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I met Buzz about 10 years ago, he was drinkin scotch, really! I have a picture of us I will post it in the near future. He and I were the only two people in the room for about 10 minutes, so I talked to him. Interestingly he was nice enough, until I asked him questions about the moon landing's in general (not necessarily his, just fact finding I was). He had little to say and I could tell he didnt want to talk about the moon. So I dropped it. His wife came in later (now ex-wife, I believe), and she was a bit tipsy and pretty annoying. Like a 70 year old trophy wife or something. I think she was annoying him as well.

I felt the same last month. Now I've clocked my 50th hour recently which is usually my switch off point for a long game. Instead I'm realizing how much more I can create in comparison to last month and eagerly awaiting some talk of the next update from the devs in the coming months. KSP is set to be my longest played game ever if it keeps this up, just 360 hours to go. I don't doubt that's gonna happen either

So let's talk about Battle Cruisers...

From all the talks about physics and the lag problem, there is very little talk about how game engines work and the source of the lag. Due to the nature of the internet, here's a bit of a background; I'm a Unity developer professionally, mostly tackling optimization issues with rendering and memory. Ensuring object culling from the GPU is as efficient as possible. That said, Unity's physics engine is outdated while also being a heavily customized version of PhysX (part of the reason it's outdated; difficult to support). From my experience with the game, in order to save on computing time, a lot of the parts (rigidbodies) can start 'sleeping'. This means that until some delta value is applied to them, no physic calculation is applied other than for the parent transform value changes (like pivot points, there is a hierarchy of objects made from the parts). This raises the question on how much KSP is really a 'realistic simulation' and how much is 'emulation'. I believe, in order to optimize as much as possible, physics-wise, the latter is probably more true. In that perspective, I also believe that most of the discussions in this thread are moot. The OP's idea is definitely something that can be implemented and could be emulated correctly, just like how most of the computations are emulated now. Striving to go _100%_ realistic in KSP is asking to have a super-computer do the calculations with custom software. That's not even close to the realm of the possible. On the other hand, rendering wise, 'showing' what's inside the fairings, is _very light_. It's the physics that makes this whole engine lag beyond any recognition. As you might guess, 'emulating' the physics inside the fairings, with 0 rigidbodies inside, is definitely a huge-boost in performance. At the end, my personal opinion is that I prefer a lag-free experience. KSP's emulation is darn good enough and can be tweaked but I don't expect nor believe it can ever be a simulation simply due to the engine's limitations in that particular domain. *Edit; The poster before also tackles most of those points. +1 to him.

So I know .21.1 is out and I know that .22 has a long road ahead. Nonetheless, there is nothing wrong with talking about it. So to start it off, .21 was a great update and I am LOVING it. But the .21 update was a mere stepping stone to something greater. What we are here to talk about is: What do you want to see in the next update, what do you think will be in the next update, and any other ramblings about future updates. I am very excited. I believe that the next updates (.22; .23; .24; and .25) have so much to offer. I have high expectations for these updates and I cannot wait to see what SQUAD has in store for us. The road will be cold; no developer contact for weeks, it will be treacherous; updates breaking saves at will, it will be an exciting journey to see KSP blossom into a complete game! Here is a few things that I want in the next update(s): - Procedural craters on at least one more planet/moon - Revamped aerodynamics - SpacePlane artpass on parts - Reentry damage - Tweakables - Observatory What I think will be in the next (.22) update: - Procedural craters on at least one more planet/moon - The ability to train kerbalnauts (maybe .23) - The ability to complete missions - I can't think of anything atm Enjoy talking about the next update! Edit: Added poll for what features you think will be in .22, not what you want! You can pick multiple choices!

Also guys, can we stay away from willy talk please? let's not take out too much vulgar words and keep the conversation clean please, thanks

Hm. Well put. Your logic is sound and it seems like something that, under extremely low thrust, should be doable. I think though that the problem would lie in the interaction with other SOI as the orbit increases - after all, presumably the goal is to actually go somewhere via ion power - which would lead to inaccuracies between rails and physics once out of time warp, would it not? I've already seen such inaccuracies in map mode, though that doesn't mean I think the problem is completely insurmountable... after all, there's loads of good suggestions by far brighter people than me in chaos_forge's VOI thread, so it may just be my ignorance speaking (my maths are limited to ballistics and anything to do with cars/race trucks) when I talk about inaccuracies and the like. Anyhow, I still think you make a good point, so I'll leave this post on that note.

lately I've been reading up on venus a lot, and stumbled across a few articles that talk about the possibility of microbial life in venus' clouds. The main argument against this however was the lack of water and oxygen. which i don't get. to me it seems so close-minded to assume all life everywhere absolutely needs water. I don't see why sulfer based life on venus couldn't or methane based life on titan couldn't exist. Life just seems too opportunistic to think that What are your thoughts?

You may be a programmer, but I don't think you've had much experience in this sort of coding. (I am not a coder but I converse with animators... I know a bit about the obstacles, but not enough to talk about solutions.) The routine you worked out would work fine for controlling lights illuminating real-world objects, but not computer models of same. The incident light isn't the issue; it's the reflectiveness of the objects in the scene that takes the real horsepower to crunch, and recomputing those on the fly would (in the current state of the game) make for unacceptable performance hits. That's why the current VAB/SPH internals use "baked-in" lighting, which avoids having to recompute reflectiveness etc. I strongly suspect the final product will reflect the day/night cycle, after they've had a chance to optimise how things work. -- Steve

They talk about the centrifugal forces damaging the craft and propose to use it as means to put supplies like water and fuel. But then they mention using a small rocket to circularize, which would be damaged by the centrifugal g-forces. Actually that's the whole problem of this concept, the centrifugal force.

That depends. would you guys give me interesting things to talk about, and questions to respond to?

And now OP you should understand why we don't talk about multiplayer. The same things gets hashed over and over again, people get upset, then the personal attacks start and everything just goes downhill from there. As it has been stated, Multiplayer is not something Squad is going to even consider looking at until much further down the road and most likely not until after the release of KSP v1.0. So before this goes any further and things get said that people may regret, we'll just end the show here. We thank you for your input. Cheers! Capt'n Skunky KSP Community Manager

there is no reason to beat a dead horse, that's why. Squad has openly stated "we shall not be incorporating multiplayer until the game is done" wanna talk about multiplayer? there's several threads in the add-ons section for that

Yes, except that as of 0.21 SAS is now better at those things than Mechjeb is. Mechjeb has some basic, fundamental issues with attitude control that just aren't being addressed, probably because nobody seems to actually talk about what the problems are. If you ever watch Mechjeb's inputs at work, ask yourself...is that how *I* would be flying my ship? If it is then you're going to wear out your WASD keys in short order.

Why do you think this? The vast majority of modders I talk to agree that source code (through either NDA access or decompiling) is incredibly useful. It reveals how the game actually works, not how it's supposed to work or how the developers envisioned it would be used. It's an enormous task to write documentation that covers all the bases; for a project like KSP, that's just never going to happen. I'm not sure why this "the code is a constantly evolving work" objection keeps coming up. Modders are used to the codebase changing underneath. If anything, the rapid pace of change means that source code is even more useful, because it instantly reflects changes, whereas documentation must be updated manually.

Might want to save the smack-talk for a competitive thread.

Yupe, but I thought I should take the opinion of the comunity before talk with the staffers. I dunno, in the last version there is some jazz and some clasical pieces... Do you think that this album don't fit with the spirit? Is difficult... But... I need to try So... Do you like it?

I looked around on the forums and I did not see a thread on co-op... so here I go. I know that multiplayer is not an option right now, I also know that it has been discussed to death. Co-op is not the same as multiplayer. In KSP, I mean co-op as having multiple people in one ship. I would love to have my buddy go with me to Duna and get out with his own kerbal and we can walk around on the surface together. In a sense, it is multiplayer but on a very small scale (2-however many kerbal are on your ship). This may seem pointless or it may be too difficult to implement. I just want to talk about it. Perhaps a modder could implement it? I apologize if the moderators consider this a "multiplayer" thread and I understand that this thread may be locked.

PROLOGUE 1957-1958: NEW MUN *** OCTOBER 4th, 1957 “The pulsating radio “beep†of the first kerbmade Kerbin satellite signaled today to the world that our species had crossed the threshold into the age of travel through space. The Kerbal Union announced it had won the race into space by launching an kerbin satellite Friday, a 184-pound, 22-inch globe now orbiting the Kerbin at 18,000 miles an hour, 560 miles up. Millions of persons throughout the world heard the “beep ... beep ... beep ...†rebroadcast today by local stations and realized that man had taken his first faltering steps into the new era. Launching of the satellite was a tremendous victory for science. It was a more tremendous victory for Union propaganda to be able to trumpet to the world the Reds were the first to break through the frontiers of space.†(source: http://www.coalwoodwestvirginia.com/sputnik.htm) *** IKE: This is unacceptable! We have to do something with this immediately! Do you know that their prime minister called me few days ago only to mock me about it? I can still hear his „nanana, we have a satelliteâ€Â! What can you do about it, Hugh? HUGH: With all due respect, Mr. President, I don't think think that the NRL is capable of sending anything to space in the foreseeable future. I think we all will be better off if we, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics will… JOHN: Excuse me! It's the Naval Research Laboratory is sufficiently equipped to… HENRY: Don't be ridiculous, John. Kerbal States Army… EDDY: What? Political repercussions of our Army launching satellite… HENRY: What about our Air Force than? EDDY: We can't use the… HUGH: Only NACA could possibly… IKE: Enough! I want actions, not words! What do you propose? I have to make public announcement soon. HUGH: National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics should… HENRY: The Army… EDDY: Kerbal Union reaction to such… WERNHER: Maybe vee should cooperate? IKE: Quiet! How many agencies do we have anyhow? And who is this guy? EDDY: Doctor Werner von Braun, Ballistic Missile Agency. IKE: Oh. So he's one of the, uhm, guests? EDDY: That is correct, Mr. President. IKE: All right. Here's what we're going to do… NOVEMBER 3rd, 1957 *** IKE: Yes, prime minister, I… No, but thank you… :sigh: Yes, I've seen the news. Congratulations. What? Yes. Heidi. Weimaraner. No, she's not… Oh… Prime minister, I understand that… yes, I know that you have put dog in space… Space dog. Yes, very funny. Very funny. Listen, I have to hang out now. Yes, very busy. Thank you, I… No, we're not. Yes. You too. Goodbye. :hangs out: My Kod, I can't take it anymore! EDDY: Our lack of progress is certainly… IKE: Listen. You go tell these blokes that they have to launch our own Sputnik as soon as they can. One month, that's it – this great nation won't wait any… EDDY: Satellite. IKE: What? EDDY: It's satellite. Sputnik is a name of the first… IKE: Whatever! I want this done as soon as possible, you hear me?! DECEMBER 6th, 1957 *** JOHN: Well I be damned… ENGINEER: Don't worry, general, the next one will surely succeed. FEBRUARY 5th, 1958 *** JOHN: … ENGINEER: Uh, general? We have a call from the Green House. Mr. President would like to talk with you. MARCH 17th, 1958 *** JOHN: Yes! We did it! ENGINEER: Here goes the Kerbin's fourth satellite! JOHN: Swell! We showed them how to do it, didn't we?! ENGINEER: We certainly did sir. Err… sir? JOHN: What is it? ENGINEER: I was ordered to deliver you this letter after the launch. I, uhm, I believe it's… JOHN: What?! That sneaky bastard! How did he do this?! ENGINEER: Err, by having two successful launches before we did? JOHN: That was rhetorical questio… Lack of funds?! Concentrating national effort? What the frak is KASA?! JULY 29th, 1958 *** IKE: There you go. By signing this document, I'm putting a lot in stake. Do you understand this, doctor Wernher? WERNHER: I can assure you that the entire Kerbal Aeronautics and Space Administration vill vork tirelessly, Mr. Prezident. IKE: I hope so. Remember, this is serious. The fate of entire world is in your hands. WERNHER: Mr.. Prezident? IKE: Err... this nation's fate is in your hands? Whatever, doctor – you won't fail me. Do you understand that? WERNHER: I vill do my best, Mr. Prezident. IKE: You better. Alright know, what would you say for little BBQ now when the formalities are over? Huh? WERNHER: I vill be honored. IKE: Swell. By the way, I was thinking about one thing. WERNHER: Mr. Prezident? IKE: Where are you going to find men stupid, I mean, brave enough to get inside one of those things? WERNHER: I'm afraid I don't follow. IKE: Manned rockets, von Braun! That's the obvious next step. WERNHER: I vas zinking about cats. IKE: Cats? WERNHER: Vell, they send a dog, so I zought that it vill be the only logical answer. IKE: You're a weird man, von Braun. WERNHER: I'm a rocket zientist, Mr. Prezident. IKE: Precisely. NOVEMBER 12th, 1958 *** ATC: That was some good flying, Jeb. You're pushing X-15 to its limits. But I'm afraid I have a bad news for you, sugar. JEB: Come on, baby, what is it this time? ATC: You're grounded indefinitely. JEB: What? Hey, I told you that this last crash wasn't really my fault. Honestly, if only the fuel pumps… ATC: You're grounded because you won't be working here anymore. JEB: I won't… Wait, does that mean...? ATC: That's right, sweetie. Their answer for your application has just come. KASA has accepted your candidacy. JEB: Yeah! Ring a ding-ding, baby! I'm gonna be an astronaut!

Building an astronaut retirement community (sufficiently far from KSC so as not to cause lag)... I like it! The old fart astronauts can sit around and talk about all their old missions. "Kids nowadays! Fly to the Mün with their fancy-pants ma-nooo-ver nodes. Pfft! When I flew to the Mün, we didn't have no damn ma-nooo-ver nodes! We flew like real kerbals. And we had REAL snacks in those days...like C-rations. None of this chocolate cookie crap!"

It will only become a rant or bad thread if that's all you talk about. Your post DOES matter! Remember, the only thing worse than a MechJeb debate thread, is a MechJeb debate thread devoid of content and filled with users complaining about how it's another one of "those threads." -If you just condemn the OP for making another MechJeb discussion thread and how it's going to turn into something bad, you're not helping anything. -Other people will see your post, yes, your post, and will get the idea that the thread is going in a general downward direction, thus making more people post negatively, and perpetuating the cycle. -If you congratulate the OP about graduating away from the mod, and/or share stories about the mod itself, you're positively contributing to the thread. -Other people will see your post, yes, your post, and will get the idea that this is a more positive thread, thus posting, in a general manner, as such, perpetuating the cycle. Forum dynamics, super simple stuff! Even so, goings-on in this thread are pretty status-quo, so no need to get your panties in a bunch. c: That said, I'm going to do my part and congratulate the OP on weaning him/herself off of total reliance on the mod. Personally, I still use it for a lot of things. Smart A.S.S. is just too useful, especially for those long, Ion-fueled burns at 1/4 throttle because I forgot to add enough solar panels.. Carry on!

Wait, what? SAS has the same functionality that the old ASAS used to have? You might want to have a talk with sal_vager then, because according to him it doesn't. Nor does it apparently hold a heading (E: even with more than enough control authority). I am really confused...

Edited I figured it out and implemented the things I wanted.. yay for me. Oh and I still have not heard anything from Nobody.. I did ask him if he would mind me working on the mod while he is gone or too busy.. But nothing yet.. But if you want to work together on pushing this mod foward totally willing to go in with you.. I can tell you right now your a far better programmer then me at this point with what I have seen you do in just the few edits you done. You understand the math stuff better too. Its up to you.. You can pm me if you wish for we don't flood this thread with all this talk.. The New Settings window.

well, an explanation is not a fact. well, duh... But I didn't want to talk semantics too. What I wanted to say, and failed to get across, is, that saying like "the theory of evolution is not a fact it is just a theory", falsely implies, that it is something far more doubtful / not solid enough. Which is not the case. An extremely well tested scientific explanation of something might have comparable certainty to the explained scientific fact.

The only other forums I've ever joined are one for a rail simulator game (which was pretty much dead), and for Simcity 4, but that was mostly to get mods. There was some awesome stuff on there, but I never really posted much. These forums are pretty cool. Come on here, and people talk about space stuff, and share stuff from this very cool game.