The Comprehensive Colony Communications Archive

[The Space Peacock]

The Comprehensive Colony Communications Archive (CCCA)

Hello everyone! I've been seeing a lot of people confused about how colonies will actually work lately. We have received a lot of info on this over the years, but it's pretty spread out. That's why i took it upon myself to go through every Feature Video, Show and Tell, AMA, Dev Update/Blog/Chat and Interview and compile every bit of information we have about the KSP2 Colonies Milestone update, along with where and when it was mentioned. Do keep in mind that some of this info is years old at this point and may not be entirely up-to-date with the developers plans and goals anymore.

Props to the KSP2 Knowledge Repository post, which served as a great independant resource to make sure i didnt miss anything. Thanks also goes out to @Spicatfor helping me go through the youtube interviews. If i did miss anything, feel free to let me know! I've highlighted the sections about (planned) core colony functionality and the features that are expected to ship with the Colonies Milestone. Do keep in mind that some of the core functionality (such as Resources) wont be in the initial release yet and will come with later Milestones.

This post is also available as a PDF at the bottom of this page for easier reading, for those who prefer that. Enjoy!

 

 

 

1. Feature Videos

·       Colonies will have exotic fuel factories, such as metallic hydrogen ( + concept art)
Kerbal Space Program 2: Episode 1 - Next Gen Tech [Feb 20, 2020]

Spoiler

·       Pre-alpha captures of various colonies and stations
Kerbal Space Program 2: Episode 1.5 - Work From Home Developer Update [Jun 24, 2020]

Spoiler

 

·       More pre-alpha captures
Kerbal Space Program 2 - Feature Videos Teaser [Oct 23, 2020]
Kerbal Space Program 2: Episode 2 – The Kerbals [Dec 21, 2020]

Spoiler

 

 

2. Dev Diaries
 

·       Colonies as one of the KSP2 Design Pillars (exploring next-gen space program concepts):
- new features based on inspiration from expectations and the real world
- but not on the level of complexity that dedicated colony builders have
- minimizing micromanagement
- colonies in function of serving ‘rocket gameplay’

How Colonies will work gameplay-wise:
- Establishing a colony by launching inflatable modules on a standard rocket
- Fuel is synthesized in-situ by this colony to refuel rocket>
- Players bring in more resources to make colony self-sufficient
- Colony grows to allow player to build and fly rockets from this new location

- Orbital Drydocks and Mining Colonies are mentioned
- Rearranging modules of a colony is mentioned
- commitment to keep Colonies open to the modding community is made
Developer Insights #3 – KSP2 Design Pillars [Apr 26, 2020]

Spoiler

 

·       Mention of being able to dock at each others colonies in multiplayer
Developer Insights #4 – KSP2 Engineering  [Jun 12, 2020]
 

·       Confirmation that Vehicle Assembly and Colony Assembly Build Interface (also known as BAE; Building Assembly Editor) will use same camera interactions
Developer Insights #7 – KSP 2 UX Architects [Nov 27, 2020]
 

·       Deep technical dive into how Resource Flow will function, but no specific mention of their relation to Colonies
Developer Insights #13 – KSP2 Resource System [Feb 25, 2022]
 

·       Inspiration for Colony parts is drawn from concept studies, physics treatises and hypothetical engineering trades. (No examples of such studies is listed)
Also reveals new ion plasma engine which should be added along with radiators (as per Nertea), thus with Colonies (see Dev Insights #21).
Developer Insights #14 - Part Creation [Jun 27, 2022]
Nertea Talking About New Ion Engine [Aug 17, 2023]

Spoiler

 

 

·       Pre-Alpha Sneak Peak of a Large-size Pulsed Fission Drive (based on Project Orion). Likely to ship with the Colonies update (see  Nate's AMA)
Developer Insights #15 - Writing for Kerbal Space Program [Aug 30, 2022]

Spoiler

 

·       Connection between the Heating system and Colonies
- core areas of heat management for colonies: heat-producing/removing parts & environmental heat sources/sinks (e.g. An ocean)
- Environment will directly impact efficiency of Mining Colonies; being on a cold planet or being in the shadow of a mountain will result in ‘a bonus’, being on a lava planet will ‘pose a challenge’
- not getting rid of heat may result in nuclear meltdown
- engines, drills, factories, and power generators listed as possible heat-generating parts for both Colonies and Vessels
- atmospheres, oceans, sunlight and proximity/contact to surface features listed as possible environmental heat sources/sinks
- pointing a torch drive at a colony will result in consequences
- some parts/modules will be more prone to heating than others
- mentions there will be ‘tools’ to understand and manage heating on Colonies and Vessels
- heating model for parts and colonies will be based on average heat flux
(incoming/generated heat on a part – outgoing heat = resultant heating on that part)
- Radiators and heat sinks will pull heat from all parts
- Thermal Flux and Extraction/Production (using Delivery Routes) calculations will always run in the background even when the colony is not being observed
- the Colonies Milestone will introduce basic part heat management, basic radiators and thermal planning
- More part heat managment, more radiators, exotic environments and more planning tools are planned to arrive later with the Insterstellar Milestone
Developer Insights #21 - Rockets' Red Glare [Jul 23, 2023]

Spoiler

 

 

3. Show and Tells

 

·       Power generation modules for colonies
- will progress from compact fission reactors to giant fusion tokamaks to next-generation Z-pinch fusion reactors
Show and Tell - New power generation modules for colonies! [Feb 5, 2021]

Spoiler

 

·       Station and Colony Part Models:
- Orbital Launch Clamp
- Geothermal Power Generator
- Colony Roads/Runways
- Deep Resource Scanner
- Wind turbine
Show and Tell - Creating New Parts [Jun 11, 2021]

Spoiler

 

·       Colony Fuel Factories: From smallest to largest: Methalox Fuel Factory, Monopropellant Fuel Factory, Xenon Fuel Factory, Helium-3 Fuel Factory, and Metallic Hydrogen Fuel Factory
Show and Tell - Colony fuel factories [Feb 19, 2021]

Spoiler

 

·       M-sized Bi-modal, extendable nozzle afterburning nuclear engine: NERV-US
Will possibly ship with Colonies, as this engine has been functional but hidden (in its non-afterburning mode only) in the game since release. Appeared in an earlier Show and Tell as the ‘LANTR’. May be waiting on Part Heat Generation.
Show and Tell - NERV-US [Oct 1, 2021]
Show and Tell - New LANTR engine [Jun 25, 2021]

Spoiler

The ‘LANTR’ Whitebox model

(the models for the Claw and ISRU module are non-functional)

 

·       Procedural Radiators – Unconfirmed
Show and Tell - Procedural Radiators [Mar 25, 2022]

Spoiler

 

 

 

4. AMAs
 

·       AMA Nate Simpson [Mar 24, 2023]
3/24 Discord AMA Answers
Ask Me A Few More Things

Q: Can you give any more detail about how the automated "trade routes" are going to work? Will we see ships automatically landing on / taking off from the launchpad or will it be more of a in-the-background kind of thing? How will the game handle changing delta-v requirements due to different planetary alignments?

A: For delivery routes, we have clear steps.

First implementation, crediting/debiting resources to vehicles and colonies based on duration.
Second implementation might take into account launch windows and such.

Someday, would be very cool to see vehicles coming and going. Not a promise, but a long-term aspiration.


Q: Will certain resources needed for colony construction be planet/biome specific?

A: The diversity of resources is what's going to make exploration mode so fun. Compared to KSP1 which was very self-directed (take temperatures, etc.), when there is a unique resource somewhere that gates your access to some category of parts/features - wow it totally changes the game. It gives you something material literally material, yeah the interplanetary/interstellar progression will really POP once you're able to dig up a specific thing that gives you a specific ability.


Q: For the far off colonization update. How will buildings work? Will we assemble them ourselves by landing modules (or making them on site) and moving them into position, or will it be more of a prefabricated type of building system?

A: We have a inflatable module that you put on a vehicle and once you deploy it - it's basically like setting up a camping site. It sets up a VAB-like interface. Using that and other modules, you can use resources to add even more modules to the colonies. There will be attach nodes and it'll be very similar to creating a vehicle. Also the same thing applies to orbital colonies.


Q: Orbital colonies have been mentioned. Will they have a set orbit once the first part has been built, or will they be able to move with engines like other spacecraft?

A: They can be moved and crashed, yes.


Q: How useful will orbital construction be and how awesome are the colonies?

A: Completely critical to the interstellar progression. You can't make a interstellar vehicle in a gravity well. Someone will definitely prove me wrong about that one day.


Q: … Will players be able to share colony buildings (Once that comes out) and create?

A: …So there will be the asynchronous progression - people dropping in and out of the server over time but slowly building up resources and sharing delivery routes between colonies. …


Q: Will there more colony parts than what shown in the trailers?

A: yes.


Q: What kind of size range can we expect with colonies? Will all colonies be roughly the same size, or will we be able to have small 1-2 launch research colonies along with our gigantic industrial ones? Will there be any upper size limit?

A: There's no plan for an enforced upper-size limit. It'll be similar to vehicles, it's made of parts - we want people to make it as large as they want. Obviously not all computers can handle massive builds, so there will probably be a player-dependent fps-based size limit.


Q: "When we'll see other exotic fuel types like metallic hydrogen? Will they be added alongside some big update like colonies or will they be added before?"

A: We will be bringing in new engine and fuel types across multiple updates, generally as they become instrumental to the progression. I suspect nuclear pulse will be next up, as it opens up the interplanetary progression quite nicely and is a good supplement to colony building. …


Q: Will be possible to alter the surface on the planets? Like dig a pit or flatten an area for a colony?

A: There are no current plans to do this - … - So yeah, we’ll keep talking about this.

 

 

 

·       AMA Shana Markham [Apr 20, 2023]
Discord AMA 2 - Design Director Shana Markham Answers

Q: Most players don't know how do reentry and land precisely. How will you teach players to land precisely near colony to deliver resources there, or will we get instruments to predict landing site for delivery paths?

A: …Certainly when colonies comes out, advanced landings will be extremely useful. One of our writers (Jim Peck) did a knowledge-share internally about precision landings, and that taught us a lot about how in-depth that topic can be - and we have to figure out how to distill that down to make it approachable for new players.


Q: How will the resources be distributed across so many planets in order to give the player a reason to explore every world?  If resources aren't the catalyst for exploration, how else do plan on motivating exploration?

A: … we want to look at the various resources on a planet and how it plays into your space program. Especially with colonies and exploration, you may want to build a mining colony - but perhaps it's really far away and it's annoying to get to. So instead you go somewhere else and build an additional orbital colony to help build resource pathways.


Q: In the previous AMA it got said that colonies will be built using resources, but the resource gathering update comes after the colonies one, how will that work?

A: Remember that question about the roadmap? This is one of the outcomes when everything is building on top of each other.. We wanted to make sure exploration is about exploration.


Q: Will colonies feature automation gameplay (with-in the colony, so not the delivery route system)? It can look something like: 1) Resource extractor building mines a raw resource, 2) Resource refinery building makes a useable material out of it, 3) Assembly

A: …We want to make sure automation is implemented to make sure the part of the game that is really important to us, rockets, continues to stay the main gameplay loop.


Q: Will adding to orbital colonies be similar to how we already make space stations etc. or how will that work differently?

A: Orbital colonies would follow a similar flow to terrestrial colonies and have the same toolset.

 

 

 

·       AMA Kristina Ness [Jun 30, 2023]
AMA 3 - Art Director Kristina Ness Answers

Q: Have the assets for the game been done?  What does the art team do after the assets are made?

A: Yes. The art team is actually, as is with most games, the art team is ahead…. our 3D artists right now are working on colony parts. All the science parts are already done and ready to go and they're all lined up. And so, they're onward to colony parts. (as of June 30^th, 2023)


Q: Will Kerbals be different colors based on what planets they originate from when colonies are introduced?

A: That's a very fun idea. I have my own head canon about Kerbal colors. And we'll see. We'll see if that becomes canon.


Q: When can we expect to see crew modules which require animations such as gravity rings, especially ones with cool deployment methods?

A: Colonies!! I actually just saw a gif of a module very similar to what you are describing that I hope we can share soon.
 

 

 

·       AMA Chris Adderley (aka Nertea) [Aug 18, 2023]
KSP2 AMA Series - Chris "Nertea" Adderley - Answers/Transcript

 

Q: When colonies are implemented, will heat be required for habitation modules in colder environments?

A: Not in the current design. We're mostly focusing on having players understand overheating as a concern rather than under-heating.


Q: How will the "rotational" artificial gravity ring part showcased in the teasers and trailers work? Will we have multiple iterations of varying sizes?

A: We're not really looking at specifically simulating different gravity levels in the game right now. It's not really part of our plans, but we do want to have, at least for colonies, different sizes of gravity ring, and not only different sizes, but different roles. A lot of different things you can put into gravity ring and a lot of different interesting gameplay you can build out of that. And that's a lot of different things you can put into gravity ring and a lot of other things you can build out of that. And that's all I'll say about that.


Q: How is the colonies stuff going, there's been some recent concern on whether launching rockets will be free in science. If so, will that be an issue for progression?

A: We are effectively designing our progression system in such a way that that's not an issue. I should clarify that as we're going through our milestones, the science milestone is going to be more similar to the science mode from KSP1. So you didn't really have cash in that mode in KSP1. So we're working within the same constraints in terms of that. In the far future when we have resources and things, we're often taking the approach that like, we want players to feel like they want to, they're able to do a lot of stuff from the KSC and from colonies. So I'm not gonna say launching rockets will be free. There's always going to be a cost associated with a rocket, but the amount of various resources that you might have access to at the KSC at different places is going to control what you can launch when.


Q: I got the impression that there was going to be the potential for vessels/stations with truly massive part counts… is this still going to be a thing eventually, at least by 1.0?

A: This is a core goal that we have in our game. It's like we need to scale things….We're gonna have a specific [performance] target for colonies, a specific target for interstellar, and then a specific target as we go towards 1.0.

So the goal is to deliver more parts per ship, more parts per save, more ships per save, to make it so that you can truly have a curvil interstellar civilization.



Q: What are your thoughts on greenhouses and simple life support with snacks for example? How do you see conveying that colonies are both real places where kerbals live and 'working machines' much the way vessels are?

A: …We have some things in the works around Colonies that ape some of the ‘results’ of life support, which I hope will get at the idea of colonies being a little more kerbal-involved than just plunking Kerbals in a command part.

Q: As a side question, stations and bases. Are these going to have something of a real use this time around, given that stations were limited to more or less just fuel depots in KSP1. I'm thinking more along the lines of long term research projects, with big pay-off for significant durations of time. Is there some sort of requirement to resupply the stations, perhaps required crew rotation, stuff like that?

A: The progression we want to deliver for bases and stations mirrors IRL conceptions about how these things should work. You will start out with outposts that have limited utility – let’s call that KSP1-like. Fuel depots, maybe comms relays, etc. As you progress through the tech tree, you’ll get access to stuff that provides them with greater utility. That’s shipyards and docks, fuel factories, launch pads, etc. Eventually you’ll get the biggest parts, which are mostly focused on giving you the full capabilities of the KSC at a colony.

A core piece of the utility in my mind comes with resource gathering (which is a ways off in the roadmap,) when the specific positioning and configuration of a colony becomes really important. Placing a colony with good access to progression-related resources and having easy access to heat management/power sources will allow you to build specific functions and cool vibes into each colony.

Crew rotations and resupply are not currently something we would want to enforce. I hope that when we get resources and delivery routes fully operational though, that this is something modders will hit really hard because the framework of stuff like delivery routes will be there.


 

5. Interviews and Dev Chats
 

·       Colony parts will start appearing in Tier 4 of the tech tree and continue into Tier 5
Science and Tech Tree - KSP 2 Dev Chats [Nov 30, 2023]
 

·       ShadowZone Interviews Nate Simpson (2019)
KSP 2 Developer on Multiplayer: "I Never Heard People Laugh So Hard" [Sep 6, 2019]
- Base Assembly Editor to build Colonies similar to the VAB for craft
- Colonies will use the same physics system as craft, so it will fall if you build too tall
 

·       Scott Manley Interviews Nate Simpson (2019)
Kerbal Space Program 2 Developer Answers Important Questions [Sep 2, 2019]
- Early Stage: Bring modular component that you build on site, inflatable module
- When population grows you unlock some ISRU capabilities to unlock more permanent modules

·       PC Gamer Article with Developer Interview (2020)
Space Odyssey: Our first big look at Kerbal Space Program 2 [Jul 1, 2020]
- 'Boom Events' are mentioned as a player-initiated event that will increase colony population "through a method we will not describe"
- Boom events will happen by making discoveries and unlocking new technologies, and have a variety of effects 
- Colony Nursery module is mentioned as an example, where a Boom Event will result in the creation of new colonists
- Colonies will underperform when they run out of Power or Food - First time Food is mentioned!

·       PC Gamer Interview (2022)
Kerbal Space Program 2 full interview PC Gaming Show 2023 Preview [Nov 23, 2022]
- Use local resources to build colonies
- Use local resources to build craft at those colonies
- Orbital Construction will happen in a ‘sort of open space’
- Delivery routes to automatize a task -> build a resource extracting rover that brings resource to the colony. after doing it once, you can make a repetitive delivery so you continue to receive that resources
 

·       Shacknews Interviews Interview (2021)
Kerbal Space Program 2 - Interview With Creative Director Nate Simpson [Jun 24, 2021]
- As a colony grows, it will eventually become self-sufficient and not need external resource deliveries to expand anymore
 

·       Shacknews Interviews Interview (2023)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=easPDj-o06o&t=358s [May 2, 2023]
- There will be between 200 to 300 colony parts
 

·       GrunfWorks Interviews Nate Simpson (2024)
KSP 2's Creative Director talks Colonies - Interview with Nate Simpson [Mar 1, 2024]
- Colonies will come with new kinds of science collection
- Colonies will be placeable anywhere
- ‘dozens’ of new colony parts
- The Colonies Experience will be ‘whole’ at its initial release despite resources coming later, but will evolve as resources and delivery routes come online later

 

Spoiler

 

 

6. Sneak Peaks
 

·       An Orbital Colony Around Duna & Jool (video of rotating rings/arms in link)
Colonies Sneakpeeks [Mar 15, 2024]

Spoiler

·       Visual improvements to clouds, engine exhaust overhaul (unconfirmed – may come before or after Colonies)
KSP2 Dev Update: Some Improvements On The Way [April 25, 2024]

Spoiler

This Document as a PDF:
CCCA.pdf

Edited April 29 by The Space Peacock
Added new sneak peeks

[The Space Peacock]

Summary/My Takeways from all of what we know:

• Colonies will start out as inflatable 'starter' modules that can be launched on your run-of-the-mill rocket. These modules will be used both for terrestrial and orbital colonies, and appear in Tier 4 of the tech tree
• Subsequent modules will be unlocked as you progress throught Tier 4 and 5 of the tech tree and can be added from the BAE (Building Assembly Editor), which will function similarly to how you construct vessels in the VAB 
• In later versions, this will require resource shipments, but it seems like for the initial release colony building will be mainly limited by science progression. In a recent interview, Nate also mentions they want colonies to be 'whole' from initial release and says they have an aproach for this they're excited about (but refuses to ellaborate) 
• Colonies will eventually gain more capabilities such as ISRU as they are expanded with modules and their population grows, and will at some point become self-sufficient  (=able to self-expand)
• The end goal of a colony is to basically be a KSC away from home, which you can build and launch (interstellar) vehicles from. For this reason (and to avoid micromanagment) colony managment itself will be relatively 'simple'. They're open to modders expanding on this, however
• The main challenges of managing a colony will be heat managment from parts that produce heat and environmental factors, which we will see a basic version of in the initial Colonies release that will be expanded upon in the future milestone updates. Managing population may also be one of the challenges, as it has been mentioned there will be something to "ape" some of the results of life support (but not a fully fledged life support system itself)
• the Exporation update will significantly change how colonies operate, introducing resources and automated delivery routes as big factors for how colonies are built and operate. they will not be included in the initial release
• Aside from colonies themselves, we'll also likely get some cool new engines such as the Orion Drive and Plasma Ion engine, radiators, new science experiments (Nate mentions telescopes) and new missions in the Colonies Milestone

Edited April 14 by The Space Peacock

[klipantakmon]

Thing is, with the fiasco that we have on our hands and the countless lies that have been told, one would have to be a fool to believe everything that was said in the interviews, q&a etc.

[The Aziz]

Well, at least it's not a Comprehensive Colony Communications Post

Cuz that would be a red flag 

[GGG-GoodGuyGreg]

3 hours ago, The Space Peacock said:

The Comprehensive Colony Communications Archive (CCCA)

[...]
 

This post is pure gold. I wanted to do a similar thing, in general for the entire game, but I definitely wouldn't have had the time to delve so deep as you did. Great job!

Now I just wish such mental gymnastics with (sometimes vague) statements wouldn't be needed of us, and we would instead have a frequently maintained official wiki where milestones would contain at least half of the information that was put together here.

Wait, there is one.  but it contains in total one sentence about such an allegedly big upcoming update, it's as if clarity about upcoming milestones information isn't that high on their list. The least I would do is copy paste the information from this post in the wiki and give this person a medal.

[ChadDude]

This is amazing work Greg as always!

Now we just need to see what's been changed or more info on these subjects hopefully soon.

[The Aziz]

1 hour ago, GGG-GoodGuyGreg said:

. I wanted to do a similar thing, in general for the entire game,

It's been done before.

Even though the news there ended appearing on February 24th 2023.

1 hour ago, GGG-GoodGuyGreg said:

we would instead have a frequently maintained official wiki where milestones would contain at least half of the information that was put together here.

Wait, there is one.  but it contains in total one sentence about such an allegedly big upcoming update, it's as if clarity about upcoming milestones information isn't that high on their list

The official status is: leave the official wiki as it is, keep adding to the fandom one, until the official for 2 is created (at unknown point in the future).

[Flush Foot]

5 hours ago, The Space Peacock said:

it's basically like setting up a camping site

Thank you!! I knew I had heard "camp site" somewhere regarding colonies but couldn't remember precisely where/when.

5 hours ago, The Space Peacock said:

The Colonies Experience will be ‘whole’ at its initial release despite resources coming later

"experience will be whole"... <chin-stroking emoji> I really do hope that means "factory bits" required to produce resources at some set rate for use in a colony, even if not requiring explicit 'raw inputs' when v0.3 first drops!

[DibzNr]

Thanks for this, this was really interesting to read through

[The Space Peacock]

3 hours ago, The Aziz said:

Well, at least it's not a Comprehensive Colony Communications Post

Cuz that would be a red flag 

resource sharing confirmed?

2 hours ago, GGG-GoodGuyGreg said:

This post is pure gold. I wanted to do a similar thing, in general for the entire game, but I definitely wouldn't have had the time to delve so deep as you did. Great job!

Thanks! And if you want something like this for the entire game, the KSP2 Knowledge Repository is a great resource. it hasn't been updated in some time, but it has all the good stuff from ye olden days in it that most people have already forgotten about  

1 hour ago, Flush Foot said:

"experience will be whole"... <chin-stroking emoji> I really do hope that means "factory bits" required to produce resources at some set rate for use in a colony, even if not requiring explicit 'raw inputs' when v0.3 first drops!

that's sorta what i got from that too. Nate seems to be (deliberately) vague on what exactly he means by that in the interview, so they're definitely planning something

[ShadowDev]

Good work on this, and I hope this is kept uptodate. 

[The Aziz]

24 minutes ago, The Space Peacock said:

resource sharing confirmed?

Our resources 

24 minutes ago, The Space Peacock said:

the KSP2 Knowledge Repository is a great resource. it hasn't been updated in some time, but it has all the good stuff from ye olden days in it that most people have already forgotten about  

Technically I could update. But keeping it updated for two years was one hell of a job, and now that it's in the archive, nobody would really notice.

Guess now it's indeed better to pull off more thematical thread, as it's gonna be a while before next milestone is relevant. And it can be discussed and actively filled with news.

[The Space Peacock]

6 minutes ago, ShadowDev said:

Good work on this, and I hope this is kept uptodate. 

thanks, and you can be asured i'll add new info as soon as it becomes available  (someone may or may not have to ping me if i forget)

[ShadowDev]

Just now, The Space Peacock said:

thanks, and you can be asured i'll add new info as soon as it becomes available  (someone may or may not have to ping me if i forget)

I will make sure to setup a ping bot to spam you until this post gets updated. 

[Flush Foot]

Just now, The Space Peacock said:

i'll add new info as soon as it becomes available

Hopefully later today? [I know the CMs did not promise anything today, only that last week "a non-colony dev update would come out 'Friday'", but one can always hope!]

[The Space Peacock]

5 minutes ago, The Aziz said:

Guess now it's indeed better to pull off more thematical thread, as it's gonna be a while before next milestone is relevant. And it can be discussed and actively filled with news.

I agree. A knowledge base for a single milestone is probably a whole lot easier to maintain, and it's rare for the devs to release new info on a Milestone that's not the next one in line anyway. I'm sure a post like this will pop up between every mayor milestone, whether it be made by me or someone else

[TFA3393]

This post is very impressive!  Well done Space Peacock.  My main concern when looking at those gorgeous images is that my PC is going to run at 3fps while also catching on fire.  Maybe they will be ridged bodies so they won't kill performance but still that looks like quite a few polygons. 

Edited April 12 by TFA3393

[Flush Foot]

1 minute ago, TFA3393 said:

Maybe they will be ridged bodies so they won't kill performance

I could absolutely see them doing that "hack" for space-colonies (where the only causes for concern are collisions from failed docking-attempts) but I don't know if they could (or should?) do that for surface colonies as those could have structural failures if built improperly (too much weight too far from COG, for example) but maybe they could get around that by saying "we pre-simulate the structure for 3 local-days and there was no wobble, therefore it is 'fair' to weld it all together for performance-reasons"

[Stephensan]

i forgot to said i read it

[joratto]

2 hours ago, Flush Foot said:

"experience will be whole"... <chin-stroking emoji> I really do hope that means "factory bits" required to produce resources at some set rate for use in a colony, even if not requiring explicit 'raw inputs' when v0.3 first drops!

I really hope that doesn't just mean fulfilling the minimum requirements for the roadmap. Namely, "Colony Parts" and "Orbital Vehicle Construction".

[herbal space program]

Thank you for that @The Space Peacock! There's a great deal of food for thought here.  One thing that does kind of have me scratching my helmet over all this is why they're choosing to implement colonies before they put any kind of resource system in place.  To me, the most natural game progression would seem to be the other way around. That is, you start by exploring the other bodies in the Kerbolar system in general terms, then as your science capabilities advance you start doing orbital surveys to find deposits of key resources required for fuel generation, life support, etc., and then you start building outposts where those resources are found. Ultimately, as science progresses further this system leads to colonies focused on extracting/producing various types of unobtainium that are required to make/power an interstellar vessel that must be built in some big orbital factory.  Having colony outposts before that progression is laid down therefore seems kind of backwards to me, but I guess time will tell why they're doing it this way instead.

[PDCWolf]

Great job putting this together, lots of effort and it shows.

So far, this does not change my opinion that Colonies looks mechanically very shallow. It does however make me realize that they haven't talked at all about part variety relating to a certain role, other than the parts in the heating system. And the fact that colonies are implied to have physics is heavily worrying once you remember how the save system is really bad at scaling to big part numbers versus loading time and general game performance.

[NH4Cl Enthusiast]

37 minutes ago, herbal space program said:

Thank you for that @The Space Peacock! There's a great deal of food for thought here.  One thing that does kind of have me scratching my helmet over all this is why they're choosing to implement colonies before they put any kind of resource system in place.  To me, the most natural game progression would seem to be the other way around. That is, you start by exploring the other bodies in the Kerbolar system in general terms, then as your science capabilities advance you start doing orbital surveys to find deposits of key resources required for fuel generation, life support, etc., and then you start building outposts where those resources are found. Ultimately, as science progresses further this system leads to colonies focused on extracting/producing various types of unobtainium that are required to make/power an interstellar vessel that must be built in some big orbital factory.  Having colony outposts before that progression is laid down therefore seems kind of backwards to me, but I guess time will tell why they're doing it this way instead.

I'd guess that they just want to make sure the colony building and craft spawning works first. Comparatively it's probably more prone to bugs than the resource collection and on the other hand if you'd just add resources now, the only usable one would be fuel and even that would still need the colony parts to process. So it's not based on gameplay progression but just technical reasons why do it this way.

[Dakota]

Nice work on this

Spoiler

this is not confirmation or denial of any speculation in this thread, just acknowledgement of the effort!

 

[TFA3393]

1 hour ago, herbal space program said:

Thank you for that @The Space Peacock! There's a great deal of food for thought here.  One thing that does kind of have me scratching my helmet over all this is why they're choosing to implement colonies before they put any kind of resource system in place.  To me, the most natural game progression would seem to be the other way around. That is, you start by exploring the other bodies in the Kerbolar system in general terms, then as your science capabilities advance you start doing orbital surveys to find deposits of key resources required for fuel generation, life support, etc., and then you start building outposts where those resources are found. Ultimately, as science progresses further this system leads to colonies focused on extracting/producing various types of unobtainium that are required to make/power an interstellar vessel that must be built in some big orbital factory.  Having colony outposts before that progression is laid down therefore seems kind of backwards to me, but I guess time will tell why they're doing it this way instead.

You are correct that way would be more fun for us. But they need us to find and report all the bugs with colonies before they can introduce the complex resource system. Probably a better approach for the long term development of the game but worse for the player short term. And by short term I mean 1-2 years.