General Question How is Kerbal more famous than Orbiter.

jroly

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KSP is cute and funny, Orbiter isn't. That is why KSP gets more attention.

KSP
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Orbiter
Lash-the-dog-600x401.jpg
 

orbitingpluto

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KSP happens to be more assessable, I think. KSP's map mode is elegant and intuitive compared to Orbiter's navigation MFDs, and it doesn't hurt that KSP's star system happens to be less complex than our own, either.
 

Artlav

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KSP made the main comic, Orbiter got the tool-tip text:
So?
It wouldn't have been funny otherwise, since Orbiter is good enough to estimate real world trajectories, while KSP is a reality-unrelated game.
 

Urwumpe

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So?
It wouldn't have been funny otherwise, since Orbiter is good enough to estimate real world trajectories, while KSP is a reality-unrelated game.

Exactly. And Orbiter was mentioned as well... which sure prevented quite a few heated flamewars. Especially inside those of us who both play KSP and Orbiter. :lol:
 

C3PO

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Landing a three seat vehicle to lift six? Very Kerbal.

I can't count the amount of times I've inadvertently launched with a full crew. :facepalm:
 

rseferino

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The issue, as many have stated, is that KSP is easier to handle than Orbiter. It took me several months to learn to use tools Orbiter. With Kerbal I was a few weeks and I learned the basics, except landings and rendezvous and manufacture airplanes. What attracts is gripping parts and assemble them to make the ship or rocket desired. It's addictive.

On the other hand too common thing is that in my videos many put comments like "looks like I used KSP" or "KSP is 1000 times better." For a while consider using KSP to make a video, but I did not attract much game environment presents. I like but as someone said, KSP is a video game and Orbiter is a simulator. These days someone asked me for help because wishes to Kerbal version of my video of the Martian mission novel Voyage.

Here in the forum, in another discussion, someone said if Orbiter implement the construction of KSP option would be the ultimate space simulator.
 

Topper

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The issue, as many have stated, is that KSP is easier to handle than Orbiter. It took me several months to learn to use tools Orbiter. [...]

I think Orbiter is just to complicate = to realistic for the mainstream.
Creating a spaceship in Orbiter is more like creating and designing a real spaceship (from the point of engineering).
You even have to design the cockpit, create the software of the spaceship etc.

In Kerbal it's more like building a rocket out of "Lego blocks". I believe you can also have fun with it... But I prefer the "realistic way".
Using Orbiter can really advance you skills in math, programing, etc., and that could be a benefit for RL also (And it's more as "just Playing").

So the real question is:

Why does [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_Owls_football"]Rice[/ame] play [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Longhorns_football"]Texas[/ame]?
 
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BruceJohnJennerLawso

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Why does Rice play Texas?

We choose to go to the Moon, not the Mun!!!

On a serious note, my suspicions would be this:

-KSP is more a game than a sim, and is easier for most people to have fun with as a result
-KSP is commercially developed, and as a result receives new features faster than Orbiter does (although Martins is doing a decent job of closing the gap with the latest beta)
-KSP was sort of a case of "the perfect storm". KSP is a very unusual type of game, and really just seemed to show up at the perfect time to truly take off. Harvester and his team have done good, but they also got quite lucky with how quickly word of the game spread. It seems that KSP really fills a niche that a lot of people wanted filled.

:hailprobe:
 

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Lately I've been feeling conflicted if it's even worth it for me to develop add-ons for Orbiter, because almost no one would seem to care. As of now, the subreddit for KSP has over 200000 subscribers with new content everyday, while the subreddit for Orbiter has only 596 and gets one or a few occasional posts each month.

Since the unveiling of ITS/BFR, I've been waiting for someone to create open-source code that can emulate the precision entry and landing system of the spaceship so that my fictional country's space program can have its own BFR, because that's probably the only thing that's going to excite people.
 

Urwumpe

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So, you are doing it for others?
 

Face

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As of now, the subreddit for KSP has over 200000 subscribers with new content everyday, while the subreddit for Orbiter has only 596 and gets one or a few occasional posts each month.

If that is the important thing for you, I'd say developing Orbiter addons is not worth it. You will not get much likes/upvotes/<your_social_media_acknowledgment_of_choice> with Orbiter, so if that is what you seek, look elsewhere. KSP is certainly a good choice in this regard.
 
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