The most defining moments in KSP early access

[One-Way Films]

What was the best moment (so far) in KSP history for you? Was it an update? Was it a mod? Was it a mission so grand that, before you undertook it, you passed it off as impossible? Was it your first step on the Mun? Was it a sight that was so perfect and beautiful, that you had to just stop and look for a few minutes? Share it with the rest of the community. 1.0 will be here soon and we'll have a whole heap of new players. Let's give them tales of before Jool or Duna or before Spaceplanes ever lifted off from KSC. Thank you.

To 1.0 and Beyond...

Seriously Squad. For a space sim, you've done a spectacular job. You guys deserve a round of applause from a stadium full of people each. This is easily my favorite game ever and it shall be for the known future. Thank you dev team. Pat yourselves on the back. If it was legal and if Ireland was closer to Squad HQ, I'd buy you all a beer.

Edited January 30, 2015 by One-Way Films

[NecroBones]

I think some of my best moments were (no particular order):

• First unmanned Mun landing.
  
• First manned Mun landing.
  
• A few close calls that were REALLY CLOSE, like getting home from an interplanetary mission with less than 20 units of fuel left.
  
• The Jool-5 mission.
  
• And stopping to admire the view, of course.
  

[Bill Phil]

My Jool journey from a few versions back. A one way deal, the ship landed in Laythe's ocean. Jool is so beautiful....

[Frank_G]

Well... almost like NecroBones...

- First probe dropped on the Mün

- First kerbaled mission to the Mün

- Touchdown on Duna... this was a moment of total awe...

- Grand Tour to Jool

- First successful Eve ascend

[GusTurbo]

The defining moment for me was the addition of gizmos. They really changed the game for me in an important way because they allowed more efficient building techniques, saving parts and making the game more playable with some of my more complex creations.

[regex]

During 0.23, I had a 6.4X RSS install and I deorbited an AN-2 replica, complete with a proper AJE prop engine from KAX, into Laythe and flew it to an island. The total mission never panned out; 0.24 hit and I was busy updating mods, and being bitter, but I had a launcher, transfer craft, and deorbit rig for that AN-2 all ready to go. That whole episode really opened my eyes to what KSP could be.

[maltesh]

In 0.18, I stumbled across Kerbal Alarm Clock, a now rather well-known mod that allows you to set alarms for all sorts of occasions, and as a result, allows you to manage multiple vessels at one time. And it pretty much revolutionized my playstile. Instead of sending one vessel at a time to the Mun or minmus, I'd throw one after another. Kerbal Alarm Clock also taught me to dock quickly, because I'd often find out that, after pulling off the rendezvous, I'd have maybe three minutes to dock before a spacecraft somewhere else in the Kerbin SOI needed to be dealt with. And it also meant that I never had time to leave the Kerbin SOI before the next update landed, as enough time didn't tick by for me to reach even the first transfer windows before I wiped and began anew.

And yet, across the gulf of space, cooly and without sympathy, I viewed Duna with envious eyes, and slowly, but surely drew my plans against it.

And in 0.21, I went there. And I got everything into orbit and assembled the stations and made some landings.

And then 0.22 landed before I could set up the return trip. 20 spacecraft is /entirely/ too many to deal with all at once. Twelve. twelve is fine. I haven't been back to Duna seriously since then.

[regex]

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4057920/Kerbal%20Space%20Program/v0.21/Screenshots/screenshot724.png

I remember you posting this picture before. It's epic.

[Red Iron Crown]

The release of 0.18 was a defining moment in KSP for me, so much so that I think of two eras of KSP: Pre-0.18 and Post-0.18. The game changed immensely as docking made Apollo-style missions and orbital construction possible, maneuver nodes made planning complex orbital maneuvers accessible to us non-physics majors, plus a slew of less game-changing features that are nonetheless significant (new celestial bodies, electrical systems, action groups, probe cores, working air intakes, and so on).

1.0 is the first update since with a planned feature list anywhere close to the magnitude of 0.18's, and it might actually be more of a game changer with ISRU and new aero. Hopefully we're about to enter a third era.

* * *

As for personal milestones, mine are similar to most players' I suspect: First orbit, first landing on the Mun, first visit to another planet, and first docking are the ones that stand out the most.

[Superfluous J]

My biggest memories are, in no particular order:

1. Tossing wings on that asteroid and landing it
   
2. First successful Eve landing and return.
   
3. Building an entire Kethane industry on Mun and Minmus for a rescue attempt with my first ever interplanetary ship, which I sent to Moho because hey, why not Moho as a very first interplanetary target ever?
   

[Bill Phil]

When I landed from a Mun mission on EVA...

First docking, too. Took me some serious attempts, and a few rages... Many of the tutorials weren't very well done...

[WOODY01]

For me it was the improvements to the vehicle editor in the last update. Really made designing and getting things just right a lot easier.

[SkyRender]

KerbalKon 2012 will always stick out in my memory as the moment when KSP took off for me. I was already a fan of the game before that, but KerbalKon 2012 brought us 0.18 (the biggest update to date at that point) and really got me hyped to play KSP a lot more. Not long after, a number of long-running KSP series on YouTube started, such as Scott Manley's Reusable Space Program. That event was the point where I switched over from playing KSP occasionally for kicks to really playing KSP.

[NecroBones]

For me it was the improvements to the vehicle editor in the last update. Really made designing and getting things just right a lot easier.

That was a huge improvement for sure. Funny thing is, I played so long without those features, and so little after they've been added, that I have to almost force myself (or rather, remind myself) that those features exist.

Old habits die hard.

[LABHOUSE]

D. All successes and successful failures!

[Vanamonde]

Since I started playing in v.15, the most significant addition to the game has been docking parts. Ambitious missions no longer required you to drag everything you might need on the trip up in one monster launch vehicle, increasing mission possibilities by an order of magnitude. Also, elaborate stations became possible because you no longer had to design them to also survive launch as one piece.

[WOODY01]

That was a huge improvement for sure. Funny thing is, I played so long without those features, and so little after they've been added, that I have to almost force myself (or rather, remind myself) that those features exist.

Old habits die hard.

I still find myself trying to place a part, trying to get it angled right, and in just the right place for several minutes before remembering the new gizmos

[problemecium]

For me it was buying KSP. I'd been playing the demo for a while, but the full game makes it look like nothing.

[OscarWilde]

I feel like this game as a whole gives more moments of awe and accomplishment than any I've ever experienced.

I doubt I could pick one or even a few. Every step of the journey felt like an amazing accomplishment.

First take-off; first time hitting space; first time creating orbit; orbiting the mun; landing on the moon; completing a rendezvous with another spacecraft in orbit; completing a docking (this is probably the biggest highlight for me based purely off my attempts:successes ratio)... the list is endless! After hundreds of hours I still have moments of teeth gritting, intense focus, calm hands, pant-....ting excitement followed by completion and a feeling of accomplishment like no other.

I had an idea; I built the idea; I tested it until it worked; I executed the plan; and it worked!!

Edited January 31, 2015 by Red Iron Crown
No profanity, please.

[Hary R]

First successful mun mission in .21, some month after began to play.

seriously, every time I achieve a new kind of mission (first docking, first interplanetary transfer) or build something new that work is a defining KSP moment for me.

[Pecan]

NASA endorsement with the ARM parts.

Not so much for the asteroids or parts themselves but because ... NASA!

[aleis]

Discovering space bar

[NecroBones]

NASA endorsement with the ARM parts.

Not so much for the asteroids or parts themselves but because ... NASA!

Good point! I've gotten so used to those parts being there I didn't even think of it for this thread.

[Srpadget]

Not many people have mentioned one of my KSP Defining Moments: The first time I broke atmo and A SOUNDTRACK KICKED IN.

Magic. Pure magic. Possibly a bigger emotional rush than watching the sun rise on my first successful orbit.

[Brotoro]

For me, it was probably the first time I did a mission that depended on docking. Out in deep space...just explored some celestial body...boosted back into space...but if I'm unable to pull off this rendezvous and docking, this kerbal isn't going to make it home. I was so amazed that I could get those tiny ships together in the vast cosmos.