teamdelibird

I will fix some of the inaccuracies, especially with regards to mods on Mac! I had such a horrible time trying to make Civ V mods work that I assumed that most games were like that. The tracking station does give information like that, but I had not yet figured that out I think. This was my absolute first attempt at even getting NEAR Mun. Thank you everyone for both the kind words and the constructive criticism! My friend is annoyed at me for spiking the bounce rate on his site or something stupid like that, but who really cares? It's the most-read article on there anyway. - - - Updated - - - I wanted to just address this one bit in particular, although all the rest of your criticism is definitely valid and helpful and I have taken it to heart (in a non-personal, not-upset kind of way) I thought about this for a long time, and normally I wouldn't do it- it's the only time I've started a review like this. But I just could not get that quote out of my head. To me it almost seemed to sum the game up perfectly. I didn't want to just write the same thing unattributed in my review, so I decided to quote it (I am a scientist so proper attribution is a really big deal to me). I get that it's not generally the best way to do things.

I know I can play with mods, but from what I understand it's a much more involved process to install them? At least, going off of experience installing mods for other cross-OS games like Civ V. I just haven't had time to do it, plus I'm having a lot of fun with vanilla KSP.

thank you!

This is only the upper stages of "The Fail Whale"; I only used a partial picture for the same reason that I gave it it's name. That is, that if I didn't launch it immediately after moving to the launch pad, it would flop over on its side like a breaching whale and explode. It also had a tendency to do this early on in flights.

Hey everyone, I picked up KSP during the Steam winter sale and have hardly been able to put it down. I ended up writing a review of it and wanted to see what people think. I'm aware of the KSP community but not necessarily a part of it yet, so I'm curious if my experiences with the game were similar or different to yours, and what you think about my thoughts about the game? Here's the link to it, on my friend's website: You Can Never Have Too Much of a Good Thing: A Kerbal Space Program Review I am genuinely interested in your thoughts and in being part of the game's community, so in the interest of proving I'm not just self promoting, here's the text of the review below. But if you really like it, please click through so my friend who runs the site will let me keep doing stuff like this! ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ “Is ‘this obviously needs more rockets’ something you say on a daily basis?†– Steam curator “PC Master Race†This was the quote that convinced me I had to try Kerbal Space Program. Everything is better with more rockets. Ok, so I don’t actually say that on a regular basis. But it's a sentiment most of us can identify with- we all love things that go boom (clearly, or else Michael Bay wouldn’t still be making movies). Kerbal space program is an entire sandbox game built around things that go “boomâ€Â. Sure, if you do it right, things generally won’t end in a fiery explosion. But then, Kerbal Space Program makes doing things right a pretty serious challenge. Kerbal Space Program is, to put it in simple terms, “NASA simulatorâ€Â. You are put in charge of the space program for a fictional race called the “Kerbalsâ€Â. Your space program is based out of an Earth-like planet called Kerbin, which revolves around a sun, much like in our own solar system. There are 6 other planets that also revolve around this sun, and each planet, including Kerbin, has its own moons and assorted unidentified objects like asteroids orbiting around it. The physics in this game are built to closely mimic the same basic newtonian physics that govern our solar system, and the level of technology you have to build rocket ships and space planes is fairly similar to what we have right now on Earth. No crazy “warp drives†or “flux capacitorsâ€Â- just parts to build things like rockets, landers, satellites, and other spacecraft akin to what we have today. This means you’ll have to build complex rockets with different stages of thrusters, decouplers, parachutes, landing gears and other assorted parts in order to achieve the thrust and stability you need to land safely on distant celestial bodies. Welcome to the celestial neighborhood! The realistic physical and technological limitations make for incredibly deep gameplay. You’ll have to build staged rockets, much like in real life, and each stage has to be capable of providing enough thrust to actually get where you need to go. Not enough thrust? Your rocket will fall over before it leaves the ground, burning up all of your astronauts in a fiery explosion. Even if it has enough thrust to get off the ground, you’d better hope it’s structurally stable enough, or it’ll fall apart as it reaches high speeds in the atmosphere. It also has to be balanced, or it’ll begin flipping and spinning out of control, often ending with a fiery, deadly explosion. And don’t forget to pack a parachute so that when your rocket does eventually come down, you can recover your astronauts safely. In general, any mistake you make in Kerbal Space Program can result in a deadly ending to an attempted mission. For example, I wasn’t sure if Kerbin’s first moon, called “Munâ€Â, actually had an atmosphere. Of course, Earth’s moon doesn’t, but not everything translates over from our solar system to KSP. As I fell toward the mun, completely out of fuel, I tried in vain to activate my parachutes, but alas there was no atmosphere to stop my poor Kerbal’s descent and the brave Jebediah Kerbin was lost that day. Believe it or not, Bill actually survived this “launch†and lived long enough to crash into the Mun the very next week. This game has absolutely no training wheels and a very steep learning curve. I spent around 7 hours just learning the game’s controls and trying to achieve orbit around Kerbin. At around 30 hours of playtime, I’ve managed to land on Mun safely- with no fuel to return to Kerbin. There are difficulty settings, but turning down the difficulty doesn’t make the physics any more forgiving- it just allows you to revert botched flights, gives you stock ship options to choose from, and makes your facilities indestructable (yes, even at normal difficulty falling rockets can destroy your space center facilities). You’ll lose countless rockets and astronauts as you trial-and-error your way up to building decent, stable rockets- the kind that only catastrophically fail every dozen launches or so. Then all of the sudden you’ll find yourself making more daring missions- graduating from orbiting Kerbin toward orbiting or even landing on the moon. And when you’ve mastered space around Kerbin, there are 6 other planets to reach. All along the way there’ll be catastrophes, but at least those catastrophes end in epic, fiery explosions- hell, the spectacular failures make the game that much more enjoyable. The majestic “Fail Whale†a clumsy ship destined to run out of fuel in a horribly botched attempt at orbit. Say hello to Sidlong for me, would ya? The beautiful thing about Kerbal Space Program is that despite the unforgiving difficulty, it’s a sandbox game- you can just keep building and just keep retrying- at least in two of the three game modes. “Sandbox Mode†comes with all the parts in the entire game right from the start. Just build rockets to your hearts content- see where you can go with everything opened up to you! The next step up is science mode. Here you start with just a handful of spaceship parts, and must accomplish scientific tasks like surface samples and crew reports in order to gain points to put towards researching new parts. This is arguably the best mode for beginners- a solid introduction to most of the concepts of the game without the insane, overwhelming number of parts in Sandbox Mode. Finally there’s career mode- the point where the game crosses from “Sandbox†to “Simulator†and ramps up the difficulty. Whereas in Science and Sandbox modes you can try anything you like, as much as you like, career mode places a cost on each of the spaceship parts as well as limiting your technologies like in Science mode. It also gives you bare-bones facilities with severe functional limits and you’ll have to pay to upgrade them. You’ll have to take on contracts from other companies- things like collecting data on certain celestial bodies, launching communications satellites, and testing certain ship parts under specific conditions- and fulfill them in order to gain funds towards pricier spaceships, gain reputation to put towards administrative policies, and gain science in order to research new parts. It’s a careful and delicate balancing act that adds a whole new level of depth to the gameplay, as well as a whole boatload of new objectives to strive for. Yes, this ship, like most, ended up tumbling out of control and crashing with a fiery explosion The soundtrack to the game is limited, but enjoyable. The music for different areas of space creates a cool, “hushed awe†kind of ambiance, with electronic sweeps and the graceful magnificence of the string section of an orchestra. In general, though, I would often just turn the music off and listen to my own music- but this is one of those games where it almost feels right to choose your own music, as if you were in control of the CD player on your interplanetary trip. It’s actually a feature I’d like to see implemented in the final release of the game. The graphics aren’t anything to write home about for sure, but they’re certainly good enough, especially considering everything else the game engine is doing. The controls are exactly what they’re supposed to be- they’re by no means especially responsive, but that’s a function of the style of gameplay- 80 ton rocket ships aren’t going to fly like fighter jets. The controls felt realistic, and that’s exactly what I want from a game like this. Kerbal Space Program is an odd game. Certainly, I would not recommend it to everyone; not even a majority of people. Its steep learning curve and lack of concrete objectives make it unplayable to many people- especially more “modern†gamers who expect objectives spelled out with step-by-step instructions on how to do it. Kerbal Space Program does none of that, instead opting to let you learn for yourself. It’s also a game with literally no story, and no developed characters, so if you prefer story-driven games you should pass on KSP. In some ways it reminds me of classic games, like the original Legend of Zelda, which throws you into its world and forces you to learn for yourself the ins and outs- and to me this makes KSP a fantastic and immersive game. If you really like science- especially branches like physics and astronomy- play Kerbal Space Program. If you like challenges, and figuring things out for yourself with no handholding, you’ll love KSP. And if exploration is your favorite part of videogames- reaching new places just for the sake of the challenge, the prestige, and the mysteries of the unknown- you need to play Kerbal Space Program right now. For the people who can get past its steep learning curve and intimidating openness and depth, Kerbal Space Program is a fantastic gaming experience, one that has endless depth and incredible longevity, and it is indeed one of the best and most enjoyable games I’ve played (and will continue to be playing) for a long time. Notes: This is an early access game currently in beta; the game may be different in the final release but these are my current impressions. I also played without mods, because I’m stuck on Mac for the moment. This game has a very dedicated fan community and countless mods- stuff ranging from making it even MORE realistic, to making it so you can build mechanical dragons to fight kerbal-vikings ( ), so if you play on PC, try some of them out!____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ If you read this far, thanks! Hope you enjoyed my thoughts on the game, please tell me what you think!