Craft integrity check before launch

[John FX]

Instead of waiting until we have launched, got into orbit, gone to the mun and landed before saying "Oh, by the way, you can`t open that hatch because it is blocked" I think it would be a good idea to highlight any parts that block hatches or maybe have a basic integrity check before launch (all engines get fuel, no hatches blocked etc)

Would anyone else like this?

[FEichinger]

You could do a manual checklist yourself, actually. Things like 'Check all hatches.' and 'Make sure the docking ports face the right way.'

[John FX]

I could but that would not help me in the current situation where I have a hatch that I can go into but not out of and I only went in to land on the mun and the hatch was clear of obstructions.

So now I am on the mun in a craft I cannot exit that cannot survive reentry. How should I `check all hatches` when the hatch does not have a visible obstruction and the problem is only on exit?

[Wayfare]

Launchpad testing is your friend

When I'm building something complicated, I test all basic functionality on the launchpad before anything goes into space. That includes things like crew ingress/egress (will they be able to climb the ladder?), lighting, adequate room for deployable parts (legs, antennae), rover functionality and so on. With subassemblies becoming stock in 0.22, testing various parts of your spaceship on the launchpad or runway before strapping them together onto a rocket is going to be much easier.

[jfx]

Do you remember a time when launchpad testing did not incur a five to ten second unity bsod? Pepperidge farm remembers!

[lajoswinkler]

But then we wouldn't have spectacular failures.

I'd be ok with a voice warning. You know, like in SF movies. Instead of text output (F3) only, I'd appreciate if it could be heard after a scary klaxon or a beep.

[dazhat]

But this is the fun of Kerbal space program. The reason the game is so good is that it is all down to real skill. If you automate the process of testing things it would not be as fun. All the achievement of going to eeloo and back would be for nothing if you knew it was possible before you even launched.

[Mitchz95]

I'd love something like this mainly for ships I want to assemble in orbit. I hate spending a week launching everything into orbit, firing up the engines and finding my Kerbals adrift in space because something gave. Spectacular failures are fun, but super frustrating when it takes a long time to get the ship built and ready.

[Duxwing]

But this is the fun of Kerbal space program. The reason the game is so good is that it is all down to real skill. If you automate the process of testing things it would not be as fun. All the achievement of going to eeloo and back would be for nothing if you knew it was possible before you even launched.

Would you consider enduring the drudgery of checking each hatch, fuel line, and Sepratron--which is of what the OP speaks--to be an example of "real skill"? Automating the "process of testing things" would increase fun because players, instead of reaching Eeloo only to notice a misplaced decoupler and therefore having to start all over again, would launch without worrying that a mistake in the VAB will spoil their entire mission.

-Duxwing