Does anyone else feel the same way I do?

[More Boosters]

Here's how it goes for me:

1. See really cool and imaginative things done by other people.

2. Get inspired.

3. Get in game, build stuff.

4a. End up with generic rocket #3141243 similar in most ways to the rocket that came before it.

4b. OR very rarely, make something that looks decent but doesn't work at all. Never something that is actually "wow" material

5. Get bored by how bland KSP is when it's you that is bland.

Repeat.

[GoSlash27]

More Boosters,

Not generally.

Usually when I see something inspiring it's because somebody else has figured out a potentially beneficial solution to a problem. So I scamper off to KSP to experiment with it.

I don't mind at all if what I wind up with looks generic. Pretty much all of my stuff looks generic. But if it's a more efficient way for me to do the job, then I'm happy with it. And if it doesn't work out, then figuring out why often leads to another breakthrough.

Best,

-Slashy

[Mister Kerman]

I feel the same way too. I lack aesthetic creativity, practical knowledge, and the balls to leave Kerbin's SOI.

One day...

On a slightly more upbeat note, my own limitations have never stopped me from appreciating the creative freedom, quality, and niche premise of the game. KSP will drag you back kicking and screaming every time. No one escapes.

[Gaarst]

Mods !

And once you have conquered Kerbol system and beyond, with every mods possible, have colonised all of the bodies, switch to RSS or Kerbin x6.4 and realise you can't get to orbit at all !

[Guest]

I'm forever stumbling across new design ideas to chase after thanks to blogs like "Vintage Space", "False Steps", "Beyond Apollo", etc. "Eyes Turned Skyward" is another great source. I have fully proven Saturn I-C's with Apollo Block V CSM's making regular flights, for an example. The inspiration is out there for the taking.

[klesh]

No, because I am cool and have an imagination.

[Pax Kerbana]

Not at all.

I build amazingly awesome things like a complex base system in sandbox but then never do anything with it.

That's why I play career almost exclusively. Unless I get the urge to build a badS space plane that looks like a real life one might that can circumnavigate Kerbin altitude 25km at 1400m/s or punch to space. Then I might go to sandbox for a few hours.

I love this game.

[cantab]

It's not about the car you have, it's about the roads you've driven.

I've visited all the stock bodies in some sense and landed on most, and now am playing with multiple planet mods.

[WyDavies]

You're trying to build cool and creative stuff. I've never tried to do that, but some of it is.

I started playing KSP from one of the early alpha releases and all my early rockets looked like standard rockets. Then came the release with buggies and I started trying to make a buggy. It was awful. Really bad. It was a square of metal, with wheels on each corner and a seat in the middle.

I couldn't work out any mechanism for landing it on Mun without quite a drop. So I stress-tested it on the runway. For some reason, instead of launch clamps I used fuel tanks as the pillars. And then I stroked my chin and went "hmmm....".

It is the stupidest buggy launching system you can imagine. And it looks amazing! Since then most of my rockets have been stupid, and some of them look amazing (about 99% just look stupid).

Here's an example of stupidity: I build a car to drive around and gather science from the various bits of the Kerbal Space Center. And then I stuck a nose-cone on the front, strapped a rocket to the back, put fairing around it and launched it into space. Then realised a small mistake - wheels don't work in space.

https://youtu.be/jm0D7wd_PMo

Screw cool and creative. Build stupid stuff and when it works it will make you smile.

[yorshee]

I often get inspired by Robbaz's complex starships and carriers, but when I try to build one myself, my old crappy computer is the thing stopping me from even getting these things into orbit - my FPS is awful with these huge crafts and they're so big and unwieldy that they often wobble themselves apart, even with KJR.

I need to invest in a better computer, and maybe use the welding mod more.

[Kyrt Malthorn]

I frequently ogle at amazing creations I see online, and often try to replicate it - or at least apply the same design principles or something. Much like the OP said, I either turn out something with looks or something that works. Rarely both.

One of my issues is, I want my rockets to look realistic - or at least cool. But so often what ends up being most functional looks like a tower of junkyard parts. I make sacrifices for aesthetic - both in form and function.

Sometimes I do get flustered, but I haven't let that stop me. I'm pretty new to the game, so it just makes me feel like I've got more to learn. I have an appreciation for aesthetic but not really a visual design gift, so I often end up basing my actual designs off something else - often realistic spacecraft concepts.

[Just Jim]

I don't know the average age of a KSP player, but I'm 52, so I'm probably a little older than many of y'all.

And I'm still a huge fan of old, campy, sci-fi movies from the 50's and 60's, which I grew up on (born 1962)

And it's these movies that I sometimes find my best inspirations for KSP.

For example, about 2 months ago I watched the classic "Godzilla vs. Monster Zero"

The next morning I built this ship, based (more or less) on the rocket they used to land on planet-X in the movie, with four big rocket ""Pylons".

Surprisingly, it turned out to be a very good moon lander (Except Tylo)

I grew up on movies like that, and now whenever I see a cool, old sci-fi rocket or whatever, I find myself thinking, "I should try and build that in KSP"

[More Boosters]

I don't know the average age of a KSP player, but I'm 52, so I'm probably a little older than many of y'all.

And I'm still a huge fan of old, campy, sci-fi movies from the 50's and 60's, which I grew up on (born 1962)

And it's these movies that I sometimes find my best inspirations for KSP.

For example, about 2 months ago I watched the classic "Godzilla vs. Monster Zero"

The next morning I built this ship, based (more or less) on the rocket they used to land on planet-X in the movie, with four big rocket ""Pylons".

http://i.imgur.com/gw4sPX7.png

Surprisingly, it turned out to be a very good moon lander (Except Tylo)

I grew up on movies like that, and now whenever I see a cool, old sci-fi rocket or whatever, I find myself thinking, "I should try and build that in KSP"

That looks really cool, great job man! I'm glad it worked out.

[Just Jim]

That looks really cool, great job man! I'm glad it worked out.

Thank Toho studios... lol...

[teatime]

My first pass through career mode was a mad dash for more science and more parts. When I had filled out the tech tree, I became bored with the game.

I took a break for about six weeks and then I started back with a new game in career mode. This time around I am trying to wean myself off of MechJeb.

So far I can manually dock if I am with in a few kilometers. That is, manually dock because I have an idea of what I am doing now (thank You-Tube), unlike my previous method of docking that burned up a lot of fuel by guessing. Half the time I still manage to botch the part about getting within a few kilometers and matching velocities. Something I need to improve on.

This time around I am going to slow down and enjoy the progression. That and work on pin point landings on planets that have an atmosphere.

As a side note, I am not super-cool and amazing like you people that never used MechJeb. You have truly proven you manliness in the world of video games and I hope to be as awesome as you one day.

Back to the main subject, Cool and imaginative does not always mean practical. Sometime I build monstrosities in sandbox mode, but they are just for looks. In career mode I stick with what gets the job done.

[CloudlessEchoes]

I have this problem too. Nothing I make seems as interesting at the videos and screenshots I'm looking at!

[Sasquatch_Punter]

For launch stages I like practical, aerodynamic designs, so my rockets tend to look generic on the launch pad. In space is a whole other story, especially when I start building up stations.

Then again, I used to play with a 2Ghz Core2 Duo laptop that was 6 years old... Building fancy-looking stuff was easy, but flying basic rockets was the only way to get playable framerates.