What was ksp like when it first came out

[Commander Zoom]

No Mun, no planets, no persistence, no nodes, no orbital view... nothing to do but build an elaborate and/or hilarious fireworks display, or actually try to get into a stable orbit - the only way to know was to check your height and velocity against a table someone had worked up. If you were at altitude X and traveling at Y m/s, congratulations!

No time acceleration either. I once left my computer running while I went to work, and came back eight-ish hours later, pleased to find my orbiter had made some sixteen orbits in that time. (~30 minute period, a bit low because the atmosphere ended in a sharp edge at 35 km.) Took a few moments to appreciate it, then brought them in for a splashdown (no re-entry fx), took a screenshot of the recovery report, and closed the game, at which point it all ceased to exist.

(Oh, and I had to be sure to come down on the light side, 'cause if you landed on the far side of Kerbin, you'd explode.)

Edited May 17, 2014 by Commander Zoom

[awsomejwags]

[quote name=

(Oh' date=' and I had to be sure to come down on the light side, 'cause if you landed on the far side of Kerbin, you'd explode.)

Really.wow you are a true veteran. Do you still have that screenshot?

[Commander Zoom]

Alas, no. I thought I did, but either I've misplaced it, or my memory has betrayed me.

Here are a few of similar vintage, however, showing a craft like the one I did that in:

Edited May 18, 2014 by Commander Zoom

[The Destroyer]

Started playing the demo, 0.13. Latest version was 0.14.3. No palm trees, but the gui and parts and everything...

so different..

The game has REALLY changed.

[The Destroyer]

Whoah, landing on nightside= explosions? Interesting.

EDIT: Oops, double post. Errr, mods merge?

[CalculusWarrior]

I started playing back in 0.18, (so I'm not that much of a veteran), and I recently came across some of my old screenshots of my missions. I recall how much of an accomplishment it was to land on the Mun; now (while it certainly isn't boring) it feels more like a routine thing.

I distinctly recall the old launch tower destroying every too-wide rocket I built though. I was so happy when they removed it in 0.19!

I have to say, I love the look of that water. I kind of wish it was included in the current versions of KSP, perhaps in the tropical regions?

Edited May 18, 2014 by CalculusWarrior

[Commander Zoom]

It's a much bigger game now, with lots more features. Which means on the one hand that there's lots more to do, and it's closer to being "done", but it also means that it's a LOT more complex. And that means that updating it is a much bigger task.

As shown above, I started playing in a time where people basically tried for the biggest explosions and the most absurdly unaerodynamic stacks of firecrackers they could bolt together. Because that was all there was to do. It was fun, but we've moved on from that. Or at least I have.

[EvilotionCR2]

Started playing the demo, 0.13. Latest version was 0.14.3. No palm trees, but the gui and parts and everything...

so different..

The game has REALLY changed.

its my story too.

[Galactic Nexus]

I started with the first ever public release; 0.7. Oh how times have changed.

Back then, we didn't even have symmetry, that was added in 0.8. Before that, trying to balance your rocket such that it didn't somersault into the launch tower (another relic I shan't miss) was actually an ongoing challenge. Even once symmetry was added, the game was a lot harder than it is now. The atmosphere didn't taper off, it was a solid wall at 30km that often resulted in falling craft breaking from sudden g-force.

There was no map view until something like 0.11 either, so (after discovering "escape velocity" and moving on from point and shoot launches) attempting to get into orbit was interesting. On that note, there was no time warp either, meaning that if you wanted to find out if you were in orbit (without calculating it based on your angular velocity), you had to leave the game running for 30 minutes or so, and see what happened.

I feel like the development process was a lot more transparent back then. The devs seemed a lot more active on the forums and because there were no dedicated QA testers, we were ALL the testers, so dev-cycles seemed a lot shorter. This is understandable of course, as the more complete the game becomes, the more work needs to go into creating big features, but even so, I do miss the days when running over a month without an update was a rare occurrence.

[awsomejwags]

I started with the first ever public release; 0.7. Oh how times have changed.

wow 0.7 . And you entered the forums in 2011. you are the oldest ksp player I have met! I bet ksp isn't even the same game as it was.

[Vanamonde]

With regard to some removed posts: the subject of this thread is reminiscing about early versions of KSP. If you want to discuss the current course of the game's development, the proper spot for that is the Suggestions & Development sub-forum.

And, as always, please stick to the topic and avoid evaluating each other's personalities.

Edited May 19, 2014 by Vanamonde

[DisarmingBaton5]

I started with 0.13 demo and then 0.17. Shuttles were much more difficult then

[Arrowstar]

Been here since 0.7.x releases. I'll tell you what, I remember how the forum went crazy when someone built a "flare" part that you could see from orbit after detaching it. Watching it pass overhead in the night sky in KSP was simply incredible back then. Ah, those were the days...

[OtherDalfite]

Been here since 0.7.x releases. I'll tell you what, I remember how the forum went crazy when someone built a "flare" part that you could see from orbit after detaching it. Watching it pass overhead in the night sky in KSP was simply incredible back then. Ah, those were the days...

Yeah, I remember when that Tosh guy created the jupiter part and you could watch it rise over the horizon of the Mun or even Kerbin if you had a keen eye. Truly astounding times.

[Rainbowtrout]

I downloaded and played 0.7.3. Gave me a peaceful feeling, just Kerbin and innocent green people.

[Corw]

I started with the first ever public release; 0.7. Oh how times have changed.

Back then, we didn't even have symmetry, that was added in 0.8. Before that, trying to balance your rocket such that it didn't somersault into the launch tower (another relic I shan't miss) was actually an ongoing challenge. Even once symmetry was added, the game was a lot harder than it is now. The atmosphere didn't taper off, it was a solid wall at 30km that often resulted in falling craft breaking from sudden g-force.

There was no map view until something like 0.11 either, so (after discovering "escape velocity" and moving on from point and shoot launches) attempting to get into orbit was interesting. On that note, there was no time warp either, meaning that if you wanted to find out if you were in orbit (without calculating it based on your angular velocity), you had to leave the game running for 30 minutes or so, and see what happened.

I feel like the development process was a lot more transparent back then. The devs seemed a lot more active on the forums and because there were no dedicated QA testers, we were ALL the testers, so dev-cycles seemed a lot shorter. This is understandable of course, as the more complete the game becomes, the more work needs to go into creating big features, but even so, I do miss the days when running over a month without an update was a rare occurrence.

Regarding figuring out orbit, there was a reference list, orbital speed at each KM of altitude, so with that and gauge that is telling if you are ascending or descending you had a fair idea

[Madrias]

I remember solid water, massive Kraken attacks if you tried to loop around the sun, a time before rover wheels, and the launch tower that destroyed everything.

[phoenix_ca]

I remember solid water, massive Kraken attacks if you tried to loop around the sun, a time before rover wheels, and the launch tower that destroyed everything.

But that just made the game more challenging and therefore fun! Playing with an incomplete game is much more fun than a complete one! Don't you like fun?

[jayther]

I made a space shuttle (vertical launch, horizontal landing mission in this video:

) before they added the big orange tanks and the launching struts. So the "big orange tank" was just a tall stack of fuel tanks and used structural (empty) fuselages to make it stand straight up for launch and broke off at launch.

[Fox967]

Ah, i remember when they added the Mun. I remember looking up and thinking.... 'Yes, that looks like a good place to crash!'

[Red Iron Crown]

Ah, i remember when they added the Mun. I remember looking up and thinking.... 'Yes, that looks like a good place to crash!'

And crash there I did. Repeatedly. Enough that I wanted to do this once I had landed successfully.

Edited May 20, 2014 by Red Iron Crown
I r gud at grammar.

[Iforgotthis]

I joined in 0.19.1, but only 5 days before 0.20 was released

Even from then the game has improved so much, it must be unrecognisable to those who've played it from 0.7.3!

I might download the demo again, have a spin on that.

[billbobjebkirk]

There is this

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/24858-Old-versions-of-KSP-(some-versions-still-wanted!)

[Moach]

here's a video depicting the "procedure" on how to achieve orbit back in the day...

making it up there was enough of a challenge, but manageable - with patience and a lot of perseverance....

[Rarity]

I actually started with 0.7.3. I remember starting the game and cranking all the settings up as high as I could with my piddly Phenom II 965 at 3.9GHz with a Radeon HD 6850 and with just a command module in the VAB my framerate was something like 12 at 1920x1080. All you kids that complain about poor performance today need to give the initial release a try.

Also, this thread has given me an urge to attempt making a decent craft using nothing but the original fuel tanks and engines to see just how much better I can build one than I could back then...

Edited May 21, 2014 by Rarity