I love KSP. Build, fly, mod. Any other "simulators" similar in potential scope?

[Mr Shifty]

I've spent a lot of time in Orbiter and even wrote the tutorial book "Go Play In Space"

Bruce! Just read your book cover to cover a couple weeks ago (and meticulously worked through the tutorial-style missions.) Thanks much for the great introduction to the game! I've also lurked at your blog a bit over the last week. Good to see you here at KSP!

[boxman]

When I tried Orbiter, I could not figure out which button to press to make the ship go. It would make sense to just press space, but NOOO, we have to use every key on the keyboard!

When i gave it a try and pressed random buttons the whole planet and ground below the ship started moving around even though i was still on ground with engines off.

Never gave it a second try after that.

[Mr Shifty]

When i gave it a try and pressed random buttons the whole planet and ground below the ship started moving around even though i was still on ground with engines off.

Never gave it a second try after that.

Yes, if you press T (time acceleration) several times in a row, that will happen. KSP prevents you from over-using time warp; Orbiter does not.

[E. F. Kranz]

It's not space related, but it' supposed to be a physics simulator.

BeamNG

Your link went to a store page that wasn't clear as to what the game was, but I went looking and, WOW!

IIRC, there was some supposed footage of GTAV floating around the tubes some months before official material was released. Seems to me it had to have come from this game.

[Dortmunder]

Your link went to a store page that wasn't clear as to what the game was, but I went looking and, WOW!

IIRC, there was some supposed footage of GTAV floating around the tubes some months before official material was released. Seems to me it had to have come from this game.

I don't think GTA V is using this, since it just seems to be a purchasable development build of an engine, and a game built on it when they are done with it.

Don't see many physics simulators on consoles, usually because the hardware can't handle it. I could be wrong though, but too lazy to search

[superm18]

Microsoft made a game about the space shuttle that i played alot, but it must have been 10 years ago or so. It was called MS flight something...can't remember

[EvilotionCR2]

Bridge Project.Just this.Orbiter is REALLY hard and you have to have like 20+ keyboards just to liftoff.And KSP is pretty much what we all love.

[SolarLiner]

Orbiter is REALLY hard and you have to have like 20+ keyboards just to liftoff

Really? Press + and then the numpad numbers to control yourself. Not much more than KSP.

Orbiter IS EASY. You just have to take it the right way, and with the the same motivation then when you first tried KSP

[1of6Billion]

Space Agency (Android / IOS) is about building rockets and flying them around a solar system

[llamatoes]

I think there is a project to make a sim similar to KSP but more complex, and they want to do it on iPad, I'm pretty sure my iPad would explode if it had Orbiter run on it without having to simulate n number of parts.

[Aqua667]

Space Agency (Android / IOS) is about building rockets and flying them around a solar system

Its kind of unrealistic and rage inducing. Burning radial+ DOES NOT raise your orbit. You dont rendezvous by simply matching orbits and catching up to the other ship. And there's not quicksaves! Screw up and start all over again! Still a great game, because KSP would melt an IPhone.

[1of6Billion]

Its kind of unrealistic and rage inducing. Burning radial+ DOES NOT raise your orbit. You dont rendezvous by simply matching orbits and catching up to the other ship. And there's not quicksaves! Screw up and start all over again! Still a great game, because KSP would melt an IPhone.

Those are the main reasons I don't play it anymore, contrary to KSP

[asmi]

Orbiter simulates very well one aspect of spaceflight that is intentionally missing (or almost missing) in KSP - need to learn. In Orbiter you have to read manuals, otherwise you won't fly anywhere.

[Mr Shifty]

Orbiter is REALLY hard and you have to have like 20+ keyboards just to liftoff.

Start up the quickstart scenario: Deltaglider on the Kennedy runway. Hold down + on the numpad to go to maximum throttle, then press Control to lock the throttle at that setting. Once your speed is high enough, press 2 on the numpad to pitch back and lift off. Use 4 & 6 to roll and pitch to change your heading to 90 degrees. Establish level flight then pitch back to 50-70 degrees. Once you reach 30 km of altitude or so, you'll need to press Control + / to engage RCS to control your attitude. Slowly pitch down (8 key) for gravity turn until your pitch is just above 0 degrees. Now you're well on your way to orbit; you'll have to use the Orbit display panel to figure out when to kill your engines (* key), coast to apoapsis and burn to circularize (does this sound familiar?), but you're basically there. And I count 8 total keys that are necessary. Just launching requires only three: +, Control, 2 -- compare to KSP, which also requires three: Shift to go to full throttle, Space for initial staging, and S to pitch up.

Just like you wouldn't start your very first KSC launch trying to get a 700 part, 15 stage monstrosity into orbit, you shouldn't start Orbiter with the Shuttle. The Delta Glider is designed to ease you into the game's systems. The quickstart guide and checklist missions give you step-by-step instructions for getting into orbit, rendezvousing with the ISS and Mir, and de-orbiting (de-orbiting is easily the hardest of those three to accomplish.) It's not hard, you just have to RTFM.