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qbit

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I discovered Orbiter a couple of weeks ago, and have been at it non-stop since then. I've got hundreds of hours in Kerbal Space Program, but always wanted something like Orbiter. Found out about it reading Youtube comments on a video of a guy landing the shuttle in X-Plane (been using X-Plane for years).

So far I've got to the moon using the delta glider and landed at Brighton Beach using the stock MFDs. Been spending time since learning about the other MFDs out there.

Glad to see there's an active community around Orbiter.
 

dbeachy1

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:welcome: to Orbiter-Forum!

:cheers:
 

n72.75

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Welcome to the forum. If you have any questions, we'll be glad to answer.
 

ADSWNJ

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Hi OP - always interested in views of KSP people coming to Orbiter. What do you like and what do you miss on Orbiter?
 

qbit

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Hi OP - always interested in views of KSP people coming to Orbiter. What do you like and what do you miss on Orbiter?

What I LOVE about Orbiter is the realism. I was disappointed when I learned that the KSP solar system was smaller than ours in both number of bodies and overall scale of the distance. Having a model of our solar system to play in is great. Also, the lack of elaborate surface textures and clouds in KSP made things boring to look at.

Then there is the realism in all the planning and flight operations. I really enjoy using the MFDs in Orbiter. KSP you had one awkward system to plan maneuvers. It worked, but it wasn't realistic at all. It was too visual. You could match orbits for certain challenges by just dragging things around until the ellipses matched up. I much prefer to have a realistic cockpit with realistic computers you might find on a spacecraft to plan maneuvers and get information about your flight. KSP's cockpit wasn't all that fun to be in, and I spent most of my time in chase mode. I did use MechJeb for all of its informational readouts.

Also space planes. I was never able to get much done with space planes in KSP. I've only flown the Delta Glider in Orbiter, and love it.

What I miss from KSP... A progression system. In KSP, you had career mode and science mode. Career mode was a bit of a grind, but did give you challenges and goals which unlocked more parts. Science mode was less of a grind but still a feeling of progression. Having to upgrade the space center was nice too. However, having bases and space stations to land on in Orbiter makes up for this. I still get a sense of progression having something to land on or dock with when I visit something new. I assume all the planets and some of the moons have at least one base. It would be nice if there are some space stations around the other planets, but I don't have enough experience with Orbiter to know that yet. I'm also hoping all of the moons around each planet are in Orbiter. It would be cool if the asteroid belt was modeled.

I also liked the rover exploration part of KSP. It would be kind of boring in Orbiter, but it was nice in KSP because you were building the rover. Which is the main thing missed from KSP... Easy ship building. While you were limited to certain parts, you had a lot of configurations you could use them in. It was very fun. In Orbiter, you have much more freedom to build ships, but it is much harder to do. It's not something you just throw together to meet some mission challenge. But this is fine, because I prefer having the kind of ship variety and elaborateness you get with Orbiter.

All and all, I prefer Orbiter. I've got 344 hours in KSP. KSP is a game with space physics being the base of the gameplay. Orbiter is a simulation. The part about KSP that interested me was the physics more than the creativity in ship building. So naturally I prefer a simulator like Orbiter.

If you have any suggestions for addons in Orbiter based on all that, I'd love to hear them!

Paul
 

n122vu

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:welcome: to the forum!!

A good list to start with is always the Recommended Addons page. I've linked the 2010 version as there isn't yet a page for Orbiter 2016 addons. Many of these may still work in 2016 but not all authors have upgraded their addons just yet.

UCGO will get you UMMU, the Arrow Freighter, and a driveable rover. You can also dock a vessel in the belly of the Arrow, such as the DeltaGlider IV from the same author, the stock DeltaGlider, or the DeltaGlider XR1 or XR2 Ravenstar from Altea Aerospace. Any combination of these should get you a good start on having the means to explore the solar system.
 
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boogabooga

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It would be nice if there are some space stations around the other planets, but I don't have enough experience with Orbiter to know that yet.

Not stock, but that's a very easy thing to add via the scenario editor. Also, there are some add-on space stations that can go around other planets.

I'm also hoping all of the moons around each planet are in Orbiter. It would be cool if the asteroid belt was modeled.

Not all of the moons, just the major ones. For minor moons, see for example:

[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=3980"]Outer Planets Base 060929[/ame]
[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=3996"]Outer Planets Patch[/ame]

The asteroid belt is far too large to model in detail. I think Vesta is included in Orbiter 2016. There are add-ons for individual or small groups of asteroids.

Here are some:
[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=1801"]Asteroid Pack 1.00[/ame]
[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=1858"]Mercury Crosser Asteroids[/ame]
[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=4067"]Trojan Asteroids v1.01[/ame]
[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=6484"]Chariklo[/ame]
[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=4564"]1994 CC[/ame]
[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=3621"]90 Antiope (Binary Asteroid)[/ame]

You can add as many more asteroids as you would like with this:
[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=1436"]MPC Database Asteroid Viewer and Exporter v2.0.3[/ame]

You'll have to figure out these are compatible with Orbiter 2010 or Orbiter 2016 or both (or Orbiter 2006). All of them were made before Orbiter 2016 came out.
 

ADSWNJ

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@qbit
Hi Paul,

Great reply - thanks for this. My advice is to learn the basics in the Delta Glider, and as soon as possible, get into the XR-2 or XR-5. It's a stunning upgrade from the Delta Glider, with multiple systems modeled, deeper autopilots, SCRAM engines, and for the XR-5, a docking port in the Space Shuttle orientation, and a massive cargo hold. A typical awesome mission would be a flight out of Wideawake International to Brighton Beach (on the Moon), balancing SCRAMs on the edge of the thermal envelope on the way up, using LaunchMFD for alignment, then your choice of tools to get to the Moon, then BaseSync to line up with Brighton Beach, then Glideslope 2 for the landing over the mountains and into the base (at -2.5km alt).

Or ... taking a Shuttle up to the ISS, and doing a realistic RV approach and docking either with the real tools, or with RV Orientation.

Or ... soon, taking a trip to one of the Earth-Moon or Sun-Earth Largrange points, and marveling at the exquisite beauty of Martin's physics engine supporting this simulation (and Keith's exquisite calculations to determine the Lagrange Points, that I have faithfully executed!).

Have a look at www.orbithangar.com, where the vast bulk of addons exist unless called out otherwise in this forum. Basically, if you can't find it by searching or asking here, or by searching on orbithangar.com, then it doesn't exist.

Smooth flying, friend!
Andrew (ADSWNJ)
 
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