Poll - what rocket engine do you use the least / forgot about?

[rocketbuilder]

The ant is very useful for light satellites, so is the dawn, but no one uses the spider - the ant looks nicer, fits better on the satellite, and just is better. I would've voted for the thud, but I feel bad for the thud, so I don't wanna vote for it.

[GoSlash27]

5 hours ago, TopHeavy11 said:

No engine is really "useless," because the Devs put them there for a reason.

If only this were true...

 The truth is, the engines haven't been balanced properly. There are some engines that are outclassed by similar engines so badly that they essentially have no role, and others that are so useful they are the best choice in many different roles.

Every engine may exist for a reason, but that doesn't mean they're all useful.

Best,
-Slashy

[regex]

Your reference frame will determine whether an engine is useful. If efficiency is your only concern then only the best engines will do. If you want to explore spaceflight concepts then other engines will do the job better. If you want aesthetics then you will find usages for other engines. Etc... Balancing is similarly relative given that a sandbox player will approach things differently or desire different capabilities than a science mode player or a career mode player.

Hence, every engine is useful in some capacity to some user.

[RocketPilot573]

The Ant and Spider are the only engines that I do not have on any of my craft currently. Though I don't usually use the Twin Boar, it is good for whipping up a simple rocket that works.

 

-Rocket

[cantab]

I'd say that actually the engine balance is on the whole reasonably good, even in sandbox. The Nerv is arguably overpowered but then it kind of has to be considering it's taking a nuke to a gun fight. There's maybe a few dubious engines, and some that don't perform like their real-world inspirations as we discussed, but there's nothing egregiously over- or underpowered. And of course in science and career there's the additional balancing tools of tech tree placement and cost.

Now if you want to see terrible balance in KSP, just look at the command pods. The lengths I go to to avoid using the 2.5 m because it's just an insane boat anchor...

[Aegolius13]

4 hours ago, cantab said:

Now if you want to see terrible balance in KSP, just look at the command pods. The lengths I go to to avoid using the 2.5 m because it's just an insane boat anchor...

Same for me.  Eventually I decided enough was enough and edited their mass down in the config file.  Think I set the command pod to 3 tons and the lander to 1.8 tons dry.  They're still not svelte by any means, but now they're reasonable options given their other advantages, and I get quite a bit of use out of them.