
Kerbal Space Program - space flight simulator game - dexen
https://kerbalspaceprogram.com/
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elteto
I don't see it mentioned in the comments but those interested in _realistic_
space flight simulation should check Orbiter [1]. Orbiter tries to be as
physically accurate as possible by using accurate drag models, elliptical
gravity (no circular orbits) and many other interesting features. It has a
large community behind it and is scriptable with Lua. I have only played with
it for a couple of days and I am impressed by it. It is definitely not a game
per se, but lots of fun can be had with it. Oh and is freeware, so no need to
pay for it.

[1] <http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/>

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mikeash
Can you explain what "elliptical gravity" is in this context, and why it means
no circular orbits?

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elteto
I am by no means an expert, but can try to explain it. Circular orbits are a
simplification used when there is no need for high accuracy, the math is much
more simpler. The problem is that celestial bodies in the real world do not
follow circular orbits, they move in orbits with an elliptical shape (not
always!), following Kepler's Laws. If you want to predict the position of a
planet into the future, this is the model you have to use. You should check
the following links, if you are interested in the topic:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keplers_laws_of_planetary_motio...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keplers_laws_of_planetary_motion)

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newtons_law_of_universal_gravit...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newtons_law_of_universal_gravitation)

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_mechanics>

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mikeash
I thought it might be that, except Kerbal certainly does elliptical orbits,
and you'd actually have to work rather hard _not_ to, because a basic
integrator hooked up to the 1/r^2 law of gravitational attraction gives you
elliptical orbits for free.

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keithwhor
This is the most fun single-player experience I have ever had, bar none. It
should be a mandatory part of the curriculum for high school physics courses,
as I wish I had been able to experience something like this when I was that
age. Orbital mechanics can be a little bit counterintuitive on first glance,
but the sense of reward this game provides for, well, understanding physics,
is just phenomenal.

In an earlier build the sun (Sol) was just a single point gravity well, and I
spent hours trying to figure out how to manipulate the simulator and the
gravity well to accelerate my Kerbals to breakneck speeds. Think the best I
got was 0.1c (and completely flung out of the solar system).

I'm glad to see they've added plenty more planets and other celestial objects
to interact with. Highly recommend this.

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AUmrysh
I agree that kerbal should be part of a High School education. I also think
that Garry's Mod with WireMod should be part of trigonometry and
electronics/programming. I honed my trig by building tracking bots that
followed a specified player. Without trig it still would have been possible,
but it's so much easier to do it the trig way.

Fun and play should be a part of learning, without them learning becomes a
rather dull and boring task of spewing back the memorized rules/formulas
without a deep understanding of why or how to use them.

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speeder
I am proud to say that I went to.university with the game creator, and he
already wanted to make it back then, and seeing it coming to fruition makes me
really happy.

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DanBC
YouTuber kurtjmac has a let's play for Kerbal Space Program if anyone wants to
see it played before buying it.

(<http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD603D8234AE51EF0>)

I'd love to see someone in the future optimise a docking procedure and say
they got into it from something like Kerbal.

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adventured
This is a tremendous simulation.

I only wish it had an economic side, where you could apply for contracts to
complete tasks, like to launch satellites or land on the moon or build a space
station, for which you got paid and would then have access to harder jobs that
paid more. I understand they're working on building a game around the flight
sim aspects, but merely wished it was already here now ;)

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asdfs
The eventual goal is to have a "career mode" (there are currently stub menu
entries in the UI), which will likely be similar to what you're envisioning.

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VonGuard
Yeah, I was at GDC, and the Squad guys said, behind me in Rocket's talk "Gee,
everyone wants resources, we should get that done really soon."

The thing I love about KSP is that the tutorial for how to play beyond the
launch pad is literally a NASA video from the 70's about orbital mechanics.

Oh, and there are few things in gaming as rewarding as landing a Kerbal on
Duna, and then realizing you've got to just leave him there because it was a
one-way trip.

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jdavid
Ok so one of the coolest things in this game is that you can have multiple
flights occurring at once. Has anyone been able to intercept another flight
they have put into space?

What other crazy feats would be interesting to accomplish?

From what I can tell you can only attempt things based on this solar system.

This game is so enthralling for an engineer. It plagues me every moment since
I got the game I love this sandbox space simulator. I hope they keep taking my
money and really improve the game. It seems to work slightly better on my mac
than on my pc, and the ship builder is a bit wonky, but I hope they improve
that soon. Right now I spend too much time building things that should be much
easier to construct.

Are any of you sharing designs on the wiki yet?

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bstx
> Ok so one of the coolest things in this game is that you can have multiple
> flights occurring at once. Has anyone been able to intercept another flight
> they have put into space?

Well, yes. That's how you assemble space stations :)

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exch
It is also mighty practical for interplanetary missions. Specially the ones
that require landing and return trips.

You can't realistically get the entire contraption + all the required fuel and
engines up into orbit in one go. It is just too heavy. It is considerably more
practical to send the mission up into orbit in smaller chunks, then reassemble
it and optionally refuel at an orbital station, before you begin the actual
flight.

Of course, this hangs on the premise that you are capable of docking with
orbiting vehicles, which does require practice. So far, I've managed to do it
a few times, in order to build my space station/refueling depot. But I'm still
losing missions left and right, because I messed up the approach to the target
vehicle.

In the interest of saving lives, I've opted to just use remote controlled
modules as much as possible. All the dead kerbals are not conductive to
successful future funding requests.

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fennecfoxen
I'd like to second the "practicality" angle; I couldn't muster enough fuel and
thrust to get a 2-module space station (two Hitchhiker modules) into orbit
without the rockets blowing apart from instability. But the single-module guy
is cruising along just fine right now.

Rocket science: Apparently it's hard. Who knew?

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exch
This warrants the obligatory XKCD quote[1]: "Space is hard"

[1]: <http://what-if.xkcd.com/38/>

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daurnimator
no such quote on linked page

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eavc
It's written on the ship in the final image.

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ecopoesis
Dear game makers: please tell me in a clear and easy to find way on your
landing page what platforms you support. I shouldn't have to drill down into a
FAQ to find this. Microsoft and Apple even provide handy icons to help.

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Semaphor
Reddits /r/kerbalspaceprogram [1] has some nice content (if you find it amidst
all the screenshots) for KSP.

[1] <http://www.reddit.com/r/kerbalspaceprogram>

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stcredzero
One could build a realtime social component that would avoid all of the
pitfalls of multiplayer. Basically, let other people "ride along" on flights,
but only the "host" player would be able to control. You could even allow
others to spacewalk, but just "zap" them back inside when the pilot gets back
inside the ship.

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endlessvoid94
A friend showed me this game last week and I have been enthralled. It's
incredibly fun, with a depth that I'm not used to in video games.

It does require a ton of system resources though. I wonder if you could
offload the processing to a server and just display graphics on the client?

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joezydeco
KSP uses the Unity engine for rendering. They've recently switched to version
4 I believe. There _are_ options in the game to hold back on the graphics
rendering and get some CPU back. I love this game as well, there's a tongue-
in-cheek approach to some stuff that keeps it from getting too serious about
itself.

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endlessvoid94
Definitely -- if I pull back on the settings, will it be less "realtime"?
Pardon my lack of understanding! I don't know much about graphics, how closely
tied is the graphics engine to whatever Kerbal uses for physics?

I love the names and faces of the astronauts and pilots.

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joezydeco
I don't believe the physics will be held back, the Unity engine will just
spend less time drawing the graphics. As far as I can tell things look almost
the same.

And yes, Jebediah is the man. Um, I mean, Kerbin.

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yutyut
I finally caved and bought the alpha about a month ago. Landing on the moon
was extremely fulfilling. I had to quit when I realized I was spending all of
my evenings docking imaginary rockets together.

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mikeash
I've had a lot of fun with this game. It's entertaining and educational.
Designing and flying different rocket designs is really interesting, and
there's a lot of depth to it. Highly recommended.

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kiba
I think it's could be a lot of fun but none of my computer are equipped to run
this game. So, it's a bit of a drag.

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lucaspiller
Have you checked out the demo? They recently switched to Unity 4 which has
increased performance a fair bit.

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exch
I bought it last week. This has replaced Minecraft for me. It is magnificent
fun, even in its current alpha state. Then again, so was minecraft back in the
day.

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tjdetwiler
FYI I've been using the Linux version from Steam flawlessly (Arch Linux,
GTX560Ti/Nvidia Drivers)

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exch
Same here. While the wine approach worked, this seems to run just a bit
smoother.

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datahipster
Can anyone explain as to what this game provides over the well-developed
Orbiter (<http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/>) aside from the build-your-own-
space-launch-system angle?

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arrrg
It’s actually fun? It’s actually a game?

Orbiter is not really a game. Its UI is terrible, it’s full of complexity, all
that. Now, that’s all fine for a simulator, but not for a game.

If you want a game that gives you better feedback and a much better UI and
much more laser-focused prioritization of what’s actually important and
essential to putting space travel in a game, then you want KSP.

Orbiter to KSP is like Garry’s Mod (only less accessible and even less of a
game) to Minecraft.

Comparing the two doesn’t even make that much sense. You get vastly different
things out of them.

(Also, it’s arguably more beautiful to look at.)

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datahipster
Thanks!

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JDGM
I'm very familiar with this game, but I've never played it! I randomly found a
channel on TwitchTV where someone was playing it and had a really active
commenting community. I watched him a few times in the background while I was
doing something else, and even commented a little. This was months ago.
Perhaps he was playing a beta or something. It baffles me slightly that now
this is on the front page of HN but I love that there's that join-up with a
coincidental channel I watched. What a funny age we live in :)

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anigbrowl
This is neat and cute. Considering that NASA's cut its budget for public
outreach and education to zero, we need more educational tools like this. Well
done!

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Untit1ed
I strongly recommend Robbaz' Viking Space Program
(<http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD1262982675D497A>) for those looking
to see what the game's about - particularly seeing as the game is _not_ just
about building the best rocket ever, it's about resolving to build something
ridiculous and having fun failing to do so.

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kiba
I wonder if the developer put any thought into promoting space exploration
with their game or donating some of the proceed into space exploration.

Another thought: how can ordinary people help with support space exploration
other than writing to congress?

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mikeash
I'd say the mere existence of the game serves to promote space exploration. I
doubt their revenues would make any noticeable dent if donated.

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Arelius
Exactly. A link to NASA or the like would hardly help any sort of promotion.
People enjoying this game immediately get the value of space exploration. And
revenues on this scale would make little significant difference to any
significant project, and be better spent funding the developers making more
games that promote space exploration.

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alexvr
After I clicked on this link I played the demo for over 4 hours on Linux. Such
a fun simulator.

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verelo
I love the idea of this game...but how the hell do i get it??!

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adventured
Can buy it through Steam now as well.

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fmax30
Am i the only one who read this as Kernel Space program ?

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anonymousab
Notch's 0x10c would fit that name.

