Kerbal Space Program

[Rare White Ape]

I built a rocket powered spaceplane and based it off the X-15, which actually went into space at one point.

Mine did too. It's the first thing I've built that can go from horizontal takeoff and leave the atmosphere.

screenshot47 by rarewhiteape, on Flickr

It wasn't too successful, re-entering the atmosphere with no fuel left to power it was a very interesting proposition. So I attached it to this for fun!

screenshot46 by rarewhiteape, on Flickr

It wasn't too successful either. It did make it into a suborbital flight, only a few dV short of reaching orbit, but trying to bring it down again was the problem, flying mostly like a very stable brick that only spins on one axis instead of three when not under power. Re-entry heat was the worst of it; the crew cabin disintegrated and left me to watch on helplessly as the rear of the vehicle slowly tumbled back to sea level like a headless chicken. Not so good for maintaining the healthy population of Kerbalkind.

More research needed, methinks.

screenshot45 by rarewhiteape, on Flickr

[Rare White Ape]

I watch a lot of videos featuring KSP on YouTube, and I think some of them are good. Really good. Scott Manley, Hazard-ish, Matt Lowne, etc. Just hella crazy, creative and scarily skilled flying, cut together with music to make wee stories in time lapse.

But among all of these great channels, I found one video today which really struck me like a lightning bolt and put a giant smile on my dial.

Cupcake Landers has been doing its own thing for a little while with ultra cute craft designs, and this particular video is a perfect firestorm of story, adventure, great music, and a super twee aircraft that the Kerbal guy gets around in. Most importantly, this combination of factors comes together to show off the absolutely mind-bending sense of awe that exploring the world with rocket science can elicit. It is this awe in computer game form that drives humanity in real life to explore the universe. It might just be Kerbal Space Program, but this guy gets it.

You please watch now

[Rare White Ape]

I've just found out that a pre-release version of the 1.1 update is available now for Steam users.

Go to the game's properties via the Steam library menu, choose the Betas tab, and opt-in to pre-release versions. It should start downloading right away. It'll be a 900 MB file.

I'll be taking this for a spin in a half an hour

[Rare White Ape]

Pre-release of 1.2 is out now.

It brings communications (think, talking between ground and controlling a robotic spacecraft) and a host of other things to the stable of improvements.

Thus:

[Rare White Ape]

Hnnng. I'm playing this again.

The Apollo 11 50th anniversary got me playing agian; I did a Mun mission last weekend. And then the new robotics expansion sucked me in. So far I've been experimenting with prop-driven as well as swing-wing aircraft. You can build so much cool stuff now, and this week led me to multiple late nights just mucking around.

Look at this guy!

*Top Gun theme plays in background*

[Rare White Ape]

KSP 2 was announced at Gamescom!

Me so happy

[Dicknose]

Yeah I read about that.
Said they didnt mention Mac/linux support, just Windows and consoles.

[Dicknose]

OK digging up an old thread....
But I got KSP for the PS5 and have been playing a little bit, ok a little bit each day, ok a lot each day.

Yeah Im late to the game, heck KSP2 is out, but Im making up for lost time.
So loving it!
I knew a bit of the astrodynamics (like retro burn to chase a craft ahead of you) but still had to master some stuff like docking. Actually pretty good at it now. Slammed one home from about 1km, look mum no hands!
Slowly learning how to use the interface for better control - eg focus on a target moon, adjust manoeuvre via graphical editor. Can now hit a moon of Jool from Kerbin orbit insertion burn.
This week has been practicing slingshots. The PS5 version doesn't support as many conic patches as PC but Ive still managed to have slingshots of 3 different Jool moons setup at once.

Currently working on my Eve land and return, that's a tough one. Also Laythe return. Managed to land, but couldn't get back to orbit. Going to use the Dart (not the Dart!)

Now - my major bummer is that the game crashes far too often. Worse, it can crash and take out the game save. Which means that save is lost and you start again. So Ive been uploading my save to PS inter webs. But still need to be careful I dont upload a dead save! Pity the PS5 doesn't support USB game saves like the PS4.
All this means Ive restarted Career 4 times. Of cause Im more experienced and can rock thru the early bits to unlock parts (go science bits for the feedback loop of earning more sci points)

One bit Ive have barely touched is planes - sorry RWA. They dont do it for my like rockets do.
Will get to them, need to earn my trophy for landing back at Kerbal Space Centre.

So... anyone still playing or got KSP2?

[Rare White Ape]

I haven’t got KSP2, it’s far too pricey as it is right now. Plus I haven’t touched KSP1 much at all in the last few months.

Although late last year I built a replica of a propeller driven E-2 Hawkeye reconnaissance aircraft, complete with rotating AWACS antenna on the roof. It flies really nicely! But it’s electric powered, so it’s filled with RTGs hidden inside the fuselage

To top off the nerdy completeness of the E-2, I looked up the rotation speed of the antenna, and set the RPM of the motor that drives it to the exact same speed.

[Rare White Ape]

A couple of screenies for you. I did a little figure-8 loop over KSC to show it off









And playing it "a little bit each day" is just fine