Threads of the month: March 2022

[adsii1970]

The KSP forum moderator's team presents the
Threads of the Month
March 2022 Edition

 

It's March! And for those of us in the United States who love college basketball, we're almost into my favorite time of the year - MARCH MADNESS! For many of us, 2022 has already been a year we can't wait to see pass by. It's already proving to be a challenging year for many of us on a variety of issues. As I sit here, this first day of March, all I can say is I hope this month gets better for all of us. On the forum, and even the university and community campuses where I work, there's an underlying spirit of anger and frustration that seems to be affecting everyone.

For those out there who like the nerdy parts of the TOTM:

To continue a thing I started in May (2021) about the forum and new members as a way to answer the fears some folks had about the forum dying. In February, using the new forum metric, there were 319 new forum accounts created (a decrease of 103 from January).  Of those, we have 23 new forum members (defined as no longer having their comments queued) within the community. This means that roughly 7.2% of the new user accounts are actively participating on the forum (both the total of new accounts and new user accounts no longer queued are down compared to January). If you're interested in seeing the new members to our forum, you can click here!

Now, without further delay, I present to you the threads of the month for March:

General community threads of the month:
This category features a thread that adds to the community and doesn't fit in the game support/game mod categories. This month, there were no nominations for this category.

Game Support/Game Mod of the Month:

This category features either help with the game (stock or modded), or a mod (or mods) which adds to the quality of life game play of Kerbal Space Program. This month, there was one mod nominated for this category:

In this thread, by @tony48, the idea of RSS has been taken in a direction that many players have asked for - RSS but for stock-sized planets. Before some of you get excited, be warned that the OP warns this mod is still in beta for the moment - this means it's not a finished project.

Quote

As RSS, KSRSS is a mod intended to transform the stock solar system into the real solar system, but at stock size, with the objective to let you explore the solar system without many mods necessary in a RSS save. Also, we worked hard to make every body of the system pretty and unique. For example, with KSRSS, you can find dust storms on Mars, geysers on Enceladus, snow at the pole of the Earth and many other things. 

So, if you're looking for an all-new KSP experience but aren't ready to play in full RSS mode yet, maybe this is just what you're looking for! Why not give it a try.

Forum Member Created Challenges and Missions:

For the past few years, we have seen a lot of really good missions and challenges threads created that expand our fun with the game and presses our skills, creativity, and sometimes, luck, beyond what we get accustomed to. Let's face it, we all have our go-to design basics, our go-to Kermen, and even our go-to vehicles we like to use. So sometimes a good challenge can cause us to think of another way to achieve our goals. This month, we have one thread nominated for this category:

In this thread, by @Scarecrow71, a unique challenge has been laid at the feet of those daring enough to recreate one of the most controversial, yet pioneering times in the development of spaceflight. The Cold War era space race between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Brave men and women from both sides of the Atlantic accomplished great feats of human endurance, scientific and engineering advancements for their respective nations during that time. And in this challenge, described by @Scarecrow71 as:

Quote

This challenge is based upon the real-life Space Race, a technological competition/conflict between the USSR and the USA, starting with the Truman Doctrine in 1947 and ending effectively with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.  During these 44 years, these 2 superpowers undertook what can now only be defined as the great leap forward technologically, each pushing the other to develop better and new ways to explore the vastness of space around our little blue globe.  It starts with the launching of the first true ICBM in 1957, and it ends with the launching of the Mir space station in 1991 (shortly before the USSR dissolves officially and is no longer seen as 1 unified country in the eyes of the United Nations).

There are four eras of challenges with plenty to keep even the most die-hard KSP authentic missions re-creator busy for days. There's even two options - one for those who want to play stock and the other for those who play the game with mods.

If you've hit a period of boredom in your KSP missions and sit there in the editor with nothing to do besides listen to the music and watch the vehicles scoot by while the engineers walk around, why not visit this challenge and recreate some of that space race magic?

Fan-fiction, Mission Reports, and Kerbal Space Program-inspired Creative Thread of the Month:

This category features a thread (or threads) which while is not directly Kerbal Space Program related, may be a creative work, fan-fiction, or other presentation which is related to the game. For this month, there was one nomination for this category:

We all like a good story. And we all like a good story when it's something we can watch! In this thread, by @seyMonsters, this is what's exactly been done. It's a mission report but in video form. What's fun about this is @seyMonsters video-styled mission logs even contain those things many of us have had happen - but we rarely admit to. And as someone who has played this game since 2012, I've made a few of those blunders - leaving off much needed parts and somehow still achieving orbit and managing to get the crew back home!

If you're an "old hand" at the game, or maybe someone new, and you just want to see what someone else does, then give this thread a visit.

Honorable mention:

Each month we get so many good nominations to choose from. Sometimes it's a challenge to choose which threads are going to receive the honor of being the Thread of the Month. But because not every thread nominated each month can be selected, there are always those that become honorable mentions. The honorable mentions for this month are:

• Go At Throttle Up: AN RSS/RO Alternate Shuttle History by @Aviation365
• Life on Lapat: Speculative Evolution by @Timmon26

The honorable mentions for this month may not have made the Thread of The Month, but if you think they might be worthy of another opportunity, please renominate it!

Congratulations to all the winners of the Thread of the Month for March! We'd like to thank @Spaceman.Spiff, @AlamoVampire, @Kuiper_Belt, @jimmymcgoochie, @18Watt,  and the members of the moderation team and staff who nominated this month's contenders. Thank you so much for helping us identify noteworthy threads for this month!

And this month, I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to the community managers, specifically to @KSPStar, and the grand poobah of all moderators, @Vanamonde for allowing me to be a member of the moderation team. And especially for their trust in allowing me to be the one who volunteers to take on the responsibility of the Thread of the Month! It's an honor to be able to give back to the KSP community in such a manner! Thank you. 

TO NOMINATE  A THREAD FOR CONSIDERATION: If you find a thread you feel should be considered for next month's thread of the month, then use the "report comment" feature (the three dots on the upper right corner of the comment box) to report the comment. Please put in the text field of the report post "Nomination for thread of the month" and we will do the rest! You can always nominate more than one thread, too.

In case you missed last month's threads of the month, you can click here.

[Minmus Taster]

Congrats to the winners

[Kerbal Productions]

I send my congratulatory message to the winners!

 

Spoiler

Hope I get my own TOTM soon lol

 

[Scarecrow71]

Oh my word!  I cannot even begin to express.  I honestly have to share this particular spotlight with @Akagi; it was their Historicsl Replica challenge that gave me the idea to do this.

With that said, we need more participants in the Historical Space Race.  Only 2 of us are currently active!

[Just Jim]

Congrats everybody!        

[Admiral Fluffy]

Congradulations!

(Botched that spelling but i'm leaving it)

[ColdJ]

Congrats to those brave few who have  endured to make KSP a more interesting place to be.

On other matters. Slow down the world please, it is all too fast and I only have so many orbits around the Sun left in me.

[Guest]

Congrats guys!

[adsii1970]

8 hours ago, ColdJ said:

On other matters. Slow down the world please, it is all too fast and I only have so many orbits around the Sun left in me.

Isn't that the truth.

 

 

[zer0Kerbal]

On 3/1/2022 at 5:20 PM, Minmus Taster said:

Congrats to the winners

hear here ! jolly good old chap!