KSP fun fact thread

[Jeb x Valentina]

(Please mods if I misplaced this move it )

 

Ahh... KSP. The 12 year old spaceflight simulator... You probably think you know EVERYTHING about it. But you probably don't. This thread is to fix that. We'll explore every nook and cranny of KSP (except the code, for obvious reasons)

This place is to post and discuss some "obscure" mechanics of KSP

DLC facts are ok but modded facts... well... no. If you have mods, don't worry, you can just post the fact here and mention if you have mods. Then I (or any other stock user willing to help) will check it.

Also, don't decieve! Please take screenshots to prove your claims! (If you don't know yet you can take 'em with the F2 key)

I'll go first.

 

Did you know breaking ocean depth records gives you funds, science and reputation? 

 

Edited October 5, 2023 by Jeb x Valentina

[Duke MelTdoWn]

Did you know there are 32 mini biomes around Kerbal Space Center, not only the Runway and Launch Pad? You can almost max out the tech tree without ever going to space. Some biomes only become available after you upgrade the building.

Map by justintnelson taken from https://imgur.com/gallery/lKWuTu9

List of biomes can be found here: https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Biome#Kerbin

I like to use a compact plane to explore these biomes. This can be done before rover wheels become available.
E.g. Science Junkie 3000

Edited October 9, 2023 by Duke MelTdoWn

[Jeb x Valentina]

Perfect for me, who is just 100 science away from the mining stuff and gravioli detector!

17 hours ago, Duke MelTdoWn said:

Did you know there are 32 mini biomes around Kerbal Space Center, not only the Runway and Launch Pad? You can almost max out the tech tree without ever going to space. Some biomes only become available after you upgrade the building.

 

 

[Jeb x Valentina]

Just made a lil' signature badge!

 

[Kerbalsaurus]

There use to be a KSC that could be found on the Mun in the version that the Mun was added in. It was removed a few updates later, but it’s cool nonetheless.

No screenshots (because that version is inaccessible), but there’s an entry on the wiki: https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Mun

Edited October 10, 2023 by Kerbalsaurus

[RevanX_LSR]

Laythe’s atmosphere is actually thicker than Kerbin’s at 20-40km, due to reduced gravity! However, due to the lack of realism atmosphere height, it’s atmosphere is shorter than kerbin.

 

Also, a realistic eve atmosphere is 3x shorter than the current one and at the highest peaks, pressure is 1/3 that of kerbin.

[Zhetaan]

On 10/9/2023 at 4:31 AM, Duke MelTdoWn said:

Did you know there are 32 mini biomes around Kerbal Space Center, not only the Runway and Launch Pad?  [. . .] Some biomes only become available after you upgrade the building.

I'll toss one on:

One of these mini-biomes becomes unavailable after you upgrade the building.  The tier-2 VAB has a group of buildings called the VAB South Complex:

Spoiler

The South Complex is composed of the three arch-roofed hangar-like buildings between the main VAB building and the Tracking Center.  You can see two of them clearly on the right side of this picture, with the third building partially visible.

The fun fact is that upgrading to tier-3 adds some new miniature biomes to the VAB, but removes the South Complex, which makes this the only natively permanently missable science content in the game.  Everything else either remains available (as in the other biomes and World's Firsts rewards) or else is repeatable (as in contracts and asteroid science).  Granted, available must be taken with a grain of salt, because I believe that would technically include such absurd situations as Landed on the Sun, but I believe that there was a quality pass a few years ago that finally removed that one from the list.

Anyway, it doesn't amount to much, but it does serve to filter the unrepentant completionist players from the rest because they won't upgrade the VAB until they've unlocked. Every. Single. Science. Experiment. In the game and retrieved all of that delectable, collectible science from the South Complex before it goes away forever.

Yes, this means grinding away without custom action groups until unlocking that elusive Tier-8 tech tree node for the silly gravioli detector.  Good luck if you're using mods that add science experiments and science parts elsewhere in the tech tree.

[Jeb x Valentina]

good thing I hesitate to upgrade the VAB to lvl 3

[king of nowhere]

On 1/26/2024 at 3:16 PM, Zhetaan said:

Anyway, it doesn't amount to much, but it does serve to filter the unrepentant completionist players from the rest because they won't upgrade the VAB until they've unlocked. Every. Single. Science. Experiment. In the game and retrieved all of that delectable, collectible science from the South Complex before it goes away forever.

Yes, this means grinding away without custom action groups until unlocking that elusive Tier-8 tech tree node for the silly gravioli detector.  Good luck if you're using mods that add science experiments and science parts elsewhere in the tech tree.

you make it sound like a lot of effort, but it's a pittance compared to what i've done for every single serious challenge i ever undertook.

like, really, i once spent 2 months tossing over 100 small parts into orbit and assembling them one by one, because i wanted to run a jool5 without upgrading any building, and i needed 500 tons of motherships to account for all the errors of eyeballing maneuvers without maneuver nodes, and I could only make rockets of 18 tons on the level 1 launchpad. unocking every single experiment before upgrading the vab is child's play in comparison.

 

anyway, something even I only learned recently: did you know that if you land a ship on an ocean, and you send out a kerbal and take a sample, if the kerbal is swimming in water it counts as "splashed down", and if the kerbal is standing on top of the ship it counts as landed on solid ground, and they are two different samples. they do sometimes even have different science messages. so you can take two different samples when you land a kerbal in water.

this also works if your ship lands on top of another ship, then all the experiments it will take are landed, not splashed down. but you do need to land another ship first, and the whole setup is a bit complicated. not that it's stopping me from doing exactly that

[Jeb x Valentina]

On 1/30/2024 at 4:47 PM, king of nowhere said:

anyway, something even I only learned recently: did you know that if you land a ship on an ocean, and you send out a kerbal and take a sample, if the kerbal is swimming in water it counts as "splashed down", and if the kerbal is standing on top of the ship it counts as landed on solid ground, and they are two different samples. they do sometimes even have different science messages. so you can take two different samples when you land a kerbal in water.

this also works if your ship lands on top of another ship, then all the experiments it will take are landed, not splashed down. but you do need to land another ship first, and the whole setup is a bit complicated. not that it's stopping me from doing exactly that

Y E S

[Little 908]

Im pretty sure every planet and moon in the kerbol system can fit inside neptune