KSP Loading... Breaking Ground under the spotlight!
Welcome to our official newsletter, KSP Loading…! Do you want to learn about all the current developments of KSP? Here’s the place to be, so let’s get started!
Breaking Ground Expansion
With the release of the Kerbal Space Program: Breaking Ground Expansion just around the corner, our team is working very hard to wrap up the final details for this exciting DLC. We also thought this would be a good opportunity to dive into a little bit more depth and give you a better idea of what you can expect in Breaking Ground.
As we mentioned previously, this DLC is all about exploration, experimentation and technological breakthroughs. We want to give you more reasons to explore Kerbin’s solar system, more things to do while you’re on a celestial body and exciting new robotics parts that add a whole new level of complexity allowing you to build even more incredible crafts.
This feature will allow you to deploy experiments on the surface of celestial bodies to take measurements over time. You will need to bring these experiments with you, unpack them from storage containers on your craft and set them up to run. In order to do so you will need to place a central station, one or more power generating devices and possibly a booster antenna to get your science base set up. The experiments and power generators will run better if the right kind of Kerbal sets them up, thus giving you more reasons to bring Kerbals with different professions on an adventure.
We wanted to broaden the possibilities for future development, adding a time-based mechanic with deployed science, which also introduces inventory into stock KSP.
- Paul Boyle, Lead Designer
Let’s look at the equipment available for Deployed Science:
Probodobodyne Experiment Control Station
This part is crucial if you want to generate any useful data. Acting as the hub for all other experiments, the Experiment Control Station will distribute and control both power and data from nearby deployed parts, as well as coordinate the transmission of science back to Kerbin.
Mini-NUK-PD Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator
No science base will run without power, and the Mini-NUK-PD Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator will provide plenty of power to run a central station and deployed science experiments. If deployed by an engineer it will more efficient, if they are a high level one then even more.
OX-Stat-PD Photovoltaic Panel
An alternative power generator is the OX-Stat-PD Photovoltaic Panel, which will also be more efficient when properly set up by a trained engineer.
Although the Experiment Control Station has its own data transmission device, if you’re on a faraway planet, you might need to bring the Communotron Ground HG-48 antenna with you to boost the signal of your deployed science base.
The Goo Observation: Extended Duration Monitor watches the always enigmatic Mystery Goo for a long period of time on a planetary body. As with all the other deployed science experiments, the data collection speed will be increased when placed by a scientist, especially a ranked-up scientist.
This multi-function experiment gathers data on wind, pressure, temperature and humidity to generate a picture of the planet’s climate model over time. Naturally it will only function on a planet with an atmosphere.
This experiment allows Kerbals to analyze different particles and radiation incident on planetary bodies with no atmosphere.
Grand Slam Passive Seismometer
Unlike other experiments, the Grand Slam Passive Seismometer only operates under one condition… when controlled seismic events are created by crashing something into a planet. In addition to the excitement and fun of smashing things, you’ll collect data instantaneously with this device.
Click here to see all images of the Deployed Science experiments in high-res.
Surface features add a new component to the exploration of planets and satellites in the KSP solar system. These are items of scientific interest scattered across all celestial bodies. These features include meteorites, craters, mineral formations, and even stranger planetary oddities. Surface features vary in size and Kerbal astronauts will be able to pick up and return the smallest of them for study back at KSC. However, larger ones will need to be scanned and analyzed on-site by the newly developed Rover Arms.
Exploring celestial bodies and using rovers has never had as much value as we would have liked, and while the real Opportunity is now quietly resting on Mars, we wanted to give the players the opportunity to do more valuable science driving across Duna (and the other bodies) in KSP. So we added interesting new features to the surface of the planets that can be explored and have experiments performed on them.
- Jamie Leighton, Lead Developer
These parts are used to gather scientific data from surface features. The Rover Arms come in three levels that you unlock via Research and Development, each of which has more sensors and tools that allow you to collect more science from the same surface feature. Only the largest Rover Arm has the full suite of scientific instruments, so you might want to unlock that one as soon as possible!
Click here to see all these and a couple more images of Surface Features and the Rover Arm in high-res.
With Breaking Ground, you will see four types of robotic parts - hinges, pistons, rotors and rotational servos. Available in a range of shapes and sizes these new parts operate under realistic physics, with real forces and torques, electricity consumption and even motor mass accounted for. We are also including a controller part that will let you coordinate the behavior of many different parts on your craft.
Giving our community the ability to build even more complex creations might seem like a strange idea for anyone familiar with KSP, but it is something the whole team is passionate about. I’m really looking forward to seeing what people can make and animate with the new parts and controller combination.
- David Tregoning, Lead Developer
Hinges will give you a limited angle of rotation between two parts. Perfect to create jointed machines for example.
The pistons give you linear motion. If set up right, they will allow you to create all sorts of craft with hydraulic-like mechanisms.
Not much to explain about the rotor, it will allow you to generate torque around its axis. Maybe you’ll build a spinning space station or ferris wheel with this, or any other rotational contraption you can think of.
The Rotational servo will give you precise control of angular position. Using proportional control, servos have unlimited potential to create all sorts of inventions, where you want to have precise control of the position of certain parts.
The KAL-1000 controller can sequence the actions of all the robotics parts, and a number of other fields. Its gives you access to a powerful track editor tool to let you set up how parts will behave over time. Using the controller, you can set up complex cranes, walking craft, disco lighting or whatever your heart desires.
Click here to see the Robotic Parts images in high-res.
This futuristic-looking suit was designed to match the spirit of Breaking Ground. It not only looks great on Kerbals, but its seams glow in the dark when you turn on the helmet lights!
For the spacesuit we tried a few options based on existing concepts from real life space programs, but some of those looked too slim or too sci-fi-ish. We also tried different helmets, but something felt weird about the shapes, and as the Kerbal helmet is iconic, we kept the classic shape when designing a new one. Apart from the design, we wanted to give the suit something that the others don't have: An emissive light at the seams, something that comes in handy to help find your Kerbals when they are far from the sun or on the dark side of a planet! At first, we thought skinning the accordion arms would be problematic, but we managed to do it, and we are pretty happy with the result. We hope you like it as much as we do!
- Rafael Gonzalez, Lead Artist
Click here to see the Suits in high-res.
Additions to the base game
With the release of Breaking Ground, the base game is also getting some updates that will add a few new features.
For starters, the inventory mechanic that is used by deployed science will be available in the base code, for modders to use and extend as they wish.
Additionally, we're adding two extensions to our action group system. The first one adds another type of action group for controls that let you bind input controls to fields - an axis group. The second adds Action Sets, which allow you to enable or disable sets of axis or action groups.
This extends what you can do with a limited number of keys, letting you put your craft into different modes of operation. You can even override the base controls with the action set feature, further fine tuning the interface between you and your craft. We developed these extensions to give players more options to control their robotics, but it certainly will be useful for stock and modded players as well.
Finally, we’ve added EVA portraits, so that you can check data on your Kerbals even when they’re out and about.
Remember, you can share and download crafts and missions on Curse, KerbalX, the KSP Forum and the KSP Steam Workshop.
That’s it for this edition. Be sure to join us on our official forums, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Stay tuned for more exciting and upcoming news and development updates!
