Don't let the cute Kerbals lie to us

[OHara]

Today's video about the character of Kerbals reminded me of their appeal when I was a new player.

They seemed so earnest, that I trusted them and their in-game text, so my first plane used :

+ Small Hardpoint "A structural pylon for engine support . . .   This is the small variant, mostly for use with the smaller engines. Comes equipped with emergency bolts to separate jet engines in the event of fire or catastrophic failure." to mount engines,

+ Swept Wings "Made of light weight composite materials. Guaranteed to generate lift," to try to keep the aircraft light,

+ "Adjustable" Ramp Intake so I could experiment with how much air the engines need.

But alas, the part-descriptions do not describe the parts as they exist in the game.  I could tell they were made-up funny marketing material, but thought they were marketing material in the same imagined universe as the game.  The intake does not adjust, the wings are twice as heavy as the "vaguely wing-shaped board" that I could have used, and the engines fell off when I hit the space bar.

Several of us have suggested replacement text.  Some replacements used a no-nonsense tone.  Others kept the comedic style, but with the as they behave in-game as the seed for comedy improvisation.  Unfortunately, it was too late, as the translations had recently been done for KSP 1.2

Usually the Kerbals tell the truth, in their non-serious way.  The Training missions (although out of date, with some bad advice, and rather wordy) are in Kerbal style but they earn our trust.

[Kerbart]

Don't forget the Mk I lander can; This capsule was designed for lightweight non-atmospheric landers, and seats a single occupant. Features a novel full-body crumple-zone technology.

And yet it will do just fine as the cockpit of a supersonic aircraft (aerodynamics aside). To this day I refuse to use it in an atmosphere (aside from as the cockpit for rovers) but nothing will stop you. I hope there will be a Day Of Reckoning someday, just like the 1.0 arrival was an unpleasant surprise for those who had gotten into the habit of returning from Jool with a 90° reentry angle and parachutes reliably slowing you down from 4,000 m/s to 10 m/s in the last 1000m above surface. But I digress...