Is the game becomeing too easy?

[Robje]

What with all the maneuver nodes, more stable joints, increasingly bigger parts etc.

Give arguments if you like.

[Rainbowtrout]

To be honest, the SLS parts make the game too easy. But, now, everything seems easier, not just after ARM. Maybe it's experience, or maybe it is... I don't know.

[TimePeriod]

Well, if you find it too easy... You could always start modding.

Pain / Pleasure, your call.

[Albert VDS]

The game is as easy as you make it. Sandbox is easy, carreer adds the challenge and realism mods add even more to it.

[Madrias]

The SLS parts did make the game easier from a rocketry standpoint. The RAPIER made spaceplanes easier.

However, the game still requires a core knowledge, at least to a bit, of rocket science and orbital mechanics.

Case in point: I don't know what the SLS is supposed to look like, so I can't construct the proper SLS system with the 3.75m parts. Not a big deal, granted, but I can throw things together and still come up a couple-hundred meters of delta-V short of making orbit at times.

The RAPIER also makes SSTO easier, but SSTO, by the nature of light and efficient, is virtually useless afterward. Plus, if you're planning on doing anything other than docking to a station in orbit, the RAPIER needs to be coupled with something like, say, the LV-N.

Half of it's the new parts which make things easier. Half of it's experience.

As for Maneuver nodes, try this challenge. Fly to Eeloo and back to Kerbin without using maneuver nodes. I can't do it (heck, I haven't even gone to Eeloo short of two probes and a broken probe rover) even with maneuver nodes, but then again, I'm not one of those 'hardcore' space-sim guys who can successfully load up Orbiter and launch the Space Shuttle on their first go, either.

[SofusRud]

I may of course be biased, since i've played KSP for quite a while, so it may just be that my skills have caught up. The last few updates have made it much less likely that things are gonna disassemble, and the maneuver nodes are more intuitive, however I wouldn't want to see the game go back on those improvements. I only think this is worth discussing because what I have understood from the devs is that the game is all about failure and learning from it, and some of the recent changes seem to make failure easier to avoid.

The way I see it, the best way to keep the game from becoming "too easy" would be to add some celestial bodies that push the limits of how much delta-v and or TWR you need to get to them. Something out beyond Jool, a tiny body closer to the sun than Moho, an object with an extremely eccentric and incline orbit, a body orbiting retrograde, or something like that. When it comes to adjusting difficulty I say "add not subtract".

Another thing that I can think of that would keep the game from becoming too easy would be a slight adjustment of scale. Currently, KSP is about 1/10th or 1/11th the scale of the real solar system. Maybe making it 1/8th or something scale might tweak the difficulty appropriately. Just a thought

[magnemoe]

not sure, as other say launching heavy payloads is easier, still I did all the hard stuff like Eve accent, stock grand tour even my Jool landing before 0.235.

Non of this except the Jool landing would be easier with STS, and that only because I would save lots of refueling in LKO.

[technicalfool]

Nope.

You're just getting better at it.

[Hary R]

I've been playing for a year now and found some aspect of the game easier, but it just experience. Yeah, the addition of joint reinforcement in stock made going to orbit easier but a part from that, BUT you will still need to know what you do, how the orbit mechanic work and so on. Beginner will still learn that the hard way.

As for the SLS.... kinda yeah, it make some lunch easy, but not that much.

I hope that career's budget will bring some more challenge!!!

Edited May 25, 2014 by Hary R

[Sirrobert]

This games only real hurdle is knowing how to do orbital mechanics.

Once you figure that out, the game is easy.

So no, it's not becoming 'to easy' just because they make the UI easier to work with, or they fix obviously broken things (manouver nodes being difficult, and wet noodle rockets, respectivly)

[Uncle Mort]

I wouldn't say "too easy" but once you've grasped the basics of orbital mechanics, delta-v and TWR it is fairly straightforward. Then it's as easy or as hard as the goals you want to set for yourself.

I think the question is being asked too early in the game's development. Once there are built-in goals (contracts?) then the difficulty level will be externalised and the question becomes relevant.

However, I have voted.

Edited May 25, 2014 by Uncle Mort

[MysticPing]

I find it easier, but i dont use the huge parts anyway. As soon as you know what you're doing its a cakewalk

[karolus10]

I think that bigger diameter parts are beneficial as they allow to decrease part count, other thing is that introduction of life support/food/exercise requirements (that would be smaller than in real life because of arbitrary kerbal physiology and shorter time of travel in downsized kerbal universe) and habitation modules could made longer manned travel more troublesome as sitting on chair and eating some snacks all the way to the Jool is not as feasible like during free-return trip to the mun.

Of course stuff like weather, realistic throttle and engines restarting, reentry heat, radio relays for probes or fulfilling mentioned crew needs (and many more) would add more challenges to deal with as well as means of changing difficulty level if this features can be turned on or off, so new players wouldn't had to deal with them when learning how to play a game.

Edited May 25, 2014 by karolus10

[Yuriski]

It also entirely depends on how long you have been playing, and what your ultimate goal is. If you're a new player, the first "major" achievement would be landing on the Mun and returning, however if you're a KSP veteran, then that sounds like a very easy task.

[jwenting]

it's as easy as you make it.

Want a challenge? Use only 1.25m parts, ever, don't use nodes, don't use the map view, etc.

All up to you, no need to complain and demand that things are changed to make it impossible for people without your "uebergreatness".

[CarlosMaximus]

Once all the mechanics and procedures have been learned/discovered, the game becomes pretty straightforward. Easy? Never. It's like flying IRL. Once you become complacent, the game will throw something at you, or you'll screw something up. I've lost count of the number of times I've set up another routine supply run to the Mun, and ended by sobbing over my keyboard as the debris of the supply ship rains down around the Mun base. So: Straightforward? Yes. Easy? Noooo.....

[Jon Tash]

I would say Yes, it's too easy but only because I have really good experience about how the game is and what to do.

If you don't have enough experience with the science involved, how the parts works and all the mechanics it can get pretty hard for a newcomers.

It all depends in the experience of the player.

[Vaporized Steel]

There is alternatively another game called Orbiter space flight simulator by Martin Schweicher.

This game is what it claims to be. It's more like a simulator. About all the required instruments, mfds, knobs, throttles and systems are completely cockpit based.

And getting into interplanetary trajectories with this game means you'll have to get the in cockpit numbers right. Rather then dotting a imaginary maneouvre node line until the encounter message pops into view.

Only drawbacks with Orbiter is that you cannot make your own rocket.

That the game in stock version is kinda limited to a degree where you'll only want to orbit earth. And that it takes a whole lot of mods and dependancies just to get a setup straight for let's say a mars return mission or lunar landing.

I'm just mentioning this game in case you like a bigger challenge. I also hope this is not considered advertising lol. As for me it took me a couple of weeks actually to get a manned return mission from the moon by beating all the required systems. Many Orbiter mods also come with life support systems and other realistic challenges.

But I just recommend ksp is ít's a whole lot cooler imo.

[Pecan]

KSP may have better tools than it used to and using better tools can make any task easier - once you know how, why and when to use them.

Yes, it's easier to test-and-adjust a manoeuvre node than to sit down with pencil, paper, calendar, planetary almanac, and yards of equations to work through. It's easier with a slide-rule too. Or a computer. The results are quicker and more reliable with these tools as well, which is why any professional person uses them.

Maybe it's because I don't have real-time months or years and a team of astrophysicists and mathematicians to hand but I think easier tools does not necessarily mean 'too easy'.

Edited May 25, 2014 by Pecan

[Red Iron Crown]

KSP may have better tools than it used to and using better tools can make any task easier - once you know how, why and when to use them.

Yes, it's easier to test-and-adjust a manoeuvre node than to sit down with pencil, paper, calendar, planetary almanac, and yards of equations to work through. It's easier with a slide-rule too. Or a computer. The results and quicker and more reliable with these tools as well, which is why any professional person uses them.

Maybe it's because I don't have real-time months or years and a team of astrophysicists and mathematicians to hand but I think easier tools does not necessarily mean 'too easy'.

Stop reading my mind!

The better maneuver tools and better map mode have certainly made things a lot easier and less tedious, but I don't think we're anywhere close to "too easy". Improving my skills has also made things easier, I used to struggle with a Munar landing and return but now it's trivial. However, there are bigger, more complicated missions that I find challenging even after playing for years.

[SkyRender]

Given that KSP used to be insanely difficult due to missing and incomplete features, I can't particularly say that having those features present somehow makes the game "too easy". I definitely can say that some of us got unreasonably good at doing things by ear that new players can do much more easily now, however! That just means that the game is more accessible. The added challenge of not having the tools available in stock now to make your job easier was never actually intended as a feature. Though I guess if you're a die-hard old-school player, you could just pretend those features didn't exist...

[Guest]

Too easy? No. It is becoming easier though, considering it started as an incomplete game with incomplete features and is now receiving quality-of-life improvements.

[Red Iron Crown]

To some degree, the game becoming easier is a good thing, as it makes it more accessible to new players. When I started playing, the learning curve was more of a cliff and you really had to do a lot of reading and experimentation to accomplish the simplest of goals. Tutorials, map mode and maneuver nodes have all made the game easier to figure out without compromising the orbital mechanics involved, which I think is a big step forward.

Edited May 25, 2014 by Red Iron Crown

[Duke23]

I think we're just getting better and those of us who have been around for a couple versions are used to working around bugs or shortcomings that are being fixed... So yes it's getting easier, but in a refined way, not a dumbing the game down for stupid people way. You can always mod in more difficulty or mod out features (I think).

[DoToH]

There are newbies posting every day asking for help ... "can't get to minmus" or "out of fuel, can't return from mun" are common threads in the gameplay questions section. Maybe is a little bit easier with maneuver nodes and stronger joints, but the real difficulty comes from learning orbital mechanics and desingning more efficient rockets/planes. For me, and for the average experienced player, a trip to Minmus, with suborbital jumps to gather science on every biome is easy, but many people can't get to the mun and back, so I'll answer no, is not easier.