Delegation / Rival Space programmes

[Qwarkk]

So this is an idea I've had for a while now, i was thinking about how cooperation and competition breed incredible space achievement - The Apollo missions were born from competition between the USA and the Soviet Union, while SpaceX have largely relied on contracts with NASA and other agencies to fund their Falcon 9 development and Mars objectives. 

This gave me the idea to add another, completely computer controlled space agency into the game and give you the opportunity to interact with it in multiple ways. You may enter fierce competition with it to complete certain goals first, or you may delegate missions to resupply your space station to it - the choice is yours. It would breed a completely new gameplay mechanic - perhaps your comm-sat coverage is having problems so you reach out to them for help with connection / maintenance etc etc etc.

I think this idea would also help solve the 'lack of storyline / end-game' complaint that some people have with the game.

Let me know what you think, or if its even a viable thing.

[tater]

I've been proposing a "Space Race" mode for a while. The AI requirements would be non-trivial, I think, as it's basically an entire game within a game to code.My low-tech solution/suggestion was to add a kind of multiplayer for this. 

Player selects a box on his career that allows it (his save file) to be "published" to a server. The file gets labeled in some standard format with the installed mods  and settings so that it can be compared to other career games with the same constellation of mods and settings. The settings of career for this mode would be heavily constrained---limited reverts, or have reverts cost funds or something, no quick saves, etc. The Space Race mode would then assign you one of the published saves as a foil. It would use that save's milestones achieved as the achievements of the rival agency. No IA, no flights flown by the computer. If the competition landed on the Mun on the 8th flight, XX days after starting the career, then if you pass that time without making that milestone, it will alert you that the other agency has landed a kerbal on the Mun, etc.

[Qwarkk]

1 hour ago, tater said:

I've been proposing a "Space Race" mode for a while. The AI requirements would be non-trivial, I think, as it's basically an entire game within a game to code.My low-tech solution/suggestion was to add a kind of multiplayer for this. 

Player selects a box on his career that allows it (his save file) to be "published" to a server. The file gets labeled in some standard format with the installed mods  and settings so that it can be compared to other career games with the same constellation of mods and settings. The settings of career for this mode would be heavily constrained---limited reverts, or have reverts cost funds or something, no quick saves, etc. The Space Race mode would then assign you one of the published saves as a foil. It would use that save's milestones achieved as the achievements of the rival agency. No IA, no flights flown by the computer. If the competition landed on the Mun on the 8th flight, XX days after starting the career, then if you pass that time without making that milestone, it will alert you that the other agency has landed a kerbal on the Mun, etc.

I like this idea, although one problem would be that persistent save files / part config files are too easy to modify and cheat with in a multiplayer situation. Also I think the milestone comparison would be awesome if KCT was a standard mod.

[Wjolcz]

3 hours ago, Qwarkk said:

I like this idea, although one problem would be that persistent save files / part config files are too easy to modify and cheat with in a multiplayer situation. Also I think the milestone comparison would be awesome if KCT was a standard mod.

Any time-passing mechanic would be very much welcome in the game.

I like @tater's idea. It could be coupled with station spawning events (something Contract Configurator can do IIRC). A premade station would spawn in Kerbin's orbit (or any other as long as it's something sane; not retrograde solar or sth like that) and you would have a mission to help expanding it, or build your own. And cooperation should be rewarded more than rivalry. At least in my opinion.

[tater]

I'm not overly concerned with cheating in a single player game. You are NOT actually playing against someone. Their milestones are borrowed, nothing more. You might use my milestones, and I use someone else's. 

[severedsolo]

On 18/12/2016 at 6:50 AM, tater said:

I'm not overly concerned with cheating in a single player game. You are NOT actually playing against someone. Their milestones are borrowed, nothing more. You might use my milestones, and I use someone else's. 

I guess the question then becomes, what is the reward, beyond "hey I beat tater!". Do you get a cash/rep reward for beating them? Are there penalties if you don't?

Edited December 19, 2016 by severedsolo

[Wjolcz]

20 hours ago, severedsolo said:

I guess the question then becomes, what is the reward, beyond "hey I beat tater!". Do you get a cash/rep reward for beating them? Are there penalties if you don't?

Probably, yes. That would be the best approach to do this IMO.

Edited December 20, 2016 by Veeltch

[LordKael]

The other way this could be achieved by implementing a standardized (or series of) set of milestone "deadlines" as a modified version of World's First. If you do it by X date, you're actually the first, and get a larger bonus than if you do it after the deadline. 

On 12/17/2016 at 6:07 PM, Veeltch said:

A premade station would spawn in Kerbin's orbit (or any other as long as it's something sane; not retrograde solar or sth like that) and you would have a mission to help expanding it, or build your own.

I can't imagine this would be terribly difficult to make a mod for. Just requires a prebuilt, modular station with sufficient options that a randomly generated combo of the parts won't ever have a problem. 

[James M]

"Space Race OMB industries to Mun!"... Sends spy satellite to sabotage their rocket.

[Spacetraindriver]

Maybe we incorporate rival agencies in contracts first? It'll just be a normal "do this before this date." dressed up. I think the next step would be having craft randomly spawning in (reasonable) orbits/locations and maybe as stated before to have contracts requiring co-operation which shouldn't be too hard to program in, just "bring *kerbalname* from *otherstationname* to *locationname* or Dock a *#oftons* module to *stationname* making use of pre-existing contract code/programming/generator/idk. Though a wider range of (maybe inaccessible?) stock crafts might have to made and I don't think a random rocket generator is possible. After that maybe we can have a system to set parameters for what craft the rival company might build...but that seems a bit over the top. And I don't think we are gonna see rival AI rockets launching with as anytime soon. Space might work though, letting other craft teleport into render range and using basic AI to interact with you. And "sabotage this *craftnamehere*" contracts from the R&D would be pretty cool too.