OK so not exactly a "review" per se as so far I have only played the demo and I haven't even got too far in it yet. I wanted to write about the game though as it is the sort of game I've been wanting to play since I was 5 but never knew it! So what is KSP? Well you remember that little project the Americans and the Russians independantly undertook in the 50 and 60's? Some such nonsense about "sending a man to the moon". Now you too can create your own space program from the comfort of your own computer screen, and boy is it HARD! Seriously that's the first thing I wanted to say. I've never had so much fun utterly FAILING to get a rocket into orbit! In my first couple of days of playing I've been sitting there, hands glued to the joystick concentrating like mad trying the keep the damn thing stable. You wouldn't believe how tense it can get. Then if you make it up there on a decent trajectory there is the manic scrabble to set up and work out the heading and burn time to get you actually into orbit. Once done the clock doesn't stop, you now have maybe 50 seconds to get the rocket pointing in the right direction. Then the seconds count down to the burn and the tension is incredible. 0 seconds and the second stage ignites and then you have to keep on the heading as you nervously watch your projected flight path expand to make it up to a full orbit. The first time you do it the feeling is incredible, there is a moment when all the tension falls off and suddenly ethereal space music plays. Everything cuts to silence and you are blissfully looking down as the kerbal planet rotates peacefully beneath you. To be fair, I'm getting better now and its not quite as right as bad as that. I really need to get into this game properly and start working through the tutorials. At this stage I really can't comment on the scope of the game but from the looks of things its vast and experienced players can start to run more and more complex missions involving everything from building experimental space planes to constructing space stations, moon bases or even voyages to the other planets in the solar system. As if that wasn't enough there is also an active modding/add ons community... oh and the game isn't even out of beta yet! The thing about the game, is that despite the cuteness of the little Kerbal people its actually using realistic physics. We are talking gravity, weight, design factors, aerodynamics, wind resistance the lot! A friend of mine is working his way through effectively recreating the Gemini missions. The other day he sent me a screenshot of two command modules docked. He said at the moment he did it he was actually expecting angels to appear! This game really has THAT much sense of achievement! So far, I really haven't got that far but my crowning achievement to date is crash landing a rocket onto the Mun. I can't really tell you how much playing KSP has increased my understanding and respect for what went on during the 60's. Just setting up the manoeuvres to get onto an orbit that takes you to the Mun is fun and really gets you thinking about how space actually works... Even then I missed.... twice! I eventually "cheated" by "speeding up time" and completing enough orbits of the Kerbal homeworld that my missile finally intersected with the orbit of the Mun. Next time of course, I will remember that orbitting things like moons actually move! :D To round off I would say if you ever enjoyed the Apollo 13 film or flying around in Entropia space, you should try this game (the demo is free). A joystick adds a different way of playing but is by no means required (its probably harder with one to be honest as its analogue, ie more control). Now for some reason, a small part of me wonders if it would be possible to create a replica of the Entropia spacial bodies and a quad wing... it certainly would be nice of the old Calypso solar system actually existed somewhere other than in MA paperwork... www.kerbalspaceprogram.com Wistrel
People at work have been talking about this as well. Seems like a lot of fun. Too many games, not enough time, unfortunately :(
too many games... yeh I know that feeling! A friend got me secret worlds for my birthday. Havn't even got through the 40gig download yet haha! Pleased about the rocket building though (haha the virus spreads) yeh its a bit like that. I really need to start the tutorials properly rather than just jumping in with what my friend showed me
Got to space once after I figured the stages out. No clue how to get to the moon yet, that will be the next challenge.
I have it and I love it! The feeling when something works as intended is awesome. I made an "angel rocket" where additional tanks were protuded sideways like arms and secured with a lot of structural connectors. It really did work very well and I might try and make a platform rocket module with all sideways tanks - just because I can :D
haha angel rocket! Sounds good laugh. Well last night me and my friend had another session. We tried to recreate Luna 9 following http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Tutorial:_Luna_9 (PS that is my favourite quote.) Anyhow so much fun again. We really struggled with getting that rocket (similar within demo restrictions) into orbit. Seemed if it started to go off target we really had to haul the stick over to keep things upright. Also with the 4 boosters less need to over compensate on heading and drift back. We got to the Mun. It really was a tough landing! So tense and my friend looked absolutely exhausted after pulling off the touch down. We were SO glad we used 6 legs... there was quite a bit of bouncing involved but we managed to land upright anyhow :D After a bit of walking around on the surface we then sorta tried to go back to orbit but kinda forgot we were not on Kerbin. Rocketed straight up then ran out of fuel and ended up on a very very high arc. We then remembered our Kerbal pilot had a rocket pack... at the top of the arc we managed to get him into orbit around the Mun quite easily then started working on making the orbit parallel with that of the the Mun round Kerbin... somewhat difficult without a "ball" but we managed using a gash in the landscape as a landmark. Alas at this point we ran out of fuel... shame cause I'm pretty certain we could have propelled him home! Re the Mun. You need to try and get into orbit around Kerbin by aiming your 45 degree arc at the 90 or 270 degree line on the ball. This puts you roughly on the same orbital plane as the Mun. You can then adjust this to be more accurate after you have a stable orbit around Kerbin. After that you can pick a manoeuvre point on the orbit and play with the acceleration axis to get an orbit set up that goes roughly as far as the Mun. (use top down view in map mode) There is a small ring round the manoeuvre point, you can use this to click and drag it to a different location on your Kerbin orbit. Moving it around you will see where it intersects with the Mun's gravity. This is where you go from. Sit back and wait for the burn. A slight weird thing happens as you reach the "escape point" around the Mun. It appears your path changes... actually it doesn't but what is being shown is your trajectory relative to the Mun instead of Kerbin. I'd recommend saving before you get there then watch it go round the loop (assuming you are not on a crash land heading). You will see how things change as you enter the mun's gravity and then leave it again. If you consider where you have actually gone afterwards though you will see you more or less followed exactly the original predicted route. It all comes down to the fact that the mun in moving. Anyhow, reload then you want to put in the breaking maneuverer at your closest point to the Mun when you get there. This will put you in orbit. To land, do another break so you are on a trajectory that goes more or less straight down. This will minimise having to kill too much lateral speed on your way down as you will mainly just want to keep the craft pointing upwards. Then, try not to bounce too much! hehe you can tell I love this game! Wistrel PS fun fact about that original Luna mission is that the thing had no batteries! This means that when it went behind the moon into darkness they couldn't actually control it!!
I actually bought the full version last night as it is just to much fun. I got to the moon ones but did not land on it, it actually slingshot me out of the universe :). I also found out that you can download all sorts of ad-dons with all sorts of different parts for you rockets. The full version also has a space plane thing, where you have to build a plane that takes of from a runway and needs to get into space. Think this will make me spend a few our outside EU :).
Yup I plan to buy it too. Its worth it for the fun I've already had let alone what I might have yet. I feel like I'm learning so much too. I saw that there was an active add on community. A really nerdy part of me wishes someone would make the Entropia Planets as they were originally outlined in the PE story. Could add in the other ones one too. Something I've realised is that a lot of the issue of space travel seems to relate to fuel and weight. Once you magically invent the "lasts for ages super light fuel" you could then do it like any other space game. ie just fly about however you like. Wistrel
