Starmade is basically what the title says with less letters you can make ships with different subsystems all blocks and fight pirates upgrade or build new ships make a space station salvage parts and such
it's currently beta free to play at the link and it supports multiplayer
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All stock.
I'm using all stock at the moment but I'm inclined to download Mechjeb (automated/scripted control interface) and there's a mod with struts that you can connect after docking which would make multi-vessel constructions significantly less wobbly.
Suffering from major lag at my station construction site now, attempting to dock new modules is proving impossible as what should be precise deceleration burns are sending me scooting away at 5-10 m/s due to the lag on the throttle. 250+ parts in a small location is killer for my poor little laptop.
At this point I'm left with two choices, scrap the thing and start over with a more minimalist approach to parts (not an entirely wasted effort as I've learnt a thing or two from station 1.0) or pray to some Kerbalistic deity that i can precisely hit a docking port with an approach from outside the area of lag (basically a couple of hundred meter approach at 0.2 m/s).
With high confidence in the robust "Munrover 3" design, the brave Kerbals planned a new adventure...
An intercept with Minmus! Despite not quite putting enough grunt into the transfer burn, the transfer was successful, and our 3 heroes performed a retrograde burn to achieve a high orbit.
A first sighting of our quarry from orbit...looks a bit hilly! The classic Munrover 3 delivery platform has once again excelled...
We move to a closer orbit, at just under 40,000 metres, and start to pick a landing spot. The low gravity means it requires very fine burn control
As the final descent is started, the second stage is dropped...it still has fuel, but is far too powerful for the fine control required for the descent.
The view from orbit was right, it's really hilly. Hopefully we've picked a fairly flat spot for our landing.
Doesn't look too bad...we've also got a shadow now, and this can be used as a reference to fine-tune our approach...RCS is now used to scrub off any lateral movement, and try and get the lander levelled up.
Final couple of metres, and we have surface speed down to 1.2m/s, which is well within tolerance for the landing wheels!
TOUCHDOWN! Solar panels deployed, lights on, and brakes engaged...not even a puncture this time, we landed so gently!
Our first kerbal sets forth to plant his flag, picking a mountain overlooking the landing site...he also makes use of the extremely low gravity to set a new galactic high-jump record
It's not all fun and games...the gravity is so low that driving the lander is virtually impossible...it tips over very easily. For now, it's brakes on, and it can act as a moon base until I get a better idea of how to move it round. On the plus side, plenty of fuel left, so if need be I can probably lift off and get back towards Kerbin. Tricky journey...you have to make good use of the Manoevre planner to make sure you execute the right burns, as Minmus has such a small gravity well you are aiming at a very small target.
You know the upside to that terrain is that a rover with a lower centre of gravity will be able to get some epic airtime with rocket assisted jumps.
Not designed a rover yet so no idea how feasible that would be.
Are rover brakes something you have to add during the build?
No, they are in the wheels. If you look at the top GUI section (altimeter etc) it's the bottom one of the 3 buttons on the right-hand side (you can see it activated in teh screenshots above from after I've ditched the second stage onwards...I've had bad experiences of landing on a slope, and having the lander barrel away and flip!)
I'm going to see if I can lower the centre of gravity for the next design...also still have to add a ladder that reaches the floor, and lines up with the hatch!
I have to admit that is one of the most painful aspects of this game, finding out that you've left out or misplaced a key piece of equipment only when it becomes mission critical. And that's after coming to terms with rocket designs that don't spontaneously explode/break up at twenty thousand feet.
Things I've forgotten or mucked up that have resulted in stranded/lost Kerbals/probes and huge frustrations:
Forgetting to put RCS thrusters on a ship that was sent to rescue an out of fuel station module, no RCS meant i couldn't then dock said module to my station.
No RCS fuel - i think this was actually on the replacement tug to the lost module mentioned above (which is still orbiting with 5 Kerbals on board), i put the thrusters on but somehow managed to forget fuel.
Docking ports on backwards (/Facepalm)
Those little xenon powered thrusters, again on backwards (the flange is actually the inner side).
Forgetting to deploy the solar panels on a remote control probe, running out of electricity and then realising it needs power to deploy the panels (i now place one of the single panels remotely controlled ships as one of the first placed parts as a matter of principle).
Undocking a ship that needs to be Kerbal piloted, with no Kerbals on board (not actually that frustrating as I had EVA Kerbals nearby)
Of course all these educational experiences have led to significant improvements in subsequent design revisions and a tendency to hit autosave before significant moments (here's hoping autosave is disabled in career mode for pure rage inducing intentions).
Might try a Minmus mission sometime soon, but I'm still dedicated to salvaging station 1.0 and there's three Kerbals in a can on the Mun to be rescued/relocated.
The new first stage design test run hit a few minor teething problems.
...more struts next time, I think.
Not had much time to play the last few weeks but I can safely say I am now done with my first station:
After numerous mishaps and abandoned missions the head of Kerbal mission control threw the entire technical planning, design and mission control staff out and replaced them all from the existing cleaning staff by lottery. Given how things have gone since it would appear each and every cleaner was in fact a genius.
Subsequent to the restructuring a single rocket was launched, it intercepted all the out of fuel craft each time matching orbit and holding station whilst Kerbalnauts EVA'd across and then intercepted and docked without a hitch.
Total crew now aboard: 17
Next up either rescuing the crew on the mun, or establishing a mun base. Although they seem pretty happy there so there's no rush:
Good work!
I should probably consider a rescue mission of some sort for the 30'odd Kerbalnauts currently floating around, some giant space-bus!
Some pics from my recent Munar explorations:
My rescue hopper, intended to pick up three stranded Kerbalnauts and then either transfer them off the Mun or to a new residence.
Whilst decelerating from orbit the hopper sent a transmission back to Kerbal space command identifying what appeared to be an object on the surface. Locating and investigating this anomaly has taken mission precedence.
Munar intercept and probe launcher releasing the first of it's four probes:
Probe entering lower orbit to begin reconnaissance:
Skimming the surface of the Mun between 8-6k elevation communication with one of the probes was lost as it hit a peak. However the location of the odd structure was confirmed and a lander sent to investigate.
Coming in to land:
This clearly warrants a closer look:
I love that craft design, with the probes on the slope of the capsule.
I need to find that loop, and drive a super-rover through it!
Thanks, but that's not a capsule it's a structural cone. I considered a capsule but opted for an unmanned probe launcher followed by a manned lander. It probably wouldn't be too difficult to combine the two for planets/moons with a longer flight time.
The probes are rubbish (as befits a version 1.0 design), the small separatron rockets send them into an uncontrollable spin, they've got a secondary in line engine that won't fire and the solar panel is twice as long as the craft so they have crazy amounts of excess power.
I've not done probes, and child-craft...how does the change of control work?
The same as undocking, after separation the second vessel appears in the tracker station or you can switch to it using [ or ]. Essentially once released they become an independent ship (as long as you remember to put a control unit on there).
Mate, that's a great bit of Kerbalism, sir! You've clearly got the game sussed. What's next for the SkuntSpace program?
Undecided as yet, it's a 50/50 between developing a long term Mun settlement or a trip to Minmus.
Wouldn't say I have it sussed entirely, despite not having any launch explosions for a while now I've still had plenty of facepalm moments.
My latest attempt at a craft
Behold the Hammer Head! Mk1
Shortly after this the engine fell off
a fine time to test the runabouts
slight problem inballanced thrusters so it just spins like a top plus not enough thrust for kerbal orbit work (was designed for mun so might be ok there) ends in a fiery death
Quick tweak and back to the launch pad
Perfect orbit this time ready to burn for the mun
but then I accidentally stage the thing an loose the more powerful thruster for breaking orbit
try to make do with the nuclear thruster high efficiency but low thrust takes ages to get a moon intercept
finally in orbit of the mun
Pilot 1 is away in the runabout
testing the ion drive not really enough panels runs out of juice fast but ok for manuvering
One slight problem no fuel for the main decent engines forgot to disable crossfeed and the runabouts tanks are empty and ion drive no where near powerful enough so head back to the hammer head for a refuel
line up and for some reason won't dock seems there is a coupler mismatch which can decouple but not recouple.
So I abandon the kerbal to his fate and refuel then deploy runabout 2
fire up the engines and take it in for a landing
run out of fuel on the way down this shot is seconds before I hit the ground at 400m/s I optimistically have deployed the landing gear
So a few kinks to be smoothed out there