totm jun 2024 Threads of the month: June 2024

[adsii1970]

The KSP forum moderator's team presents the

Threads of the Month
June 2024 Edition

^{The Future is Uncertain Edition}

Yes. The end of the month is almost here, and I have been very negligent in my duties in posting this month's thread of the month in a timely manner. I will say that it seems that next month, which starts in a few days, will be a much slower-paced 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  313 new forum accounts created in May (an increase of 30 or up 10.6% from April). Out of the new forum members who joined last month, 25 transitioned from new accounts to being active and participating in the forum. This conversion means that 7.98% of the new users who registered their accounts last month are now contributing members of our community! (This is an increase from May; 3.88% 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 June:

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.

This cinematic work by @Oraldo revak, "The Launch: KSP2 Cinematic," as stated in the post, a test of KSP2's cinematic potential, was an attempt to test KSP2's "cinematic potential." Based on the forum community's reaction, I think we can say it was successful!

Sometimes, the forum software will get glitchy, and an exact post may be hard to find. If this happens, here's @Oraldo revak's cinematic work:

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.

Although Kerbal Space Program 2 might never complete the planned roadmap, it still offers a lot of opportunity to both the modding and fan-fic community. This month, we are happy to feature this mission report by @BechMeister, based on a mission challenge created by a member of our moderation team, @OJT (The Duna Mastery Challenge). This thread contains several missions already completed, but it's more than just a "look at my craft and here's a story" thread. There's a discussion of the math behind the mission, charts, and detailed explanations about mission requirements, craft design, and fuel requirements to achieve the mission goals. @Bechmeister begins the mission report with this introduction in the OP:

Quote

A while ago now I was recemented to do OJTs Duna Mastery Challenge

There was only one issue though - I felt my very detailed approach to writing mission reports were not fitting for the challenge post format. 

To me it felt like the challenge format had to be concise and to the point, and not including the failed attempts... design consideration etc. - So I decided I would make a companion mission report to the successes and failures of each challenge. Writing in excruciating detail  - like I guess I have been come to be known for...

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.

Since those early days of the original Kerbal Space Program, many old-timers remember the two common questions that we would flood the development update threads (and would hear NO!). Those questions were, "What about clouds? and "What about some weather?" We all know there's already a specific modder and a particular mod we can install that gives us the clouds we want. But this mod, thanks to @CashnipLeaf and the other contributors, gives us the winds and temperatures we wanted on stock worlds. For now, the mod does add weather for the stock bodies within the Kerbol system, but the OP does state:

Quote

The "Modular" part of MCWS comes from the fact that it allows climate and weather data to be easily added through an integrated binary file reader and a flowmaps system for those who prefer textures. An API also allows data to be added via external plugins, and this same API can also be used by other mods to read climate and weather data for whatever they want to use it for. This data is then used to influence various aspects of the game's physics systems, primarily through wind, temperature, and pressure.

I've included a set of (low-res, probably not the most accurate) climate data for the four stock bodies. I may generate data for other planet packs in the near future. Anyone is free (encouraged, even) to add their own climate data sets to MCWS if they desire, up to and including replacing/overriding the included data sets. 

Expand  

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.

There was no submission for this category this month.

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.

There was no submission for this category this month.

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:

• Celestial Rescale v0.3.3 by @SpaceNerd24

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, @CashnipLeaf, @Skrix, @SpaceNerd24, 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.

Edited June 24 by adsii1970

[The Space Peacock]

Well said Adsii. It was a pleasure getting to work with you!

[adsii1970]

4 minutes ago, The Space Peacock said:

Well said Adsii. It was a pleasure getting to work with you!

Yeah, it was. I enjoyed it immensely. I hope we can work together on another project down the road.

[AlamoVampire]

Nicely done winners! 
145606222024

[Vanamonde]

We get that there's bitterness in the community. Don't take it out on this thread, which exists to foster friendship and share game experiences among your fellow forum members. 

Some comments removed. 

[Vanamonde]

To repeat, this thread is for celebrating fellow forum members. That's all. Just appreciating each other. Let's have ONE THREAD that isn't anger about the game's development, okay? 

Other comments moved to General. 

[BechMeister]

Oh wow... It is actually really nice to know that some one nominated me  - I dont think its a secret that it takes a while to write every update to the report. So thank you for the recognition  

Now I have to finish the challenge  after my break.

[Oraldo revak]

Thanks you for your time.

Also I'm thankfull to thoses who reported and shared my stuff.

 

Have a great day