Grumman

I've done it when on a decaying orbit that wasn't decaying fast enough for my liking and I was getting bored waiting. I haven't done it because I needed to.

That is wrong. The second law of thermodynamics only applies to closed systems, and by definition a mining rig is not a closed system: ore is entering the system as you mine it.

TextureReplacer can do that. Using stripes of colour rather than fully coloured suits makes more realistic sense (since white suits reflect more light), but you can do either. At the moment I am using Cetera's Suit Mod, with blue stripes for scientists, red stripes for pilots, yellow stripes for engineers and orange stripes for the original four Kerbonauts.

Something I once suggested was that Experimental parts might be the only ones with the rated impact and heat tolerances, with each individual part being assigned a random percentage bonus to both statistics on launch. When you first unlock a part it might have the base tolerances +1-20%, increasing to a flat +20% as you unlock more branches of the tech tree. Hard difficulty might not provide that benefit, keeping it at the +1-20% rate no matter how much you explore the tech tree.

It would not take months to implement wind. The game already uses a variable frame of reference to prevent kraken attacks on fast-moving craft, so now you'd use -(velocityx,velocityy,velocityz) + (windx,windy,windz) instead of -(velocityx,velocityy,velocityz) to calculate aerodynamic effects. The wind velocity vector for an Earthlike Kerbin would be something like: Westerly component = -cos(2.5*latitude) + random component Southerly component = -sin(3*latitude)*cos(pi*altitude/max altitude) + random component Updraft component = cos(3*latitude) + biome modifier + random component

Which is another reason why a toggle between "flight mode" and "station mode" is a good idea. Turn on "flight mode" to make the Kerbals return to their assigned pods and stay there, removing the AI footprint and keeping them safe if you plan on doing something like igniting your rocket engines, and turn on "station mode" to disable the controls that might leave the Kerbals behind, and enable the AI that allows the Kerbals to run about outside or within the craft.

One solution to this problem is to use two craft - one that can get from Kerbin to LKO and one that can carry an ISRU and tanks from LKO to Minmus and back again. The single-stage-to-LKO is the hardest, most time-sensitive part of the mission, so having a tanker make refuelling runs to and from Minmus is an easy way to extend the range of a fully reusable space program.

It sounds like it's working as intended. Your confusion is a result of two things: You have zero time and zero supplies left before you hit your 15 day reserve (USI-LS gives you 15 days of virtual supplies instead of demanding you stick a supply canister on every single craft you launch), and you also have infinite time because you're still on Kerbin - your Kerbals are basically being fed from the KSC's stores instead of the craft's stores while you wait for launch.

Go to GameData/USI/LifeSupport/Settings.cfg and find the lines "NoSupplyEffect = 1" and "NoSupplyEffectVets = 1". Change them to 5.

@RoverDude I've been looking at your source code. Am I correct in believing that MaxOffKerbinTime is the date&time at which a Kerbal will go on strike due to homesickness, and that this date&time is only dependent on the best craft the Kerbal has been on since he left Kerbin?

It's harder to share designs when everyone uses a different set of stats, so I don't like the idea in the OP. How about letting us spend a bunch of funds and science to add simulators to our Astronaut Complex that automatically grants 2 experience points the next time each Kerbal returns to the KSC?

I'm still in the early days of my new game so it will be quite a while before I need it, but it will be nice to use this mod again.

@IgorZ The release pages for both KAS and KIS only have downloads for the source code, not the compiled mod.

It would be a nice way to add flavour to the game, though I don't know if it would be worth the work. If I was going to do it, I'd add a control - perhaps under the Abort button - that disabled staging and throttle, and enabled this behaviour.

@Leandro Basi It appears that Scatterer is causing a ton of error messages. Get that fixed first, and people might actually be able to find where the problem is.

Somewhat inspired by something @Pawelk198604 mentioned, the purpose of this Strategy is to allow the player to boost their income by giving up some of their autonomy, occasionally being given a contract they would not have chosen to accept otherwise. At the end of each month, the game checks if you have at least one free contract slot. If you do: - You receive a stipend from the government that scales with the percentage commitment to the strategy. - You have an X% chance of accepting one of your offered contracts at random. Alternatively, it might have an X% chance of accepting one of your offered contracts at random, with a large increase in the advance, cancellation and failure amounts if it does so.

Re: the Sword of Damocles effect: Something I suggested elsewhere is that it would be nice if the supporting parts for new "prepare or die" features be added to the game before the features that require them. Heat shields before reentry heating, long range antenna before stock remote tech, life support canisters before life support requirements. Let us stick these things on our craft as cosmetic items for a full patch cycle before they become essentials, so that by the time these features are added we've already been launching compatible ships for months.

Personally, I use a 25% Reputation -> Science strategy. Sinks for Funds and Science are staring you in the face from day 1, so making it so that all contracts gain you Science helps where you need help most.

It won't. It's quite unlikely that your space program is mining enough to make a real dent in a planet's geology, it would be less fun if your game could literally run out of ore to mine, and the way ore levels are calculated is not conductive to such a change in the first place.

If anyone isn't getting the download on Steam, I had to undo the opt-in to the prerelease, and then Steam started downloading the new release.

The Stockalike Station Parts has an inline one that weighs 0.1 tons. You can attach it to the front-inside node of the cargo bay, then use crew transfer to move a Kerbal from the cabin to the airlock, then have them go on EVA from there.

@RoverDude The latest patch fixed the Pack Rat wheels - they no longer explode, and seem to be perfectly capable. Unfortunately the textures are not being applied properly for some reason - instead of the normal appearance, they are simply a flat grey colour.

I think the first of the tips down the bottom could be clearer - something like: "A new category has been added for Tools and EVA items - look for the tab with the Kerbonaut." ...since saying it's under the Science category could mean it's below the Science category or it's inside the Science category.

@KerikBalm Tethered EVA I dislike primarily because it conflicts with a much more interesting implementation of tethered EVA - placing a KAS winch by the hatch so you can have kerbals on EVA grab the cable and jet around in safety. The idea is not that Tourists level up, specifically, it's that different contracts give you different qualities of Tourists, ranging from dilettantes doing a joyride in the back of a suborbital vomit comet to kerbonauts for that other space agency, the one whose employees keep defecting after they get stranded.

Having a penalty if you crash into a city makes sense, but would obviously have to be combined with adding contracts for going there (at least as an optional bonus objective) or you'd just never bother to go there. The second idea doesn't make sense - it's going to be a lot more expensive for you to build and maintain a second spaceport than just shipping the parts to your current one, and conducting space launches right next to a major city center will not make you new friends. If there's an additional landing site there, it will be because you're using a preexisting runway.