My fiance's brother turned me on to this game about two years ago now and I was pretty securely hooked from the get go. Kerbal Space Program takes place a solar system similar to our own but for the sake of toning down part counts required to build a ship, and as a result computer power, the whole system has been greatly reduced in size. Now don't get me wrong, this does very little towards making rocket science easy.
Since the game is still in alpha (though finally nearing beta, having all its major processes in place) it has evolved a lot since I started playing it. Multiple patches, a plethora of parts, and not a few major tweaks to the game mechanics later, and the game that hooked me has now become a regular in my gaming rounds.
KSP now has two modes to play in. The first, and oldest, is the Sandbox mode. In here, you get access to all the parts to play with. You can build the biggest rocket you can imagine (that your computer can handle), and watch it erupt in flames (See bottom of post) or blast off to one of the fifteen planetary bodies in the system. This mode was my introduction to the game and it was overwhelming to say the least. I tried building what I thought looked like a good rocket. I got it prepped....launched....and the rocket made it 15 km up before running out of fuel and falling back to the ground. I made some tweaks, repeated the launch....16km.
You get the idea. Even though I have been a huge fan of NASA since a little kid, even though physics is my strong suit and I thought I understood orbital mechanics at least a bit it took me many, many attempts to get a craft into orbit, let alone to the Mun. I did some research outside the game, crunched some numbers, and finally succeeded...regularly getting where I intend to go. Baptism by fire was definitely how I entered the Kerbal universe.
The Career mode, currently in the heaviest construction, is where I spend most of my time these days. First reason is because it gives me a carrot on a stick, a tangible reason to play. You start off with a solid fuel booster, a liquid fuel tank, a liquid fuel engine, a pod into which to put a Kerbal and a parachute to (attempt to) avoid fiery endings. To unlock further parts, you use instruments to collect Science, one of the games three planned currencies (With Money and Reputation to come soon with the contract system in patch .24(ish)). This limiting of what you can use when forces you to find the best use of each part and get far more bang for your buck. Within this mode I've gone from barely managing to stop a crash on the mun to being able to get to the mun, land multiple times, collect science and get home with barely a thought to the rocket design. Even with that level mastered, however, I am far from mastering this game. As I wrote this post, I managed to strand Jebediah Kermin on Eve (Venus) with no foreseeable way home. That, however, is a challenge for another day...
The game has a lot to offer, I've definitely gotten my $26.99 out of it, and plan to play this much more over as development progresses. They just teamed up with NASA and added in asteroids, as well as new parts that allow for the capture and redirect of said asteroids, just as NASA plans to do within the next few years. As you can no doubt tell, I am definitely hooked. Ending this Rant for now, but I'll be back with more on this game and others.
Thanks for following!
Sociopathic Score:
Depends on your play style. Personally, I don't tend to send my Kerbals on one way missions. Others I know do things like create a ring around Kerbin using EVA'd Kerbals...So it certainly has potential.
Sophomoric Score:
It definitely has a cartoonish charm to it, as well as fulfilling every little kids dream of being an astronaut...so mid range again.
Strategic Score:
Keep in mind this is out of 10. Considering it is in fact rocket science we are doing here, it can get pretty insane...
-Mac
Kerbal Space Program can be purchased directly through Steam or directly from their site:
Kerbal Space Program
A few YouTubers who I have found invaluable in my KSP journey:
Scott Manley
HOCGaming
And THIS...
...is what happens when things go comically wrong...
No comments:
Post a Comment