What Type of KSP Player Are You?

[ZooNamedGames]

Kerbal Space Program is a type of game that fits so many play styles and is hard to give a set direction because of the wide range of players. Some prefer to build death traps and watch them explode, some like to build massive grand tour ships, or SSTOs, or replica vehicles, or underwater, or mining, or science fiction, or combat, or- there are literally too many ways to play Kerbal Space Program that attempting to count them would be frivolous. Instead, it'd simply be easier to see which 'category' players define themselves as.

There are four different styles that I can think of; pilots, engineers, scientists, and flight directors.

Pilots are those who don't care what they're flying; they just want to be flying. These are the Jebediah Kermans of the community. They slap builds together quickly and see how well it goes with little concern for safety, reliability or how effective a machine they're flying in is. They just want to get out to the Launchpad or runway and hit the launch button! Not that failing to go to space is a bad thing, it's just these players tend to enjoy KSP's humorous comical style and explosions more than they do the pursuit to other planets and new horizons.

Engineers are the players who build for a purpose. Whether it be to complete a career contract or to reach someplace where they haven't been. Engineers are capable of rebuilding and fitting their builds to whatever standard or challenge they see fit. If they want to make their builds identical images of their real life counterparts, or want to add a complex upper stage that can achieve multiple tasks on the way to their goals, these are the players who can solve the problem.

Scientists are those who can spend hours tweaking their crafts delta V to push their crafts to the optimum efficiency capability that they can muster. These are the players that tend to test and retest their builds to make sure their capable of a long or complex journey such as grand tours, reaching specific orbital parameters or gathering as much of the science from a biome or planet in a single run. These players take Kerbal Space Program to the highest standard and can achieve some amazing quality of work. They tend to not only know the science behind Kerbal Space Program but also occasionally write the numbers down and compute them on their own outside of the game.

Then there's Flight Directors. Flight Directors are the ones who are more interested in developing group activities and spending time on group projects such as collaborative builds or running a group space race than working on their own. Good with working with people and helping them manage to get around their issues. Often seen teaching newer players how to get started and overcome their own obstacles. These players are capable of their own builds but find it a bit more fulfilling to have their achievement shared thanks to the help of others to make something even greater possible.

 

Whether you spend your time crashing your builds or if you spend your free time running numbers through a calculator to see if you could make it to that Moho transfer window using as little DV as possible; KSP is a wide expanse of options that create the greatest form of creative and independent freedom as there is no right or wrong path or choice. KSP is a world that has been explored, expanded and enjoyed by many in a expansive number of different ways and even this short list may still be incapable of grouping them all together.

[max_creative]

I'm a pilot. 

Actually I'm the guy who is know for liking Dres and for making really inefficient huge explody rockets, but that's kinda just a pilot.  

[Kuansenhama]

I'd go engineer, but I think I embody a bit of all of these.. To me building my own lineup of spacecraft, each with its own purpose and specifications is what makes the game fun. I tend to make a lot of spacecraft with different iterations, changing fuel tank sizes and payloads on the same basic rocket. In my current career I have 4 slightly orbiters built around a Lithobreak 4k command pod. I also LOOOOOVVVEEE building stations and bases.

I tend to try to avoid explosions and crashing and ensure that my spacecraft are reasonably safe. Probably a product of me playing a lot of career mode with quick-loading reserved only for when game-breaking bugs strike or. Can't say I don't enjoy booting up sandbox when I need to check if an idea that seems really stupid will actually work.

I have very little knowledge of real-world spaceflight outside of KSP and a few of those 'What KSP doesn't teach' videos that Scott Manely has done. (Good vids btw). Most of what I know about space actually comes from playing this game. My efforts to optimize spacecraft and maneuvers are often pretty rudimentary. (Direct transferred to Moho yesterday, >2km/s.) That isn't to say I don't try with KER and and a DV chart, since I generally fly the same spacecraft on a lot of missions.

As for being a flight director. I think I'm this the least out of all of them. I was a part of A DMP server for about 24 hours and I will admit building space stations with other players is a blast, the constant lag and being unable to choose my own suite of mods was kind of a turn off. The server was sadly closed, and I wish I still had the option to play. I did host the Minmus Tower Challenge though...

[netbumbler]

Definitely an Engineer.   I spend 90 percent or more of my time perfecting and/or re-imagining all my ships.  My Jool expedition is on its 3rd iteration in about 2 months of building. 

[ARS]

Definitely pilot. Whenever I have a wild idea about a new craft:

1.Go to VAB/SPH

2.Just slap the necessary parts to make it fly ASAP

3.See how it goes

3.Corrections and revision of design can be done after reviewing performance (usually after it goes kaboom)

4.Repeat step 1-3 until the craft is considered "finished"

Also, just like @max_creative, I love dres and big, over-engineered rockets

Edited April 27, 2017 by ARS

[The Aziz]

I just want to reach places. Hopefully in one piece. So I guess that meets the definition of an Engineer.

[qzgy]

I build things wither for functionality or aesthetics, like replicas. Guess that's engineer.

[pandaman]

For me I'd say primarily an Engineer, with a hint of Scientist.  But I have the odd Pilot and Flight Director moments.  

 

[MiffedStarfish]

I'm halfway between a pilot and an engineer. On one hand, I spend a load of time playing pinball with the space centre buildings, one of my favourite things to do is deploy landing gear and attempt to skid along the side of the VAB.  But on the other hand, I won't fly anything that hasn't been tested and proven to do its job in the intended scenario. This means hours and hours of minor tweaks, but I don't mind, building is my other favourite thing in this game.

[Archgeek]

Based on my experimental craft designs, series of insane ion designs and attendant google spreadsheet, and that time I literally went and tested a bunch of parts' heat radiating capability, I'd say scientist/engineer.

[Urses]

Like Archgeek i am halfway sciencist engineer. Purpose builds will be tweacked around till they shine for this one specific challenge. Mostly with background idea how to reach the same performance in my play install and in Vanilla version. The funny thing at this is i have mostly around 70-80 vehicles in VAB/SPH more per game year and need routinely to erase absolete builds.

Funny Kabooms 

Urses 

[Alshain]

Apparently I am a Piloneerist Director.

 

(none of these are really mutually exclusive)

Edited April 27, 2017 by Alshain

[TheEpicSquared]

I'm an engineer, although I guess I'm a bit of Flight Director as well since I like running collaborative projects (this one for example).

But mostly engineer.  

[LoSBoL]

Great topic! 

I would say I'm an engineer in KSP, although falling a bit short on the 'capable' bit 

IRL I would say that I'm more of a flight director

 

 

[klgraham1013]

Didn't see the descriptions and choose flight director, as I enjoy planning missions.  After reading the descriptions, I'm probably an engineer.  Maybe a bit of a scientist thrown in as well.

Edited April 27, 2017 by klgraham1013

[DarkOwl57]

I'm the (fighter jet) pilot! Give me 15 minutes alone and I can build anything from a Eurofighter to a poor F-22 knockoff!

[kball]

2 hours ago, klgraham1013 said:

Didn't see the descriptions and choose flight director, as I enjoy planning missions.  After reading the descriptions, I'm probably an engineer.  Maybe a bit of a scientist thrown in as well.

I did exactly the same thing for exactly the same reason.

[Curveball Anders]

engineer/flight director/benevolent dictator

[jlcarneiro]

Interesting topic! It's good to know our "forummates".

Apparently, I'm like pandaman: primarily an Engineer, with a hint of Scientist and of Pilot. Can't remember if I've taken part in any projects, though...

[JoeNapalm]

 

I'm the evil benevolent and mysterious overlord master race mentor using the Kerbals as chimps guiding our beloved children into space.

 

-Jn-

[Norcalplanner]

I was going to choose engineer, then realized that posts like "A Degree Makes A Difference" and "Fun with Trigonometry" land me more in the scientist camp.

[Freshmeat]

Definitely a scientist. I have spend hours in KSP without starting the game, planning and testing the optimum flight route for my craft. I have formal training in classical physics and a fair grasp of celestial mechanics, enabling me to take off for Minmus at the correct time of day, and leave Minums orbit at the right day for periapsis kicking from Kerbin when going interplanetary. I am not certain where scientist end and engineer begins, but I build and rebuild designs until I get the best boosters I can get, then I reuse them whenever possible.

[joacobanfield]

Mainly a pilot, but also a bit of an engineer. I like building and fixing ships, and ground bases are my thing.

 

 

[GarrisonChisholm]

Aside from "Absentee" recently, I am a Scientist/Engineer, and even though it is only for my own benefit I run my space program as if the Kerbals are indeed just learning about their system.  I am not "looking" for anomalies, and at the moment we think the obelisk by the Space Center was likely placed by explorers from the Pyramid Civilization on the desert continent millennia ago- whenever I first naturally blunder into another anomaly this will eventually change!  At the moment I am testing my first Duna exploration vehicle unmanned, though it has been aero-braking for about 8 months because mission control has become distracted by a (different) computer game...  >.>   I build my probes to be as efficient and aesthetic as I can.  No Kerbal has yet strayed more than a day into interplanetary space, as I am exTremely cautious with my builds. 

Long-time-no-see everyone!

Edited April 27, 2017 by GarrisonChisholm

[Kertech]

I think my play style should raise questions, with a recently aquired radiation modelling mod I have added in an extra 15 ways to kill my kerbals just through base mechanics!! But based on this I'll definie myself as a USI MKS extra class "medic"