How do you play?

[baked_by_oven]

I'm curious how people play KSP.

I much prefer the designing part to the flying part and love how pretty KSP is (I've taken over 150 pictures in 0.17...) and so let mechjeb do the flying while I admire the view.

I avoid having to develop new launch vehicles, instead preferring to add extra fuel or SRBs to my existing designs.

I don't build space planes, Though I have messed about with planes and gliders I've never taken one to space(under it's own power; I did test a re-entry glider by strapping it to a rocket).

[hunter558]

Well thanks to .17 i do basically the same except i dont use mods. I like to explore, come up with random things to do and then take pictures and add them to my collection. I then use them as my background which everybody admires lol

[jmcdaniel0]

I like all aspects of the game so far. What I am really wanting to get into Colonization.... I just simply have not found out how to successfully launch a space station... The nest thing i want to do is get a communications network going and have controllable rovers on the mun, minimus, and duna (Maybe even more, but those seem to be the easiest to accomplish.. Again, I am still in the successful landing on the moon stage of my space journey, so I am not here yet, but as KSP develops, I hope to be able to develop my space program with it.

[LaydeeDem]

I like to build off of existing designs as well. I really am into sending probes everywhere (even around Moho) When it comes to the manned part of the game, I really like base construction. I will find a litte spot on the Mun that I like, and send a craft there. My dunabase will be setup where my first craft crashed. This is part of my "No Kerbal Left Behind" philosophy. If I cannot get a Kerbal home, I bring a home to him!

[PakledHostage]

I like role playing.

I have yet to fly to any of the new planets because I am trying to learn as much about their orbits as I can before I launch any missions there (thanks, but I don't need any tips). I want to reach them the most economical way that I can, the first time I try. Public support for my space program would dry up if there were too many tragedies, mission failures, or if the program were to become too expensive.

[RoboRay]

I spend more time designing than I do flying, it seems.

But when I fly missions, I try not to strand anyone anywhere. That doesn't mean I don't send out one-way craft that are incapable of returning... it just means I don't send craft where I'm incapable of returning from by sending another craft. This is why I haven't done an Eve landing, although I do have a survey ship in orbit mapping, and I'm planning a robotic rover to drop in.

I do have a couple of manned bases with no return-craft on hand, but I can send one there at some point.

[-YLLogicaL-]

From simple orbits and suborbitals to building interplanetary and interstellar spacecrafts.

[LaydeeDem]

I like role playing.

I have yet to fly to any of the new planets because I am trying to learn as much about their orbits as I can before I launch any missions there (thanks, but I don't need any tips). I want to reach them the most economical way that I can, the first time I try. Public support for my space program would dry up if there were too many tragedies, mission failures, or if the program were to become too expensive.

I like role playing too. I send probes first. I sent my Duna mission too early I think. Those three souls will have to wait two years until the next launch window. Until then, they will have to wait for fresh supplies. Luckily there is plenty of oxygen and none of the water recyclers are broken!

[Quasar]

What, no love for the spaceplane hanger? That's where I spend most of my KSP time, making small, maneuverable fighters and VTOLs. Most of these subsequently suffer Kerbin Penetrating Anomalies (I'm actually quite good at landing on the runway, but where's the fun in that?).

My favorite plane so far is the Retriever, a 3-man VTOL that can take-off and land on water, good for retrieving valuable equipment and slightly-less-valuable Kerbals.

[Cooly568]

I double up as a builder of planes and rockets and like to fly them as well. Also should note I have taken about 2000 screenshots ever since I started playing KSP. (700 of these are from 0.17)

[untitled]

I love pretty much everything about KSP, but I, being a math/physics kind of person, would have to say that my favorite part is calculating everything and watching everything "just work".

...most of the time.

[Kosmo-not]

I like both flying and designing rockets.

[Steve Fink]

I dont do planes. I like the simulation aspect of the rocket program. For planes though I used to be a big fan of Microsoft Flight Sim and X-Plane. I always have been a sim person (not "The Sims" though).

I love building and planning the stages of the mission. Prior to KSP I was big into the BF2 Mod "Project Reality". I understand that one of the KSP dev team was a PR person. If any of you play PR, you may know me as "roosterr", and I have been on that block for a long, long time.

[Steve Fink]

I like both flying and designing rockets.

very clean, nice work. Does it wobble much on the way up?

[TheDarkStar]

Currently, I don't use mods, and I only use MechJeb for information like TWR and current mass. I don't use spaceplanes right now, either. My current projects are different rockets to get to other planets.

[samstarman5]

I spend more time designing than I do flying, it seems.

But when I fly missions, I try not to strand anyone anywhere. That doesn't mean I don't send out one-way craft that are incapable of returning... it just means I don't send craft where I'm incapable of returning from by sending another craft. This is why I haven't done an Eve landing, although I do have a survey ship in orbit mapping, and I'm planning a robotic rover to drop in.

I do have a couple of manned bases with no return-craft on hand, but I can send one there at some point.

It's a mentioned idea to send two separate craft to one location, one manned and the other unmanned with additional supplies as well as capability of returning. Usually the latter would be left in orbit to make a Kerbin return much easier, leaving it to the manned craft the mere chore of only having to make orbit. If you don't use Mechjeb, then all you need is to send one or two kerbals in the "manned" craft and the "unmanned" would have its own 3-kerbal pod with just one kerbal occupying it. Then you merely need to perform an EVA transfer in orbit for the return to Kerbin.

The movie 'Mission to Mars' illustrates this idea with the inclusion of a supply drone sent ahead of the crew's own mission. As far as the return trip, I like to think the propulsion/habitat stage is left in orbit for the lander to return to for the return to Earth. For the survivors, that would be the propulsion/habitat stage for Mars 1, of course. Since docking isn't about atm for KSP, we have to improvise a bit. I would imagine, though, that once Mechjeb gets brought up to speed, then one can send three kerbals on the manned craft easily, with the unmanned return vehicle just left up to Mechjeb to pilot.

[Stogas]

I usually think up of my own campaign missions.

In example,

In 0.16 I went chronologically >> ~3x Mun exploration landers >> Kerbin-orbiting Space station >> ~2x Mun exploration Landers >> Minmus-landed Research station >> Minmus-landed Rover support for Research station >> Kerbin-orbiting Space station 2 (D.O.O., with docking (legs)!), that rendezvous'ed with the old one >> Big ass Mun-landed Research station >> 0.17 release

In 0.17, Since I started with a fresh persistence, >> Kerbin-orbiting Space station 2 (D.O.O., yes, the same one) >> Mun-landed Research station 2 >> Duna-landed 1-man lander.

• I usually come up with a relatively realistic objective that fits my space program, and then design or re-design craft for that mission.

• I also like to roleplay a bit, so I usually put a sattelite dish or a simple antenna using the yellow ladders.

• I rarely use mods, but I do use a few: Crewtank from DamnedAerospace and MechJeb.

• I almost never use MJ auto-pilot, but after ~20 tries of not getting an SOI with Duna, I gave up and used MJ to get a transfer orbit. Looking forward to doing it again, but not cheating this time.

• I have tried the Sattelite relay network mod in 0.16, though I didn't use it a lot, and my kerbals rarely survived the Zoxygene mod.

• I enjoy having a break in the Spaceplane Hangar, but I try not to get carried away, since IMO KSP main goal is rockets. I am, though, looking forward to landing one in a planet with atmosphere (I have seen someone go to Duna)

• Learned to rendezvous from my second try, never missed an opportunity to do one since then (i.e. waving off to the Space station in LKO while en-route to the Mun)

Oh and I suck at landing without SAS, so I force myself to build a bit bigger landers.

[Peppe]

"• I almost never use MJ auto-pilot, but after ~20 tries of not getting an SOI with Duna, I gave up and used MJ to get a transfer orbit. Looking forward to doing it again, but not cheating this time."

check the new mechjeb. It now has the current phase angles for you. Orbital information has your angle to prograde.

Wait for duna to read 44.3 and then wait for orbit angle to prograde to read ~150.9 (100km orbit). When all those things align burn prograde till you get near duna's orbit/intercept. Not sure if you should burn prograde (follow it as it moves) or hold it on 90 degrees the whole way... i did a mix and still got an intercept

You can double check your ejection angle for your current orbit. http://ksp.olex.biz/

[RoboRay]

It's a mentioned idea to send two separate craft to one location, one manned and the other unmanned with additional supplies as well as capability of returning. Usually the latter would be left in orbit to make a Kerbin return much easier, leaving it to the manned craft the mere chore of only having to make orbit.

Yes, I'm planning to implement Zubrin's "Mars Direct" strategy on Duna, using the Kethane mod for in-situ propellant production. I'd land an unmanned or minimally-manned Return Vehicle (setting down with nearly empty fuel tanks) on Duna, once I've found a good spot, and start working on filling the tanks. Then I'd land a large Rover (in testing now, with a 3-man cockpit and a 5-man crewtank mounted on a large rover chassis. A couple of seats may be empty, if I need a small crew for the Return Vehicle.) The huge rover (more of a mobile base, really) will land somewhere on the same side of the planet, but it doesn't really have to be anywhere near the Return Vehicle. Once the Rover crew has seen enough of the sights, they'll drive to the Return Vehicle, load up and fly home. The Rover is also equipped (via ORDA parts) to act as a fuel-tanker, able to transfer up to 500L of fuel on each sortie, if an unforseen event requires fuel produced at one location to be transported somewhere else for use.

If for some reason I can't get in-situ propellent production going the way I want (haven't used the kethane mod yet), I may need three flights... I'll keep the same Rover, but the Return Vehicle will need to land with enough fuel to at least get back into orbit. It may becomes simply a Return-to-Orbit craft, if I can't include enough fuel to fly it home. This would require a Dunar-orbit rendezvous with an Orbiter craft,transfering the crew again to get them home.

Edited September 27, 2012 by RoboRay

[Commander Zoom]

In this game, at least, I'm a missile man, not a pilot. Some of that is because I only recently got my joystick hooked up again; I'm not a keyboard flier. But I can fly in other games; this is the only one that lets me build rockets. Which is not to say I don't admire the aircraft that others have built.

The advent of MechJeb lets me send up unmanned probes before risking kerbals, and so now I almost always do that (unlike the early days of the Program). For manned missions, I might use the ascent and transfer-orbit functions, but prefer to do the landing(s) myself.

I tend to prefer smaller, simpler rockets to huge towers, more for aesthetics than performance issues. I haven't been lofting space stations, Mun bases, or anything that would require a launch gantry replacer/remover. Now that the other planets are here, I'm holding off on manned missions until the bugs are ironed out of docking (official and/or mods), so that I can either assemble craft in Kerbin orbit or rendezvous on site, rather than trying to launch some monster from the ground that can go there, land and return.