Kerbart

Why? T2 has already utterly destroyed the game with micropayments, DRM and cease-and-desist letters to every single modder, if I am to believe the forum. How much more damage can EA possibly do?

Looks like an old bug is rearing its ugly head again. Despite showModCategory = true in the KPBS_config.cfg file, parts are not showing up inside their own category, but rather all over the part list. I know this was a problem in the past, and you fixed it, so I suspect it's a forgotten setting either in KPBS itself, or in the Community Resource Pack/CommunityCategory Kit? Never mind... I forgot that this is something that is now set under the game options. However, would you be so kind to update the entry in the KSPedia regarding that? Just to protect me from bringing this up with every new version (when I start a new career and forget to check it off under the options...)

No. At least not in 1.4, maybe in 1.4.1 or 1.4.2 but I wouldn’t count on it.

Hey @djungelorm, I don’t want to sound like an ungrateful dog, but... since the 1.4.2 update I get an AVC warning despite the thread title stating 1.4.x?

The DLC is mainly the mission system, the parts where added to support the historical mission theme. This view might not be shared by everyone but if you’re buying int the “party line” of the DLC being more than a part pack it certainly has merit. With that perspective it’s less logican to have “building the future” as a theme. It would be logical to pick a theme that supports the next DLC’s extension, whatever that is. Perhaps it’s multiplayer and the theme is “space war” (twice unlikely though). Perhaps it’s robotics and the theme is “1010110” Anyway, I don’t take “building the future” for granted in that sense.

I guess "Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah SPLAT!" didn't make it past the naming committee?

The number of bugs is disappointing, and the number of bugs that, for the casual observer, should have been caught by QA is higher than I'd wish. You're absolutely right about that. But “take the money and run” suggests that they're not doing anything about it, and that is simply not true. This patch, with a staggering amount of fixes within... is it one or two weeks since 1.4.1? Anyway, it shows that they're working hard to make things right. Consider the alternative, with Squad taking three months before issuing a patch. That would most certainly cause the perception that they don't want to fix it while we're sitting here with a bugged game. Software development is hard; it's not like you can wave a magic wand and yell "bugs. be gone!" to solve them. But Kerbart, how about launching MH and 1.4 without any bugs? Without knowing anything about Squad's financial situation, I doubt that the cash-flow would be such that they could afford that. That would take... 3 extra months? Six? Remember that “going live” uncovers bugs a whole lot faster than internal testing. Squad likely needs cash now. Especially with lots of development time taken up by rewriting the console edition without seeing any revenue for it. Self-inflicted damage, true, but it still generates a need for alternative revenue. People might not like paying for DLC (given the number of I bought the game on xyz, why can't I get it for free posts) but it surely helps in sustaining ongoing development of the game.

Well that's the one difference. The other difference is that the outcome of "getting it almost right" is rather dramatic.

I think we’re arguing over definitions. Lift being the force perpendicular to the chord of an airfoil, vs being in the opposite direction of the gravity vector, for instance. And a couple of others. Don’t sort them out though; it would reduce the entertainment factor of this thread.

They just released a 1.4.2/MH 1.1 patch. In fact, this very thread is about that release. While by no means I’m drinking the Squatorade Juice, I do dare to make the bold claim that “take the money and run” and “releasing a patch” are at conflict with each other, and that only one of them is true. I’m not saying yours is false, but Squad did just release a patch.

When you dock vessels, the one with the highest priority sets the name. Also, you can specify an override for the tracking icon (if your probe uses a relay antenna you can still force it to be a probe and not a relay satellite on the map)

I like the Titan II. Later generations (with the SRB’s) as well, but there’s something vicious about the slick, straight lined looks of a T2 with that twin-bell engine (all explainable because of its ICBM silo background of course, but still...).

The boy who cried fire... by claiming every bug is “game breaking,” the term becomes largely ignored. I’m well into a 1.4 career and, well, if the game were truly broken I wouldn’t be where I am. Surely there are annoying bugs. The mission interface, with its un-intuitive first-mission character (intended that way or not, it needs fixing) clearly needs work. But Squad cannot be expected to address every new thread posted on known issues (especially if they’ve already responded to them). When making bold claims about money back, consider: Has the bug been posted in the bug tracker? Has the bug been mentioned in other threads? Have you checked the response in the bug tracker and the other threads? Claiming that Squad “does nothing” without checking those first puts someone right in the same category they claim Squad to be in. Am I disappointed with the amount of bugs in this release? Yes. Is the game broken? No. Do I have a reason, based on history, that Squad will ignore the error reports and leave 1.4 at its current 1.4.1 state, or not patch MH? Absolutely not. I’m sure they are working on fixes, but most of those will take time.

But that’s not how it works. T2 is the publisher. It takes the game to the market, advertises it, and yes, probably sets budgets and direction. But in the end it’s the studio that develops the game and that’s Squad. And unless T2 makes the decision to really invest in KSP they will let Squad move along as if it’s an independent company (which, to my knowledge, it still is. T2 bought the IP, not necessarily Squad itself; Squad is merely a not-so-independent contractor). Nobody goes to a concert of a small band and complains they’re not getting a Stones/Foo Fighters/Whatever big band stage and performance. “But they’re published by Sony! They make tons of money!” That’s just not how it works.

Expect requests for a VAB dV calculator to be flooding your inbox...

I’d say “retired” instead of “dead,” it’s a more pleasant word and you can bring it back later if, for some odd reason, you prefer writing code for us ungrateful dogs over playing KSP. Without becoming a Necromancer, I mean. I assume the dream of most mod developers: now that Squad does it, I don’t have to do it.

I don’t like responding in this thread, for reasons, but I cannot resist a post with reasonable arguments... First of, the DLC consists of parts, which we can get through mods as well. However, coming from Squad, therea certain attractiveness of these parts over normal mods; the “as good as stock” status, the high level of quality (despite certain bugs, which was a bit disappointing) and the integration with the extension elements of the DLC. So, the DLC, can provide mod functionality, as long as it goes beyond what mods do. In case of a Kopernicus-style DLC you could think of a “planet editor”that offers a GUI to place and skin the planet. The DLC could also offer “outer planets,” not discoverable through the tracking station, that can only be discovered by a orbital telescope. Orbits, sizes and skins could be seed generated so that discovery is not symply a matter of knowing where to look. At the same time, Kopernicus is so well ingrained by now that special care needs to be taken to make the DLC compatible, or at least not crash, with Kopernicus. Same applies to extensions that are geared towards life support (Roverdude...), robotics, remotetech, etc.

I’d like to give Squad and the QA team some slack—I’m sure they’re working very hard on it. But I do agree, that from a customer perspective, it is infuriating to run into issues that, at least at the very surface of it, would have been discovered with a minimum amount of playtime. And these are not Heisenbugs or edge cases either, but rather easy to reproduce with perfectly normal game play. I hope that as far as new parts are concerned, Squad will adapt some kind of checklist to go over alignment, specs, etc.

Bad idea. Kopernicus offers it for free.

The problem seems to be your doctor, not the license. It’s worrisome that your doctor treats you different because of who you are. Perhaps time to find a different doctor? Sally Ride was gay, but kept it quiet, so that’s perhaps not the best example. I’m not sure to what extend NASA was aware of it. I can imagine she didn’t tell them; we’ve come a long way since the 1980s.

The railroad crossing of Midland Ave in Elmwood Park was apparently one of the deadliest in the US. Improving that significantly was one of the last projects of mayor Richard Mola (RIP). Your story does highlight a major point though: the discussion gets significantly polluted by the Americans in this thread applying their knowledge of rail transport to the problem. And rail transport, especially but not only passenger transport, is absolutely 100% god-awful in the US. Even here in NJ which is considered to be light years ahead of most of the US is an absolute joke. I cannot effectively commute to work as it would take me 2 hours each way. and the shuttle for "the last mile" (more like 3, so not something I'd casually walk every day in addition to spending two hours in the train in each direction) costs me more than gasoline when driving myself. Compare that to the Netherlands where the train would take me to work (door to door) in 30 minutes and the car would cost me over an hour, and where even the most expensive option (buying one way tickets every day) would beat gasoline prices alone (and not depreciation, and cars in Holland are expensive). Add to that clean trains that ride on time (and where the worst case schedule if you live in the outback is once per hour, and not once per two hours as on the bergen/main line through one of the most densily populated areas in New Jersey during off-rush hours) and you can see why the train can be an option. Of course, for the rural US it never will be, and it would be silly to expect that. But to say that the train is never a solution is just as short-sighted and mis-informed as stating that it is always a solution. There are definitely cases where rail-based mass transit is the way to go. Keep in mind that the US is exceptionally rural, even with what we call "suburban" areas. Neighborhoods like Queens and Brooklyn are exceptions in the US; in NW Europe the are the norm. Visit the NYC subway. At rush hour in Manhattan you'll have trains stopping every 5 minutes, easily unloading 500 people. That's 15,000 people per hour per stop. Please explain how to handle this with "scalable" busses.

Nothing obscuring your transmissions? (moons, planets, the sun?) Something to consider: in order to transmit science you have to control the probe. The small antenna might not be sufficient for that.

Yes! There was a Roswell incident. There's no denying that. Whether it involved extraterrestrials or simply weather balloons is a whole different question though.

You forget to offset the cost of not building an extensive road network vs subsidizing mass transit. If instead of building big 4-lane highways requiring big 4-lane highway bridges and intersections you can get away with "local roads," subsidizing rail is all of a sudden not so bizar anymore. That's pretty much what's happening in densely populated NW Europe and Japan where the alternative would be unbearable congestion that could only be solved by spending a lot more on road infrastructure while lowering the quality of life due to smog and air pollution. In a situation like that, your selfish desire to live in a large house should not result in everyone else paying more taxes (by foregoing public transportation) to subsidize that.

It doesn't work like that in the US where the car is king. When I moved here, I was shocked to learn that "I did not see him/her" was apparently considered a valid defense in court when a car driver hit a pedestrian or cyclist. In the Netherlands that's pretty much considered an admission of guilt, but not here in New Jersey, apparently (that doesn't clear you from blatantly plowing over someone, but it does from flying over a hilltop or around a corner without consideration what might be on the road that you can't see, without adjusting your speed for that).