Hey Kerbonauts, KSP Community Lead Michael Loreno here. I’ve connected with multiple teams within Intercept after ingesting feedback from the community and I’d like to address some of the concerns that are circulating regarding KSP 2 performance and min spec.

First and foremost, we need to apologize for how the initial rollout of the hardware specs communication went. It was confusing and distressful for many of you, and we’re here to provide clarity.

TLDR:
The game is certainly playable on machines below our min spec, but because no two people play the game exactly the same way (and because a physics sandbox game of this kind creates literally limitless potential for players to build anything and go anywhere), it’s very challenging to predict the experience that any particular player will have on day 1. We’ve chosen to be conservative for the time being, in order to manage player expectations. We will update these spec recommendations as the game evolves.

Below is an updated graphic for recommended hardware specs:



I’d like to provide some details here about how we arrived at those specs and what we’re currently doing to improve them.

To address those who are worried that this spec will never change: KSP2’s performance is not set in stone. The game is undergoing continuous optimization, and performance will improve over the course of Early Access. We’ll do our best to communicate when future updates contain meaningful performance improvements, so watch this space.

Our determination of minimum and recommended specs for day 1 is based on our best understanding of what machinery will provide the best experience across the widest possible range of gameplay scenarios.

In general, every feature goes through the following steps:

1. Get it working
   
2. Get it stable
   
3. Get it performant
   
4. Get it moddable

As you may have already gathered, different features are living in different stages on this list right now. We’re confident that the game is now fun and full-featured enough to share with the public, but we are entering Early Access with the expectation that the community understands that this is a game in active development. That means that some features may be present in non-optimized forms in order to unblock other features or areas of gameplay that we want people to be able to experience today. Over the course of Early Access, you will see many features make their way from step 1 through step 4.

Here's what our engineers are working on right now to improve performance during Early Access:

1. Terrain optimization. The current terrain implementation meets our main goal of displaying multiple octaves of detail at all altitudes, and across multiple biome types. We are now hard at work on a deep overhaul of this system that will not only further improve terrain fidelity and variety, but that will do so more efficiently.
   
2. Fuel flow/Resource system optimization. Some of you may have noticed that adding a high number of engines noticeably impacts framerate. This has to do with CPU-intensive fuel flow and Delta-V update calculations that are exacerbated when multiple engines are pulling from a common fuel source. The current system is both working and stable, but there is clearly room for performance improvement. We are re-evaluating this system to improve its scalability.

As we move forward into Early Access, we expect to receive lots of feedback from our players, not only about the overall quality of their play experiences, but about whether their goals are being served by our game as it runs on their hardware. This input will give us a much better picture of how we’re tracking relative to the needs of our community.

With that, keep sending over the feedback, and thanks for helping us make this game as great as it can be!

Hello Kerbonauts!

Earlier this month we took a trip to Amsterdam and held the 'KSP Insiders Program' event in association with the European Space Agency. Content creators and news outlets got a sneak peek at Kerbal Space Program 2 before its release.



And today those previews go live! Everyone captured their own content and had their own adventures, so we highly recommend checking out the variety of content out there (we know we'll be watching!).

From exploring ESA's Erasmus center to watching the static-fire of Super Heavy, it was a great time! Thank you to ESA for hosting us and to everyone who came out! Here's a bit from our adventure:







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Keep up with all things Kerbal Space Program:
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Intercept Games Discord
KSP YouTube

This moment feels a little bit like dropping a kid off for the first day of school. We've got a lot of love for this game - we think we've prepared it for every eventuality, but we also know that it has more growing to do. We're about to take the first steps on a journey that will eventually carry KSP2 through colonies, interstellar travel, and multiplayer.

Now the real learning begins!

On day 1 of Early Access, players will be able to create and fly vehicles in Sandbox Mode and visit any location in the Kerbolar System. They'll also have access to our first four interactive tutorials, accessible via the all-new Training Center. These teach basic rocketry concepts to give new players a head-start on their space programs. You'll encounter new parts, including new procedural wings, new wheels, new command pods, new cargo parts, and new engines (and the first of the new fuels - liquid hydrogen). To pave the way for the upcoming interstellar-class parts, we've also added a new, larger core size. As we progress through Early Access, we'll continue to expand on all of these features.

We can't wait to finally see what creative feats the community can achieve with the new procedural and color-customizable parts. Our environment team is eager to watch players explore the revamped terrains of the Kerbolar System (and are curious if they'll discover anything unexpected). The UX/UI team is keen to learn how the updated user experience feels - they've put a lot of effort into wrangling a very complex set of requirements into a new, more streamlined presentation. This is it - the moment has arrived when all our plans come into contact with reality!

There are many new features, big and small, for you to explore on day 1. We've put together this guide to give you an overview of what's new and to break down some known issues. Release day notes and future patch notes will also live here.

In the launcher you'll find reporting tools that you can use to tell us about any problems you've encountered, as well as give feedback about any other aspect of the player experience you think we should know about. This feedback will be invaluable to us as we continue to improve the game's stability, performance, and playability.

Many new features will arrive as we continue development, including Science Mode, Colonies, Interstellar exploration, and Multiplayer. Take a look at our Early Access Roadmap for more details.

In the meantime, we're bringing back Weekly Challenges!

We intend to mix things up a little bit going forward, but the first challenge will be a classic Achievement Challenge:

• Primary Goal: Fly to the Mun and get a picture of a Kerbal in front of the most interesting feature you can find.
  
• Stretch Goal: Strand a Kerbal there and pick them up with a second vehicle, returning them to safely to Kerbin.
  
• Jeb-level Goal: Do any of the above on any other celestial body in the Kerbolar System.

If you want us to see (and maybe share) your achievement, use #KSP2WeeklyChallenge on social media, or share them in our official Discord.

Welcome to KSP2! The journey begins!

Kerbal Space Program has many places where you can provide us feedback on your experiences with the game. The Kerbal Community Team will regularly be reading and sharing player feedback heard among the Kerbal community channels with Intercept Games.

In the game's launcher, which can be accessed through the Steam and Epic versions, there will be a permanent feedback button where you can share your feedback on any topic. Periodically there will be topic-specific surveys from the team, which will help us concentrate feedback and ensure no one's feedback is missed.

Early Access is about learning and improving, and our intent is to do that hand-in-hand with our community of players. While we build on the foundations of Kerbal Space Program 2, your experiences, both good and bad, will be invaluable in how we make the game even better - and that's what we want to know from you all throughout Early Access.

We absolutely want to hear about what you enjoy, don't enjoy, could be better, or tweaked. We also want to hear about any bugs you encounter throughout gameplay.

Anything more urgent such as crashes, freezes, or other game-breaking issues, please contact Private Division Customer Support. Our support agents will work to assist you while collecting as much information as possible, as fixing these are the highest priority for our development team throughout Early Access.

When you launch the game through Steam or the Epic Games Store, a launcher will first appear. This is where you can start the game or find the latest news, patch notes, and community highlights. On this launcher, there are two ways to give feedback on your game experience to the development team:

• Send feedback button: This button lives permanently in the launcher and can be accessed anytime. If you come across anything in the game you like, dislike, or think could be improved you could give feedback on it through this.
  
• Active Survey: If there is a feedback survey currently live, you will see a button on the game page (in the launcher) allowing you to give your feedback. These surveys will be time-limited and topic-specific. For example, one may be activated once a new content update is released, or if we want to deep-dive on certain areas or features of the game.

Currently we are only supporting responses through the Send Feedback Button or Active Surveys in English.

All aboard the hype rocket!

Kerbal Space Program 2 releases into Early Access next week. Here's a world map visualizing when the game comes out in your time zone:



Since you've asked, we delivered. Enjoy a new gameplay trailer that shows off just a bit of what the game has to offer. See you on February 24!



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Keep up with all things Kerbal Space Program:
KSP Website
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Intercept Games Discord
KSP YouTube

Kerbonauts!

Kerbal Space Program 2 launches in Early Access in a month. To celebrate, we are releasing one of several tutorials found within the game to improve the onboarding experience for new and returning players. These tutorials are introductions to concepts in the game, after which players will experience an interactive version of the concept.

This tutorial explores the concept of entering and maintaining orbit (through sandwiches science).

Check out the animated tutorial below!

Hello Kerbonauts!

KSP2's Feature video on Recording Rockets is here!

In this video, we will be featuring how Sound Director Howard Mostrom recorded a real rocket launch to use in KSP2!