Kerbal Space Program

This thread was split off from the original discussion in PA General.
It is about Kerbal Space Program, a game you should check out if you like rockets. Or explosions.

https://kerbalspaceprogram.com/

Well, all those problems will go away once you have mastered docking. But docking is a whole new level of trouble...

What I've figured out about KSP is the more beastly the PC (and the newer the version of KSP) the more fun you have. Now with KSP maybe switching over to Unity in the near future, you can expect a hecka ton lot less bugs and crashes.

try this... it's a work in progress... I haven't fixed the center of mass and the RCS outputs yet or the final decoupling stage yet but I can get it into orbit easy peasy and I can fly it (low speed) out of kerbin's influence.

huh I thought KSP is currently on Unity engine

I have already launched a 8000 ton rocket successfully into KSP Space

Lol, looks like you want to deliver the whole space station in one flight.

I would love to share the design for my space station core module that I build yesterday but I clicked on new game to start fresh and didn't know it would delete my saved space crafts...
Oh well, it was pretty close to the default module anyway. Guess I'll just do it again and better this time!

yes sir-ee, that's how I roll = D

oh NOES ! you called your game "new game" then when you created a new one and called it the same thing??

Yes, I'm smart like that!

However, I made a new one - this time with even more reserves for fuel and stuff. First I just wanted to see how much thrust I would need to get my baby in a low orbit. I build a rocket in like 10 minutes and launched it. It was slightly wobbeling every time I fired up SAS but it didn't fall apart. When I was at 25,000m I decided to go for it and got it in a nice 100km orbit:


As you can see I still have LOADS of fuel of every kind.


I moved Bill into the habitat sightseeing module and waited for sunrise!


Right now I'm working on a refueling module (which might include 4 emergency return capsules). With all that fuel I could actually move my station into the orbit of another planet.

wow, considering you know how to dock (compared to my rather simplistic solution), plus you do things so quick and on first try, you have a lot more KSP experience than me.

btw I tend to avoid sas stabilization as long as I have atmosphere for which I find fins are a much better use.
here's another work in progress for a mass satelite deployment.

honestly the one thing KSP deserves most is multiplayer. (tryed a couple mods, got none working)

Well, I know how to dock - in theory. I haven't played KSP since they added the orbit overview. Last time I played we didn't have docking ports or nav points. I found some great tutorials from a very experienced player and docking the fuel module will be my next big challenge!



PS: Here is my Kerbal Space Station. Watch out when you stage the first time! You have to keep the rocket very stable or the engine/tank in the middle might hit one of the support rockets. Like I said, I glued that together in a couple of minutes...

Thankies! will give it a try.

but first, bedtime!

Yeah, I need a break and some sleep too. Getting that fuel depot into orbit was harder than expected. I tried to bring it up with less fuel than the main module and it's heavier I believe. I even had to cut back from originally 66% to 50% thrust on the support engines due to atmospheric pressure. Instead of bringing me into the desired 95km orbit I only got to 80km with the main rocket. Fixed it with my 'extra stage'. I knew that would come in handy at some point. There is no such thing as too much fuel in KSP... =3

This is how far, or rather close, I am atm.:


3km, 2 miles. Sounds so close, right? I got the feeling that I still have a lot of work in front of me though.

At least the orbits look good:


Almost perfectly aligned and there is an intersect position with 1.5km coming up soon.

it seems like studying space system engineering helps with KSP XD all things you discuss are pretty self- explanatory to me

The only problem in the game is the steering, it sometime works not perfectly for big ships...

look at this
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=165709331

It really hurt the first time to lose all i achieved in that game xD because of updated, but well its time consuming to rebuild everything... I therefore wait some time, until the game is more polished to play it again^^ ( I play since Januar 2012, where it was very rough) Thats also the reason I have currently no space station. I had a big one with several huge fuel tanks for refueling manned space explorers after launch from the planet, but patch killed it more or less.


You need mechjeb, its the most important plug in. It allows you to control the vehicle like real astronauts or real commanding engineers would do. Noone would dock with so few information the basic game gives you.

but why are we talking bout KSP here ? XD

Hmm, I googled Smart A.S.S. for KSP and found MechJeb. That looks useful. I'll complete the docking once by hand but I don't see me doing this repeatedly. It does get a bit tedious and I want to dock loads of modules.

PS: We are talking about KSP because you cannot not talk about KSP if somebody posts a picture of a staging rocket.

PPS: I moved the off topic KSP discussion to this thread.

Do you come here often?


Docking complete, I has a SEAL!


I'm not happy yet though, the modules are not perfectly aligned...


Still, I successfully docked lots of liquid and mono fuel for all the orbital manoeuvres I could possibly wish for. Not to mention 4 emergency escape pods in case Jebediah and Bill have to leave once their snacks run out. Bill looks way happier now. Jebediah was never worried in the slightest. The threat of death by starvation or dehydration doesn't bother him if he can view a sunrise from space...

Most I played of KSP is a little bit of going to the tutorial for moon orbital transition, then just using that space craft to instead go to the other moon or neighboring planets.

I always spend a lot of time designing the lander, rover, probe or space station and slap the optimized result on a 5-10 minute rocket. I guestimate how much fuel I will probably need and: Take Off!

Now I have seen enough of Kerbin and its orbits yesterday so today I started a new project, the Minmus Rover!


After some extensive testing I was finally close to the specs I had in mind:
• landing gear to keep the tires intakt on touch down
• wide chassis for increased stability
• good top speed (> 20m/s)
• small liquid fuel engine for landing
• enough lights to shame a X-mas tree


Hello Mün! You are next if this Rover survives Minmus...


Let's find a nice, flat spot on the bright side of life!


Touch down!


I think I'll try to get up on one of the mountains one day. Won't be easy though because Minmus' gravity is so low that the torque from the remote control module can flip the rover! But you can just flip it back! As long as I keep the landing gear I can roll over without damaging the rover.


I think he looks eager to explore...

Achievement!

Probe landed on Minmus.

I had a lot of fun with the demo. I could never do anything more than crash into Mun though.

Well, if you enjoyed it than that's fine.

I bought KSP for $7 back in the day but I think it's still a steal for $22.99. If you are from the EU you should probably buy it from the developers. (You can convert the key to Steam if you want.) KSP is like Minecraft: seriously addicting. There is always the next challenge and a new design idea.

It took me a long time to learn how to calculate converting orbits from planet to planet.

There is a calculator. Very complicated still.

In the end, I do with what the tutorial tells you for the mun. I just learned the guestimated position for every planet in relation to every planet. For instance, Eve has to be an eighth behind Kerbin. Once I learned that, bullshitting the transfer bit by bit wasn't so hard because I roughly knew how far it would move as I tried intercepting, 1/8th behind Kerbin.

Bottom line, I have yet to put any complete system of rockets together that successfully leaves the atomesphere. Some stuff bumps together and explodes, or it don't stay facing up. It would take me a lot of dedicated time to figure that stuff out. Generally, I used my rigged way of doing stuff, which is fine for what it is.

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