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