Kerbal Mortality

[DJDoesKSP]

Not a suggestion, but I wonder if Kerbals will still be immortal in KSP 2 or if we'll have to use cryogenics or even generational ships.

[xXIndestructibleEVAXx]

I doubt it, if only because the reduced scale combined with futuristic engines designed for interstellar travel will reduce travel to reasonable lengths

[darthgently]

4 hours ago, DJDoesKSP said:

Not a suggestion, but I wonder if Kerbals will still be immortal in KSP 2 or if we'll have to use cryogenics or even generational ships.

Given the Kerbol system is downsized kerbal scale, I'm thinking the distance between systems, while vast, will not be as vast as in our real galaxy. I'm trying to recall if I got this from a hint in a reveal vid or if I'm guessing and failing

Edited October 2, 2022 by darthgently

[Pthigrivi]

We don’t know if there will things like cryogenics. Im guessing probably not, and that Kerbals probably will be immortal. The reason would be that in KSP2 they don’t multiply steadily. Supposedly we’ll get big bursts in population when important goals are met. If all the while their populations are dwindling that would really slow down colony growth and would probably create finicky management problems. 

Edited October 2, 2022 by Pthigrivi

[kspnerd122]

Ehh, I feel like boom events are the wrong way to do growth, I say a slow but constant growth is better than rapid growth at certain times.

[MeatyBoi]

On 10/9/2022 at 1:59 PM, kspnerd122 said:

Ehh, I feel like boom events are the wrong way to do growth, I say a slow but constant growth is better than rapid growth at certain times.

personally I think that if it was just a slow growth people would just timewarp a couple hundred years and that would defeat the purpose

[kspnerd122]

Again, its still affected by quality of bases and stuff, but if people want to warp 100 years thats fine its their game

[Pthigrivi]

3 hours ago, kspnerd122 said:

Again, its still affected by quality of bases and stuff, but if people want to warp 100 years thats fine its their game

Its just one of those no-no’s in game design to create such an easy exploit. Generally if there’s something valuable a player should have to actively do something (ideally unique and non-repetitive) to get it. In KSP2’s case the idea is that Kerbals like exploration, so when you discover a new place you get a big boost in population. This keeps the pressure on to keep pushing further out and exploring new planets, so you can keep growing, so you can build more stuff, so you can explore further, and so on. This is what folks mean when they refer to a ‘gameplay loop’.

Edited October 19, 2022 by Pthigrivi

[kerbiloid]

Chrysalis

White-suit Kerbal becomes BadS Kerbal and can sleep for centuries without aging.

[t_v]

The topic of boom events makes me wonder: how does population work in the end-game? I agree that slow growth is bad for incentivizing discovery, but once you discover everything, can your population still grow? The ways I can see to fix this is to either have thousands of locations that can cause boom events, such as little surface features that become important in the end-game, or making boom events have criteria that no longer depend on new discovery; something like expanding a colony to fit 1000 kerbals while keeping your empire above a certain happiness level, kind of like Civ does it where you can technically continue getting golden ages forever. 

[Pthigrivi]

This is the clearest quote, albeit very old now: (2020 PC Gamer)

Quote

“[Colonies are] capable of producing colonists through a method that we will not describe, for everyone’s sake, after something that the player initiates called a ‘boom event’,” says lead designer Shana Markham. Throughout Kerbal’s new career mode, which the developers have nicknamed ‘adventure mode’, making discoveries and unlocking new technologies will trigger these boom events, which kick off various effects across your civilisation. In a colony’s nursery module, for example, that means making new colonists. “You know, discoveries make kerbals happy,” Markham says. 

I forgot nursery modules were confirmed(ish), so thats fun. I think this is a really smart approach, and leaves some room for other things like tech unlocks or who knows what to create booms. I like your idea about happiness being a factor, but maybe thats like a multiplier on the effect? I definitely hope unique surface features are a thing, and I imagine if there were even 3 or 6 on average per body you're now probably talking 100-200 surface features in a few different systems. That seems like plenty to keep folks busy... so to speak.


 

Edited October 19, 2022 by Pthigrivi

[shdwlrd]

1 hour ago, t_v said:

how does population work in the end-game? I agree that slow growth is bad for incentivizing discovery, but once you discover everything, can your population still grow?

You can always do it the hard way, ship Kerbals in from Kerbin.

[MeatyBoi]

On 10/19/2022 at 8:53 AM, Pthigrivi said:

Its just one of those no-no’s in game design to create such an easy exploit. Generally if there’s something valuable a player should have to actively do something (ideally unique and non-repetitive) to get it. In KSP2’s case the idea is that Kerbals like exploration, so when you discover a new place you get a big boost in population. This keeps the pressure on to keep pushing further out and exploring new planets, so you can keep growing, so you can build more stuff, so you can explore further, and so on. This is what folks mean when they refer to a ‘gameplay loop’.

yes you said what I was trying to say but better