Kerbal Space Program

Tupin · June 05, 2012, 04:33:34 PM

It's more of a simulator than a game, but it really is pretty fun, even if it does require a lot of trial and error. You design rockets and send them into orbit and beyond. It's fun to see what works, and they just added spaceplanes. The demo is free, but the full game is $15 and in development. Lots of mods for it, too.

I saw this video and had to give it a chance. It's what I've always wanted in a space sim.

Zero · June 08, 2012, 11:59:10 AM

Looks fun

Tupin · June 08, 2012, 12:46:05 PM

It is, there are autopilot mods to help you circularize your orbit and perform burns at the right time. Plus, I can build a Mun lander with a mix of Soyuz and Apollo parts. I can't seem to download the Saturn V mod, so that's what I'm doing.

Spud · June 11, 2012, 01:40:19 PM

Pretty neat when you figure out what the intercourse is going on with the ship stages. I can actually almost make it to space with only the demo parts.

Tupin · June 11, 2012, 02:16:34 PM

Quote from: Spud on June 11, 2012, 01:40:19 PM
Pretty neat when you figure out what the intercourse is going on with the ship stages. I can actually almost make it to space with only the demo parts.

The thing is, making more powerful ships makes them more unstable, you can only add so much power before it just goes out of control.

Getting in orbit around Kerbin took me a few tries, and I didn't have any fuel left to make it less eccentric. I did occasionally use so much power I reached escape velocity and began orbiting the sun, so there's always that.

The closest I've ever gotten to a Mun landing was crash-landing on the Mun. Autopilot is supposed to help you land, yet it doesn't jettison the Munar orbiting stage or lower the landing gear, so I had to do it manually. Not enough fuel, so I crashed. Never have I even gotten close to Minmus, think the autopilot only really works on ships designed for it.

Tupin · June 21, 2012, 11:16:13 PM

Update. I've gotten several Mun landings, as well as one on Minmus. MechJeb makes it very easy, but you still should launch at the right time so your orbits don't get messed up and require you to wait.

Tupin · July 02, 2012, 12:23:05 PM

Here's some screenshots of my landings.

First Mun landing.

First manned Mun landing.

First Minmus landing. Notice that it took 17 in-game days to get there versus the 2 or 3 for the Mun.

I tend to shoot for the Munar/Minmus maria, gives the engines more time to fire a braking burn.

Silverhawk79 · July 28, 2012, 07:16:34 AM

I keep meaning to try this, because it looks like fun. It's free, right?

Tupin · July 28, 2012, 11:20:51 AM

It's $15 for the full version, the demo is essentially an earlier version of the full game. It lacks a lot of stuff though, and cannot use mods.

Tupin · September 27, 2012, 05:38:31 PM

0.17 is out and added a ton of new planets and moons. Pretty fun, though the engines you're kind of forced to use for interplanetary travel are so slow and there's less room for error than ever when it comes to calculating angles.

Silverhawk79 · October 04, 2012, 02:02:01 PM

I'll have to give this another shot. When I first tried it on my laptop, I got 5fps and it was awful.

Tupin · February 28, 2013, 10:32:12 PM

This game has changed a lot. Now it has gas giants and a whole solar system and stuff. Tons of new parts, too.

Getting to the Pluto analog is hard, but not as hard as the Venus/Mercury analogs. I've actually landed on the Mars analog several times, ditto for a bunch of moons orbiting the gas giants.