History VideoGame / KerbalSpaceProgram

** Happens in ship construction too, though this is more of a [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration realistic effect]] than anything hard coded into the engine. Basically the larger a rocket is and the more boosters added (after a point), the less efficient the rocket becomes. This is mostly because the more fuel is added to a rocket in later stages the more fuel is consumed in earlier stages getting that fuel to where it needs to be. Using additional engines makes things less fuel efficient and adds weight that must be moved around. Wiki/TheOtherWiki [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsiolkovsky_rocket_equation explains here]]. This is a factor to snap the player out of the "big dumb booster" mentality and stimulate them to use more advanced shipbuilding technologies, such as orbital assembly and advanced, high specific impulse engines.

** Single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) {{spaceplane}}s are difficult to design, expensive to construct, and don't really do anything that can't be done with a plain old rocket, unless you're visiting the only other moon with an oxygen atmosphere. Additionally, getting the maximum benefit out of them means learning how to time your atmospheric reentries so that you can get the plane close enough to fly or glide to the space center's runway (while expendable rockets are essentially "fire and forget" since the benefit of recovering the parts themselves is usually quite small compared to the expected payout for the payload anyway). Their major advantage is that they're easier to re-use than conventional rockets, making them quite a bit cheaper in the long term. Space shuttles are usually even harder to design and fly than regular old space plane VTOLS. However unlike space planes, parts are typically expended launching them.

** "Breaking Ground" makes it possible to build completely stock electric (and regular fuel) driven aircraft. These are the by far the most efficient ways to get around Eve and are atractive on Duna as well. Building them can be challenging though, nevermind getting them there (which often involves making them foldable) and making on that can survive reentry are even more so.

* SpiritualSuccessor: KSP can be thought of as a ''very'' distant descendant of ''VideoGame/LunarLander'', one of the earliest video games (mostly developed in the 1970s). ''VideoGame/{{Spacewar}}'' (1962) is an even earlier example that simulates gravitational physics with spaceships.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Despite the game running on "soft" science, it is ''still'' science, affecting the in-game results:
** You may spend hours recreating a ship from your favorite sci-fi story only to find that it flies like a brick in the air or spins uselessly in zero-g... or tears itself apart as soon as you put the throttle up.
** Also, sure you can build a nice GlobalAirship to visit all the cool easter egg landmarks around Kerbin. You also have to take the time to sit around and fly it yourself, plus land it without crashing.
** There is a steep valley on the Mun that was added in one of the patches. Naturally when this was discovered, the first thing the fanbase did was fly there to recreate the [[AerialCanyonChase Death Star run]]. This turned out to be much less exciting with real world physics (and without enemy gunfire, as well). All you need to do is create a low enough orbit to pass through the canyon, cut engines, and gently thrust away from the walls.
** Wait, there's [[AsteroidThicket asteroids now?]] Awesome, let's go make like Han Solo - Oh, wait, they're ''millions of miles apart''.
** Oh boy you've gotten your first encounter with the Mun or maybe even another planet! Now it's time to... Well do nothing at all besides hit the time acceleration button while your space craft drifts through space, aside from maybe the odd course optimization and collecting solar science.

** On the Munar loading screen, an empty helmet will sometimes roll across the Mun's surface in the distance. (In case you're wondering [[http://youtu.be/hUjGW2htpR4?t=58s how it got there]]...)

** Notably averted with the moons. Gilly and Minmus are entirely fictional while Pol and Bop are something of composite character of various minor moons. Ike is also something of a composite character between Mar's moons but is rather different, being a large rounded body. Laythe is based on a hypothetical wet Io, but has little in common besides relative size and orbit. Only Val, Tylo, and, of course, the Mun have direct real solar system counterparts.

* MeaningfulName: As mentioned under Aerith and Bob, some of the randomly generated names are {{Shout Out}}s to real-life people (like [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buzz_Aldrin Buzz Aldrin]] or notable KSP lets-players). Furthermore, Valentina Kerman is named in honor of Soviet cosmonaut [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentina_Tereshkova Valentina Tereshkova]], first woman and first civilian in space.

* TooDumbToLive: The numerous [[https://www.youtube.com/user/KerbalSPOfficial?feature=watch shorts]] Squad has made to advertise the game are filled with this behavior. The worst offender? One kerbonaut finds that a wrench he needs has somehow gotten into his helmet. So, he decides to take his helmet off to get it. While standing on the Mun. Which has no air. And another kerbal reacts to seeing the ownerless helmet rolling around by [[UpToEleven grabbing at his own helmet]] as if it might spontaneously come off.

* TheHardHat: Kerbonaut helmets are apparently hard enough to survive impacts that would otherwise kill the wearer.

* MadeOfIron: In contrast to the MadeOfExplodium rocket parts, Kerbonauts are incredibly durable. Besides never running out or air or needing food or water on multi-year space journeys, they can somehow survive crashing into the ground at up to 45 m/s (about 100 MPH) completely unharmed. Your ship's landing gear will snap off and/or explode at one-third that speed. It's been speculated that it's in fact their ''helmets'' that are MadeOfIron. Landing a Kerbal on their legs will generally kill them instantly, but if you flip them over and land them on their [[TheHardHat helmets]], it's ''possible'' to survive.

* BeyondTheImpossible: It's supposedly impossible to land on the gas giant, Jool, ''because it's a planet that's made of gas''. However, before a patch made it so reaching ~250km will result in a message saying "collided with cloud", the player could have done so anyways. The sensors recommend that you don't think too hard about it.

** You can make as much money as you need by turning the launch pad into a fuel refinery. [[note]]Since fuel is more expensive than ore. You can just make a vessel with full ore tanks and covert it to fuel with the appropriate parts. Then recover the craft once its done processing for a profit.[[/note]]

** Monolithic space stations,[[note]]That is to say those that only have one module for all its needs[[/note]] especially around Kerbin and its satellites. Its not as flashy as building a giant multi module space station, but its cheaper, less time consuming, and you get all the scientific benefit.

The game offers three game modes to suit your style of play. The first is little more than a [[SandboxMode sandbox.]] You're set loose upon a space center complete with a vehicle assembly building and a launch pad, a bin full of rocket parts, ground personnel composed entirely of yes-men who build and wheel onto the launch pad anything you design no matter how crazy it is, and some astronauts to crew your creations. The second version is Science, in which you have to conduct experiments in order to unlock various piece parts, as you start off with just the very basics. The third mode is full-blown Career mode, and you have to juggle a budget, job offers, your Kerbonauts and conduct Science similar to the Science mode (which used to be the old Career mode, prior to 0.24). Essentially, you have to manage the entire Space Program. The number of parts has risen dramatically in later releases, and the community is already cranking out fanmade addons at an impressive pace on top of that.

** From some angles, being on Laythe looks a lot like Kerbin until you turn around and see a massive green gas giant hanging in the sky.

On June 10th of 2021, it was announced on the game's 10th anniversary, June 24th 2021, the last content update, 1.12 ''[[https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/202965-ksp-loading-getting-ready-to-celebrate/ On Final Approach]]'' was released. While bugfixes will continue to come out, Squad will focus on working with Intercept Games on ''Kerbal Space Program 2''.

On June 10th of 2021, it was announced on the game's 10th anniversary, June 24th 2021, the last content update, 1.12 ''[[https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/202965-ksp-loading-getting-ready-to-celebrate/ On Final Approach]]'' was be released. While bugfixes will continue to come out, Squad will focus on working with Intercept Games on ''Kerbal Space Program 2''.

On June 10th of 2021, it was announced on the game's 10th anniversary, June 24th 2021, the last content update, 1.12 ''[[https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/202965-ksp-loading-getting-ready-to-celebrate/ On Final Approach]]'' will be released. While bugfixes will continue to come out, Squad will focus on working with Intercept Games on ''Kerbal Space Program 2''.

** One common design {{Fan Nickname}}d the "[[Franchise/MassEffect Mass Relay]]" has two powerful rockets facing opposite each other, designed to go to full throttle immediately and simultaneously. Each rocket cancels the thrust of the other, but any object placed in front of one of the nozzles will be launched away at high speed. This is often used as a feature of space stations to move small masses without needing to have their own propulsion.

* MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness: 5.5. While the game uses realistic Earth technology and Newtonian physics, it is also meant to be accessible to the average Joe and used as a teaching tool, which softens it up a bit. Think of it as being able to fly really cool model rockets that can land on other planets.
* MohsScaleOfViolenceHardness: 2. Lethal injuries are bloodless, and simply result in the kerbonaut vanishing in a puff of smoke if they're outside a spacecraft. Otherwise, they may get [[RagdollPhysics bounced around]], but they'll come out none the worse for the wear.

* SpiritualSuccessor: KSP can be thought of as a ''very'' distant descendant of ''VideoGame/LunarLander'', one of the earliest video games.

* {{Expy}}: The Kerbolar System looks awfully familiar...
** Kerbol (called The Sun in game) happens to be a yellow dwarf, like our Sun.
** The innermost planet, Moho, is a dead rock like Mercury.
** The second planet, Eve, has a thick, toxic atmosphere which plays merry havoc with landers, like Venus. Differences include its purple coloration and the presence of a moon in the captured asteroid Gilly.
** Kerbin, a habitable planet with an oxygen atmosphere and (debatably) intelligent life, is based on Earth, and the large, tidally-locked natural satellite called The Mun is based on our Moon. The addition of a ''second'' moon, Minmus (barely visible from the surface of Kerbin ''or'' the Mun) is the major difference. Minmus is speculated to be a captured comet as it orbits at an irregular angle and is mostly made of ice.
** Duna, the fourth planet out, is so blatantly based on Mars that it looks almost identical as seen from space. Like Eve with Gilly, it has a proper moon, Ike, as opposed to the two tiny and irregular moons Phobos and Deimos which belong to Mars.
** Dres, the dwarf planet in between the outermost of the terrestrial (or kerbistrial) planets and the gas giant, is based on Ceres, the only dwarf planet in the Asteroid Belt.
** Jool, the gas giant with several prominent moons, is clearly Jupiter.
*** Laythe, the only moon with liquid oceans and the only body outside of Kerbin with an oxygen atmosphere, is a CompositeCharacter of Titan (thick atmosphere, though the Titanian atmosphere has no oxygen) and Europa and Enceladus (oceans, though theirs are subsurface). The liquid oceans despite the distance of the Joolian orbit from the Sun is implied to be the result of extremely high salinity.
** Eeloo, with a highly elliptical orbit beyond that of Jool, represents Pluto and Kuiper Belt objects more generally.

** The second planet, Eve, has a thick, toxic atmosphere which lays merry havoc with landers, like Venus. Differences include its purple coloration and the presence of a moon in the captured asteroid Gilly.

* AscendedGlitch: The Space Kraken. [[spoiler:A dead one can be found on Bop, one of Jool's moons.]]

** Hell, ''any'' rocket launch can become this if the player doesn't have much experience with them, and some may consider just making it out of the space center in the first place to be an achievement.

* AfterActionReport: Many players like to share accounts of their most recent or most memorable accomplishments. The [[http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/forumdisplay.php/55-Mission-Reports Mission Reports]] section of the official forums is set up explicitly for this. People also like to assemble collections of screenshots into captioned Imgur albums and share them as brief {{Machinomics}}.

** There's nothing (well, except diminishing fuel returns) preventing you from making a rocket far larger than the one you really need to complete the mission.

After four and a half years of development, version 1.0 was released on April 27th, 2015. This version, on top of taking the game out of Early Access, added the last gameplay mechanics that were left to implement: Aerodynamics, heating, fairings, resource mining and, last but not least, female Kerbonauts. The game is still being developed, though, and is currently in version 1.11.

On June 10th of 2021, it was announced on the game's 10th anniversary, June 24th 2021, the last content update, 1.12 ''[[https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/202965-ksp-loading-getting-ready-to-celebrate/ On Final Approach]]'' will be released. While bugfixes will continue to come out, Squad will focus on working with Intercept Games on Kerbal Space Program 2.

* RetroRocket: It's not ''impossible'' to build and operate a reusable SSTO "tailsitter" rocket like the trope depicts, merely [[RealityEnsues very, very difficult]]. Having a fueling station at the destination or in-built ISRU capabilities are highly recommended if you want to make it somewhat practical for more than just quick orbital or suborbital hops. On the other hand, many rockets will look retro on takeoff, but will most definitely shed parts on the way up.