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posted by martyb on Monday September 17 2018, @05:04PM   Printer-friendly
from the out-of-this-world! dept.

Kerbal Space Program (KSP) is a remarkably rich, open-ended physics-based space program simulator. The types of spacecraft and missions you can design and simulate, particularly with a very active modding community is practically endless. Do you want to fly the Enterprise? Which one? Perhaps see if you can survive out of Andy Weir's The Martian?

PCGamer has an article on a person who has logged more than 4000 hours on KSP. The user, known as ShadowZone in the Steam community, spends many hours designing and implementing complex spacecraft as well as calculating flight plans. It is an interesting read for anyone who has given this game a try, and if you're not careful you may learn something before it's done.

When I first spied the 39-year-old father of two discussing his playtime on Twitter, I wanted him to answer one simple question: What do you even do in Kerbal Space Program for that length of time? Well if you're Daniel, you spend it building staggeringly complex machines to then launch on missions so daring it'd make Arthur C. Clarke sweat—all while rediscovering that childish sense of wonder that makes space so captivating to begin with.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @08:38PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @08:38PM (#736168)

    Time to purchase that convertible sports car because sounds like you're starting to hit your midlife crisis.

    Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
    Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
    Into the blue again after the money's gone
    Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @12:23AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @12:23AM (#736306)

    Dogs, from the album Animals. One of the greatest albums of all time.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiaF4kuxJco [youtube.com]

    You gotta be crazy, you gotta have a real need.
    You gotta sleep on your toes, and when you're on the street,
    You gotta be able to pick out the easy meat with your eyes closed.
    And then moving in silently, down wind and out of sight,
    You gotta strike when the moment is right without thinking.

    And after a while, you can work on points for style.
    Like the club tie, and the firm handshake,
    A certain look in the eye and an easy smile.
    You have to be trusted by the people that you lie to,
    So that when they turn their backs on you,
    You'll get the chance to put the knife in.

    You gotta keep one eye looking over your shoulder.
    You know it's going to get harder, and harder, and harder as you
    get older.
    And in the end you'll pack up and fly down south,
    Hide your head in the sand,
    Just another sad old man,
    All alone and dying of cancer.

    And when you loose control, you'll reap the harvest you have sown.
    And as the fear grows, the bad blood slows and turns to stone.
    And it's too late to lose the weight you used to need to throw
    around.
    So have a good drown, as you go down, all alone,
    Dragged down by the stone.
    I gotta admit that I'm a little bit confused.
    Sometimes it seems to me as if I'm just being used.
    Gotta stay awake, gotta try and shake off this creeping malaise.
    If I don't stand my own ground, how can I find my way out of this
    maze?

    Deaf, dumb, and blind, you just keep on pretending
    That everyone's expendable and no-one has a real friend.
    And it seems to you the thing to do would be to isolate the winner
    And everything's done under the sun,
    And you believe at heart, everyone's a killer.

    Who was born in a house full of pain.
    Who was trained not to spit in the fan.
    Who was told what to do by the man.
    Who was broken by trained personnel.
    Who was fitted with collar and chain.
    Who was given a pat on the back.
    Who was breaking away from the pack.
    Who was only a stranger at home.
    Who was ground down in the end.
    Who was found dead on the phone.
    Who was dragged down by the stone.