Kerbal Space Program

[RoboRay 126]

Thanks for the HU. Nice move from the devs. I wonder if the mods work, at least partially. Well, I may try or just get the full version. Seems like it's a winner.

 

No, there's no mod support at all in the new demo. You're limited to the 25 stock parts included and it can't load the custom plugin code that many mods need.

 

Definitely try it out. I think the full game is $23 now, if the demo hooks you.

 

Here's some new videos showing the demo...

 

Part 1:

 

Part2:

 

The devs have been talking about the resource system coming in the next big release. We'll be able to search for, collect and process raw materials (from mining, seawater filtering, atmospheric separation, etc.) on other worlds to produce consumables for our craft (fuel, oxidizer, etc.). That's one less mod I'll need.

 

They showed some of the "detection" parts herethat will be used to survey worlds for useful resources.

[CoolP 283]

I totally have to get this for the weekend. I actually wanted to write them if there's another way than using Paypal, but I think I will just become weak and join the club. Have to clear my desk first.

 

Here's what I imagine my first steps with more parts will look like. :blush:

 

They showed some of the "detection" parts herethat will be used to survey worlds for useful resources.

Serious Kerbal science! Very promising looking plans indeed.

 

Ray, please correct me if I state wrong things, but there's no multiplayer or something, right? My friend told me that one can exchange the save files or something, but that's more of a hot seat solution then.

[RoboRay 126]

I actually wanted to write them if there's another way than using Paypal, but I think I will just become weak and join the club.

 

Yeah, it's a hassle, but they only take Paypal at the moment. They're a really small team. The company has actually been around for a while, but doing stuff like convention venue management in Mexico City. Then they decided to try to take a stab at software development!

 

Here's what I imagine my first steps with more parts will look like. :blush:

 

LOL, yeah, expect many failures and explosions and deaths. But that's half the fun.

 

Serious Kerbal science! Very promising looking plans indeed.

 

Serious science indeed. They've also said that future planets, moons and asteroids added to the game will not be announced in the patch notes and also will not automatically show up on the Map screen. You'll have to actually find them (telescopes were mentioned, which can be run automatically by NPCs) and observe them enough to determine their orbits, then send out a mission to learn more about its characteristics.

 

Ray, please correct me if I state wrong things, but there's no multiplayer or something, right? My friend told me that one can exchange the save files or something, but that's more of a hot seat solution then.

 

There are no immediate multiplayer plans, because the game is so dependent on players needing to time-accelerate frequently and at radically different speeds based on what the're doing (slow time-warp for an orbital rendezvous, really fast for interplanetary flights). There's some possibility they'll have something in place eventually, but it will probably be cooperative-mode rather than competitive, so players can participate in a shared mission, but not race each to Jool (which is a year-long flight).

 

However, some enterprising folks have dabbled with multiplayer KSP as a Mission Control team supporting a crew (in a different room and communicating via voice-chat and web-cam). There's actually mods that can display some telemetry from the craft to a web-browser, so you can monitor some information from the craft via other computers on a network. It's primitive, but actually not that much more rudimentary than what Mercury Control would have been like.

 

Here's the report on their Mun Mission.

 

I thought there was a YouTube video of their mission to Duna, but I can't find it now.

 

If you just want to see more KSP videos, Kurtjmac has a great series. He started them about a year ago, so a lot has been added to the game since then, but they're very entertaining and still relevant to watch. Here's

.

[CoolP 283]

Yeah, I saw Kurt and Scott Manley videos so far, and some more authors. My background music so to speak. Seems like very entertaining and profound stuff indeed, plus the thrill those Kerbal faces transport. Actually, I'm extremely pleased about the amount and quality of information, addons and tools available so far.

 

The game is in a very early stage and the folks already like it a lot and develop stuff. And the addons are free! So those few bucks for the current alpha version aren't a problem at all. My plans are mainly driven by the time I have to actually explore it. Wanted to look into Orbiter too and the other ton of things. :unsure: But the weekend will be a Kerbal one, I can feel it. B)

 

Multiplayer. Yeah, those mission setups. Must be great. Sorta coop mode. I will look into the links given, thanks. Would be fun to see a Kerbal space centre mission control informing the pilots about their amazing skills and the impression they make, at least in regard to the other pilots around. At the Mun, with only one ship. :mellow: ^_^

 

Serious science indeed. They've also said that future planets, moons and asteroids added to the game will not be announced in the patch notes and also will not automatically show up on the Map screen. You'll have to actually find them

Great idea!

 

Side note. If they add the enhanced drag model and even heat, a lot of current youtube videos won't make sense anymore, huh? Things of the past.

[LHookins 3,103]

Wanted to look into Orbiter too

 

Orbiter was an incredible time sink for me for many months and I loved it. KSP looks like it would be more fun, though.

 

Hook

[CoolP 283]

So far, they both seem to have their pros and cons. With Orbiter being free, it's a must look at item for me. Well, I actually did look around a bit, but I didn't really achieve much. Loved the HD textures though. I just saw that it's very detailed on the gravity model (e.g. allowing Lagrange points, finding and 'catching' them is a different task though) and stuff. And it's finished, so to speak.

 

But, same as you, I think Kerbal may win due to the impression stated above and that nice touch on not always being super serious but allowing or even provoking rather crazy stuff. I like that and I also look at it as being very different from more common spheres at times. ^_^

 

Are there funny Orbiter videos by the way?

 

Ok, adding one more thing I was looking into would be Universe Sandbox. Totally different, but, somehow, fitting into that small space sim sections of ours. You can really mess around with things there. Real or Deathstar (which is real too, as we know ).

 

But don't hold back any Kerbal reports, please. I think Avsim benefits from the extra viewpoints and even the mood added. :smile: Correct me if I'm wrong. Edited. We've made this thread 'hot'. Must be a first!

[HiFlyer 9,363]

Thanks for reminding me about universe sandbox! I got it forever ago, messed around and forgot I even had it till you mentioned it!

[CoolP 283]

You mean you already.. did destroy the universe? :Worried: Why, Devon, why? :Cry:

 

Seriously, great program that is. I could bet some KSP fan already offers the file for setting up the Kerbal Sol system. Besides, I think that the Sandbox dev is a KSP player. Well, at least he lists KSP among others on his site.

[CoolP 283]

As promised, I'm now in the game. Means no demo and the current 0.18.4 version. Reading about improvements due to a new game engine. Well, I only saw the old one on the friend's laptop and it ran fine. So is this really a gain or something like a 'tested by real pilots' value? ^_^ The old demo doesn't count and the current demo already features the new engine.

 

Thanks to the videos, I'm pretty sure about what mods I will get.. soon. Lets go vanilla first, same as on the demo but without limitations now. As we know, Kerbals will die, but they don't die for the sake of progress, not for the one of science, but for their erm.. country, planet, system.. the other green folks!

 

Reading over at the KSP forums, I'm looking for something to enhance the antialiasing. I saw a solution for the old engine, but that caused :blink: here as the it didn't seem to fit the new one. Edited. Disregard. Seems like one just has to use this guide. http://forum.kerbals...-cards-(SGSSAA) The difference being the compatibility bits for unity engine (0x004000c1), those are not needed now. So just using a custom NI profile with the ksp.exe added and a forced antialiasing mode of your choice will do. Just leave the comp. value at default.

 

Either way, safe skies and space for you. I have to save the planet now, from me. B)

[RoboRay 126]

As promised, I'm now in the game. Means no demo and the current 0.18.4 version. Reading about improvements due to a new game engine. Well, I only saw the old one on the friend's laptop and it ran fine. So is this really a gain or something like a 'tested by real pilots' value? ^_^ The old demo doesn't count and the current demo already features the new engine.

 

Performance seems slightly better in 0.18.4, but they haven't really started optimizing yet. This is the first version ported to Unity 4. They pretty much just made it work first, and now will start rewriting things to take advantage of Unity 4 features.

 

Unless you're building huge rockets (hundreds of parts) or have a very low end computer, the improvements on 0.18.4 probably aren't going to be very noticeable. But in the next few versions, they'll be able to offload more of the processing to other CPU cores and to the GPU. The primary core is always going to be the bottleneck, though, as all the physics calculations between every part have to be done sequentially on one core. So, the more parts on your craft (or on other nearby craft, out to 2.2km or so), the more of a performance hit you will take.

 

I'm pretty sure about what mods I will get.. soon. Lets go vanilla first, same as on the demo but without limitations now.

 

I'd actually encourage you to stay away from mods as much as possible. Play with the stock parts, until you find something you really want to do but the stock parts just don't allow it (like my Duna airship). Then, find a mod that will help. I have ended up with a lot of mods, but I never install all of them at once. Adding parts increases the loading time, and also turns the VAB menus into a nightmare with page after page of often redundant parts if you install lots of mods.

 

Some notable exceptions you should consider:

 

ISA MapSat: Gives your probes something to do. Map the terrain of other worlds and detect anomalies on the surface to help identify good landing sites.

 

Docking Struts: Once you start doing docking, you'll want to build a space station. The docking ports get pretty wobbly when you've got a bunch of heavy modules spread out across a wide area. This mod lets you mount attachment points to the various modules in the VAB, then connect them together with support struts once you're in orbit and have the modules docked together. This will make the structure much more rigid and easier to reorient and make any orbital-change burns.

 

Either Kerbal Engineer or MechJeb. Both provide lots of useful information that would be available to you when building and flying a spacecraft. MJ also provides some automation assistance (orientation pointing and hold) and even autopilots that will launch and land for you. I strongly discourage you from using those autopilots until you've mastered those things yourself, though. Your first orbit, your first Mun landing, your first docking, etc. are huge. Don't let the autopilot diminish that sense of accomplishment. On the other hand, your 200th launch into orbit is going to be pretty routine. Feel free to let MJ handle that while you go rustle up some snacks.

 

Chatterer: It may sound silly, but this adds a lot of immersion. It's "kerbalized" radio dialogue between the craft and mission control. Snippets play periodically (frequency is adjustable) and automatically at certain events (launch, staging, reentry, landing etc.). The audio is actually real Apollo recordings played backwards and sped up, but sounds exactly like I would expect the kerbals to sound like.

 

Crew Manifest: When building a rocket, only the first command pod you place will be crewed. If you'd like to set things up with passengers in other compartments, you have to build ladders up the side of your craft and climb them up one at a time. Crew Manifest adds a menu feature to every crewable compartment that allows you to add or remove kerbals.

 

On the other side of mods, I'd suggest you avoid or at least think twice about getting any of the BobCat rockets. Their rovers and ground-base facilities are fantastic, the best ones in KSP, but all their rocket motors and tanks are seriously overpowered compared to the stock parts. Beautiful aesthetics, brilliant functionality on special features, but they completely trivialize the design process and flights because you can build a relatively small rocket that outperforms a Saturn V. It's KSP easy-mode. If you want to build rockets using bigger tanks and more powerful engines, KW Rocketry and NovaPunch offer options that are very carefully scaled in-line with stock performance. On the other hand, if you're just struggling with designing big rockets that work well, the BobCat Jool V may be just what you're looking for. KSP is a sandbox, so play it however you enjoy it.

[Lowflyer 97]

Great game and nice to see a tread about it here on Avsim. I've been playing for a few months now and because I do things almost as unscientifically as possible and also try to figure things out myself rather that watching others do it on youtube first it took me until yesterday before I finally managed to get a crew down to the surface of Laythe, and then back to Kerbin.

 

The full assembly just after launch from Kerbin. It's completely stock apart from the DEMV Mk5 rover attached under the lander.

 

 

Orbiting Kerbin.

 

 

Beginning the burn for Jool.

 

 

Thanks to some carefully calculated areobraking pure luck the guys finally find themselves in orbit around Laythe. Time to decouple the lander from the transport module (or whatever you wanna call it) and head for the surface.

 

 

Found a decent looking landing spot close to the beach. After about half a year in space those suits are starting to itch. Chutes deployed and ready to fire up the jets.

 

 

Actually it wasn't that good after all but we'll take it.

 

 

Having a bit of fun in the rover.

 

 

Time to leave. Let's hope there's enough fuel to make it to orbit.

 

 

Joining up with the transport module. Command pod goes on the bottom this time. As a result the kerbonauts might feel a bit sweaty due to having four massive radioactive blowtorches next to the pod, but it's a design flaw we have to live with for now.

 

 

And after a couple more years of sitting down and doing nothing we finally have home in sight. Yay!

 

[CoolP 283]

Thanks for the tips and the detailed write-up on the addons. Now I can relate to a few names my friend told me. Right you are, it's very useful to learn it without them first, just to be able to relate to what's happening. Same as in flight sim, knowing what a FMC does means flying without it's help first.

 

So expect me to mess around with the school time basics and the default tools from KSP. Which are pretty good actually. Talking about those manoeuvre nodes. Straightforward stuff.

 

Rolf, nice trip that is and it makes me totally wanna get some rover soon. Can't see any wheels in the current setup, only that retractable gear, so I guess one can only get those with mods, right? Or I'll take those default gears, but they don't look too robust. :mellow:

 

I forgot to add. The KSP folks over at Reddit feature a file for Universe Sandbox, giving you the Kerbal system to play and plan with. Here's the thread. http://www.reddit.co...andboxfiles_in/ You have to pick that mediafire link which also gives you some textures. I've tried it, works fine. Boy, I can see that the outer planets are in serious need for.. planning.

[RoboRay 126]

Rolf, nice trip that is and it makes me totally wanna get some rover soon. Can't see any wheels in the current setup, only that retractable gear, so I guess one can only get those with mods, right? Or I'll take those default gears, but they don't look too robust. :mellow:

 

Yeah, that is a great Laythe mission. I've built a colony there and flown the empty transfer vehicles back to Kerbin orbit to refuel and reuse, but never actually brought a crew home from further away than Duna.

 

Rovers are a game-changer when it comes to landing missions. Without them, you can walk around a bit, and even fly on EVA pack jets for a few kilometers on low-gee worlds, but with rovers you can really explore. I wasn't very impressed with the planets and moons until I could drive around and really see the changing terrain, some of which is quite impressive.

 

BobCat has great rovers (DEMV MK2 is a big rolling habitat, Mk5 is a tiny two-seater), and the CleverBobcat mod is where the have taken over maintenance of the original CARTS mod that first added powered wheels. You can build some nice rovers out of stock parts on the rolling chassis in CleverBobcat.

 

Fully stock rovers are possible, but not easy and not very effective. You need to push the thing around with rockets or RCS, so they run out of fuel pretty quickly. Steering is also challenging.

 

However, a couple of days ago, Nova showed some Rover wheel parts that will probably be included in 0.19 when it us released.

[Lowflyer 97]

Thanks guys.

 

I've done successful return trips to the Jool moons of Vall and Pol, as well as Dres, Moho and Gilly but Laythe was definitely the hardest. Moho was a moderate success as I wasted so much fuel that I had to send a second transport module to get the guys home. I also ran out of fuel on ascent from Moho but was saved by that big RCS tank.

 

Talking about stock rovers, here's my favourite design. Powered by ion engines it takes a while to get it moving and it drains the batteries in a hurry unless it's midday but it has good range and it's turning radius is actually smaller than Moho's. ;-)

 

 

Lately though I've been using the DEMV Mk5, which is the only mod I've allowed myself to use so far.

[RoboRay 126]

And now for something completely different! A variety of historical real-world spacecraft have been appearing in KSP. BobCat makes some excellent-looking Soyuz and other Russian craft, but I took the Gemini/Titan parts recently added to NovaPunch out for a spin...

 

(Sorry for bogging this page down with so many pics, but I was just thrilled with how good a job they did on the the craft and wanted to show all parts of an early Gemini mission).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And while posting these, I realized I completely forgot to install the Launch Escape System tower on top of the capsule. I'm glad nothing went wrong. The LES can be tied to the Abort button and has more than enough power to pull the capsule away from a rapid unplanned disassembly of the launch vehicle. It can also be set to decouple and fly away on its own during the staging sequence, once you don't need it any more.

 

NovaPunch Gemini is highly recommended if you want to dabble in recreating historical space flights.