CommNet map view: relay links drawn around Kerbin

About this game

Developer: Squad · Publisher: Private Division · Platform: PC (Steam) · Art style: Stylized 3D · Screen type: Campaign / World Map

More Kerbal Space Program screens in the Gallery

What to study

CommNet turns signal coverage - an invisible radio problem - into geography you can inspect. In the map view the planet wears its network: green lines are live links, drawn vessel-to-station and station-to-station across the dark side of Kerbin, so a coverage gap is literally a place with no lines. The design decision is to show the network as routes on the globe rather than as a percentage in a panel: the player plans relay constellations the way they plan orbits, by looking at the map and seeing which hemisphere goes dark. The warp control and mission clock ride along top left because network planning happens on fast-forward - satellites are placed over days, and the map is where those days are spent. Frame at about 0:27 in the CommNet Trailer (Steam), a scene-change survivor (v1_0004). It is the orbital-map screen the queue asked for, though it shows the CommNet layer rather than a maneuver-node edit (no node UI appears in either video).

Patterns

How the screen is arranged.

map-overlay map-nodes route-planning

Components

Parts on screen.

Map Marker Clock Toggle

Screen inventory

• Kerbin centre frame with white orbital paths ringing it
• bright green CommNet link lines fanning from a vessel at left to ground stations and relay points on the surface
• small dish/triangle node icons marking stations and vessels at the ends of the links
• teal Ap/Pe-style orbit markers on the orbital paths
• top-left time-warp control (green play arrows, WARP label) and MET clock T+ 0y, 3d, 00:49:46
• right-edge icon rail for map/flight view toggles

Top 3 colors

#000001 23%#292f31 19%#1a1d1f 19%

Top three palette colors by share. The remaining colors make up the rest.

Source and credit

© Squad / Private Division, Kerbal Space Program screenshot: CommNet Trailer video (Steam), shown for design study and commentary. PlayCraft is an unofficial fan project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Private Division.

Source tier 2 (publisher-released) · screenshot: Steam store page · Steam page

Source details

Fetched 2026-10-21. verified 2026-10-21: scene-change frame v1_0004 (CommNet Trailer @27.3s) inspected at full resolution (1920x1080 native); genuine in-game map view confirmed (green CommNet links, orbit paths, warp/MET cluster all legible); no trailer headline or watermark overlays the frame; the 'V: 1.2.0.1569-pre' build string at the bottom edge is the source capture's own readout

no published policy found (checked 2026-10-21); fair-use study use, takedown honored within 48h

Rights holders: see Copyright & takedown.