When comparing Planet Coaster vs Kerbal Space Program, the Slant community recommends Kerbal Space Program for most people. In the question“What are the best PC games for kids?” Kerbal Space Program is ranked 4th while Planet Coaster is ranked 12th. The most important reason people chose Kerbal Space Program is:
The physics engine does a reasonably accurate job of replicating the fundamentals behind both orbital dynamics and rocket design, so by going through the tutorials and experimenting, you're actually learning some real rocket science.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Powerful terrain tool that allows 3D scultping
The terrain tool is very powerful, and addition to allowing for changing the terrain height, you can also pull out horizontal jutting terrain and cut in caves in any direction with pull and push tools. An example of this in action is a sample where Mount Rushmore was created using entirely in game tools.
Pro Developers are active in and listen to the community
Pro Powerful building creator
The building designer has many construction assets that are customizable to be any color and provides an amazing amount of customization by allowing you to intersect parts and rotate them in any orientation without having to worry about clipping.
The building system has a compromise between grid based and freeform construction, in that the first object you place down creates a grid around it that you can build to but you can go off grid whenever you need to.
Pro Well put together undo system
The undo system has a long memory and tracks even small changes making it easy to fix mistakes.
Pro Made by many of the developers of RCT2 and RCT3
Pro Construction system doesn't restrict you in any way
You can clip building objects together if you want to get a specific look that requires it, or you can make floating islands if you feel like it, allowing you to create whatever fantasy or sci fi theme you desire.
Pro Steam Workshop support breathes more life into the game every day
Anyone can upload their buildings and rides to the Steam Workshop, allowing for an potentially infinite amount of items to build in your game. Giving players a place to get new content, that's user created, you have near-unlimited possibilities for how to create each park you choose. This gives many players, who find creating new rides difficult, a way to make each new park fun and exciting, as well as giving creators a way to share their work. Due to this Workshop Support, and the hundreds of rides and buildings created by users already, the life of this game is near endless, with new ideas and new way to build popping up every day.
Pro Fully customizable shops
The shops in the game are purposefully made without a facade so you can customize them however you want. If you aren't interested in customizing your own, you can also download pre-built ones from the community workshop.
Pro Real time lighting system
Lights in game light up surrounding scenery in real time making the game's night time scenes look absolutely gorgeous. Lighting objects can also be customized to be any color and come in spotlights and other kinds of lights allowing you to make the exact ambiance you want.
Pro Visitors have intelligent behavior
Visitors come to your park in groups of friends or family and walk around with each other, and they'll dance when they hear music, hold hands, and gather around performers.
Pro Every game theme has a backstory that helps immerse players further
The themes in the game aren't simply generic assets, but there's actually in-game lore created for the different entertainment characters, as well as stores and scenery, adding extra realism and depth to the game assets. Due to this, each park and asset has a fuller and more rich background, allowing players to get even more lost in this experience than in any other theme park builder yet.
Pro Teaches orbital dynamics & rocket design fundamentals in an accessible manner
The physics engine does a reasonably accurate job of replicating the fundamentals behind both orbital dynamics and rocket design, so by going through the tutorials and experimenting, you're actually learning some real rocket science.
Pro Tons of stuff to do
Build rockets, space planes, space stations, rovers, landers, probes. Explore planets, moons, capture asteroids, set up a communications network, colonize a planet, mine for resources and much more. It can even simulate our solar system.
Pro Huge modding scene
There's a plethora of mods available that can change every single aspect of the game.
Pro Excellent construction sandbox for building and launching rockets
KSP at its core is a rocket building and launching sandbox. When creating a rocket you can place engines, fuel cells, structural elements, and even parachutes, allowing you to build a rocket in any shape and size. The end result can even look like a giant doughnut, which might be difficult to get it into outer space. Even if you fail, the entirety of the process is really enjoyable.
Pro Motivates you to learn
Kerbal Space Program puts into perspective how amazing the advancement of the human race is. It inspires you to learn our history, how we got here, and what we can do proceed.
Pro In constant development
KSP is a shinning example of early release done right. The currently available game is fun to play, and the developers are constantly adding new major additions.
Cons
Con Very large parks can lead to slowdown
The game currently isn't fully optimized to fill a large park completely without major frame rate drops.
Con Being unable to place decor and utility pieces on even slight hills is largely annoying
While pathways can be built on small hills, you will be unable to place miscellaneous assets without the use of the terrain tool. The game allows you to place buildings on these hills, however you cannot place any trashcans, benches, or any decorative piece down, as the game requires them to be build on squared-off pieces of land. Due to this, litter will pile up and the attractiveness of your park will decline unless you hire more leaning staff to pick up the excess trash, or completely undo your work and flatten the terrain.
Con Takes forever to build anything good
Yeah there's room for creativity if you have endless patience. The building is frustrating though. Only -certain- pieces will align with each other leaving you struggling to place rows of fences in a way that doesn't look obviously haphazard, and so many other things too like signs, hedgerows, lots of decor that has loads of potential but ends up looking wonky. And because the building pieces are really basic you have to spend ages building each individual scenery item if you want it to look anywhere near as good as the stuff that's already there when you load a scenario. If you don't have that patience, your parks may end up looking crap and this might make you quit out of frustration.
Con Park management system is not very sophisticated
The management options in Planet Coaster does not add much on top of the developer's previous game, Rollercoaster Tycoon 3. This means it doesn't require much work or management tweaking to get a park making money, and if you allow time to pass quickly you can just wait and let your cash reserves rise.
Con Only for PC
If you have a Mac or a Linux then you cannot play this game without BootCamp, Wine, etc.
Con Some visuals are poorly done
While the rockets, buildings, and even the Kerbals look pretty good, the environments and particle effects are a bit lacking.
Con Steep learning curve
Kerbal Space Program is not really a pick up and play title. It can take hours just go grasp the basics and the game will keep throwing new concepts at you as you progress into space, even stuff like orbital dynamics. Because of this, it can easily take dozens of hours to truly master this game.