Kerbal Space Program Extension Now Available • Hacker News Board

Re: Kerbal Space Program Extension Now Available

#51

Post by Cthulhu_ » Wed, Mar 14, 2018, 2:39 PM UTC

remarkEon wrote: post #16

I’ve spent a lot of time playing KSP. This game has an incredibly steep learning curve. The best thing they could do is build a player autopilot that lets them get to orbit with basic rocket builds. There’s a ton of hardcore players (like me) who do things like write kOS scripts to run rockets to the mun and beyond. But that kind of thing is lost on the person who first downloads this game. If the devs are reading th…

I think they don't need autopilot or something, but to have a better onboarding and tutorial, a fun tutorial that teaches players the basics of spaceflight and rocket building step by step. Narrated by Scott Manley of course. Just get a smooth tutorial into the game. Modders / the community could probably make that with the new mission editor.

Re: Kerbal Space Program Extension Now Available

#52

Post by Cthulhu_ » Wed, Mar 14, 2018, 2:40 PM UTC

swarnie_ wrote: post #31

rkagerer wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I loved this game, even wrote / helped maintain some mods, but stopped playing due to performance degradation that gets worse the longer the application runs (especially slow scene changes). In my humble opinion the best thing they could do is plug the memory leaks, refine the architecture to make it more robust and uniform, sharpen the performance and make the game I loved playable again. I'd love an extension that…

I'm not sure how long its been since you played but the 64 bit version running on Unity 2017 is pretty good from the limited time i've spent with it.

They did claim (even) more performance improvements in the release from last week, and I'm sure there's still a lot more to tweak.

Re: Kerbal Space Program Extension Now Available

#53

Post by Cthulhu_ » Wed, Mar 14, 2018, 2:41 PM UTC

cpv wrote: post #18

tuxxy wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't played in a long time, but isn't MechJeb essentially this?

MechJeb is a mod. Imagine how many play it on original build, or on consoles. The same could be said about the Kerbal Engineer, which shows useful stats (dV, altitude, periapsis, apoapsis, etc).

MechJeb could be considered cheating though; I'd make it a bit more idk, lore-friendly and only gradually add it. Those stats could definitely be added though, with stat availability based on what pod you're using. For immersion you could have a mode that hides the UI so that info is only available from inside the cockpit - although of course most rockets are remote controlled or automated nowadays.

Re: Kerbal Space Program Extension Now Available

#54

Post by 52-6F-62 » Wed, Mar 14, 2018, 2:47 PM UTC

B1FF_PSUVM wrote: post #49

sandworm101 wrote: post #29

Been playing since first linux biulds. Love the game. Hate the developer. Too much politics. Too many mind games. Too many unaddressed bugs. Would jump at any similar game, something more based on physics, if run by anyone else.

Do you know of Orbiter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbiter_(simulator) Orbiter vs Kerbal, etc.: http://www.thespacereview.com/article/3091/1 (Via XKCD, note title text: https://xkcd.com/1244/ - nice slingshots too )

I couldn't get that into Orbiter. If there was more comprehensive building it would be a bit more fun. It's closer to a flight sim than to Kerbal.

But reading that second article makes me think I'm using a drastically outdated version— and I haven't pursued the user-made add-ons. There goes some of my coming weekend... looks like I'll be giving it another shot.

Re: Kerbal Space Program Extension Now Available

#55

Post by TomMarius » Wed, Mar 14, 2018, 2:48 PM UTC

jbfoo wrote: post #47

abricot wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. They just aren't assholes.

Well I see some correlation between being left-leaning and not being asshole to employees ;)

Well, my anecdata is the exact opposite. ;)

Re: Kerbal Space Program Extension Now Available

#56

Post by moron4hire » Wed, Mar 14, 2018, 2:51 PM UTC

koolba wrote: post #46

moron4hire wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Violence isn't the only way to coerce people into doing things against their interest. If there was an implication that bonuses would be available, or something to the effect, it's unethical to say, "haha, you didn't have an iron-clad contract". Using fine-print in contracts to get one over on people who aren't lawyers is pretty much the textbook definition of unethical. The point people are trying to make is that th…

> Violence isn't the only way to coerce people into doing things against their interest. If there was an implication that bonuses would be available, or something to the effect, it's unethical to say, "haha, you didn't have an iron-clad contract". Using fine-print in contracts to get one over on people who aren't lawyers is pretty much the textbook definition of unethical. None of the comments I've replied to describ…

This isn't a theoretical, "if all cows were spherical, then friction would be disregarded" sort of scenario. It's a real thing that happened for which details are available online.

If you haven't informed yourself on those details outside of this thread, then I guess to your perspective, that's on you.

Re: Kerbal Space Program Extension Now Available

#57

Post by billfruit » Wed, Mar 14, 2018, 2:52 PM UTC

remarkEon wrote: post #16

I’ve spent a lot of time playing KSP. This game has an incredibly steep learning curve. The best thing they could do is build a player autopilot that lets them get to orbit with basic rocket builds. There’s a ton of hardcore players (like me) who do things like write kOS scripts to run rockets to the mun and beyond. But that kind of thing is lost on the person who first downloads this game. If the devs are reading th…

At least having automatic staging would make beginners life easier. Crashing and burning because you didn't press he button at the right moment, is quite video-gamey.

And also the fact that stages are numbered reverse from popular usage convention, adds a bit to the confusion.

Having voiced count downs and space chatter out of the box would also have added a bit more polish.

Re: Kerbal Space Program Extension Now Available

#58

Post by TomMarius » Wed, Mar 14, 2018, 2:55 PM UTC

factotum wrote: post #50

TomMarius wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never said that the owners aren't assholes, but still, it was the developers' free choice to sign that (asshole-ish) agreement. Being more to the right than the HN crowd doesn't mean being an asshole.

No, but throwing around political accusations as epithets in a non-political discussion might.

I'm not accusing anyone, being left leaning is nothing wrong; it's just a different viewpoint on the issue of allowing people to freely sign contracts even though it might not be a good deal. This is a political discussion, we're talking about regulating something. I replied to a comment that asked why is a seemingly OK comment being downvoted and because there are no other obvious signs, the logical conclusion is that it's because of political disagreement.

Re: Kerbal Space Program Extension Now Available

#59

Post by Bartweiss » Wed, Mar 14, 2018, 2:56 PM UTC

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #51

remarkEon wrote: post #16

I’ve spent a lot of time playing KSP. This game has an incredibly steep learning curve. The best thing they could do is build a player autopilot that lets them get to orbit with basic rocket builds. There’s a ton of hardcore players (like me) who do things like write kOS scripts to run rockets to the mun and beyond. But that kind of thing is lost on the person who first downloads this game. If the devs are reading th…

I think they don't need autopilot or something, but to have a better onboarding and tutorial, a fun tutorial that teaches players the basics of spaceflight and rocket building step by step. Narrated by Scott Manley of course. Just get a smooth tutorial into the game. Modders / the community could probably make that with the new mission editor.

Honestly, Scott Manley's "going to orbit" and "changing orbits" videos were a huge chunk of what made the game work for me. I'd done both without guidance, but learning to do them efficiently and consistently was what opened up creative designs for me.

I'd love to see Manley's info promoted to a game component or tutorial mod - it's already a huge contribution to the game as-is.

Re: Kerbal Space Program Extension Now Available

#60

Post by AlphaSite » Wed, Mar 14, 2018, 2:57 PM UTC

marvin wrote: post #22

rocky1138 wrote: post #10

I had heard the original team that built this game quit due to poor working conditions. Is that true? If so, who built this expansion and have the working conditions improved?

The original devs were paid next to nothing while developing KSP from their own ideas, with the efforts of a startup company. Terribly poor negotiation tactics on their part, but still quite shitty of the owners not to give them a massive bonus after the huge success of the game. Given those ethics, I wouldn't believe a new team got better conditions without solid proof.

The whole game got bought out by 2K, so I’d believe it.