I just installed Knossos on my second PC to do some stuff for TBP and I'm not sure I like the wording of the install FS2 screen for Knossos. For those who only want to play a total conversion like TBP or Diaspora, it does very much look like FS2 is necessary. Those people might never have even heard of FS2, they'll have been promised a free game based on a TV show or film they really like and then the first thing they see when they install Knossos is a request to install / buy something called FS2. It looks a little like we lied to them and are maybe even making money off of selling FS2. For both Beyond the Red Line and later with Diaspora we found that the biggest obstacle to getting players were people who thought you needed FS2 to play the game. We'd often see our games getting mentioned on a website and the first comment being "This looks great, but I don't have a copy of Freespace 2 so I'm going to pass". Yeah, they'd be someone further down who would correct them but it's hard to not believe that it lost us a few users. It only takes one person angrily saying that they uninstalled it because we're trying to scam them into paying for FS2 to lose a lot of people.
We're also going to get people who want to play Fate of the Galaxy, download Knossos and then realise they don't have FS2 installed, can't find the CDs, etc, and then decide not to continue even though they didn't need it. There are a lot of people out there who loved FS2 and haven't played it in years. TCs can get them interested in the game again but we shouldn't make them feel like they have to dig out their copy of FS2 if they came for TBP or Diaspora.
Instead, before the screen talking about FS2 we could have one with two options. The first one is just screenshots/logos from Fate of the Galaxy, Diaspora, TBP etc and says "I'm just here for the Free stuff" and the other one has a picture of those games and a big one of FS2 and says "I have Freespace 2 / want to buy it. Give me everything!" We can have a more detailed explanation below the pictures of course but the idea is to make it easy for people to pick the correct option. If someone selects the first one, it just skips the FS2 install bit. Knossos still makes it possible to install FS2 if you buy it later so that isn't too much of a problem if someone later decides to buy it.
I really love Knossos and kudos to all of those who have put lots of work into it. I think it works great for the community, but it isn't as simple as it could be for outsiders, especially the audience we're hoping to reach when big TCs like Diaspora or Fate of the Galaxy have a release.