Threads of the month: September 2024

[adsii1970]

The KSP forum moderator's team presents the

Threads of the Month
September 2024 Edition

^{"What happened to my coffee?" edition}

It's September! Like many of you, I have been really irritated with the frequent but random 502 and 504 errors, and I was getting the occasional "Domain does not exist" errors in July and August. Now that it seems the forum is a little more stable, I hope the stability is here to stay. For many of us in the Northern Hemisphere, the fall semester of university studies is in session. For me, this means my gaming time is nearly cut in half. But as Ian Malcolm said in Jurassic Park, "Life will find a way."

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  322 320 new forum accounts created in August (an increase of 2 or up 0.63% from July). Out of the new forum members who joined last month, 17 transitioned from new accounts to being active and participating in the forum. This conversion means that 5.28% of the new users who registered their accounts last month are now contributing members of our community! (This is a decrease from July; 9.38% 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 September:

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 @Socraticat, titled "The Spot - The Duna Files - Episode 1," @Socraticat shares a little about the passion and storytelling they have for the game. The cinematic is introduced as:

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I've been practicing Blender and gaming vids for a year now. Decided to throw my hat into the storytelling arena. My daughter thinks it's hilarious so I've already won. Now I just need to practice my wrting, audio capture, camera work, and voice acting... and audio mixing... 

In all seriousness, while I think it could be better, I really enjoyed making this and I'm proud of how it turned out. It reminds me of my first few orbits... could have been better, but fun nonetheless. It's funny how a year of learning a game could turn into a habit, or a practice. Imagine that- a game inspiring a way of life.

It's poetic.

Anyway, thanks for reading my soapbox speech. Here's my video. It started out as a mission report for a round trip to Duna and Ike. It turned into a Pilot episode themed around my excitement for Colonies:

You can find the cinematic here:

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

One of the things I enjoy is seeing the many different ways the forum community imagines the world our little green friends live in. In this mission report by @Natso, a brave few Kerbals are curious about the bottom of Kerbin's oceans. This mission report focuses on their efforts to do just that! I'm hoping @Natso will continue to share his vision of what exploring the ocean floor of Kerbin is for those brave undersea explorers.

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

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Hello, and welcome to a new project that I am doing called the Ocean Program , inspired by the "Titan" ship project, dive deeper than 3800m to explore the Titanic shipwreck . This project includes a main submarine and an auxiliary submarine, the main submarine is converted from a submarine carrying ballistic missiles and torpedoes. Therefore it has a nuclear reactor that allows it to operate for a very long time in the deep sea. As for auxiliary submarines, due to space limitations, they can only carry 2 small generators. It cannot dive to the bottom of the sea on its own because it lacks enough power, so the main submarine will help it do this.

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.

One of the exciting features of our community is the great mission ideas and challenges shared within the forum. This month, we want to share a great challenge by @Devblaze called "KSA (RC) Project Lunar Vanguard." @Devblaze introduces the challenge:

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Dear KSC operator,

            Let's get straight to the point. With the recent closure of our second-generation space center, we must innovate to ensure our center thrives. Our mission is clear: establish a sustainable and enduring lunar presence. Your task is to lay the groundwork for future lunar operations and pave the way for interplanetary missions through resource collection and refining on the Mun's surface.

           This is my first mission post and I plan to do more; I like the realistic style as it makes me want to build better rockets and stay focused on the game. This was originally developed for my own playthrough of KSP because their contracts in story mode sucks, plus don't we all appreciate nicely formatted things... Like gosh.

This challenge offers a lot of flexibility - modded or unmodded, various levels of difficulty and mission goals! So, if you are looking for something to do differently in KSP and are interested in giving this challenge a try, you can find it here:

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.

One thing about the stock system we all noticed early on is that there are not enough places to go! The next thing many of us do is turn to mods to provide us with more places to explore. Many of us turn to Outer Planets Mod, but even then, as much as OPM adds to the stock system, it still is missing something. This mod, a collaboration between @The Minmus Derp and @Interplanet Janet, fills in some of the gaps - and adds moons to the gas giants of the combined Kerbol system.@The Minmus Derp introduces the mod in the OP:

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Long ago, one of my first planet mods I ever played with was the famous Outer Planets Mod. For a while, I had great fun exploring the various moons, but soon I realized that something was lacking. The moon systems of all the gas giants felt almost... empty. Thus, I set to work to rectify this problem. Now, years later, I actually know how to planet mod, and I am proud to announce the Outer Planets Expansion project! 

This project will take the form of nine mods which will each modify a different segment of the expanded Kerbol System. Each mod can function independently, but it is recommended to have them all because let's be real none of the OPM gas giants realistically start with enough moons for a gas giant system. Unlike the others, OPX-NeidonPlus was brought into the project by a collaboration between me and @Interplanet Janet after several updates on its own, with several additions by me and a restructure of the filepaths.

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 or game mod categories.

Once in a while, a thread is nominated so that when it's read, one can't help but get touched by the power of the writer's words. This is the case with this thread started by @Fizzlebop Smith in the thread, "Testimonial - What Does KSP Mean to You?" I want to share that since I have been a member of this forum, there have been several threads where community members have shared what this game and the community has meant to them. In this thread, @Fizzlebop Smith writes a very touching open letter to our forum community. In the OP, @Fizzlebop Smith states:

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With myself, it is the forum. This space is an example of something becoming greater than the sum of its parts.
The forum is a truly wonderful place. How many places do you see a community transcend national borders and similarly overcome the gap in age and education?

If you'd like to read the open letter to the forum or contribute to the thread's topic, you can find it here:

I'd also like to thank @Superfluous J for sharing with the community what Kerbal Space Program means to them in the same thread.

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.

Whenever you have a fan-supported game and an active community that forms around it, there's always an area of that game's forum that generates good conversation. Our forum is no different. This month, a few of you sent me a DM through Discord and recommended that I read the thread started by @Nuke titled "transforming mars... by digging." [sic]. This thread presents an interesting theory of how to terraform Mars. @Nuke introduces the theory in the OP:

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lots of crust. do a massive excavation several km deep. idea is simple. dig until the surface pressure and temperature is habitable. the bottom of valles marineris is close, about 7k down, and that is a good place to start. but we must go deeper. im not sure how far down you have to go. lets make our target 10 km, or 3km below the mariner valley. the fact that it goes east to west is convenient as it clears out sun blocking terrain by default.

Since the 1960s, there has been a lot of interest in terraforming Mars as the best candidate for eventual human colonization. This idea has captivated scientists, the writers of novels and movies, and been the subject of television shows and lines of toys. In Kerbal Space Program, many of us colonized Duna, the analog of Mars. It's why many who have found this thread have added, in many cases, our "armchair astronaut" wisdom of what we think Mars colonization or terraforming might look like, its technical aspects and limitations, and even what might change once humans set foot on Mars. 

If you want to take a look at the thread or are interested in taking part in the conversation, you can find it here:

Honorable Mentions:

• Kos controlled fully automatic Starship Flight Loop by @theo3er

•  The birthday thread! by @Souptime
• The Rest In Peace thread: Wally "Famous Amos" Amos, Aug 13; Phil Donahue, Aug 18, 2024. by @StrandedonEarth (TOTM Aug 2020 - not eligible for TOTM again)

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:

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, @Interplanet Janet, 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 have no idea who else to thank since we do not currently have an active contact at Private Division or Take-Two Interactive - but thanks anyway for letting me continue to do the threads of the month.

You can click here if you missed the last edition of The Thread of the Month (June edition).

[Vanamonde]

Congratulations to those selected.  

[TechieV]

Many congrats, selectees!

[Iapetus7342]

As one of the main people who stayed with OPx from the beginning, and helped influence development despite not being a developer of OPx, many congratulations to Janet and Minmus!

[Nuke]

hey cool. didnt think i was smart enough to make totm in science and spaceflight.

[RedAl1en1]

Grats guys!

[The Minmus Derp]

Well this is most unexpected! I was never expecting to actually earn a nomination, let alone for a mod that's only existed since July. Thanks so much!

EDIT:

On 9/5/2024 at 1:46 PM, adsii1970 said:

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

Perhaps you mean September? My thread didn't exist in June.

Edited Saturday at 01:11 AM by The Minmus Derp
Typo alert

[adsii1970]

8 minutes ago, The Minmus Derp said:

Well this is most unexpected! I was never expecting to actually earn a nomination, let alone for a mod that's only existed since July. Thanks so much!

EDIT:

Perhaps you mean September? My thread didn't exist in June.

Typo. 

[theogameren]

On 9/9/2024 at 10:05 PM, Iapetus7342 said:

As one of the main people who stayed with OPx from the beginning, and helped influence development despite not being a developer of OPx, many congratulations to Janet and Minmus!

Same here, Congrats Janet and Minmus