Hi!
after some 120 h of play, I'm still just a beginner in ksp.
Nevertheless, I believe this improvement would be :
- not difficult to implement
- really representative of a current space question.
the way I would see it:
* at game start:
- 2 or 3 levels of life presence : rare, common, thriving
- a checkbox : "or maybe not"
a procedural determination of life presence:
- for each planet (excepted obviously kerbin), and for each biome, test randomly for the presence of life, with probability variable depending on the planet (and maybe the biome), lets say for instance probability for life in any Duna biome is 1%, 5% and 10% depending on the option selected. Same for Laythe, 0.1/0.5/1% for Eve, even less for other planets.
- if "or maybe not" is selected, stop after one iteration
- if "or maybe not" is not ticked, retest all planets until at least one biome harbors life (more than one planet and biome may harbor it)
- when a life presence is detected, roll for type :
- 60% surface trace gaz emiter (TG)
- 30% surface, non trace gaz emitter (NTG)
- underground life (UL)
* during play:
- new science components:
- orbital trace gaz scanner : detects TG, in the same way than ore scanner (with a overlay map) TG must be confirmed by ground measurement.
- surface sample tests lab : detects NTG and confirms TG.
- underground life drill : detects UG
it would be high science revenue, except of course for Kerbin (some science provided but not a lot for confirming life on Kerbin)
Sorry if already proposed (I haven't seen it in the list of already proposed)
any comments?