totm apr 2025 Threads of the month: April 2025

[adsii1970]

The KSP forum moderator's team presents the

Threads of the Month

April 2025 Edition

It's hard to believe that April is already here. It seems I finished the March 2025 Thread of the Month yesterday! Over the next few months, I want to implement many projects to improve my work on the forum. One of these is getting back to releasing the thread of the month on the first of the month! I figured there's no better time to start than with the April 2025 TOTM, so here it is - on time and with everything you've come to expect out of the TOTM. There are some other things I will be working on over the next few months and into the summer, and I'll be asking for some help from the forum community for a few of them. So, watch out for those interested in how you can help! 

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 as 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. We know that the release of KSP2 was less than spectacular. The original game is now approaching fifteen years since its initial release as a Steam Greenlight game.  There were  290 new forum accounts created in March (a decrease of 63 or down 17.84% from February). Out of the new forum members who joined last month,  20 transitioned from new accounts to being active and participating in the forum. This conversion means that 6.89% of the new users who registered their accounts last month are now contributing community members! (This is an increase from February; 4.8% 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 April:

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:  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 knew the thread by @HalbanPost Your Cinematics Here! (Cinematic Enthusiasts). This thread 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 their fabulous creations featuring our favorite Kerbalnauts. 

This month's featured cinematic is by a relatively new member of the forum, @Goddchen, who joined in May 2023. But don't let their short time on the forum confuse you—a love of the Kerbal Space Program is evident in this cinematic. This cinematic compares stock installs of Kerbal Space Program and Juno: New Origins, the only serious competition that KSP has. The comparison between the two programs is straightforward and fair. Both crafts are equally designed, powered, and put through a similar flight profile. The simulation evaluation offered on the performance of both KSP and Juno is thorough and, as provided by the video commentary, is fair. The criticisms of KSP are not unlike those offered by many of us long-time players. 

This video is not embedded in the Post Your Cinematics Here! thread, but can be found here: 

Sometimes, the forum can become a bit glitchy. So here's a direct YouTube link to @Goddchen's cinematic:

 

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.

This month's highlighted fan fiction has spent the last couple of threads of the month as a nomination for no other reason than so many nominations for this category. Still, only one can be featured per category! For many of you, particularly fans of this thread, you'll agree that this fan fiction by @Drethon has earned its spot among April's threads of the month! The OP for this fan fiction describes it as:

Quote

Jebediah thought the conditions were perfect for flying today. A beautiful blue sky with wispy white clouds, the airplane was running perfectly and responding quickly to every control input. It was too bad the airplane might be destroyed in a few minutes.

After all, what can possibly go wrong with that kind of introduction? And who hasn't had that kind of experience with Jebediah (or their favorite Kerbalnaut) venturing off into the skies of Kerbin in a new and untested craft! It's a fun fan fiction story with good character development and neat-looking craft.  A lot of slapstick comedy fits well with my views of "Kerbalisms" and many interesting craft designs can be found within each chapter. There's also a lot of world-building, making it a neat read. I hope this trend continues in future chapters. 

Here's where you will 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 challenge threads are created that expand our fun with the game and test 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.

This month's challenge was created relatively recently - December 2024- and I received a nomination through Discord. Even though I may not respond to each direct message, I pay attention to the nominations I receive there. This unique challenge involves setting up a massive and self-sustaining colony outside the Kerbol system. The task seems simple enough - set up a colony ship capable of sustaining a thousand Kerbals for four hundred years. There are a few categories (Baby, Easy, Hard, Pain,  and Why?), each having various variables and restraints. It's a team effort by @Kevin_kerman and @Eclipse 32, and is an interesting challenge that brings about a different way of thinking about planning and executing a long-range mission. 

The OP introduces this challenge as:

Quote

Kerbol is dying, in a last chance for survive, the entire Kerbal race has started to construct a massive interstellar colony ship capable of sustaining 1000 Kerbals for up to 400 years, they have sent multiple probes to find some habitable choices, they believe that they have found that planet, Kory, a habitable moon orbiting that massive gas giant Poly, has been chosen because of its very close proximity of a ton of recources, they believe that they can go there and set up a suitable place to live and work, they have found wormholes, but the ship is simply to massive to safely pass through.

This challenge offers a lot of flexibility - modded or unmodded (beyond the required mod), 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:

This challenge requires the installation of a mod to be able to complete the challenge. You can find the necessary mod by visiting the challenge thread or clicking here. If you are looking for something new and are bored with the same old routine in your game, why not try this challenge? Please post images or cinematics - we want to see your results!

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.

When I thought I had just about all the parts mods I could ever need for KSP, this one comes along! I've always been a fan of the first season of Space 1999, and I choose to ignore the second season. One thing cannot be denied: the Eagles were some of the hottest spacecraft in science fiction of the late 1960s! As a kid, I'd watch each episode and couldn't wait to see which version of the Eagles would be sent to do the mission of the moment. @ColdJ has allowed those who love Space 1999 the chance to create adventures with -- Kerbals! That's right - we can now add Eagles and Hawks to our space programs and explore the valleys, plains, and canyons of faraway places. The thread's OP introduces this mod as:

Quote

A completely new build to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the TV Series Space 1999. Built to the scale specified by the builder of the new official anniversary model. As such these models are bigger than the ones put out in Beyond 1999, and externally human scaled. Insides and the 2 vehicles are scaled for Kerbals. Everyhing has nodes for simple snap together. Wheels are the right way up when the lighter section of the hub is pointed at the ceiling in the Space Plane Hangar. Everything has been fully tested on a vanilla stock install. If you have anything not working on a stock install with official DLC I will try to work out why. I can not fix problems on modded installs and I will not write patches to support other mods. I have no problem with other people writing patches to support other mods if they wish to.

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, try this mod if you're looking for something that will cause you to take your brave Kerbalnauts to their next new adventure. 

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.

Sometimes, some good threads are nominated but do not fit our usual categories. This month, we received a nomination for those of you who are dog lovers. Well, it will give you something to bark at the moon about! @Kerbalsaurus pointed out that the forum already has an entire thread for cat lovers, but nothing for those who love their pooches. Don't be in such a dog-gone bad mood any longer - you now have such a thread. The OP for the thread states:

Quote

There's already a cat picture thread, why not have the full set with a dog picture thread?

Here's Baron, the dog we've had since I can pretty much remember. Here he is with his dental treat, but it kinda looks like he has a cigar. He's about 13 years old, breed is a Black and Tan Coonhound, he's an awful dog but good boy, and is a very friendly dog. We think Baron was born a stray, and that's why he doesn't like to play with toys. We got him when he was about one year old. Some nicknames include: The Aminal, Stinklord, Chungal, Chungus, Bingle, Chonk, Fatboy, The Creature, The Thing, and The Elephant.

Threads like this, where we can share a little about ourselves with the forum community, are always fun.  And in this thread, @JohanFos doesn't exactly share a dog photo, but pet chinchillas - and no, they are not related to chihuahuas. Click here to visit this thread:

Visit the thread even if you're just curious about what other dogs forum members have or what a chinchilla looks like, or to share photos of your dog. 

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.

This thread, started by @Spacescifi, begins with a simple premise: "Propeller flight not found in nature." That is followed by the question, "What if it were, and would it compete with wings?" When this thread was first nominated, I almost put it down as an honorable mention, but the longer I thought about it, the more it seemed like a good idea. In reality, propeller flight and propulsion (both in liquids and air) are found in nature. Everything from microscopic organisms to plants uses some form of them in a life cycle, as many of the participants in the thread have already pointed out.  It's not about being right or wrong in the OP that causes a thread to become a featured thread of the month; it is about the conversation generated by it. In this case, there has been a lot of well-meaning and scientific conversation about this topic. 

In this thread, the OP begins with the following description:

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So we all know propeller or rotor based flight is not a thing in the animal world. They all use wings

Would there be an advantage at all for bird like creatures to have biological rotor based flight or perhaps a mix of wings and propellers?

Right away I think wings allows for more simplicity (less moving parts that might break), so from a survival POV just plain flapping wings are better so long you're light enough and eat often enough.

For those who have participated in this thread, GREAT JOB in disagreeing but engaging civilly with one another! This is precisely how public discourse should be done. And for those of you who want to participate in the thread, here's the link:

The Science and Spaceflight section of the forum has many topics to feed the curiosity of most of our forum members. So, if you're interested in some intellectual discussion that might chase away afternoon boredom, why not visit this portion of the forum and find something of interest?

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 monthly, but limit it to one for each type. Threads nominated but not selected as threads of the month become honorable mentions. The honorable mentions for this month are:

• [1.12] Space Age 1.3.8 (2023-02-25) by @garwel
• I'm making a huge colony on Minmus but I am out of ideas of what to put there now by @wreckingames2
• It's full of stars!"- My modded career world by @TheKspEngineer
• JNSQ: The Last Munflight - Chapter 7 by @Angelo Kerman

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, specifically @AlamoVampire, @Kerbalsaurus, @Misguided Kerbal, @Mr. Kerbin, the Discord DM nominations, and the moderation team members 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 "Nomination for the thread of the month" in the text field of the report, 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 an excellent 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 him for allowing me to remain a moderator and to continue doing the threads of the month despite being AWOL (absent without leave) for a while. I have no idea who else to thank since we do not currently have an active contact at Private Division or their new owners, but whoever you are, thanks anyway for letting me continue to do the threads of the month.

If you missed the last edition of The Thread of the Month (March 2025), click here.

 

Spoiler

It's April 1st - April Fool's! And a special thank you to @Kerbalsaurus . 

 

[ColdJ]

Thank you to those that nominated me.

I am glad that people are enjoying it.

[Caerfinon]

@ColdJ Well deserved! Huzzah! 

[Royale37]

Congrats @ColdJ!

[Kevin_kerman]

I can't believe I got TOTM

[ColdJ]

Congratulations @Kevin_kerman

[Kevin_kerman]

Thanks, you to

[umbra humanus]

7 hours ago, Kevin_kerman said:

I can't believe I got TOTM

Congrats

[Royale37]

Congrats @Kevin_kerman!

And congrats to everyone else too!

Edited 17 hours ago by Royale37

[Kevin_kerman]

Thank You all!

Congrats to everybody else as well!