Kerbal Space Program

[Mr_Oujamaflip]

I assume this is worth a buy then.

[Andswaru]

On sale yes otherwise wait till its on sale again.

[Armpit_Sweat]

My-oh-my the v.1 is finally out!! Had my mother visiting me this week, so no games/weed/tobacco/alcohol/drugs for me. So many games got updated on Steam in the meantime - will re-download all mods and start a new KSP career as soon as i put ma' mom on the plane next morning!
 

I assume this is worth a buy then.

 
This game is pure gold! A mix of minecraft, rocket/airplane/car simulator and algebra excel-sheet. It's incomparable with anything else really. Get a demo or something first, since you will either love it or hate it.
 
On an unrelated note, we had a dinner at Bistro Royal today, and I got pleasantly surprised by the level of service, quality of food, and reasonable prices. It's been some time since i had such a nice experience eating out. Definitely worth visiting if you live close by.

[Armpit_Sweat]

I would like to share my first-person-view-locked mission to Minmus ( Kerbin's second moon ), hopefully this might intrigue someone enough to buy this wonderful game and begin their own space adventure!

This will be a sort of a very long log, focused on the key-stages of the mission, supplied with screenshots and some more ”game-technical” information in spoilers for those who are familiar with the game, and wants to complete an IVA-only mission of their own.

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You will need several mods to have a full first-person-view game:

1st person EVA – the one and only FPS mod

The link points you to a page with a version compatible with the latest version of KSP.
After installing/copying the files to your GameDate folder, you can edit the .cfg file and force the FPS view to be constantly on.

Change

forceIVA = false
disableMapView = false
isKerbalVisible = false
forceEVA = false

to

forceIVA = ture
disableMapView = false
isKerbalVisible = true
forceEVA = true

ProbeControlRoom – this will provide you with a Kerbin based control room for your remote-controlled spacecrafts.

To lock the view, open .cfg file in the installation folder, and change ForcePCROnly = False to ForcePCROnly = True. Otherwise you can use the UI button above the Kerbal portraits.

RasterPropMonitor – an essential mod for providing an on-screen information inside your cockpit. A must have. You will probably need to read a user-manual for this one.

Vessel Viewer -  a sub-mod for rastpropmonitor. An issential part for using the “right-click” menus of components from an inside of a cockpit in FPS view. Read the manual.

Vertical Velocity and Altitude Control – this will help you to perform a smooth landing or hovering. Read the manual.

Kerbal Attachment System – this will let you build/attach stuff in FPS view.

Kerbal Inventory System – get this if you decide on using the previous mod

TAC Fuel Balancer – this will let you transfer fuel using UI

Some mods that I use for increased immersion, not essential, but highly recommended:

DangIt – components will have a chance to break/malfunction

DeadlyReentry – a more realistic atmospheric entry

FAR – realistic aerodynamics

G-Effects – visual g-force effects

Remote Tech – an essential mod for a realistic remote-controlled mechanics

SCANsat – mapping equipment for your your FPS screens

USI Life Support – a new life support resource for your Kerbals

I am using several other mods, mostly utility-type, with few extra engines and some construction parts.

And so the mission begins! Nelfurt Kerman – the first Kerbal on Minmus.

My last view of the ship before I take place in the pilot seat and get ready for launch!

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Minmus Adventure Ship – 1b

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Price: 110.000
Mass: 420.000
Crew: 1 Pilot

The ship is divided in three sections:

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– The lifting part consisting of several stacks of my currently most powerful solid-fuel rocket. They have an ability to correct it's direction of thrust, and most importantly are very cheap. I have separated them in two stages - the first stage will provide a lift to approximately 80Km, and the second stage will complete the burn.

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- The main engine part has a simple construction, capable nevertheless of an independent remote-controlled flight. The tank can store enough fuel to reach Minmus and come back, and my main engine is the most powerful of the available on my current science/tech level. It is not fuel efficient, but in this case I prefer a quick acceleration for maximum precision. A set of solar power collectors, a com-dish, an omnidirectional antenna, a camera, and a docking port.

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-The lander part is the core of the whole design. A set of monopropellent engines is my choice for this mission due to lower volume of the fuel. Smaller tanks, and I can keep the RCS docking thrusters on the lander without carrying extra load. Minmus is small, and the gravity is very weak, so no need for conventional engines.
There are two cameras, a set of retractable solar panels, a remote-controlled unit, a set of wheels, few lights, all of the available science equipment, a battery, a medium reaction wheel, a docking port, and some life-support supplies.
The idea was to make it simple and light, while keeping the centre of mass as low as possible.

I am now inside of the cockpit, all the screens are adjusted to provide the basic information, and it feels a little claustrophobic with only a small window below. One of the cameras pointing out behind the pilot cabin gives me some comfort, even though I will have to rely on my instruments 99% of the time.

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The first stage lifted me to 81km and separated without any issues, and I was ready to make a turn to horizon before igniting the second set of rockets:

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After seeing only blackness of space and numbers on the instruments during the take off, it was a relief to rest my eyes on the sun:

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While my ship was accelerating to establish an orbit around the Kerbin, it was time to activate my communications, and extend solar panels. The target for the dish had to be manually navigated through the on-board computer:

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I suggest assigning as many functions to action groups as possible. There is a way to access most of the functions through the on-board screen, but it takes time. Breakes' and lights' shortcuts did not work, so i had to leave the lights permanently on at some point... There could be an un-marked button on the cockpit panel to toggle lights and breaks, but i did not find it.

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All went according to plan, and I took an opportunity to stretch my legs 80km above the surface. Even though my on-screen vessel info showed no signs of trouble, I wanted to make sure that all off the equipment was still intact:

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A quick test of the camera sends a clear picture down to remote-control room on the surface:

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When you leave the spacecraft, you can still control it through the remote-control room, it's a sort of a cockpit for unmanned crafts.

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All systems are in perfect order and I plan the next burn towards my final destination:

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A new course is set to Minmus. This journey will take me several days, and so I decide to look at Kerbin one last time before drifting 50.000 km away:

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A glitch in controls catapults my off the ladder before I was able to board the ship, and since I was stupid enough not to retract my solar panels before going out in space – one of them got caught in my path and the impact sent us both spinning away. When I finally managed to regain control and focus on my ship, I was already over 300m out:

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This situation made me realize how important it is to point the hatch "upwards" on your navball when leaving the ship - your Kerbal will always stay "upwards" in relation to equator it seems, so the odd angles will make it hard to board the ship again.

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Upon my return the remote-control room confirmed that one of the panels was missing:

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I suggest you make yourself familiar with vessel viewer screens, as they can provide a lot of important information in real-time, without a need to leave the ship and manually eyeball the components.

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Few days later Minmus can be observed through the window – at this point I will need to slow down my ship, and establish an orbit where I can park my main engine part, while descending to the surface to take samples and perform various measurements.

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As I was getting ready to separate my lander, an alarm signal informed my about a malfunction on my ship – damn, it better not be a leakage in the main fueltank...

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This mod will give most of your components a chance to fail, depending on various factors. Makes the routine missions more exciting, but is definitely not something a new player wants to bother with.

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A battery in my lander module is broken – unfortunate, but it can be fixed! Besides, I have my main battery intact, and there is a small back-up inside of the remote-control unit. Not a big deal!
I was out in the space inspecting the damaged battery, as I realized that my lack of engineering skill does not allow me to replace the broken part! There was nothing I could do, and I had to get back to continue my mission.

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There are three professions in KSP - pilot, engineer and scientist. I made a mistake of choosing a pilot for this mission, and so i was unable to repair or even inspect a component properly. Bad planning has long term consequences in KSP...

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I've successfully undocked my lander, and was on my way down to the surface of a frozen sea. It's flat terrain is ideal for an easy landing! Hovering at 500m:

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Vertical Velocity and Altitude Control mod helps to efficiently kill the vertical speed by automatically adjusting the thrust. You will most likely burn way more fuel by landing 100% manually, so i highly recommend to install this utility.

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And so I am finally there! The first kerbal on Minmus – I proudly inspect my trusty lander, and smile on camera for Kerbin's remote-control room:

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After all of the measurements were taken, samples packed, and it was time to assemble a beacon for the future landings - it became once again obvious, that my pilot training was not sufficient for this mission, as I had no idea how to handle the tools... At least this ground-base component can serve as a visual marker.

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Once again, choosing pilot over an engineer proved to be a wrong decision. Inventory mod let's you carry all sorts of small components and assemble them on the surface using a ground base, or attach them to an existing craft. But only if you control an engineer... You can still refuel the ships using small cans, or attach a hose for docking and resource transfer.

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I crawled back in my pilot chair, checked the comms, and initiated data transmissions back to Kerbin:

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You can access stored data using vessel view screen.

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It's time to say goodbye to Minmus and head back home! 10 days past since I felt wind on my face and warm food in my belly!

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Auto-pilot took over the orbital docking with my main engine module, while the remote-control room is monitoring systems back on Kerbin:

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Used MechJeb for this one, as i am not that good with docking - buring too much mono-fuel, and it's just generally too time-consuming.

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If my predictions were correct – there should be enough fuel to get back to Kerbin, and catch up with a “landing-pod ship” in 100km orbit.

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I'm ready to leave my chair and head for the pod that will take me back to Kerbin! The ship will stay in orbit to be refuelled and re-used later:

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I do not plan on landing most of my crafts back on Kerbin, instead, i have a few ships equipped with cheap "landing-pods" parked in Kerbin's orbit. It only costs 60.000 to send a 5-pod ship in orbit, and seems to be an easy and cost-efficient way of returning my crew from orbit.

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The tiny space of this early model cockpit feels raw and cold – It's been orbiting Kerbin for many months, and I hope that all of it's systems are still functioning... A rescue mission from Kerbin's surface would keep me in orbit for an extra day, and there are barely any supplies in this rusty can.

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These first, poorly designed capsules were not made to be comfortable - the sold-fuel rocket went out of control close to the end of it's cycle, pushing my g-force tolerance to it's limits. But it was not the right time to panic – my parachutes had to be prepared for deployment as I entered Kerbin's atmosphere:

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My speed was to high during the drogue-chute deployment, so the empty solid-fuel rocket snapped clean off and made me panic for a moment. Luckily nothing else got damaged and I was able to open my main parachute with no issues:

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And so I was back home, standing on solid ground and breathing fresh air once again! It's been a long trip, but the results were worth the effort – a lot of data have been collected to help with exciting future projects, and the experience gained is as always invaluable!

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Holy shit that was a long post. The end.

[Kafein]

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[Thomek]

Brilliant mr Sweat! I really like your lander-rover.. And going all 1st person view takes balls, especially on a solid fuel rocket like that!.. I'd never dared.

[Vibe]

dayum

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[Thomek]

So I got back to tinkering with spacesplanes. Now in 1.04 this is the most practical, ultimate machine I've made. Not pretty, but it gets the job done, very well!

It's been tested with 74 tonnes payload to LKO, with fuel to spare! Just make sure to gain level speed until around the 400m/s mark. Pull back on the stick until around 18 degrees over the horizon. Don't be too shy on the stick. If you gain too much speed at low altitude you will fry the pilot!! Slack down on the stick when approaching 14k meters, perhaps even before. Try to keep your apoapsis non higher than 29k meters at first, and try to gain around 1500m/s in atmospheric mode.

Whenever you get so high up the engines are not able to accelerate any longer, press 1 to switch to internal oxidizer. Keep nose a little above the horizon until apoapsis reads 70k. Then it's just a long slow float up there Give it a little push if you fall below.

However, I don't see how you will be able to fill it to 74 tonnes unless you haul ore to space, so it should be an easy ride in most practical cases. Just make sure to not overheat in the lower atmo and you will be fine. Landing is also fine, it's built with the ruggedest landing wheels there is.

I do imagine it would be pretty scary to fly in cockpit only mode though ;)  One could consider adding a tilting mechanism to the cockpit to see better?

(It is also extremely weight efficient, 41+% payload fraction! For a practical, solid, usable ship


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album
http://imgur.com/gallery/LWeFs/new

[Armpit_Sweat]

It looks awesome! Very much rocket-shaped, hard to imagine them tiny wings can give enough lift, hmmm... I assume it's either very tipsy and takes awfully long time to climb out of the atmosphere, or it has lots of thrust, propelling itself more as a rocket.
"1500m/s in atmospheric mode" - at what altitude is that? Idk if it's because of the mods, but the jets seem to run out of oxygen at around 15km... The combined thrust of the hybrid engines is around 1050 in the atmosphere - that's not much for 74t
Are you using parachutes for breaking on the ground when landing as a plane would, or do you land vertically, like a capsule? Some prefer to play with stock parts, and it fine as it equals the challenge and makes it easier to share the design, etc., but if you install Kerbal Aircraft Expansion - you will get control surfaces that can be used as spoilers: two surfaces on each wing turn in opposite directions ( "perpendiculary" against the wing's surface ) and create a massive drag that makes your plane lose speed rapidly. And you also get propeller engines in that pack - useful in career mode, and they look cool, fitting nicely with stock parts.

[Thomek]

It's all stock, and actually sports 10 rapiers.. Plenty of thrust. It also lands normally on a runway. Tested and it works, even when heavy.  Yes I have chutes for landing.

I should however do some small modifications. Make sure to replace my RCS thrusters with linear ones (less drag) Check some overheating values on other parts etc.. it's a work in progress The 1500m/s thing is at around 20km altitude. About wings, yeah they are on the small side because that's what looks good.. Also you only really need them during takeoff and landing. Once you push trough 250m/s in the thick soup that is the air at low altitude you have more than enough.

All in all I'm happy because it's a relatively rough and tough design, that can withstand everyday abuse... It's truly a tug to orbit If anything, it should probably be longer so one could actually use more of the lift capacity.