Kerbal Space Program

I did try the demo a while back but I was absolutely lost in what to do. I didn't watch any tutorials however.

I think I will give it a punt, you guys are sure defending the game as I'm attacking it and for that reason, it must be worth a shot.

I will buy it at the end of the sale, hoping it will be on a flash or something in the mean time.
 
agnes said:
I will buy it at the end of the sale, hoping it will be on a flash or something in the mean time.
Click to expand...

It's on a Daily Deal now, it's not likely to get any cheaper than that.

It really is the kind of game which people either commit to or forget about, it's good for a laugh and you can get to the starting planet's moons (and maybe Duna?) without really knowing what you're doing, but getting to the outer system bodies takes a fair bit of reading and planning.
 
Art said:
It's on a Daily Deal now, it's not likely to get any cheaper than that.

It really is the kind of game which people either commit to or forget about, it's good for a laugh and you can get to the starting planet's moons (and maybe Duna?) without really knowing what you're doing, but getting to the outer system bodies takes a fair bit of reading and planning.
Click to expand...

And once you get there? Anything special waiting or is it just the "cool, I did that" factor?
 
I just bought it. I will give it a shot later on. I very much doubt I will make it to the edge of the atmosphere never mind orbit earth.

So thinking about landing on the moon (I assume that's what people talk about, something Duna or other) is way far ahead right now lol.
 
I switched to an old flight today, prior to 0.23.5 and it broke my save :( Luckily I had hardly played since the last backup I made so have that, but I had done quite a bit of science since then :(

0.24 looks good though, I'm holding off from doing anything big until it comes out.
 
agnes said:
I just bought it. I will give it a shot later on. I very much doubt I will make it to the edge of the atmosphere never mind orbit earth.

So thinking about landing on the moon (I assume that's what people talk about, something Duna or other) is way far ahead right now lol.
Click to expand...

Duna is a little further than the Mun or Minimus (may have the second name wrong I've not been playing long..)..
 
The KSS Discovery, my very first manned mission beyond the Kerbin system has completed Eve aerobraking! It took two attempts, as Eve's atmosphere is like flying in to a brick wall! :eek:

Career mode, KSP Interstellar and only launching stuff than fits inside KW Rocketry fairings does make for a challenging and time consuming experience. Yet seeing my pretty ship at its destination (and with enough fuel to get back ;)) does feel rather satisfying.

agnes said:
Jesus this is going to be complicated! lol
Click to expand...

The learning curve is initially terrifying. Getting in to a nice equatorial orbit reliably, is your first hurdle, then it's understanding manoeuvre nodes, then it's getting your head around the concept that you're not really flying through space but rather falling or not falling in to a star/planet/moon. As for your first landing target, I'd chose Minmus. It's further away, but there's far less gravity to contend with.

Once you've done all that it's on to rendezvous and docking. This may break you! :D
 
Last edited:
Lunatic Dreyfus said:
The KSS Discovery, my very first manned mission beyond the Kerbin system has completed Eve aerobraking! It took two attempts, as Eve's atmosphere is like flying in to a brick wall! :eek:

Career mode, KSP Interstellar and only launching stuff than fits inside KW Rocketry fairings does make for a challenging and time consuming experience. Yet seeing my pretty ship at its destination (and with enough fuel to get back ;)) does feel rather satisfying.



The learning curve is initially terrifying. Getting in to a nice equatorial orbit reliably, is your first hurdle, then it's understanding manoeuvre nodes, then it's getting your head around the concept that you're not really flying through space but rather falling or not falling in to a star/planet/moon. As for your first landing target, I'd chose Minmus. It's further away, but there's far less gravity to contend with.

Once you've done all that it's on to rendezvous and docking. This may break you! :D
Click to expand...

The progression in Kerbal is satisfying indeed. To start with, you can just strap a small solid fuel booster to a capsule and see how high you get. Then you strap bigger engines and more fuel to it and see how far that gets. After a few attempts, you get the feel for it, and can get into orbit easily. Then the challenge is to land kerbals on the Mun or Minmus and returning them safely to Kerbin. Then, other planets. The hardest thing I found was docking, but again, once I got the hang of that, it became second nature. I was able to use docking mechanics to build even bigger spacecraft in-orbit, to take my kerbals to far off places and back.

 
SlyReaper said:
It's not much further in delta-v terms, but you need to calculate a launch window for it. You don't for the Mun or Minmus.
Click to expand...

This is about my only gripe with the game, it is really hard to plan anything further ahead than one orbit/manouver node....

:( I kinda want to be able to fast forward time in the tracking station so I can plan missions more easily, or have I missed something?
 
MoridinUK said:
This is about my only gripe with the game, it is really hard to plan anything further ahead than one orbit/manouver node....

:( I kinda want to be able to fast forward time in the tracking station so I can plan missions more easily, or have I missed something?
Click to expand...

Mechjeb solves this problem...one could argue that it can make the game too easy, especially when you research the more advanced parts that allow automatic landing, orbits etc. (basically everything).
 
MoridinUK said:
This is about my only gripe with the game, it is really hard to plan anything further ahead than one orbit/manouver node....
Click to expand...
In the last update they added the feature so that you can plan the maneuver on orbits ahead of the one that you are on which is really handy and you shouldn't really need to make a maneuver node further down the line of your planned maneuver. This is due to it not being very accurate on long distance maneuvers so it is better off doing in when changing between Spheres of Influence.
 
Question, how does one distinguish all the parts from one another? I simply tied to build a little solid rocket with a capsule to boost me into the atmosphere and then land safely with a parachute but I had no idea where everything is. So ended up giving up. It seems the categories are very mixed up.
 
They aren't mixed up at all so :confused:
you'll soon get used to it and do it purely by sight, you can hover over and get some indo, if you right click you get extra numbers. Like thrust/ISP etc.

Left to right
Pods - capsules & probe bodies
Propulsion - engines, fuel, boosters, fuel pipes
Control - sas and RCA thrusters (fuel is in propulsion)
Structure - decouplers, struts, adapters and other structural buts and bobs
Aerodynamics, wings, air intakes, control surfaces(ailerons etc.)
Utility - parachutes, batteries, solar panels, ladders, docking ports, wheels, landing struts, ion engine & xenon gas for ion engine
Science - science experiments

Simplest normal rocket is
Pods - Command Pod mk1
Structural 2nd page- TE-18A stack decoupled
Propulsion 2nd page - RT-10 solid booster
Utility 2nd page - mk16 parachute
Remember to sort staging out.
As this is a short flight shouldn't be any need for batteries/solar panels etc. And solid boosters do not produce any electrical power. So all you have is the small battery which is in the command pod.
 
Last edited:
So I managed to get into space and even do an orbit. But only with the guide of a youtube video. I'd like to try on my own a few times just to get the hang of how it all works. I assume this is the best way to learn?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom