Octopus Overlords

yes pls

Damn, you beat me to it

You are now responsible for keeping the title post updated! I too am excited.

It looked a little too good, and then the ships started falling apart and blowing up, and that's when I knew it actually was Kerbal Space Program.

But, uh, I gotta say that, in the first one, getting a ship to another planet is a little bit beyond me. Right now, I think I *may* have gotten a rocket past the atmosphere a couple of times. The astronaut didn't survive.

AHHHHHHH!!! (Head Explodes)

I don't think I've ever wanted a game as bad as I want this one.

Apollo wrote: Mon Aug 19, 2019 5:59 pm AHHHHHHH!!! (Head Explodes)

I don't think I've ever wanted a game as bad as I want this one.

Minecraft Half-life 3. Just saying....

NickAragua wrote: Mon Aug 19, 2019 5:10 pm But, uh, I gotta say that, in the first one, getting a ship to another planet is a little bit beyond me. Right now, I think I *may* have gotten a rocket past the atmosphere a couple of times. The astronaut didn't survive.

Yeah, same here. I still struggle to get to another planet, and that's even with MechJeb, and that's because you still need to know the lingo more or less. What the game really needs is a dynamic tutorial system that can be toggled on/off that can key you in to things that you need to do to get a successful orbit and landing. I appreciate the physics, but at times it can be a little brutal for anyone just starting out with it.

Apollo wrote: Mon Aug 19, 2019 5:59 pm AHHHHHHH!!! (Head Explodes)

I don't think I've ever wanted a game as bad as I want this one.

The trailer is pretty cool, but what is it? In what ways is it more than a KSP update? I Kind of want it because it is KSP but I didn't really see much in the trailer that is more than KSP.

An interview with some more detail.

It's important to get players through that first hurdle, because Kerbal Space Program 2's big new features are all things that expand the scope of what you can do out among the stars, starting with interstellar travel. "You start at our new Kerbal Space Center, which is actually at the same location on Kerbin as it was in the original game," explains Simpson. "And then all the planets in the Kerbolar system continue to be present in enhanced forms. And then, as you continue to progress up the tech tree and get access to interstellar technologies, the scope of the game just gets larger, and you begin crossing the gulfs of interstellar space."

***

As for how you build a ship that supports interstellar travel, that's where another of Kerbal Space Program 2's new features comes in: Colonies. Players will be able to transport deflated portable modules to new planets—think The Martian's HAB—and deploy them on the surface, or even while in orbit.

"As your colonies progress—as their population increases—they begin to build new modules using either locally available resources or resources that you brought to them," explains Simpson. "And when they reach a certain point of maturity, you can build a new VAB at the colony. And at that point, you have a proper beachhead—you're now outside of the gravity well of Kerbin. That unlocks, especially in the case of orbital colonies, some truly exciting possibilities."

Interstellar ships will need to big—"like skyscraper big," says Simpson—which is a much easier task when you're constructing without, for instance, gravity getting in the way.

coopasonic wrote: Tue Aug 20, 2019 9:23 am

Apollo wrote: Mon Aug 19, 2019 5:59 pm AHHHHHHH!!! (Head Explodes)

I don't think I've ever wanted a game as bad as I want this one.

The trailer is pretty cool, but what is it? In what ways is it more than a KSP update? I Kind of want it because it is KSP but I didn't really see much in the trailer that is more than KSP.

Here's an everything we know compilation from Reddit:

Features:

• New animated tutorials, improved UI, and fully revamped assembly and flight instructions
• Next-generation engines, parts, fuel, and much more
• Interstellar travel, featuring a solar system with a ringed super earth with "relentless" gravity, and one with a binary pair called Rusk and Rask "locked in a dance of death", another with "Charr", a heat-blasted world of iron, and "many more to reward exploration"
• Colonies, dependent on resource gathering. You can build "structures, space stations, habitations, and unique fuel types". Eventually (once it gets big enough I assume) you will be able to build rockets directly from these colonies.
• Multiplayer (not clear whether it will be cross-platform). More details on this coming later
• Modding capability. Modders have "unprecedented capability" that they did not have in KSP 1. More details on this are coming later

Other things:

• It's still built on Unity, however
• It's a total rewrite
• It will be $59.99
• Console release will come after PC release due to them not wanting to delay PC in favor of console
• It will not be an Epic exclusive, if you care about that
• Saves will not be compatible
• Existing mods will not be compatible
• "Realistic vehicle physics and orbital mechanics continue to be at the center of the Kerbal experience. We've focused on optimizing vehicle physics to allow for the smooth simulation of larger structures on a wider variety of PCs."
• The game is being developed by Private Division and Star Theory
• Squad will continue to develop KSP 1, so you can expect new content and updates being released for KSP 1
• Members of Squad are helping Star Theory to make sure they "make the best possible sequel"
• No in-game currency or loot boxes not sure how a space game would even have that
• For those who don't have confidence in Star Theory, they have this to say:
  Q: How do we know if Star Theory Games has the capability of developing a worthy successor to our favorite game?
  A: The team behind Star Theory Games are skilled video game developers as well as lifelong fans of Kerbal Space Program, with multiple members of having played 2000+ hours of the original KSP. The principal engineer even has a background in the aerospace industry. Their skill set in combination with a deep understanding of what makes this game great has led to the creation of an amazing sequel we know you’ll love to challenge yourself with! If you’d like to learn more about the amazing team behind Kerbal Space Program 2 be sure to watch the Developer Story video.

Thanks, that helps and does sound somewhat reasonable for a 2.0 -- if a bit less than I would like... but that really depends on how the colonies work. I'm in either way, I just hope it's really an evolution of the game.

Rumpy wrote: Tue Aug 20, 2019 12:56 am

NickAragua wrote: Mon Aug 19, 2019 5:10 pm But, uh, I gotta say that, in the first one, getting a ship to another planet is a little bit beyond me. Right now, I think I *may* have gotten a rocket past the atmosphere a couple of times. The astronaut didn't survive.

Yeah, same here. I still struggle to get to another planet, and that's even with MechJeb, and that's because you still need to know the lingo more or less. What the game really needs is a dynamic tutorial system that can be toggled on/off that can key you in to things that you need to do to get a successful orbit and landing. I appreciate the physics, but at times it can be a little brutal for anyone just starting out with it.

I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say I think I watched over 80 hours of Scott Manly playing who was learning me astrophysics while I watched him do what I could not. His videos were worth the price of the game. I never played the final product. I manned a mission to Mun and the closest planet somewhere in the beta but I never could get the hang of controlling kerbals outside their craft for more advance research and building and I set the game down before manning a craft further than the first planet. It was really really hard trying to get unmanned craft past the first planet. I didn't see my abilities ever getting manned craft that far. And this was during the beta when things were easier. Around the time I was when Coop was safely landing asteroids on Kerbal.

Manly really was my bridge for why don't devs do a better job of documenting their games to using "Let's Plays" for everything and now watching them before I buy most games. I had watched 1 or 2 Quill Let's Plays before then, but Manly hooked me in.

LordMortis wrote: Tue Aug 20, 2019 10:14 amIt was really really hard trying to get unmanned craft past the first planet. I didn't see my abilities ever getting manned craft that far.

It turned out to be a game I really loved in concept, but couldn't enjoy so much in practice. After I flung my first Kerbal into space and accidentally broke gravitational pull from the planet, sending them into a massive orbit around the sun with no chance of ever recovering them, I kind of wandered away.

Paingod wrote: Tue Aug 20, 2019 10:40 am

LordMortis wrote: Tue Aug 20, 2019 10:14 amIt was really really hard trying to get unmanned craft past the first planet. I didn't see my abilities ever getting manned craft that far.

It turned out to be a game I really loved in concept, but couldn't enjoy so much in practice. After I flung my first Kerbal into space and accidentally broke gravitational pull from the planet, sending them into a massive orbit around the sun with no chance of ever recovering them, I kind of wandered away.

I didn't mind failures I could learn to overcome. For a time I was learning what Delta was and how to break orbits and I was doing it without all of the mods. But when it came to navigating craft or kerbals in various gravity levels with proper twitch reflexes and spacial understanding, that's just not a gap I can leap and I don't enjoy trying and seeing the same failures with my not learning a damned thing again and again. That's when I set the game down.

Still, I enjoy watching someone skilled at this sort of thing and if you add that someone is passing on a knowledge of international space study (or I assume they are. I'm too ignorant to know if they are or not)

LordMortis wrote: Tue Aug 20, 2019 10:14 am I manned a mission to Mun and the closest planet somewhere in the beta but I never could get the hang of controlling kerbals outside their craft for more advance research and building and I set the game down before manning a craft further than the first planet. It was really really hard trying to get unmanned craft past the first planet.

With MechJeb, best I could do was break orbit and get to the Mun, which was an accomplishment unto itself. But I would always crash into it. I knew I was doing something wrong, but what that wrong was, I couldn't tell, because even with MechJeb, you really have to know what you're doing to operate it properly, ie knowing what to set.

Even real astronauts are never fully in the dark, unless they hit a point of radio silence. But for the most part, they're always being monitored by mission control, giving feedback and guiding the astronauts every step of the way. So, to me a good unobtrusive tutorial system would be one where Mission Control is giving feedback and guiding players through to the next step. And factually, it even makes sense and wouldn't break immersion. But maybe such a system could be totally dynamic as to not give as much guidance if it knows you've done it before unless you run into an issue like those Apollo 13 astronauts. Or if Mission Control notices you're spinning out of control, it could pipe up to let you know how to stabilize.

It's interesting that this is coming to consoles. Part of me wonders how much it's going to be nerfed.

I doubt that they will "Nerf" anything for consoles. After all, KSP is already available on consoles so it's not like it hasn't been done before, and they have specifically stated that they are not going to mess with the difficulty. However, it seems highly logical that this version will come with some form of autopilot to help out new players as well as advanced players who dislike the time-consuming tediousness of things like orbital rendezvous and docking.

The irony of KSP is that, though it is difficult to learn and many folks give up before they've even reached orbit, it would be very easy for an experienced player like myself to guide a newbie through all of the basics if I were in the same room with them and could correct their errors as they made them. But trying to teach someone through videos or screenshots is a lot trickier. If there is one thing KSP requires it's Patience with a capital P.

KSP was created by a group of programmers who had never created a game before and were basically designing things on the fly. Now, with a big gaming studio and a much bigger budget as well as a much clearer idea of what the game needs to be, I expect KSP 2 to be so superior to KSP that it will make the original game look like a 10yr old tech demo.

Here's what I'm looking forward to in KSP 2:

1. Much better graphics, including detailed moon and planet surfaces.
2. More advanced rocket parts so that my space program can start very simple and end up travelling to other solar systems.
3.The ability to build colonies on other moons and planets, something that required mods in KSP and was still a huge PITA.
4. More things to see and do on the surface of other planets and moons, including manned rovers and more geological variety.
5. A better programmed, more stable game that will allow very large spacecraft and space stations, while permanently banishing the Kraken.
6. A built-in autopilot, to help new players and to automate tedious tasks. No more breaking MechJeb with every update.
7. More RPG-lite character development for Kerbonauts.
8. OK, so I don't care about Multiplayer, but it will be a big deal for many.
9. More planets and moons to explore without having to use mods.
10. The ability to build and launch rockets from colonies!
11. Greatly improved tutorials.

I can't say for a fact that all of these things will be included in KSP 2, but it's already clear that about 90% of my list will be incorporated into the game and some of the other things, like a built-in autopilot, seem to be no-brainers.

What can I say other than I've never been this excited about an upcoming game. KSP had sooooo much potential...Now that potential is finally going to be realized!

Rumpy wrote: Tue Aug 20, 2019 3:32 pm Discussion re: dynamic tutorial system

I could definitely go for something like that. Or even something that'll remind me "look, the last time you built a rocket like this, it exploded half a minute after launch because you didn't put enough heat shielding on it" or "if you do this, your rocket is going to become an improvised centrifuge and turn the Kerbonaut inside into a thick, mushy paste". As it is, I'm basically "eyeballing it" every time I build a rocket, which isn't really how it goes in reality.

I'm also a little leery of the whole "interstellar flight" thing, seeing as how it takes ~40 years to even get to the heliopause around here.

Apollo wrote: Tue Aug 20, 2019 4:26 pm After all, KSP is already available on consoles so it's not like it hasn't been done before

Has it? I wasn't aware that it had. I thought KSP 2 would be their chance to really give that a push in that direction.

Here's a video where the developers talk about the upcoming game. A bit philosophical, but there's some actual gameplay footage mixed in:

jztemple2 wrote: Wed Sep 18, 2019 4:12 pm

I was going to give you grief for not including the hover text, but then I looked and totally don't get it.

"The committee appreciates that your 2020 launch is on track, but the 'human capital/personnel retention' budget includes a lot more unmarked cash payments than usual. What are th--" "Public outreach."

coopasonic wrote: Wed Sep 18, 2019 4:18 pm I was going to give you grief for not including the hover text, but then I looked and totally don't get it.

"The committee appreciates that your 2020 launch is on track, but the 'human capital/personnel retention' budget includes a lot more unmarked cash payments than usual. What are th--" "Public outreach."

I didn't get it either, but then sometimes XKCD goes right over my head entirely

The Mars folks bribed the developers.

FINALLY...After all these months we get some news, and it's all good!

Studio Update:

Next Gen Tech:

Can you tell us what the news is in a tldw version?

A 62 second long video is too long to watch?

Well, without knowing all the details, it looks like Star Theory, which had been working on the game, has been dissolved and the top people were brought to Seattle to work at the publisher, First Division, home studios. They'll now have more folks working on the game and a bigger budget, as First Division has decided to make the game more ambitious than was originally planned. This is what I've gathered from watching the video about their new studio and reading another article, so I may not have all the details right, but the decision to make KSP 2 bigger and better is clear, which is all I really care about.

The second video is just showing some of the new interstellar drives that will be available in KSP 2, since players will now be able to travel to other solar systems! Other videos showing more new features will be released over the following months.

Thanks!

Some more details about the shutdown of Star Theory.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... ate-strife

Yikes. What does this mean for the future of KSP2?

Holman wrote: Thu Jun 04, 2020 5:09 pm Yikes. What does this mean for the future of KSP2?

Among other things, delayed until Fall 2021.

If KSP2 was cancelled, it would one up my disappointment of the loss of Secret of the Vulcan Fury. I am still bitter on that one.

New article from PC Gamer, Space Odyssey: Our first big look at Kerbal Space Program 2:

I don’t know much about astrophysics, aerodynamics, or anything else to do with rocket science, but I do know how to tell when someone is trying very hard to avoid saying the words ‘kerbal orgy’. New studio Intercept Games, which has taken the reins on KSP, is busy crafting a sequel, coming next year, that includes intergalactic travel, multiplayer and helpful tutorials for science-challenged players like me. Reading between the lines of my first look at Kerbal Space Program 2, the kerbals themselves are getting busy too.

Over the course of two days I spoke with the dev team about what’s new in Kerbal Space Program 2, what’s changed, and just as importantly what’s not changed, to preserve the wonderful sense of accomplishment and discovery that defined one of PC gaming’s greatest experiences. At no point did anyone say these little green explorers are so excited about intergalactic travel that they throw a spontaneous space orgy, but I’m here to tell you it’s most definitely happening.

Honestly, it's more than a year off so I can't develop any excitement myself. Also recently I tried to get back into KSP1, but it's been too long and too many mods and I just don't have the energy. I guess I'm going to be waiting for KSP2.

jztemple2 wrote: Thu Jul 02, 2020 10:54 pm Honestly, it's more than a year off so I can't develop any excitement myself. Also recently I tried to get back into KSP1, but it's been too long and too many mods and I just don't have the energy. I guess I'm going to be waiting for KSP2.

Make that way more than a year off

However, we finally are getting some news, Developer Insights #17 - Engine Archetypes

Engines: How to Avoid Shipping a Rocket Scientist

We’ve mentioned approachability as a core pillar of our KSP2 design, and I’m here today to talk about one of the less-obvious ways we are focusing on helping players reach the stars.

An area we’ve noticed players struggling with in testing is making sense of the dizzying array of engines you’re presented with in the VAB. KSP1 had 35 engines for you to choose from (more if the Making History DLC is installed), spread across Liquid Fuel/Oxidizer, Liquid Fuel, Monopropellant, Xenon and Solid fuel types. This leads to a good deal of player confusion when starting out – what engine should I use? What engine is best for what I want to do? Why isn’t this rocket lifting off the pad even though I put 20 Terriers on it? There’s a lot of trial-and-error gameplay before you learn the hard-won lessons about specific impulse, thrust to weight ratio, and fuel density that can rocket you to success in KSP. Hah.

It unfortunately gets a bit worse. When you're looking for an engine, all of your important details are buried deep. You're searching for specific impulse, thrust, mass, heat production, and how the engine performs in multiple situations (sea level, orbit, other planets). It's a lot of work when you're learning!

When we look at our plans for KSP2, we’re only making this problem worse. We’re adding more engines, more fuel types and more engine sizes. Ouch. Clearly, we need to find good ways to teach new and returning players how to select an engine and teach players at the very least which engines are better at which missions they want to accomplish. I’m going to go into some detail on how we’re going to work towards addressing this, focusing in on the most common type of engines in KSP – the venerable liquid fuel engine category, which boasts such illustrious names as the Mainsail, Rhino and… Ant.

A very long article, but interesting.

A look at the animation style of the KSP2 tutorials

jztemple2 wrote: Fri Jan 27, 2023 5:04 pm A look at the animation style of the KSP2 tutorials

I like it! I dunno why I never got into KSP, but maybe the tutorials will get me into KSP2.

Here's an interesting post from the Kerbal Space Program forum, Kerbal Space Program 2 Knowledge Repository. It seems like it is being updated. Be sure to click the "Reveal hidden contents" button on each section to see images.

I got your attention? Good. So, after countless threads, interviews, videos, diaries I lost count what in fact, is going to be included in the upcoming game.

So I created this thread to determine it once and for all. Below you can find a (hopefully) well-thought-out list of things we know for sure are coming.

Parts, mechanics, systems, bodies, features, you name it.

Now, the "you" part is important, I can only dig through so much stuff, so I ask you, dear reader, for help. You found something I didn't? Please post it, with reliable source, so I can add it to repository.

The list is going to be of course expanded as more news come in the upcoming months. Some pictures may repeat, as they fit in more than one category.

They posted the Official Gameplay Trailer:

Can't Wait!

Anyone have issues with the pricing? From the product page on Steam:

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?
“Yes, KSP 2 will sell for $49.99 (SRP) during Early Access, and we expect that the price will be raised at 1.0 release.”

Forgot to post this, in case people are really excited about when the game actually releases.

jztemple2 wrote: Thu Feb 16, 2023 5:10 pm Anyone have issues with the pricing? From the product page on Steam:

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?
“Yes, KSP 2 will sell for $49.99 (SRP) during Early Access, and we expect that the price will be raised at 1.0 release.”

I don't personally have a problem with the price, though I can certainly understand why some would. If I were to defend KSP2's pricing I would say that this is not a normal Early Access game. Basically, this is a triple A title where the developers, at the last minute, decided to release the game in EA in order to get feedback on each aspect of the game before moving forward. Most of the work has already been done, and it's going to be a much bigger game than the original, so the price is not a big deal for me.

They even released a development roadmap of what order new features would be added: