Much better at the game then i am.. lol
Kerbal Space Program
- Thread starter TheGodBen
- Start date
About time.
Congratulations! 
I must commend your resolve, landing safely on Mun without having the quicksave feature isn't something I even dared to try when I played the demo.
Now get them home safely to Kerbin.
By the way, if you're planning on getting the full game, it's better to get it sooner than later. They increase the price with every major update, and it went up by $5 the other day because they released version 0.18. It's worth it though, the latest release is amazing and finally allows you to dock ships to one another, and it allows you to build unmanned spacecraft. It completely redefines how I play the game.
This is a space station I started work on. I used an unmanned tug to bring it into a 200km 45° orbit, then the tug undocked and crashed back into the ocean.
Next up, I added the first solar array to power the station.
The latest addition is a crew module.
My rough plan for the station involves eight more trips to complete construction, and two additional trips to add crew.
I must commend your resolve, landing safely on Mun without having the quicksave feature isn't something I even dared to try when I played the demo.Now get them home safely to Kerbin.
By the way, if you're planning on getting the full game, it's better to get it sooner than later. They increase the price with every major update, and it went up by $5 the other day because they released version 0.18. It's worth it though, the latest release is amazing and finally allows you to dock ships to one another, and it allows you to build unmanned spacecraft. It completely redefines how I play the game.
This is a space station I started work on. I used an unmanned tug to bring it into a 200km 45° orbit, then the tug undocked and crashed back into the ocean.
Next up, I added the first solar array to power the station.
The latest addition is a crew module.
My rough plan for the station involves eight more trips to complete construction, and two additional trips to add crew.
Indeed. I seemed like it was cheaper a few weeks ago. I thought maybe I saw it wrong. But now i see i need to get my ass in gear and buy this game. Also, if i remember right you get free updates.. So buying now gets you a full game for cheaper.
Quick question though.. Do you need "in game "money"" to buy parts? Or is it sandbox mode for building and launching?
Quick question though.. Do you need "in game "money"" to buy parts? Or is it sandbox mode for building and launching?
When you start a new game in the retail version you are presented with a choice between sandbox mode and career mode, but right now you can only pick sandbox mode. So even when they finally add the career mode, you'll still have the option to play in sandbox mode with unlimited funds and parts.
And yes, if you buy it now you'll get all future updates for free, up to and including version 1.0. I'm not sure if they'll continue to add features after that point like Minecraft does, but that's so far away that I'm not even sure if the devs know what their plans are. The next couple of updates sound very exciting though, they're planning to add minable resources and colonisation features. Longterm, they've discussed a desire to add additional solar systems and a procedurally generated galaxy the further out you go, sort of like Minecraft's infinite world. That may be pie in the sky thinking, but it would be incredible if true.
Yes, they updated the textures on most of the parts in the latest update, and the old engines and fuel tanks from the demo had a major makeover. The planet Kerbin also changed considerably in appearance. The Kerbals themselves are still quite cartoony, but that's rather fitting considering they're a race whose space program is based on trial and error and expendable astronauts.
See, it's easy to design a rocket capable of getting to the moon, the complicated bit is figuring out how to get there. And the really complicated bit is figuring out how to get there without smashing into it.
My space station is coming along. I attached another crew module, another solar array, and a docking hub, as well as sending a ship up to transfer two new crew members aboard. Sadly, you can't transfer crew internally yet, so they had to get out and spacewalk.
I'm getting better at docking, but there was a bit of a mishap with that second solar array. I somehow completely lost control of the tug and found myself careening towards the station. I managed to regain control at the last moment and fired RCS thrusters to change course. I flew past the station at high speed, missing it by only a meter or two. That's when I learned to stop attempting to take shortcuts while docking.
And the really complicated bit is figuring out how to get there without smashing into it.My space station is coming along. I attached another crew module, another solar array, and a docking hub, as well as sending a ship up to transfer two new crew members aboard. Sadly, you can't transfer crew internally yet, so they had to get out and spacewalk.
I'm getting better at docking, but there was a bit of a mishap with that second solar array. I somehow completely lost control of the tug and found myself careening towards the station. I managed to regain control at the last moment and fired RCS thrusters to change course. I flew past the station at high speed, missing it by only a meter or two. That's when I learned to stop attempting to take shortcuts while docking.
I've considered getting MechJeb, but I've heard stories of people that have used the autopilot so much that they've forgotten how to fly altogether, so I've stayed away from it. I would like MechJeb's info displays to be added to the vanilla game, however. Being able to see how high my orbit is without constantly having to switch to the map view would be convenient.
Indeed, i've seen those on the KSP board as well. Get so used to the game taking care of anything for you that you can't do it on your own. However, to be fair I can't see any NASA pilot getting a shuttle into stable orbit without the computer. But shit who knows..
I had a hell of a time getting ships up in "orbiter" till I started using the auto pilot and watching what it did when. Only then could i do it without auto.
I had a hell of a time getting ships up in "orbiter" till I started using the auto pilot and watching what it did when. Only then could i do it without auto.
The game still seems quite buggy to me (version 0.18.1). Editing your vehicles in the VAB often suffers from weird glitches and other annoyances. Currently, I'm struggling to understand why all my RCS thrusters now stop working when I'm less than 50m from the target with which I want to dock. It's also a pain that vehicle design is centred around capsules - it would be much better to be able to design lift vehicles and payloads separately and then mate them in the VAB. I'd also like to be able to choose the crew complement - I don't necessarily want a vehicle to be manned (kerballed?) on a shake-down flight.
Anyway, I'm sure most of these bugs will get sorted out. Looking good...
Anyway, I'm sure most of these bugs will get sorted out. Looking good...
Use probes on your unmanned cargo trips.
As for thrusters, are you out of monopropellant? Are you out of battery power? If you are switching to the docking mode, your rotational controls become lateral controls, so you need to stop pressing IJKLHN.
That's a fair argument, and even Yuri Gagarin didn't have manual control over Vostok 1 when he went into space. But at the same time, I'd imagine that the controls in KSP are considerably easier than those on a real spacecraft.
Version 0.18.1 is pretty buggy as it was rushed out to fix a major bug with docking. There'll probably be a version 0.18.2 out soon enough. I've not experienced any bugs with the RCS system though, I've docked a dozen or so times and never had a problem with it.
I think there's a mod for that, but that functionality is definitely is something they should consider adding to the vanilla game. When building my space station, I had a set launch vehicle and tug arrangement and I would just alter the payload manually.
I think they're planning something like that for career mode, along with some sort of skill and experience system for the Kerbals, but nobody knows when that will be. Right now, I'm just happy they've added unmanned vehicles at long last. I can finally send missions to the worlds I have yet to visit without having to worry about the return journey.
I finished construction of my space station. I nearly gave up on it because it had gotten so big that I started to suffer major FPS issues when I got close to it, and the final construction flights were like a slideshow. But it's finally done and I can move on to other things.
You can't swap capsules without rebuilding the whole damn rocket - that's my main beef with the interface. I'd like to have a set of, say, three basic launch vehicle configurations, and a larger number of payload types. ***
I have pretty much 100% monopropellant and I'm aware of the mode toggle (R) between rotational/lateral controls. In fact, sometimes the jets fire, most times they don't. Sometimes I even get lateral movement from QWEASD and rotational from IHJKLN without mode switching. Sometimes the jets fire on the other damn spacecraft. I think I'll try reinstalling or maybe wait for the update.
TheGodBen - gotta say, that space station is awesome - you are a master at this. I'm just a fumble-fingered n00b.
*** Actually, you can swap capsules by editing the save-game file. Should be an in-game feature though.
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Get Payloader. It's great.
I've seen the bug were the ship stops responding. A work around I have found for it is to go to the tracking station and then assume control of the ship again from there. Seems to re-initilize whatever the bug is.
My rocket of choice right now uses 9 LV-t30 engines clustered under one of the big orange jumbo tanks as the core and then I asparagus crossfeed 6 of those cores around the central core. 63 Engines firing at once! Most launches the central core makes orbit with a full load of fuel plus whatever payload I have thrown on top. The last launch I tried using this vehicle managed to put up 15 of the hitchhiker pods and the various equipment needed to hold it all together and keep it powered and maneuverable.
Payloader looks promising, although there seems to be quite a lot of faffing around involved. I might give it a go if I feel sufficiently frustrated. Baby steps at the moment...
There's a Youtube video where Scott Manley exploits a 0.16 bug that allows you to go anywhere in the Kerbal system using only a small capsule, a fuel tank, and an aerospike engine. I think it basically exploited a truncation error in computing the fuel usage at low thrust or some such. I'm guessing it's been fixed. Some people have way too much time on their hands.
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zcx4gbptkyU[/yt]
I think you'd need an Orion nuke-powered spaceship to do similar in the real world.
There's a Youtube video where Scott Manley exploits a 0.16 bug that allows you to go anywhere in the Kerbal system using only a small capsule, a fuel tank, and an aerospike engine. I think it basically exploited a truncation error in computing the fuel usage at low thrust or some such. I'm guessing it's been fixed. Some people have way too much time on their hands.
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zcx4gbptkyU[/yt]
I think you'd need an Orion nuke-powered spaceship to do similar in the real world.
I finished construction of my space station. I nearly gave up on it because it had gotten so big that I started to suffer major FPS issues when I got close to it, and the final construction flights were like a slideshow. But it's finally done and I can move on to other things.
What kind of rig are you running? thats one thing i fear. I dont want to buy this game only to find the epic shit i wanna build will kill my mac. I'm running an iMac--3.6GHz/i3/4gb/ATI-HD4670. The demo runs great.
The R key doesn't toggle between rotational and lateral controls, that just turns the RCS thrusters on and off to save mono-propellant fuel. The space key is the default to switch between rotational and lateral controls in docking mode, and I think you actually have to click on the button on the bottom-left to enter docking mode.
I wouldn't say I'm a master, I've just become proficient at one element of the game; docking things together.
It was useful practice, though. It will probably come in handy if I get a ship stranded somewhere.My PC is pretty old at this stage, 3GHz dual-core, 4GB of RAM, GeForce 9600GT with 512MB of VRAM. The game runs really well unless I build a ship with around 200 parts, that's when I start to experience FPS problems, but it's still playable. The biggest thing I ever built was my space station in 0.17, it was 333 parts at launch and too big to take off from the launchpad, so I had to launch from the runway. But I still managed to get the monstrosity into orbit.
Ah well, I guess there's something definitely up with my installation as I find that I can't use the lateral controls unless I press R - when the controls are working anything like correctly, that is. I'm tempted to write my own orbital rendezvous and autodocking algorithms for MechJEB if I can work out the details of the coordinate system and how to manoeuver with RCS. That's actually more of an interesting challenge to me than jabbing at keys until I feel like I'm going loopy. However, at the moment I have a stinking head cold so the prospect of doing the coding will have to wait for a few days.
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