Why you like Orbiter

[Kaito]

We are a select breed of people. We waste away time on a computer simulator with no goal, no objective, and who's events look semi similar to this:
Wait, Wait, Wait, burn for 3 seconds. Wait, Wait, Wait, use translation thrusters. Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait, retrograde burn, Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait, use translation thrusters for a minute, dock with ISS.
WOO HOO!!! (notice a trend? )

Anyway, all the waiting would turn away almost everybody, not to mention the lack of a goal. Yet, we are still here.
So, why? Why are you guys still here? What keeps you interested in Orbiter?

As for me, I mostly run in cycles with Orbiter. I find it fun for 3 months, then shy away from it, then try it again, and the cycle continues. I like it mainly because I'm free to do what I want to do. Daydreams are always fun (those poor souls in that Orion capsule...), and just the fact that, eventually, i'll be able to SEE the rings of Saturn (still gotta figure out how to get past the moon....).

So, what keeps you here?

 

[garyw]

Anyway, all the waiting would turn away almost everybody, not to mention the lack of a goal.

Every mission I do in Orbiter is planned and has a specific set of goals and things to learn.

 

[MJR]

Its the fact that it is very realistic. You can do almost anything and it gives you a challenge. It is like I am actually doing it in reality. I always wanted to and still want to be an astronaut. This contributed to that goal a lot. Just like you I can rarely ever get past the Moon. I made it to Mars before in a DG-IV. =)

 

[RangerPL]

That's a very accurate description of a typical orbiter session

I also run cycles with Orbiter, but for me, it's usually 2-3 months of Orbiter followed by a long period when I play something else. I'm getting back into Orbiter right now.

As for what keeps me interested: I have no clue. Maybe it's the feeling of orbiting at 300km altitude in an XR5, or going to the moon with a CTV Pegase, or messing with the switches in the Apollo CSM.

Besides, it's the closest I'll get to actually flying in space, as I have a sight defect (requiring contact lenses), asthma and... yes... ADD.

 

[Epsilon]

The fun for Orbiter for me comes from trying to break stuff.
Seeing how hard I can hit a planet's atmosphere (current record is ~113AUPa dynamic pressure), pushing a spaceplane like the XR2 to its limits (gate racing courses), and stuff like that.
Of course, I've gone through the more standard bits, like the grand tour of the solar system I'm doing, making a ship addon (the DCIV - woot! Get it on orbithangar! Now!) and things like -that-. That being said, I still try to break stuff even when I'm doing normal stuff.

"I should never be a pilot", says the guy who hit Jupiter going 6GM/s. >_>

 

[Urwumpe]

What I like: It is a game, which requires me to think ahead more than just 15 seconds. Even most RTS games are rarely dynamic enough to force you to plan ahead. You have your best practice there and that's it. Orbiter, like any good simulation, rewards not reactions, but actions. You not only decide, but you also decide how your future decisions will be like. Like real spaceflight, you work on reducing the amount of decisions - a good trajectory only needs you to monitor it.

There are many other games I like, which require such careful planning. On SH4, the firing of the torpedoes is not the game. Having a large convoy pass over you, the escorts overhear you and you being able to start the attack right from close distance, attack many ships in the convoy in short time and then get away fast enough to make it impossible for the escorts to find you and finally get away without damage and without loosing a member of your beloved crew...that is rewarding. And each good decision you make, means one enforced quick decision you don't need to make.

And so is orbiter. Landing on the moon is not the reward. Getting there by your own decisions is.

 

[Artlav]

We are a select breed of people. We waste away time on a computer simulator with no goal, no objective, and who's events look semi similar to this:
Wait, Wait, ...

More like launch, wait, align planes, wait, do transfer burn, wait, read a book, glance at the screen, curse, reload from transfer burn, wait, take a stroll on the roof, look at the computer, do last-minute avoidance maneuver, wait, wait, do de-orbit burn, wait, wait, wait, blow up, reload, wait, wait, wait, land, relax.

 

[Ghostrider]

Well, we do like it because it's challenging and challenges are FUN. As for goals, we can make our own until along comes a way to keep track of them in-game and score accordingly. A bit like some tactical military simulations where after you've set things up and you hit the "OPEN FIRE" command, all is over and the battle won before you can even shoot off some rounds yourself.

 

[ex-orbinaut]

My reason? It gives me the opportunity to put three of my favorite hobbies together in one pleasing package;

Astronomy, programming (learning a new and exciting language in the API is a bonus, too!), and 3D art. Lost touch with all these hobbies for a looong while. Got them all back at last, thanks to Orbiter.

Hooked, not "like", is the word in my case!

 

[ar81]

Any simulation is something like:
Do something, wait, wait, wait, do something, wait, wait, wait, do something...

Do something in Mechwarrior 3 is "shoot and move".
Mechwarrior 3 is shoot and destroy, go there, shoot and destroy...
This is why I found it so boring. AI was poor and using long range weapons was enough to destroy any incoming. The worst of all is that it was repetitive and uninteresting gameplay, at least for me.

With Orbiter you can go somewhere (where you have not gone before), deploy sats, retrieve sats, build space stations, practice suborbital flights, deliver cargo, dock stations, practice aerobraking, slingshots... make addons!!

Unlike mechwarrior 3, which usually involves shooting small or big mechs in different terrains, orbiter is about burns, but burns that offer a great deal of variety in terms of what you can do.

Perhaps one of the most appealing elements in orbiter is the free roaming feature. Independence War had a good script, but you did not have too much chance of do some free roaming.

In Orbiter you can do all the roaming you want.

 

[Epsilon]

Perhaps one of the most appealing elements in orbiter is the free roaming feature. Independence War had a good script, but you did not have too much chance of do some free roaming.

In Orbiter you can do all the roaming you want.

Which is exactly why Morrowind is hands-down my favorite game ever.

 

[n72.75]

The shear amount of things that i can do. I plan missions, and i do other things while waiting.

 

[atuhalpa]

I like Orbiter for many reasons not the least of which is it graphically illustrates in an absolutely awesome manner the utter vastness of space and how isolated and fragile the rock we inhabit is.

 

[bujin]

So, why? Why are you guys still here? What keeps you interested in Orbiter?

After sleeping through a hundred million centuries we have finally opened our eyes on a sumptuous planet, sparkling with colour, bountiful with life. Within decades we must close our eyes again. Isn't it a noble, an enlightened way of spending our brief time in the sun, to work at understanding the universe and how we have come to wake up in it?

-- Richard Dawkins, Unweaving the Rainbow

That just about sums it up for me. I do like to play some other games, but for me, Orbiter is about learning. I feel quite sorry for those people who spend their 80 years (if they're lucky) on the planet only ever interested in the lives of celebrities, or what has happened on this week's Big Brother.

I'll never be a great scientist, and so I'll never make any great discoveries about the nature of the universe. But I have found it to be a fascinating place, and I owe it to my existence to learn as much about it as possible.

Orbiter is one way for me to do this. I studied astrophysics at university, but only briefly covered orbital mechanics. Orbiter has helped me to understand orbital mechanics to a much higher level.

Plus, it's great fun. :speakcool:

 

[kevinvr]

OK, I agree with most of what is said so far and all I have to add is :
1. It's Fun
2. It's Free
3. It's a Challenge

 

[markl316]

I've always wanted to be a pilot or astronaut. Orbiter lets me live that dream.

 

[ar81]

This is how a disaster takes place in orbiter...

You are in orbit and suddenly your craft tells you you are running out of air, you check your orbit and you are about to enter atmosphere with a very steep angle and you have almost no fuel to bump it up.

-Houston we have a problem...

Then your wife calls you and says...
-Honey, the dinner is ready.
-I am coming.

You do not have to have any attempt to survive.
Orbiter is safe.

 

[tblaxland]

I never gave it any great philosophical thought why I use Orbiter. I guess it is an escape. Thinking about the maths/physics etc occupies my brain to the point that I can ignore all else (much to my wife's chagrin ).

 

[TMac3000]

For me, it's the idea of accomplishing something that dozens of the brightest men and women on planet Earth have not been able to do (at least, not in a manned mission). It makes me feel incredibly smart.

I think it is also the sense of completion you get from making an interplanetary, or even cislunar trip. You make a whole bunch of burns and other actions that seemingly have nothing to do with your trip, and don't appear to have much effect, yet every time you follow the procedures correctly, you end up where you want to be. It's like a miracle.

 

[V8Li]

Hit "T" twice