KSP-TV SquadCast - Release list and discussion

[Red Iron Crown]

Building is pretty much a chore for me, flying not much better.

That kind of begs the question: What does draw you to KSP? Building and flying are the core gameplay elements, at least as far as I can tell.

[Guest]

That kind of begs the question: What does draw you to KSP? Building and flying are the core gameplay elements, at least as far as I can tell.

Achievement and private modification.

[tater]

I'm fine with a management aspect, I imagine the people working on that end of gameplay are not the same as those working on physics---as long as the physics doesn't suffer. "Buffs" are a non-starter for me. If I read a review and they talked about that as a feature, I'd not bother following up on it, frankly.

There are mechanisms to gain efficiency that are not dumb, and will do what they want.

1. Incremental engineering advances. Keep the standard parts, and add a variant or 2 for some of them. Early model Mk capsule, late model mk1 capsule, for example. Not the least bit unreasonable.

2. Astronaut skill. At some point, the astronauts should matter. Fly the way we do now, or fly like mechjeb apparently does now. You are the director, send the lads off to their doom, sorry, glory! I said GLORY! I'm totally fine with this, too. The the pilot skill can let them use the most optimal burns (100% efficiency), or waste fuel in different steps (down to whatever a full-stupidity pilot can manage).

Both of those are entirely reasonable, the most realism-pushing person here could not likely complain (they would always have the choice to pilot manually as they see fit).

[HafCoJoe]

I'd love to see this from the source but the idea of watching videos on Twitch makes me want to tear my eyeballs out. Maybe I'll try to find a way to download the video so I can at least speed up the playback.

In the meantime, I'm willing to give Squad the benefit of the doubt but if you can get a temporary drag decrease for some money... I'm concerned.

Now if you get Blue Shells to throw at other ships, that's a whole other story! BANG BANG POW POW I WIN! YEAAAAAAAH.

Ahem. Sorry about that. I can see possibly starting drag, Isp, lift, etc at a low rate and unlocking materials and techniques that can increase them across the board. I'm pretty sure that space ships today experience less drag than Sputnik's launcher did, though I don't know how much less. I also think that possibly Boeing's new planes have more lift per wing area than the Wright Brothers' flier did. Rather than have 20 different wings and 20 different engines and 20 different pieces of every part with different drag coefficients, having a single "drag of surfaces" thing that improves over time seems very reasonable.

But buffing drag for a launch or two and then losing that benefit? Not a happy horseman, here.

This. Exactly this. I suggest you start a poll just to see approximately how many of the active forum members want this too. Having parts get better as you use them or buy more materials is something I've been wanting either stock or mod for a while. Like increasing the isp of engines as you use them or only getting a burn time estimate after using it. I suggest we push this towards the devs. Great explanation 5thHorseman.

EDIT: Maybe a new tab like parts/action groups/crew could be added called something like "materials" and in it you can change the "material" for specific parts to change different parameters of building. Perhaps to increase strength and weight by making things out of steel or lowering weight and strength with aluminum. Or decreasing weight and increasing strength with carbon fiber for an increase of cost. This could be done with lift, drag, engine isp, and all other efficiency related parameters. You could even unlock materials through science and money and have worse options at the beginning of your career game. Is this something you all would like? I'd love it.

Edited August 31, 2014 by Avera9eJoe

[Liowen]

In the stream, MaxMaps mentioned one example where a buff would be applied for the next five missions. I think that means for the next five ships launched. Maybe there's a deadline, I'm not sure. But from his words it did sound that the buff was applied at launch, since that's what the game considers a mission - unless he was talking about contracts.

And come on, folks. Going to the Admin Building, weighting your options and selecting a strategy is hardly "getting a random power-up". It's more like choosing an advantage trait on an RPG game, if anything. I know a lot of people here wanted KSP to be more like a hardcore simulator, but you should have noticed by now that's not what Squad is aiming for. They want a game in the simulation genre, which isn't quite the same thing.

To me the term mission could be a launch or one in process, unless it has finished I would still call them missions. How others choose to use them is fine, but personally I, just from what I have heard about them, do not think I will use them.

Also where can find the video for it, I do not see it on the KSPTV twitch feed? Really it should be ported to youtube, or even live streamed from youtube.

Edited August 30, 2014 by Liowen

[MKI]

MY GUESS ON THE SECRET THING:

Alright my assumption is based off the new FX and sound systems the Devs have mentioned recently. I believe it will have to do something it CRASHING things. As per say, any good player would never run into it, as they don't purposely destroy their stuff. BUT everyone else would possibly see some failures here and there and THAT is where my proposal lies.

BETTER EXPLOSIONS/ GRAPHICAL IMPROVEMENTS FOR EXPLOSIONS. Or something similar dealing with explosions. This could totally be wrong, but this is where i see things going. Throw in the fact there is little to no actual mention of the sound and FX improvements in the stream at all, this may be what the "Secret thing" relates to.

[HafCoJoe]

MY GUESS ON THE SECRET THING:

Alright my assumption is based off the new FX and sound systems the Devs have mentioned recently. I believe it will have to do something it CRASHING things. As per say, any good player would never run into it, as they don't purposely destroy their stuff. BUT everyone else would possibly see some failures here and there and THAT is where my proposal lies.

BETTER EXPLOSIONS/ GRAPHICAL IMPROVEMENTS FOR EXPLOSIONS. Or something similar dealing with explosions. This could totally be wrong, but this is where i see things going. Throw in the fact there is little to no actual mention of the sound and FX improvements in the stream at all, this may be what the "Secret thing" relates to.

Maxmaps did mention revamping the explosions/effects and sounds in stream but I guess the same as you MkI.

[Red Iron Crown]

Outside long shot: The classified feature is Unity 5.

No mod has implemented it. A skilled player might not notice its performance enhancements because they're busy doing a grand tour with 8 parts. Though they might want to build 1000 part monsters to experience it.

KSP is also a flagship for Unity that really stretches it to its limit, the Unity people should be trying to get KSP onto the newest platform ASAP. And look at all the screenshots in the Unity 5 keynote, lots of KSP shown. I know Unity 5 is in beta, but KSP is still alpha so a few bugs are expected and tolerated.

#HypeEngine

[HafCoJoe]

Outside long shot: The classified feature is Unity 5.

No mod has implemented it. A skilled player might not notice its performance enhancements because they're busy doing a grand tour with 8 parts. Though they might want to build 1000 part monsters to experience it.

KSP is also a flagship for Unity that really stretches it to its limit, the Unity people should be trying to get KSP onto the newest platform ASAP. And look at all the screenshots in the Unity 5 keynote, lots of KSP shown. I know Unity 5 is in beta, but KSP is still alpha so a few bugs are expected and tolerated.

#HypeEngine

Another good one . Here are a few guesses I've heard so far:

1. Solid surface scatter

2. Cities/more surface effects

3. Crash replays

4. Unity 5

And also because no one's replied to my good idea, here it is again:

Joe's good idea:

Maybe a new tab like parts/action groups/crew could be added called something like "materials" and in it you can change the "material" for specific parts to change different parameters of building. Perhaps to increase strength and weight by making things out of steel or lowering weight and strength with aluminum. Or decreasing weight and increasing strength with carbon fiber for an increase of cost. This could be done with lift, drag, engine isp, and all other efficiency related parameters. You could even unlock materials through science and money and have worse options at the beginning of your career game. Is this something you all would like? I'd love it.

Edited August 31, 2014 by Avera9eJoe

[Whirligig Girl]

Achievement and private modification.

Yup, now I know why you seem to almost loathe the stock game.

[HafCoJoe]

Yup, now I know why you seem to almost loathe the stock game.

Oh hello again . I replied back to the other post. I really hope the part textures are sorted out.

[Daishi]

Outside long shot: The classified feature is Unity 5.

No mod has implemented it. A skilled player might not notice its performance enhancements because they're busy doing a grand tour with 8 parts. Though they might want to build 1000 part monsters to experience it.

KSP is also a flagship for Unity that really stretches it to its limit, the Unity people should be trying to get KSP onto the newest platform ASAP. And look at all the screenshots in the Unity 5 keynote, lots of KSP shown. I know Unity 5 is in beta, but KSP is still alpha so a few bugs are expected and tolerated.

#HypeEngine

After watching the keynote, I hope so. It looks amazing

Couldnt see much KSP featured, what time does it show?

[HafCoJoe]

Yeah I'd like to know when it's featured too. When?

[Red Iron Crown]

Er, I was exaggerating to make a case for what I felt was a comedically unlikely dark horse candidate. All I saw was a single static shot in

(at around 11:30, wasn't the keynote either sorry). Would be amazing if the dark horse won, though.

[HafCoJoe]

Er, I was exaggerating to make a case for what I felt was a comedically unlikely dark horse candidate. All I saw was a single static shot in

(at around 11:30, wasn't the keynote either sorry). Would be amazing if the dark horse won, though.

Ah. Okay

[Robotengineer]

(One of) My guess on the 'classified' feature is part inventory. That would make reusable designs more useful, as well as add some depth, though the hints don't point towards it. Unity 5 is a good guess as well.

[HafCoJoe]

(One of) My guess on the 'classified' feature is part inventory. That would make reusable designs more useful, as well as add some depth, though the hints don't point towards it. Unity 5 is a good guess as well.

That wouldn't be fun to "do over and over again" though in my opinion. Max said HarvestR was repeating it over and over for pleasure. idk

[Superfluous J]

This. Exactly this. I suggest you start a poll just to see approximately how many of the active forum members want this too. Having parts get better as you use them or buy more materials is something I've been wanting either stock or mod for a while. Like increasing the isp of engines as you use them or only getting a burn time estimate after using it. I suggest we push this towards the devs. Great explanation 5thHorseman.

EDIT: Maybe a new tab like parts/action groups/crew could be added called something like "materials" and in it you can change the "material" for specific parts to change different parameters of building. Perhaps to increase strength and weight by making things out of steel or lowering weight and strength with aluminum. Or decreasing weight and increasing strength with carbon fiber for an increase of cost. This could be done with lift, drag, engine isp, and all other efficiency related parameters. You could even unlock materials through science and money and have worse options at the beginning of your career game. Is this something you all would like? I'd love it.

Well I don't want it so much as would greatly prefer it to unlocking a 3-launch buff that magically erases some drag for you. But if it were to happen, I would prefer it be just a straight-up increase or decrease as you go. Dump 10k science into materials and get a 3% reduction in weight across the board. 10k into aerodynamics gets you 2% more lift. With a max cap of maybe 10% in stuff, and then we can balance with play testing.

I think picking what materials each part on my ship has is overdoing it and would make building rockets a bit of a clickfest.

[NecroBones]

That wouldn't be fun to "do over and over again" though in my opinion. Max said HarvestR was repeating it over and over for pleasure. idk

Right, that was a big part of the point Maxmaps was making. He said it was something fun (HarvestR spent time doing it over and over, for instance), and something veterans & skilled players are unlikely to run into, but might want to. He also said it's a small feature that lays groundwork for a bigger feature later. He also said no mod has been created to provide this feature.

So my guesses are along the lines of:

* Deformable terrain, or scorch decals (craft impacts leaving craters or terrain damage)

* Damage models or fracturing parts in vehicle crashes (less likely, because it involves manipulating the models)

* Death animations for the Kerbals (which might help prepare for the more meaningful death / reputation hits thing later)

* Idle animations (assuming experienced players don't stand still for long)

* Instant replays of explosions, possibly slow-motion replays.

* Self-destruct feature (but I think a mod has done this)

* Burning/incinerating animations on approach to the sun (which would set up for a DRE sort of feature later)

I know he said it's not a Scott Manley sort of feature, but even Scott blows stuff up all the time. I think the important piece to take away is that you'd expect less experienced players to blow things up more frequently. But also, this gives some credibility to that last one (burning up while approaching the sun) since it's something that more experienced players probably aren't going to do intentionally (or they've done it once long ago, and may not bother with again unless they hear about a feature with it).

Who knows. We're all speculating.

Edited August 31, 2014 by NecroBones

[Guest]

* Deformable terrain, or scorch decals (craft impacts leaving craters or terrain damage)

* Damage models or fracturing parts in vehicle crashes (less likely, because it involves manipulating the models)

* Death animations for the Kerbals (which might help prepare for the more meaningful death / reputation hits thing later)

* Idle animations (assuming experienced players don't stand still for long)

* Instant replays of explosions, possibly slow-motion replays.

* Self-destruct feature (but I think a mod has done this)

* Burning/incinerating animations on approach to the sun (which would set up for a DRE sort of feature later)

I hope squad adds any or all of these. Especially instant replays.

[dryer_lint]

It's most likely deformable terrain. No mod has done it, and you could have fun with it over and over again...

[CaptRobau]

Damn this is a tough nut to crack. According to the devs it has to be:

probably among the coolest things we've done in the game.

It's pretty big and complex in the groundwork, but the gameplay is not very complex.

Simple gameplay. I think that discounts like idle or death animations. Those are fun, but not for hours. Instant replays would fit the description, but there have been slow-mo mods so maybe that discounts it.

If you're really good at the game, you can play 1000 hours and never have it come up. [...] It's not a 'Scott Manley' kind of feature. [...] Once again, great players will never see it.

This is such a terrible statement . It can both credit and discredit sooo many possible features. I think it discounts any terrain, building or part deformation though. Veteran players like Scott Manley constantly smack into the ground, at the very least during test flights or intentional destructiveness for fun. I think the only thing we can get from this is that Squad is trying to say that this is something everything can enjoy and not some move that requires years of experience to even pull off.

It sets up everything we need to do for the giant project we're currently working on. It's the framework. Ground rules for the big feature of the next update.

The big project that's been announced is multiplayer. Only the secret feature hasn't been announced, they never said the project it ties into had to be unknown too.

Once HarvesteR was done with it, he spent hours doing it over and over again having the time of his life, which says a lot given he's the lead dev.

It has to be fun for hours and needs to be easily repeatable. I don't think this is something like a simple death

Something mods haven't done (they said they've gone through nearly every mod resource looking for it first) flat out.

It's not N-Body physics.

Makes sense. Aside for Lagrangian points it would only add unnecessary complexity to the game.

[Skyrunner27]

The buff will likely be a perminate one to parts. The temporary part likely refers to if you choose unpid interns you are not locked in. It is basically improving parts much like what NASA did to the shuttle engines. You are finding out how to get less drag.

[tater]

It's most likely deformable terrain. No mod has done it, and you could have fun with it over and over again...

Agreed, adding craters to the Mun would be pretty hilarious.

[r_rolo1]

If it is deformable terrain, I hope that someone ( either the devs or a mod ) make a way of digging a hole and to cover your bases to shield radiations and for temperature control