Kerbal Space Program (in-dev retail game)

[pjknibbs]

The changes to the physics haven't really made it any harder to reach orbit in terms of building the rocket--they *have* changed the most efficient path to doing so, though; e.g. in the old physics you probably wouldn't even start turning your rocket until you were above 10km altitude, whereas you need to start turning a lot sooner now.

[brucewarren]

I'd have said spaceplanes are harder though.

Not impossible but you've to balance lift, drag, airspeed and not burning to a crisp whereas before you just fitted a ridiculous number of air intakes and powered your way up until the engines cut out.

Is it me, or does the new regime favour bigger planes with a heft reserve of rocket fuel for the spacing part?

This matters much more than it did because now you have to worry about the cost of everything. No more giant rockets found at the side of the road. It's all to be paid for, so reusable spaceplanes make sense now. Before it was just for the kicks.

I have to admit I miss the days when you could just strap moar rockets onto everything, but such is the price of progress.

[Sir Crashalot]

Yeah, it just took a little bit of getting used to. (and trying Mechjeb for the first time)

Wow, everything is just so easy now.


TBH: Mechjeb etc. should be blocked from career mode but as its only a single player game it doesn't matter.

[brucewarren]

I like MechJeb but it's not infallible.

I certainly wouldn't trust it for getting a spaceplane from ground to orbit. Let it take over at a certain speed and height maybe, but from the ground? no.

Anyway how would you ban one particular mod without banning all mods?

Besides it's not as if anyone has to use it.

[Sir Crashalot]

Seki-kidding on that.

Up until today I have never touched any mod for KSP so all my achievements were through hard work and planning. I used to look at this thread and marvel at what everyone else seemed to be doing so easily.

Now I have seen that Mechjeb does all the actual work, I feel betrayed and violated. It is like travelling to meet some superfit bird I chatted up on the internet just to find out it is you.

[brucewarren]

There is that.

That said MechJeb only flies the ships. It doesn't design them. If your ship's incapable of being flown straight or has a tendency to explode on the pad, no amount of autopilot is going to save it.

[pjknibbs]

Now I have seen that Mechjeb does all the actual work, I feel betrayed and violated. It is like travelling to meet some superfit bird I chatted up on the internet just to find out it is you.

Why are you assuming that all the cool stuff done by people in this thread is because they're using MechJeb?

[Sir Crashalot]

Now I have seen that Mechjeb does all the actual work, I feel betrayed and violated. It is like travelling to meet some superfit bird I chatted up on the internet just to find out it is you.

Why are you assuming that all the cool stuff done by people in this thread is because they're using MechJeb?

Are you trying to say I'm being overly dramatic?
Are you!!!!1!

In a way Mechjeb does make sense as a lot of real life probes and missions are "mainly" controlled by prewritten software.

Well, I've had by 15 mins of fun with KSP now, I'm looking forwards to chained missions which should hopefully give it more longevity and purpose but right now it is still a toy to be bought out and played with once in a while.

[OmegaKnight]

Now I have seen that Mechjeb does all the actual work, I feel betrayed and violated. It is like travelling to meet some superfit bird I chatted up on the internet just to find out it is you.

Why are you assuming that all the cool stuff done by people in this thread is because they're using MechJeb?

I’ve never even tried Mechjeb, I don’t like the idea of using an autopilot in KSP.
I use Kerbal Engineer Redux,
I started using Engineer so that I didn’t have to keep switching back and forth from map view
(which back in the day was the only way to know your height and time to apoapsis).
What’s the point of building a nice looking rocket, if your going to fly it from map view.

In a way Mechjeb does make sense as a lot of real life probes and missions are "mainly" controlled by prewritten software.

If you were going to mod the game for that then kOS and Remote Tech would surely be the way to go.


As for it being harder, I’d say no, just different...
I haven’t played since May, mainly ‘cos I’m playing other things

No prizes for guessing what I was watching when I took this lawn dart from runway to 100Km orbit
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but I’ve got to say, the changes to jet engines just seemed wrong
yes get rid of intake hogging/stacking so you can’t just get out and push your plane into orbit
you’d expect performance to taper off but it didn’t, you’d be flying along your engine working then go 1m higher and it cuts out, descend 1m and it works again.
So what they did was add invisible walls to a sandbox game...
...yeah that’s always a great idea.
I understand why they did it career mode/tech-tree progression
but the way I’ve always thought of the jets is (wiki links):
Basic jet (Wheesley) = turbofan like you’d find on most planes, be they commercial jet-liners or military jets (usually with afterburners/reheat)
Turbo Ramjet "Whiplash" = Pratt & Whitney J58 as found on the SR-71
CR-7 R.A.P.I.E.R. = the near future tech / in development SABRE (rocket engine) for the SSTO Skylon Spaceplane

So what about a U2 style plane, game wise that’s only a basic jet, could you fly it straight and level at 70,000ft (21Km) in KSP now,
how about one of my all time favourite planes the English Electric Lightning on a ballistic climb, trading speed for height, has been up to 88,000ft (~27Km)
Perhaps that’s a new challenge to try...

I also tried out a mod that I hadn’t used in awhile Graphatron2000
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what it looks like while not orange
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I think I’ll add it back into my main mod pack when I take up KSP again,
I also think that now that most of the development is done I’ll transfer my game over the Steam
I’d do wonder how many hours I’d have raked up if I’d done that at the beginning

[Bishop149]

I think I’ll add it back into my main mod pack when I take up KSP again,
I also think that now that most of the development is done I’ll transfer my game over the Steam
I’d do wonder how many hours I’d have raked up if I’d done that at the beginning

I'd wait until 1.1, its been near as damn it confirmed that they're updating the engine (Unity) on the next patch. This is likely to be a BIG change mod-wise I'd imagine pretty much everything will break.
But on the plus side probably the last such major update and we might FINALLY get 64-bit.

My game runs perilously close to the RAM limit (about 2200 Mb on load, climbing to 3500 after an hour or so of play . . . at which point I restart to prevent a crash) there are several more part heavy mods that I'd like to install but am currently holding back on.
So roll on 1.1 . . . . . although I won't install it until months after its released, the modders will have to catch up first.

Oh yeah and I too have never used MechJeb. . . . I use Engineer Redux for useful data readouts and the very basic programmable autopilot that comes with RemoteTech, the latter being kind ofa necessity as Remote tech also comes with signal occlusion and a light speed delay . . . . try controlling a craft direct with a 3 minute lag on every input. . . or losing control every time you go behind a planet . . . .

[brucewarren]

1.05 is out.

Now I have to relearn how to re-enter the atmosphere without burning to a crisp (even with heatshields and radiators)

[OmegaKnight]

1.05 is out.

Now I have to relearn how to re-enter the atmosphere without burning to a crisp (even with heatshields and radiators)

My word, how fast were you going?

speaking of fast,
getting re-entry effects at sea level is quite fun

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[brucewarren]

R17 of course

[OmegaKnight]

Hahaha, your heatshield wasn't improbably made from wool was it?