A "simulation testing" mode in the VAB would be very useful, and would help facilitate multiplayer.

[Turtlegirl1209]

I know now is no time to add scope to the project of KSP 2, but this is something I've imagined for KSP 2 since the beggining. 

When you build a new vehicle, how many times do you do a quick "launch then revert to VAB" just to test or two systems? In my case, and many others, it's a lot! It's a lot of reverting however, and it's rather limited in it's usefulness as a testing method. Namely, you can't test any other scenario other than on kerbin, on the launchpad. if you need to test a design for an extraterrestrial atmosphere or surface, there's no way of testing that design short of teleporting with cheats, or just going there. However, sending a mission to another celestial body to test one design, before iterating it again, takes a VERY long time and most people won't do that. It also can, for some players, undermine the actual mission that they want to do, especially for new players going to another planet or moon for the very first time.

As of right now, no solution present in the stock game of KSP 1 or 2 is really adequate. However, a good solution does exist, a simulation testing mode integrated into the VAB. This would allow for all the testing one could need! Also, removing all of that reverting associated with vehicle testing would (probably) help make multiplayer easier to impliment. 

I think I may vaguley remember something showing a testing mode in one of the pre-launch episodes, but I don't know. Have we seen something about this being confirmed? It would be a great addition.

[Spicat]

An easy solution would be to add a cheats menu. Like the Cheats Menu mod (https://spacedock.info/mod/3266/Cheats Menu) and the Lazy Orbit mod (https://spacedock.info/mod/3258/Lazy Orbit).

I don't know how a "simulator" would be any different from this. Apart maybe in multiplayer where there would be two modes where one is just cheat authorized but no effects on other people and the other is normal mode. Not what I call a simulator though.

[whatsEJstandfor]

1 hour ago, Spicat said:

I don't know how a "simulator" would be any different from this.

If I had my druthers, I would love if a simulator mode used an entirely different aesthetic. Like, think of it using obviously miniature cardboard and plastic models to represent the vessel, dangling by string, hanging in front of papier-mâché models of planets, like a more jerry-rigged version of the simulators they used during Apollo.

It'd let the player plan out a mission, by letting them skip large sections or getting to try lots of different things quickly, similarly to what cheats would allow for, but it'd ground it within the reality of the game.

 

2 hours ago, Turtlegirl1209 said:

I think I may vaguley remember something showing a testing mode in one of the pre-launch episodes, but I don't know. Have we seen something about this being confirmed? It would be a great addition.

You may be thinking of this:

Edited June 25, 2023 by whatsEJstandfor

[Turtlegirl1209]

9 hours ago, whatsEJstandfor said:

You may be thinking of this:

Oh nice! thanks. I do hope this feature is expanded upon, and gets to meet it's potential when the game is finished.

11 hours ago, Spicat said:

An easy solution would be to add a cheats menu. Like the Cheats Menu mod (https://spacedock.info/mod/3266/Cheats Menu) and the Lazy Orbit mod (https://spacedock.info/mod/3258/Lazy Orbit).

I don't know how a "simulator" would be any different from this. Apart maybe in multiplayer where there would be two modes where one is just cheat authorized but no effects on other people and the other is normal mode. Not what I call a simulator though.

Yeah, I think cheats is a very imperfect solution. For one, Cheats aren't accessible during a normal science/career/exploration mode playthrough. That alone makes it pretty useless. Also, a nex player trying to explore a new planet for the first time wouldn't want to use cheats to go there, since that would spoil the visuals of the area and make exploration less effective as a primary motivator to go places.

[Sea_Kerman]

I'm imagining a testing simulator thing where it brings up a sort of map view like the tracking station, populated by your current exploration data (like planets being featureless spheres unless you have topographical and image data from doing a scansat), you select the refrence body, then you can set an orbit or a location on the surface, then spawn a craft in. You'd be able to set specific resource levels for testing stuff like COM offsets, or doing infinte fuel stuff. Possibly also adjustible gravity.

Edited June 26, 2023 by Sea_Kerman

[KUAR]

On 6/25/2023 at 9:19 PM, Spicat said:

An easy solution would be to add a cheats menu. Like the Cheats Menu mod (https://spacedock.info/mod/3266/Cheats Menu) and the Lazy Orbit mod (https://spacedock.info/mod/3258/Lazy Orbit).

I don't know how a "simulator" would be any different from this. Apart maybe in multiplayer where there would be two modes where one is just cheat authorized but no effects on other people and the other is normal mode. Not what I call a simulator though.

This is one of my big wishes. I don't like using the Cheats Menu and Lazy Orbit for this because it feels...cheaty. It also makes actually getting to the planet and landing on it anticlimactic if you've already warped to orbit, proven that you can descend, seen the scenery...then you have to go back to the launchpad and do exactly the same thing in the same place, the only difference being that this time you flew there rather than warped there.

A matrix-y or otherwise obviously simulator-y  environment where you can test your decoupling, RVs, descents, ascents etc. in atmospheres and planets you can self-define or set as scientifically measured parameters from real Kerbolar planets would be awesome.

Do you think a real space program does quite as much trial and error as we do in KSP?

Feature Request: Mission Training Simulator - KSP2 Suggestions and Development Discussion - Kerbal Space Program Forums