New player, and biggest fan.

[Javin]

So I saw Kerbal on Steam this weekend. I'd never actually heard of it before, and it looked "mildly" interesting (wish I could come up with a suggestion for how to get across just how fun it really is). I saw the video where they are trying to put the squid thing in the jar and it keeps escaping, which to date, I'm not sure what this had to do with the game other than it involving the Kerboids. Perhaps something that will later be introduced?

I seriously almost didn't buy it. This isn't really a slam on Squad's advertising methods, because really, I'm no marketing major myself, but from what I saw up front, it looked like little more than a "build a simple ship and make it fly" game. (Most of this is because the vast majority of the top videos on YouTube with a search of "Kerbal Gameplay" are just people blowing up ships repeatedly as if it's difficult to ever get one to fly - as if this is the only goal of the game.)

So all of this said, I did finally think it was interesting enough and bought a copy. I immediately went into the "Career Mode" (I realize they plan on changing it significantly in the future).

This was Saturday. It's now Wednesday. I have already logged more than 60 hours in this thing.

For the past 17 years, Final Fantasy VII has had a firm place as "my favorite game ever made" due to the sense of accomplishment I had when I'd finally gotten to Sephiroth. No game since then has had that feeling for me, or given me an ongoing desire to accomplish it. Until now.

The first time I managed a fly-by and orbit of the Mun when returning the guy home (keep in mind, I'm in Career Mode here. I'd even recommend that the "Sandbox Mode" should only show those items that you've already unlocked in Career mode, but I'm masochistic like that) - the first time I got him home I had a bit of that feeling. This automatically lead me to a new goal... Actually landing the thing on the Mun. It took me awhile (and a lot of lost lives) to get the hang of using the navball to land the craft, and to quit trying to look at the craft itself when landing, so by the time I managed to land that first one, again, that sense of accomplishment! I even exclaimed to my wife, "I DID IT! I LANDED ON THE MUN!" To which she replied, "Have you taken the dogs out today?"

So then I realized I had to also get THIS guy home... But alas, my lander had run out of electricity, and I hadn't unlocked solar panels or batteries yet... The poor shmuck spun out of control on his way home and is presumably orbiting the sun for eternity.

So I started tooling around with stuff. Attaching it to the ship and right-clicking it, and that's when it occurred to me that Science was to be the main goal! Not just "let's do some cool stuff." So then I realized that I actually needed the guy to start doing EVA's and writing reports, and documenting everything he did in order to get the "Science" up. Back to the beginning! First, let's see if he can do anything without even taking off? Yep! Science points... Then in orbit? More! Back to the flyby! Then a Mun orbit! And now... NOW I have enough points to get those friggin batteries and solar panels!

The first time Jeremiah came back from the Mun, I hailed him as a hero. Then had to take the garbage out, but he was a hero none-the-less.

But then I saw that there was a "docking" station. "They didn't..." said I. Sure enough, some videos confirmed... I can make... Space... Stations... My brain exploded.

I'm currently working on getting my science on so I can get enough pieces and parts to build some remote landers to see what the other planets are like. I haven't left Kerbal's orbit yet, except on accident.

So yeah, big, big, big-time fan here. It wouldn't take much to give this game the tiniest of pushes (finishing the career mode, adding a few features such as showing which "accomplishments" still have points to be collected, etc.) to push this game over the edge to take the new seat as my all-time favorite game.

And my Steam library has over 200 games in it. I also have three large boxes of physical games in the garage. (I'm also a wanna-be garage game developer, and have been at it for years.) So I think that title should carry some weight.

But to be fair, even if Squad (not saying they should, obviously) were to slap a label of "done" on the game as it is, and call it a day, even at the state it's in now, it's an incredible game. And I haven't even started playing with the mods yet.

-Javin

[Leveller]

Thats just awesome man. A big welcome to you to the community And always remember to add more boosters. ;D

[Vanamonde]

Hello Javin. I think you broke my record for longest first post. Welcome to the forum.

[Javin]

*heh heh* I've gotten rid of boosters entirely for the moment. I couldn't control the ship at all with them early on, and I've just never gone back to them, even after unlocking all the control stuff. (This makes for some ridiculously large and complex ships.) So I have some basic questions if anyone has the time:

Is there a place to see what the current "tons" of a ship are? Trying to figure out how to calculate what's needed without so much trial and error.

Is there a way to see the apoapsis and periapsis on the navbal? I find it difficult to have to keep switching to map mode to figure out how to time some of my phases. (I didn't even know those words existed prior to Saturday - this is another thing I love about this game. I'm 37, and learning things I didn't even know I didn't know about physics)

[Javin]

LOL! Thanks! And is there a certain time / number of posts that you have to do before the moderator can quit having to pre-read them? I never got that "activation" E-Mail mentioned at registration, so I just wanna make sure it's not me. (I did check my spam folders.)

[Trann]

Welcome aboard.

Struts are your friend.

[ThinkOutsideTheHangar]

Welcome! Just right click the item you want to use and the mass will show up in its stats. And unless you mod the game, you cant see the apoapsis and periapsis. If you really want to calculate the delta-v, the TWR, or all the others things need to get a rocket off the ground, refer to advance rocket design in the KSP wiki.

Edited January 23, 2014 by ThinkOutsideTheHangar

[Javin]

Welcome! Just right click the item you want to use and the mass will show up in its stats. And unless you mod the game, you cant see the apoapsis and periapsis. If you really want to calculate the delta-v, the TWR, or all the others things need to get a rocket off the ground, refer to advance rocket design in the KSP wiki.

Basically, I was just trying to figure out (without too many mods) how much a specific item weighed, vs. how much a specific rocket system could get into space. It's probably a super hack, but I ended up installing a mod that gives me 1, 5, and 10 ton "weights." Then I created giant "scale" object that I can connect the the weights to one end, and the ship to the other, then go to the launch pad to see what the balance looks like.

I'm sure there's some mod that'll just give me total ship weight somewhere, but the only ones I found (MechJeb - which has what I consider "cheat" options, and Engineer Redux which gave way TOO much information and cluttered up the screen, not to mention required adding a not insignificant piece of hardware to the ship itself) were way too overly complex and added far too much to the game. I wish they'd just add to stock a very simple "total weight" at the top of the screen when building.

In other news, I managed to rendezvous and dock for the first time last night! I also discovered the quick save / quick load option... Lord the amount of time this would've saved me... But due to an earlier mentioned issue with a poor Kerboid that is currently lost in the vastness of space and orbiting out of control around the sun, now that I know how to rendezvous, I can send out a rescue mission, getting my stats back to ZERO Kerboids lost to my Space Program!

HANG ON JEREMIAH! I'MMA COMIN' FOR YA!

[Champ]

First of all, welcome !

It took me awhile (and a lot of lost lives) to get the hang of using the navball to land the craft, and to quit trying to look at the craft itself when landing, so by the time I managed to land that first one, again, that sense of accomplishment!

This is a great moment we have all known (except those that still can't land), and yes, it's awesome.

I even exclaimed to my wife, "I DID IT! I LANDED ON THE MUN!" To which she replied, "Have you taken the dogs out today?"

I laughed

So then I realized I had to also get THIS guy home... But alas, my lander had run out of electricity, and I hadn't unlocked solar panels or batteries yet... The poor shmuck spun out of control on his way home and is presumably orbiting the sun for eternity.

How did he get in orbit around the sun without electricity ? He should still be on the mun (it is a good news : easier to rescue him)

And I haven't even started playing with the mods yet.

I would really recommend you to continue to learn to play without mods. Don't get me wrong : some mods are very cool, and add really interesting gameplay, but for a beginning, stock gameplay is the best, at least until you are confortable enough in your EVA suit...

Here are the mods I would recommend you to use when you feel ready :

FAR : realistic aerodynamics... Will totally change the way you get in orbit and the way you build your rockets. Beware it actually makes the game easyer, when you know what you are doing (you will need less fuel to get in orbit).

Deadly ReEntry : Going to the mun is no more a challenge ? What about returning from the mun ?

RealChute : personnally, i think it is a MUST for Deadly ReEntry users. With it, you can customise your chutes, and it also changes the way the cutes deploy (no more destroying the ship). It greatly helps for Deadly Reentry

Procedural Fairings : Allows you to put fairings on your rocket. Totally useless without far (except for esthetics). Very highly recommanded with FAR.

TAC Life Support : adds life support (your kerbals now need food, water, oxygen to live). Does not change many things (life support ressource are pretty light and won't really change how far you can go unless you put many many many of them), but adds new ways of failure, wich is fun (Yes, failure is fun).

Kerbal Attachment System : Adds many usefull parts. Great for rescue missions.

Kerbal Joint Reinforcement : The name says it all...

I know i am forgetting some of the mods i use...

Is there a place to see what the current "tons" of a ship are? Trying to figure out how to calculate what's needed without so much trial and error.

Is there a way to see the apoapsis and periapsis on the navbal? I find it difficult to have to keep switching to map mode to figure out how to time some of my phases.

I'm sure there's some mod that'll just give me total ship weight somewhere, but the only ones I found (MechJeb - which has what I consider "cheat" options, and Engineer Redux which gave way TOO much information and cluttered up the screen, not to mention required adding a not insignificant piece of hardware to the ship itself) were way too overly complex and added far too much to the game.

I strongly recommend you to reconsider Engineer Redux. You only have to add ONE (quasi- ?)weightless extra piece of hardware to the ship and it will show you all the info you will need. You can customise the display, so that it doesn't give too much information and clutter up the screen.

In other news, I managed to rendezvous and dock for the first time last night! I also discovered the quick save / quick load option... Lord the amount of time this would've saved me... But due to an earlier mentioned issue with a poor Kerboid that is currently lost in the vastness of space and orbiting out of control around the sun, now that I know how to rendezvous, I can send out a rescue mission, getting my stats back to ZERO Kerboids lost to my Space Program!

Congratulations for your first docking ! Give us some news about your rescue mission.

[Javin]

Awesome response! Thanks!

How did he get in orbit around the sun without electricity ? He should still be on the mun (it is a good news : easier to rescue him)

I was in the process of firing him off of the surface of the Mun, and then JUST as I was ready to turn him in the correct direction to return him to Kerbal's orbit, I lost control. It took me a few minutes to figure out what the heck was happening (while his throttle was still full-on) and by the time I had realized I REALLY needed to turn his throttle off, he'd started to pitch AWAY from Kerbal. I killed the throttle and he started to tumble. I tried gunning the throttle when I figured he was "kind of" pointing retrograde which only made the tumbling worse, and ended up bringing him out of Kerbal's orbit all together just as he ran out of fuel. Fortunately, I don't have the food addon yet, so his rescue isn't time sensitive, though I'd imagine he's very, very nauseous by now.

I would really recommend you to continue to learn to play without mods. Don't get me wrong : some mods are very cool, and add really interesting gameplay, but for a beginning, stock gameplay is the best, at least until you are confortable enough in your EVA suit...

As a general rule, I agree, though I have added three mods so far:

1.) Removes that ridiculous "wobble" from the joints. These things are made of steel and shouldn't look like they're made of rubber. It also REDUCES the strength of the joints to compensate for the wobble removal. In other words, stacked objects are far more stable, but also more "brittle". It reduces the pointless torque significantly while also making torque more dangerous. Thus, if something is going to start spinning, or take a blow from the side, it'll smash apart more realistically, but I don't need a bajillion struts to get a standard rocket off the ground. I believe this is the "Kerbal Joint Reinforcement" you mention. Personally, I think these should be the stock settings. Struts are entirely too necessary and unrealistic in the stock version.

2.) A mod that has a bunch of stuff that I turned off, but have kept ONE new gauge: The Apoapsis and Periapsis displayed on the regular ship interface. I really do think this should be a stock option. The maps should be for planning trips and maneuvers. I shouldn't have to rapidly and repeatedly swap between map and ship to try and time the cutting off of an engine and/or dropping of a stage (which I can't do from the map) correctly.

3.) A mod that adds an "Alarm Clock" that I've also mostly disabled. The only feature I've turned on with it is the ability to kill Time Warp just a minute before it hits the waypoint - another feature I firmly believe should be stock.

In my defense, I'd say these don't really break the "stock" game, but rather "tweak" it to what I believe the stock should be.

Here are the mods I would recommend you to use when you feel ready :

FAR : realistic aerodynamics... Will totally change the way you get in orbit and the way you build your rockets. Beware it actually makes the game easyer, when you know what you are doing (you will need less fuel to get in orbit).

Deadly ReEntry : Going to the mun is no more a challenge ? What about returning from the mun ?

RealChute : personnally, i think it is a MUST for Deadly ReEntry users. With it, you can customise your chutes, and it also changes the way the cutes deploy (no more destroying the ship). It greatly helps for Deadly Reentry

Procedural Fairings : Allows you to put fairings on your rocket. Totally useless without far (except for esthetics). Very highly recommanded with FAR.

TAC Life Support : adds life support (your kerbals now need food, water, oxygen to live). Does not change many things (life support ressource are pretty light and won't really change how far you can go unless you put many many many of them), but adds new ways of failure, wich is fun (Yes, failure is fun).

Kerbal Attachment System : Adds many usefull parts. Great for rescue missions.

Kerbal Joint Reinforcement : The name says it all...

* FAR - Looking into that one and the Fairings now!

* Deadly ReEntry - I've looked into this one, and am considering it, and the heat shield ones, but from what I've read in the comments, the heat shields are buggy. The "RealChute" I feel like would be a game breaker. In theory, if I can configure the chutes any way I want, there'd be no reason not to just give it settings making one chute the be-all end-all. If it's easy to cheat, I'll do it. I have no will power. I'd prefer to see something where someone had created a series of different types of chutes based on real-world limits. If I had that option, I'd definitely go with Deadly Reentry.

* TAC Life Support - Totally going to add this. Probably sooner than later. Do you see little skeletons in spacesuits in your Kerboid window? Someone should make a mod where as they start to starve, their texture changes to make them look gaunt. Then after they die, they're laying there with the little "X" over their eyes. After a set amount of time, there's just a Kerboid skeleton. Morbid, yes, but I'd pay for that.

* Kerbal Attachment System - I'm particularly interested in this one, but can't seem to find much about it other than very high-level stuff. Does it have any immersion breaking glitches? It looks brilliant. Anything I should know about?

Thanks for the response! Great info!

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

Welcome aboard! Say good by to outdoors.

And:

I saw the video where they are trying to put the squid thing in the jar and it keeps escaping, which to date, I'm not sure what this had to do with the game other than it involving the Kerboids. Perhaps something that will later be introduced?

That scene is believed to depict the inception of the Space Kraken. The Kraken is a creature that hunts you when your in space and destroys your ships. It reality is just a name given to bugs that cause your ship to disintegrate. You can also visit a dead Kraken in the Joolean moon Bop. It's one of the so called anomalies present in the game that you are encouraged to find (no so much today because many of them are burried due to terrain reworks).

[Champ]

3.) A mod that adds an "Alarm Clock" that I've also mostly disabled. The only feature I've turned on with it is the ability to kill Time Warp just a minute before it hits the waypoint - another feature I firmly believe should be stock.

In my defense, I'd say these don't really break the "stock" game, but rather "tweak" it to what I believe the stock should be.

Ah yes, Kerbal Alarm Clock. Forgot to mention it. Great mode.

Oh, and don't defend yourself : there is no problem with usings mods. They are a good way to tweak the game to your taste. If it means more fun for you, then it is good.

* Deadly ReEntry - I've looked into this one, and am considering it, and the heat shield ones, but from what I've read in the comments, the heat shields are buggy.

I use the heat shields that are given with deadly reentry, not shields from another mod, and i did not find a bug, but i must admit that i usually don't need heat shields because of the settings i put on realchute (predep diam 5, predep altitude 50000) which make my ship slow down in the high atmosphere rather than in the low atmosphere

The "RealChute" I feel like would be a game breaker. In theory, if I can configure the chutes any way I want, there'd be no reason not to just give it settings making one chute the be-all end-all.

I don't think realchute is a game breaker. Even with it, you won't be able to land a 100t ship on kerbin with just one chute. (hey, it's called REALchute)

It just allows you to tweak the chutes you use. For example, i set it to a higher pre-deploy size and a higher pre-deploy altitude. It helps reduce the velocity BEFORE entering the thickest layers of the atmosphere (and thus, avoid overheating problems). But i still need more than one for large ships.

Of course you can use it to use less chutes (by setting a higher deployed diameter), but there is a fixed limit and i don't think you can reduce the number of chutes needed that much (maybe you can use 2 realchutes instead of 3 stock chutes, but not much more)

* TAC Life Support - Totally going to add this. Probably sooner than later. Do you see little skeletons in spacesuits in your Kerboid window? Someone should make a mod where as they start to starve, their texture changes to make them look gaunt. Then after they die, they're laying there with the little "X" over their eyes. After a set amount of time, there's just a Kerboid skeleton. Morbid, yes, but I'd pay for that.

I love that idea. Sorry, but no. You just have a warning "ship3 is running low on food" then "food depleted" and then "crew died of food starvation", and then you see no kerbal in the ship.

* Kerbal Attachment System - I'm particularly interested in this one, but can't seem to find much about it other than very high-level stuff. Does it have any immersion breaking glitches? It looks brilliant. Anything I should know about?

Yes, the KAS parts are rather high in the tech tree, but i (it's just my opinion) think it's great like that. No special immersion breaking i can think of.

It IS brilliant, even though i use it at a very basic level (mainly for rescue mission).

Another VERY interesting mod i did not try yet : infernal robotics.

Thanks for the response! Great info!

You are welcome !

[Javin]

That scene is believed to depict the inception of the Space Kraken. The Kraken is a creature that hunts you when your in space and destroys your ships. It reality is just a name given to bugs that cause your ship to disintegrate. You can also visit a dead Kraken in the Joolean moon Bop. It's one of the so called anomalies present in the game that you are encouraged to find (no so much today because many of them are burried due to terrain reworks).

What the what?! Is the kraken in the game yet? And will you be able to fight him off?

And speaking of weapons, is there anything that can be used to destroy space debris without a mod?

[BadRocketsCo.]

Welcome!

About your navball problem, you can view it from inside your map view. All you have to do is open the map view, and find the place, where the navball should be. There you can finan arrow, that shows up. Glick that and there you have it!

[Javin]

Welcome!

About your navball problem, you can view it from inside your map view. All you have to do is open the map view, and find the place, where the navball should be. There you can finan arrow, that shows up. Glick that and there you have it!

This seems to be a solution to a problem I do not have. I can access the navball in the map just fine. The problem is from map mode, I can't trigger stages. But yet, I need to also keep an eye on the Apoapsis WHILE I'm triggering stages. This requires popping back and forth between the map mode and the ship view during takeoff, which can be quite seizure inducing.

[Vanamonde]

The only stock way to get the mass total of a ship is to take it to the pad, then click on the info box in map mode. Kind of clumsy, but it works. As for boosters, they do not steer because they are just that, boosters, and not main engines. Most of the liquid fuel engines have the "thrust vectoring" capability to rotate the exhaust nozzle through a small angle, for steering purposes. Only your fist few posts need moderator approval, but you've already zipped past that limit.

[BadRocketsCo.]

This seems to be a solution to a problem I do not have. I can access the navball in the map just fine. The problem is from map mode, I can't trigger stages. But yet, I need to also keep an eye on the Apoapsis WHILE I'm triggering stages. This requires popping back and forth between the map mode and the ship view during takeoff, which can be quite seizure inducing.

Oh, I get it . My bad! And the Kraken is not really a thing you can fight off with anything. It is just a metaphor for alkinds of bugs happening with your spaceship or kerbonaut during flight

Edited January 23, 2014 by BadRocketsCo.
Dont want to write a double comment

[Javin]

Ahhhh, gotcha.

I wonder how long before someone gets a multiplayer mod working, and then some lasers...

[Immashift]

Awesome response!

* FAR - Looking into that one and the Fairings now!

* Deadly ReEntry - I've looked into this one, and am considering it, and the heat shield ones, but from what I've read in the comments, the heat shields are buggy. The "RealChute" I feel like would be a game breaker. In theory, if I can configure the chutes any way I want, there'd be no reason not to just give it settings making one chute the be-all end-all. If it's easy to cheat, I'll do it. I have no will power. I'd prefer to see something where someone had created a series of different types of chutes based on real-world limits. If I had that option, I'd definitely go with Deadly Reentry.

* TAC Life Support - Totally going to add this. Probably sooner than later. Do you see little skeletons in spacesuits in your Kerboid window? Someone should make a mod where as they start to starve, their texture changes to make them look gaunt. Then after they die, they're laying there with the little "X" over their eyes. After a set amount of time, there's just a Kerboid skeleton. Morbid, yes, but I'd pay for that.

* Kerbal Attachment System - I'm particularly interested in this one, but can't seem to find much about it other than very high-level stuff. Does it have any immersion breaking glitches? It looks brilliant. Anything I should know about?

Thanks for the response! Great info!

Hey I'd like to welcome you to the forums too!

One thing I'd give here is my opinion on TAC LS. It's a great mod, don't get me wrong, but one thing that got sort of "meh" was how it keeps other vessels ticking down when you're not in control. Sure it's great for realism but honestly after refueling your space station for the third time during your interplanetary mission, it can get a little taxing.

Anyway welcome aboard!

Oh and there is an in-development multiplayer MOD. Can't remember its name right now though. KMP maybe?

and lasers... check out Romfarer's lazor system.

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

What the what?! Is the kraken in the game yet? And will you be able to fight him off?

You won't. SQUAD has stated that there wont be any living creatures besides the Kerbals. I suppose the dead body of a Kraken on Bop is kind of a joke. The game is still in alpha, so when these sort of bugs happened people started joking about the mythical Kraken waiting for them in space.