Magic asteroid properties

[tomf]

Accourding to @bewing the magic glowing asteroids have special properties

Does anyone know what they are?

[Vanamonde]

They are secret. It's an easter egg. 

Go find out for yourself.

[Spricigo]

7 hours ago, Vanamonde said:

They are secret. It's an easter egg. 

Go find out for yourself.

Silly me...thinking a thread in this forum would count as a valid way to look out for that info.

 

 

[Vanamonde]

1 hour ago, Spricigo said:

Silly me...thinking a thread in this forum would count as a valid way to look out for that info.

 

 

I'm not doing the let-me-google-that-for-you thing. I'm encouraging this person to have the fun of finding it him/herself.

[Hotaru]

3 minutes ago, Vanamonde said:

I'm not doing the let-me-google-that-for-you thing. I'm encouraging this person to have the fun of finding it him/herself.

Not everyone considers hunting down dozens of asteroids until they happen to find a magic boulder, possibly only to find out that the "special properties" aren't all that interesting, fun. The fact that they asked the question suggests they'd like an answer, and we have "spoiler" tags for exactly this situation.

I'd like an answer too, if it comes to that: I've caught a couple of magic boulders and have noticed no unusual properties (they were weirdly light for their dimensions but I think this is an oddity of KSP asteroids in general). It's possible such properties are related to getting resources from them, which I haven't tried.

[bewing]

Part of the game is puzzles. And part of the fun of puzzles for many people is figuring them out for yourself.

Not knowing the answer to the OP's question won't kill you. It won't make the game any less fun. There is no pressing reason to go hunting asteroids to find out this interesting but obscure info. In time, someday, you will grab a glimmeroid and find out the special thing it does.

 

 

[Hotaru]

@bewing @Vanamonde I don't think you guys are getting it. When somebody asks a reasonable question about KSP, they deserve a reasonable answer. If you want to put it in a spoiler tag so other people don't see it accidentally, fine. That's what spoiler tags are for. But either give them a straight answer or don't bother answering at all.

Since I actually happen to have a couple of magic boulders lying around, I'll go investigate them myself. That way at least the OP will get an answer from somebody.

Edited September 1, 2017 by Hotaru

[bewing]

31 minutes ago, Hotaru said:

@bewing @Vanamonde I don't think you guys are getting it. When somebody asks a reasonable question about KSP, they deserve a reasonable answer. If you want to put it in a spoiler tag so other people don't see it accidentally, fine. That's what spoiler tags are for. But either give them a straight answer or don't bother answering at all.

Since I actually happen to have a couple of magic boulders lying around, I'll go investigate them myself. That way at least the OP will get an answer from somebody.

I disagree. I don't think you get it.

The game used to have secrets. Secrets make the game more interesting. Keep players interested well beyond the time it takes to play the game once through. Modders and others have published all the secrets. Publishing secrets may be satisfying in the short term, but it has taken the mystery out of the game. It's not the best path.

 

 

Edited September 1, 2017 by bewing

[Vanamonde]

I didn't say no one else could give this person an answer. I merely advised him/her that it might be more fun to find out for her/himself. 

Which, by the way, is what I intend to do, since the fact of the matter is that I try to avoid spoilers, have not encountered a magic asteroid yet, and do not know what they do. 

[Hotaru]

@bewing Please stop. Keeping secrets may be fun for the secret-keepers, but to the rest of us it's just mean. Especially if you gloat about it.

13 minutes ago, Vanamonde said:

I didn't say no one else could give this person an answer. I merely advised him/her that it might be more fun to find out for her/himself. 

Which, by the way, is what I intend to do, since the fact of the matter is that I try to avoid spoilers, have not encountered a magic asteroid yet, and do not know what they do. 

Fair enough, I tend to avoid spoilers too. Whatever I find I'll put in a spoiler tag.

This is one I'd probably never have found out by myself though (without being prodded to it, anyway), so I wouldn't have minded just being told about it. It's like somebody refusing to tell me the ending of a movie I know I'm never going to see, but would like to know about for the sake of discussion.

[tomf]

I've captured 4 or 5 myself in my current career and never noticed anything special about them, but then I never knew that there was anything special to find. I certainly have never seen anything on these forums about it so I'm not sure if anyone has ever found anything.

I have a feeling though that whatever these special properties are they might be pretty subtle.

So, I'll rephrase my question for now. Has anyone ever captured a glitteroid and noticed something unusual about it, without giving away what the property was?

[Hotaru]

Well, I hate to admit it but I sure can't find anything. At this point I suspect either the "special property" is so subtle as to not be noticeable at all, it requires such a bizarrely specific set of actions or conditions that it'll be a wonder if anyone ever finds it at all, or it doesn't exist and @bewing is having a good laugh at my expense right now (up till now I've been giving them the benefit of the doubt, but I'm beginning to entertain the possibility that this whole exercise is just trolling).

Here's what I've learned (no real spoilers, just a list of things the purported property isn't):

Spoiler

Of the two boulders I've investigated one has an unusually low mass relative to its dimensions, but I think this is just an oddity of the procedural generation system and not an intentional easter egg. The other has an ordinary density.

They appear to produce ore the same as other asteroids. It's possible they produce it faster or something, but if that's the "special property" then it's the anticlimax of the century.

They don't produce anything besides ore (liquid fuel, xenon, monoprop, electricity). I was kind of hoping for xenon--that actually would've been cool!--but no such luck.

They do not appear to be governed by any unusual physics: they behave normally when collided with, dropped, etc. and they have no unusual effect on the mass or other properties of a spacecraft attached to them.

They don't produce unusual science reports, at least not in Kerbin orbit or surface.

Nothing interesting happens when you recover them. No extra funds, science, or (as far as I could tell), rep.

There is no world first notice for encountering, sampling, docking with, capturing, landing or recovering one, as there is with other easter eggs.

If they have any effect on kerbonaut experience I have not noticed it, despite having at least half a dozen different kerbonauts encounter and sample them both in space and on the ground.

 

I honestly can't think of anything other than the above that would be in any meaningful way "beneficial."

 

Also @tomf, I do apologize for derailing your thread with a pointless argument. I just find the "go find out for yourself" attitude infuriating, especially coming from a Squad employee. Sorry I wasn't able to come up with a better answer for you. If anybody does know the answer I'd appreciate hearing it.

 

PS. There is a possibility that the "magic boulders" I've been testing aren't magic boulders at all but ordinary asteroids with glitched textures. (This theory is supported by the fact that I've recovered two asteroids in that save and they've both been magic boulders, which is extremely unlikely based on reported rates of occurrence.) In this case there's no way I'll ever be able to find out about any unusual properties they may or may not have. It'd be helpful if someone else could verify (or contradict!) the results I've reported in the spoiler above--that way at least we'll know for sure.

 

PPS. Nope, I checked in a completely new save. Confirmed magic boulders spawning correctly (~1/25) and again the one I found appeared to have no unusual properties. It's also worth mentioning that nobody in this thread reported finding anything out of the ordinary besides pretty colors, though that was a couple versions ago.

Edited September 1, 2017 by Hotaru
Updated results

[ThreePounds]

2 hours ago, bewing said:

I disagree. I don't think you get it.

The game used to have secrets. Secrets make the game more interesting. Keep players interested well beyond the time it takes to play the game once through. Modders and others have published all the secrets. Publishing secrets may be satisfying in the short term, but it has taken the mystery out of the game. It's not the best path.

That's such a weird thing to say. It sounds like you're forcing the way you play unto people. For me, personally, Kerbal Space Program isn't about mystery and secrets at all! It's about Physics, Mathematics and problem solving, building awesome contraptions and sharing them with others. But I know that that's my personal point of view and I would never force it unto others. For some, the game is about hilarious explosions and ridiculous mishaps. Some turn it into a military shooter and aircraft simulator. That's the beauty of KSP - everyone can make the game their own in large thanks to the "Modders and others."

Telling somebody their question doesn't deserve an answer because it'll take mystery away from the game has no place in a discussion forum - a place explicitly made to talk about the game. And for those that don't want to know can avoid the thread or at least be protected by spoiler tags as Hotaru pointed out.

Maybe the nostalgia is kicking in? Back in the day when the Internet was in it's infancy, video games were filled with mystery and awe and printed walkthroughs or cheat code tables were given from hand to hand. Oh what wonderful place the modders and others have ruined! No. If you want to play games this way, you avoid forums, subreddits and other discussion platforms. You can still experience games this way. It's not been ruined for you or anyone.

[Rocket In My Pocket]

Came for secrets about magic boulders.

Stayed for the philosophical discussion on the nature of spoilers and their impact on video games.

[bewing]

OK, if people are paying attention to the philosophical discussion, then I'll take it one step further.

First, understand that as a loyal Take2 employee, it is my job to encourage people to play the game, not to get them to read the forum. So I am not necessarily on the side of the forum-participants in this situation.

17 hours ago, Three_Pounds said:

It sounds like you're forcing the way you play unto people

Not quite. I am doing what I can to use my best nerd psychology on all the players.

Thought experiment: you have a room full of 20 nerds, each with a copy of a new game. You tell them "This game has been fully analyzed by computers; everything about the game is completely known and programmed into that PC over in the corner. It uses an optimal strategy and is mathematically guaranteed to beat any human player." What do the nerds do?

Now another: you tell the nerds, truthfully, "This game has a secret that nobody has ever found. It is in room #2, and if you find it you will discover that it is colored purple." Now what do the nerds do? Do they eat? Do they sleep?

Which scenario involves people playing the game more?

Edited September 2, 2017 by bewing

[swjr-swis]

I'm a bit on the fence about this entire argument, but I feel one thing needs to be pointed out here:

 

15 hours ago, bewing said:

Thought experiment: you have a room full of 20 nerds, each with a copy of a new game. You tell them "This game has been fully analyzed by computers; everything about the game is completely known and programmed into that PC over in the corner. It uses an optimal strategy and is mathematically guaranteed to beat any human player." What do the nerds do?

(This particular nerd's reaction): I feel like I've been issued a challenge!! <spends 14 hours a day for the next 3 weeks trying to find the -inevitabe- logic flaw/code bug/exploit the PC is mathematically guaranteed to never even consider>

 

15 hours ago, bewing said:

Now another: you tell the nerds, truthfully, "This game has a secret that nobody has ever found. It is in room #2, and if you find it you will discover that it is colored purple." Now what do the nerds do? Do they eat? Do they sleep?

(This particular nerd's reaction): Ok cool, an easter egg with no apparent game benefit. Might be curious for a few moments, but sounds like way too much work to find not much of consequence. Someone will find it eventually and I'll read about it. <shrugs, then spends 14 hours a day for the next 3 weeks in that same game trying to get a perfect replica of the Eiffel Tower achieve orbit and land on top of the VAB - on its tip>

 

Just saying, if I've learned anything from seeing how everyone plays this game, it's that we all make our own ways of wasting way too much time on this game...

[Spricigo]

7 hours ago, swjr-swis said:

Just saying, if I've learned anything from seeing how everyone plays this game, it's that we all make our own ways of wasting way too much time on this game...

And looks like the same apply to the forum. 

[Just Jim]

On 9/1/2017 at 4:11 AM, tomf said:

So, I'll rephrase my question for now. Has anyone ever captured a glitteroid and noticed something unusual about it, without giving away what the property was?

No... but until I read this thread, I never really looked closely.

I have about half a dozen different sizes and color glitteroids in my career game... I'm thinking I may need to go and look at them much more carefully... 

Edited September 3, 2017 by Just Jim

[Grand Ship Builder]

Can we please just answer OP's question instead of arguing over spoilers?

[OHara]

On 9/1/2017 at 1:11 AM, tomf said:

So, I'll rephrase my question for now. Has anyone ever captured a glitteroid and noticed something unusual about it [..] ?

No.

[tomf]

Before bewing's original comment above and this thread I don't think anyone knew there was a secret purple thing in room 2, which wasn't doing anyone any good. If someone had found something their first reaction would have been to go online and boast about it.

Hopefully some people are now intrigued enough to go out an look for these things.

[nascarlaser1]

To finally answer @tomf's question:

Spoiler

The current magic asteroid (more commonly know as the magic boulder) is just an asteroid that happens to have a visible veins of randomly colored ore/other thing all over it to make it look cool.

The old magic boulder (pre version 0.18) was an asteroid that orbited Ike. The visual mesh of the asteroid was shaped different then the actual collision mesh, which caused ship to seem to float inside of the asteroid without actually crashing, or it would cause a ship to explode randomly without even being near the surface of it. It also had a monolith resting on the asteroid.

For more information on both the old and the new magic boulder you can go to the ksp wiki: https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/List_of_easter_eggs

WARNING: This page is filled with every single easter egg/secret thing in the stock KSP game. If you don't want any more spoilers, please avoid!!

 

[tomf]

1 minute ago, nascarlaser1 said:

To finally answer @tomf's question:

  Hide contents

The current magic asteroid (more commonly know as the magic boulder) is just an asteroid that happens to have a visible veins of randomly colored ore/other thing all over it to make it look cool.

 

Bewing's comment at the start of this thread and the comments from squad staff in it definitely imply that there is more to it than that.

It's been a few weeks since this thread, and a couple of years? since the glitteroids were introduced and no-one has found out any magical properties.

Can we have a hint from someone with access to the source please?

[nascarlaser1]

@RoverDude may be able to help. He has a mod that includes asteroid so he might have looked at the code a few times (not sure what the mod does exactly though, I have not used it).

[AzraelZephyrian]

On 9/1/2017 at 2:58 AM, bewing said:

I disagree. I don't think you get it.

The game used to have secrets. Secrets make the game more interesting. Keep players interested well beyond the time it takes to play the game once through. Modders and others have published all the secrets. Publishing secrets may be satisfying in the short term, but it has taken the mystery out of the game. It's not the best path.

 

 

That's a very one-sided view of things.  Some people like playing the game for reasons aside from easter-egg hunting.  It is, frankly, elitist.