Kerbal Space Program - Page 16

======= First Contract (v0.24.0) =====================

New:

* Currencies:
- Added Funds and Reputation as new Career Mode Currencies.
- Funds are required to launch vessels.
- Part Costs are now in use in Career Mode.
- Resources like Liquid Fuel and Mono Propellant now have costs of their own, which figure into the cost of a launch.
- Tweaking a part's resource sliders in the Editors will adjust the cost of the vessel accordingly.

* Mission Control:
- The Mission Control Facility is now active in Career Games.
- Mission Control allows you to select Contracts, review them, and either accept or decline them.
- Added Gene Kerman as advisor in the Mission Control screen, ready to give his opinion about what you're doing.
- The Mission Control screen also features an 'archives' tab, where you can review previously-completed contracts.

* Contracts:
- Contracts require you to complete objectives, in order to gain Funds, Science and Reputation
- Once accepted, contracts must be completed before the deadline expires.
- Contracts will fail if the deadline expires or if some critical parameter fails (like killing a Kerbal in a mission to rescue him).
- Added procedurally generated 'mission briefings' for contracts, which may even make sense sometimes.
- Contracts come in three levels of Prestige ("Trivial", "Significant" and "Exceptional"). Higher levels offer greater rewards and are usually more ambitious.
- Reputation regulates the amounts of each level of contracts on offer.

* Early 'Starter' Contracts:
- First Launch: Launch any vessel.
- Altitude Records: Set a new altitude record.
- Reach Space: Escape Kerbin's atmosphere
- Achieve Orbit: Achieve a stable orbit around Kerbin.

* Dynamically Generated Contracts:
- Part Test: Perform a test of a part in a specific location, situation and within given flight parameters (when applicable).
- Collect Science: Return or transmit any scientific data from a specific location.
- Rescue Kerbal: Rescue a Kerbal who is stuck in orbit.
- Plant Flag: Plant the Agency's flag on the surface of a given location.
- Explore: Complete several exploration goals for an unexplored location.

* Agencies:
- Added Agencies, which offer contracts.
- Each agency has its own personality traits, which affects the generation of the contracts they offer.
- Agency Logos added from the winners of the Community Logo Design Contest.
- Clicking the agency logo in the Mission Control screen will display extra info about the Agency.

* Vessel Recovery:
- Recovering vessels now refunds you for the value of recovered parts and resources.
- Recovered value varies based on distance from the Space Center. Land at the Runway for 100% value.

* Space Center:
- Added a universal time clock to the KSC scene UI.
- Added a Pause Menu to the KSC scene, instead of leaving to the main menu immediately on pressing the Quit button.
- The KSC Pause Menu allows saving and loading with a custom filename.

* UI:
- Added new UI Toolbar, which exists in all game scenes and is mod-friendly.
- Added new UI Widget to display state of ongoing Contracts in Flight, KSC and the Construction Facilities.
- Added new UI Widgets to display the current amount of Science, Reputation and Funds.
- Added Messages UI App, shows messages about contracts and such.
- Redesigned the Resources Panel from flight as a toolbar app, overhauled panel graphics.
- Overhauled the old 'Science Summary' dialog into a complete 'Mission Summary', displaying information about recovered Experiments, Parts and Crew.

* Parts:
- Added new "Vernor Engine", a very powerful RCS module powered by Liquid Fuel + Oxidizer.
- Added new O-10 Maneuvering Engine, a low-thrust main engine powered by Monopropellant.
- Gimballing Engines now respond to roll input.
- 4x Engine Cluster and RAPIER Engine have gimbal roll authority even if stacked over the centerline (due to multiple nozzles).

* Builds:
- Added Windows 64-bit executable.

* Tutorials:
- Added several new tutorials.

* Game:
- Added 'Science' Game Mode, where Science is the only currency and Mission Control is closed (as in pre-0.24 'Classic' Career).

Bug Fixes and Tweaks:

* Flight:
- Asteroids are now able to collide with other asteroids.
- New launches now start with throttle set to 50%, like in the old days.
- Saving restriction when throttled up removed.
- Timewarp restriction when throttled up removed. Engaging time warp now automatically cuts throttle.
- Improved logic for detecting a vessel in 'orbiting' situations.

* Editors:
- Fixed a bug in the editors where dragging a part off the ship and deleting it straight away would not generate an undo state.
- Fixed a bug where ctrl+clicking over a part in the build area would not reveal the part in the parts list.
- Orientation of VAB scenery rotated so spacecraft orientation is consistent at launchpad.
- VAB Flag moved to the opposite wall.
- Redesigned the Parts List UI 'Footer' section.

* Tracking Station:
- Fixed a bug where map objects were created but never removed, leaving dozens of 'leaked' objects behind.

* Space Center:
- Launchpad and Runway Launch Dialogs now show vessel costs.
- Added 'Edit' Button to Launch Dialogs, which takes you to the VAB or SPH to edit the selected vessel.
- Launch Dialogs and Craft Browser now allow selecting vessels with 'invalid parts' (for editing).
- Added new Pre-Flight Checks to prevent launching vessels containing invalid parts or with costs exceeding available Funds.

* Solar System:
- Kerbin's Solar Day is now exactly 6 hours long (sidereal day is now 59 seconds shorter).
- Slight optimization to Kerbin, Mun and Eve surface shaders.

* Parts:
- Resource flow mode can now be defined for each propellant on Engine, EngineFX and RCS Modules in the part config.
- Previously useless Engine Nacelle and Radial Engine Body parts repurposed as air intake + fuel tank combos.
- Tweaked Costs for almost every part.
- Tweaked Mass for several parts, especially spaceplane fuselage sections and structural components.
- Fixed a potentially gamebreaking issue when activating a Separator if it was the root part of a vessel.
- Fixed a bug where some particle FX (mainly on newer engines) would cause a stream of errors when the vessel was unloaded with the FX active.
- Fixed a bug where StrutConnectors could cause hierarchy issues if linked in certain configurations.
- ModuleRCS can now use multiple resources.

* Tech Tree:
- Revised R&D node layout so 'control' type nodes have a more logical progression.
- Moved basic RCS parts to tier 4 (from tier 5).
- Added more connections into aerodynamic parts from other nodes on tiers 5 and 6.

* Progress Tracking:
- Fixed an issue introduced in 0.23.5 where unowned vessels could complete progress nodes.
- Fixed AltitudeRecord progress node (now used for contract generation).

* Crews:
- Fixed crewmembers not being properly flagged as dead if their vessel was destroyed while unloaded.
- Crewmembers are now keyed by name in the roster, and can properly be added and removed.
- Added reputation reward and penalty for recovering and killing crewmembers.
- Added new unique names for Kerbals, suggested by the Community Logo Design Contest winners.

* Misc:
- Fixed issue with persistence when reverting to flight.
- Added rich text support to several UI text fields.
- Fixed several cases of texture point-filtering issues resulting in crooked text.
- Fixed potential crash related to reentry FX on Linux when no depthtexture hardware support is available.
- Overhauled all UI screens and text. All text fields using Arial font now use proper Calibri.
- Exposed Gameplay difficulty options to the Alt+F12 Debug Toolbar.
- Updated Credits Scene.
- Fixed permission issues with KSPLauncher which prevented it from properly launching the game on Linux.
- Messages displayed on the upper-right corner in flight are now displayed above the crew portraits instead.
- Removed a 'rogue' tooltip from the Staging Reset button at the VAB and SPH.