Re:Planets in the Fourth Dimension
by Coincoin on Wednesday March 18, 2015 @01:05PM
(#9226964)
As a matter of fact, I think that its simplicity is what makes KSP so fun to play. If it was real n-body orbital mechanics with real drag the game would quickly become much too complicated and tedious for casual play (and too slow).
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Yup. One of the Fun things that are less known that comes from n-body orbital mechanics is the instability of orbits. You can't just leave your satellite out there and fast-forward two years because you have an Eve mission going - your satellite needs to make correction burns as other bodies perturb its orbit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_station-keeping
But anyway, I still hope that Principia mod (the n-body simulation addon mentioned elsewhere in this thread) will get released. This will really bring KSP into Dwarf Fortress level of enjoyment. Also, you'd get to make some really weird-ass stuff:
http://images.scholarpedia.org/w/images/f/f6/NbodyChoreoGamm...
For broader accessibility: a system like Civ's, where the system can play itself / do computations for you, but lets you dial up the amount of player-control.