totm may 2024 Threads of the month: May 2024

[adsii1970]

The KSP forum moderator's team presents the

Threads of the Month

May 2024 Edition

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  283 new forum accounts created in April (a decrease of 18 or down 5.98% from March). Out of the new forum members who joined last month, 11 transitioned from new accounts to being active and participating in the forum. This conversion means that 3.88% of the new users who registered their accounts last month are now contributing members of our community! (This is a decrease from March; 5.98% of the new members became active and contributing members). If you're interested in meeting the new members of our forum, click here!

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

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

This category features a video or other cinematic form 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 job done by these deserving content creators. Other threads containing cinematic posts will also be featured in this category.

Many great content creators deserve this recognition since we were aware of the thread by @Halban: Post Your Cinematics Here! (Cinematic Enthusiasts) that serves as a repository for cinematic threads. The thread received the TOTM previously, but it was felt that it wasn't enough for those who shared your fabulous creations featuring our favorite Kerbalnauts. Instead of being a TOTM, I've changed it into a CPOTM - a Cinematic Post of the Month.

In @AnimatedK's cinematic presentation, "Frontiers Await A Kerbal Space Program Animation [Subtitles]," we hope future installments will follow! This month's cinematic post was not shared in that thread but in a separate thread, not by the creator, but was brought to the forum community's attention by @Ariel Kerman. You can find the thread here:

Sometimes, the forum software will get glitchy, and an exact post may be hard to find. If this happens, here's @AnimatedK's cinematic presentation, "Frontiers Await: A Kerbal Space Program Animation [Subtitles]."

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 threads (or threads) that, while not directly related to the Kerbal Space Program, may be creative, fan fiction, or other presentations related to the game.

I enjoy the nominations from those of you who want to share the mission reports you've enjoyed reading. In this fan-fic featuring Kerbal Space Progam 2, @Uuky does something rarely seen—Valentina and Jebediah work together! Many of the fan-fics have them in competition with one another, often to see which one is the most skilled pilot. Although this thread only has one entry, let's encourage @Uuky to keep writing!

@CollectingSP begins the mission report with this introduction in the OP:

Quote

The dimly lit mess hall of the Kerbal Space Center was nearly empty, save for Major Jebediah Kerman, who sat hunched over a cluttered table in the far corner. Maps, digital pads, and open dossiers lay scattered before him, illuminated by the weak morning light filtering through the blinds. He was deeply engrossed in a satellite image when Captain Valentina Kerman entered, her footsteps silent on the cold linoleum floor. She approached, her shadow falling across the papers...

Here's where you'll find this thread:

So, if you're interested in reading a mission report and seeing how others imagine their Kerbal-verse, why not visit this thread?

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.

There was no submission for this category this month.

Game Support/Game Mod of the Month:

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

Building colonies on the Mün is the next thing many of us do after landing on Minmus and the Mün without difficulty. And this mod will help you realistically build them. This mod, by @RoverDude, introduces an entirely new tier of gameplay to KSP1. It makes it necessary to plan each mission carefully as you construct your colonies on the Mün, Minmus, Duna, or wherever you're constructing them. The OP introduces the mod:

Quote

 Interplanetary Colonization represents one of the largest technological and logistical challenges on the horizon for manned spaceflight.

USI's Modular Kolonization System (MKS) provides a huge array of new gameplay systems and supporting parts to support the experience of designing, building, and maintaining interplanetary colonies in Kerbal Space Progam.

For over three years, MKS has been the definitive Colonization mod for KSP, with continued refinement of the parts and core systems (including the resource system now integrated in the stock game) based on extensive community feedback and continued development and design.

MKS is not a parts pack.  It is a gameplay mod that adds a massive amount of end-game content for KSP, and can serve as the perfect capstone for your career save.  It can be soul crushingly hard, and as unforgiving as gravity.  But it can also be an incredibly rewarding gameplay experience, bringing back that sense of wonder and accomplishment that many of us remember from our first Mun landing.

If you want a parts pack where your idea of a colony is landing a single ship and call it a day, this is probably not the mod for you.  If you want something that transforms your gameplay, and gives you unapologetically difficult goals where you have to juggle planning, logistics, and the harsh constraints imposed by space, then you will likely get as much enjoyment playing MKS as I have received building and designing it.

You can find the mod here:

We want to thank our family of mod contributors who continue to develop new and exciting mods that support our KSP1 and KSP2 community! So, if you're looking for something that will cause you to take your shuttle fleet to the next level, this is the mod for you!

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.

In April, many of us in North America were treated to a total/partial eclipse. Many of us were in the path of totality. Because we all love science - why else would we play the Kerbal Space Program? - it was only a matter of time before a thread was started to celebrate the celestial event. In this thread, started by @cubinator, everything about the eclipse is discussed, including a "pre-eclipse" discussion with some members sharing pictures of the eclipse and even some of their telescopes and related comics.

If you still have some eclipse images you would like to share, please do share them in this thread! We would love to see them.

On a related note, if you live in the area that was able to see the aurora borealis (Northern Lights) or the aurora australis (Southern Lights) because of the most recent coronal mass ejection on May 10th through May 12th, and you would like to share your pictures or videos, you can visit this thread: https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/topic/224806-strong-aurora-forecast-tonight-may-10-11/

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.

In November 2022,  @Minmus Taster began a thread discussing the ongoing race between NASA, the ESA, the Chinese, and other space agencies and the desire to return Martian rock and soil samples to Earth for further studies. Space exploration enthusiasts, amateur astronomers, and scientists are currently debating whether this is a necessary step toward the eventual colonization of Mars. This thread is full of discussion around the various obstacles and the requirements of such a mission, and armchair (and a few actual) engineering experts weigh in on how such a mission might look.

So, if you are interested in reading some of the accompanying links and ideas proposed by the forum members and contributing to the conversation, why not visit the thread?

Honorable Mentions:

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 mentions for this month are:

• JFA (Jeb Far Away) - 1.12.5 (Alpha 0.3.2) by @D4RKN3R

Although this month's honorable mention may not have made the Thread of The Month, 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, @Ariel Kerman, @D4RKN3R, 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. It was a decision, and 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.  

If you missed last month's threads, you can click here.

[Minmus Taster]

Congratulations to everyone selected, and thank you for the inclusion and to everyone who continues to post on the MSR thread! 

[Ariel Kerman]

My pleasure!
And hope this brings extra motivation to @AnimatedK and/or any other KSP fans artist out there to keep showing their talent... 

[D4RKN3R]

Congrats to all the other winners of TOTM! I'm incredibly glad I got an honourable mention.

[CollectingSP]

@adsii1970 I believe I’m tagged in error here.