Kerbal Space Program - A completely free (for now) Spore-like rocket builder

[The Boston Dangler]

wobbly rockets 1.08 is out

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=79.0

 

[sygyzy]

Is there any way to "win" this game? I made it to over 40km and then I was bored so I deployed a chute and now I am freefalling. I expect to land soon. Is that it? Do you keep trying to go higher?

 

[The Boston Dangler]

Is there any way to "win" this game? I made it to over 40km and then I was bored so I deployed a chute and now I am freefalling. I expect to land soon. Is that it? Do you keep trying to go higher?

it's alpha. objects and objectives, like space stations, moons and planets will be added later.

 

[DirkGently1]

Spore like huh? Remind me again, how did that game work out?

 

[zerogear]

Spore like huh? Remind me again, how did that game work out?

pretty well considering the DRM they put on it

 

[ImpulsE69]

It is similar in spore simply for you can pretty much make/connect anything you want, but it is NOT spore at all.

 

[fatpat268]

Spore like huh? Remind me again, how did that game work out?

What? You're picking the wrong fight. Spore-like refers to the rocket building to creature building comparison... and by all accounts the creature building of spore was one of the best parts of the game.

Yea, spore was a disappointment overall, but that's not really the point.

 

[vshah]

how many stages are your rockets that are reaching orbit? i've had a 4 stage rocket but I can't get to escape velocity.

do you have to be flying at a specific angle to enter orbit? also is there some sort of notification that you have entered an orbit / have reached escape velocity?

 

[goobernoodles]

This definitely looks fun. I'm going to give it a shot.

 

[fatpat268]

how many stages are your rockets that are reaching orbit? i've had a 4 stage rocket but I can't get to escape velocity.

do you have to be flying at a specific angle to enter orbit? also is there some sort of notification that you have entered an orbit / have reached escape velocity?

Check this video out, it's how I learned to orbit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKGnxwKkrxY

His rocket isn't all that great though. I'll update this post later with a picture of my most stable rocket that easily achieves orbit (and escape velocity if that's your goal).

 

[vshah]

Check this video out, it's how I learned to orbit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKGnxwKkrxY

His rocket isn't all that great though. I'll update this post later with a picture of my most stable rocket that easily achieves orbit (and escape velocity if that's your goal).

sweet, thanks!

 

[Nintendesert]

Wait. We have to turn our SAS on??

 

[HarvardAce]

do you have to be flying at a specific angle to enter orbit? also is there some sort of notification that you have entered an orbit / have reached escape velocity?

If you want a circular (rather than elliptical) orbit, then you need to be flying exactly perpendicular to the ground (right between the brown/blue on your attitude indicator) at the correct speed for your altitude (~2400m/s at around 40k). If you go too fast or at a different angle, you'll still likely stay in orbit as long as your path doesn't take you into the atmosphere at all -- it will just be an elliptical orbit.

There is no indicator that you've reached an orbit and/or escape velocity, short of leaving it run for a few hours to see if you've crashed into Kearth or not

 

[HarvardAce]

Wait. We have to turn our SAS on??

Hitting 'T' functions as a toggle for the SAS so you don't have to hold down the SAS button (I forget which one it is since I only use 'T' now) constantly. It is no different than holding down the SAS button, except that you free up your finger/hand to do other things.

 

[sygyzy]

I wish there was a way to speed up time. For example, if I am done playing and just want the capsule to fall to earth, I don't want to wait 5 minutes for that to happen. I don't want to just quit the level prematurely, either.

 

[Zargon]

so its bad when I scare jeb??

 

[goobernoodles]

This is so much fun. hahaha

 

[Merad]

I keep trying to build a Saturn V clone, but it just won't work (well) yet in KSP. Big rockets are nearly impossible to control, and that won't change til they add engine gimbals.

It also seems like a lot of the rockets are pretty underpowered, or at least don't have anything close to the thrust/weight ratios RL rockets can obtain. I mean, just look at the acceleration curve for the Saturn V.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I really need an Omega 13.

 

[fatpat268]

I keep trying to build a Saturn V clone, but it just won't work (well) yet in KSP. Big rockets are nearly impossible to control, and that won't change til they add engine gimbals.

It also seems like a lot of the rockets are pretty underpowered, or at least don't have anything close to the thrust/weight ratios RL rockets can obtain. I mean, just look at the acceleration curve for the Saturn V.

They're not based on real rockets. There's a parts pack a few posts above that have a lot of parts modeled and based on the real thing.

His rocket isn't all that great though. I'll update this post later with a picture of my most stable rocket that easily achieves orbit (and escape velocity if that's your goal).

So, here's a picture of my rocket. Instead of explaining how to build it, I'll just upload the file for the rocket and you can see/test it for yourself. Link is here: http://www.mediafire.com/?wmpin3vj8sqa6ss (copy the file to your KSP/ships folder)

So, it's all stock parts, and it's pretty stable actually. I'd still recommend keeping the SAS on for the majority of the flight. You'll want to have full throttle for your first stage... and that'll take you to 15km (i'm guessing, I forgot to check). For the second stage, there's 4 SRBs, and for this stage you want to turn your liquid fuel throttle to 0%, otherwise you risk an overheat. The third/final stage is just a continuation of the middle liquid rocket that has been firing the entire time. You should have 3 fuel tanks remaining by this point... plenty for orbital maneuvers or shooting for escape velocity.

Launching straight up, I ran out of fuel at 430km at 2967.3m/s... 300 m/s past escape velocity, so the ship should continue on indefinitely. YMMV though, because throttle management plays a role.

But yea, for those having difficulty in building rockets, I highly recommend checking that out. I think a lot of you are overthinking the design, and before you go elaborate and crazy, you need to start simple. Remember, the more fuel you put on the rocket, the less your thrust to weight ratio is. You have to find that right balance.

 

[Merad]

They're not based on real rockets. There's a parts pack a few posts above that have a lot of parts modeled and based on the real thing.

I have been using Wobbly rockets. If you haven't noticed, there's nothing in the stock game that comes close to a Saturn V.

The bottom line is these rockets are either way too heavy or significantly underpowered. Kearth is a much smaller planet than Earth (~1200 km diameter), apparently with weaker gravity, yet even the rockets you can build with the highest acceleration crawl in comparison to their RL brethren. To get a semi-realistic acceleration you have to use tiny rockets with massive engines, that's usually don't have enough fuel to reach orbit.

In fact, the acceleration is really so bad I have to wonder if something is wonky with their physics modelling, eg the mass of spent fuel isn't being subtracted from the rocket's mass.

Edit: I did some digging in the game's part config files. I think I see the problem. Engines are far, far too heavy. For instance, if we use Wobbly rocket parts to try and duplicate the S-IC booster:

2x 3m fuel tank : total mass "12", of which "10" is fuel
5x large liquid engine : total mass "16"
3m to 5x 1m adapter : mass "0.5"

Total launch mass: "28.5"
Fuel mass: "10"
Structure + engines mass: "18.5"
Structure and engines are 64.9% of the launch mass.

Compare this to the real S-IC:
Launch mass: 2,280,000 kg
Fuel mass: 2,144,782 kg
Structure + engines mass: [SIZE=-1]135,218 kg
Structure + engines are 5.93% of launch mass.

The engines are simply too heavy.
[/SIZE]

 

[fatpat268]

I have been using Wobbly rockets. If you haven't noticed, there's nothing in the stock game that comes close to a Saturn V.

The bottom line is these rockets are either way too heavy or significantly underpowered. Kearth is a much smaller planet than Earth (~1200 km diameter), apparently with weaker gravity, yet even the rockets you can build with the highest acceleration crawl in comparison to their RL brethren. To get a semi-realistic acceleration you have to use tiny rockets with massive engines, that's usually don't have enough fuel to reach orbit.

To be fair, the game is still early in its development cycle. The guy who created it even admits that some of the physics inside the atmosphere are a little off (the atmosphere is thick as hell) and that it will eventually be worked on.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

not only is the power to weight very low, but the parts also seem to have very little hit points. it's pretty easy to have an upper stage collapse downward through the stack upon liftoff. it's equally easy to drive the first stage through the entire stack too.

with a typical capsule/parachute/decoupler/sas/2 tanks/rocket/decoupler upper stage, i found the limit to be 7 3m (1.08) tanks stacked , and that's with the barest minimum throttle for the duration of the stage. even then, there's a chance of an "accordian" on the launch pad. 1.07 had weaker parts with a limit of 6 3m tanks.

oddly, there doesn't seem to be any re-entry heat. i have burnt up the capsule with ferocious all-srb setups shortly after liftoff, however.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

[KSP v0.9] It's Official!
« on: Today at 10:13:43 AM »
Hi again!

It’s been a long time in the making, but the 0.9 Release is finally official. You can get it at the Downloads Page.

You will also notice that we now have a Pre-Order/Donations system set up. You can now support the KSP project by making a donation. Donations from 7.00 USD up will automatically be counted as a pre-order, and you’ll already have a valid account to download the first fully payware version, which is due in a few months.

In the meantime, we’ll continue to update the free version of KSP. Then, the last free version will remain forever available as a demo.

The 0.9 release has many improvements to the game, most importantly:

A completely overhauled staging system, to make stage editing a lot more user-friendly and easy to understand
A new type of part, called a Strut Connector, that allows linking any two parts together for greater structural integrity
A new Settings screen, where you can customize Video, Audio and Controls.
And a heap of bugfixes and tweaks
We thank you all very much for the support and the incredible reception of our game!

Happy Launchings!

Cheers

http://www.kerbalspaceprogram.com/download.php

 

[Nirreln]

Struts are an excellent addition.