Playtest Build 7

Communications

• Many more ground stations, unlocked as the tracking station is upgraded
• Equatorial orbits are now the best covered, since that's where the pad is
• Link moved to its own panel, with a show/hide button, and no longer flickers
• The panel now says what percentage of the current orbit is in contact, and counts down to the next loss or acquisition of signal
• When contact is lost it says why — no antenna, nothing above the horizon, or out of range — and what to do about it
• A craft out of contact keeps flying the instructions it already has
• A new early contract to put your first relay up

Flight

• Rewritten ascent guidance for consistent, repeatable orbits
• Rockets can roll — symmetric stacks previously ignored roll input entirely
• Dropped boosters no longer fall through the rocket or vanish
• Empty strap-on boosters are released automatically
• Staging no longer hides parts from an earlier stage that are still firing

Tracking and the fleet

• Every tracked satellite draws its orbit in the solar system view
• Tracked vessels move over time instead of sitting where they were filed
• Fixed a wildly wrong altitude readout in the fleet list
• A vessel can be taken control of even while out of contact
• A committed craft returns to the tracking station rather than reverting to a launch that's long gone

Career

• Fixed an exploit that let the same satellite be paid science over and over
• Part masses are fixed by the part in career mode
• Engines are named for their fuel and thrust — Kerolox Basic (180kN)
• "Sounding Instruments" is now "Scientific Instruments"
• Nobody can be hired into a dead crew member's name
• Life support supplies are now something you choose, and the mass moves with them
• The heat shield flight-test contract can actually be completed

Parachutes

• Bigger main canopy
• Size and rated pressure are fixed by the part; deploy altitude remains yours to set
• The reinforced mount is an option on the canopy rather than a part, and now actually does something
• Chutes go on the command pod until Recovery Systems II

Building and interface

• Adding a part above the selection inserts it there instead of on top of the stack
• Fins are drawn as fins in flight
• The parts list sits at the top of the vehicle panel
• Panels no longer open on top of one another, and stay where you put them
• Text wraps inside its panel instead of running off the edge
• Time warp, staging and EVA controls given room of their own
• The end-of-flight box offers a return to the assembly building