BrokenPhysics

Since I almost exclusively do Contract driven gameplay (because I like it that way), I wouldn't dream of using Leadership initiative. My usual gameplay looks like this: - Early launches to grab the easy science of atmosphere and Low space - Kerbin Orbit missions until I get tired of them (Satellites, Tourists) - Probes to the Mun - Manned Munar landing - Upgrade Mission center to maximum, constantly check for interesting contracts and accept them, building a large base of stuff I can do when the urge strikes me - Now I have enough funds that money won't be an issue, as I'm usually trying for maximum efficiency (without using spaceplanes), so I start to use rep+funds->science strategies to get the stuff I want faster.

Looks like I'm roughly level 3.25 I haven't subscribed to Scott Manley, but then, I haven't subscribed to anybody, instead I have his channel bookmarked and check it when I need some inspiration or forgot how to do an embarrassingly trivial thing. Other than that, Mun and Minmus are trivial now, and I try to do them with style (like sending a full Apollo Mission where a simple Mk1 would suffice). I have been to Eve and Duna (including their moons), but have always restarted for new versions before going further out. Maxed out the science tree several times since its introduction, and can build a functional but ugly SSTO that does its job. My contraptions almost never explode, look pretty decent (but not exceptional, so I haven't uploaded any), and I have grown used to a few quality-of-life mods, that I can't do without (namely KER and Docking Port Alignment) or install and then never use anyway (kOS), otherwise, I strongly prefer Stock. Oh, and definitely the space movies thing, but I assume that's caused in equal parts by me being a physicist and KSP.

Kubuntu 16.10 with KDE (obviously). I might switch to Debian with KDE when I next reinstall, though.

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks for pointing that out!

I just came back to KSP after a very long break (since 1.0), and I'm loving the new CommNet mechanics! I just don't understand the Communotron 16S: I can't find any advantage it has over the non-S variant, same range, same energy consumption, same cost. Combined with the downside of not being combinable, I can't see any reason to use it, except for aesthetics. Am I missing something? Thanks for your replies!

Actually, I am already using the LC_ALL=C workaround (and have been since I started playing in 0.21). The issue I am describing is nothing like the things introduced by not having LC_ALL=C, but actually affects the settings themselves: When I manually put them to a reasonable value, everything is fine. - - - Updated - - - Looks like the game is mocking me. Now I can't reproduce it anymore...

Every time I start KSP, the camera wobble setting is set to some absurd value (e.g. 9549148.0 or 9729489.0). As far as I remember, it's not always the same number and it differs for external and internal wobble. I'm running the 64-bit version on Kubuntu 15.04. The audio volume sliders seem to be affected, too, but the actual volume is okay. Edit: It also happens on the first launch after loading.

Yeah, that's a good point. Solar panels are quite expensive in real life (except maybe for the small low-grade ones for kids and garden-lamps). I'll look at them, when I get the time, and maybe I'll work out some numbers for reasonable prices, but don't expect it to be anytime soon, since I'm currently moving to a new city. So it's a workaround for a bug/limitation. Amounts to almost the same for me :-P I like that, too. Is there a mod out there to provide this functionality? They do not take up the same physical size. They have the same weight per charge, but I can comfortably fit 2 Z100 into a Z200, and I can fit at least three, maybe even four Z100 into a Z400.

Thank you for your support, guys Yeah, it's definitely no gamebreaking problem, but since it's an easy fix and contributes to the consistency of prices, I don't see a reason not to do it. If the batteries were, in fact, more dense, I'd agree with you, but since they're not (except maybe for the Z1k)... I thought about that, too, I'll post it there with a link to this thread later. I always thought about that as a bug, that will some day be squashed, so I didn't include it in my reasoning.

Currently in the game, Batteries get significantly more expensive (looking at funds per Charge) the bigger they become: Z100: 0.8 Funds/Charge Z200: 1.8 Funds/Charge Z400: 1.375 Funds/Charge Z1k: 0.88 Funds/Charge I find it quite plausible, that the Z200 and the Z1k are more expensive than the Z100 or Z400, since they're inline-Batteries and must provide some structural Stability. But the fact that the Z400 is much more expensive than the Z100 bugs me, especially since they are the same in every other aspect (except size and capacity of course). I therefore advocate a price change of the Z400 from 550 to 320, to bring it in line with the price of the Z100, and a price change of the Z200 from 360 to 200, which would be 25% more than the Z100. The Z1k can be left as it is; it currently sits at 10% more than the Z100, which is reasonable since it is an inline Battery. Am I missing something? Edit: Alternatively, the price of the Z100 could be raised from 80 to 137.5 to bring it in Line with the Z400. This would also mean, that the price of the Z200 isn't that far off (31% more expensive). The Z1k should then also be adjusted from 880 to 1512.5 to match the price increase of the Z100.

I have to disagree strongly! I'm running Kubuntu and it works fine. KSP is actually the smoothest gaming experience I had on Linux. (The second best being Portal for Linux) Of course, linux isn't magically solving all the performance problems of KSP.

you can store multiple crew reports. Just get a kerbal out on EVA, grab all the science reports from the pod and put them back (this frees the crew report slot, and puts that report on a generic "stored reports" slot).

Nice Tutorial! Just one question: What can I do against the gaps in the ring? Will another Rockomax-Adapter (just like the connection to the arms) fit inside it? and one suggestion: How about using Bi-Couplers with two docking-ports to ensure that my arm is rotatet perfectly after docking in Orbit?

There's another alternative, I believe: They could value the production of information. With material needs out of the way, you actually don't lose anything, if you give your information away for free. Yes, you could trade it for other information, but only until that information has spread enough to become worthless. So it could be considered normal to just hand out your information to everyone you meet, just as you'd hand out tap-water to your thirsty guests. In this society, the ability to create new and intersting information would be of value. You'd pay someone to create information of your specification, be it designing a device that can execute some specific task, music tailored exactly to your taste or the understanding of some physical phenomenon you're interested in. For example, you're a skilled poet, but you can't even draw a straight line. Someone might hire you to write a poem about his beloved. And you might hire someone to figure out, why it takes exactly 12.4 seconds to make a hyperspace-jump. This could actually be something humanity can provide in abundance, if they are not too different from us. Suddenly all those with a major in arts would be rich and the engineers would work at starbucks

I really hope Al Kerbone makes it into the game! A combination of these and a budget would be great, so you can get some side money by doing the dirty work for Al

Oh, I think I misunderstood you on that, then. I thought you talked about switching rotation control with translation (RCS-)control, which is quite easy in docking mode. Sorry.

this can already be done within docking mode one possibility to prevent that, would be to create these options, but don't bind them to a key by default. So the wouldn't be used by accident, but players who want them, could bind them.

Good to know But does that angular drag actually increase drag, or does it just impose torque on the part?

You know that those electromagnetic launch systems would have to be several kilometers long, if you want to launch something as big as a probe with them, don't you? Even though there are some military prototype railguns that are much shorter while reaching high velocities, these a) fire much lighter projectiles, not entire sattelites, and even if they could launch something as big as a sat, they would rip your vessel apart, due to the high acceleration forces. So yes, it could be done, but would rather be a new KSC facility rather than a player-built structure. Also it wouldn't fit into the (core) game, in my eyes. I guess someone could make a mod out of this, though. To those other uses of magnets: Could you name some, that are a) not covered by docking ports and don't require ridiculous amounts of electricity (such as pulling a ship over several hundred meters) Even if you tried to circumvent the electricity by using permanent magnets, these would have huge masses. (And once they grabbed something, they won't let go)

@Nuke: afaik, at the moment drag is completely unaffected by the orientation of your craft. Though this will probably change when squad does overhaul the atmospheric model. Though I'd like to see this in game, I fear it would be quite heavy on physics-calculation, which is already the bottleneck of the game. Especially at launch this could be a problem (highest part count and deep in atmosphere).

Really nice idea! I'd like to see that in career mode as soon as budget/money is implemented. Even before that, it'd be useful for testing concepts without having to put them in orbit first. (I know we can just hyperedit, but I usually avoid mods). I also like the part with expanding the simulator by getting new data about other planets. I think this would be a good use for a possible observatory: You get the orbit-option by studying the planet through observatory (or probe), but you get surface/atmosphere option only by providing actual data. Also you wouldn't be able to enter the atmosphere in the simulator (due to insufficient simulation data) before you unlocked it. It could just flash an "insufficient data" warning and continue the sim as if there was no atmosphere.

What would be the use for simple magnets, other than what the docking ports already provide? If you want to pull something as heavy as another ship over a distance longer than a couple of meters, you'd need some extremely strong magnets, which means they'd be too heavy and too power hungry to be put on your spacecraft. Yeah magnetic boots for EVA would be cool, but that sounds like a different suggestion, since they are not really "parts" (at least from player perspective)...

While waiting for 0.22 to be released, I decided to do my first challenge. Played out pretty nice - Basics +30 - 3-man Mission +10 - 2-man Lander +10 - 2-stage Lander (leave the decent-engine on the mün) +20 - Escape tower? +10 - Lander stored behind the CM during ascent +20 - Lander tucked away behind some fairing? +5 - Free return trajectory to the mün +10 - Flawless landing (no parts broke off, Neil Armstrong is watching you!) +10 - Got a Munar Roving Vehicle (MRV) on board? +15 (although it didn't get very far...) - After succesfull Mün landing docked CM and MM in Orbit (no swapping ships without docking them first) +10 - MM disposed by crashing it into the Mün (remove Kerbal first!) +5 - Plant flag on the Mün (no cumulative, i.e. two flags don't get you 6 points) +3 - Spashing down on Kerbin (land on water) +5 - Deploy münar sub-satellite before returning to Kerbin +10 Points - Land within 100 meters of the NAM +15 - I was roving on the Moon one day... (no points for me here, since I crashed the Rover after a few meters...) - MSEP: That'll do - Deploy two experimental packages at the landing site +5 points Total: 193 points (if I calculated everything right )