Kerbal Space Program

[Whalenator]

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/

Goals:
- Escape Earth's Atmosphere
- Orbit Earth
- Return to Earth
- Land on Pad w/o Parachute
- Orbit Moon
- Land on Moon
- Return to Earth from Moon
- Orbit Sun

EDIT: gotta catch em all. Got them with only 3 stages, boom back whack kerpow shablam.

Awesome game. Was linked to it in IRC.
It's a little indie title currently in open Beta. You combine parts and make your own spaceship. It starts out pretty hard, but I got the hang of it in an hour or so... great way to blow some time before Beta starts.

EDIT: Beat it in 3 hours. (Beating it defined as orbiting the Sun)

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj203/Whalen207/kerbalwon.png

[Eighm]

Played this for about 20 minutes. I got halfway to the moon, and on the way down my parachute wouldn't deploy. Pretty fun, I'm gonna try to get out to the sun eventually.

[krnasaur]

yea this game is fun sometimes its fun making stupidly bad rockets and seeing if you can get them to orbit lol

[Zulthus]

Lol, this game is pretty fun. 10 minutes in I made a max height/width cylinder of fuel tanks and heavy thrusters at the bottom. If it's just the demo right now, I think I'll follow this game. I like creative games like these.

I can never really get into orbit though; halfway off the surface my rocket just starts to tilt upwards and fly around in circles. Not really sure how to fix that, everything is symmetrical, but meh. It's still really fun.

/Oh whoops, it's not in demo, I didn't see you could order it. I'm gonna do that hehe.

[Skitrel]

Landed on the moon and returned. I win. Use winglets and place them as low as possible on a section with a vector thruster, you can use them as landing gears.

Great game, bought it and will enjoy future updates.

Gonna fly into the sun now.

[Zulthus]

Landed on the moon and returned. I win. Use winglets and place them as low as possible on a section with a vector thruster, you can use them as landing gears.

Great game, bought it and will enjoy future updates.

Gonna fly into the sun now.

I'd think there's nothing to fly into; it's just a very large ball of gas, no? :lol:

[Whalenator]

Landed on the moon and returned. I win. Use winglets and place them as low as possible on a section with a vector thruster, you can use them as landing gears.

Great game, bought it and will enjoy future updates.

Gonna fly into the sun now.

Pics or it didn't happen
EDIT: Also added goals section

[MonsterBone]

Well I am having a blast with this game. SWEET ASS.

[Vash02]

I orbited the sun, was aiming for the moon though >_<

[Whalenator]

LANDED ON MOON.
Was using RCS and ran out of fuel so didn't manage to break orbit. But still neat shit.

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj203/Whalen207/KerbalMoonLanding1.png

[NivexQ]

What do the icons represent on the minimap? I'm just doing quick math every time I do a launch to hit my target. I'm just assuming it's supposed to be easier than that. Also is it laggy for everyone else too? I get very low frames when in the atmosphere. Once i'm out of it, i'm fine, but it's irritating.

[Whalenator]

Low frame rate is because your comp has to calculate all the fucking air resistance.
(if you want to raise your frame rate, make a smaller, taller rocket)
There's a way to disable air resistance in config.ini but then no one will accept any records you reach.

As for the icons it doesn't tell you, but I'm pretty sure
Green circle with lines = Vector whose speed is represented on your HUD, aka what general direction you're going in
Green circle crossed = The opposite of that.
Purple Dotted Circle = No fucking idea. Towards moon?

EDIT: I've accomplished everything except taking off from the moon. I'm going to start using mods so I'm pretty much done here.

[NivexQ]

But I'm talkin like, .3 fps. And I have a good computer
It also happens while i'm sitting on the launchpad, so it couldnt be the air resistance

[CutterJohn]

What do the icons represent on the minimap?

Green circle = prograde. This is the direction you are traveling. Put your crosshairs on this to accelerate.

Green circle with a cross = Retrograde. The is the opposite direction of your motion. Put your crosshairs on this to decelerate.

The purple dot, and crossed purple dot, are pointing towards the space center, and away from it, respectively.

On the map screen..

Ap = Apoapsis. The furthest point of your orbit

Pe = Periapsis. The closest point of your orbit



Protips - Use the Advanced SAS and activate it with 'T'. This locks you into a vector. Only actually does anything if you equip RCS, a gimbaled engine(i.e. can turn for thrust vectoring), an SAS module(Supposedly a flywheel for shifting your orientation), and winglets(only affects anything in atmosphere.

Always launch to the east(90 degrees). Kerbins rotation gives you some free delta-v.

For easy moon access, get into a 2-300km circular orbit, then follow the orbit. As soon as the moon rises above the horizon, burn prograde until your apoapsis reaches the moons orbit.

[Whalenator]

For easy moon access, get into a 2-300km circular orbit, then follow the orbit. As soon as the moon rises above the horizon, burn prograde until your apoapsis reaches the moons orbit.

That's how I reached the moon. Make sure your orbit is completely circular -- Burn to make it elliptical. At a 100+km orbit you really don't have to worry about it degrading so you can speed the sim up if you miss the moon on the first try and just stick with the orbit.

[CutterJohn]

Go above 150km so you can warp faster. Below 150 you only get 10x speed. Jumps to 50x above that.

[TheBladeRoden]

What are the differences between the demo and the full version?

[CutterJohn]

What are the differences between the demo and the full version?

Demo is locked in. It will only receive updates for bugs now.

Right now, theres not a huge difference. Things the demo lacks currently..

-Save missions in the middle. Not all that important currently, but will be great later on when they implement docking and other planets so you can build space stations or build ships in orbit.

-3 stock parts. The fuel and engine can be replaced by mods, but the moveable landing legs cannot be modded.

-Plugins. Scripted mod parts that have some seriously awesome effects. Right now there are wheels, autopilot plugins, a solar power/ion engine plugin, a plugin that lists FAR more orbital information. A couple plugins let you align in any of the 6 orientations on your orbit(pro/retrograde, +- Normal, +- Rad). Theres even a really cool plugin that estimates where you will land in the atmosphere, and what your orbit will be after an aerobraking maneuver.

The mod plugins are a major game changer, but if you just want to play the stock game, not much difference, yet.

[Zulthus]

I also heard the full version got a much nicer terrain engine in a recent update.

[MonsterBone]

This is the full version. I had such a great time playing this the last week I got it.
Here is my first mission from tonight to that made it to the moon.
Lift off!
http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj631/idosheepallnight/1.png
3rd stage ready to burn
http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj631/idosheepallnight/2.png
Orbital burn!
http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj631/idosheepallnight/4.png
perfect pre mun orbit flight plan
http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj631/idosheepallnight/5.png
getting ready to decelerate I RULE!
http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj631/idosheepallnight/6.png
fuck i hit the wrong button and detached the 3rd stage - I am going to fucking dieeeeeee
http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj631/idosheepallnight/7.png
goddamn 20,000 mph incoming mun with just my lander moter??
http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj631/idosheepallnight/8.png
hit it at 90,0000 mph
http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj631/idosheepallnight/9.png

[Hamma]

haha! Looks interesting

[Whalenator]

This is the full version. I had such a great time playing this the last week I got it.
Here is my first mission from tonight to that made it to the moon.
Lift off!
http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj631/idosheepallnight/1.png
3rd stage ready to burn
http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj631/idosheepallnight/2.png
Orbital burn!
http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj631/idosheepallnight/4.png
perfect pre mun orbit flight plan
http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj631/idosheepallnight/5.png
getting ready to decelerate I RULE!
http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj631/idosheepallnight/6.png
fuck i hit the wrong button and detached the 3rd stage - I am going to fucking dieeeeeee
http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj631/idosheepallnight/7.png
goddamn 20,000 mph incoming mun with just my lander moter??
http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj631/idosheepallnight/8.png
hit it at 90,0000 mph
http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj631/idosheepallnight/9.png

I'm too poor to afford 1.4, so I ask...
Is that the new version or are those modded parts?

[MonsterBone]

Its version 1.4 ($15) with parts from the KSP forum.

[CutterJohn]

And most mod parts will work with the demo, for now. Most of them were designed when the demo was just the latest version, which was 3 weeks ago.

[Whalenator]

First I was like

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj203/Whalen207/kertmoon1.png

http://s3.amazonaws.com/ragefaces/0381dcd29fb16d20a3a9ef8486bcc2e1.png

But then I was like

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj203/Whalen207/kertmoon2.png

ಠ_ಠ

[dachlatte]

lets see some ship designs
this one isnt very useful but it looks kinda nice :D
KSP Spinner - YouTube

[Hamma]

First I was like

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj203/Whalen207/kertmoon1.png

http://s3.amazonaws.com/ragefaces/0381dcd29fb16d20a3a9ef8486bcc2e1.png

But then I was like

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj203/Whalen207/kertmoon2.png

ಠ_ಠ
:rofl:

[Skitrel]

I'd think there's nothing to fly into; it's just a very large ball of gas, no? :lol:

Sun is an object, crashed into it last night. It's not to scale though, about the same size as kerbal or whatever "earth" is.

Going to work on landing on it now, I think it can be done with a mun landing build, just have to burn out and fly there slowly on Max speed in order to have fuel for landing and flying back. Flying back will be a challenge though, won't be much fuel to slow down and missing the earth will be very easy.

Tapatalk.

[Vash02]

After blowing up on the mun about 6-7 times now I have to say this game really needs a rewind feature :p

[Whalenator]

If you donate and get the new version you can save in-mid mission and retry.

[TheBladeRoden]

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/9452/moonlandingsuccess.jpg
http://files.sharenator.com/Fuck_Yea_RE_Dear_Sharenator-s508x395-115381.png
(too bad I didn't have enough fuel to get back)

[dachlatte]

(too bad I didn't have enough fuel to get back)

doesnt matter, jeb is happy

[MonsterBone]

Whose the man now bitches....
http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj631/idosheepallnight/pwnd.png
And that plenty of fuel to get back...

[Whalenator]

Nice modded parts, bro.
Also I always had enough fuel to get back its just my rocket would never be durable enough to stay attached during landing.

[MonsterBone]

Yah well I like my lander.
http://thechive.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/i-do-what-i-want-231.jpg?w=500&h=667

[Vash02]

(too bad I didn't have enough fuel to get back) thats plenty of fuel to get back, all you need to do is get out of the muns pull and Kerbal will grab you. Then you just need to slow yourself down, doesent take much fuel.

[Skitrel]

thats plenty of fuel to get back, all you need to do is get out of the muns pull and Kerbal will grab you. Then you just need to slow yourself down, doesent take much fuel.

Too right, tonnes of fuel there, absolutely tonnes.

Actually easier to launch into an orbit around Mun and then increase that orbit into an elliptical one followed by waiting for a good time to slingshot to Kerbal though, you can straight aim it without having to decrease speed this way which can be a nightmare as you pick up a tonne of speed as you get ever closer to home, if you're not dead on you end up flying straight past and into space, using orbit from Mun to get your aim right without having to decrease speed helps a lot, hitting atmosphere with the chute is enough to decrease any speed so it's more efficient.

[MonsterBone]

So how many times have people landed on the mun and returned to kerbal?

Me zero but anytime I should be able to pull it off.

[Vash02]

I've scraped it and broke my winglets off and made it back a few times.
I think my lander is a bit too heavy and tall.

[CutterJohn]

I've scraped it and broke my winglets off and made it back a few times.
I think my lander is a bit too heavy and tall.

Buy the game, get retractable landing legs. :groovy:

[TheBladeRoden]

s'alright I just put a second fuel tank on my lander and I was good to go.

[dachlatte]

you can use radial decouplers+winglets and the thrust vectoring engine to build a landing gear. works great
http://i.imgur.com/pzNl9.png

[Whalenator]

Made it there and back again.
Epicness... I'm trying to escape the solar system now. Getting really close.

[DayOne]

After many hours of rocket designing, testing and exploding I finally made it to Mun...and exploded.

My next project is getting several geostationary satellites (2,869,000m FYI) around Kerbin before actually going to Mun.

EDIT: Also if you buy it (Only $15) and get 0.14 you get landing legs. And you should buy it because this game deserves all the support it can get.

[Vash02]

after buying the game I can tell my mun is going to be littered with marooned kerbals. hopefully when they introduce rovers I'll be able to go collect them all up :p

[DayOne]

after buying the game I can tell my mun is going to be littered with marooned kerbals. hopefully when they introduce rovers I'll be able to go collect them all up :p

Or eventually build a Mun base for them!

[DayOne]

Tried for the moon again...lagged out and crashed AGAIN!

This game hates the development of Kerbal kind.

[Vash02]

lands on mun escapes and on course for landing on kerbal. enters atmosphere, deploys parachute. parachute deploys, explodes on landing .................................................. ...... *flips table*

[Whalenator]

I was going for a second trip to the mun using a liquid-only rocket. I made it, landed, took off but then I ran out of fuel so I almost panicked, but then I realized I had some RCS left over so I made it back to earth and used the nondetachable RCS fuel canister and thrusters to slow just enough w/ a parachute so I survived a tough landing on a mountainside.

[DayOne]

I've been using these mods http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=6397.0 to launch satellites and such. Awesome pack, I highly recommend it.

[CutterJohn]

Mission start!
http://i.imgur.com/WmWeP.jpg


Ascent. 106 tons worth of fuel used up!
http://i.imgur.com/IRisP.jpg


2nd stage separation. Another 60 tons of fuel used up.
http://i.imgur.com/rzuWe.jpg


To the mun!
http://i.imgur.com/dD5w5.jpg


Decelerating to land at munbase alpha
http://i.imgur.com/3iEZH.jpg


3rd stage sep. 22 tons of fuel. It crashes about 5km from the base. :)
http://i.imgur.com/qir6s.jpg


Descending.
http://i.imgur.com/Vp7Yw.jpg

Very
http://i.imgur.com/vr7Ph.jpg

Slowly
http://i.imgur.com/Eolo4.jpg


And touchdown of the Mun Fuel Barge #2, carrying a 30 ton supply of fuel.
http://i.imgur.com/7Ame1.jpg



Many thanks to the mechjeb plugin. :D

[Hamma]

I'm going to have to try this thing. :p

[DayOne]

I give you: The Bubble Space Telescope!
http://a.yfrog.com/img210/945/rb8p.png

[Hamma]

This is much more difficult than I anticipated. Any pointers on getting into space? :lol:

[Vash02]

Remember to put throttle to maximum and use the advanced SAS module and activate by pressing T before you launch. I must of crashed 20 times before I realised the throttle was at 50% :p

[Zulthus]

I've been playing for a couple weeks now and I must just really suck at this game. Getting into orbit is easy but I can never match orbit with the Mun. :p I always cross its orbit too early and miss it. I've moved on to just making space planes to fly on the surface though. :lol:

[CutterJohn]

I've been playing for a couple weeks now and I must just really suck at this game. Getting into orbit is easy but I can never match orbit with the Mun. :p I always cross its orbit too early and miss it. I've moved on to just making space planes to fly on the surface though. :lol:

Easy as hell.

Launch. Get into a circular orbit above kerbin. I tend to go 310km so i can warp fast.

Now, speed up time, until the mun is just about to rise over the horizon of kerbin. When it rises, accelerate prograde(i.e. keep your nose pointed at the open circle). Continue accelerating until your apoapsis is 11,400km.

Exactly what I'm doing here:

http://i.imgur.com/dD5w5.jpg

I took that ss just a couple seconds after I started burning towards the moon. I was in a 301km orbit above kerbin, burned just as the moon rose above the horizon.



Then coast. You'll eventually enter the moons sphere of influence on an escape trajectory, with a periapsis somewhere around 200-1500km. Coast to the periapsis, retroburn to bring yourself into orbit around the moon.



If you want to make it trivial, get the MechJeb plugin(forum page (http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=8021.0)/download (http://svn.mumech.com/KSP/trunk/Releases/MechJeb_1.7.3.zip)). It can automate many of the tasks, like ascent and landing, and the Smart A.S.S. portion has auto pointing gizmos to point you in the cardinal directions as determined by your current path, i.e. prograde, retrograde, and perpendicular to your path up/down/left/right.

[DayOne]

Does anyone know of a range finder that anyone's made? I keep crashing into the Mun as I can't see anything.

I'm sure I saw one somewhere but I just can't find it.

EDIT: Not the beeping one. I saw one that gives the range in metres.

[Hamma]

My mind is blown CutterJohn. :lol:

[CutterJohn]

Does anyone know of a range finder that anyone's made? I keep crashing into the Mun as I can't see anything.

I'm sure I saw one somewhere but I just can't find it.

EDIT: Not the beeping one. I saw one that gives the range in metres.

That mechjeb thing I linked has a variety of stats, one of which is surface altitude. Look in the upper left of my screenshots. Its worth getting for that even if you don't use the various autopilots.

Another thing you can do is to orbit the mun until where you want to land is in daylight, and then you can use your shadow to gauge your height.

[Hamma]

This game brought me back to the days of MS Space Simulator. I played the shit out of that game.. :lol:

[Whalenator]

Orbiter, anyone?

[Hamma]

I played with that a little as well. :D

[CutterJohn]

Orbiter, anyone?

Its not as fun to fail in Orbiter. :)

[Hamma]

This is true.

[Hamma]

Any specific mods/sites you guys recommend?

[CutterJohn]

Theres really no good mod sites for the game, just the forums.

some good ones..

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=2680.0

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=4180.0

If you've bought the game, you can run plugin parts as well..

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=8524.0;topicseen

Helps you with orbital rendezvous.


http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=8021.0

Does pretty much everything else.. takeoffs, orbits, landings.. Sweet stuff.

[DayOne]

Not sure if it works with the demo or not but this is a really good pack:
http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=6397.0

[BUGGER]

Wow, so after watching the Discovery doc When We Left Earth a couple days ago, and now discovering this, I have officially put down Mass Effect and Total War.

This is surreal.

[Whalenator]

It's pretty good, I admit :D

[Hamma]

Landed on the moon last night and returned home for the first time successfully. Used mechjeb a little bit to help me understand it more - it was a blast!

[Whalenator]

it was a blast!

http://cache.ohinternet.com/images/2/24/I_see_what_you_did_there_super.jpg

Yeah this game is fun.
I've done everything using basic parts, anyone have any suggestions for me?

[DayOne]

Yeah this game is fun.
I've done everything using basic parts, anyone have any suggestions for me?

See above for mods and also look on the ksp forums. There's tons of stuff on there which you can use to make planes or moon buggies.

[Whalenator]

I tried modded parts.
I just mean I want another challenge.

[DayOne]

Orbit Kerbol (the sun) and return to Kerbin?

[CutterJohn]

I tried modded parts.
I just mean I want another challenge.

Rescue Mission!

Put a capsule into a weird orbit around the planet, then construct a recovery craft that can intercept and decelerate it safely into the atmosphere.

[Hamma]

Will they be adding other planets? Things like Mars?

[DayOne]

Will they be adding other planets? Things like Mars?

Yes. That is the plan. I think they may do other solar systems too but I'm not sure on that one.

[BNuts]

I saw this thread when it was created, havent even logged onto PSU I have been playing literally every waking moment, lol. This is soooo addicting. My co-workers love the demo and want to pirate the full version, but I'm making them support the devs, lol. This is so much simple fun!! I'll post up some screen captures later. I am going to DL a bunch of mods now.

[Hamma]

:lol:

It's only 15 bucks :D

[Whalenator]

:lol:

It's only 15 bucks :D

WELL WE DON'T ALL OOZE MONEY
*scoff*

[MonsterBone]

Landed on the moon last night and returned home for the first time successfully. Used mechjeb a little bit to help me understand it more - it was a blast!
Pics or it never happened!

[Elude]

I've landed on the moon a few times, I've recently been trying to land larger and larger things on the moon lol.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2926042/tehmoon.png
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2926042/munlolz.png

I also rendezvoused with one of my other space crafts in orbit around the planet which seems 100x harder than landing on the moon, at least for me!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2926042/WOOO%21.png
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2926042/screenshot32.png

Unfortunately I couldn't attach myself to it lol, but after reading in the forums I guess people found out a way to use the landing gear as a claw to hold onto things. And SO I BUILT THIS!(Below)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2926042/dockingCLAW%21.png

Everything I used is in the demo except the landing gear which seems to only be in the paid version.

[ArmedZealot]

Lol that is so badass. Way to go Elude.

[Elude]

Thanks zealot! Though my claw never did work, mainly because I lost sense of direction because the camera isn't fixed in the crafts general direction even when you turn on chase mode. :(

Left becomes right, up becomes down, down becomes left! It's madness, they really need a way to fix the camera in the direction of your ship.

Anyway here are a few more pic's of my rendezvous with the other space craft, one of which is me attempting to use the claw on a smaller craft but failing!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2926042/clawtime.png

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2926042/WOOOO%21.png

You can see both orbits of the two crafts in this picture are right on top of each other, making it look like there is only one there lol. (Below)
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2926042/moahah.png

The next challenge I would like to attempt (if they don't add more planets soon) is to put a craft in it's own orbit around the sun and then try to rendezvous with it using another craft! This would be like traveling to another planet but unlike a planet you'd have no gravitational assist as you got closer lol.

[Hamma]

A nose cam of some sort is needed. :D

[BUGGER]

Mark it, I'll put one of those fuel lines on the top side of my craft.

I'd like a gauge to measure distance to actual paydirt. Knowing i'm 3000ft in the air would help if the ground I was heading towards wasn't a 3050ft mountain...

[Elude]

Mark it, I'll put one of those fuel lines on the top side of my craft.
Wow that's an ingenious idea, thank you!

[dachlatte]

so i made my first VTOL aircraft. its pretty ugly but it hovers quit nice. horizontal flight will result in total destruction. one step at a time :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEavXzf6jpQ

got my inspiration here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Landing_Training_Vehicle

[Whalenator]

so i made my first VTOL aircraft. its pretty ugly but it hovers quit nice. horizontal flight will result in total destruction. one step at a time :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEavXzf6jpQ

got my inspiration here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Landing_Training_Vehicle

Now get it to space... :groovy:

[Elude]

Now get it to space... :groovy:

Lol the rocket required to get his vtol into space would need to be enormous, I have doubts that it'll even fit on the launch pad haha.

[Whalenator]

I got a vanilla "cock rocket" that was just pretty much a 50-fuel-tank-long phallus into space with two liquid rockets.

[dachlatte]

Even if i manage to get it into space i can't do anything. That's two atmospheric engines on that thing :D

[TheBladeRoden]

There has to be a more efficient way to get to the sun
http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/2554/sunrunner.jpg

[Knee High Hob]

Hi all. So, has anyone landed on minmus with a recoverable craft?

I sent a memorial rocket up there for a friend who passed away recently (which has enough fuel to come back) and I'm leaving it on minmus as a dedication to him.

I only ask because I don't regard myself as good at the game and but it seems people in this forum are having trouble even getting into orbit and based on what I've read here I'm wondering if I'm selling myself short? Please don't think I'm boasting or anything, just curious.