With my birthday now three days away, I decided to give myself an early birthday present; getting into the Kerbal Space Program bandwagon.
This game was originally free, and Nerd3 showed it off. Looked pretty fun. Basically, you help these little green men on their own planet to jumpstart their space program. Their rocket scientists have invented all the parts to build a rocket or a Spaceplane. But here’s the kicker; they don’t know how to build one!
Nor do they know how to fly it when it’s built! This is why you have to help them out.
So I’ve been playing around with it. You don’t really have to be a rocket scientist (ignore the pun) to know big things require more thrust to get off the ground. And to get more thrust requires bigger engines, which require more fuel tanks, which ultimately requires balancing of the whole thing. Don’t want your rocket to spin out of control and kill your crew, do you?
My first rocket was the tutorial one; a three stage rocket with a single-manned capsule and a parachute on top of it. It can get to Outer Space, but the rocket likes to spin out of control when the third stage launches. Soon, the capsule alone floats aimlessly into space, with no propulsion. You’re fucked there. 😛
I’ve tried adding fins to hopefully counter-balance the spinning. That seems to help until again, the third stage.
My latest was a crazy one. Five stages. Each one of them the big ones (the ones that NASA uses for their shuttles). The thing never got close to hitting outer space. It went out of control sometime after the first booster was jettisoned. I’m guessing it was due to the multiple fins, and it was very, very heavy.
Still, this game is fun because it’s a sandbox game, and it kind of reminds me of Spore’s Space Stage, without the stupidy of selling spice. And it’s worth the $18.
What’s cool, this game isn’t anywhere near completed. It’s in Alpha. There’s talks of a version where you can build a Space Station, plan Unmanned rocket missions to go to desolate planets, and other things.
So yeah. You should get this game. Help the Kerbals out! And get it while it’s still cheap! Because the price increases everytime there’s an update.