Kerberal Space Program- Awesome space indie game

Haven't played in a couple months, I've been taking a little break from the game TBH. I'm excited to try out the new stuff, but other games have my interest right now.
 
Career mode is what got me to finally start playing (bought it a while ago) and it has definitely helped by making me take baby steps. I just launched my first interplanetary lander/probe mission after finally managing to cobble together a heavy lifter system that worked. I'm sure it's not the best possible solution but I like to try it on my own first before researching what others have built.
 
I wanted to play this game when it first came out but didn't as I had too many games keeping my interest (damn you backlog!). The recent add-ons and now multiplayer mod has definitely changed my mind.

Add one more to the Steam log!
 
This game...

I picked it up in the steam sale on new year’s day, and despite various family engagements and being back at work since the 6th, according to steam I already put 80 hours into it :eek:

I haven't even left the Kerbin system yet!

Besides landing Kerbonauts on (and retrieving from ) both moons, I've put up a set of geostationary 'communication' satellites. I built a GNSS system with the Fiagro mod, featuring 27 satellites in 3 orbital planes (had a lot of fun figuring out how to get 9 sats on one launch bus) and another 4 round the equator. Built a space station with a full orange tank at its core for resupplying other vessels.

And last night, after many, many hours of failure, I finally managed to get a spaceplane of my own design all the way into orbit, almost to the space station (until I realised I'd messed up the RCS system and it wasn't worth the headache to try and dock without it) and then safely back to the space centre. Well, Jeb made it back in one piece, and so did the cockpit... the rest of the craft sort of ended up around the runway.

A bit of re-jigging to the undercarriage at the same time I fix the RCS should sort that for next time...
 
I'm in the midst of trying to get a rover to Eve after finally unlocking the big orange tanks and Mainsail engine. I finally got tired of doing everything by hand and installed MechJeb. Now I have to work on making my designs more efficient and less...brutish. And perfecting docking maneuvers. Ugh. So much to do! :D
 
Docking becomes second nature after you do it a few times, it has a bit of a learning curve though to get there.

As to MechJeb, I still use it for basic things, but have found that a lot of the autopilot features to be inefficient in it's calculations, if not causing your craft to spin out of control. It still tends to overcorrect during certain maneuvers. I don't let it do anything but the simplest of maneuvers. Smart ASS is handy to keep a particular attitude, and the ascent autopilot usually works OK. Maneuver planner / editor is handy too, simply because trying to fiddle with the stupid node system to get the exact timing and dV needed is such a hassle. They need to have some sort of window in vanilla where you can enter in dV values manually, just like the maneuver editor window does.
 
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PanzerBoxb said:
I'm in the midst of trying to get a rover to Eve after finally unlocking the big orange tanks and Mainsail engine. I finally got tired of doing everything by hand and installed MechJeb. Now I have to work on making my designs more efficient and less...brutish. And perfecting docking maneuvers. Ugh. So much to do! :D
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Oh yeah, I tried to avoid using MechJeb for so long because it felt like 'cheating', but given the precision needed to insert 9 satellites at exactly 40° separation on three identical orbital planes themselves at 120° separation and 58° inclination for the GPS...
Manual flight got put into the 'life's too short' column.

Like you say, It's not like there still isn't enough to do even with MechJeb carrying out manoeuvres.

It came in pretty handy with the space station too, telling me when to launch subsequent modules so they would end up reasonably close to the parts already up there.

Now pretty much every craft gets a MechJeb module, even if I don't use it, it’s nice to have as a backup.

I still try to do things manually the first time, but that autopilot is a boon.

Docking does get easier the more you do it I've found. Placing RCS thrusters in line with the COM can help, (although you might have to consider where that will move as fuel is used).

Good luck with Eve :D
 
Raxiel said:
Docking does get easier the more you do it I've found. Placing RCS thrusters in line with the COM can help, (although you might have to consider where that will move as fuel is used).
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As a note, with the new tweakables system, you can empty out the fuel tank in the VAB to see how your CoM will shift. :cool: I typically go with 4x multidirectional RCS thrusters right at the CoM, with another 4x unidirectional thrusters at each end for medium and larger craft to assist with rotation.
 
FWIW, if any of you want more of a challenge then start over and install the RemoteTech mod http://kerbalspaceport.com/?p=38721

It's awesome in that you need to really plan your communication satellite network so that you don't lose contract with spacecraft going further than kerbal orbit, and it really sucks when you think that you did everything right just to lose contact with your Duna probe just as you need to execute the deceleration burn. ;)
 
I've wanted to pick this up for some time but it just hasn't been cheap enough on sale for me to justify the purchase.
 
I think it was around $16 last sale. I doubt it will get much cheaper than that for a while since more and more is being added and raising its value.
 
$16 is a steal. I already have 140 hours in the game and I know people with way more than that.

My rover mission to Eve came oh so close to success, only thwarted at the last minute by my horrible control skills and a slight flaw in my decent setup. Oh well, lesson learned. For science!

Thuleman, I shudder to think at how bad I'd be having to use that mod.
 
castun said:
As a note, with the new tweakables system, you can empty out the fuel tank in the VAB to see how your CoM will shift. :cool: I typically go with 4x multidirectional RCS thrusters right at the CoM, with another 4x unidirectional thrusters at each end for medium and larger craft to assist with rotation.
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Awesome, I knew about being able to drain the tanks but it never occurred to me to use it like that, thanks for the tip!
 
Found a good mod for anyone who is experiencing crashing due to memory leaks:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com...e-Management-Save-RAM-without-reduction-packs!

With just the B9 and WK Rocketry packs installed My game would CTD without fail after 2 or 3 transitions between the game world and the VAB/SPH (when refining a design for example).

I'm not sure it's crashed since installing this mod. Load time is slightly increased, but it's more than made up for by not having to relaunch the game 7-8 times each play session.
 
Only your first load time is increased. It reduces it after it compresses everything.
 
Just picked this up @ $16 on sale (hasn't really dropped below that ever), seemed like a good enough time to buy. Got in and I have NO IDEA WHAT I AM DOING. The tutorial is laughably thin and it seems like there is a lot to mess around with.

Seems fun, though, but it'd be nice if there was a better tutorial for what some of the pieces do.
 
MavericK96 said:
Just picked this up @ $16 on sale (hasn't really dropped below that ever), seemed like a good enough time to buy. Got in and I have NO IDEA WHAT I AM DOING. The tutorial is laughably thin and it seems like there is a lot to mess around with.

Seems fun, though, but it'd be nice if there was a better tutorial for what some of the pieces do.
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Not sure if you are playing Sandbox mode or career, but Sandbox will have some pre built rockets. You can use that to help get an idea of how to make a rocket. The game is 100% about trial and error tbh. You do need to know a little about orbital mechanics to grasp the idea of how to obtain orbit.

Try some youtube videos. Scott Manley puts out some interesting content. He has some videos marked as tutorial so you could try there. You could also try the forums, there is a help sub forum with some tutorials.
 
Watching live streams can be a good way to learn too. I used to stream the game every now and again for viewers, it was pretty fun. Hell I'd even be interested in teaching you a few things myself TBH.
 
WarriorX said:
Try some youtube videos. Scott Manley puts out some interesting content. He has some videos marked as tutorial so you could try there. You could also try the forums, there is a help sub forum with some tutorials.
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Indeed, Scott Manley's Career mode tutorial will get you started.

Alternatively, in sandbox mode, there are a number of stock ships that give you a feel for flying a basic, stable rocket, and can get you to orbit / mun / minmus.

The most important thing to understand about KSP is that explosions are hilarious. Kerbals will die, will be left stranded in deep space or other planets. It's not meant to be played with too much seriousness.

The second most important thing is that even though it's been available for several years, it's still very unfinished. Mods are a big part of making it user friendly: Kerbal engineer, enhanced maneuver node, and Kerbal alarm clock are three simple functional changes that make it easier to manage flights. You can get into parts packs to expand what you can put in your rockets but they're not required to learn the game.
 
Thanks for the tips, guys. I will start checking out some YouTube videos and possibly some mods.
 
It's also important to note that Jeb is your tutortial instructor.

Simply assign him as a pilot, attach a cockpit, an engine and the part you wish to test and hit launch. He will then demonstrate was the part does for your in vivid, explosive detail. ;)
 
KSP can make one feel really dumb in the beginning, but if you stick with it, the reward is immense.
 
MetalX said:
KSP can make one feel really dumb in the beginning, but if you stick with it, the reward is immense.
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orbital_mechanics.png


Thanks XKCD
 
Haven't played this in a while, is there better mod management now? In the past updates tended to break mods and then the whole thing just became a mess. Loved the game but mod management was meh.
 
What's the difference between .24 and .22??

Anything huge or just minor ish?
 
horrorshow said:
What's the difference between .24 and .22??

Anything huge or just minor ish?
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I'd say all major.. Squad doesn't usually skimp out of new stuff in each version

.23 Changelog

.23.5 Changelog


This feature alone in .23.5 was a huge welcome

"Large parts feature a new system that allows them to attach much more rigidly to other parts, eliminating many cases where spamming struts was required"
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.24 just came out.. I haven't found the changelog yet but this version introduces the start of the contracts system and we get a 64Bit version for Windows
 
Thuleman said:
Haven't played this in a while, is there better mod management now? In the past updates tended to break mods and then the whole thing just became a mess. Loved the game but mod management was meh.
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It's about the same.. Some mods break, some don't...
 
Biggest change in .24 is probably there is now a 64-bit version of the Windows version, and gameplay wise they also they added contracts & money management to the career part.
 
64 Bit Kerbal for Windows is buggy as hell. The Windows version of the Unity 64Bit client was no where near ready for prime time debut.. Going back to Linux
 
styckx said:
64 Bit Kerbal for Windows is buggy as hell. The Windows version of the Unity 64Bit client was no where near ready for prime time debut.. Going back to Linux
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First it refused to load the contracts office (app crash), then hard lock on exit, and today decided to throw a null reference when I tried go the VAB.

As of today, I do have mods installed (Kerbal Engineer, Alarm clock, KSP parts pack), so I'm not putting the blame on the KSP core for today's problems, but I'm also not loading up the 64 bit client for a few versions. I'll live without the high res texture packs.

I welcome a 64bit version, but with the current stability and mod compatibility issues, it probably should have stayed a beta branch for this release. Stick with 32 bit and, .23.5 and .24 are great updates.
 
FreiDOg said:
First it refused to load the contracts office (app crash), then hard lock on exit, and today decided to throw a null reference when I tried go the VAB.

As of today, I do have mods installed (Kerbal Engineer, Alarm clock, KSP parts pack), so I'm not putting the blame on the KSP core for today's problems, but I'm also not loading up the 64 bit client for a few versions. I'll live without the high res texture packs.

I welcome a 64bit version, but with the current stability and mod compatibility issues, it probably should have stayed a beta branch for this release. Stick with 32 bit and, .23.5 and .24 are great updates.
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Consensus is Squad released the 64bit Windows version because they saw people doing the 23.5 64bit hack at the expense of it being buggy.

The Linux 64bit client is sooooooo much more stable and in line with its 32bit counter part. Weird thing is out of the box the Linux 64bit client won't use more than 4GB of RAM.. It still acts like a 32bit client but there are segfault offsets you can apply to the executable to correct it. No idea why the Unity client is shipped like that.

Runs like a watch though.. One of the few games where Linux > Windows

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Is it my imagination, or has this game suddenly gotten very popular? Not that you'd know it from here since the last post was 5 months ago, but seems like there's been an uptick in youtube videos on it, and a lot of Twitch streamers I used to follow are suddenly playing it. In fact one guy in particular that used to stream nothing but Battlefield 4 is all of a sudden playing this.

Was there some recent update that really expanded it? I admit I don't know enough about this game, and I guess I should learn more about it.
 
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