while ive been waiting..

[n01487477]

I've been delving into Kerbal space program... a sandbox game with some semi serious physics to understand (periapsis, apoasis & deltav).. but fun too.

Anyway, good luck with ur beta ...

Im still looking for a seat;-)

[Blind Sniper]

Uhm...it seems interesting, can you give me more details about Kerbal?

[n01487477]

ORIGINAL: Blind Sniper

Uhm...it seems interesting, can you give me more details about Kerbal?

It is in beta at present. Can be purchased on steam or from them directly..
https://kerbalspaceprogram.com/

It was on sale recently and there is a demo available from an earlier build.

There is also an active modding community and so far the support has been good with regular updates.

It is a 3D game made by an independent studio using Unity, so the production value is not high end, but the science is fairly good. If you like building things, testing them in a physics environment then this is for you.

It is a game for your imagination without specific goals ect. The campaign and other things are yet to be implemented but I'm interested in space exploration and I've spend enough time on it to call it value for money.

YouTube has a load of video's (scott manley's page)http://www.youtube.com/user/szyzyg

[Blind Sniper]

Thanks Damian, I will take a look at it! [:)]

[Nacho84]

ORIGINAL: n01487477
I've been delving into Kerbal space program... a sandbox game with some semi serious physics to understand (periapsis, apoasis & deltav).. but fun too.

It looks really good. It's on my list of games to play (along with the latest X-COM). I will surely buy it once the development of SPM ends [:)]

ORIGINAL: n01487477
Anyway, good luck with ur beta ...

Im still looking for a seat;-)

Thank you, we're getting closer to the goal every day!

Cheers,

[t001001001]

I've been playing KSP too. Last night I've finally completed a rocket I think will land the mun apollo 11 style. I copied other ppl's builds mmostly, im not a rocket scientist - still have to tinker w/ the craft though. I can dock, eva, orbit, orbited the mun and returned a few times. So tonight the attempt to land, and safely return a kerbal. Its quite exciting really [:D]

I use MechJeb mod which some ppl consider cheating [:-] (its a single player game ) I don't care, it makes it fun for me and even using mechjeb the game is still difficult enough. And you sort of have to understand what it's doing anyway, b/c sometimes it makes mistakes, the user has to correct.

I'd think anyone interested in space programs would like Kerbal.

It's still in development but what they have done is a lot and runs very stable. I think I paid 15 beans for it.

[t001001001]

The plan was 2 Kerbals land in the LM, 1 Kerbal in the command module. Like NASA did it.

1 Kerbal drifted away trying to EVA to from the command module to the LM. Second Kerbal made it to LM. Third Kerbal remain in CM as planned.

1 Kerbal landed on the mun. Conducted EVA, planted flag, reboarded LM for rendezvous w/ CM. Unable to rendezvous w/ CM. LM falling out of orbit. ( the LM had enough fuel, major screw up on my part)

CM emergency rendezvous attempt w/ dead LM. LM fell to the moon before this could be done.

CM falling out of orbit into the mun too. Quick thinking and enough fuel prevented that from happening.

CM return to Kerbal successfully. 1 Kerbal survived.



It could have gone worse! Got one of im back alive, I consider it my finest hour [8D]

[wolf14455]

Sounds fun [:D]

[Nikolai]

KSP is amazing. I've had the registered copy for nearly a year and a half now, getting updates the whole way. It's easily the best $15 I've ever spent on a computer game (though I have high hopes for Space Program Manager as well).

I'm currently assembling an enormous fuel platform with rocket engines in high orbit to fly to Vaal -- an ice moon circling Jool, the gas giant at the fringe of the star system. Using this approach with a smaller platform (and a smaller lander -- made possible by the lower gravity well) worked well for making a mission to Bop (a separate moon circling Jool) that landed four times, always coming back up to orbit around that moon to refuel. Based on the amount of fuel I had left on returning, I probably could have landed another four times.

Since then, I've refined my knowledge of orbital mechanics, and am excited to attempt land on the deepest airless(*) gravity well I've yet attempted.

If you're capable of laughing at yourself when you screw up, I highly recommend it.

---

(*) That's a useful qualifier, because you can use parachutes and re-pack them to aid in landing on worlds with an atmosphere and getting back home safely.

[t001001001]

Last night I tried to do Apollo 11 again. Everything worked great, moonwalk etc. When the LM docked back to the CM, I thought I was going to move over the left over fuel, b/c why not?. I don't really know how to do this and fuel wouldn't transfer. When I undocked - neither craft has any fuel!

I think Apollo 12 is going to have an extra fuel tank instead of a LM, to try and go get im [:o]

[Nikolai]

Alt-right clicking on a stage will bring up a small context menu. Do that on both stages where you want the fuel transfer to take place. Click "Out" on the stage where you want the fuel/oxidizer to leave, and click "In" on the stage where you want the fuel/oxidizer to enter. You might need to wait a little bit.

I think that only works in 0.18.0 and later.

[t001001001]

Thanks, Nikolai. I was going to have to find it in the manual but you saved me the trouble [:)]

I can't find a mod that makes the spacecraft visible all the time. I want it to be like there's an array of lights behind me, illuminating it. It's not realistic, but I do not care! 'floating' beside the craft being able to zoom in and out isn't a realistic view either. I want to be able to see what's going on dangit.

[n01487477]

Yeah - I still play KSP, but after the .2+ update I'm getting performance issues and I'm hoping the .22 update will iron out some of them. I've held off on reinstalling some of the mods like kethane etc as I'm waiting for a more stable build and then I'll go exploring again. Actually, I'm pretty sure that the Unity engine is being stretched with this game ...


My real point is that it is great to hearing stories from Nikolai and t001001001 ... gaming should open the imagination, provide moments of triumph and disaster that do mean something and empathy to our digital warriors. Games should also teach us lessons. KSP certainly does that... thumbs up!

[t001001001]

gaming should open the imagination, provide moments of triumph and disaster that do mean something

The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat!

I tried again. Other than a minor incident involving a busted solar array ([:o]), everything worked. When I got back in Kerbal orbit I simply went retro and burned. Home sweet home. Got lucky and landed on land. Got all my guys out, planted a flag and snapped a pict.

AW YEHA !!!! :+: fist pump :+:

The Kerbals safe return is a tribute to their own courage and also to the ingenuity and resourcefulness of those on the ground.

I don't want to brag... but yep [8D]

[Nikolai]

You reminded me about the first time I tested my Bop lander -- in orbit around Minmus, a comet-like body that is in far orbit around the Kerbal home world (Kerbin).

Calling it a "lander" is a bit of a stretch; it consisted of nothing but a probe controller, a docking clamp, batteries, solar panels, an RCS tank, reaction jets, and a seat. It didn't even have landing gear. The Kerbal would get out of his capsule, EVA over to the seat, undock, and put the thing down gently enough that the RCS fuel didn't explode.

I figured I should test the thing out on Minmus before taking it to Bop, so I designed a small launcher to take it to Minmus, parking the lander on top of the stack. After settling into orbit, I got Jebediah Kerman out and put the thing through its paces.

The thing performed brilliantly. I found that the probe controller's own reaction wheels were sufficient to steer the thing really quickly; I could save a heap of RCS fuel by only using the reaction jets to knock it out of orbit and to launch back to the orbiting capsule again. I was zoomed way in to see Jeb's expressions of utter euphoria. Feeling rather ingenious, I thought there was no reason not to land on Minmus and check out my abilities to rendezvous back with the capsule in orbit. I turned to reduce my velocity so that I'd fall to the surface.

But zoomed in as I was, I forgot something important: Nothing was going to slow down the capsule. And it was right behind me.

The capsule hit Jeb and the lander at a pretty good clip, knocking Jeb out of his seat and sending both him and the lander spinning into the void. I returned control to Jeb and found him unresponsive. I couldn't even get him to start up his jetpack. He was unconscious (which sometimes happens to Kerbals when they hit something hard).

Waiting was unbearably tense. The lander and the capsule were getting further away with every tick, and quite rapidly, too. By the time Jeb regained consciousness, I had lost sight of the capsule completely.

With Jeb awake and his jetpack apparently undamaged, I flew to the lander and settled back into the seat. I pulled up the consumables menu to see that electrical power was draining fast.

I spun the thing so that the solar panels faced the sun, but that didn't help. Right-clicking on the solar panels showed that they were "Broken"; the batteries were the only thing keeping the controller going, and they didn't have much juice left.

Switching back and forth between the orbital map and the normal view allowed me to get close to the capsule. By the time I got there, the lander was completely dead. I unseated Jeb and let him use his jetpack to close the remaining distance (the two ended up passing each other at a distance of about 120 meters).

The capsule, thankfully, seemed to have nothing wrong with it. I set a course back to Kerbin. And when I parachuted safely into the ocean, I have to tell you, I felt like I'd accomplished something. Like I'd put my Kerbal's butt in the fire and pulled it right back out again.

Good times. The Icarus, my massive rocket being sent to Vaal, just passed the halfway point in assembly. It should carry three Kerbals in a proper lander up and down from the surface of that moon when it's complete. It's this sense of butterflies in the stomach on trying new things with a space program that I'm hoping to get out of BASPM as well.