Insta-Death

[Lar-E]

So I discovered KSP back in mid-August (thank you XKCD), and I've been merrily frittering away my romantic, family, and academic life ever since. Like just about everyone else, I was super-psyched for the 0.22 update, and to try out SCIENCE. But, having tried it, I discovered that (for now anyway) I'm really just a sandbox kind of guy. I like setting my own goals, and having a full toolbox full of gadgets to muck about with.

In the meantime I'm thinking of starting a new 0.22 sandbox campaign called Insta-Death, in which my poor Kerbals actually have to suffer the fate of my game-playing decisions and actions. No 'Revert' button, no going back to a saved point, just a lot of new craters and space junk.

I could see this getting really frustrating, especially once we get into interplanetary exploration (oops, landed on Duna a little hard... time to start over again!), but I think it will be an interesting experiment and will probably make me a better pilot/aerospace engineer.

Does anyone have experience playing in this style? Any thoughts?

[Whackjob]

First flight for every new ship should have greysuits. I know Jeb wants to go. Don't let him.

[Lar-E]

Actually, I was planning on sending Jeb off on a highly eccentric orbit in the general direction of Eeloo. To keep him from mouthing off to the press...

[Kasuha]

If you want your Kerbals to be dying, you need to change your persistence file (MissingCrewsRespawn = False) so the game doesn't keep respawning them. The next thing you want to do is just to ignore the revert/quicksave options and you're ok. You can even unmap your quickload key.

If you're just a bit experienced, most things should not be a problem. Aerobraking on Eve or Jool might be rather challenging and redoing the mission because you put your periapsis 100 meters too low can get very frustrating. But if you use mods and tables for that, you should be ok as well.

Edited November 1, 2013 by Kasuha

[magnemoe]

Depend, I always revert on failed launches, no way to test rockets, without mechjeb or kerbal engineer you don't even know dV and TWR.

Other stuff depends, restores after stupid mistakes like taking off with controll from here on the rover seat on top of an rocket, get confused and crashes.

Not for doing very high risk operations like droping probes at the Muns poles, if you do something who will likely fail you should not use restore until it works.

[Scrogdog]

Yes, I play like that too. It's fun! I think so anyway.

In addition, only space planes and capsules (with heat shields exposed) may reenter Kerbin's atmosphere! No Science Jr's with legs surviving a fiery reentry!

That said, I do still use revert on occasion, mostly if I make a mistake that would be impossible to reconcile in game terms. For example, I have a piloted craft about to make a maneuver but I accidentally hit the key to increase time compression rather than the other way around, and therefore miss the event.

Hard to see how my human error would have actually occurred with a live pilot, so I'll revert in those or similar cases.

Next up... launch rates from a single pad. Perhaps grabbing a lot of Kerbin science, two flybys of the moon and a couple of landings on Minmus should take longer than two weeks.

Edited November 1, 2013 by Scrogdog

[Starwhip]

I often play that way. I think an interesting experience would be to play on "hardcore" mode: No revert, no quicksave, no timewarp, nothing. Flat-out realism.

[Xacktar]

I didn't even know there was a quicksave until a week ago...

So I was pretty much playing in that hardcore mode.

It can get frustrating, especially on long missions when you realize a small mistake. It can also be hilarious. (I'm talking about you, Eloo probe with backward engines!)

[Thorbane]

Use Launch Escape Systems. You can make a stock one with Sepratrons or download one of the mods that has them.

Run your larger craft through shakedown cruises to the Mun to check for excessive wobble during burns and test exo-atmospheric landers. Test your Duna, Eve, and Laythe landers on Kerbin, but keep in mind parachutes won't help you as much on Duna. If in career mode check to make sure you packed all your instruments. Realizing you forgot your atmospheric sensor halfway to Duna is not fun.

[thiosk]

For me, career has breathed new life into the game. I set my own goals, but suffer mission creep. By having smaller tangible goals (orbit duna and transmit goo data, then transit to ike, repeat, then land on ike but run out of gas and crash horribly) i've avoided my classic sandbox problem: immediately launching a 19 component spacestation\intersteller spacecraft that never gets finished. The best part of this game is that it has a little something for everyone. Find career tedious and uninteresting? sandbox away!

[rasheed]

I never used quicksave, never bothered to use it.

Yep, when stuff fails i dont revert so ima hardcore type of guy sorta

[Lar-E]

Well, here's how my unforgiving hand-on-the-throttle/abort button campaign is going so far... Jeb blasted off into Low Kerbin Orbit and splashed down successfully; No Problem! Jeb set off for the Mun, landed hard on a steep slope, tumbled down the side, his ship blew apart, he walked away without a scratch. Cue the rescue mission! The rescue mission, piloted by the steely-eyed Bill Kerbin, attempted an ill-advised night time landing at Jeb's crash site. Landed soft on a steep slope, tipped over. Crew unhurt, craft horizontal. Cue the rescue-rescue mission...

Boy, this spaceflight business sure is tricky!

[Don Quixote]

Landed soft on a steep slope, tipped over. Crew unhurt, craft horizontal. Cue the rescue-rescue mission...

That sounds familiar. I've probably had the most fun in KSP when I attempted to land a large experimental shuttle on the Mun, failed, and had to send a rescue mission to get the crew back. I did have a quicksave from before the landing, but salvaging failed missions can actually be fun.

Just recently I've had another "successful failure" mission. Tried to land on Laythe with a new lander. Athmospheric entry went well (not all that easy due to Deadly Reentry mod) but I noticed only in the last possible moment that I had misjudged the deorbit burn and overshot the intended landing site by several hundred meters... right into the water, for which the lander most certainly was not designed. I somehow managed to detach both the heat shield and the heavy rover just before hitting the water, engage the ascent engine to stop the descent and actually getting back into orbit (with some RCS assistance). Even though the mission was not successful, it was a lot more fun than if I had actually landed. Since then I avoid using the revert and quickload functions.

[GamerMitch]

I actually did just that...with a probe

[Carl]

Even though i use revert a fair bit i always test my missions with a probe core in the place of the Command Pod Mk-1. If i don't make it with significant Dv to spare at the finish i re-think and re-plan till i do then head fly the mission with a kerbalnaut on board.