Suggestion for an expansion: Risk management.

[Mastermemorex]

For those who are too young to remember the game Buzz, it was a great simulation of the space race between USA and  the former Soviet Union to be the first to land on the Moon.

That game introduces you the concept of risk management. Which I think will greatly improve the game and provides more realism.

Risk management is something that the space program have to deal everyday. Basically, a prototype component has great chances of failure and increases its reliability as it is tested and used. As the rocket becomes more complex and there are more steps in the space mission, the risk of failure increases exponentially.

In the real Apollo mission, they had to test every aspect of the mission to improve the reliability, the launch pad, lunar landing module, the docking sequence, a flight pass to the Moon, ... before Armstrong and Buzz step on the Moon.

In essence, you cannot play with big rockets, if you have not played with the smaller ones. Also, the reliability of the systems and subsystem can be compromised by thermal, aerodynamic stresses, hits etc...

Maybe it will be a great idea for a game expansion. What do you think?

 

Edited December 19, 2015 by Mastermemorex

[322997am]

Agreed. Like a risk advisor or something.

[Wjolcz]

Sooooo... Random failures? I wouldn't have anything against random failures as lond as we had more in-the-field engineering flexibility. KIS and KAS are great when it comes to engines that came off or partially crashed/damaged vessels. Just replace that wheel which you lost with a new one and keep on rollin'.

Edited December 20, 2015 by Veeltch

[pandaman]

As a basic game play mechanic I'm not in favour of 'random failure' in any form. But as an optional 'advanced' difficulty setting along the lines suggested then I can see a place for it.

[Mastermemorex]

I agree, the risk management is for an "expert" mode and very educational, because it can introduce new interesting mechanisms: EVA for making repairs, or each component have a list of subsystems and the critical ones require redundancies, or a failure of the systems for being exposed out of the safety operational limits; for example the failure of the SAS will create a very tense moment during a mission as the player will have to change to manual control.

Just some ideas.