Kerbart

You mean like that other build/fly spacegame simulator that’s going to be a huge KSP competitor?

Back in August 2019 I expressed my doubts we'd see a 2020 launch; that's simply not how software development works. I'm not trying to look smug here because fall 2021 wasn't what I was betting on either, but that's the nature of the beast I guess. That's a long time away so it's more realistic to expect mid 2022 and that's a long time away. Those that accused Squad of fraud for continuing to work on a "dead" game and publish DLC: I'm glad they haven't closed up shop and that we continue to see exciting new content. Keep it up, @SQUAD! I just hope we get frequent updates on development, even if it's simple things like "this is how a planet looks from the surface" or "here's the new Epstein drive engine." We've had radio silence for a while now and bad news like a delayed release date is easier to digest if it's sandwiched in between stories about progress, regardless how little that is. I guess I got spoiled by System Era who did a really good job on keeping us updated on the development of Astroneer.

There's a couple of ways to deal with the delivery date for a complex project: Build in contingencies in your timeline. Not just "be pessimistic on how long it takes," but rather throw in extra time to accommodate the things you'll have to do that you're not aware of right now. However, nobody, nobody wants to here "mid 2035, tops" as the delivery date for KSP2. Draw a line in the sand and deliver on that date. Basically you develop a bare-bones version of the game, add as many features as you can one-by-one and when the time comes you ship what you have as your 1.0 version, and then you just release updates with additional features and refined mechanics for, say, aerodynamics. You might be familiar with a game that was published that way; it's called Kerbal Space Program and as a whole, the playing community did not seem to like that model and was very vocal about the fairly unfinished state of the game when it was officially published. Be realistic and when it becomes clear that the original target date cannot be met within a reasonable limit, issue a new date. The first two options are clearly not preferred so we're stuck with the third one. That's not something I'm willing to wager with you, as you're going to win that.

We know that the Kerbal universe is not our universe. The gravitational constant is way off, so why might other constants not be? As we’ve seen krakendrives propel craft easily at multitudes of our speed of light with relativistic effects, perhaps the Kerbal light speed is tens, perhaps even dozens that of ours, and said signal delays are just very, very small.

Maybe someone could make a mod for that, to make this, ehm... Remote Tech, more realisitc?

Assuming KSP is about discovering the periodic table inside a realistic solar system, then yes, it has fallen short tremendously. But what if it isn’t? How is discovering the third or fourth element still interesting? What about the tenth? Knowing there’s still 30-50 more to be unlocked? To me that sounds like a boring grind-fest. You’re falling for the “realism=fun” fallacy. If I wanted realism, I would not be playing games, there’s enough realism in my daily life. I want games to be exciting, fun, challenging. Putting exciting contraptions into orbit and flying them elsewhere is exciting. Driving around for 30 minutes to find a moonstone is not. And you’re proposing to make that the focus of the game.

The challenge is to explain how this would improve game play.

Having multiple versions of the same mod is not the problem, but indicative of the root cause: not making any selection in installed mods at all. Try running KSP without mods and then add the ones you really want back in one by one. Part mods tend to come with texture files which gobble up memory rapidly, so be extra selective with those when you have limited system resources.

Sounds to me you don't really care about a good story, just the plot. You missed all of them by the way. Each of these are plots in books from well-known SciFi writers. Science Fiction, not fantasy, as you claim for some. Given that you decided to come up with answers that differ wildly, wildly from the books, I take it as point in case that things are not that predictable and that there's plenty of room for good stories.

What if night didn't exist? How would society react to darkness? What if we can predict the future? What if corporations can push for profit while sacrificing the lives of millions? Would they do it (this seems relevant these days, somehow)? What if we live in a world where land doesn't exist? How would you get metal? What if we live in a world where planets don't exist? How would that look like? What if everyone becomes super intelligent? And even when we have an infinite life span, we can still write about things that haven't happened yet, and might not happen anytime soon. Just because something might happen 100,000 years in the future doesn't mean it can't be a good story now.

But not always. Asimov once wrote that the basis for his stories was in a lot of cases "to change one aspect (physical or technical) from our world and see how that would play out" The point in most SciFi is not "this is how the future would be like" but rather "what if..." and it's more about the backdrop for an interesting story than anything else. We wouldn't be reading historical novels if that wasn't the case. Good stories can survive the future; there's plenty in my late father's collection where, because a course correction is needed, a crew member shouts out the golden sentence where is my slide ruler. It didn't make the stories less enjoyable.

Oh, sorry. Based on the information you provided that wasn’t something I considered.

The Stayputnik probe core offers very limited controls and no SAS.

Reasons people continue to play KSP after a first few encounters: This is so much fun! Reasons people don't play KSP after a first few encounters: I didn't know it's so hard to get into orbit! Why can't I choose between closed-cycle and open-cycle rocket engines? Why can't I define my own fuel mixtures? The people who complain that the game isn't hardcore enough right now: there's a mod for that. What I'd really want to see is that the game is so easiily moddable that something like RSS is just a matter of dropping in a single mod pack. Since KSP2 supposedly has multiple solar systems, an easy definition of solar systems and the option to choose your starting point would seem relevant. Is KSP's lack of realism holding off the hordes of real fans? Why did Orbiter never enjoy the succes KSP had? No cutesie green aliens there, just pure hardcore realism.

Coronavirus is now the most common cause of death in New Jersey. A sad record.

Very well done. We need some comic relieve in these isolated days!

Hello Civillian, Welcome to KSP and the forum! KSP is a game with fairly realistic physics and that means that spaceflight does not work the TV and Movies have taught you. To stay in space you need to be in orbit, which means flying around in space at a speed that is sufficiently high enough to prevent you from falling back to the planet. "Coordinates" are useless at that point, since everything is in a constantly changing position. To meet up with another vessel you will need to: * Be in the same orbit (basically the altitude and inclination, but there's more to it) * Be in the same position at the same orbit. Doing that is called a "rendez vous" and it can be tricky to do at first, although once you get the hang of it, it's fairly easy. Your first goal should be to get your rocket into orbit. For that, you can steer in any direction you want, but a 90° is usually recommended for what's called an "equatorial orbit." Progress in the game is all about little steps; in the beginning making it into orbit is hard enough! Focus on that first, and then you can start working on a rendez-vous.

I think John Clark used to describe the rocket scientists playing with those kind of fuels as “considered insane, even by rocket scientists”

Important to realize that it’s not the FAA that’s choking the Collings Foundation into bankruptcy.

For the scenario of Squad producing DLC after KSP2 comes out: I've said this a thousand times before and I'll repeat it for as long as I want: why would people pay for DLC if they can get it in a mod for free is not a valid argument. The existing two DLC's have proven that; the value is not just in the parts but in the guarantee that those parts are supported (for as long as there are KSP 1 upgrades). Every KSP 1 updates comes with its share of mods that break in one way or another but you can be pretty assured that the DLC parts will continue to work (also: if they don't, Squad will be out of business really, really fast). Now, assuming KSP2 is a success (as a game, I'm not talking about the commercial success), and assuming it's highly moddable (as Private Division claims, and they'd be insane not to make the game like that as it's part of the popularity), it wouldn't be a far stretch to state that most of the (successful) modders will move over to the KSP2 landscape. It's new, it's exciting, and every mod will find a thirsty audience as those first mods will be like water in the desert. Why would anyone pay for DLC parts that are available for free as mods? Well, if those mods have been abandoned because the modders moved to KSP2, those that stick with KSP1 will certainly be happy to see that certain mods (by -proven- popular demand) will be, in a way, continued by Squad. Would you be willing to pay $15 for DLC that offers optical enhancements like clouds and atmospheric scattering? At the moment probably not, but if KSP2 is on the market and the makers of mods have moved on to "Two," such DLC might suddenly become a lot more attractive. Becomes? They are. And if the game is good enough, you can milk it for an amazing amount of time, provided you continue to deliver quality (look at Supercell which manages to keep Clash of Clans a top-10 earning game year after year with only one spin-off that really stuck). When KSP2 takes off the KSP1 modding landscape will become a lot sparser and that's where Squad's DLC future lies, together with keeping KSP1 attractive. How? For instance because, unlike KSP2, you don't need a high end gaming rig to play it (assuming KSP2 does).

Just because you were caught by Mun "at the right time" doesn't negate the fact that Mun is in a counterclockwise (for argument's sake "prograde") orbit. You're deep enough and long enough inside its SOI to make a semi-orbit there. From a Mun perspective you changed your velocity vector with 180°, but from a Kerbin perspective you also picked up that nearly 550 m/s orbital velocity that Mun has. Unless you are going to counteract that, leaving Mun's SOI is going to put you in that counterclockwise ("prograde") orbit around Kerbin. So, unless your exit vector has a tangential component of at least 550 m/s you will have that prograde orbit, and from what you sketched, your exit vector is almost entirely radial towards Kerbin with virtually no tangential component. What you should be aiming for is not a 180° trajectory around Mun, but rather a 90° retrograde trajectory, with the exit vector leaving the SOI parallel to the Mun's course, but in the opposite direction, and doing at least 550 m/s when exiting Mun SOI. At that point your return trajectory will be retrograde. Kerbart, you don't know what you're talking about. It's impossible to return to Kerbin from a Mun flyby in a retrograde orbit. IMPOSSIBLE, I tell you. And that's why the game is broken! There ya go.

One of my friends just left the hospital after being nearly dead for two weeks, and my brother in law was not regarded sick enough to occupy a hospital bed and has been quarantining himself in his own house. Based on what his wife is telling us, it's a very rough ride. A coworker of my sister had it, and he was scared as hell; as a single person and at home, he was at one point literally not able to get out of bed to get something to drink, and really thought he was going to die at that point (as he wasn't able to get up and feed himself and there was no one around to help him). None of these were smokers or 60+ In most cases it might feel like nothing more than a mild flu. But in those cases where it doesn't it can really wreck you, and apparently the damage it can do to your lungs can be lasting.

Come and see is a "great" movie if you want to be exposed to the horrors of war (for civilians). Warning: graphic, and a bit hard to stomach.

Ooh, it's the other way around. I wasn't aware of that, sorry. I still wouldn't call the game broken - maybe helicopter aero dynamics. And those that use helicopters to retrieve landed vessels, or to build flying aircraft carriers (marvel style) might be less pleased with realistic lift ratios. Perhaps, either by mod or as a plea to @SQUAD, the solution would be a tweakable to scale the lift produced for rotor blades between 0-100% ?

Ah, the selective "realism is good but only when I like it" approach. The 500 RPM limit the game offers is pretty close to what helicopter rotors in real life operate at. Yes, the rotors of model helicopters run much faster, but is that what we are after?