksp after all And I probably won't start right away. Gotta play with the values a lot to find interesting setups.

Thank you. I knew this was possible but lacked the skills to do it, patience to learn, and jerkiness to demand it of others. I'm starting a new career for the first time in a long time, because of you.

We don't have enough information on your personal situation to accurately answer, but assuming you own the game and have internet access and a computer capable of running it... Then yes. You can play it now in fact.

I agree that there is a place for an experiment that does not require a Kerbal and can transmit for full. I'd hate to see another one added though without at least some thought put in to balance of how much science you get. You can already unlock the entire tree from the science in Kerbin's SOI. I'd hate it if you didn't even need to leave Kerbin's atmosphere I wouldn't mind converting the atmospheric pressure doodad into something, or maybe giving the telescope a science return that can just be transmitted. Then you wouldn't need new parts at least. EDIT Or what if the Science Jr was repurposed so that you have a choice when transmitting, either 100% value with no reset ever (it becomes "broken") or the normal value with the option to reset with a scientist/lab like it is now. It is the heaviest part so it makes sense that it should have more capabilities. And then you can kind of RP that it's a special use part that was built just for this mission.

I simplify this question down internally to: "Do you want KSP as it is, or not at all?" and the obvious answer is "as it is" so yes, game engines are a good thing.

My personal opinion on this is that these experiments you see are just simplified stand-ins for actual experiments. Nobody IRL is going to send a thermometer to the Moon all by itself, land, transmit back "Yup it's below 0 here" and be done. They'd send a bevy of things depending on their technology available (aka how far along in the tech tree) and budget (weight and money, which often translate into the same thing). So you send a "Thermometer" which represents all the super-light things you can fit on a probe early in your technological development. You send a "Mystery Goo" or "Science Jr" which represent far more robust experiments and you get more science at a low level of tech for more cost, and a one-and-done limit. I'm getting a bit wordy (as usual) but in short, you're not ACTUALLY slapping a thermometer on the side of your rocket like it's an aquarium.

Funny. I had a very similar though but substituting out "Sub-Biome" above for "Biome" and "Biome" out for "Planet." When you first land on a planet, you get like 50% of all science available on it. For 50% of what's left, you need to land in another biome. Repeat until you have all biomes and all science, or the science you'd get isn't worth it. Generally I suspect 2, maybe 3 biomes is all that'd be worth it.

Or in other words, to answer the OP's question... Yes.

I'm craving a steak as BIG AS MY FACE but that's only because I'm going out for steak tonight.

Actually thinking along those lines, I recall the last time I didn't think the science available was way too much, was back when there were no biomes. One shot per planet per experiment. Same with me modding it. I would if I could bother but ... well I can't

I played around with a "learn by doing" mod in KSP. It never got off the ground mostly because I can't code my way out of a wet paper bag, but also because I could never really convince myself that it was actually any better than what we already have.

I've never ever had a problem with this. It's a video game. Hitting orcs shouldn't make you able to barter better but the XP gained can be put in that skill in a surprising number of games. "But, 5th Horseman! That game is fiction and this one is real!"

I went from 0 to orbit in probably an hour or so. I really don't remember but it wasn't all that difficult. Back then it was all sandbox so you just threw moar boosters on it until your cpu fans kicked on. Also, I had a pretty solid foundation of geekery and nerditude to help me out. Before the end of the weekend (I think I discovered the game on a Thursday or Friday), I had successfully done a manned Mun land-and-return mission. I never, ever alt-F12'd to actually achieve anything. Actually back then alt-f12ing wouldn't achieve much. I didn't even know about quicksave until I had a fully functional Mun land-and-return mission. I learned about F5/F9 after the 3rd or 4th failed landing. I couldn't believe this game didn't have a way to save. Then I found out it did. <facepalm>

I always bring the oxidizer as well. Makes for some heavy ships.