Wheffle

Agreed. I love the update, it's been so much fun, but i'd like to see some tweaking. The devs are awesome and i'm confident.

From what others have posted, spamming transmission until science gain is 0 nets you the same science as spamming recoveries until science gain is 0, and any combination of them. In other words, trans+trans+recov = trans+recov+trans and also, trans+trans+trans+trans... ... ... = recov+recov+recov+recov... ... ... If any of that makes since... Also, it will take less recoveries to max out the science, but spamming transmissions is faster if you have the tech to do it (especially for very long ranged missions). Transmitting at any point won't net you a loss of science in the end, so no worries there. My concern is that, once you have solar panels, recovery becomes obsolete. I like some of what is suggested here to change that. As the current system stands, I think it would be OK for more advanced transmitters to gain more science as a % of a potential recovery. That would mean you'd be spamming transmissions less to gain all the possible science for a certain experiment as opposed to simpler antennae, but in the end it would be the same amount of science. Currently antennae just increase in transmission speed, I think.

I mostly like this suggestion. I'm excited to see what changes the devs make. I am really enjoying career mode as it is, so I'm really looking forward to the fine tuning.

Good point about the thermometer... and, come to think of it, the gravioli and pressure readers also. They should all be 100% transmit haha. Oh well, my main concern is that the game has turned into "Kerbal Transmission Spam Program" for me, since I'm OCD (not literally, but you understand) and I can't stand not getting all of the science possible on a mission, which makes recovery obsolete once you get any kind of solar panels. Getting an unmanned probe into orbit or on the surface of a celestial body should get you some science (including 100% for certain experiments, like temperature and stuff), but there needs to be a good chunk of science still available for recovery missions so that organizing a manned return trip (which is more difficult) actually has a point. I understand that a probe can't take crew reports, EVA reports or soil samples (although I'd like to see some science parts that allow for that...), which does leave some science to be done for manned missions, but I really think the only way to get full credit for materials and goo experiments (and soil) should be recovery. There needs to be some reason to do a recovery mission.

I think it's a silly condition. I'm not totally sure why it's in there. To all the realism people who are saying the chute will deflate, I'm not sure the chutes are all that realistic to begin with, seeing as how 15 chutes packed into a tight area will not tangle or get messed up even as the ship's vector changes and they wiggle around. Kerbal chutes are different, obviously! Also, I've changed vertical direction before on a landing and I've seen the chutes flip sides without cutting (flying like a noob trying to land a rover on Duna). Cutting at low speeds seems to be inconsistent. Maybe a slight horizontal velocity kept the chutes from cutting or something. Also, yet another testament to the odd kerbal chutes, as none of the strings got caught on anything wrapping around the craft 0_0 quantum strings!

I don't know if limiting parts on a ship (beyond a budget) or mandating anything would be good for a free-form game like KSP. I personally don't mind that some people can unlock the whole tree in two flights. I definitely can't, and most people, especially noobs, won't be able to. Anyway, if it is addressed, I think it's best addressed after all the parts of career mode are in the game. Some things may self-balance after the budget and other things factor in.

I love this suggestion, and I think it needs to be looked into. This is my primary concern: spamming transmissions to get the max science out of an experiment is the easiest and quickest way to get the science, but it isn't fun. Landing a probe and clicking the goo canister over and over isn't engaging gameplay for me. I understand there are some tedious aspects of KSP, but those aspects are a product of pretty cool game mechanics, and I can deal with them. The transmission spamming tedium is completely fabricated, and it also kills any reason to bring a specimen back to Kerbin, which is actually a challenge and can be fun. Anyway, that's the way I see it. I'm not really interested in over-realism or anything like that, I'm more interested in the game being more engaging, and having both transmission and recovery play important, interesting roles in science acquisition. I'm one of those players that like to play the game as expertly and efficiently as possible, but if the most expert/efficient way of doing things is also a boring or tedious way of doing things, it puts a damper on the game. For me, at least. I'm not big into self-imposed rules either.

Awesome, thanks for doing those tests and sharing the results! The system is a little frustrating to me if this data is correct. Spamming transmissions is time-consuming and just isn't my idea of fun gameplay. It's not a terrible system, but I'd be more satisfied with something different I think. Time to head over to the suggestion forum I suppose

Thanks for testing that. Good to know. Yeah, I think at least the first recovery should give some sort of boost. That way you'd have a reason to work towards a successful return mission even if you'd transmitted the crap out of all the experiments already. I guess the science gained from the vessel itself after it has been places cannot be transmitted. Can soil sample experiments be transmitted at all? I haven't done any off-Kerbin soil sampling yet.

I was worried about this also... worried that I was losing potential Science by sending a probe to the Mun first and transmitting a few experiments instead of sending a crew. I'm glad to see that it appears to have been balanced well. EDIT: Although, since you can perform an experiment and transmit it multiple times in one mission, even with the transmission penalty and diminishing returns, wouldn't you eventually be able to reap more science than recovering it? Is it worth recovering an experiment that you've transmitted a ton of times already? I guess I'm still confused as to when you'd want to transmit vs when you'd want to go for the recovery.

Yeah, just want to add my 2 cents to clear up this misconception (I was worried about these things too when I was deciding where to buy KSP). The game is identical to the store version even if you get it on steam, as in, you can play it without steam by opening the .exe directly in the steam app folder. You can even yank the whole game out of the steam app folder, stick it somewhere else and it's functionally identical. First thing I do after an update is copy the new version out of the steam app folder and put it somewhere else. I've archived each version since I bought the game this way, and only access it through steam to get updates Just in case any future buyers are worried about this kind of thing. Edit: Oh yeah, and steam downloaded it a few minutes for me. I updated this morning. And, yes, if you want to make sure all the proceeds go to Squad, then I suppose it might be better to get it off the store. I'm not sure how much Valve takes, or how that works at all. You can always buy it from the Squad store and transfer it to steam afterwards.

You are my hero. As far as continued space missions go, it's absolutely possible and within our grasp, even to put men on mars. There's technology available for converting CO2 on Mars to O2, there's technology for converting elements on Mars to fuel, there's technology for getting their, providing artificial gravity using a tether and a spent engine stage while getting there, radiation shielding, etc. etc. The primary inhibitor is funding and payoff. I think the latest plan for a 2-year mission to Mars and back fell in at around $45 billion. With no obvious payoff, no one is going to back that up. Although, really, it's not a ridiculous amount compared to other things our tax money goes to. Someone mentioned 10% of the US budget... that would be WAY more than enough to get some really interesting missions off the ground. I'd say less than 1% would be fine. As it stands, NASA receives beans for funding.

I noticed there's even a loading screen when you click "new" when in the VAB or SPH. That's kind of annoying and needless...

I've always been interested in nerdy games. I played SimCity 2000 religiously as like an 8-year-old, and other such games. Not that I was super good at it, but I liked it. I would have played KSP definitely. I wouldn't say this game attracts a certain age group, I'd say it attracts a certain kind of gamer, one that enjoys challenge, building, exploring and more realistic gameplay. Young and old, I'm happy to see anyone of any age playing KSP!

Last week I wondered if I could put enough parachutes on a small probe to have it essentially float at a certain atmosphere level. I made a few prototypes on Kerbin, but never tested the theory on Jool, although I have my suspicions that it wouldn't work. At any rate, you wouldn't be able to leave it there without some kind of anchor. I ended up just launching an infini-glider into Jool and flying it around until I got bored.

Bah, well my bad. I I just read this and I overreacted. I should have read the rest of the thread. I'd been on CNN recently, can you blame me?

1) Bill Nye! I used to watch him all the time. Dang, he's getting old... 2) Those asteroids look like cookies. 3) Guys, stop with the religion bashing and stuff. Not cool. You just sound like one of those dicks that take every opportunity to turn an otherwise benign discussion into a political outhouse ragefest, and honestly you just come off as an insecure person.

According to the OP's article, isn't the radiation of deep space more of a concern than the radiation on the surface of Mars? I didn't read all of the pages of this thread, so maybe this was already discussed.

First of all, this mod is awesome. I really enjoy grappling stuff and using the cables as fuel lines in conjunction with Kethane. Is this mod designed to work in micro-gravity situations also? I tried to winch a rover onto a larger craft in ordered to haul the rover to the Mun and later lower it down with the winch, but the rover seemed stuck in a particular orientation and wouldn't allow the main craft to change heading, even though the winch was fully retracted and in "docked" mode. After messing with the winch I managed to get the ship to ... explode. All things considered it was wildly entertaining, but I may have to redesign my operation if the winch is expected to act like this outside of atmosphere. I am running in 0.21, and I didn't really use KAS extensively in 0.20, so I wouldn't know if this is a bug or not.

They'd probably be really confused as to how the planets in our system seem so massive compared to those in their system yet have similar gravity. These planets must be hollow on the inside!

I'll just reiterate things I've agreed with... + One of the first things I did after buying KSP was remap the rover controls to the arrow keys (and get rid of the camera control maps to those keys). Having them mapped to the same keys as the reaction wheels seems silly. + There is no "wrong" way to build a rover, having to have your core face the horizon is a stupid design restriction and it's unrealistic. Total functionality should be able to be achieved whichever way your core faces (it's not like a computer has a face or a 'front window'). + SAS wasn't really meant for rover stabilization (during development), so I'm not surprised it has quirks when it's used that way. + I'm all for adding more functionality and customization to SAS to broaden its usefulness to include, among other things, rover stabilization. Rover (probe) cores have reaction wheels, might as well put them to use, right?

I don't use mechjeb simply because I like to keep my mods to a minimum to avoid complexity.

Same exact situation as the OP, except I had planned to leave the lander after it was used. I probably could have tugged it back to Kerbin, but it would have taken longer with the extra weight. It's empty now and orbiting the Mun. I was thinking it can just chill there and serve as an orbit-to-surface bus at the Mun, as long as subsequent landing missions bring enough fuel to gas it up.

I hope this gets updated soon, it's one of my all-time favorite mods Until then I'll probably poke around with it in 0.21 with hopes that it'll work.

This thread is beginning to sound like a "how you eat your reese's" video.