Squadcast Summary (2015-01-31) - The 'Wait For It..' Edition

[BudgetHedgehog]

Hullo everyone, and here's the summary for Squadcast 31/01/2015

. Sorry for speeling mistakes, I'm a terrible transcrber. I try and clarify what is an actual quote from Max (if it's wrapped in "quotation marks", it's the best transcript of an official Squad member you'll find on the web), and what is a summary from myself as I'm aware I switch between the two with 0 notice. When I say 'Squad', I mean 'the relevant people who are currently developing the game'.

As always, this is just a transcript of an off the cuff vlog of a non-native english speaker - some details may change or be entirely incorrect. Here we go!!

Squadcast Summary for 2015-01-31 - Watch it here!

Blah blah blah, preparing stuff for Max's burn to Jool, nobody cares about that...

Little chunks of the builds are being sent to QA, right the very second, it's aerodynamics! "The overhaul is something to be very proud of". It's completely changed the game balance, right now, "no plane could resist the air around it because everything is going so damn fast and things are breaking" etc.. infinigliders, while cool, shouldn't exist so they're gone. Also, engines are currently way too OP (especially the 48-7S which is getting a severe beating with the nerf bat) so yeah.. rebalance. Max says they can't promise the game will be the same as it is now, the gameplay might change very drastically but such a thing is unavoidable. This means a lot of guides will be invalidated, previous knowledge will need to be forgotten.

Navball up at mapview by default is a very good idea, Max will float the idea at the devs.

This update will take a looong time. Far longer than previous updates, for example, a month of straight coding was done and there's still a load of features to complete.

Stock vessels are designed to be less than perfect in a specific way - the Learstar can't actually make orbit and if you're clever, you can figure out why.

All engines are getting names! The LV-909 will be called the Terrier, for example. This will help people so rather than remembering numbers, people remember names (easier to remember Mainsail or Skipper than S1 SRB-KD25k, for example).

Valentina's design is almost complete, "just a few tweaks then she's ready to be shown".

TimewarpTo - make a point on your orbit, like a manoeuvre node, and say 'warp me here' and the game will warp you there as fast as it can.

Heatshields are being added to certain parts, "heatshields as a part maaaaaay be added, haven't decided yet" (OWK: pls squad.. )

Resources - currently a single resource (unnamed, but can be broken down to LF and O), but is left completely WIDE open to modders to make it as complex or simple as they like. Roverdude is more machine than man, immensely talented. Working hard, stuff to show. Like this:

This is a probe searching for resources on the Mun #sneakypeaksaresneaky. EDIT: Rowsy has said that "This is very much a work in progress and may not be indicative of the final product, but we thought you might enjoy an very early look." so please please please, I implore you people reading this to remember that and also read the red note at the top.(OWK: Note the old scanner part present on it - this seems to confirm the fact they're bringing back between some and all the old assets.)

That's should be it. Have fun, everybody!

Edited January 31, 2015 by ObsessedWithKSP
moar bolding

[KerBlam]

Cool, good to know

[GoSlash27]

I hope they don't forget to nerf the turbojet into submission (or completely out of existence)

Best,

-Slashy

[klesh]

Looking good!

Damn, I love using that sweet 48-7S!

Edited January 31, 2015 by klesh

[Liowen]

Hmmm Nercobones already has an engine called the "Terrier", so I wonder if this means that his parts are getting incorporated? Yeah I know it is a stretch to consider, however his work with moding fuel tanks and such do make for some more realistic rockets, and with the new areo model it would be fitting. I do like they are leaving the resource system open for people to make it as hard as they want, without forcing a certain version on all players (at least from the sounds of it anyways). The female Kerbal thing never bothered me too much, I just figured they were asexual since all their last names are the same. I would rather have clouds than female Kerbals, and maybe since the update is large, apparently, we may get those as well. Engine balancing is always nice, and hopefully some engines will be brought up that hardly see use *coughradialscough*. Maybe possible to get more capsule and lander can options too, I mean there are four things for planes but only 3 for rockets. Really only 2 since the 2 man can is kinda ugly.

[NecroBones]

All engines are getting names! The LV-909 will be called the Terrier, for example. This will help people so rather than remembering numbers, people remember names (easier to remember Mainsail or Skipper than S1 SRB-KD25k, for example).

Hmmm Nercobones already has an engine called the "Terrier", so I wonder if this means that his parts are getting incorporated?

I'm not sure what to think of them taking the Terrier name, after one of my MRS engines has had that name for a while. As Red Iron Crown pointed out, I should take it as a compliment. I guess that's true.

(No, I haven't been contacted about using any of my parts.)

[KerBlam]

I wonder if the resource system will kill Karbonite/Karborundum, and whether the new aero will kill FAR (as in, not be able to use those mods anymore)

I can see myself sticking with 0.90 for quite some time TBH, unless I decide I can't live without female Kerbals, which is highly unlikely.

[BudgetHedgehog]

Hmmm Nercobones already has an engine called the "Terrier", so I wonder if this means that his parts are getting incorporated? ... Engine balancing is always nice, and hopefully some engines will be brought up that hardly see use *coughradialscough*.

99% sure that they're not, this is just a rename thing. Similar to how it's called a Rockomax "Mainsail" Liquid Engine, it'll probably be called the LV-909 "Terrier" Liquid Fuel Engine. That kind of thing. Also, in case you weren't aware, the Mk55 radial got a buff in 0.90 to have 5 degrees of gimbal and an Isp of 320/360. Pretty decent all around engine now. Higher TWR than the Aerospike, roughly as efficient as the LV-T45..

- - - Updated - - -

I wonder if the resource system will kill Karbonite/Karborundum, and whether the new aero will kill FAR (as in, not be able to use those mods anymore)

Seeing as RoverDude made those and is helping make this resource system, it'd a be a bit silly to kill his own mod. As mentioned, he's leaving it wide open and completely moddable so hopefully, Karbonite should just require a tweak at most. Though, I don't know for sure. But FAR... this is something I think all FAR users are worried about, they have said they'll try their best to not kill FAR, but it's possible that they do anyway. We don't know yet.

[FlowerChild]

Thanks for the summary man! Much obliged

On this one point:

Heatshields are being added to certain parts, "heatshields as a part maaaaaay be added, haven't decided yet" (OWK: pls squad.. )

Yikes...yes...please

[Norpo]

Yes! Finally, all engines are getting names, I was about to make an MM config for it myself

And part balances will be a great, needed addition, I've always disliked using the small orange engine because it was so OP...

[RoverDude]

I wonder if the resource system will kill Karbonite/Karborundum, and whether the new aero will kill FAR (as in, not be able to use those mods anymore)

I can see myself sticking with 0.90 for quite some time TBH, unless I decide I can't live without female Kerbals, which is highly unlikely.

Karbonite and K+ will simply use the new stock system. MKS/OKS will also use the new stock system. K+ has interesting scarcity requirements, and MKS uses a lot of resources. As Max noted in the SquadCast, I'm making this extremely open for modding (and have a vested interest in doing so!)

[NecroBones]

Seeing as RoverDude made those and is helping make this resource system, it'd a be a bit silly to kill his own mod. As mentioned, he's leaving it wide open and completely moddable so hopefully, Karbonite should just require a tweak at most. Though, I don't know for sure. But FAR... this is something I think all FAR users are worried about, they have said they'll try their best to not kill FAR, but it's possible that they do anyway. We don't know yet.

I have no idea how it's designed internally, but it's possible that most of the "heavy lifting" will be in stock now, so he might be able to strip out a lot of the code from the mod and simplify it internally, while still adding features for the player. Hopefully it's all modular enough to support that.

EDIT: nevermind, ninja'd by the dude.

[KerBlam]

Karbonite and K+ will simply use the new stock system. MKS/OKS will also use the new stock system. K+ has interesting scarcity requirements, and MKS uses a lot of resources. As Max noted in the SquadCast, I'm making this extremely open for modding (and have a vested interest in doing so!)

Oh... that's good to know thanks RD.

So the stock system will be kind of like the community resource overlay...

I should have known this. I did know that the devs were consulting you about resources. Of course you're not going to kill your own mod!

FAR will be another story I think, which will be a damn shame as it's such an awesome, full featured mod. Hopefully Ferram can work something out.

[pxi]

Thanks for the summary, twitch currently does horrible things to my laptop display, as in graphical glitches all over the screen. Bit puzzled by that, as I have no problems with any other video streaming service, nor with any games. So for the moment, summaries like these are a godsend. (Please consider mirroring the squadcast on youtube.)

Navball up at mapview by default is a very good idea, Max will float the idea at the devs.

This really is a good idea. Ideally it should mirror the status of the navball in flight view - ie if it's up, it should be up, if it's hidden in flight view, it should be hidden in map view.

This update will take a looong time. Far longer than previous updates, for example, a month of straight coding was done and there's still a load of features to complete.

Perfectly fine with that.

Valentina's design is almost complete, "just a few tweaks then she's ready to be shown".

Looking forward to seeing her.

TimewarpTo - make a point on your orbit, like a manoeuvre node, and say 'warp me here' and the game will warp you there as fast as it can.

While a nice feature, and definitely an improvement, I fear this will not help a player such as myself who likes to run multiple missions simultaneously. Kerbal Alarm Clock will remain on my list of mods it seems.

Heatshields are being added to certain parts, "heatshields as a part maaaaaay be added, haven't decided yet" (OWK: pls squad.. )

I'd like heatshield parts too.

Resources - currently a single resource (unnamed, but can be broken down to LF and O), but is left completely WIDE open to modders to make it as complex or simple as they like.

That's basically all I wanted to hear in regards to resources. Big thumbs up.

[problemecium]

Ahhhhhhhhh, so THAT's what "Project V" was.

Yes, I did catch the late hypetrain. Better late than never.

I presume (because I don't have time to watch the actual video at the moment) that Valentina is the female Kerbal archetype and counterpart of Jebediah (as a male Kerbal archetype).

[biohazard15]

Well, looks like we're getting something like NEAR in stock - less drag means less dV required to reach the orbit. Nice, although that would require a HUGE rebalancing effort for both stock and mod engines. Of course, realism junkies will turn the ragemode on (like they always do about anything that is not 100% realistic), but those of us who use FAR simply as fun addition to make things more interesting will rejoice. Especially if this system will support the offset (FAR doesn't).

Also, heatshield as separate part: if they won't do it, it would kill the whole idea of having reentry heat. How would one land something unmanned on Eve?

[BudgetHedgehog]

Ahhhhhhhhh, so THAT's what "Project V" was.

Yes, I did catch the late hypetrain. Better late than never.

I presume (because I don't have time to watch the actual video at the moment) that Valentina is the female Kerbal archetype and counterpart of Jebediah (as a male Kerbal archetype).

More was mentioned last week, but yeah, Valentina is the codename for a specific female kerbal being added (presumably her real name as well, as that account here exists) and for the female kerbal model in general. Squad are going with, IIRC, no lipstick, rounder faces, slimmer bodies, no breasts.. basically just feminine versions of the current masculine kerbal body shape.

@pxi, I don't know if mirroring is something I'm A, allowed to be and B, capable of doing. I also don't particularly want the responsibility of that as my work hours sometimes won't allow it. Sorry.

[Robotengineer]

Looking forward to these features. Please make heatshields a thing, it would be nigh on impossible to aerobrake heavy equipment without them.

[r4pt0r]

Squad are going with, IIRC, no lipstick, rounder faces, slimmer bodies, no breasts..

I only remember hearing about 3 out of the 4, can we get confirmation on no breasts? Its an honest question please dont infract me for this too...

As for heatshields, I hope structural panels will work just as well...thats my current plan at least....

Edited January 31, 2015 by r4pt0r

[SpacedCowboy]

I hope they don't forget to nerf the turbojet into submission (or completely out of existence)

Best,

-Slashy

Slashy, Wait, What are you saying? You wan't the turbo jet to be done away with? Did you have a substitution in mind? Or maybe I'm not understanding something. Please elaborate.

[Alshain]

Is the new resource going to be worthwhile to lift from the surface and process in orbit or is it going to be ridiculously heavy like Karbonite requiring mods (KAS) to transfer fuel and actually be useful?

Edited January 31, 2015 by Alshain

[peachoftree]

My theory with regards to the new aerodynamics and FAR is that FAR will not go away, but will become more of a diehard realism mod like RSS.

[biohazard15]

As for heatshields, I hope structural panels will work just as well...thats my current plan at least....

God please no. I hope that 1.0 would be a final nail in the coffin of "fairings", "heatshields", "interstages" and other aerodynamic things that are made from structural panels by those who somehow don't know about Procedural Fairings (or any other fairings mod).

[Dodgey]

God please no. I hope that 1.0 would be a final nail in the coffin of "fairings", "heatshields", "interstages" and other aerodynamic things that are made from structural panels by those who somehow don't know about Procedural Fairings (or any other fairings mod).

Why is it a bad thing to have them as well? Why is it a bad thing for people to do things like that?

[biohazard15]

Why is it a bad thing to have them as well? Why is it a bad thing for people to do things like that?

Because "fairings" made from structural panels and other stock parts like new wings:

- look pretty ugly

- kill your FPS

- actually increase your drag instead of lowering it

- doesn't serve any practical purpose except "hey look, it's a totally stock "fairing"!"