Antennae revealed on Squadcast

[J.Random]

Is it a semi-serious, light-hearted spaceflight simulator or is a cartooney disaster simulation where the protagonists build spaceships out of junk? I feel like Porkjet's parts, and a lot of the earlier parts (55-gallon drums notwithstanding), follow the former aesthetic while Roverdude's follow the later. Maybe that's just my interpretation.

You're not alone in this feeling. I also fear of the possible future clash of these two design approaches.

[regex]

You're not alone in this feeling. I also fear of the possible future clash of these two design approaches.

Future clash? The game is already suffering from a severe lack of art coherency.

[J.Random]

Future clash? The game is already suffering from a severe lack of art coherency.

Well, at the moment it's not just two styles. There's Porkjet's clean style, Roverdude's USI bulky-dirty style and there's Squad's I-don't-know-what-to-do "style" (including spacetech clean NASA pack) which kinda works as an intermediate between former two. After more revamps (which, I hope, are planned), it will eventually converge into just two conflicting styles. It may become nasty at that point, when Squad will finally have to decide which one stays and which one goes.

[Bloody_looser]

Fundamentally I think the criticism comes down to the "soul" of KSP. Is it a semi-serious, light-hearted spaceflight simulator or is a cartooney disaster simulation where the protagonists build spaceships out of junk? I feel like Porkjet's parts, and a lot of the earlier parts (55-gallon drums notwithstanding), follow the former aesthetic while Roverdude's follow the later. Maybe that's just my interpretation. I prefer the clean lines and elegant feeling of the early antennas while the new ones feel and look really clunky, like they're just way too heavy to even attach to my roof for satellite TV. vOv I like the AIES interpretation of that particular antenna. Can't put my finger on it but it doesn't look like it's half-rusty. Spaceship parts are built in a cleanroom.

And because that's a personal preference thing and because everyone is going to have a strong opinion one way or the other, I feel like any criticism of that sort will be ignored. The part is already made, the aesthetic cast, anything else will just be adjustment.

Which RoverDude's parts look like made of junk?

IMO all 2.5m tanks and landing cans look that way indeed.

[regex]

Which RoverDude's parts look like made of junk?

Much of the stuff that has been added recently looks really clunky, bulky, dirty. It just doesn't "feel" right to me, not like it's meant for a spacecraft anyway. The new antennas are prime examples of this. I mean, they're good models and textures, just not for a spaceflight simulator. Much of his USI stuff shares the same aesthetic (tbh there are a few parts I do like from the USI mods but, overall, they suffer from the same sorts of failings.)

Again, this is my opinion, and because my objection comes down to how something "feels" it is really hard to make what would be considered "constructive criticism". Seriously, I can't put my finger on any one aspect, the model is just wrong in my mind and it doesn't fit what I'd like to see in KSP.

[nothingSpecial]

Well, at the moment it's not just two styles. There's Porkjet's clean style, Roverdude's USI bulky-dirty style and there's Squad's I-don't-know-what-to-do "style" (including spacetech clean NASA pack) which kinda works as an intermediate between former two. After more revamps (which, I hope, are planned), it will eventually converge into just two conflicting styles. It may become nasty at that point, when Squad will finally have to decide which one stays and which one goes.

I want them both. As alternatives. For every part. Am I insane?

[cantab]

KSP is a semi-serious, light-hearted spaceflight simulator where the protagonists build spaceships out of junk

[J.Random]

I want them both. As alternatives. For every part. Am I insane?

No. It may work as part of a tech tree progression, with parts receiving functional upgrades ("this fuel tank receives an upgrade, it's just as strong as before, but lighter because of new materials, improving its dry-to-wet ratio") and changing their visual style as well (with an option to "downgrade" part to match the rest of the craft via tweakables). However, I doubt it will ever be implemented.

Edited September 12, 2015 by J.Random
me speaka engrish very gud

[regex]

KSP is a semi-serious, light-hearted spaceflight simulator where the protagonists build spaceships out of junk

That's the part I object to. Kerbals make amazing-looking spaceplanes and have constructed an incredibly well-engineered spaceport, yet they're still building launchers, probes, and landers out of junk? Yeah, doesn't jive with me. Edited September 12, 2015 by regex
Stupid phone

[TheCanadianVendingMachine]

Honestly, the texturing makes it look like junk.

The pole is multi-colored, on Hubble (best example I can find) it is a clean, metal, constant texture

The dish is nice, but the brown and carbon colors really clash, and doesn't look pleasing. I don't know what about it, but the brown just looks like it doesn't fit with the silver it's on.

Maybe try and get another darker shade of silver for the "lines" on the dish.

It's also a bit dark, in contrast to other parts. I don't know about you, but I usually put antenna on tanks, and not on the probe cores. It just wouldn't contrast well on any tank, which are all just light-white

Edited September 12, 2015 by TheCanadianVendingMachine

[klesh]

Will you guys be fixing the bug that makes antennae undeployable after sending a transmission?

[tater]

KSP is a semi-serious, light-hearted spaceflight simulator where the protagonists build spaceships out of junk

Then all the spaceplane parts need to be immediately replaced with ones that look like junk. Assuming this is not going to happen, then most rocket parts need to be cleaned up considerably.

RoverDude, I think the gray is a little dark. Seems like it should be the same gray as all the other small, grayish/metal parts (girders, etc). It might be an artifact of that background, however, hard to tell.

Edited September 12, 2015 by tater

[Bloody_looser]

Much of the stuff that has been added recently looks really clunky, bulky, dirty. It just doesn't "feel" right to me, not like it's meant for a spacecraft anyway. The new antennas are prime examples of this. I mean, they're good models and textures, just not for a spaceflight simulator. Much of his USI stuff shares the same aesthetic (tbh there are a few parts I do like from the USI mods but, overall, they suffer from the same sorts of failings.)

Well, I like both RoverDude's and Porkjet's parts. ISRU stuff looks like heavy machinery, plane parts look like fancy sleek stuff. They fill different niches in the game and look different.

Most of USI parts are way too big either for me, or for this cute tiny solar system. Nevertheless they look really decent, detailed and all.

Regarding antennae and their strange shadows - since pics are from Unity dev environment, I bet they'll look different in-game.

The thing I like about them - they look, well, 'metal' and heavy duty. (AIES ones IMO look like plastic bowls or ceramic toilets or smth).

[passinglurker]

One place this conflict in style may be coming from that makes it not feel right to some people is that porkjets parts are relatively simple and clean looking while roverdudes parts while not always dirty (this one doesn't look dirty to me) are often very busy looking.

That being said it's not like these two "simple" and "busy" styles can't coexist porljets style leans well to planes and rockets where aerodynamics and as a result sleek looks matter. Roverdudes parts are more conducive to payloads. Satellites, Landers, stations, rovers miners etc they are the clunky, grebal covered, no fluff, all bussiness machinery the planes and rockets exist to move (and hide in their fairings and cargo bays) similar to how there is a style difference between the real life SaturnV rocket and the real life LEM Lander. The styles are indeed different and maybe it should have been porkjet to make the service bays and reentry shields, but I don't think there are divergent enough to be conflicting they just have different roles and should be consistently confined to those roles.

As for the new antenna imagine it next to the isru refinery instead of part of your space plane

[gogozerg]

I don't care that much about 3d models.

But I do care about antennae communicating faster that light in a game like this.

[regex]

I don't care that much about 3d models.

But I do care about antennae communicating faster that light in a game like this.

The delay would be no more than five minutes or so in the toy solar system. Pretty much not worth it, in my opinion. Besides, KSP never really had a focus on realism (although, thankfully, there have been plenty of changes to the back-end that make realism possible and easier).

[tater]

Eeloo at its most distant is about 0.78 real AU from Kerbol. Light lag in KSP is pretty much meaningless.

[Aragosnat]

http://i.imgur.com/lf6eiWn.png

Not sure about the broom handle aesthetic.

From: https://lq.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/3km3k3/new_part_for_11_revealed_on_squadcast/

They look fin and realistic. At least from my point of view. Color wise it looks fine. But, something is a bit off on the on on the left. Can we get on that swaps out the blood red the bolts at the bottom and ones at the center of dish. To be more like the copper brown that is on the dish. Or just swap out the blood red on the antenna with Kerbal Green. Just to see what it looks like.

Other then wanting to see diffrent colors on said part. I think the antenna will look good an the first Kerbal joyride pod as well as the sputnik probe and likely the other probes too.

[gogozerg]

The delay would be no more than five minutes or so in the toy solar system. Pretty much not worth it, in my opinion.

Not worth it?

In the next update, you are supposed to loose some controls of your probes instantly because of occlusions.

[regex]

Not worth it?

In the next update, you are supposed to loose some controls of your probes instantly because of occlusions.

vOv Do you honestly think they're going to give you the tools to properly run a mission with light-speed delay? For that matter, do you honestly believe they're going to give you the tools to properly run a mission with occlusion in play? I mean, aside from relays, obviously, which should be perfectly fine for toy solar system play.

If you want actual realism, get RO.

[NecroBones]

I like to make parts with a more "crisp" look to them, but I do value Squad's desire to keep a constant art style in the stock parts. I can't fault them for that, at all.

[Zucal]

I like to make parts with a more "crisp" look to them, but I do value Squad's desire to keep a constant art style in the stock parts. I can't fault them for that, at all.

Or lack of one!

[gogozerg]

If you want actual realism, get RO.

I would be very disappointed.

[tater]

I like to make parts with a more "crisp" look to them, but I do value Squad's desire to keep a constant art style in the stock parts. I can't fault them for that, at all.

The "constant art style" right now is that spaceplane parts look awesome, and rocket parts look terrible.

I do fault them for that, actually. Those parts need a revamp on the textures (and models in many cases).

[regex]

I would be very disappointed.

Yeah, you probably would.