Space Engineers or Kerbal Space Program?

[disgustang]

I need a space sandbox game, where you build your ship and stuff. I'm thinking about buying kerbal space program, but i saw that Space Engineers updated recently with planets.
I don't mind if the game's buggy, or if it's poorly optimiced. I'm looking for the potential of the game, and the amount of things you can do in the game.

So which one should i get? (Don't tell me to get both please)
Or if you know another good space sandbox game, please tell me.

[NimrodAbsolution⁧⁧98]

space engineers has the best content but kerbal has the most optimised/bugless content to my knowledge
then again i havent played kerbal

[tomix]

they are both good games.
you will actually learn some stuff about orbits and fuel conservation wind resistance aerodynamics etc in kerbal space program.
my personal experience and opinion is that space engineers may yet be nearly unplayable for another few weeks/months the way things have been going. i haven't honestly been able to enjoy the game in two or three months. with planets newly released i imagine it'll be awhile yet before it's remotely stable.
if you can, get both. if you can't, I'd get kerbal and wait awhile. maybe when you're tired of the one, the other will be playable AND enjoyable again.

[Gigantomancer]

[opinion] I've played both. I like them both and they are two very different games in my mind. As a disclaimer, I've played SE more, so, I'm biased.

Space engineers for me is more about an immersive space simulation involving complexity progression and surviving / building bases/ships/automation from the resources you have gathered, and with friends in multiplayer survival. Creative is awesome for playing with ship designs and constructing experiments that can then be used as blueprints in survival single or multiplayer. With planets, you can still start worlds without them, but they add an extra element of game play. Even though it's early access, SE seems pretty stable and feature rich with an awesome active community.

Kerbal is more about constructing vehicles to complete missions and doing problems solving (puzzles) with more realistic physics. You can construct experiments to try and create more efficient vehicles for space travel. Kerbeal has more realistic scenarios and physics engine. It feels more like a physics puzzle solving game to me.

I can spin Kerbal up on my laptop no problem for some space toy building fun while SE has more demading machine spec and I have a hard time playing it on anything but my desktop as my laptop isn't really a true gaming machine. They both have space environments, they both allow construction of space vehicles, but, Space Engineers brings you into the simulation like Minecraft does while Kerbal is more like 3rd person vehicle construction set.

[rossco95132]

Get both S/E is 1/2 off this weekend.

[NimrodAbsolution⁧⁧98]

Originally posted by rossco95132:

Get both S/E is 1/2 off this weekend.

Not helpful at all

[SpetS]

should I try KSP? people say it is fun, but I watched some videos and it seem to be complicated or too realistic uber nerdy complicated

[NimrodAbsolution⁧⁧98]

Originally posted by SpetS:

should I try KSP? people say it is fun, but I watched some videos and it seem to be complicated or too realistic uber nerdy complicated

Play the demo to get a feel for the game
Didn't seem too complex when I played the demo and I'm not too good with puzzles

[Fluffy Bunny of Despair]

Originally posted by SpetS:

should I try KSP? people say it is fun, but I watched some videos and it seem to be complicated or too realistic uber nerdy complicated

It all depends on how much you go into the game. There are several mods which up the difficulty a lot. Make it even more realistic.
But i don't feel like you need to know rocket science to play it. If you enjoy building rockets i'd say you will probably enjoy kerbal.

[[OTS]EchoZenLogos]

Originally posted by Casual:

I need a space sandbox game, where you build your ship and stuff. I'm thinking about buying kerbal space program, but i saw that Space Engineers updated recently with planets.
I don't mind if the game's buggy, or if it's poorly optimiced. I'm looking for the potential of the game, and the amount of things you can do in the game.

So which one should i get? (Don't tell me to get both please)
Or if you know another good space sandbox game, please tell me.

My experience with Space Engineers is more limited than with KSP, and I've only got a bit over 30 hours in the latter - but I have played enough to get a basic feel for the mechanics in both at least.

My opinion is that they are too dissimilar of games to really compare. KSP is full on simulation of a space program, and your work goes into designing a craft with the components that can get you places efficiently.

Space Engineers on the other hand lets you design your ships with a lot more freedom - but it isn't at all the same sort of feel. You have far more "small scale" control, and the fun in KSP in my opinion is from the organizing side of things. Putting your first craft into orbit around the Mun in KSP is just one of many milestones to hit, and the campaign mode gives more of a set "goal" than you will find in Space Engineers at present.

But Space Engineers has a lot of potential, and I'm looking to get into it more now that they've finally added planets. It also has multiplayer, something that I'm hoping eventually gets added to KSP - but I won't hold my breath.

So I won't say "get both", just that you should get the one that appeals more to you. If you want a slow-paced simulation game where you spend hours tweaking a ship design to get it into orbit properly around the Mun, or design an aircraft to circle the planet and survey it to unlock further upgrades in the career mode by doing so, or anything more like that - KSP is for you.

If you want to build specific ship designs and bases and such, and explore things as an individual - and want destructable environments - and care about multiplayer - then Space Engineers might be more up your alley.

[Plazmalord Soban]

Both Games are Epic. Kerbal is Tough its got a hi learning curve but one worth enduring. Mod Content for both games are awesome. If your looking for realism... Kerbal is the way to go. But for creativitiy and Epic size scale... space engineers is king. U can upload #d shells with SEtoolbox to create your favorite ships from any universe and make them function in both creativge and surivial mode. SE has alot of Optimization yet and the PC rwquirements are high due to the size of the worlds and the many blocks u will be using. Mods for SE are better in that u will find many useful fun items to load up for your creations. I own both and play both. Id buy both again.

[[OTS]EchoZenLogos]

I would also add that from a purely economical standpoint, grabbing Space Engineers now when it is on sale would make it a better value in my opinion than buying Kerbal Space Program. If you think you could enjoy either, then grab Space Engineers. If money isn't the issue, then buy both.

Kerbal Space Program "does" have a demo as well (it is what made me buy it in the first place). Sure, it is outdated, but it gives a basic concept of how the game works.

So try that out, and try this out while the free weekend is still in effect - then make your decision.

[Sovereign]

Space Engineers is an infinite, voxel-based, survival game with a Minecraftesque modular building system which players can use to make all kinds of stuff.

Kerbal Space Program is pretty much a scale model full on space program/ space flight simulator. It is much more about realism and is all real world physics based.

[Puppet #7]

Its one of those comparisions which really the only thing they have in common is you potentially go into space, the similarities stop there.

I have over 150 hrs in KSP and still not tired of it, only slowed down playing cause Ive had gammer ADD and been swapping titles all the time. SE so far has been enjoyable, but frustrating due to the nature of it being bugged all to sh!t currently

[Supermarine]

Originally posted by Sovereign:

Space Engineers is an infinite, voxel-based, survival game with a Minecraftesque modular building system which players can use to make all kinds of stuff.

Kerbal Space Program is pretty much a scale model full on space program/ space flight simulator. It is much more about realism and is all real world physics based.

My friend here has nailed it perfectly.

Space Engineers is about the freedom of creativity in small scale. If you want to build exactly with lots of small pieces (like LEGO) and pilot the vehicle of your dreams, this is your game. You can program its functions and then have fun piloting it.

In both games you can share your designs with friends. KSP is extremely customizable (as a game) and SE gives you the chance to build extremely customizable vehicles.

KSP is about tough, hard engineering problems. Astrophysical ones. Aerospatial ones. Survival ones. Since it can be heavily modded, you can make your own KSP very easy or very hard, and tweak it minutely to your absolute preference.

KSP has more defined objectives---you can technically run out of new places to explore (even when that will be quite unlikely in the short term).

SE is about creativity engineering, freeing your mind and testing your mechanical skills. SE is more about imagination than hard physics, but this also means there is less a sense of progression and advancement; less obvious objectives and more freedom to decide.

You say you're looking for future potential and I believe it's a tie. Both games are great and are moving in interesting directions. The new planets in SE are absolutely awesome. The upcoming 1.1 Unity 5 version of KSP will be, simply put, epic.

That said, and all options considered, I would suggest you buy...


Kerbal Space Program.

Why? Because of the mods. It is one of the most moddable games out there. This means you can tailor it to your exact likes and tastes. It's like they give you the base model and you build your perfect game. Space Engineers still can't beat KSP in this particular category, yet.

This does not mean SE is bad or KSP is better. I like both. This only means you will have the potential to more fine-tune and turn KSP into what you precisely want.

[Graham1001]

I would say space engineers it is a very fun deep space sim you can make your own ships publish them get cool mods like stargate and warp mods multiplayer survival creative and a lot more kerbel space program you have to be really smart to build a ship its really hard to get of the ground sometimes both at good but space engineers is the best for me
both at good though