New Space Program Administrator

[Arizal]

Hi all of you,

I discovered this game a month ago, in a funny video made by a Frenchman. It was so hilarious, that I wanted to try to put a vessel in orbit as well . Ignoring the fact that the game wasn't in sale, I bought it on Steam and tried it. Around 100 playing hours later, here I am.

I had though times, before I finally decided to watch some actually explaining videos and to play the tutorial, but I'm starting to get it. So far, I did a Mun and Minmus encounter, and saved around 8 lost kerbonauts. The next step would be landing on the Mun, then probably Minmus. Kerbol system seems vast enough and managing a Space agency is an interesting thing to do. I abandoned the idea of playing without reloading saves, as my first two attempts at career mode were crushing bankrupcies. Another great defeat was my attempts to bring a place at 18,900 meters using only the two most basic jet engines. I decided to finally give up before this mission made me completely fed up of the game.

I also put away my general policy of not using mods to keep the game as the developpers made it. It makes sense to me in a game in which you are against some sort of AI, but in KSP, you are "against" the universe. Having tools like the alarm clock or the engineers (for delta v) doesn't seem to me as cheating, since you could easily (indeed, you should) have this in a real space agency.

I love this game and wonder where it was in my life before. I even play a bit too much of it, with so much more to discover. I come from a world of Grand strategy games (Paradox Interactive, EUIV, Stellaris, CK2), and I'm impressed by what a small team of indie developpers managed to create. The community here seems very active and I learned that an expansion is in work. I plan to buy it and I hope this game continues for a long time.

I might post sometimes, but I have absolutely no prior knowledge in rocket science and am rather poor at maths. I am generally interested in history, philosophy and law, though.

Edited October 31, 2017 by Arizal

[Vanamonde]

I have little knowledge of real rocket science and I'm too lazy to use the math I do know, but with practice, I was still able to figure out how to get places.

Welcome to our forum. 

[katateochi]

Welcome to the space place! 
While there are some folk here who are frighteningly good at maths and have the lots of rocket science knowledge, I think you'll find that a lot of us came to this game (or way of life) without much of either and sometime into the addiction suddenly realised they'd accidentally gained a lot of both.  KSP has definitely sharpened my maths and taught me so much about the concepts behind space travel, the only drawback to that is you might find yourself shouting at sci-fi movies for not performing realistic maneuvers or for showing rockets launching straight up. 

I definitely endorse the use of mods. They add a lot to the game, some like the ones you mention really help (Kerbal Alarm clock is a must for running simultaneous missions and sure you could manually calc your dV but that's not what I call fun). Some mods really add some extra challenges or just open up design possibilities. I seriously recommend  KAS & KIS and Easy Vessel Switch.  I'm also a big fan of RemoteTech, ScanSat and DMagic Orbital Science as they make the comms, satellite and science aspects more involved.  If you want to pretty things up (and your computer can handle it) check out Stock Visual Enhancements and scatterer and (much less intensive) indicator lights.  So many mods to try! The only caveat with mods is that when KSP gets updates there can be a delay before the mods get updated and that might mean some of your previous craft designs won't work until the required mods get sorted. oh and (shameless self promotion) if you feel like sharing any of the craft you make, check out KerbalX.com

[DrLicor]

@Arizal, ahh good times. I remember the days I started playing KSP as yesterday. Those nice funky crafts that could carry 25 toerists to the moon and back. The time I didn't know about mods haha. 
Anyway, welcome here on the forum.  

[Not Sure]

KSP has taught me so much. I once had around 500 hours and decided to quit when I thought I had done everything to do. Then I had a sudden realization that I have ever brought a kerbal to every body and back, I hadn't even sent one to Duna and back! So I've been on my quest to brink a kerbal to every body and back, I've done Duna and Gilly easy, but I'm still working on the rest. Just last week I had realized Ive been lunching rockets all wrong by aiming for a minimum TWR of 1.8 (don't do that if you're going for efficiency). I now have over 800 hours with no end in sight. Good luck on your missions, learn as much as you can along the way. 

[MoarBoostersRUS]

Little late to the party but welcome!

There are a lot of things to do in the game and though you might not know much about rocket science you'll learn as you play an get better at ksp. One quick tip try and land on minmus first (it is a whole lot easier) then go for the mun landing. Also don't give up when your carefully laid plans fail in spectacular explosions. It will take time to figure everything out I recommend watching some Scott Manley videos on YouTube as well. 

Have Fun and happy landings!

[NSEP]

Landing on the Mun might seem hard at first but shortly after, it will be your daily business. If you want to play fully stock, thats ok, but not being sucked in the great mod hole is a little hard, i have several stock games that fell in the trap and became modded.

Have a nice stay!