A Comparison of KSP Rocketry to Other Video Games

[Tex]

So I was playing Fallout 3 a little while ago when I entered the Museum of Technology in DC. I came across a couple of space-y exhibits, such as the Delta IX lunar rocket and the Virgo II Lunar Lander. Here's an album of what I found:

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Needless to say, perhaps it won't be possible to make the Delta IX in KSP, but I definitely will be attempting a Virgo lander! Perhaps I'll post the results some other time. Or perhaps somebody else has already done one... I might have to check into that.

So what are some other examples of non-Kerbal rocketry in video games? How do they compare to KSP rockets and landers?

Edited March 29, 2014 by Supernovy
Fixed album embedding

[TechnicalK3rbal]

The space shuttle from ~2020 in Tom Clancy's HAWX (ps3) was pretty realistic, albeit in somewhat more modern way.

[AmpsterMan]

Thanks... now i have to replay Fallout 3 again xD

to embed albums just use this code

[noparse][imgur]m9M4r[/imgur][/noparse]

where that code is the last few characters in your album url

[xzxvrx]

Did anyone else just mentally scream "LK!" when they saw that lander?

[Zaryulenko]

I remember that part of the game, I couldn't been more disappoint about that lander being used as the american landed

Edit- post over me, I DID IT! i yelled OH MY GOD ITS THE LK!

[NovaSilisko]

The Virgo lander is based on the LK, actually:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LK_%28spacecraft%29

edit: That's what I get for starting to type a post then waiting 20 minutes to finish it...

[Tex]

The space shuttle from ~2020 in Tom Clancy's HAWX (ps3) was pretty realistic, albeit in somewhat more modern way.

Ooh, that did look pretty cool. Very futuristic-looking, too!

to embed albums just use this code

Thanks a million!

[PDCWolf]

I remember that part of the game, I couldn't been more disappoint about that lander being used as the american landed

Edit- post over me, I DID IT! i yelled OH MY GOD ITS THE LK!

it says "USSA", I think it's a pun (USSR + USA) Didn't play fallout 3 enough to be sure though.

[Whirligig Girl]

Do I have to mention Lunar Flight?

[Ascension Islander]

Halo: Reach spaceflight mission

Yet another victim of the "launch straight up and then magically you're in orbit" fallacy and the "space fighters fly like jets in space" fallacy

[Major "zubb" Tom]

Halo: Reach spaceflight mission

Yet another victim of the "launch straight up and then magically you're in orbit" fallacy and the "space fighters fly like jets in space" fallacy

But,but, mass effect fields?

[CaptainKipard]

Ok. Half-Life 2 Episode 2 has you launch a rocket at the end. You just press a button, lol.

[Whackjob]

Ok. Half-Life 2 Episode 2 has you launch a rocket at the end. You just press a button, lol.

Same thing in KSP. Except the button I just press reads "detonate".

[NovaSilisko]

Ok. Half-Life 2 Episode 2 has you launch a rocket at the end. You just press a button, lol.

You also launch one in the original Half-Life.

[Armchair Rocket Scientist]

So I was playing Fallout 3 a little while ago when I entered the Museum of Technology in DC. I came across a couple of space-y exhibits, such as the Delta IX lunar rocket and the Virgo II Lunar Lander. Here's an album of what I found:

http://imgur.com/a/m9M4r

Needless to say, perhaps it won't be possible to make the Delta IX in KSP, but I definitely will be attempting a Virgo lander! Perhaps I'll post the results some other time. Or perhaps somebody else has already done one... I might have to check into that.

So what are some other examples of non-Kerbal rocketry in video games? How do they compare to KSP rockets and landers?

The Delta-IX might be possible with KSP Interstellar.

[dr_jt]

Removed as it is apparently off-topic

Edited March 30, 2014 by dr_jt

[Jouni]

If we are talking about "realistic" space combat, we should forget obsolete things like fighters, pilots, and dogfights. Extrapolating from what we already know about spaceflight, everything takes extremely long (making the pilot grow bored and inattentive), but when something bad happens, it can be over before anyone can react.

[ScallopPotato]

Ok. Half-Life 2 Episode 2 has you launch a rocket at the end. You just press a button, lol.

IIRC you can put a gnome and a headcrab in the payload section of the rocket.

[quasarrgames]

Cool. I knew fallout was a (hopefully) alternate future, but i didn't know it had an alternate past, too.

[ThermalShark]

That's an opinion based on people being trapped by what they feel is superior knowledge of Newtonian physics. For close in dog fight like battles it would be tactically better to have them use Newtonian maneuvers as well has fighter jet type maneuvers. Using strictly Newtonian physics would kill the pilot pretty quickly. That is unless all maneuvers are done at incredibility low velocities. Newtonian physics also is a disadvantage because the target can be tracked easily based on those physics. Long distance battles using only Newtonian or orbital physics is also very easy to defend against. The only advantage of Newtonian only fighting is the ability to use beam weapons at light second or light minute distances because you know where the target should be based on the physics. In "real" life current spacecraft are limited by fuel capacity but if you had a lot of fuel the only reasonable way to fly and fight would be to constantly change velocity and vectors. To do this with any expectation of pilot survival would be to put the G forces in one constant direction. The best way to do this is to have the ship under constant acceleration and basically fly like a jet fighter. People seems to be under some sort of fallacy that modern day fighters have to always be flying upright. Modern fighters can fly in just about any orientation and are limited more by the pilot's inability to handle G forces than the plane's ability to fly.

You didn't watch the video in the link. You may have a point, but just look at how the fighter in the video moves in space, it's ridiculously stupid.

Like, to move relative to the nearby space station, you ALWAYS have to keep your engines burning, and your speed in relative to the station is going to be constant, not accelerating. And there is a 'boost' that gives more power to the engines, and that will make your speed go up but then remain constant until the boost ends.

Also, if you want to turn left, then you just point left and now your velocity vector is magically pointing forward, with absolutely no rightward movement.

And if you turn off your engines while moving, you start to lose speed quickly until you stop.

[Tex]

Cool. I knew fallout was a (hopefully) alternate future, but i didn't know it had an alternate past, too.

Yep! The Fallout past is actually the same as our own right up until about the Eisenhower administration. Both world wars still happened and everything like that. At this moment, and event called Divergence happens, which basically separates the FO universe from our own.

And to ThermalShark, Jouni, and dr_jt: Knock it off right now.

I don't want this thread locked because of bickering over space combat. I will not hesitate to request that my thread be locked if this continues.

[sal_vager]

I'd also like to see this thread continue, so please guys, no bickering.

Maximus97, don't forget the report button exists

I my gaming experience, very few games have really tried to simulate rocketry or space travel in any real world way, only KSP, Frontier and Orbiter even come to mind.

[Jouni]

I my gaming experience, very few games have really tried to simulate rocketry or space travel in any real world way, only KSP, Frontier and Orbiter even come to mind.

There was some quite realistic shuttle simulator in the early 90s.

I think the main reason why there are only a few realistic spaceflight games is that realistic spaceflight is boring. Everything takes forever, and you can't really do anything, because it would require enormous amounts of fuel. KSP avoids these problems quite nicely with its small scale, which probably makes it the first realistic spaceflight game that actually works as a game.

[Tex]

Hmm, interesting thoughts. I completely agree, though many would claim that KSP is quite unrealistic for the same reasons! XD

[Xavven]

Halo: Reach spaceflight mission

Yet another victim of the "launch straight up and then magically you're in orbit" fallacy and the "space fighters fly like jets in space" fallacy

Ugh! I couldn't watch the "fighter jet" scene once he got into orbit. Who knew the atmosphere was so thick in the vacuum of space?