Kyrt Malthorn

Hi, my name is Kyrt, and I am also a kerbaholic. I also work a job that demands 56 hour weeks, and I do experience withdrawal. My weekends are simply too short to do all the KSP I wish for.

I introduced my older brother.... we kinda learned concurrently, and taught each other as we both figured out different aspects. I.e. I taught him dV, he recently helped me understand where gravity assists were useful. Congrats to your sister, I hope she has metric tons of fun!

Nope. It's a biiiiig multi layer cake. I've only had a couple pieces of the interplanetary layer.

Nope. Mods may be icing on the cake, but KSP is still a cake.

I do sometimes just have a Bad Launch Day. Or a Bad Landing Day. I will sometimes allow done finicky launches to be standardized if they don't carry kerbals.... Basically I can'play KSP when I'm exhausted. (Which is sadly frequent with my work schedule.) On the other hand, I have had weird physic bugs that clear out with a game reboot, and maybe some of that even contributes to the success of some test launches, only to vanish in the next sitting. Hard to say.

And I'm glad the mods are there for people like you. I see your point, but personally, I don't call it arrogant. It's the game SQUAD intended it to be, and whether you desire to be educated or not doesn't change the fact that it very much can be educational and inspiring. And lots of weird numbers could turn away kids who dont have a clue about dV, nor do they want to. Or other players who have no issues playing 'blind'. From SQUAD's standpoint, they could add a dV readout and even TWR - but the modding community would still build mods that have them even more information. They're letting us have free reign over our own play style, and I see that as a very good thing.

I started teaching myself how to use the rocket equation not long ago. Don't get new wrong, I'm no math junkie. But this is something that can be built into a spreadsheet very easily: plug in your ship stats and out comes all the same data KER gives you (or vice versa, I'm working on one that calculates what you need to get a given payload a set dV). If there were no kerbal engineer or mechjeb, I'm sure such spreadsheets would be every bit as common as dV maps, interplanetary intercept calculators, and other out-of-game resources. That said, it otherwise depends on play style. Some people play blind and like it that way. Some people do math (or use tools that do) and like it that way. I started off with some extremely rudimentary knowledge of rocket science, but I learned so much since because the game encouraged it, and I saw what other fantastic players could do with it. I guess my bottom line is, no it doesn't bother me that it's not in the stock game. For those who want more maths there are fairly convenient ways besides mods. The mods make it very convenient (I use KER) which is what mods tend to do: make it easier to conquer space.

The KSS Aesop nears it's destionation: Duna! Mission control were a little worried after the recent mishaps with the K1 lander on the Mun. The Aesop's lander was a lighter, less capable K2, but shared many of the same design flaws. On the bright side, Ike's gravity was a bit lighter than the Mun's, but mission control was still setting conservative goals. The easy part was to swing around Duna retrograde and do some braking at periapsis, setting up an Ike intercept, where a 30 x 32 km orbit was established. Dr. Halburry Kerman was constantly taking readings from the instruments, looking for juicy information, while Keldan made frequent photographs and made detailed orbital observations. In short, everything went like a well oiled machine. The landing went off without a hitch, a couple different biomes were hopped, the first snacks were consumed on a celestial body that does not orbit Kerbin, and the scientific findings were excellent. Re-docking got interesting (I ran out of power often because of mediocre solar panel placement and an unfortunate docking angle) but still went fine. Check out the full album: The EVA and crew reports transmitted home amassed over 450 science, the rest is waiting to come home during the next Duna-to-Kerbin launch window 155 days away. In other news, the boys back in the drawing board meeting decided to start putting together plans for a Minmus surface base including a research lab, habitation for a good number of kerbals, and a satellite tower. An adaptation of the Aesop's design is scheduled to be placed in service as a skycrane. This career is full of so many firsts for me as a player. Especially since it's 40% science returns and no quickload (reverting is enabled, but long missions end up committed). Really hoping it transfers easily to 1.1, it should be stock-compatible given my only mods are aesthetic/informational. (*I have steam, but choose not to download the prerelease...)

Success! Nelrick and Jenise Kerman are very happy about the arrival of their rescue/replacement lander. It won't be doing so much biome hopping because it spent extra dV to land near the stranded kerbals. But it's still a success! Proving the K1 line of landers is not a complete failure after all! Of course they're bringing back some sweet science too.

3rd try to hit the Mun, this career. Well.... They're alive. Best I've managed so far. A version of this lander is on the way to Ike. No quickload. I may be in trouble.

You mean these? If you mean old-but-not-that-old... you may be out of luck if you're new to KSP or haven't been making backups of clean installations of KSP with every new version. Because it's copyright property, nobody can just give it to you. I get it through steam, and I can only download "previous stable version" (presently 1.0.4). That's found by rclicking the game in the library, selecting Properties, going to the BETAS tab, and picking it from the dropdown. Same place the pre-release is available now - it'll overwrite the steam installation, but you can copy and duplicate the whole KSP folder out of steam and it'll work just fine, won't auto-update, and you can concurrently run a more current version on Steam any day. If you get it through the store, IDK. Check the store or ask someone who knows about the store.

Okay, that Mk1x4 capsul contraption is freaking awesome. I'm going to go steal that right now.

He may want to substitute his suicide snowpants.

It's not an update, today's date is just a trigger. Any other day, try going offline and then setting your computer'date to 4/1/16 and you'd see it.

This has been answered in at least four threads today. It's @sarbian's joke with module manager. Regardless of unsupported x64 detection, it always appears if the date= April fools. Edit: all the threads about it have been moved to the modding discussion board. I kinda question that, considering apparently everyone comes here to make new threads about it. I would have merged and stickied them for the day... ah well.

I recommend scrolling through the first page of discussions before making a new topic. If this gets too bad can we make one sticky so everyone sees it first?

Sparks for flame wars, careful making jokes out of sensitive topics.

It's module manager. And it's been asked in at least 2 other threads on this forum. Doing a little searching before making a new topic would save our friendly neighborhood moderators a headache.

Devs have lives. Many have day jobs during the week. And many don't even have access to the pre-release. Remember, this is not the finalized new version, it's a mass bug hunt for the STOCK GAME. Pre-release players, please focus on reporting bugs in stock instead of mods. The finalized 1.1 may break mods updated to the pre-release, even. (Which are already labeled compatible with 1.1 .... ooohh boy.)

My first interplanetary landing? 2 kerbals on Duna. Followed quickly by my first interplanetary tipped rocket and my first interplanetary rescue/ replacement lander.

This guy is pretty sweet to watch. Edit: Oh, and this guy does KSP movie-style cinematics. A lot of them are war things, not so much my taste, but I can still admire his art. This is one I particularly like.

I seem to be mediocre when it comes to setting up an interplanetary intercept. Can't seem to quite nail it perfectly (my orbit relative to the sun usually is a little ways past the target planet). That said, I seem to have had more issues with the predictions being inaccurate, or outright changing when I'm not looking. Ever had it happen? Come back to a ship in-transit which you left with a great intercept and a finely tuned periapse after your last correction burn, shut down for the night or go do some other mission in the meantime, only to find that craft doesn't have an intercept at all anymore? I think I've read it's sortof the losses between keplerian on-rails physics and newtonian physics when you're actually doing stuff with the craft. Anyone know how to minimize this?

As for me, I am steam user who will not play the pre-release. I really don't have much time to put into the game at this point in my life, as much as I want to, so I'd be unlikely to find any bugs the others won't. And I can wait. Two months from now there will be screaming from people who want yo build 5000 part craft that their game's performance isn't up to snuff. Seriously, a lot of people have been getting their hopes WAY too high, and they're just setting themselves up for disappointment. Remember, patience is a virtue.

My experience is very much that of @Korvath85's: Career mode because science progression feels more earned, and contracts provide guidance. When I say guidance though, I don't mean the contracts rule me and I can never do something that isn't a contract. Also not a fan of funds limiting my missions, but I can't bring myself to hack the save file for more cash. Nothing against people who do, it's just... funds become so available and irrelevant later anyway I don't bother for the early game. So my games look like this: First few tech nodes: Every launch has to (a) bring me the most science possible to get me the most bang for my funds, and/or (b) fulfill as many contracts as I can cram onto it. Things like breaking speed and distance records really help - the fewer missions those are won in, the better. I like having to carefully plan the missions to achieve my first orbit in as few missions as possible. Next few tech nodes: Really the limiting factor is funds to upgrade facilities. It can get somewhat grind-y if I'm unlucky, but once I have a T2 astronaught complex, mission control, and tracking station, I'm usually good. I enjoy working within constraints like number of parts and launchpad mass. That's it's own challenge phase. The order I upgrade buldings is also very intentional and living with that decision feels good. Midgame: By the time I can put 10 tons into orbit with a decent skipper-based lifter, have an upgraded launchpad and VAB, is when funds become more and more plentiful. The reliance on every mission fulfilling a contract is eased. But they're still there. Contracts at this stage and beyond give me ideas for the order I do things in. And sometimes mission plans I enjoy are derrived from combinations of contracts... maybe not in the way they were intended. I.e. a rocket that fulfills contracts for both a space station orbiting Minmus, then another orbiting the Mun, carrying tourists who wanted to visit both. After I've developed a rocket and an orbital vehicle that can do this, I start using that craft for other things too. Oh look, an explore Ike contract! I know where my first interplanetary mission will be going now. Lategame: After nukes, science labs, rover wheels, and high thrust engines, ISRU, and gigantors are unlocked, the possibilites are so wide open that most of my interplanetary mission concepts come from contracts. The rest is mopping up the tech tree. Endgame: Tech tree finished. Otherwise, same as above. It's a sandbox with contracts for mission ideas, and also I have science archives to show me places I've never been before. I feel a certain acomplishment having worked my way to the top. Maybe that feeling of accomplishment will go away someday, because I'm still a relatively newer player. Or maybe it won't. That's just how I play.