totm nov 2023 Threads of the month: November 2023

[adsii1970]

The KSP forum moderator's team presents the

Threads of the Month

November 2023 Edition

THE LAST OF THE LATE EDITIONS

November, on the community campus, is the month when the faculty are required to submit recommendations for dropping the course, in danger of failing notices, and what the software calls "Kudos!" (a digital pat on the head for having a "B" or better grade). I was thinking last week about what that would look like in KSP, and I felt that KSP2's post-flight analysis almost has it right! However, academic warnings to drop the course are far worse than the "oops" screen. There's no revert to the beginning of the term, so I am not sure how they would include "It is in your best interests to withdraw from this course now as you cannot achieve a passing grade by the end of the term..." into the game.

You didn't come here to listen to me pontificate about the struggles of being a university professor, teaching graduate or undergraduate courses, failure reports, or my tales of Kerbal torture and exploits in KSP or KSP2! You came here to read which threads made it to the honor of Threads of the Month! So, let's get to it...

I've rearranged the categories to be in alphabetical order. Hopefully, this will be the last change in layouts for a while. I hate to change things, but this year, we have split some categories and removed a category, making rearranging things necessary.

With November steadily marching on, it's not too late to start looking around the forum to nominate threads you feel are worthy of being contenders for December's threads of the month!

Instructions on using the TOTM images: If your thread has been selected as a TOTM, you can copy the image's link above, go to the area of the forum where you want to place it, and then paste the link. Press the <CONTROL> button when the image appears and right-click on your mouse. A menu will drop down and allow you to edit the picture. You can resize it - the first number can be changed as large or small as you want. Eventually, I will add these images to the thread I've created as a repository.

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

To continue what I started in May 2021, I have kept some forum statistics to respond to those claiming the forum was dying or interest in the Kerbal Space Program was declining. There were 323 new forum accounts (an increase of 24, or up 9.86% from October). Out of the new forum members who joined last month, there were 24 who transitioned from new accounts to being active and participating in the forum. This conversion means 7.43% of the new users who registered their accounts last month are now contributing members of our community! (This is an increase from October; 3.40% of the new members became active and contributing members). If you're interested in seeing the new members of our forum, click here!

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

Cinematic-based Fan-fiction, Mission Reports, and Kerbal Space Program-inspired Creative Works:

This category features a video or other form of cinematic of a Kerbal mission report using in-game video recorded gameplay. Note: This has changed. Instead of awarding this to a thread, this is a *post of the month* since most new cinematic works are posted in a single thread. We have a lot of great content creators, but because they've been posting their mission reports as videos in a single thread, most of their work goes unnoticed by the general forum audience. Hopefully, this change in the category to a Post of the Month (POTM) will highlight the great work done by these deserving content creators. Other threads containing cinematic posts will also be featured in this category.

Yes, folks, that's right. An overhauled image just for the cinematic posts! There are a lot of great content creators who deserve this recognition since we were made aware of the thread Post Your Cinematics Here! (Cinematic Enthusiasts) by @HatBat. There's another thread by @Halban, Post Your Cinematics Here! (Cinematic Enthusiasts) that serves as another repository for cinematic threads. Although both threads have received TOTMs previously, it was felt that it wasn't enough for those who have shared your great creations featuring our favorite Kerbalnauts. Instead of being a TOTM, I've changed it into a CPOTM - a Cinematic Post of the Month.

For this month's CPOTM, we'd like to recognize the work of @Little 908 in their cinematic, "Photonic Station: A RO Orbital Construction Cinematic," found here:

Sometimes, the forum software will get glitchy, and an exact post may be a little hard to find, especially when it is buried in a long thread. In case this happens, here's @Little 908's cinematic presentation:

If you encounter other cinematics you feel are worthy of being recognized as this category's post of the month; please nominate them! You can use the exact instructions to nominate a post containing a video as you would use to nominate a thread.

Fan-fiction, Mission Reports, and Kerbal Space Program-inspired Creative Works:

This category features a thread (or threads) that, while not directly Kerbal Space Program related, may be creative, fan-fiction, or other presentation related to the game.

One of the things I enjoy about bringing the threads of the month is testing the nominated mods for both KSP1 and KSP2 and reading the nominations for the mission reports. This month, we have an outstanding nomination written by @Ultimate Steve featuring Kerbal Space Program 2 as the story's backdrop. In this thread, you will find a great story about poor, stranded  Bob Kerman, who was sent on a one-way mission. With only the first installment done, I don't want to spoil it, so you'll have to read it yourself!

So, if you're interested in seeing some great screenshots of what KSP2 looks like, what great storytelling can be, or how someone else imagines their Kerbiverse, why not try this fan-fic?

Forum Member Created Challenges and Missions:

This category contains missions and challenges created by you, the members of our gaming community. Many excellent missions and challenges threads are created that expand our fun with the game and press our skills, creativity, and sometimes, luck beyond what we get accustomed to. Let's face it: we all have our go-to design basics and our go-to vehicles we like to use. Sometimes, a good challenge can cause us to think of another way to achieve our goals.

No thread was nominated for this category.

Game Support/Game Mod of the Month:

This category features either help with the game (stock or modded) or mods that add quality-of-life gameplay improvements to the Kerbal Space Program.

One of the things most die-hard Kerbal Space Program players enjoy is the game's flexibility and ease of modding. With a single mod or a few more, you can create a new gaming experience and add as much customization, new challenges, and new features to this game as you want. One of the things most of us look for is new destinations to send our brave and daring Kerbalnauts - but sometimes, just having a fresh look at the already overly familiar can spark new interests. And this is precisely what this mod by @Mrpasta44 does for us. This is a work in progress with frequent updates, but the work is stunning.

So, if you want to overhaul the stock planets or bring them up to the quality of some of the other planet packs you may already have, try this planet pack. There are some dependencies, so please read the OP. If you are like me and have bases built on the surfaces of the stock planets, you might want to back up your saves before installing this mod. Anyhow, visit this thread and give @Mrpasta44 some encouragement for the hard work and energy put into this mod.

General community threads of the month:

This category features a thread that adds to the community and doesn't fit the game support/game mod categories.

Once in a while, there will be an older thread nominated where we all go, "Wow, sure, why not?!" this month, we have just such a thread. Started by @DAL59, this thread has become a favorite of many forum members, including many of the moderation team.

If you need to vent about something that's happened or see what others are complaining about, this is the thread for you. Just remember, the forum guidelines apply to this thread. So, feel free to share whatever you need to get off your mind.

General space flight and space science threads of the month:

This category features a thread that adds to our forum community's STEM knowledge (science, space flight, and related fields) and doesn't fit the game support/game mod categories.

Rarely is there a thread that's nominated that deserves special consideration. Not only because the nomination is that good but also because it points out the possibility that other threads probably fall within a similarly previously unconsidered category. In this thread, grown out of a discussion of previous threads, @Skylon restarted the SpaceX thread (this thread's start date is from 2017). But @Skylon was not the only one we wish to extend a hearty "thank you" to @tater, @YNM, and the many others who have participated in this great community thread - and the older thread that had to have moderator intervention. 

If you are interested in reading the comments from your fellow forum members or wish to participate in the discussion, then please visit this thread.

Honorable mentions:

All nominations were used for this month.

Sometimes, choosing which threads will be selected as the Thread of the Month for our five categories is challenging. We get many good nominations each month but limit it to one for each type. Threads nominated but not selected as a thread of the month become honorable mentions. The honorable mention for this month is:

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

Congratulations to all the winners of the Thread of the Month! We want to thank our forum members @AlamoVampire, @Hotel26, @RevanX_LSR, the moderation team members, and the staff who nominated this month's contenders. Thank you so much for helping us identify noteworthy threads and bringing their awareness to our forum community. We'd appreciate your continued help in the future.

Odds and ends:

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

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT GOES INTO THE DECISION WHEN CONSIDERING THE TOTM: Wonder no more! This helpful guide is to help you understand what we use to help determine what makes a thread a really good thread and one that becomes a thread of the month/cinematic post of the month. It's everything you did or didn't want to know and includes helpful tips.

And the last word for this month's post: I'd like to thank a few people who trust me enough to continue supporting and allowing me to contribute to the forum. I want to thank the Lead Moderator, @Vanamonde, for bringing me on as a moderator, a decision I'm sure he has had moments where he often wonders why he did it. I'd also like to thank  @PD_Dakota, our community manager, and @Nerdy_Mike, the KSP Franchise Community Lead, for tolerating me and allowing me to continue to serve our Kerbal Space Program forum community through the monthly Threads of the Month post.  

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

Edited November 11, 2023 by adsii1970
Always finding typos and other errors I make . >:[

[TwoCalories]

Congrats to all the winners!

[dandoesstuff]

congrats to winner

[Clonos]

w techo

[Mrpasta44]

thank you so much

[TwoCalories]

Just wondering, can a thread be nominated for TOTM more than once?

[Vanamonde]

40 minutes ago, TwoCalories said:

Just wondering, can a thread be nominated for TOTM more than once?

Nominated, yes. Winning? Not so much, but possible. 

[adsii1970]

44 minutes ago, TwoCalories said:

Just wondering, can a thread be nominated for TOTM more than once?

I try hard not to let that happen. I've started tracking nominations in a spreadsheet. However, duplicate nominations for a thread that has already earned a TOTM are considered for TOTY.

4 minutes ago, Vanamonde said:

Nominated, yes. Winning? Not so much, but possible. 

This. Just because a thread is nominated multiple times does not mean it should be shooed in for automatic consideration.

[Little 908]

Thank you so much!

And congrats to all the winners