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Hi all,

I've found a great new game, the Kerbal Space Program. You essentially use rockets and planes to get to other planets in the solar system. There's a demo, with limited parts and only the moon, but the real thing has 4 planets and a gas giant system.

Easter eggs abound, and its lots of fun.

Link for the lazy?

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/

He he I love that game... So many dead Kerbals.

Great game.
Managed to shoot myself into orbit around the sun...
As I type the Brothers Kerman are orbiting the sun in the 'Untitled Scape Craft' at just under 10,000 m/s and accelerating.
I've sped time up to see what happens.
Hopefully I either slingshot myself out of the system or i crash into the sun.
EDIT: Oh hey I'm starting to slow down...

The sun's SOI is massive! So you'll probably crash into it at some point.

I think I'm in a very long decaying orbit...
I kinda want to leave it on and see what happens...

Ah Kerbal Space Program, great game I've been playing since 0.14 and yet despite all that time I've only got to the Mun once (crashed into it at about 10k m/s) and occasionally got stuck in Kerbol orbit. Most of what I've been doing is mucking about in orbit around Kerbin or building things that really really shouldn't be able to fly.

Like this thing....



Yes that's a rocket built with space plane bits that launches horzontally from the runway. It even got into orbit.

I've been playing it since yesterday - it is pretty fun though the demo parts are very limited

Thought I'd give this a bump to let people know that version 0.18 is out and it's easily one of the best updates I've seen to a game. Docking, satellites, a new dwarf planet, space stations and a complete visual overhaul are just a few of the things done.

I've already got a basic satellite in orbit around Kerbin.



There's also a new piece of software called the Kerbalizer which lets you build custon Kerbals. Eventually they want it to be possible to export them into KSP itself. I of course made a Kerbal version of myself.

Very cool

I may purchase the full version with Christmas monies

I've got the first part of my space station up, the habitation module. From there, I will be making a core, then a generation area, and finally, a mapping area

Nice one, I'm still mucking around with probes, I've made 3 attempts so far to land one on the Mun, the first didn't even make Kerbin orbit and the other two smashed into the Mun at several thousand m/s.

I'm waiting til I can refuel my ion engines at my spacelab before even attempting to munshot.

Remember, you need to get into munar orbit, not just come at it.

I'm able to get into Munar orbit it's when I try to land that things become tricky or as happened on the 3rd attempt I misjudged a time warp.

Wow thanks guys this game is epic, and ive only tried the demo. This might be the only game i buy this xmas. Now all it needs is some multiplayer.

How much more build content is there in the real version compared to the demo?

There are loads more bits in the main game. For a start instead of the old 3 kerbal pod (it got scrapped in 0.16 IIRC) in the demo you get, 9 different pods, 3 for rockets, 3 for space planes and 3 for satellites. In total there are over 130 parts to play with.

Rather than just Kerbin and the Mun there's a whole solar system to explore from the Mercuryesque Moho to the vast gas giant Jool with it's group of moons. There's even a dwarf planet similar to Ceres.

The game has just received a radically overhaulled fuel system with fuel split in to liquid fuel, oxidiser, monopropellant, electricity and Xenon gas all of which have their own specific uses and fuel tanks/storage.

On top of that there are more advanced options for actually flying the spacecraft you design, there's a flight planning system, the option to take you Kerbals on EVA (space walks etc) and even docking which allows you to make functioning space stations or perform Apollo style landings.

So yeah there's a large difference between the demo and the current version.

The problem I had (on the demo) is that when flying to meet up with the Mun, my orbital path would suddenly change and I would go flying off into deep space

Well I got the game and spent every second playing it since I first read the thread, I need to go to bed lol. I also downloaded a ton of mods for it, kinda went over board as quite a few don't work on the .18 version yet.

I have yet to make it to the moon as I keep changing my plans around and switching back and forth between rockets and planes.

Would like to see some of your build screenshots.

 SilverMK2 wrote:
The problem I had (on the demo) is that when flying to meet up with the Mun, my orbital path would suddenly change and I would go flying off into deep space

Sounds like you're burning for too long, very easy to do.

Got my first station in orbit yesterday, it's probably going to get deorbited soon as I think I can massively improve the basic design.



Haven't even tried docking with it yet, getting a reliable 3 kerbal launcher is proving to be tricky in this update now that the rockmax mainsail engine has been given a slight nerf and for some reason a tendancy to explode when connected to the new large fuel tanks.

 Nick Ellingworth wrote:

 SilverMK2 wrote:
The problem I had (on the demo) is that when flying to meet up with the Mun, my orbital path would suddenly change and I would go flying off into deep space

Sounds like you're burning for too long, very easy to do.

I don't really know what is going on - I do the same burn to get into orbit, except with the apex of the outbound curve at ~11.4MKm, coast out there, burn to get the orbital velocity to about 540m/s to match the Mun... when the Mun is not there I go into a roughly circular orbit. When the Mun is there (or I wait until I aproach the Mun on my own orbit), I touch the thrusters and I get a new orbit which just catapults me out into space

Huh strange, not really sure how much advice I can give you since I rarely venture beyond Kerbin orbit.

Haha, no worries

I may well spring for the full version over Christmas and spend a long time building up an orbital ring around Kerbin before I bother going to the Mun

Setting up a lander for MUN LANDING! OMFG

Fun, fun, fun.

I'm playing around with using grouped engines rather than the explosion prone mainsail. It's quite simple really, place some of the new girder pieces on the underside of a rockmax tank then place your choice of engine on them. I currently prefer a group of 6 engines. It gives you a very useable amount of thrust and it looks cool.

Well, I got the full version and am busy trying to launch the largest space stations I can into space

Still pants at getting to anywhere I actually want it to be but some of them are making it into orbit

Well, managed to build and launch a couple of Space Fighters to protect my homeworld (...with their complete lack of weapons but still ).

The first version unfortunately had its rear wings ripped off when the boosters seperated so will never be able to return to Kerbin. However, the second version, with slight rebuilding of the booster connections is very much IN SPACE AND INTACT!




Got a few things floating around now.




Just gotta work out how to fly accurately enough to start docking things together now... all my space trips so far have been pretty much "if it gets into any kind of orbit I will be happy"

All sorts of crazy orbits there.

My latest project has simply been another station, got the core in LKO at the moment but I now need to practice actally rendevousing with other craft before I can add to it. Managed to get my planned crew transfer vehicle within 10km of it but couldn't match the orbits well enough to get closer. I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually.

Space Fighters to protect my homeworld (...with their complete lack of weapons but still )

You do know about the railgun and laser mods right?

 Nick Ellingworth wrote:
All sorts of crazy orbits there.

Hey! Most of them are circular

Managed to get my planned crew transfer vehicle within 10km of it but couldn't match the orbits well enough to get closer. I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually.

10km? I'm lucky if I get my orbits within 100km

What is the secret to more accurate flight?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Deathshead420 wrote:
You do know about the railgun and laser mods right?

I know there are weapon mods but have not installed anything onto the base game yet.

Do you have a link?