Greetings from the center of the universe!

[NorthernDevo]

(In solipsistic terms, at least... )

Hello everyone, call me Devo!

I've been playing the demo version of KSP for a couple of years now; I'm finally taking the leap to actually getting the thing for real. Not that I haven't wanted to before now; it was just real life, if you know what I mean.

I was introduced to it in a funny way; I've been a long-time Orbiter player and write S-F in my spare time. I'd frequently ask the fora I frequent science-based questions about space ships and technology-mainly concerning the physics and math; 'Is this realistic?' was the common theme.

One day, I was asking about spinning a ship to provide artificial gravity and as luck would have it, an argument erupted among several highly skilled members. One of them inserted a video to make his point: a video of a long, segmented ship spinning enough to provide .5G at its ends. I was intrigues, and asked what the sim was: KSP.

Well, it was pretty, but I wasn't really interested; I was hooked on the realism aspects of Orbiter. However; one day I'd heard enough about it that I decided to try it out.

I fell in love instantly; those little green guys are hilarious and it's a much, much different challenge from Dr. Schweiger's sim. Unfortunately without the internet at the time (and without a whole lot of other things), I didn't have the resources to get it but continued to have quite good fun with the demo.

I must say; I got extremely good at one particular maneuver: carpet-bombing the Space Center when my horribly-overbuilt rocket ripped itself to pieces a kilometer up.

I'm back in a time of life when things are good again; I have security, work, home, etc. and can now enjoy luxuries; and KSP is pretty near the top of the list. I can't wait to try all the new parts and planets that'll be open to me.

Cheers!

[Starhawk]

Hello NorthernDevo and welcome to the forum!

That was a great introductory post.  I'm pleased to hear that things are going well for you and very pleased that you can now enjoy the full game.

Glad to have you aboard.

Happy landings!

[NorthernDevo]

Thank you!

I've actually been having some success in the demo version; I've managed safe-return landings on both moons, with landings by all the arches, the Armstrong Memorial (very touching addition, there) and found the flying saucer once; though with the updated demo it's much harder to find than it was a couple of years ago. I've toyed with single-ship and dual-ship missions and quite like saving fuel by aerobraking around Kerbin on my way home. Right now I'm surveying Minimus so see if there's any artifacts there...looking it up in the wiki would be cheating. (I think probably not; even orbiting AT 5600M - so low I'm scraping the higher plateaus - I've found nothing.)

[Buckley]

Heh.  I just picked up the game little over a week ago and also hooked immediately.  That thing you mention about the Kerbs... I just posted something about that in my intro post today.

 

I really think it's that failure is actually such a funny thing.  We take life too seriously in general... and if you are actually doing more in this life than just breathing in and out and scurrying from place to place in search of food and water then that means you are probably investing in learning of some sort... and with learning comes failure - or at least it should 'cuz I learn a TON more when I fail than when I succeed.

These little green dudes that we strap on top of massive explosions and catapult into an unforgiving and indifferent universe really add a lot to help make the process of learning (and failing) fun.

 

Anyway, sorry to hijack - having a blast here hope you are as well.

 

B

[NorthernDevo]

Hi Buckley, thanks for the greeting and right back atcha!

[Starwhip]

On 4/1/2016 at 4:38 PM, NorthernDevo said:

Right now I'm surveying Minimus so see if there's any artifacts there...looking it up in the wiki would be cheating. (I think probably not; even orbiting AT 5600M - so low I'm scraping the higher plateaus - I've found nothing.)

Don't give up, there's not nothing out there.

[NorthernDevo]

Just now, Starwhip said:

Don't give up, there's not nothing out there.

Hmm....well then I think I have to head back out there. I know there's nothing on the hard icing...er...dry lake beds, I've covered them on foot fairly completely. I've tried a couple of the larger mountains and basins too. I think I'll look at the highlands and turn off the free rocks. Whatever's there has to be a monolith; I'm certain I'd have seen anything larger by now.

Cheers!

[Dafni]

Hey there and welcome aboard!

Man, if you could squeeze all that entertainment out of the demo alone, you will just absolutely love the full game. And now that 1.1 is around the corner we will apparently finally be able to get some decent performance on bigger craft too... sounds like good times for us KSP players.

[NorthernDevo]

2 minutes ago, Dafni said:

Hey there and welcome aboard!

Man, if you could squeeze all that entertainment out of the demo alone, you will just absolutely love the full game. And now that 1.1 is around the corner we will apparently finally be able to get some decent performance on bigger craft too... sounds like good times for us KSP players.

(chuckle) I was having fun with video games back when they were two gray bars and a square on a black screen going 'boop...boop...boop.' Given that the demo alone is far more complex and absorbing than the full-sized version of many games, enjoying the demo is easy. And you're right; having had the opportunity to cruise this place for a little while, I'm now biting my nails waiting for my Paypal account to clear so I can pick up the full version.

However, I think that that could be an interesting challenge to the members: given all the wonderful things you guys have done, all the places you've explored and ships you've built; go back to just the demo (if that's possible) and see how big, weird, fun and crazy an adventure you can have with only two moons and a few parts.  

[Starwhip]

4 minutes ago, NorthernDevo said:

However, I think that that could be an interesting challenge to the members: given all the wonderful things you guys have done, all the places you've explored and ships you've built; go back to just the demo (if that's possible) and see how big, weird, fun and crazy an adventure you can have with only two moons and a few parts.  

I've done this a few times, back in the 0.18.3 demo version. I played the demo until I could consistently land on the Mun, and I even managed to rendezvous two craft in Mun orbit and transfer crew between them. But in the beginning it was all trial by fire, in the most literal sense. I just could not seem to get to orbit! I kept building larger and larger monstrosities: Big radial rockets with asparagus staging (because I had read that was good) and huge amounts of delta-v (Though I didn't know what that was at the time) that would barely scrape above the atmosphere. Little did I know that my problem was gravity turns until I had gotten the full game. (I made it to the Mun and back by going straight up and then doing a 90-degree turn to burn for Kerbin orbit... I haven't managed to replicate that maneuver since. )

So now when I go back I wonder where all the difficulty went. And... it's kind of disappointing, really. What's new to fail at, when you have failed it all? That's why I like the full game so much better. I manage to find something that it seems I just can't do, and headbang until it flies like a dream. I have yet to go to Moho, Dres, or Eeloo, and I've not visited all the moons of Jool, and though that challenge calls me I find the time involved in lining up the transfer windows a put-off. Someday I'll get bored by Kerbin, Mun, and Minmus, maybe, and I'll try to go out there again.

Oh! Speaking of Kerbin, and the 1.1 wheel overhaul, I should keep my Elcano challenge run going.

[Dafni]

yeah man, I got you. never said simple games cant entertain, it just struck me that you played the demo for so long.

are there docking ports in the demo?

[NorthernDevo]

54 minutes ago, Starwhip said:

I've done this a few times, back in the 0.18.3 demo version. I played the demo until I could consistently land on the Mun, and I even managed to rendezvous two craft in Mun orbit and transfer crew between them. But in the beginning it was all trial by fire, in the most literal sense. I just could not seem to get to orbit! I kept building larger and larger monstrosities: Big radial rockets with asparagus staging (because I had read that was good) and huge amounts of delta-v (Though I didn't know what that was at the time) that would barely scrape above the atmosphere. Little did I know that my problem was gravity turns until I had gotten the full game. (I made it to the Mun and back by going straight up and then doing a 90-degree turn to burn for Kerbin orbit... I haven't managed to replicate that maneuver since. )

So now when I go back I wonder where all the difficulty went. And... it's kind of disappointing, really. What's new to fail at, when you have failed it all? That's why I like the full game so much better. I manage to find something that it seems I just can't do, and headbang until it flies like a dream. I have yet to go to Moho, Dres, or Eeloo, and I've not visited all the moons of Jool, and though that challenge calls me I find the time involved in lining up the transfer windows a put-off. Someday I'll get bored by Kerbin, Mun, and Minmus, maybe, and I'll try to go out there again.

Oh! Speaking of Kerbin, and the 1.1 wheel overhaul, I should keep my Elcano challenge run going.

Wow; beautiful post, Starwhip!

54 minutes ago, Dafni said:

yeah man, I got you. never said simple games cant entertain, it just struck me that you played the demo for so long.

are there docking ports in the demo?

No, there aren't; I've had to use considerable creativity to get my collection of loosely-organized parts to the Mun and Minimus. My initial attempts were - as Starwhip said - based around 'bigger is better' which, since my computer ain't your average supercomputer, slowed my performance to a crawl. (A first stage made from 18 6-tank rockets surrounded by 30+ solid rocket boosters...not so much a first stage as a first bandstand.) A second with 9 8-tank rockets + 2-tank droptanks; a third...well, you get the picture. All to support either a single-stage lander/return vehicle or a capsule plus separate lander Jeb would have to EVA to reach.

Recently, I've been sending Jeb out with a much smaller, sleeker vessel with just enough fuel to get to high orbit over (insert rocky body/confection of your choice) and perform a retro burn that brings the capsule to a perikerbin altitude of 36 Kms. Then once he's in a 1K orbit and safely playing Kribbage, I'll launch a second craft with an empty lander and a Stayputnik bolted to the nose. 2nd. ship RV's with Jeb who climbs over, undocks and jettisons the probe. He then makes his landing, plants his flag, has fun, runs out of MMU fuel, slides down a mountain, has to trudge back to the capsule for two hours, eats, and lifts off to RV with the first ship. Jeb floats back over, floats back to the lander, grabs the keys he forgot, returns to the first craft, boards, waves bye-bye to the lander and burns for home. He has just enough gas to enter the atmosphere; he has to slow down in a series (usually 4) of aerobrake dives. He uses his last traces of gas to deorbit (one of the primary reasons the ground crew stocks the capsule with dehydrated beans for the return journey) then ejects the last engine and enters. If I time it right, I can land pretty close to KSC - my personal record is about 10m from the flagpole at the center of the complex. 

Yup - I can't wait for the full game; but the demo's plenty fun too!

Edited April 4, 2016 by NorthernDevo