I don't know how much in the background coding this complicates things, but it seems to me you could easily make everyone happy by having a difficulty setting--like you do for example in Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak or even some of the RPGs. This would appear in the start screen along with choosing sandbox or the new "progression" mode (I don't know if that is the official name or not).
Easy mode (or easier mode, there should be no really easy in KSP): just like KSP as we know it.
Medium: Same as above but with orbital decay
Hard: Full life support, orbital decay, fuel issues etc.
And leave the rest for the modding community.
BTW: Reading between the lines from interviews so far, I think there is going to be some form of autopiloting, so it is conceivable that issues like decay can be managed without too much difficulty. This is, of course, only speculation.
Maybe not difficulty but I think it would be great if they added individual settings instead of grouping them into difficulties. Lets say you wanted to have the challenge of different types of fuel, but didn't want the hassle of life support or orbital decay. then you could just use one setting instead of lumping them together as difficulties.
Blocker features in KSP2 -- what would stop you from playing it?
in Prelaunch KSP2 Discussion
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Maybe not difficulty but I think it would be great if they added individual settings instead of grouping them into difficulties. Lets say you wanted to have the challenge of different types of fuel, but didn't want the hassle of life support or orbital decay. then you could just use one setting instead of lumping them together as difficulties.