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Kerbal Space Program: Economic Boom |v.25| Strut Your Stuff

King Cobra said:
I think is is a really amazing game, I bought it a couple days ago and have been messing around in career mode, glad to see they added this now. Does anyone know how to zoom out when you are building a rocket, I am stuck trying to angle everything just right when I am building something big.
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I replied to another GAFer having similar problems in the VAB earlier. Hope this helps.

gutterboy44 said:
Hmm, that is surprising to hear, as they have ironed out a lot of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) bugs a while ago. To adjust radial symmetry, press X. This will cycle through no symmetry, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 radial symmetry configurations. Press C to cycle angle snap. If you want positioning to snap to evenly divided angles, leave it on the "hexagon" setting. If you want free positioning, set it to "circle" You can see both the symmetry and angle snap settings in the lower left corner.

For camera controls, wheel mouse scrolls up and down your ship. Holding the right mouse button down allows you to angle your view, and holding shift and using the wheel mouse changes your zoom.

If parts aren't turning green, you may be attempting to place parts in configurations they are not designed for. Could you take a screen shot of your ship and part placement that isn't sticking? I am sure myself or some one else in the thread could help.
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AstroNut325 said:
How accurate are the physics?
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I am not technical enough to speak to it, but this is what is in the wiki page for KSP under Physics.

The game has been praised for its realistic representation of orbital mechanics.[14][28] Every object in the game except the celestial bodies themselves are under the control of a Newtonian dynamics simulation. Rocket thrust and aerodynamic forces are applied accurately to a vehicle's frame based on the positions in which the force-generating elements are mounted. The strength of the joints connecting parts together is finite and vehicles can be torn apart by excessive or inappropriately directed forces.

Some planets have atmospheres of varying heights and densities, affecting the efficiency of wings and parachutes and causing drag during flight. The simulations are accurate enough that real-world techniques such as Hohmann transfers and aerobraking are viable methods of navigating the solar system. Centrifugal force is modeled and players have created torus stations which exhibit measurable artificial gravity and can be traversed by wheeled rovers. The game simulates trajectories and orbits using patched conic approximation instead of a full n-body simulation, and thus does not support Lagrange points and halo orbits. According to the developers, full n-body physics would require the entire physics engine to be rewritten.[29]
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AstroNut325 said:
So no physics governing fluid dynamics, radiation, launch acoustics, ect...?
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No, none of those are present or on the current planned features list. There are certainly several compromises on realism in KSP made to the benefit of gameplay or because of game-engine limitations. Some present inaccuracies are going to be addressed in future releases and part of the planned feature list, such as realistic drag and "deadly re-entry". Just below the physics section of the wiki is the inaccuracies section.

Notable inaccuracies include the perfect reliability of equipment (equipment generally only fails with excessive force) and the lack of life-support consumables. Kerbals can survive indefinitely in space either in a capsule or a space suit.[25] This simplifies orbital rendezvous by making it practical to wait multiple orbits until a desirable alignment is reached. Also, Kerbals have extremely capable EVA suits with 600 m/s of Δv. This is 24 times the capability of NASA's manned maneuvering unit, sufficient to reach orbit from (or even land on, return to orbit from, and rendezvous with a spacecraft orbiting around) small moons,[30] and allows EVA transfer between markedly different orbits.

The celestial bodies in the Kerbal solar system are about 1/10 the radius of their real-universe equivalents yet have comparable surface gravity,[6] implying that they have unrealistically high densities. This change to scale makes many tasks considerably easier. For example, a surface to low-Kerbin-orbit launch requires a delta-v of about 4.5 km/s, compared to 9.5 km/s for a low-Earth-orbit launch. In particular, because of the game also having unrealistically efficient and flexible (in terms of speed and altitude) turbojet engines, this means it is much easier to make a single-stage-to-orbit vehicle using jet engines to accelerate a vehicle to orbital speed on only a small fraction of its mass in jet fuel, then give a tiny boost with rockets to reach orbit, whereas in real life, a highly efficient but powerful and lightweight scramjet would be necessary to do the same with several times the amount of fuel.

The game's aerodynamic model applies drag force to parts based on a "drag coefficient" multiplied by the part's mass (remaining mass for fuel tanks) multiplied by the air density at that altitude multiplied by the speed of the part multiplied by a constant. This results in conventionally aerodynamic designs being unaerodynamic, and most designs having unrealistic levels of drag (often by orders of magnitude for large needle-like rockets). This also means that nose cones actually add drag to a vessel. The relatively minor drag on the nose cone is added to the drag of the other parts. This drag also reduces the effects of steep reentry trajectories and high-speed flight by applying drag forces evenly distributed between the mass of the vessel (except for nose cones, which may go flying off of the front of the vessel, and parachutes, which may pull the back of it off). Lift is calculated in a similar manner and so some planes can have unrealistically far forward wings and not become aerodynamically unstable. Also, non-wing parts do not generate lift, meaning, for example, that re-entering space capsules are neutrally stable in all directions and free to rotate, whereas in reality, they are intended to point heat-shield-down. No re-entry shock heating has been implemented yet;[26] although an effect exists to show the flames generated by re-entry, it currently is harmless to the spacecraft itself. Also the re-entry effects like heating up and the decrease of velocity stops on parts that are separated from the main space vehicle during re-entry. This could be for example the service module.
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Based on what I've read I'm definitely interested in the game. I'll purchase it soon and maybe even get a copy for one of my younger cousins who is into space and astronomy. I just hope they redo the physics for full n-body physics and add more physics oriented elements such as those I listed in an earlier post.
 
AstroNut325 said:
Based on what I've read I'm definitely interested in the game. I'll purchase it soon and maybe even get a copy for one of my younger cousins who is into space and astronomy. I just hope they redo the physics for full n-body physics and more physics oriented elements such as those I listed in an earlier post.
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I think you will be waiting a very long time for those to be added if they ever do. I don't believe they have any intention of such a major from-scratch overhaul to include something like n-body physics, especially before reaching an official 1.0 release, which is likely a year or two away minimum.

It seems like you are interested in the technical details more so than myself, but I can at least say, the amount of fun you will be having in KSP will be distracting you from any physics shortcomings or inaccuracies (but maybe not. I can definitely empathize the frustrations of seeing something you are passionate about being inaccurately represented. It is the reason I hated the movie "Rush" as a long time F1 fan.)

Your missions in KSP start with a more Lego-like intuitive/trial and error construction of your spaceships rather than crunching hard numbers in spreadsheets. I can't imagine they would ever forgo that appealing, easy to learn aspect in favor of pure realism.

You should look at all of the available mods. Many of them add more hardcore systems that are still being worked on by Squad or not even on their radar. I think you would be in good company if you started poking around the KSP forums. There are players who take space flight enthusiasm to a whole new level.
 
I really wish they would have implemented Steam Workshop instead of creating their own version of the workshop from scratch like 2 months before putting the game on Steam.
 
Yeah, Curse seems like a sideways move, at best, from the old KSP Spaceport. Steam Workshop would have been really nice. Is there Steam Workshop limitations with early access?
 
gutterboy44 said:
Yeah, Curse seems like a sideways move, at best, from the old KSP Spaceport. Steam Workshop would have been really nice. Is there Steam Workshop limitations with early access?
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Wait they are on curse now? Last time I checked they were still on spaceport wtf lol.

And yeah maybe you can't use the workshop with early access. Good point, I don't know.

Reading the faq right now, they are sending people to Curse for the mods and say that they have no plan of supporting Steam Achievement. Also no steam cloud.

I wondering why they are so anti-steam.
 
My first Mun contract had some razor thin margins for the full round trip back to Kerbin. The first few attempts leaving the Mun back home, I came up short and tried having Jeb get outside and push, but he just didn't have the delta-v. I reloaded my quick save from the Mun's surface, and by taking off at 270 degrees opposed to 90, made all the difference and I was able to complete my mission back to Kerbin. Damn I love this game. Always a challenge coming up out of no where, no matter how many hours you've sunk into this game.
3SVxtre.png
 
Jeb always has enough dV to get out and push. Saved me more than once.

Another thing for people to remember is that when you decouple your ship it will alter your orbit in some way. More than once I've been on my return course home from the Mun, decoupled and found my once 30km return altitude to be moved high enough that I don't slow down enough and have to go around a second time!
 
Is there a timeframe for when the full final version of the game will be released? I really want to play this, but don't enjoy doing early access too often. If it was said in the OP my apologies, I looked over it and didn't see it.
 
Amir0x said:
Is there a timeframe for when the full final version of the game will be released? I really want to play this, but don't enjoy doing early access too often. If it was said in the OP my apologies, I looked over it and didn't see it.
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Not that I know of.

But to be honest it doesn't feel early access most of the time.

You can easily sink a day into it and not notice anything that might suggest the game isn't really complete. Mods help of course.
 
Amir0x said:
Is there a timeframe for when the full final version of the game will be released? I really want to play this, but don't enjoy doing early access too often. If it was said in the OP my apologies, I looked over it and didn't see it.
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As DBT85, they have never stated a hard time frame. They always emphasize they are taking it one step at a time with each update. Sandbox mode is feature complete, and the Career mode just got a huge bump with this update. Most of the systems that need to be added in to the game based on their planned feature list for 1.0, are almost all addressed by mods in some form or another.

In terms of development, it seems Squad have hit their stride lately. From .20 onward they have kept the updates coming and .23 and .24 were close together and both added some significant new systems in to the game. If I was forced to guess when we would see 1.0, I would say by the end of 2015 at the latest. Maybe that is just wishful thinking.

Amir0x, I would at least throw KSP in your Steam whishlist if you are interested. It goes on sale often, almost always during the big Steam sales events. Maybe the price drop will be enough to get you to jump. There is lots of fun to be had, even in early access, which KSP is one of the leading examples of how to do early access right.
 
Are there any texture packs that make the game look better?

I remember it having pretty mediocre graphics.

I know the graphics don't make it but having a realistic looking universe would be awesome.
 
Enco said:
Are there any texture packs that make the game look better?

I remember it having pretty mediocre graphics.

I know the graphics don't make it but having a realistic looking universe would be awesome.
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There are lots of texture packs/graphics mods, some of them are incredible looking. I don't have any recommendations off hand (I have just seen lots of screenshots on Reddit and forums) I would start with the most popular ones over on the mod portal.

Some other GAF KSP players have more experience messing around with texture packs, hopefully they will chime in.
 
I started going through some of the contracts and was trying to get the one were I test out the TR-2V stack decoupler only I cant get anything to connect to it. Im pretty noobish with my rockets even though I have about 50 hrs in the game. What the deuce do you connect to this thing? Maybe I just dont have the right part but all I could find online was that its for satellites and small craft but nothing I have seems to want to lock to it.
 
Robottiimu2000 said:
The first is a special thing!
Celebrations are in order :)
Welcome to the club!
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I didn't even think about taking screenshots until after I had landed. I had to search on my phone to find out that F12 was the screenshot key.

Also, I had forgotten to add a ladder to the lander and I landed on that hillside with the hatch on the deep end. It was luckily right at the apex of Bill's jump and he was able to grab on and board.
 
troopershades said:
I started going through some of the contracts and was trying to get the one were I test out the TR-2V stack decoupler only I cant get anything to connect to it. Im pretty noobish with my rockets even though I have about 50 hrs in the game. What the deuce do you connect to this thing? Maybe I just dont have the right part but all I could find online was that its for satellites and small craft but nothing I have seems to want to lock to it.
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Thats the teeny ones for probes. Might be able to pop it on the bottom of a smaller engine?

Nostremitus said:
I landed on the Mun today.
I was playing on my Ubuntu Laptop, so excuse the ugly settings and resolution.

I had just enough fuel to fall back to Kerbin.
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Congrats!

Nostremitus said:
I didn't even think about taking screenshots until after I had landed. I had to search on my phone to find out that F12 was the screenshot key.

Also, I had forgotten to add a ladder to the lander and I landed on that hillside with the hatch on the deep end. It was luckily right at the apex of Bill's jump and he was able to grab on and board.
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Not sure where Steam will put the screens with F12. In KSP you can use F1 which will put them in the KSP directory in a folder called screenshots.





I've been fiddling about all evening but just put a Kerbal in Orbit on my Career.


In the VAB, Engineer is showing how much dV my rocket has on Kerbal. It calculates a certain amount will be expended in thinner air so I have 4,921 m/s dV in theory. 4500m/s dV should get you into a low (75-90km) orbit. Don't forget you need some to get back down again!
GL0RWG8.jpg
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On the Pad it's showing me how much I have in current conditions, just 4267 m/s dV. You can also see a myriad of other essential information that Engineer can show me, very useful!
YJJ5t5Y.jpg
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Once a 75km ish Ap is attained from launch, I created my circularisation manuver node. I can see it'll cost me 1198 m/sdV and that my ship still has 1474 m/s dV on board.
DnRepkd.png
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Short EVA
T71N3oy.png
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I should get my shit together and go back to the Mun!
 
DBT85 said:
Thats the teeny ones for probes. Might be able to pop it on the bottom of a smaller engine?
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I didnt have the correct parts unlocked yet but shortly after posting I did a few other contracts and got some science that allowed me to research a little unmanned rover. I drove it down to the water and activated the stage and it was great success. For some reason splashdown was a criteria. Im just glad that driving it into the water counted.
 
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

So I took the first 'go orbit the Mun and do science around it' contract a little too soon in my tech tree...failed twice...then put my kerbal school of rockets and explosions to use and made a multistage probe (unmanned to save weight) that looked good.

I made it to the Mun and established orbit...did 3 goo container experiments, burnt for home, had enough fuel to establish a self descending orbit...plunged into the planet, felt great, hit space bar for my final stage..parachutes...

THERE WERE NO PARACHUTES...AND I NEVER SAVED THE SHIP DESIGN...JEEEEEEEEEBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

(Im playing this career with minimal reverts, only when something out of my control like weird symetry-aero issues or kraken attacks)
 
Nostremitus said:
I landed on the Mun today
....

Also, I had forgotten to add a ladder to the lander and I landed on that hillside with the hatch on the deep end. It was luckily right at the apex of Bill's jump and he was able to grab on and board.
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Congrats! Your first Mun landing is a very special gaming moment. It feels like you've beat an entire game on hardcore or something. Very rewarding because you know the entire mission was your own and 100% unique to you. The good news is every first time on a planet's surface is just as thrilling if not more so.

Also, don't forget Kerbals have RCS on their space suits (think space jet pack) while in EVA press R to enable your suits RCS system. Now you can fly! It can make getting back in to landers without ladders a sinch. Lol, "Landers Without Ladders" that sounds like it should be some sort of KSP support group. Oh you can also press L in EVA to turn on your helmet lights.

DBT85 said:
I've been fiddling about all evening but just put a Kerbal in Orbit on my Career.
...
In the VAB, Engineer is showing how much dV my rocket has on Kerbal. It calculates a certain amount will be expended in thinner air so I have 4,921 m/s dV in theory. 4500m/s dV should get you into a low (75-90km) orbit. Don't forget you need some to get back down again!
...
I should get my shit together and go back to the Mun!
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Oh nice, I need to install Kerbal Engineer. Good post. You definitely need to get back to the Mun!

Sir Fragula said:
Nice, you used my suggestion for OT title! :D
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I gave you a shout out in the OP ;) thanks. I still laugh every time I hear Randy in my head saying, "they took out jeeerbs!"

GodofWine said:
...
THERE WERE NO PARACHUTES...AND I NEVER SAVED THE SHIP DESIGN...JEEEEEEEEEBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

(Im playing this career with minimal reverts, only when something out of my control like weird symetry-aero issues or kraken attacks)
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Oh man, classic KSP. Back in the day, before you could rearrange your staging mid flight, it resulted in some incredible face palms late into a mission.

I like the idea of going "hardcore" and not reverting to launch or quick saving at all. I know you can disable quick saves in the debug menu, I wonder if you can disable reverts. Might have to try that out after playing around with .24 more.
 
DBT85 said:
I do believe that you can disable reverts in the menu.
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Indeed, i think alt f12 pulls up the debug menu and gives the option to disable them.

The issue with that is if there is a glitch or something less than symetric comes out of the VAB, you get screwed.

You can also turn off kerbal respawning.
 
I have landed and made safe returns from Mun and Minmus. I have explored the sands of Duna and the shores of Eve. I have even seen Jool rise over the oceans of Laythe.

I still can't perform an orbital rendezvous :(
 
ConfusingJazz said:
I have landed and made safe returns from Mun and Minmus. I have explored the sands of Duna and the shores of Eve. I have even seen Jool rise over the oceans of Laythe.

I still can't perform an orbital rendezvous :(
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I can't either. I'm trying to save a stranded kerbal for a contract and it's an exercise in futility. If I had to save them in a realistic time window they'd all die up there in orbit.
 
ConfusingJazz said:
I have landed and made safe returns from Mun and Minmus. I have explored the sands of Duna and the shores of Eve. I have even seen Jool rise over the oceans of Laythe.

I still can't perform an orbital rendezvous :(
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First things first. Launch and get your initial Ap to match one of the Ap or Pe of your target. If your target is behind you, burn to make your orbit on the other side larger (you'll be slower so it catches you) or if it's ahead of you make your orbit lower to catch up.

Once your target markers switch over, alter your far side orbit to close it down to 2km or less. Then maneuver from there.

I'll try and do one tomorrow with pics. Once you get it you feel silly for struggling before.
 
I recently tried to land at Mun, but due to some weird bug (reported to the Squad), my return trip always failed. Will try with 0.24 :P
 
I downloaded a mod called EnvironmentalVisualEnhancements-7-3 from the forums and it really adds a lot to the feeling of taking off and height on planets, the main planet has clouds you can fly through and see from space all dynamic and stuff! looks lovely.
 
Sweet, new OT! And the new patch is out with the missions and money. I just got back from a long vacation but I think I'll be playing some KSP this week now. Does the patch and changes work well with pre .24 career saves?
 
ConfusingJazz said:
I have landed and made safe returns from Mun and Minmus. I have explored the sands of Duna and the shores of Eve. I have even seen Jool rise over the oceans of Laythe.

I still can't perform an orbital rendezvous :(
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I couldn't help but read this post as if you were the Replicant from Blade Runner.

When he says "all these moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain", I'll hear you say "I still can't perform an orbital rendezvous" now :p haha
 
I made it to Minmus, but on my return flight I ran out of fuel. I would've eventually fallen to Kerbin but I fell too close to the Mun and it's gravity accelerated Jeb to over 9000 m/s and slung him into a solar orbit... I reverted. I'll try again next weekend.
 
Mengy said:
Sweet, new OT! And the new patch is out with the missions and money. I just got back from a long vacation but I think I'll be playing some KSP this week now. Does the patch and changes work well with pre .24 career saves?
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.24 does support saves from .23. Any further back from that and I'm not sure.
 
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