Suggestions and long term wishes from a noob

[Fishslap]

I have just started playing KSP and absolutely suck at everything for the moment. Nevertheless I have some things I would like to have in the game which are not:

1: It is hard to tell astronauts apart. I tried sending two of them in a capsule each on the same ship into orbit, and I had a hard time keeping track of which was which and doing what even with just the two of them up there. I would like to be able to tell which capsule is occupied just by looking at them. I would also like to be able to tell whether an astronaut is a scientist, an engineer or a pilot just by looking at them. Perhaps different colored uniforms depending on job or some way of customizing them even? Failing that, is there some way of renaming them to something other than Bill and Bob Kerbal? If there isn`t then that would be a good idea as well.

2: A log of the research you`ve done. Not the tech tree stuff but biomes. Since you get different equipment at different times it can be too much to keep track of whether you`ve landed with your barometer in a desert or whether or not you brought your goo canister to a particular crater on Mun. And the more gear you get and places you can get to the more impossible it gets. Perhaps a biome breakdown tab in the science facility that registers each biome you`ve done any research in, which experiments you`ve done etc. But please please, oh pretty please with sugar on top give me some way of keeping track of all this! If my head explodes it will be your fault!

3: I know the game is hard enough as it is (Trust me, I`m the one who really knows...) but I would like to see life support added to the game, at least as an option for a hard game. One of my astronauts was marooned in orbit without fuel and he`s still there years later, right as rain. It`s not that I want him to die, even though this will obviously be his fate whenever I get around to "rescuing" him in my inept fashion. But it doesn`t feel very realistic in an otherwise quite realistic simulation to not have life support in it at all.

4: Weather would be nice. Again it`s not that I want to explode, but weather would just make the whole thing more interesting, and the planets with atmosphere feel more real.

I can`t think of anything else at the moment. At least nothing that isn`t my fault. I`m not complaining though to be perfectly clear about that. KSP is a wonderful game as it is and the most fun I`ve had in ages. I also realize that it`s a work in progress and that you`re presumably very busy with more important things so soon after launch. But if you could at least look into doing something about the first point I raised in a reasonable time frame I`d appreciate it very much. That sounds like it could be pretty simple.

PS Oh and if any of the stuff I mentioned can be fixed with mods or it`s actually in the game and I haven`t found it then I apologize. I will just blame it on being a complete noob and pretend like nothing happened.

[Bogeyman]

Totally agreeing with 3 and 4.

3: Maybe as extra difficulty level: If selected, it would release extra equipment for life support.

4: Would be realistic as hell but also would need good computing power.

[adinfinitum]

Number two you can view in the research center archives, but I do wish there was a way to view all the science you haven't done yet.

[Octa]

Agree with 1, some stripes on the suit and a badge on the IVA-Icon would bee good enough

On number 2: Go to the Science-Building and when you see the tech tree, there should be 2 buttons at the top left, iirc.

3: One of my first posts here was a wall of text regarding some mods that should be stock and some that shouldn't. Life support is a game mechanic that should stay 100% optional and apart from the core game.

4: Yesterday. i took a look at some of the beautifictaion mods. Especially the clouds were too static for me, they were just an overlay moving over kerbin. More dynamic cloud would be so great for eve, duna and kerbin!

[Fishslap]

I`m not saying you need to have full global weather dynamics necessarily. Just some clouds forming in the oceans, move those around a bit and then some rain would be more than enough for me. Even if it`s just cosmetic and for the cloud cover I`d be for it, if it can be done without slowing things down too much.

As for life support I don`t really see why something like that shouldn`t be an optional game mechanic. I mean I`m as bad as it gets with flight simulators. Hell I`m even terrible at racing games. Anything mechanical that moves and I will crash it into something. But even I miss life support in KSP because I understand that it`s one of the major obstacles to space travel full stop. It just feels weird not to have anything at all. Again, it doesn`t have to be full out with urine bags out the hatch and eating minaturized soup cubes every five minutes. But just something.

[arkie87]

I have just started playing KSP and absolutely suck at everything for the moment. Nevertheless I have some things I would like to have in the game which are not:

1: It is hard to tell astronauts apart. I tried sending two of them in a capsule each on the same ship into orbit, and I had a hard time keeping track of which was which and doing what even with just the two of them up there. I would like to be able to tell which capsule is occupied just by looking at them. I would also like to be able to tell whether an astronaut is a scientist, an engineer or a pilot just by looking at them. Perhaps different colored uniforms depending on job or some way of customizing them even? Failing that, is there some way of renaming them to something other than Bill and Bob Kerbal? If there isn`t then that would be a good idea as well.

2: A log of the research you`ve done. Not the tech tree stuff but biomes. Since you get different equipment at different times it can be too much to keep track of whether you`ve landed with your barometer in a desert or whether or not you brought your goo canister to a particular crater on Mun. And the more gear you get and places you can get to the more impossible it gets. Perhaps a biome breakdown tab in the science facility that registers each biome you`ve done any research in, which experiments you`ve done etc. But please please, oh pretty please with sugar on top give me some way of keeping track of all this! If my head explodes it will be your fault!

3: I know the game is hard enough as it is (Trust me, I`m the one who really knows...) but I would like to see life support added to the game, at least as an option for a hard game. One of my astronauts was marooned in orbit without fuel and he`s still there years later, right as rain. It`s not that I want him to die, even though this will obviously be his fate whenever I get around to "rescuing" him in my inept fashion. But it doesn`t feel very realistic in an otherwise quite realistic simulation to not have life support in it at all.

4: Weather would be nice. Again it`s not that I want to explode, but weather would just make the whole thing more interesting, and the planets with atmosphere feel more real.

I can`t think of anything else at the moment. At least nothing that isn`t my fault. I`m not complaining though to be perfectly clear about that. KSP is a wonderful game as it is and the most fun I`ve had in ages. I also realize that it`s a work in progress and that you`re presumably very busy with more important things so soon after launch. But if you could at least look into doing something about the first point I raised in a reasonable time frame I`d appreciate it very much. That sounds like it could be pretty simple.

PS Oh and if any of the stuff I mentioned can be fixed with mods or it`s actually in the game and I haven`t found it then I apologize. I will just blame it on being a complete noob and pretend like nothing happened.

One way to solve #2 is to have the contracts generated to do science look up in your science archive and find an experiment you havent done yet, and then tell you to do it. This prevents you from having to look through the archives for it... plus it ties the game together nicely.

[MacroNova]

One way to solve #2 is to have the contracts generated to do science look up in your science archive and find an experiment you havent done yet, and then tell you to do it. This prevents you from having to look through the archives for it... plus it ties the game together nicely.

This would be a fantastic addition.

[rcp27]

1 definitely agree something to help tell apart who has what profession would be welcome. At the moment, on the map view, there is a crew roster icon on the right, which will tell you this information, but it's not obvious, and you can't have it visible when you are choosing who to take on an EVA or something.

2 in the R&D building, top left when on the tech tree view is the "Science Archive" tab. Click on a planet/moon, it gives science you have collected, including the option to sort by biome

3 take a look at any one of the numerous threads in the Suggestions forum relating to life support. It's a long discussed and strongly debated topic. If you want to have a go, there are mods that add life support.

4 Definitely something lots of people want. I suspect we will see improvements in this direction in future updates. In the mean time there are mods that help in this area if you don't want to wait and see.

Edited May 6, 2015 by rcp27
correct a mistake

[Caelib]

1 definitely agree something to help tell apart who has what profession would be welcome. At the moment, on the map view, there is a crew roster icon on the right, which will tell you this information, but it's not obvious, and you can't have it visible when you are choosing who to take on an EVA or something.

Yes, we definitely need some way to determine the role for a Kerbal in other views. I have memorized the roles for Jeb, Bill, Bob and Val ... but none of the others. Perhaps it could be added to the camera view below the crew member's name?

[wasml]

1: It is hard to tell astronauts apart.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/107471 will allow you to set rules - like Pilots one type of suit, engineers another...

2: A log of the research you`ve done. Not the tech tree stuff but biomes.

There use to be a mod "Science Library" http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/78305 but it's not been updated. Some mods like Science Alert http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/76793 will tell you when near by science is available.

3: I would like to see life support added to the game

Snacks!, MKS/OKS, TAC Life support, USI life support and more.

4: Weather would be nice

EVE - Fantastic Eye candy - especially with some of the add ons like Astronomers Visual packs

SilverFox is making a weather mod that will have clouds and wind using weather modeling - can't remember the name at the moment

[Fishslap]

Awesome, thank you very much! It`s a little hard to find everything right away. I`m not used to this level of modding I guess. I don`t want to cheat though so will stear clear of alerts for nearby science. I just want a slightly less hidden and chaotic way of keeping track of what I`ve done where. Even with the list in the science facility it`s chronological for some puzzling reason, which means you have to wade through it every time you want to look for one entry.

[amorymeltzer]

In regards to #2, if you can handle perl I made a little script (see here or my sig) that can generate Excel and CSV files of all the science you've done (or not done). The in-game system is inconvenient I find, especially when wondering where to land.

[Sky_walker]

1. Yes

2. Yes

3. YES!

4. Yes

Awesome, thank you very much! It`s a little hard to find everything right away. I`m not used to this level of modding I guess.

In KSP there's a mod for pretty much everything. Doesn't change the fact that I'd like to see these suggestions in the game itself

[moronwrocket]

For #2, there is also [x] Science!: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/119562-1-0-2-x-Science!-KSP-Science-report-and-checklist?p=1907551

[tntristan12]

About weather: I'm neutral about it, except I think it would make Jool/GP missions epic, because you could literally get to a point where the wind rips your craft apart!

[MrZayas1]

For the kerbal identification, I think they should wear different collored suits. like orange for pilot, blue for engineer, and white for scientists or something like that. Would be very neat to see all of the spacesuits on EVA as well with the different colors!