KSP 0.90 'Beta Than Ever' Grand Discussion Thread!

[LameLefty]

I haven't found this anywhere and I am too lazy to flip through pages...

And that's why you haven't already seen this answer a few times ...

I built a satellite for a mission and put in a small SAS module. I hit "T" and says it has no SAS; and the ship spins uncontrollably... Did I miss something?

That's because an SAS module only provides torque for control, it won't provide the control you need for stability. A Stayputnik probe core alone won't do it either - you need a higher-tier probe core.

[FreeThinker]

http://i.imgur.com/Ow9DP3H.png

I'm trying to do an orbit mission, the precision requested is only "reasonable" yet despite my apo and periapsis being within 100 meters of the requested values apparently it's not precise enough. I haven't upgraded to patched conics yet so I can't get the other values exactly, but you can see my apoapsis overlapping the target apoapsis quite nicely. I feel those orbital contacts are much too strict.

Make sure trim is neutral

[andruszkow]

I guess updates are nice, but I don't think the dev team is prioritizing correctly. There's still no native Load on Demand support and 64bit is still... broken. The base game without mods is pretty boring. One can only load so many mods into the 32bit client. Someone made a LoD mod, but it has a few bugs and hasn't been updated in forever. This should become a priority for Squad in my opinion. KSC upgrades are nice but not really in high demand or very useful.

My problem with these kinds of rants/critiques, is that they generalize the wish for content across all players.

I'd much rather have an evolved base game, and extend with mods. Seeing mod's isn't Squad's business, it only makes sense that they update the game and go for scope complete, don't you think?

So yes, KSC upgrades are indeed in high demand for a lot of players. To me, and a lot of others, it makes the carreer game seem like an actual carreer. We now have proper gameplay in the game.

Also, the 64-bit still isn't Squads problem entirely, because Unity.

[cantab]

Someone else (not saying ME) may not mind the expense or challenge of landing on target, in a rocket / ballistic trajectory survey.

Not to mention this is very in tune with how spaceflight grew out of missile technology. Sputnik's launcher was original intended to put its payload (a nuclear warhead) in a certain location on the ground, which is exactly what you'll (try to) do in KSP if you use a rocket for a survey.

http://i.imgur.com/Ow9DP3H.png

I'm trying to do an orbit mission, the precision requested is only "reasonable" yet despite my apo and periapsis being within 100 meters of the requested values apparently it's not precise enough.

It says it right there, ascending node: 180°. That means you're going the wrong way round! In future look for the little dots moving around the target orbit, they tell you the correct direction, and check once you start launching that your AN/DN show low numbers.

[xcorps]

I'm personally not real crazy about the costs for upgrading buildings vs payouts for contrace completion.

It is way way too grindy. 1st tier contracts are not worth accepting, and it costs more to upgrade the science center than the entire payout of exploring Mun.

Way off.

[z26]

Forgive me if this is an obvious question, but are you orbiting in the right direction?

I feel like a complete idiot now... I didn't think direction mattered. thankfully, my probe was so overkill that I just fixed this by reversing my orbit completely thrusting retrograde.

Edited December 17, 2014 by z26

[DarkStar64]

#BringBackTheBarn

roninpawn KSP Movement

[Yellowburn10]

I feel like a complete idiot now... I didn't think direction mattered. thankfully, my probe was so overkill that I just fixed this by reversing my orbit completely thrusting retrograde.

Eh, I have a worse idiotic moment. I accepted a satellite contract, not knowing that when it said a probe with "power," it meant having stuff like solar panels on it, not just batteries. I only have 2 contract slots still, so now I'm stuck with a contract I can't complete, and having to go to the mun with a minimal part count and budget.

[basic.syntax]

I'm personally not real crazy about the costs for upgrading buildings vs payouts for contrace completion. It is way way too grindy...

It is possible to adjust payout percentage of normal values, up to 1000% during new game setup, if you want to cut down on the "grind."

[Ziff]

I'm trying to do an orbit mission, the precision requested is only "reasonable" yet despite my apo and periapsis being within 100 meters of the requested values apparently it's not precise enough. I haven't upgraded to patched conics yet so I can't get the other values exactly, but you can see my apoapsis overlapping the target apoapsis quite nicely. I feel those orbital contacts are much too strict.

You're in a prograde orbit and the orbit you need to be in is retrograde. If you look at the [+]Notes section of the contract you will see it has an inclination that is 90°-180°, that means its a retrograde orbit. A prograde orbit has an inclination of 0°-90°.

[Jovzin]

Hello

I am trying to start career and the buildings are fully upgraded. What happened ? I saw some video where theys were showing that we can now upgrade building from lvl to lvl 3.

Thx for the info

[KasperVld]

This is a bug with the 64 bit version of the game. Use the regular (32 bit/x86) KSP.exe file to run the game and you should be fine.

[Violent Jeb]

Just wanted to say THANK YOU FOR .90, an awesome early Christmas present!!

downloading now. I'm so excited for missions and exp <3

[harlikwin]

My 2 cents...

Overall I think this one of the best updates to the game since I have been playing it (since .17 IIRC), I love the career mode and kerbal experience.

I think the new career mode is good though it needs some tweaking. And perhaps a better explanation of how things work. I haven't played through the whole thing but I have gotten to level 2 buildings for the most part, been to the Mun and minmus, and working toward Ike and Duna next.

A few thoughts:

The tech tree could use some re-ordering, or perhaps better branching at this point. I will echo the how is it I can build a plane but there is no landing gear complaint? Same goes for some of the satellite vs manned pods stuff that has been brought up.

Cost of buildings/upgraded buildings. While early on I did find it to be a problem getting the money to upgrade the buildings, it did force me to take contracts I normally would have no interest in (i.e. surveying Kerbin with a plane, or launching satellites). And also to think outside the box on how to get the Mun in 30 parts or less, which I don't think is necessarily a bad thing. Also I don't think for the first level the maneuver planner is necessary as getting to the Mun and Minimus isn't that hard without it and it actually forces the player to understand the basics orbital mechanics.

Once I got the Mun, the game became much easier as I had money for upgrades and started to get good paying contracts to go do surveys etc. I made 500,000 Kbucks in one mission along with a few hundred science to do a munar survey, which enabled me to finally upgrade my science building.

At the mid-point of the game I don't feel like the contracts or money paid per contract is too bad, you have to fly a few mission to upgrade each building and while that may seem "grindy" I think there is enough variety in the mission system to make it tolerable, and at the mid levels you have most of the basic game functionality. And the contracts do provide a interesting balance between getting money and doing the science to move through the tech tree.

With regard to the kerbal experience system, I think this could be done better, the pilot progression I think is generally good, but I feel like the scientists and engineers are too underdeveloped skill wise. Maybe make a scientist required to use some of the more advanced instrumentation to collect science, and I'm not sure how to make the engineers better. One weird thing is that if I kill a kerbal they are listed as MIA, and I have to delete them from that part of the roster before I hire any new kerbals, could there be a list of dead kerbals kept somewhere, a memorial wall or something?

Also, I would really like to see some sort of off-world fuel/supply system though as alluded to.

[ArmchairGravy]

Is it possible to do the place satellite missions in a specific orbit without KER?

[Frank327]

Is it possible to do the place satellite missions in a specific orbit without KER?

What I do is just fix it visually. Make sure you look at the orbits from all different directions and don't try and don't be afraid to make corrections all the time. You're in orbit anyways so you're only limited by fuel. Using the normal/antinormal markers (cyan coloured) to line up the apoapsis and the periapsis is very important. Once those are lined up, just look at the distance of ap/pe and you can get them really accurate. Also try and get the phase angle of the orbit right the first time. For a kerbin orbit this means launching at an angle and for other orbits it means fine tuning your transfer.

[cantab]

Should be, since the target orbit is shown in the map view.

[LameLefty]

Should be, since the target orbit is shown in the map view.

Without lat/long grids on the default stock Map view (something I've really, really wanted for many versions now), I've never tried one of those target-orbit missions yet. Are the target argument of periapsis and longitude of ascending node displayed on the Map view when you take one of those contracts?

[LordFerret]

Is anyone having shaking issues when looking at their AP or PA? It's like it has the jitters. The nodes are having the same issue.

I don't have any jitter issues around Kerbin usually, but I do around Mun and expecially Minmus - seems (for me) it's been that way since I first started playing.

The problem is every time they update the program it breaks all of the mods and you don't get the chance to back out. You just lose all of the ships you have in orbit or where-ever. This made me quit in the past. I just came back to the exact same issue. it's a shame because the program is pretty cool, but without any mods it lacks.

I was wary of that myself, so rather than allow it to 'update', I downloaded and unpacked v.90 on its own in a separate folder to try it - then moved my v.25 save into it to see if anything broke. I only encountered minor issues with one of the mods I use (SCANsat), and no problems yet thus far with the other (Lazor docking cam). Had the whole thing gone kablooie, I still have my v.25 install to play with, untouched, mods included. Anytime something *new* comes out, no matter what it is, it makes good sense to run parallel if at all possible.

[Superfluous J]

Is it possible to do the place satellite missions in a specific orbit without KER?

Yeah just pretend you're doing a rendezvous with it, but you don't have to worry about getting an exact match with an object:

1. Get your orbit so it's touching the orbit in the map view.
   
2. When you get there, burn normal to align the two orbits' planes. Make sure you're gong the right direction!
   
3. Then burn retrograde/prograde and/or radially so your orbit shrinks, grows, or turns to match the target orbit.
   
4. NOTE: All of this can be done with maneuver nodes (and 2 and 3 can even be done with a single maneuver node which saves a ton of fuel) so you know beforehand everything that needs done.
   

[R0CKSTAR3N3RGY]

Upgrade the tracking center.

That was not the issue, reinstalling seems to have fixed it.

[Maelstrom Vortex]

Definitely harder than 0.25. Started an unmodded game on moderate difficulty, and am having a heck of a time getting enough money to upgrade my facilities. The rough runway certainly doesn't help early plane efforts.

While it's definitely challenging, I'm not sure if the fun quotient has increased at all. Jury is still out.

Do what I do, drive off the runway and launch from the field

[ArmchairGravy]

What I do is just fix it visually. Make sure you look at the orbits from all different directions and don't try and don't be afraid to make corrections all the time. You're in orbit anyways so you're only limited by fuel. Using the normal/antinormal markers (cyan coloured) to line up the apoapsis and the periapsis is very important. Once those are lined up, just look at the distance of ap/pe and you can get them really accurate. Also try and get the phase angle of the orbit right the first time. For a kerbin orbit this means launching at an angle and for other orbits it means fine tuning your transfer.

I posted before I saw the very helpful line. Easy peezie frebreezie. Good money, too. I may have to take back my assertion that Normal mode is too hard.

[CodeFantastic]

So some of the MK3 parts have a white texture ( the adapters ), and HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO LAUNCH ANYONE BUT A PILOT WHEN I'M NOT ALLOWED TO USE SAS EVEN WHEN I HAVE SAS ON? Sorry for the yelling but it's really rustling my jimmies

[Zipmafia]

So some of the MK3 parts have a white texture ( the adapters ), and HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO LAUNCH ANYONE BUT A PILOT WHEN I'M NOT ALLOWED TO USE SAS EVEN WHEN I HAVE SAS ON? Sorry for the yelling but it's really rustling my jimmies

Slap a probe on that baby. Most of them have stability assist, just make sure it does before you place it.