Info about Kerbal Space Program: Making History Expansion:

Official game description:
Expand your Kerbal experience like never before with Kerbal Space Program: Making History Expansion. The first expansion pack for the critically acclaimed space simulation game adds new content to Kerbal Space Program, including an immersive Mission Builder, a History Pack featuring missions inspired by historical events, and a wealth of new parts for players to use across their KSP experience. Create, launch, and share like never before with Kerbal Space Program: Making History Expansion.  
*   Mission Builder: This robust new feature puts the process of creating and editing missions in players’ hands with endless possibilities. Players can customize their own missions to include launches, landings, rescues, malfunctions, explosions, repairs, and much more. Unique victory conditions, exciting challenges, and unexpected obstacles provide an array of complexity in these missions. Challenge others by sharing your created missions with the KSP community.  
*   History Pack: Play a variety of pre-made missions inspired by humankind’s own space exploration. From spacewalking to crash landing and everything in between, players can attempt to recreate moments inspired by historic events, but with a unique Kerbal twist.  
*   New Parts: This expansion also includes dozens of new parts along with new astronaut suits, all inspired by the historic Space Race. Players can use these parts and suits throughout Kerbal Space Program.

Release date: Mar 13, 2018

Categories: Space Flight Simulation, Physics Simulation, Sandbox, Exploration, Resource Management, Vehicle Customization, Mission-based Gameplay, Mod Support

Feature scans:
- MTX: score 15; verdict: Fair - Traditional DLC only; summary: The user reviews for Kerbal Space Program primarily criticize its DLC expansions as overpriced and lacking content compared to free mods, with some perceiving them as cash grabs by the publisher. However, there is no evidence of predatory microtransactions within the base game; all monetization is through traditional DLC purchases. The score is low because the complaints fall under base price/DLC value issues, not predatory in-game monetization.

- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price:
  - Community fair range: $10.00 - $38.00
  - Reasoning: Only two reviews in the dataset directly mention base-game pricing: one states the full price as £30 (~$38), and the other notes a common sale price of $10. No reviews express explicit dissatisfaction with the base-game's full price, so the fair range spans from the sale price to the full price. However, the vast majority of reviews discuss DLC pricing, making direct base-game sentiment sparse.
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: N/A
  - Story completion: N/A
  - Session length: N/A
  - Endgame: N/A
  - Reasoning: The review evidence only contains vague references to DLC playtime ('about a week', 'three days') without specifying hours. No quantified completion times, session lengths, or endgame hours for the target DLC are reported. Most players discuss the base game playtime (e.g., 'a couple thousand hours', '500-800 hours') which is not evidence for the DLC itself. Therefore, all playtime metrics are set to null due to insufficient data.
- Time-to-fun:
  - Summary: Kerbal Space Program offers deep emergent fun after overcoming early friction from buggy tutorials, boring launch sites, and tedious orbital adjustments, with enjoyment stemming from exploration and progression.
  - Stance: Clicks after
  - Anchor: N/A
  - Time to anchor: N/A
  - Friction: Bugged tutorial mission for the mission builder that cannot be completed; Launch sites placed in boring, useless locations; Initial RCS maneuvers described as boring for two minutes; Missions and builder content isolated from the main career progression; Unbalanced paid part in a singleplayer game
  - Unlock drivers: Focusing on exploration and scientific progression; Persisting through early tedious maneuvers to reach specific orbits
  - Conditions: Singleplayer mode; Interest in space exploration and astrophysics; Willingness to learn through trial and error
- Player Archetypes:
  - Value-Conscious Pragmatist (no buy)
    - Motivation: Getting fair value for money, avoiding frustration with poor content.
    - Playstyle: Compares DLC to free mods, expects high quality and bug-free content, may engage with the base game modding community.
    - Experience: mixed
    - Purchase stance: no buy
    - Labels: value shopper; mod enthusiast; critical consumer
    - Reference games: Kerbal Space Program (base game with mods)
  - Loyal Supporter Veteran (sale)
    - Motivation: Supporting the game's further development and expanding existing content.
    - Playstyle: Has extensive playtime, often hundreds of hours, comfortable with game mechanics, may use both stock and modded content but values supporting the developers.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: sale
    - Labels: long-time player; KSP fan; supporter
    - Reference games: Kerbal Space Program
  - Creative Mission Builder (buy)
    - Motivation: Creative expression through building custom missions and official-feeling roleplay.
    - Playstyle: Focuses on the mission builder and editor, creates scenarios and roleplay missions, prefers structured goals and uses stock parts.
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: mission builder; roleplayer; sandbox enthusiast needing guidance
    - Reference games: Kerbal Space Program (stock)


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Great new parts (weight 0.82): Many reviews praise the new parts for being well-balanced, useful, detailed, and visually appealing. The parts are seen as a breath of fresh air for stock players and include engines, fuel tanks, command modules, and structural components.
- Powerful mission builder (weight 0.76): Players highlight a robust mission editor that allows creating custom missions with predetermined failures, objectives, and goals. The editor is described as beautifully complex, extensive, and a cool utility for challenges, greatly improving replayability.
- Historical rocket parts (weight 0.56): Several reviews commend parts inspired by real-life historical rockets, including Apollo, Gemini, Soyuz, and Saturn V. This adds a layer of education and authenticity for enthusiasts of space history.
- Good DLC value (weight 0.43): Players find the DLC to be a good value, especially when on sale, offering a lot of content for the price. It is described as cheap, adding core functionality, and worth purchasing for stock players.
- KSP base game praised (weight 0.35): Some reviews emphasize that the base Kerbal Space Program is already a brilliant and high-quality game, which justifies purchasing the DLC to support its development.
- Space suits and details (weight 0.23): New space suits are mentioned as fashionable for the kerbals, and historical details like suits and parts are appreciated. These elements add to the realism and visual appeal of the game.
- Command modules new options (weight 0.2): New command modules like the Mk2 pod and onion module offer different crew capacities and features (e.g., built-in ablator), providing new ways to play.
- Missions scoring system (weight 0.15): The mission system includes a scoring system that is well-received, adding a competitive or goal-oriented element to gameplay.
- Pre-made missions included (weight 0.13): The inclusion of pre-made missions from space agencies like ESA and NASA is noted positively. These are well-produced and provide interesting content for players.
- Community missions potential (weight 0.12): Players express excitement about the potential for community-created missions, which could expand the content and replayability further.
- Re-entry features (weight 0.1): New re-entry pods and modules are described as cool, spinning, and amazing. They add excitement and functionality to the descent phase of missions.
- Dev team responsive (weight 0.09): Mention of the developer (Take Two) listening to player feedback and providing free updates indicates a positive relationship with the community.

Common complaints:
- Poor integration with career mode (weight 0.7): The Mission Builder and its missions are completely separate from the career mode, with no way to import or play them in the main game. This lack of integration is a major complaint.
- Overpriced for the value provided (weight 0.55): The DLC is considered not worth its full price, with players stating it is too expensive for the limited content. Many suggest a lower price point or that it is not worth the money.
- DLC is disappointing and buggy (weight 0.53): The DLC is widely criticized as being buggy, low quality, and feeling like a pre-release product. Players report game-breaking bugs and crashes after installing it.
- New parts are inferior to free mods (weight 0.51): Players feel the DLC's new parts are lower quality, less interesting, and easily replaced by numerous free mods. Mods offer more and better parts at no cost.
- Missions are poorly designed and buggy (weight 0.35): New missions are badly put together with poor interfaces, lack of explanations, and bugs or crashes during gameplay. The mission system feels incomplete and unreliable.
- Mission Builder is difficult and unused (weight 0.34): The Mission Builder is hard to use, has cryptic nodes, and lacks documentation, leading to low community engagement. Many find it useless or the most unused feature.
- Too few new parts and content (weight 0.31): The DLC offers an insignificant amount of new parts and content, which feels insufficient to justify the price. Many parts are described as reskins or superfluous.
- DLC feels like a cash grab with anti-consumer practices (weight 0.19): Some players view the DLC as a cash grab, especially with a new EULA that restricts modding and discourages modders. This has generated negative sentiment.
- New parts are unbalanced (weight 0.15): Several new parts are poorly balanced, such as extremely efficient and lightweight engines available too early, which disrupts gameplay progression.
- Parts do not change gameplay significantly (weight 0.11): The new parts are mostly reskins or minor variations that do not bring meaningful changes to gameplay, further reducing their value.

Gameplay feedback:
- Mission creation and editor (weight 0.76): The DLC adds a mission creator or mission builder feature that allows players to design, edit, and play custom missions, often with grading and achievements. It includes both player-created and pre-made missions based on historical events.
- Historical rocket parts (weight 0.4): The DLC includes parts based on historical rockets from the US and Soviet space programs, such as capsules, fuel tanks, engines, and structural components from the 70s and 80s. These are designed for authenticity and complement existing parts.
- Mission grading and achievements (weight 0.24): Missions come with a scoring system, grading, and achievements, providing goals and replayability. This includes challenge modes and pre-made missions with specific difficulty settings.
- Engine balancing (weight 0.24): New engines are added that fill gaps in the existing lineup, such as the Kodiak, Bobcat, Mastodon, and Pollux SRB, creating a more balanced progression for rocket building.
- Historical missions (weight 0.17): Pre-made missions based on historical events such as the space race and famous Apollo missions are included, though some have quality issues like poorly constructed rockets.
- Community features (weight 0.15): The DLC includes community craft sharing for missions and a mission sharing feature, allowing players to exchange and play custom content created by others.
- Fuel management and efficiency (weight 0.15): The DLC includes fuel-efficient engines and improved fuel management features, aiding interplanetary travel and overall rocket design.
- Spacesuits and details (weight 0.11): The DLC adds spacesuits and other historical details, enhancing the visual and thematic experience of recreating space missions.

Performance notes:
- Frequent game crashes (weight 0.21): Multiple players report that the game crashes during missions or when continuing a mission. One player specifically identifies a memory leak as the cause, and another notes that crashes to desktop have increased after installing DLC.

Recommendations:
- Not worth full price (weight 0.84): A large group of reviewers feel the DLC is overpriced and not worth buying at full price, advising to wait for a significant sale or bundle deal.
- Buy only on sale (weight 0.66): Many reviewers recommend purchasing this DLC only when it is on sale, often suggesting a 50% to 75% discount. They view the content as not valuable enough at its standard price.
- Support developers by buying (weight 0.46): A portion of the community recommends buying the DLC as a way to support the developers and fund future updates or content, especially for players who love the base game.
- Cash-grab and overpriced (weight 0.34): Some reviewers call the DLC a cash-grab, noting its small amount of content compared to the price. They express regret or advise against buying it outright.
- Recommended for mod-free players (weight 0.27): Some reviewers recommend the DLC for players who do not use mods and rely on stock parts. It can provide additional official content and scenarios for those who play vanilla.
- Low content value for price (weight 0.26): Multiple reviewers highlight that the DLC offers only about a week of extra fun or mission scenarios, which does not justify the price for many.
- Better to buy mods instead (weight 0.22): Several players suggest that free mods like Tantares, Raidernick, or Missing History provide a similar or better experience at no cost, making the official DLC less worthwhile.
- Not for career mode players (weight 0.18): A few reviewers note that career mode players may find the DLC underwhelming or poorly integrated, making it less recommended for those focused on progression.
- Recommended only for specific use cases (weight 0.18): The DLC is specifically recommended for those who want the mission builder feature or who play stock without mods, but not for the general player.
- Better to buy Breaking Ground first (weight 0.1): Several reviewers suggest that the Breaking Ground DLC is a better purchase than Making History, as it adds more engaging gameplay features.
- Consider the full bundle instead (weight 0.05): Some players recommend buying the full bundle including base game and both DLCs for better value rather than purchasing this DLC separately.
- Game is dead, wait for sale (weight 0.04): One player notes that since the game is no longer actively developed, buying the DLC is only advisable at a deep discount.
- Refund process is difficult (weight 0.04): One reviewer mentions wanting a refund but finding the process troublesome, indicating dissatisfaction with the purchase.

Other player notes:
- Developer time costs concern (weight 0.04): A player noted that developer time is expensive, implying concerns about game development costs or pricing.
- Anti-DRM stance expressed (weight 0.04): A player made an anti-DRM statement, indicating opposition to digital rights management systems.
- Donation wallet suggestion (weight 0.04): A player suggested implementing a donation wallet, possibly to support developers outside of traditional purchases.
- Comparison to US Space Program (weight 0.04): A player mentioned the game works for the US Space Program, which seems to be an off-topic or metaphorical comment.

Emotions:
- Disappointment (weight 0.22): The DLC is widely criticized for offering minimal new content, especially compared to free mods, while being overpriced at full retail. The mission editor is poorly integrated, being separate from career mode and featuring buggy missions with unclear objectives. Many players feel the expansion is a cash grab that adds little value and fails to deliver deeper gameplay or meaningful parts.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.18): Players are satisfied with the new parts, particularly engines and structural components, which are useful for heavy payloads and historical recreations. The mission builder adds fresh content and enables roleplay, and the DLC is considered a good value when purchased on sale. Users appreciate the developer's responsiveness to feedback and the ability to support continued game development.
- Frustration (weight 0.14): Frustration stems from a buggy mission editor and missions with unclear objectives, requiring restarts and troubleshooting. The DLC introduces game-breaking bugs, crashes, memory leaks, and usability issues like parts that cannot be deleted or poor tech tree integration. Poor documentation and dishonest marketing about the scope of content further compound the negative experience.
- Excitement (weight 0.07): Excitement is driven by the ability to recreate historical missions like Apollo 13 using new parts, especially those enabling interplanetary travel. The mission builder is praised for its potential and community features, providing fresh gameplay. Players also express enthusiasm for the DLC's beta and the overall expansion of creative possibilities.
- Anger (weight 0.05): Anger is directed at the publisher Take-Two for perceived cash grab practices, broken promises, and anti-consumer DLC pricing at $15. The new EULA and spyware-like data collection violate player trust, while an incredibly frustrating user experience with overpriced, limited content fuels outrage.
- Appreciation (weight 0.04): Appreciation arises from the quality of the DLC and the care shown for the Space Race theme. Players value the developer's promise to provide the DLC free to early buyers and support Squad despite shortcomings. The educational value of KSP for real-life space programs is also acknowledged.
- Regret (weight 0.02): Regret comes from buyers remorse after purchasing the DLC, which is seen as largely not worth the cost. The expansion broke the base game while offering limited content, leading to disappointment for longtime fans.
- Anticipation (weight 0.02): Players look forward to the next DLC, hoping for SpaceX-related content and improvements. The upcoming polished official Chinese localization is also anticipated positively.
- Indifference (weight 0.02): Indifference stems from never using the mission planner or creator features, which are the main selling points of the DLC. Those players find the content irrelevant to their gameplay experience.
- Joy (weight 0.02): Joy comes from new parts that enable accurate historical rocket recreations and well-produced missions. The addition of Portuguese language support is also praised, enhancing the experience for local players.
- Confusion (weight 0.02): Confusion arises because the new launch sites and 5 meter parts cannot be used in career mode, and missions are not integrated into the career progression, making their purpose unclear.
- Concern (weight 0.02): Concern centers on the DLC parts splitting the community and the potential for abandonment if the expansion is not profitable. Players worry about ongoing support and future development.
- Hope (weight 0.02): Hope is placed on modders expanding the DLC's features, as well as the funding from sales supporting future development. The potential for community improvements is seen as a positive outcome.
- Inspiration (weight 0.01): Inspiration is drawn from the quotes and historical context included in the DLC, which provide educational and motivational value beyond pure gameplay mechanics.
- Happiness (weight 0.01): Happiness results from the fashionable space suits and spinning pods that add visual charm and fun to the game.
- Amusement (weight 0.01): Amusement is derived from the humorous description of getting stuck on the Mun after a fuel mishap, providing lighthearted entertainment.
- Love (weight 0.01): Love is expressed for the game itself, with the DLC offering extensions that deepen the emotional connection to the base experience.
- Infuriation (weight 0.01): Infuriation occurs when typical Kerbal shenanigans stop being funny and become frustrating, turning playful chaos into annoyance.
- Boredom (weight 0.01): Boredom stems from the new launch sites being placed in uninteresting locations, failing to add excitement to the gameplay.
- Recommendation (weight 0.01): Recommendation focuses on alternative mods that provide better value and content than the DLC, suggesting players avoid the purchase.}