Sirnanigans

I do enjoy the thought of creating a self-sustaining travel system that involves building a space faring village. I also see how with time warp such a transportation system may be possible by adding greater levels of warp speeds. The only challenge is how to add it without belittling everything else. As you said, civilizations could fall and system would be colonized and recolonized between visits. So when you go to launch this behemoth what has all of your hard work thus far been worth? One might say the realization of this dream, but then what is even this epic journey worth if you plan to do another?

I like most of the ideas posted so far. It seems that the two most liked ideas (by a huge margin) are colonization and science fiction sized space travel. Clearly the game has its limitations as of right now. Without an economy written into the game, adding one is a matter of ground-up design on a whole new aspect and likewise a whole bunch of man hours. Creating travel systems which are capable of light-year scale distances which are both practical and behave within the realism of the current game is nigh impossible. Still, the ideas are both important, because a game can't survive without a meaningful endgame. World of Warcraft, for example, desperately throws new content into the game because otherwise they have no endgame (unless you enjoy its mechanics). In a loot-chase kind of game, a player won't stick around after acquiring all the loot. KSP is far from World of Warcraft in concept, but if the game is about "discovering all the tech!" (*cough* loot chase *cough!*), then players will move on shortly after they do. Simulators are awesome, but their demographic is relatively small. Sure, they have their fans, but their numbers are meager compared to popular games and SQUAD has indicated that this is a game before a simulator. Missions can easily be added but in a way that just makes KSP a simulator with a prompt. It's a good idea on paper, but ultimately players may catch on to the fact that there isn't more to do, they are only being asked to do specific, existing things. Everyone is right to say that idea X is a lot of work, and idea Y changes the game, but I have seen fads come and go and I know that they all look very promising in the beginning. What makes them fads is that they don't have a permanent value to survive on after their players have experienced the whole of the game, or they put themselves in a positions to be trumped by a bigger and better version of themselves. I don't want to see KSP die for a lack of endgame or for the invention of a more potent parallel game. In my personal opinion and in regards to recent opinions posted, the game would benefit greatly from a paid add-on. Interstellar space travel via worm holes with procedurally generated solar systems is a LONG shot from the current mechanics of the game. Accelerating to twice the speed of light is fine and dandy (just add a big space motor), but the mechanics of the game are going to make slowing to a stop and landing anywhere a real improbability. At a survivable G-force, slowing from 600,000,000Km/s is ludicrous. Adding some kind of feature to make it less ludicrous is betraying the nature of the game by adding sci-fi magic. However, something like an add-on with wormholes is much more reasonable, mostly because there's no need to explain it or betray the realistic systems of the game. Just say "it's a wormhole, you explain it" and add a loading screen. Colonization is a HUGE addition to the game. Planetary resources, colony structures, survival challenges, environment variables, etc. etc. etc., it's all a lot of work and almost a whole new game attached. So don't attach it, develop it separately and release it as an expansion. Clearly people want these ideas, obviously people will pay for these ideas, so I think they should definitely see the light. How to implement them is a challenge likely to be unmet in the current game, but ignoring their potential entirely I fear will doom this game.

I also agree that colonization is an exceptionally enticing goal in a space exploration game. Just take a look at human kind in reality - despite the obnoxious expense, guaranteed sacrifice, and likely failure of it, we continue to explore the idea of colonizing other planets. We write documentaries on it, create television programs, write novels, and make games about it; surely it's a fitting endgame activity. As far as procedural generation, I like it. I may be a touch biased for my love of Minecraft, but the majority of my favor for seed generated settings is that discovering a new and interesting world is much more exciting, as well as more inviting to a colonization mindset. If your unique universe has a volcanic planet with an outrageously large and active volcano on it, then you know that it's truly an unlikely discovery. Consequently, you are more likely to spend days trying to fund and execute a mission to colonize this treacherous area than you are to spend a few hours colonizing the same big volcano you saw in everyone else's game on Reddit. It's even better if such terrain comes with resource benefits but that's just icing, the cake is the fact that it's your volcano and you get to figure out how to colonize it.

As a long time minecraft player (who was with that game since just before beta as well), I can attest to the appeal of colonization for the sake of grandeur and pride alone. Of course we are comparing apples and pears here (not oranges, minecraft and KSP are more alike than apples and oranges), but the motivational factor transfers well, even if the play style is different. Totally despite economical gain, if other planets had more convincing and specific biomes which were randomly generated and offered some kind of unique colonization potential, there might be an innate drive to successfully conquer new planets. Each planet could be unique to the player and offer an archetypal but unpredictable challenge. Suddenly space stations serve a purpose to communicate between planets, especially those with thick atmospheres. More heavily insulated colony structures may be optionally research for the time when you want to conquer a planet with extraordinary temperatures. Maybe even require some kind of contextual building to survive in a particular alien biome, like a "mercury to food" processor in a Mercury rich biome discovered somewhere. Okay, I am getting ahead of myself. Point is, randomly generated worlds inspire exploration and conquest, because the player knows that their discovery is just that, a discovery, and not just a predicted step in a prepared game.

So you have mastered orbits, Mün landings, interplanetary travel, satellite and laboratory designs, etc. Space has become your playground, but what to play in it? Just like a child growing familiar with the world, a player growing familiar with a game finds simply throwing things and gnawing on stuff less fulfilling, and it must be replaced with a progressive, organized, and meaningful kind of entertainment. What ideas do you have, community, for end-game content? Planetary settlements with resource income? Greater and more distant horizons of exploration? Multi-player universes with a home solar system for each player? Post your ideas and see what others think. Even if they are outside of the developers' scope, we can always dream...and then mod that shiz in there!

Thread revival - because it deserves it. Yes, thank you indeed! This game is very addictive and just the kind of challenge I enjoy most. Best of all, the developers have been very modern and proactive by involving themselves in the community. I have seen some games succeed by a great margin and others avoid a fatal fallout by listening to the community. It's easier and more popular than ever to do so, thanks for taking the time!