Where has this been all my life!

[maceemiller]

Hi everyone! Just wanted to say that in 30+ years of gaming on everything from a ZX81 upto a PS4 and everything in between, NOTHING has made me feel like KSP.

Ive had the game for 7 days now, tinkering away and reading/watching tutorials, not really knowing what to do or where to go. Today though, all my learning is paying off as I managed a circular orbit using maneuver nodes and landed safely......not a massive challenge for many im sure, but the feeling of actually doing it!! Unbelievable!

I look forward to going through these forums as for the last 2 mornings at 6am as I woke to goto my day job, the first thing ive found myself thinking about is my apoapsis!!

I doubt I'll play anything else for a loooong time now!

[Commander Jebidiah]

Welcome to the forums and congratulations on your first orbit I remember mine well

[MartGonzo]

Hi everyone! Just wanted to say that in 30+ years of gaming on everything from a ZX81 upto a PS4 and everything in between, NOTHING has made me feel like KSP.

Ive had the game for 7 days now, tinkering away and reading/watching tutorials, not really knowing what to do or where to go. Today though, all my learning is paying off as I managed a circular orbit using maneuver nodes and landed safely......not a massive challenge for many im sure, but the feeling of actually doing it!! Unbelievable!

I look forward to going through these forums as for the last 2 mornings at 6am as I woke to goto my day job, the first thing ive found myself thinking about is my apoapsis!!

I doubt I'll play anything else for a loooong time now!

I must disagree that attaining your first orbit is not a big achievement. I'd say most here would agree that getting to orbit is a pretty big deal in this game, at that point the game opens up all sorts of possibilities.

that was the moment I fell in love too.

and keep in mind that getting into orbit is halfway to anywhere.

[Pecan]

Hi everyone! Just wanted to say that in 30+ years of gaming on everything from a ZX81 upto a PS4 and everything in between, NOTHING has made me feel like KSP.

Ive had the game for 7 days now, tinkering away and reading/watching tutorials, not really knowing what to do or where to go. Today though, all my learning is paying off as I managed a circular orbit using maneuver nodes and landed safely......not a massive challenge for many im sure, but the feeling of actually doing it!! Unbelievable!

I look forward to going through these forums as for the last 2 mornings at 6am as I woke to goto my day job, the first thing ive found myself thinking about is my apoapsis!!

I doubt I'll play anything else for a loooong time now!

Congratulations and welcome - it's nice to see someone who isn't new to computers ^^.

Wherever it may rank amongst other achievements, never feel bad about making orbit. Doing it for the first few times and being able to do it reliably IS an achievement, and not much else can happen without that step. Just remember you're "halfway to anywhere in the solar system" (not quite in KSP, but close enough).

When I discovered KSP my explanation to other people was, "Messing about, found out the necessity for a periapsis above 69km, and the most efficient cure for one lower, which is to burn prograde at the next apoapsis". - Suitably incomprehensible to anyone who knew nothing about rockets and yet very important! :-)

Pecan

[TriggerAu]

Tis a reall time sink once you get started, but such a rewarding "game" as you figure out real world maths problems.

Welcome

[CaptainKipard]

Just wait until you learn how to manually hover in place above the Munar surface right after decending from oribt, before lowering yourself to a touchdown at 0.1m/s so cool.

[maceemiller]

Lol thanks for all your replies. I know I'm going to like this forum! Well, time to get off to my day job.....really, im just wasting time till I can get back into orbit and hunt down the Mun! Thankyou all again for making me feel welcome

[worir4]

And always remember the harder you fail the higher you will bounce back up (and maybe even into orbit)!

Im gonna put this in my sig...

[Frank_G]

And always remember the harder you fail the higher you will bounce back up (and maybe even into orbit)!

Im gonna put this in my sig...

Seems like good construction principle for a free-return-to-orbit-dropship... Let me think... Hmmmmmmm

[Frank_G]

Hi everyone! Just wanted to say that in 30+ years of gaming on everything from a ZX81 upto a PS4 and everything in between, NOTHING has made me feel like KSP.

Ive had the game for 7 days now, tinkering away and reading/watching tutorials, not really knowing what to do or where to go. Today though, all my learning is paying off as I managed a circular orbit using maneuver nodes and landed safely......not a massive challenge for many im sure, but the feeling of actually doing it!! Unbelievable!

I look forward to going through these forums as for the last 2 mornings at 6am as I woke to goto my day job, the first thing ive found myself thinking about is my apoapsis!!

I doubt I'll play anything else for a loooong time now!

Welcome to the forums! One of the nicest places to be online for sure. There is many stuff to see here.

And yes, there is nothing more rewarding, than actually getting your own mission to work perfectly in KSP. I play KSP for about a year now, almost every day. I still havent visited all planets and i still have lots of visions for future missions... so be sure to have less time to spare in the future. See you around

[Seanoog]

Hello and welcome to the Forums.

Congratulations on your first of many successful Circular orbit's, and may they lead to great things.

Truthfully there is no feeling like the first; Orbit, Mun Landing, Jool Fly-by, or lithobraking.. It is the reason why myself and so many others have all fallen in love with KSP.

See you out there brave explorer, and Happy Launching.

[maceemiller]

So, just a quick update on my progress....just made it into orbit around the Mun!! Cant get home though lol

[DeepSpaceDutch]

Wherever it may rank amongst other achievements, never feel bad about making orbit.

^this. I can still remember my first orbit, something like 18 months ago

Welcome maceemiller! I really get your statement that nothing makes you feel like KSP. I have exactly the same!! Don't worry, that sense of achievement will remain. Your first Mun or Minmus landing, your first orbit and landing on Duna, first time seeing Jool from a distance, surrounded by moons, large and small, begging to be explored. And suddenly you realize you got the hang of it, when rendezvous and docking become "easy" and landing on Duna is sort of run of the mill. Maybe you get scared that you've reached the bottom of the barrel, that you've "finished" the game. Only to realize, NO DUDE, not by a long shot! And than you try your hands, and fail multiple times, at the Jool-5 Challenge, or a crew return from sea-level Eve...or etc, etc, etc.

Enjoy man, you will!

Edited December 2, 2014 by DeepSpaceDutch

[Norpo]

Yup, the game remains fun for quite a while, probably because I can't think of any other games that let you do anything in space. It's a unique game for sure!

The first orbit is certainly a great accomplishment, as is the first mun mission (It will probably fail, mine just flew by the mun and got stuck in solar orbit, munsplorers I-VI are out there... somewhere)

The game certainly has a learning curve (one likened it to a wall), and getting to orbit is certainly a big accomplishment. Getting to the mun will probably seem near-impossible, but when I finally got there, it was awesome. (I only had to send 3 rescue missions.)

Good luck, and don't blow up! (Unless it's on purpose)

In orbit, there's quite a few things to do. In order of difficulty, arguably solar orbit could be easier than the mun, but it takes more delta-v.

A: Go to the Mun, hard to land on, but easy to get to

B: Go to Minmus, The opposite, hard to get to due to it's inclined orbit and low mass, so it'll take a lot of fiddling with maneuver nodes, but smaller mass makes it easier to land on.

C: Go to solar orbit by just burning prograde.. a lot (Probably do this with an unmanned probe, as it's probably not coming back for a LONG time.)

D: Attempt to dock two craft together: This is hard and is quite an advanced thing, and it WILL take multiple tries. Easier when you get the hang of it, though. (HINT: You'll need monopropellant RCS thrusters.)

E: Go to another planet entirely: This is also hard. But, it will introduce you to planetary transfers on a larger scale, transfer windows, and all sorts of other fun stuff. You'll defenitely want to read a tutorial for this one. For a first target, I recommend Duna.

F: Anything.: somewhat self explanitory.

EDIT: Just read your update that you just got to the mun, nice! Even if you can't get back, that's still a big accomplishment.

[maceemiller]

Thx dude.....cant wait to get back on it 2night!

[maceemiller]

So, after quite a hours and attempts at stuff I can now orbit, land on the Mun and dock every time with ease.....loving each new achievement which certainly opens up more in the brain! For me, docking is an amazing experience and so rewarding. Time to start work on a new space station!

[TriggerAu]

Congrats maceemiller. Hope youve said goodbye to that thing called "spare time"

[maceemiller]

Congrats maceemiller. Hope youve said goodbye to that thing called "spare time"

Spare time......ahhhh id forgotton about that!

[TriggerAu]

For me thats the time while you wait for the loading bar..

[Pecan]

So, after quite a hours and attempts at stuff I can now orbit, land on the Mun and dock every time with ease.....loving each new achievement which certainly opens up more in the brain! For me, docking is an amazing experience and so rewarding. Time to start work on a new space station!

Nice progress. Now, given how hard it all seemed when you started, did you think you'd be able to do all that within 10 days? :-)

I love messing around with spacestations and 'short' flights within Kerbin's SOI (Kerbin/Mun/Minmus) as there is so much you can do relatively quickly. If you feel up to installing a mod I'd recommend SCANSat, which adds mapping-sensors for satellites (or manned craft if you prefer). The great things about that is that are i) if gives you more of a reason to use satellites, ii) the maps can be really useful for finding appropriate landing-sites, iii) the multispectral sensor also finds 'Easter Eggs'*, which are fun (and sometimes challenging) to visit and identify.

[*Easter Eggs are 'fun' things added to the game, or obsolete things left in, which are 'odd', amazing of funny. Programmers get bored at work too ^^. Saying more would spoil the fun - there is a thread about them and if you want to find them yourself, just get SCANSat].

[Scarecrow88]

Congrats on your progress. I've been playing a while now, but still remember what I think are 3 major milestones for any player; getting to Kerbin orbit, first landing on Mun, and the first successful rendezvous and docking.

I think those are probably the building blocks for doing pretty much anything in KSP.