Who else is unable to really play Orbiter?

[Enjo]

If I do anything with Orbiter these days, it's programming during the remaining hours of my short weekend. However I don't blame the system for it - it's the way it should be in my case if I want to master programming.

I usually check in on the forum every day or so in hopes of finding others interested in using orbiter as a exercise in planning and navigating. Seems that it's a rare breed that uses Orbiter for this use. To me, using Orbiter the way I like it is as lonely as space itself.

Same here. Vessel specific threads, LEO operations ... Well, if that's what the market needs...
Anyway, on Polish forums I used to post some simple math threads which help in navigation, for example ending up with 0 velocity near Phobos, and similar. People liked that, but I doubt if anybody used it, and only one other person was posting such tips (respect for that). Later that guy was able to work on communication with real satellites, was in team that launched a real one with help of Russians. He makes a good tech carrier in general.

Still, notice that I don't take part in your navigation threads. This is because I dislike that you have to use TransX the way you do sometimes, by hacking it to achieve the (admirable) result. Such functionalities should be built into the MFD. Too bad that Agentgonzo and I aren't students anymore
On the other hand, you're the only one who posts comprehensive TransX tutorials for the rare breed.

 

[jedidia]

The problem currently is that for all the stuff I would like to do, I have to write an addon first... :lol:

Not that there are not enough quality addons around, but few of them let me do what I'd actually like to do (currently that's Traveling the galaxy and doing low-thrust flights). I HAVE to get that bloody arrow and UCGO installed though (which I downloaded some time ago, but never got around playing with it), and do some Planetary base-building, since that actually IS one of the things I'd like to do...
I'm just caught up too much in programming in my free hours...

 

[MeDiCS]

I play Orbiter from time to time, but my peak is when I'm trying something new, such as an unpowered reentry & landing (no APs). Now I'm trying to do a Moon transfer with AMSO so that I can get there with enough fuel for the return trip (Huston, we have a problem :rofl.

 

[n122vu]

I just don't really have time to do anything with a computer which can't be paralleled with a work.

Same here. I have many things I would love to take the time and learn to do. Like a full Apollo mission in AMSO, then in NASSP. I'd also love to have time to take the UCGO Arrow on a complete mission to one of the outer planets and back, say to the moon.

I was heavy into David413's shuttle fleet for a while, and also the XR-2 and XR-5. But I just don't have the time. Same goes for FSX. Working on computers 5 days a week also makes you not want to sit in front of one for very long in the off hours.

Taking care of a special needs child is a full time job for both me and my wife, and any gaming or simulating is very, very back-burner these days

 

[Tex]

Usually forum duties combined with real life commitments prevented me from playing much Orbiter. Since I took an official leave of absence from admin duties however, I have managed to find some time to play in the past 2 weeks and boy did I have fun! I finally attempted a flight from KSC to Wideawake similar to Gonzo's amazing replay in just under 1000 seconds, but my flight was not quite that fast. :lol:

I also managed to brush up on my transx skills. You really have to play this thing a few times a year at least or I find that I forget some stuff! :RnR1:

 

[Goth]

There are so many things you can do in Orbiter that sometimes you simply don't know what to choose.
So you start thinking, you surf forums, orbit hangar mods, then you start planning about making an add-on, and hours passes; this way you still hadn't played Orbiter. :huh:
I guess this is my current problem with it.

 

[Izack]

Hahah...I haven't dropped into this cycle quite yet (haven't had enough time with Orbiter) but I suspect I will soon. I only ended up finding Orbiter because I was in the midst of creative doldrums and was looking through introductory astrodynamics pages for inspiration (and instead was linked to this), but now that I've started writing again I've found my free time to be divided between too many things...
Of course, I have my own little solar system here on my PC to explore, so I have no doubt that I will continue playing this.

 

[Shadow Addict]

The problem currently is that for all the stuff I would like to do, I have to write an addon first... :lol:

I have this recurring daydream where I'm good enough at modeling and programming that I can make my own hierarchy of rockets (starting with suborbital) for a personal VSA. I don't think it's impossible, but finding the time to get good at Blender is gonna be hard.

Also I took up C++ in a vain attempt to I guess help the NASSP project (though as it turns out I really enjoy programming).

My most proud moment in Orbiter is when I did Apollo 8 in vAGC mode over the course of a few weeks last May. I followed the checklists completely and I splashed down only 45 minutes early (also several thousand miles off course, but hey whatever).

 

[supersonic]

---------- Post added at 02:45 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:43 AM ----------

Here lately I find myself spending more time reading the forum that flying in Orbiter

Same here.

 

[Shadow Addict]

Here lately I find myself spending more time reading the forum that flying in Orbiter

This has (unfortunately) been true for me for most of 2010, though only in March did I stop playing almost completely.

 

[Omhra]

I still have a continuous mission in orbiter.. and always have since the training days of 2002. Currently I am in a grand tour with a Descartes class ship outfitted with 1 DG, 1 DGIV and one shuttle PB (now gone)..
Started with an Earth moon trip to Moon Base Alpha. Then 3 ascents to the orbiting construction site of the Descartes class ship.
Departure from Luna headed for Mars With flyby Deimos and then Phobos.. Descartes on high orbit awaited the 2 DGs to return with the data and the samples... as the Shuttle made a trip down to Olympus to pick up the last member of the team.
Then it was out to Jupiter, a nice ride above the volcanoes of Io and then Europa's Galileo base whose crew was awaiting relief and could not wait to transit to Saturn. After an emotional ceremony the crews exchanged roles and were off to Saturn. Titan was a sight to behold and the landing was exiting. DG4 plowing into that orange atmosphere... Descartes remained on high orbit just outside the rings ah what a sight. Then we took the plunge towards the inner solar system and headed to the stasis chambers... we awoke nearing Venus and we achieved a Lagrange 3 orbit just trailing the planet... we lost the shuttle there when it plunged too far into the Venusian atmosphere and we mourned the loss of the crew...
We are now making arrangements to head for Mercury, but we are on hold for 2 weeks for it to be in position for our burn.
If it all goes well we should fly by it and sling assist to rendezvous with Earth inside of 8 months...

What was the question?
Oh no, never bored of it.. It keeps me relaxed and makes my spirit soar....

 

[Gothmog]

In my opinion it's always worthwhile. If you're a developer, in tech support, whatever, troubleshooting a particular add-on parallels things that often happen on the job. As for developing your own add-ons, which I have yet to do, the skill-building character of that should speak for itself.

 

[Tommy]

If you run out of inspiration for "things to do", read some forum threads, there are always people asking for tutorials. If you think you know how to do it, take a bit of time to "get it down", and put out the tutorial. It's amazing how much you'll learn from creating a tutorial.

I helped with a couple tute's about IMFD because I knew the basics, and in the process learned more about IMFD than I had known before I started.

More to the point, it gave me a "goal". Orbiter itself doesn't provide them, you have to come up with your own (although check out the lua challenges in the beta!).

 

[4throck]

I too spend more time in the forum than on Orbiter itself. Of course, I can get here from any PC (including from work...) but I only have Orbiter on my home laptop.

Being a standalone simulator with complete freedom of actions, there aren't any tasks that you have to complete, so you never get to "play" Orbiter.
What you get are the pleasures of discovery, relaxation and on general living some of your fantasies. And yes, you can be creative with addons and scenarios.

As for having a motivation to return more to Orbiter, it would work for me if there as a simple record of "completed scenarios" displayed on the situation list. That way, I could see what I had done and what I hadn't. A completion condition might be defined on the situation file (as simple as "landed moon +40N +9W 20011212") and the program would check if your spacecraft meets that criteria.