A KSP Board Game! (PS I checked to make sure this hasn't been posted before...)

[Uhtred]

I have an idea for a simple KSP board game, and I think it would be pretty cool.... (<-- Yes, of course I am biased...) Basically, the point is to be the last space program with any funding. There would be a deck of part cards (and maybe cool little connectable models too), Funds, science tokens, and special dice. Each card would have a picture of the part, its name, its cost, its return cost, its mass and depending on the type: its resources, thrust, et c. At the beginning of the game, everyone starts with the mk1 capsule card, the basic fin card, the rt-5 flea card, 25,000 funds, and five science tokens. Also, shuffle the deck! Every turn you could turn in science tokens and draw cards (5 tokens = 3 cards, 10 = 6 cards, 15 = 9 cards, et c.), build a rocket, launch a rocket, or do nothing. If you can only do nothing, you lose. When launching a rocket, you find its success rate by checking a chart for its mass and thrust, and then use the corresponding die to check whether it succeeds. The lowest success rate would have a die with five fail sides and one success side, and the highest would have five success sides and one fail side. If it succeeds, you get funds back for the total return cost of the final stage. When building a rocket, you array the cards in such a way that it looks like an expanded blueprint of a rocket. For symmetric parts you multiply the cost by the amount used in symmetry. You would only be able to build rockets within your funds. You get 1 token for every science unit on the final stage. And yes, you need to do math to figure everything out, but that's good, right?

P.S. Ideas and comments would be appreciated, I want to know what other people think. Thanks!

Edited March 24, 2021 by Uhtred

[pandaman]

The obvious suggestion here is to just have a go and make one yourself to test it. 

It doesn't  need to be of any quality, it is just to test the concept,and it needs to be 'quick and disposable' anyway as you will inevitably need to change things as you see what works and doesn't.  Cards etc can be made using a printer at home,  any boards etc  can be hand drawn.  Card or paper silhouettes or Lego bricks can be used to stand in for rocket parts etc.

Once you have  got a basic game that works then you can make nicer looking bits later on.

The critical thing here is to do it for fun, because you want to.

By all means dream, but have no real expectations of commercial success,  absolutely nothing is stopping you trying for that later on, and it could happen, but that is not an easy thing to achieve.

[steuben]

A space race board/card game has been done a couple of times.

But you may want to simplify the mechanics a bit. Too much math and table look ups will slow or cripple game play.  And is suitable for only a couple of genres of games. The problem I can quickly see is the delta-v/design mechanic. That's slow math. You want the math to be quick and simple. At worst like Scrabble scoring.

So you have a parts deck, science counters, funds counters. You may want to add in a contract deck as well.

[Uhtred]

@steubenOk thanks for the info. 

@pandamanYeah, that's a good idea.

Thanks!

[kerbiloid]

A board with two major rectangles for "Launchpad" and "Assembly Building" and a "Road" from one to another.

Aside there are rectangles for "Astronaut Complex" and "Tracking Station".

A rectangle for "HQ" and a "Pool" next to it.

A deck of playing cards.

***

Extract K,Q,J, A cards from the deck and shuffle them.
Then stack them on the "Astronaut Complex".

K = Pilots, Q = Scientists, J = Engineers, A = probe cores (or any other order at you wish).

These 12 Kerbal cards are your staff stuff.

***

Take three more cards from the deck and put them on the "Tracking Station", kinda they are radars.

You may interprete their values at your wish, it anyway affects nothing.

***

Shuffle other cards and lay them by the sides of the "Road".

They are your rocket parts.

***

Take one Kerbal card from the "Astronaut Complex" and put it on the "HQ".
This Kerbal is your "Agency Director".
(If it's a Probe, that's even better).

***

Take one card from the side of the "Road" and throw it into the "Pool".

They kinda sunk it.

***

Take as many cards as you wish from the sides of the "Road" and put them in "Assembly Building" with faces up.

It's your part palette.

***

Now start taking the cards from the "Assembly Building" and build a multistage "Rocket" on the "Launchpad", treating the card values as "mass" and "thrust" at once.

Spoiler

Take 3 Kerbal cards from the "Astronaut Complex" and put them o the very top of the rocket.

***

When the "Rocket" is ready, start shaking the table.

If it didn't fall, you crew is in orbit.

 

[Guest]

Or copy Disney and take an existing game and convert it to your theme (like Star Wars Monopoly - seriously?!) That way you've got a game you know works but you get to creatively implement your theme.

[Uhtred]

@kerbiloidThats a good idea, but there are 2 problems: First, i can't build those card towers. (believe me, I've tried...) Second, i already have a plan for how it's going to work:

This is the basic version of my gameboard: https://ibb.co/xMg0Cyb 

Basically, you use tokens or pawns to mark your current status (how many funds or science tokens you have) on the board. If you have less than 10000 funds, you lose. The last person playing wins the game. I think am going to use @steuben's idea for the contract deck as well. 

I have also created a basic card template: https://ibb.co/FBTQD59

I still need to create a more detailed instruction manual and such, but that shouldn't take too long. I am also going to use a board game printer website to print it out, so if i can, i'll link that here too. (PS, i won't get any money from the website and you'll have to pay for it yourself...)

Also, @FruitGoose, LOL!

 

 

[Uhtred]

I have created the basic instruction manual, any opinions would be appreciated,

https://ibb.co/LRWhsF6
https://ibb.co/hKr9Yr1
https://ibb.co/ZcS6jNn
https://ibb.co/NNz9kBX

thanks!

btw, in page 2, the top line is the start of the sentence.