Anybody here play Kerbal Space Program?

Is it any good? Do you need to learn orbital mechanics to play it?  Will it teach you at least enough orbital mechanics to be dangerous?

12 thoughts on “Anybody here play Kerbal Space Program?”

  1. Yes. Yes. No. Yes.

    The tutorials are actually pretty good (at least they were in the earlier version I started out on). The Career mode serves the same basic purpose, by requiring you to earn science results from your missions to ‘buy’ more advanced parts, so you’re basically restricted to sub-orbital and orbital flights at first, then you can move on to Munar (lunar) missions, and beyond, gradually building on your skills.

    Surprisingly enough, rocket science isn’t exactly… rocket science (at least, not when you have the ability to reset any failed launch and don’t care if your crew dies). Just point up, fire the rockets, and, at a certain altitude, start turning east gradually. If your rocket is good enough, you’ll end up in orbit. If its not, well, go build it bigger and try again.

    The only really tricky part about orbital mechanics is that anything you do really changes the opposite side of the orbit. Speed up on the day side of the planet, and your orbit will be higher on the night side.

  2. No. I’ve been playing “South Park: The Stick Of Truth” that I got for my birthday (been using my nephew’s Xbox 360). It is the most pointless game EVER. There’s no message, it is foul, violent, blasphemous, and all around irredeemable.
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    It is the BEST game I have played in a long time! It completely rocks!

    2. It’s sitting on my living room floor, waiting. Lurking.
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      Along with the Assassin’s Creed set in Constantinople. Which is more tempting, because I want to see if I recognize anything.

      1. I suggest you make this your next game. The Stick Of The reveals in its irreverence. I mean, there is a boss fight that takes place right under your-
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        Well, you’re just going to have to play the game. It is insane.

  3. Kerbal Space Program is my #2 addiction. I’ve considered buying a beefier computer to play it to its full potential.
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    Scott Manley (really, that’s his name) has some good tutorials on Youtube.

  6. I think John C Wright used it to make sure his math works out correctly for his fantasy novel Titans of Chaos in terms of how to get from Earth to Mars, and by implication, you can tell which year this novel took place (2003).

    1. But KSP wasn’t developed till 2011, and that book came out in 2007…

      I’m confused.

      1. Hum, perhaps he was using something similar. I remember he said had to use a tool to really plot out the actual trajectory to make the math work.

  7. Its a crazy addictive game. Its really really good, though you’ll be frustrated at times about why your rocket blows up. But that just makes you want to keep trying. When you finally land on the Mun, its totally worth it.

    By itself, it won’t teach you orbital mechanics directly. But it will help you understand them. There are sites that actually do the calculations and then show you the results in KSP.

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