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    I'll let you know now, that I only upvoted this post because SupremeDorian is my friend, and leader of our upvote cult!!!

    Lol jkjk thanks for the post explaining how that works and why it's bad. I sorta come close to that, except that I don't just upvote any post by friends of mine, but if they post something good, then I'll definitely upvote. Also, I try to upvote some lower quality stuff since beginners won't get any upvotes otherwise, unless they post super high quality stuff, but I try to make sure it's someone who deserves it(like the guy who's been on this site for 3 months and still can't post pictures, etc.)

    +7 2.8 years ago
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    Interesting suggestion there. I feel like if you get banned, then any crafts/systems/etc you've uploaded should remain on the site but not be upvoteable. If you get banned, there's probably a good reason for it, but that doesn't mean you should also lose all your progress with the game, especially if other players also use your creations. Something for the devs/mods to figure out lol

    +6 1.1 years ago
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    TOO MANY PICTURES!!! LOL

    +4 1.4 years ago
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    Really it all depends on the rocket and guidance system used. A typical gravity turn starts within seconds of launch - basically as soon as the rocket is clear of any ground support equipment - to increase stability(lower speed means less drag to counteract and velocity vector changes more quickly) during the "active" portion of the gravity turn(where the rocket uses thrust to turn itself). It doesn't take much turn either (pitch is usually 85-89° at the start) before gravity takes over and the rocket can follow prograde the rest of the way up while still turning(and not using thrust to do so).

    Basically, any rocket using a gravity turn will fly along a high angle ballistic trajectory through the atmosphere, starting near vertical and ending near horizontal by the time it leaves the atmosphere(60km in game. About 70-100km irl). This is the most efficient approach to orbit because you gain the most altitude as early as possible to decrease drag, but then begin to arc over to a relative horizontal plane to reach orbital velocity asap, all the while not using a drop of fuel beyond the initial couple degrees of turn to accomplish it.


    The exact altitude to start would basically be the height of the rocket or launch structures or some small multiple of that height. Alternatively, you could use a velocity as your turn point to ensure that the rocket is moving fast enough to complete the maneuver safely as opposed to waiting for it to reach a certain height even if its at 1m/s. The end of the gravity turn depends on the orbit you want to reach. Basically it should be the final periapsis you want for your orbit, or any value larger than 60km to ensure that you've left the atmosphere by the time you're horizontal

    +4 2.3 years ago
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    There's 3 units of measure for Altitude in the game:

    • Above Ground Level (AGL)
    • Above Sea Level(ASL)
    • Above Sea Floor(ASF)

    ASF will tell you your exact height above the sea floor(or ground level if not underwater) and by subtracting your height above Sea Level(ASL) from the ASF, you'll get the exact depth of the water at your position

    +3 2.1 years ago
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    @HorizonsTechnologies lol I'm gonna use that hashtag slogan for something! 🤣


    Honestly the problem isn't that people like iSpace are doing the rideshare thing. I think it's great that people are inspired to offer their own services and increase the options available to others.

    Where the issue lies is the fact that supply and demand don't match up very well. There's a decent number of rideshare options available, but very few users regularly making satellites and stuff. Everyone makes rockets and planes so the need for dedicated launch services is also minimal since most users can launch their own payloads. Now, there's still a niche out there for people like iSpace that provide an entire platform from highly detailed custom programmed rockets, to realistic HD videos, and even detailed professional launch announcements using this site. People who can't do those things on their own - or just don't want to - and those who enjoy the whole idea will still use rideshares.

    What really needs to happen is more people making satellites, landers, rovers, etc and posting them on the site or using rideshares to launch them. If there was more stuff to put in space than rideshares available to put it there, then demand for them would go up and justify there being as many as there is or even more in the future.


    Sorry for the long rant man, but I had to make sure my view on this was clear. I'm with you on this, just my reasoning is a little different lol

    +3 2.2 years ago
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    Man, that sucks! I don't know what I'd do if I lost my phone, but I probably wouldn't be as calm about it as you. Mad respect brah! Hopefully you find it soon(and if not, maybe a nice Christmas present to replace it with?).

    +3 2.4 years ago
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    @SCaxaR technically, the air density does zero out at 58km, but that's only due to the actual value being too small for the game to display given the slight rounding from the decimal place(ie, 0.00001 is displayed as 0.00 due to rounding)

    +3 3.0 years ago
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    @GalaxyEye Great reporting! Looking forward to more! I'm also very interested in who makes it first.


    I won't take a guess, however, as I'm currently biased due to my involvement with the current testing of the "True Reuse Falcon 9".


    I will say that it's truly amazing that anyone at all has reached the point where true reuse is possible in this game and I can't wait for what's to come next!

    +3 3.1 years ago
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    So, it sounds like you should probably look up stuff like orbital mechanics and the Kepler Orbital Elements(trust me, the basic idea is easy even if the math behind it isn't). Most new players aren't gonna have much knowledge on the subject, but that's part of the point of the game: learning about the physics and stuff involved in spaceflight. You just have to keep trying and look up stuff that you have problems with(also, continue to ask questions here and/or the discord server).


    Now, to answer your question:
    Inclination is the angle of your orbit relative to the planet's equator. If inclination is 0° then your orbit is perfectly around the equator(from west to east), if inclination is 90° then your orbit goes from pole to pole(south to north). The thing is, inclination can be anywhere from 0° to 180° depending on the direction of orbit over the planet. 180° is the same as 0° except in the opposite direction(east to west instead of west to east).

    For a 100° inclination, you'd want to launch your rocket at either 100° or 280° on the nav sphere(both will give you the same inclination) and hope you don't need to adjust it much(depending on where you launch from, you might have a bit of difficulty getting to the correct inclination). If you do need to adjust things, you can use the burn planner to make things easier, but you'll probably want a tutorial on that as well if you're not familiar with how it works

    +2 1.2 years ago
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    Interesting idea. Not sure if it's really practical, but seeing as this game's still just a sandbox, I guess it doesn't really matter lol. It also depends on the scale and complexity of what you want to accomplish. If it works in KSP, it should work here too, right? I'm interested to know if it does. Best of luck with your project

    +2 1.5 years ago
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    You don't.

    ;)

    Jk, but I'm not sure exactly how. I believe you have to manually add it to the game files, so be careful if you do. I've never bothered trying any of that though, so idk

    +2 1.5 years ago
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    Honestly though, I'm not sure what you mean by that lol. As far as the actual speed that light particles/waves move goes, it's all the same regardless of the color/spectrum. As far as frequency goes, violet would be fastest with a very high frequency and red the slowest(if only counting "visible" light). As far as what color "looks" the fastest, it's probably red, orange, or yellow because those are warning colors in nature and your brain is specifically wired to pick those colors out and notice them first

    +2 1.9 years ago
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    Scott Manley!

    +2 2.0 years ago
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    @NebulaSpaceAgency agreed. Their claims can't be verified without seeing what they're talking about in action. Also, to claim that it's the "most reliable rocket in SR2" without having publicly tested/launched it and comparing the data from other rockets is like Uber claiming to have the "most reliable self-driving car on earth" despite never testing it publicly or comparing it to other self-driving cars

    +2 2.2 years ago
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    Interesting... Those are some ambitious goals. Goals that feel close to home. The IRS is looking for more partners in the field of aerospace design and research. We're currently designing and building a number of satellites and probes of all types, and could use some more expertise in the matter. Our main partner, OrbITech, is also a growing launch provider with some experience designing and building launch vehicles and satellites. Would you be interested in working with us?


    PS. That engine test stand you made is perfect for what I need. I'm gonna borrow it, but don't worry I'll make sure to credit you when/where ever I use it.

    +2 2.3 years ago
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    There's lots of good resources on the internet as well as at any decent public library(any books on "control systems/theory" will have an explanation of PID), that can explain it better than me, but I'll still try.

    1.) Proportional control is exactly what the name says. The output is always proportional to the input, so the further your desired heading/pitch from your actual heading/pitch("error rate"), the larger reaction your craft will have at a given "P value".

    2.) The integral is a measure of the "error" over time, basically meant to recalibrate the proportional over time as it loses accuracy. Unfortunately, that function is more suited to a repetitive manufacturing process than an auto-pilot(in an aircraft, the actual direction of travel isn't necessarily the intended direction of travel, so a PID with >0 integral will try to fix that by increasing/decreasing P in a somewhat random way which causes wobble and loss of control)

    3.) Derivative "slows" the proportional as it nears it's target in order to reduce "overshoot". An auto-pilot using proportional only("P control") wouldn't work very well since it would wobble back and forth between two extremes with the desired heading somewhere in the middle. Every time the autopilot corrects the heading, the proportional control pushes it just enough to miss the target and have to start all over again. This is where the derivative comes in: as the "error" goes down, the proportional is also decreased proportionally until the error is either minimum or 0, and vice versa (if error goes up, proportional increases)

    All of these have their names rooted in the type of math performed. Proportional is just a proportion, integral is an integral, and derivative is a derivative, so if you understand upper level math(high school/early college) then it should be easy to figure out.

    +2 2.3 years ago
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    Nice! Welcome to the SimpleRockets community! That'll be a recurring monthly charge of $19.95 USD payable only through Dogecoin or Steam Gift Cards, thank you. 🥸 Jkjk lol


    Also, since you're new and seem to have missed it, you can visit the Post Formatting Guide to learn how to make clickable links and stuff(you already got the bullet points down 👍). Also, I'd take a quick peak at the Rules to make sure you don't accidentally invoke the wrath of the Great Droo... Best of luck and make sure to have fun!

    +2 2.4 years ago
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    @Astrolidon I mean, IRL if a company is developing/designing something but they have problems or just can't figure something out, they hire a "consultant" to do the work or solve the problem at hand. Your offered service, by that definition, would be considered that of a "consulting firm". That being said, you can call it whatever you like since it's your business

    +2 2.4 years ago
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    You talk a big game! But can you deliver, Mister Bond?🧐 If I'm not truly impressed, I'm gonna have to report you for false advertising!


    Jk lol 🤣


    Or am I?...

    +2 2.5 years ago
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    Hmmmm. I want to help you, but I'm not sure myself if there's another or better way to do what you want. At least, not something that doesn't take forever and a day to make work in the first place(vizzy I'm looking at you🧐). I wouldn't be surprised if someone hasn't made something using vizzy to simplify the process, but I also wouldn't be surprised if that's just outside the scope of what people are willing to do with this game.


    It really amazes me how different this game is from KSP in more than just a visual sense. I noticed a post the other day on reddit complaining about the lack of input sliders in KSP, while this game has had them for awhile. Maybe the system in KSP is more intuitive or something, but idk since I've never played it

    +2 2.5 years ago
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    YES!!! Keep up the amazing reporting man! I was starting to wonder if you'd lost interest, but apparently you were just waiting for something worth reporting on.

    +2 2.8 years ago
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    @FoxtrotTheSergal agreed. I got some really cool projects in the works, but it's been hard to find the time with my busy work schedule. I'm developing something that I believe has never been tried before, as well as developing a prototype SPMT, among other things

    +2 2.9 years ago
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    Well, to play devil's advocate, can you prove its really your craft and not just a very similar one? Not to say you're wrong or anything(I'm not calling you a liar, just need more info before I make a decision on how to deal with this). I realize it's possible to get around the autocredit thing on this site, so it wouldn't surprise me if that's happening. I also wouldn't be surprised if two people happened to make nearly identical versions of the same craft simply because they're both based off very specific crafts irl

    +2 3.0 years ago
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    Drood!!

    +2 3.1 years ago
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    You have to sign up for gravatar through the link on your profile page(the link is where the profile pic would be after you click edit profile) and set up your profile pic from there

    +2 3.1 years ago
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    So, you're talking about the preburner. Basically it's like a tiny rocket engine with a turbopump attached to the side of the main rocket engine. During startup of the engine, the preburner ignites first, basically behaving like a jet engine(spinning a turbine that in turn pumps more fuel through the system), and providing a steady constant fuel pressure to the engine.


    Now, in order to not melt the preburner, you have to burn it fuel rich(oxygen rich is possible, but waaaay expensive and still tends to melt). Only a tiny bit of the fuel actually goes through the burner, most of it gets pumped past it to the main combustion chamber.

    __

    There's a number of different engine cycles depending on the fuel/ox ratio, preburner size, turbine design, and general fuel flow. Fuel rich preburners for example tend to dump exhaust outside the engine(meaning a lot of partially burned fuel gets wasted), but some of them dump exhaust back into the combustion chamber of the engine to improve efficiency. Then there's full flow staged combustion(SpaceX Raptor) where you have an oxygen rich preburner and a fuel rich preburner that together use all the fuel/lox in the most efficient way possible(at least in theory).


    I believe cycle 1 dumps the exhaust from the preburner outside the engine (Falcon 9 first stage), while cycle 2 dumps the exhaust back into the engine(many russian rocket engines as well as other more recent designs).

    +2 3.1 years ago
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    Well, I wouldn't jump to conclusions so quickly... You may in fact be correct about what happened, idk, but it could also be any number of other things as well. Gmail(or any other email service), Wordpress(and most other blog-sites), Android/iOS, and basically every ISP provider sell your info and there's nothing you can do about it besides just not using any of it(which is nearly impossible if you want to use the internet at all).
    I understand how you feel though. I used to get a ton of spam calls on my old phone number, so recently I got a new one hoping it would stop the calls, and it worked... For about 2 days before the slow trickle of bot callers increased back to a constant roar. It seems that's just how things are anymore...

    +2 3.1 years ago
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    WOOOOOOOOOO!!! Yeah go SpaceX!!!

    +2 3.1 years ago
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    @plane918273645 yeah, that's a good point too. You agree to those terms when you sign up lol. If someone wants to use the site, they have to follow the rules or risk losing access. However, if they get banned from the site, there's nothing to stop them from continuing to play the game itself, especially if they legitimately purchased it. But without access to the site, you can't save backups, easily transfer crafts,etc between devices, or use anything made by other players. Some of this is basic functionality for the game which shouldn't be dependent on a seperate website. IDK, it's not really a big deal anyway because most people will go out of their way NOT to get banned, and even if they do, it's not hard to set up a new email address and use a VPN to change your ISP, etc and just make a new account

    +1 one year ago
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    You can't really target it which is probably a big part of why it seems to not be there anymore. For a while there, the only way to target it was to target the general position at a few meters ASL which could be tricky. Then there's the fact that it wouldn't function like a real droneship because it's a structure, and players figured out ways to make functional droneships anyway

    +1 1.3 years ago
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    @Zenithspeed That's actually not a bad idea. I love how much educational use the game and this site can have, especially since it's mostly the users(us) that make it that way. I'm interested to see what you can come up with.


    As far as organization of the forum posts goes, maybe try a "master" forum post that has a list of links to individual posts. That way, you still get the benefits of a new post each time while also having an easy way to find all the posts in one spot(that and it doesn't fill your bio page with links lol). All you gotta do is edit the new link in for each new post, or just comment and pin the links

    +1 1.4 years ago
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    @Ylias f

    +1 1.4 years ago
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    @Ylias d

    +1 1.4 years ago
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    @Ylias b

    +1 1.4 years ago
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    It's just a slightly more complex ranking system. It's been redone and added onto because of the shear number of users and how quickly some users got to the original highest rank.

    Each color is split into 4 sub-ranks denoted by 1-3 bars or stars depending on your points. This makes it easier to tell how close someone is to ranking up to another color without doing math. It also just looks cooler like that lol

    +1 1.5 years ago
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    @Toinkove confused look

    But the launch towers are built into the launchpad facilities used for them. The tower itself doesn't move. You must be talking about the massive transport vehicle that moved those LVs to the pad and functionally served as the bottom of the pad as well

    +1 1.5 years ago
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    A launch tower is stationary, while a gantry moves out of the way. Systems like the Saturn V and Space Shuttle used launch towers(although the quick disconnect systems are technically just small gantries). Soyuz on the other hand uses a wraparound gantry tower that opens from the top like a flower immediately after ignition. A lot of smaller rockets use gantries too. I'm not sure exactly why one system is chosen over the other for different applications, but I'm sure it boils down to economics and the reliability of the rocket in question.

    +1 1.5 years ago
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    @Hashys lol yeah, it's about as ridiculous as it sounds. I'm basically a low level supervisor for a major carnival company on the west coast. I spend about 6 months of the year traveling with the carnival working almost nonstop, then the rest of the year I can do whatever. My average weekly hours were closer to 70(12 hours a day 6 days a week is 72 hours) but I had a couple weeks above 80(the most so far is 85 hours in one week). We also work for 20-30ish hours straight on teardown nights. We run the carnival all day, close for the day, then immediately spend 16 hours tearing everything down throughout the night so we can leave the next morning to the next spot. It's brutal work, but the pay is good and having 6 months off is even better. I made about $30,000 in 6 months which is more than I make in an entire year doing my other job(security). I've also been learning a lot about mechanical stuff, engineering, hydraulics systems, computers, electrical, etc etc

    +1 1.5 years ago
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    @TritonAerospace that makes more sense now. I figured it was something for a moveable part. To isolate a single component of a vector, you either multiply the vector by the unit vector(in this case (vector*(0,0,1))) or you find the (vector()(z axis)) block in the math tab and input the vector there. Also, I forgot to mention, Unity uses a weird coordinate system that makes some stuff backwards, so you might have to play with it. In standard coordinates, x and y go from the center of the planet to the equator and z goes to the poles, but unity has x and z on the equator and y going through the poles. This isn't a big deal, but it makes it more complicated when doing vector math because you have to remember everything is backwards or it won't work right(especially with cross products :/ the cross product of two vectors will always be at 90° to the original two, but in unity it's the opposite direction from standard)

    And no problem, it took me months of messing around with vectors to finally understand how they work. I even had to go through a number of physics textbooks at the library just to get a good understanding of them(and I still have problems lol)

    +1 1.5 years ago
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    @Zenithspeed I really wish the devs could add some kind of Lagrange point mechanics. I know it's not easy to do n-body physics, so that's probably not an option. Maybe even just an invisible "planet" that stays in the same position relative to the parent and just change the soi over once close enough, idk

    +1 1.9 years ago
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    @FIREFLYSPACE lol I get that part. What I mean is do you say it "LEED" or "LEDD"?

    +1 1.9 years ago
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    @TritonAerospace variables. Use the [set variable() to ()] block to set previous position to current position. Then wait 1 second. Now the current position from 1 second ago is the previous position. Rinse, cycle, repeat. The timestep can be any amount you want, not just 1 second, but it illustrates the point easily. Something like .1 seconds is more accurate for any practical uses.

    +1 1.9 years ago
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    @PointBreak I'm not sure, but the link comes from the Chinese version of NASA, so it might be an international server thing, or it could be my phone, or even just Google's settings, idk. Thanks so much for that though, I really appreciate it! 😎

    +1 1.9 years ago
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    That's actually a really good idea! I never really liked the basic wings that only look like a flat panel no matter what, and having to hide the "real" wings inside of "fake" wings made from fuel tanks and rotators is tedious and time consuming at best. I actually wonder why Jundroo never made wings shapeable in the first place(at least beyond what we currently have), but oh well

    +1 1.9 years ago
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    @NEOSTAR Great explanation, that's probably the best way to do that on PC. You could alternately use Win+G to open the game bar and take screenshots or record video on Windows 10(or 11). The in game screenshot quality may be related to your graphics settings, but I'm not sure. There's definitely some graphical changes when using the games camera since the FOV and zoom level are applied globally and involve blurring/focusing like a real camera lense system, so that could also be part of the problem, although antialiasing should mostly get rid of that

    +1 2.0 years ago
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    @Zenithspeed lol good point! I still think it's a cool idea though. Maybe give people premade templates that they can't abuse like that(besides company names since those already have inappropriate words hidden in them sometimes) maybe it could be like a random logo generator that chooses from a list of templates based off the company's name, era of existence, tech level, and user preferences like color and stuff to give each a unique feel without allowing complete customization. Idk though, there's many ways to implement something like that

    +1 2.0 years ago
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    @N0tLogan earth IRL. Since Droo is just a smaller version of earth, it should be pretty similar(I'm not exactly sure what the total difference in elevation is for Droo, but I know it's about 1/5 the size of earth, and Luna is roughly proportional, so that's where my numbers came from)

    +1 2.0 years ago
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    @N0tLogan that sounds about right. Theoretically you could orbit at only a few feet off the ground, but to safely orbit, it takes a few hundred to a thousand meters average altitude to make sure you don't crash into something like a mountain or crater rim

    +1 2.0 years ago
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    I guess I'll just rank these in order with a quick explanation for each:

    2) Easily the best of the 4! All the hallmarks of good composition(rule of 3rds, balance, contrast, etc) are present, but not overwhelming. The subject matter is great too! Easily 9/10

    4) Same as above, but a different effect is achieved in this photo. By shrinking the subjects into the midground of the photo, it emphasizes the vastness of space around it. You've also maximized on contrast with positioning of the light source, which works well with the subject matter. 8/10

    1) Also a good photo, but it just doesn't pop like the others. Great use of perspective to show the base, but it might work better from a larger distance or lower angle with high FOV. Also, some local terrain to judge the scale of things by would help. 7.5/10

    3) Not sure what I'm looking at here. Some sort of landmass surrounded by water with a large black tower that seems to be waay too big given the perspective. Not sure how to improve it besides changing the viewing angle to show the proper scale of the object, or maybe adding something else to the fore/background to help with that. Otherwise, it's not a bad photo, just confusing(although that might be exactly what you want?). 7/10

    Honestly they're all better than the average photos from the game, and even better than a lot of the photos I get myself(although I don't really try that often so 🤷)

    +1 2.0 years ago