Kerbal Space Program

grumpy · Post by **grumpy** » Tue Feb 26, 2013 1:35 pm

If you like this one, you might want to check out orbiter2010, http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/" target="_blank

Upsides include: it's free, and it's much more detailed.

Downsides include: it's much more detailed.

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Wed Feb 27, 2013 11:23 am

After so many hours of fun with the demo, I bought the full game last night (technically the playable alpha). I'm glad that I started with the demo, because otherwise I think I would have found the game overwhelming -- so many parts, so many places to go, so little explanation. The demo turned out to be a great way to get introduced to the basic game concepts, with a limited set of parts and just a moon to travel to.

That said, it's a blast (get it?) to have access to so many more options -- especially the really big engines and fuel tanks, which vastly expand the potential for space exploration, and for gigantic explosions on the launch pad.

msduncan · Post by **msduncan** » Wed Feb 27, 2013 5:24 pm

I am ready to attempt a moonshot tonight. I will let you guys know how it goes.

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Wed Feb 27, 2013 5:56 pm

If we don't hear from you in a few days, we'll notify NASA.

msduncan · Post by **msduncan** » Thu Feb 28, 2013 11:37 am

Failure.

I managed to twice perform two orbital correction burns to put me on encounter trajectory. Unfortunately both times I failed to get captured by Minimus.

Sepiche · Post by **Sepiche** » Thu Feb 28, 2013 2:20 pm

I'm finally starting to get my head around orbital mechanics I think. Not only did I manage for the first time to successfully return a crew to Kerbil after landing on Mun, but I managed to send them on a few orbits of Minmus before heading home.

I also almost got a satellite in orbit over Eve, but I think I burned too long escaping Kerbil orbit and ended up on a trajectory that took me out past Jool.

I should probably just try slingshoting around the sun instead of direct injection, but if I can get the timing right direct injection is just so darn easy.

And this page is a godsend for doing direct injection burns:
http://ksp.olex.biz/" target="_blank

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Thu Feb 28, 2013 3:04 pm

I tried interplanetary travel for the first time last night. I didn't realize that it's an entirely different beast than flying to the Mun, and spent a bunch of time trying to figure things out in deep space. By the time I finally intersected my target, I didn't have nearly enough fuel for the massive deorbit burn required.

Archinerd · Post by **Archinerd** » Fri Mar 01, 2013 10:42 am

Still resisting.

Mod Idea: Different solar systems based on the Geocentric and Tychonhic systems.

ColdSteel · Post by **ColdSteel** » Fri Mar 01, 2013 2:47 pm

I passed on reading this thread for a long time because I figured I just wouldn't be much interested in this but, after finally reading it and the extensive thread about it over at the Broken forums, I find that not only am I totally fascinated by it, I want to play it. That said, no way I'm paying $23 for an alpha. I'd have jumped in at $7 or even $10 to support development if I'd known about it back then but now that the price has jumped up, I guess I'll just wait for the full game to be released.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Fri Mar 01, 2013 5:30 pm

There is a demo that can be had currently that gives a hefty feel for the complications involved in the game.

msduncan · Post by **msduncan** » Fri Mar 01, 2013 11:45 pm

So far it's well worth the 23 bucks.

I managed to get captured by Minimus last night. I got into a stable orbit and started descent. Problem? I hit space bar instead of thrust and jettisoned the bottom half of my lander that included the landing struts, the engine, and the fuel tank. My capsule then slammed into the surface killing the astronaut.

I've been drinking too much tonight to attempt anything, so I'll try tomorrow morning.

msduncan · Post by **msduncan** » Sat Mar 02, 2013 2:56 pm

Without any kind of navigation assist mods, this morning I successfully:

1. Lifted off into a stable orbit
2. Executed a burn to put me on an encounter trajectory for Minmus
3. Executed a burn to put me into stable orbit around Minmus.
4. Executed a successful landing on Minmus. Touchdown
5. EVA
6. Ran and jumped around and played on the surface.
7. Lifted off and reached escape velocity
8. Returned home to successful and safe splashdown

Woot!

msduncan · Post by **msduncan** » Sat Mar 02, 2013 3:27 pm

Archinerd · Post by **Archinerd** » Sat Mar 02, 2013 7:56 pm

Finally got a chance to mess with the demo for a few minutes today. I successfully designed three rockets which all detonated on the launch pad. I may need to go read up on some guides instead of just clicking random buttons...

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Sun Mar 03, 2013 1:21 pm

I recommend the tutorials include in the demo as a starting point. They'll walk you through building a rocket that can get off the ground, and basic controls.

In other news, interplanetary travel achieved! In case it's not obvious, these astronauts won't be going home...

Archinerd · Post by **Archinerd** » Sun Mar 03, 2013 1:51 pm

Are planets relatively flat or did you just get lucky in finding such a good spot? Kerbel seem pretty flat based on what I've seen from my sub space trajectories.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sun Mar 03, 2013 3:10 pm

I play the demo off and on. For me the fun isn't in more than just building and testing different rocket designs and seeing how they fly.

Once I build a crazy finned job and launched. it was going bad so I decided to jetison the booster and pop the chute. So I hit the buttons for that sequence. Unfortunately I had forgotten to add a booster separater so the booster failed to leave the vehicle but the chute did pop....which created this strange death spiral all around the space launch area. It was like watching a huge firework go off course then catch fire and continure to buzz around. The astronaut's faces were scared then happy then scared again.

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Sun Mar 03, 2013 6:31 pm

Archinerd wrote:Are planets relatively flat or did you just get lucky in finding such a good spot? Kerbel seem pretty flat based on what I've seen from my sub space trajectories.

I think it varies, although I really don't have enough experience in the game to say for sure. I know that the one time I tried to land on Minmus (Kerbin's second moon; not included in the demo), I crashed because I couldn't find a reasonably flat spot before I ran out of fuel.

msduncan · Post by **msduncan** » Sun Mar 03, 2013 6:34 pm

I think the planets vary in flatness. Minmus is very mountainous and there is really one area that is a nice flat plane to land on. The tricky part is accounting for the revolution of the moon as you approach. You can set trajectory directly on the flat part and then find yourself trying to land on a mountain.

Hrdina · Post by **Hrdina** » Mon Mar 04, 2013 1:44 am

AWS260 wrote:
AWS260 wrote:Now, to get back to Kerbin. And to land successfully with only one parachute for two capsules.

At least he didn't die alone.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Mon Mar 04, 2013 2:23 am

Downloaded the demo. OMG it's addicting

Hrdina · Post by **Hrdina** » Mon Mar 04, 2013 2:52 am

jztemple2 wrote:Downloaded the demo. OMG it's addicting

This one is on my list for when I get a new computer (hopefully in the near future).

I'm still using my single-core machine from April 2005 (really!).

For now I will have to live vicariously through YouTube.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Mon Mar 04, 2013 12:32 pm

Played the tutorials in the demo and was very impressed. Buying it for the educational opportunity... yeah, that's the ticket!

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Mon Mar 04, 2013 1:21 pm

Kids not interested even after announcing we were going to send dudes into the sun or crash. ::sigh::

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Mon Mar 04, 2013 1:27 pm

I need an advanced ship construction tutorial and info on how to set up the spacebar to do what it needs to do for coordinated actions. Maybe I will look at the first page of the thread for info... maybe!

ColdSteel · Post by **ColdSteel** » Mon Mar 04, 2013 2:08 pm

I just know that if I try the demo I'm going to end up buying this, no matter how much I resist the idea now. Damn forum effect.

Can you use the mods with the demo or is that reserved for the full game?

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Mon Mar 04, 2013 3:41 pm

ColdSteel wrote:I just know that if I try the demo I'm going to end up buying this, no matter how much I resist the idea now. Damn forum effect.

Can you use the mods with the demo or is that reserved for the full game?

No mods with the demo.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Mon Mar 04, 2013 5:13 pm

Damn forum effect

. Just ordered myself a copy.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Mon Mar 04, 2013 9:54 pm

coopasonic wrote:I need an advanced ship construction tutorial and info on how to set up the spacebar to do what it needs to do for coordinated actions. Maybe I will look at the first page of the thread for info... maybe!

Did you figure out how to set up staging (aka the Spacebar)? I had to do some trial and error before I got it right.

I got the full version and it's a lot of fun, although I'm not sure for how long. I do have a tendency to enjoy sandbox games and KSP is the Minecraft of space, so I might be at it for awhile. I found the wiki to be helpful.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Mon Mar 04, 2013 11:43 pm

Don't know if this was highlighted before, but over on the KSP forum there's a thread called Beginner's Guide which has a link to a pretty nice 31 page PDF guide for the beginner. It probably goes beyond what a beginner needs, but it's a good overview of what you can do in the game.

Stefan Stirzaker · Post by **Stefan Stirzaker** » Tue Mar 05, 2013 12:58 am

Interested in some of your pics of ships. I'm trying to get the Kerbal Lander into space but keep running out of Fuel before I get close, so interested in your builds.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Tue Mar 05, 2013 1:13 am

I haven't gotten to the point of landers yet, that's a bit too ambitious right now. I am taking a step by step approach. I've orbited a satellite, then with my Gould Mk I (below) I've done sub-orbitals.

My next vehicle, the Gould Mk II, has lofted my astronaut into orbit and returned him.

Still playing with the RCS locations, I seem to have a stability issue when I'm only on my upper stage.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Tue Mar 05, 2013 2:12 am

This is my next design. I'm using the three crew capsule, so I've been experimenting with abort systems. You'll notice the eight solid rocket motors at the top of the structure plus the two below which are at an angle. In case of a pad abort, I created an action group, key "1", that fires those ten rockets plus the decoupler right under the capsule. The eight carry the capsule up, the two carry it off to the side a bit so it's not right over the the pad. Once the rockets burn out I press "2" which separates the girder structure from the top of the capsule and also releases the two chutes mounted on the sides of the capsule.

If an abort isn't needed, later in flight I press "5" which fires the decoupler to separate the girders from the top of the capsule and also it's fires the ten rockets to carry the tower away.

So, after that hour or so of designing and testing, I'm ready to move onto the rest of the rocket!

Stefan Stirzaker · Post by **Stefan Stirzaker** » Tue Mar 05, 2013 7:19 am

My current multi lander I'm trying to get up with enough delta v to get to minimus.

Space1 by peldor_au, on Flickr

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Tue Mar 05, 2013 10:56 am

jztemple2 wrote:

That's awesome.

I'm currently trying to dock a lander stage and propulsion stage that I launched separately. Will try to post a picture tonight, presuming I don't fail spectacularly. I am very bad at both orbital rendezvous and docking maneuvering.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Tue Mar 05, 2013 11:20 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5fHnNRb ... e=youtu.be" target="_blank

Pebblegarden's videos have been pretty informative. I think I can do this now. Part of my problem was not making the gravity turn (MUCH) earlier.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Tue Mar 05, 2013 11:47 am

coopasonic wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5fHnNRb ... e=youtu.be

Pebblegarden's videos have been pretty informative. I think I can do this now. Part of my problem was not making the gravity turn (MUCH) earlier.

Thanks for posting that link, those videos look pretty informative. After just a day I'm amazed at how much fan involvement there has been in this game, considering it's only in Alpha.

msduncan · Post by **msduncan** » Tue Mar 05, 2013 12:47 pm

My list of accomplishments so far:

1. Satellite in stable orbit
2. Suborbital flight and recovery
3. Manned orbital mission and splashdown safely
4. Mission to Minmus and back.
5. Landing on Minmus, liftoff, journey back and splashdown sucessfully

Mun was a bigger challenge. I lost a guy trying to reach escape velocity. Ran out of fuel. Haven't been back yet.

6. Put space station core into orbit and deployed solar panels.

I want to add another couple units to the space station, but BOY HOWDY is intercepting and docking in orbit a horse of another color. Many times more complicated than putting the core up.

Sepiche · Post by **Sepiche** » Tue Mar 05, 2013 12:51 pm

msduncan wrote:I want to add another couple units to the space station, but BOY HOWDY is intercepting and docking in orbit a horse of another color. Many times more complicated than putting the core up.

Once I figured out a few things I found intercepting an orbiting body isn't too difficult, but man do I suck at docking. The only time I've been able to do it are when I am using my moon lander, detach the lander from the command module, and if I just do a 180 flip with the command module and inch it forward I can dock. Trying to dock after intercepting an already orbiting body seems darn near impossible my my level of skill.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Tue Mar 05, 2013 1:51 pm

msduncan wrote:My list of accomplishments so far:

1. Satellite in stable orbit
2. Suborbital flight and recovery
3. Manned orbital mission and splashdown safely
4. Mission to Minmus and back.
5. Landing on Minmus, liftoff, journey back and splashdown sucessfully

Mun was a bigger challenge. I lost a guy trying to reach escape velocity. Ran out of fuel. Haven't been back yet.

6. Put space station core into orbit and deployed solar panels.

I want to add another couple units to the space station, but BOY HOWDY is intercepting and docking in orbit a horse of another color. Many times more complicated than putting the core up.

Are you using the big helper mod or doing all this vanilla?

I can put something in (100km-ish) orbit around kerbal about 30% of the time now. I want to get more confident there before I go for other things. I also seem to screw up decouplers about a third of the time and drop my motor along with the previous spent stage. Nothing like sitting there watching that motor fall away.