Kerbal Space Program

[Velax]

Anyone else played this game? (http://kerbalspaceprogram.com)

Basically you can build a spacecraft using various parts like command modules, fuselage, various thrusters (solid fuel, liquid fuel, etc), stablising modules, etc, than blast it off into space and see what you can do. I've so far managed to get my ships into orbit and crash land on the first moon (it's set on Kerbal, not Earth), but haven't managed to return from orbit, land properly on the first moon or even reach the second moon. You can do EVAs and stuff, and there appears to be some sort of (alien?) construction on the first moon, but I didn't get a close look before I pancaked into the surface.

There's a free demo but the full version costs $18. It's in a sort of alpha mode at the moment and the devs have promised things like being able to get space stations into orbit, docking, an astronaut complex for training, a full solar system to visit and so on. There are also a bunch of mods, but I haven't look at those yet. Seems pretty cool, overall.

[Nathan]

I've not looked at this since version 0.8.5 - much changed since then? There were only a handful of parts (I think one of each thing) and I could barely get off the ground without spinning and crashing straight back into the ground. Seemed ok, but can't say I saw much promise in it.

[Foundation]

I've seen some hilarious videos of this game.

[Norrel]

I love this game.

[Velax]

I've not looked at this since version 0.8.5 - much changed since then? There were only a handful of parts (I think one of each thing) and I could barely get off the ground without spinning and crashing straight back into the ground. Seemed ok, but can't say I saw much promise in it.

There seem to be a decent number of parts, and it's pretty easy to build a rocket that will get off the ground and into orbit and back. Getting one that can make it to the moon, land and then come back seems more difficult. It's possible - plenty of people have done it - but it takes a bit of planning.

[BarticaBoat]

last played version 0.8.0 managed to reach an altitude of 500000km once... they didn't have a moon back then?

[Ehndras]

Hahaha, I love this game! Played it extensively with my fellow Bay12ers. :)

There's a moon and more now :P You can land on the moon, and other such things... ;-)

[Velax]

There are two moons now - the first one orbits Kerbal (the planet) at about 11.4 million kilometers. The second one is much further out. It's not as difficult to reach that altitude as you'd think - what's difficult is actually managing to be in the same place at the same time as the moon. You don't just click the moon and it drives you there - you have to figure out a way to hit what is essentially a pinprick in millions of kilometers of empty space. It's pretty damn cool.

[Tom]

Funny little game. My first flight was a success. My second rocket didn't even take off - the first stage couldn't move the damn thing. Then I built a monster - the launch stage had 12 solid fuel boosters - and it exploded midway through overheating.

Sadly, on 2560x1440, the assembly shows lag when the ship starts getting complicated, which made the build process less fun. They need to work a bit on that, as 3D assembly on a 2D screen is tricky. But it's a cool little game concept.

[Velax]

One thing I find that works well is having six solid fuel boosters around a central core, attached using the decouplers (not the round decouplers, but the ones that sit on the side of the fuselage and hold things). You split the six boosters into three stages, each with two boosters (the two must be on opposite sides). You fire two boosters at a time until they run out, use the decouplers to get rid of them and then fire the next two. I find this gets you much higher than just firing all six together - I assume because each stage has less weight than the previous one, as you're getting rod of the boosters after they go empty.

I haven't noticed any slowdown and I play at the same resolution you do, but perhaps you're building more complicated rockets than I am. Or you're playing the demo and they've optimised things since then? Not sure.

[BarticaBoat]

after many attempts, a lot of explosions, and a fairly ecstatic jeb, managed to get a proper trajectory to Mun
get there with a quarter tank of fuel, decide i can't land i'll just orbit and head home. somehow used Mun's gravity to catapult me into deep space, try to turn around but didn't have the propulsion to get home. back to the drawing boards.

trying a new heavy propulsion solid based system to bring me into the atmosphere, then liquid engines to send me to the moon. i've tended towards long, slow burn rockets in the past. best success so far was achieving orbit around Kerbalin and managing to break orbit and crash into mountains, sigh

[Velax]

Update: Managed to reach Mun once more, but unfortunately was unable to slow myself down enough and crashed into its surface. A second wreck (and corpse) joins the first lying on the surface of Kerbal's first moon.