My Observations/Suggestions on KSP2 so far...

[Cailean_556]

These are my observations/suggestions based on footage from KSP2 so far (I’m talking about “stock” KSP2 here – not using mods) and is more for consideration by the devs but commenting and generating discussion is also welcome - though I don't frequent the forums that often so any response directed at me might not be seen or answered quickly - apologies in advance:

*note, I do not have access to KSP2 - my observations come from watching YouTube that content creators created during the ESA-hosted event a few weeks ago.

SUGGESTION: Kill Velocity/Kill Rotation buttons – to quickly (less frantically) zero velocity and rotation when approaching vessels and stations. If Kerbal XP is going to be retained in KSP2, this would be a great function for 4/5 star Kerbal Pilots and higher-end probe cores.

SUGGESTION: Match/Invert orientation – The ship matches or inverts its orientation based on it and its targeted part’s orientation. This would allow ships to dock “the right way up” every time and, in the event you’ve done a whoopsie, you can invert orientation to suit. This would also allow for “Interstellar-style” (the movie) docking sequences. You can, of course, still opt to manually dock to keep your skills sharp. Again, for higher-end probe cores and high XP Kerbal Pilots.

SUGGESTION: Orbit/Docking auto-pilot – By pressing a button or activating a part, your craft conducts (or attempts to conduct) a flight into orbit OR conducts an automated docking sequence – could be limited to when within a certain distance and at zero velocity, or completely “hands free” (so a craft on the launch pad will launch, orbit as required and dock). High XP Kerbals and/or high-end probe cores could have this function.

SUGGESTION: Manoeuvre Nodes/KSC Assistance – At higher levels (whether of Kerbal XP or KSC upgrades – assuming they’ll still be a thing, obviously), by targeting a craft or celestial object, you can plot a course to that object and the manoeuvre node system populates the required node/nodes to achieve the instructed manoeuvre, warning you if there are issues (such as not enough dV). This would also work for/assist with landing with pin-point accuracy (such as, for example, making a waypoint on the Mun’s surface and instructing a craft to land there – the manoeuvre nodes will calculate the velocity, angle and descent profile and provide the necessary target point to follow to land on/in close vicinity of that waypoint). The “fluff” of this could be that, if you are in contact with the KSC, the KSC staff assist in the rapid calculation of such high-precision manoeuvres – that or have a high XP Kerbal Scientist on board the craft.

OBSERVATION: Textures, especially during the landing/landed phase of the Mun, need work. Stock KSP1 has better visuals for the Munar surface, particularly. Minmus looks -AMAZING- however the Mun looks objectively worse. EDIT: This may have been due to a rendering issue with a content creator's PC (Matt Lowne) as other creators had far better visuals for the Mun surface.

OBSERVATION: I didn’t see any re-entry effects in what has been shown. These had better be epic… EDIT: Apparently re-entry effects were disabled for the demos. However...I still maintain they had better be epic.

OBSERVATION/SUGGESTION: Weather events on Kerbin/other planets with atmospheres (such as dust storms on Duna and cyclones on Eve, for example).

I'm focusing a lot on automation as there should be some reward (especially in career/Exploration mode) for having high XP Kerbals and/or unlocking higher-end/tech probe cores. KSP1 has *some* of this functionality (none of the above, not truly, though) with more advanced probe cores and experienced Kerbal pilots being able to track the various points (prograde/retrograde/target etc). This does not stop or prevent the player from doing these tasks manually however it does allow for automation of tasks players are going to do most often – and enables access for players that may not necessarily be as good as others in that regard. Now you might argue that KSP2 then becomes a "button pushing simulator" however, if these features are unlocked as part of a career mode, or when a Kerbal has high enough experience, then the player will have to work for these utilities, and that work should be rewarded accordingly.

For me personally, it’s about saving me time and allowing me to enjoy the visual spectacle of watching my ship achieve orbit or dock (or land) instead of missing that due to concentrating on the actual task. Not that the task at hand isn't also exciting in itself, however sometimes I'd just like to step back and enjoy the view. Without needing a million (slight exaggeration) mods.

 

Thank you for reading.

Edited February 20, 2023 by Cailean_556

[linuxgurugamer]

26 minutes ago, Cailean_556 said:

OBSERVATION: I didn’t see any re-entry effects in what has been shown. These had better be epic…

They specifically said that the reentry heat/effects were turned off during the demos

Edited February 20, 2023 by linuxgurugamer

[Cailean_556]

14 minutes ago, linuxgurugamer said:

They specifically said that the reentry heat/effects were turned off during the demos

I didn't specifically hear that. Like I said, I don't have access to KSP2, I'm only going by what I see and hear from the YouTube creators. And the ones I watch didn't mention re-entry effects being turned off. If that's the case, then cool.

[Cailean_556]

In addition to the above:

SUGGESTION: Add 'Mach Number' to the flight read out/details for planets with atmospheres. I watched a video by "Jatwa" and, using what I believe was a debug/console window for aerodynamics, he was able to ascertain his Mach number. In the KSP1 (and KSP2, it seems) the speed read out only reads in metres per second. It would be nice, particularly when making/flying space planes or just for general info, to be able to see our Mach number while flying - especially on Kerbin, but could also work on other planets with atmospheres.

SUGGESTION: This is for later down the track, however for space stations and larger craft with habitat modules/rooms/viewing areas... The ability to walk around inside these areas with our Kerbals. They could be, but don't have to be, interactive however it would be nice to walk up to a window on your station or ship overlooking a new world and seeing a sunrise from another planet's perspective... Cockpit views are coming but this is something a tad different - not needed for every part but ones that are large enough for a Kerbal to walk around in - would be a nice, immersive feature.

Edited February 21, 2023 by Cailean_556

[Nazalassa]

Suggestion: add a way (or an option) to permanently disable all the "cool but useless" stuff such as the big sparkle-like thing in the VAB when you attach a part to the vessel, all the chatter and beeps during flight (especially stage separation and prelaunch), and the countdown before launch (WHO needs it??)

I'd like to mention that the sparkle-like animation in the VAB fills the screen and therefore is not an improvement from KSP1 (in which the ship was always visible).

[Bej Kerman]

8 hours ago, Nazalassa said:

such as the big sparkle-like thing in the VAB when you attach a part to the vessel

That reads to me more like a basic UI element with very little impact on performance, but it probably is toggleable.

8 hours ago, Nazalassa said:

all the chatter and beeps during flight (especially stage separation and prelaunch), and the countdown before launch (WHO needs it??)

Settings for these definitely exist.

8 hours ago, Nazalassa said:

I'd like to mention that the sparkle-like animation in the VAB fills the screen and therefore is not an improvement from KSP1 (in which the ship was always visible).

Not from what I've seen. It hardly covers anything at all and barely lasts a fraction of a sec.

[TheOtherDave]

21 hours ago, Cailean_556 said:

In addition to the above:

SUGGESTION: Add 'Mach Number' to the flight read out/details for planets with atmospheres. I watched a video by "Jatwa" and, using what I believe was a debug/console window for aerodynamics, he was able to ascertain his Mach number. In the KSP1 (and KSP2, it seems) the speed read out only reads in metres per second. It would be nice, particularly when making/flying space planes or just for general info, to be able to see our Mach number while flying - especially on Kerbin, but could also work on other planets with atmospheres.

SUGGESTION: This is for later down the track, however for space stations and larger craft with habitat modules/rooms/viewing areas... The ability to walk around inside these areas with our Kerbals. They could be, but don't have to be, interactive however it would be nice to walk up to a window on your station or ship overlooking a new world and seeing a sunrise from another planet's perspective... Cockpit views are coming but this is something a tad different - not needed for every part but ones that are large enough for a Kerbal to walk around in - would be a nice, immersive feature.

+1 on the mach numbers… they’re often more important than airspeed for determining maximum safe speed and how an airplane handles (especially in the transonic areas).

 

Being able to walk around inside the bases and stations sounds like a really cool idea. I’m not sure how it’d affect the gameplay, but sounds great.

[Cailean_556]

On 2/21/2023 at 7:50 PM, Nazalassa said:

Suggestion: add a way (or an option) to permanently disable all the "cool but useless" stuff such as the big sparkle-like thing in the VAB when you attach a part to the vessel, all the chatter and beeps during flight (especially stage separation and prelaunch), and the countdown before launch (WHO needs it??)

I'd like to mention that the sparkle-like animation in the VAB fills the screen and therefore is not an improvement from KSP1 (in which the ship was always visible).

I don't really see how the sparkle thing is *that* big, but everyone has their own unique visual preferences. As for the chatter, beeps and countdown - it's a nice little dip into immersion, more aimed at the kid in us (or actual kids, probably). I would imagine there must be a setting somewhere to disable it entirely, however you can also skip it (in terms of the launch countdown).

Personally, the comms chatter is a welcome addition - makes the Kerbal universe feel more alive. I'm sure I'll probably disable, or at least skip, the countdown after the first couple days but for me the comms chatter will stay.

22 hours ago, TheOtherDave said:

+1 on the mach numbers… they’re often more important than airspeed for determining maximum safe speed and how an airplane handles (especially in the transonic areas).

 

Being able to walk around inside the bases and stations sounds like a really cool idea. I’m not sure how it’d affect the gameplay, but sounds great.

Yeah, as soon as I saw it on Jatwa's screen I was like "We need that in stock, not as part of a debug console". I've often had to reference a m/s to mach conversion to get an idea of how fast I'm going so by having it under the Nav ball, near the Apo/Peri read outs or as perhaps one of the speed read out selections (Orbit, Surface, *Mach*, Target for example).

As for walking around inside, if they made some parts interactive - like maybe gaining access to KerbNet or maybe a telescope you could mount to a ship in orbit to look down on a planet - it'd have some gameplay reason. Outside of that, just large modules/cockpits where you can IVA as the Kerbal and get out of the chair and wander around looking out the windows, perhaps even going EVA from IVA using an airlock, or something. Just adds that nice little bit of immersion, in my opinion. There are "bigger fish to fry" right now, obviously, so it's definitely a 'later' item if at all.

[Cailean_556]

OBSERVATION/CONCERN: The Kraken. It lives (citing Scott Manley). Making large, long-range interplanetary ships using trusses is going to be a pain if the Kraken still lives. One of the major issues (at least for me and some of my new modular-truss ship designs) of trying to make ships using truss structures is that they bend and flex - even if strutted - or when under thrust, or (especially) when multiple reaction wheels are in motion - even if they're on the same plane of motion (I'm relatively new to modular ships built in orbit).

Considering it would appear truss-based ships are actively encouraged in KSP2 (as we see several truss-style designs - including interstellar ships - in trailers), my concern is that while they are probably the most logical approach to deep space exploration missions if they're going to flex and wobble and generally be a frustrating mess (on account of Kraken attacks), what is the point of even attempting to build one if it's just going to randomly explode or twist into random shapes and break itself spontaneously?

What is being done to address this issue to enable long, thin truss-based ship designs to be viable in KSP2?

[Cailean_556]

I actually suggested this about a week ago on the Discord, so I'll add it here so it doesn't get lost.

SUGGESTION: Mission Programs - Apollo. Pioneer. Gemini. Artemis. They're just an example of (US) multi-launch space mission programs. In KSP, whlie yes the entire game *is* a space program, we can't designate or create a mission program/series.

Example: I create a mission program called 'Aurora'. The Aurora missions are intended to conduct manned Mun landings and exploration (the overall objective set by the player). Aurora 1 was able to land and conduct basic experiments before returning to Kerbin. I load up a craft complete with a lander and a rover that I have previously designed and assign it to the Aurora mission - it's automatically renamed 'Aurora 2'. The mission program tracks: the number of Aurora missions, the craft used for each mission, the crew of each mission and their staus (e.g. 'Assigned', KIA or 'Returned'), the cost (in KSP2 that would be *resource cost* as opposed to Funds as they are no longer in the game), the resources gained (if any - by way of mining and returning to Kerbin/a colony/offloading from an Aurora craft to any other craft, as an example), things like 'scientific gains' (once implemented), milestones achieved (and by who) during those missions (Orbiting, Orbital EVA, Landing - including tracking which biome they landed in, Surface EVA, scientific experiments conducted and resources mined as well as from what biome) and their success or failure. Success or failure can be determined by the player at the end of each mission flight. When a program is closed, the game keeps a record of these statistics for the player to review or reference later.

Especially once we have a career mode, I think having something like this is both 'cool', is informative and allows us to gauge our successes and failures on our own terms and, can create discussion (and perhaps competition) between players.

EDIT: Should also track each individual mission's duration and total program duration, how many Orbital and Surface EVAs were conducted per individual mission and overall. 

Edited February 23, 2023 by Cailean_556