Hi Guys! Jerome here, nice to meet you all!
I first tried Orbiter more than 10 years ago and that did not turn out pretty :lol:
At the time I was fully immersed into X-Plane and when I found myself wanting more than atmospheric flying I started designing swept wings gliders with powered vertical take-off. My challenge was a powered vertical take-off from Europe, engine cutoff around 80k and then to glide across the Atlantic.
It kind of worked and I then had the need for something more spacey. Of course, you already know how it went next :
- Arrogant simmer downloads Orbiter : "wow, the switches! I'll feel right at home here!"
- Arrogant simmer launches Atlantis. Because, well, wings.
- Arrogant simmer discovers that physics in space is "all screwed up".
- Arrogant simmer does not want to admit it, but Orbiter is too much for him.
- Arrogant simmer quietly goes back to the lower layers of the atmosphere flying X-Plane :rofl:
Basically I hit that orbital mechanic learning curve (wall) head front and lacked the maturity to dig into it.
Followed too many more hours in X-Plane again, and then KSP came along. It really, really hooked me (and still does, actually!). After a truck load of hours sending Kerbals all around, I finally got to a point where I knew you just don't achieve orbit by shooting stuff straight up :facepalm:
And then, of course, I remembered Orbiter![Smile :) :)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
This time it went much, much, smoother. I'm still very much an Orbiter noob, but at least I can go places (achieve orbit, dock with ISS, Mir and that wonky Papybar station, do not burn upon reentry... stuff like this).
These forums, and the wonderful Orbiter community as a whole, really helped me get started. I'm indebted to the add-on makers and amazed by their dedication and the work they've done (I mainly fly Altea's extraordinary XR2 and got a bit into that very promising Orion MPCV addon).
I still struggle with many, many parts of Orbiter (the flying and the sim itself :rofl
, I'm a bit frustrated because I know I'm still missing a lot the sim has to offer, but I believe it is now for me one of those "go to" sims, along with X-Plane and KSP, that I always come back to, even after years of not flying it.
Well, that was a long blurb. Especially since I'll probably be more of a lurker! But I really wanted to say hi and a huge thank you to the wonderful Orbiter community. That, and tip my hat to the addons contributors :tiphat:
Cheers!
I first tried Orbiter more than 10 years ago and that did not turn out pretty :lol:
At the time I was fully immersed into X-Plane and when I found myself wanting more than atmospheric flying I started designing swept wings gliders with powered vertical take-off. My challenge was a powered vertical take-off from Europe, engine cutoff around 80k and then to glide across the Atlantic.
It kind of worked and I then had the need for something more spacey. Of course, you already know how it went next :
- Arrogant simmer downloads Orbiter : "wow, the switches! I'll feel right at home here!"
- Arrogant simmer launches Atlantis. Because, well, wings.
- Arrogant simmer discovers that physics in space is "all screwed up".
- Arrogant simmer does not want to admit it, but Orbiter is too much for him.
- Arrogant simmer quietly goes back to the lower layers of the atmosphere flying X-Plane :rofl:
Basically I hit that orbital mechanic learning curve (wall) head front and lacked the maturity to dig into it.
Followed too many more hours in X-Plane again, and then KSP came along. It really, really hooked me (and still does, actually!). After a truck load of hours sending Kerbals all around, I finally got to a point where I knew you just don't achieve orbit by shooting stuff straight up :facepalm:
And then, of course, I remembered Orbiter
This time it went much, much, smoother. I'm still very much an Orbiter noob, but at least I can go places (achieve orbit, dock with ISS, Mir and that wonky Papybar station, do not burn upon reentry... stuff like this).
These forums, and the wonderful Orbiter community as a whole, really helped me get started. I'm indebted to the add-on makers and amazed by their dedication and the work they've done (I mainly fly Altea's extraordinary XR2 and got a bit into that very promising Orion MPCV addon).
I still struggle with many, many parts of Orbiter (the flying and the sim itself :rofl
Well, that was a long blurb. Especially since I'll probably be more of a lurker! But I really wanted to say hi and a huge thank you to the wonderful Orbiter community. That, and tip my hat to the addons contributors :tiphat:
Cheers!
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