Quick Question About Satellites NO MODS

[Kerbstian]

Hey everyone, I'm new to KSP. This game is really addicting and I just started playing a few days ago. I have a quick question about satellite purposes (no mods)? What do the satellites/probes do in this game? Please tell me all of there abilities and potential functions for using all stock parts. I just purchased the game, and I will not be using any mods. I tried to search the forums, wikis and the rest of the inter webs ,and I can only find info on mod satellites. Thanks in advance

[Atanar]

They can look cool and be fuel depots for long-term travel. Dunno if the communication devices will be playing a roll anytime soon.

But they will probably be important in career mode.

[Pursuedtank]

Hey everyone, I'm new to KSP. This game is really addicting and I just started playing a few days ago. I have a quick question about satellite purposes (no mods)? What do the satellites/probes do in this game? Please tell me all of there abilities and potential functions for using all stock parts. I just purchased the game, and I will not be using any mods. I tried to search the forums, wikis and the rest of the inter webs ,and I can only find info on mod satellites. Thanks in advance

They don't do a huge amount currently, they allow you to make spacecraft that do not have Kerbals in, so you can not risk them on missions. The probe bodies are also lighter than the manned ones, and you don't have to worry about bringing them back or crashing them. As far as any useful thing they can do, like communications, are currently not in the stock game.

[joppiesaus]

Currently, they do nothing. I mean, what's the purpose to land a lander in ksp?

no purpose. KSP is a feeling of achievement for me

[Jason Patterson]

Depending on how far out you want to look at almost any game, there's really no point. In this case, stock KSP satellites serve as a personal achievement and not much else. With addons you can make mapping or communications satellites, and I hope that some of that kind of feature comes into play eventually in the stock game.

As far as the unmanned command modules go, they allow you to launch much smaller vehicles for interplanetary exploration. Getting a manned rover safely delivered to Moho or Eeloo takes a lot of delta-v, and cutting the size of that rover down significantly via unmanned modules means that the entire vessel shrinks dramatically. They are also handy in many challenges, again because of mass reduction.