Brickyard

Ok, do you have a link for that?

I had an idea that is beyond my abilities to mod, and I'd like to get some feedback from you folks. Basic premise: Kerbals can build or disassemble anything they are nearby in a system like the ship building menu. Beyond that a ship has new storage pods which weight slightly more than the value of what they contain. The idea is that rather than launching a whole base and rovers up already assembled, you send all the components disassembled and tightly pack, but slightly heavier in a storage canister. It gets there. You build your base, or rovers, or new rocket. Some details: Fuels would not be transportable in this state. Only empty fuel pod which have been (In theory, not shown) broken down into sheets. There would be a limit to storage set somewhat less than the specific canisters perceived mass. It would be possible to define a construction as 'Base' meaning parts could be sunk into the ground and would not be physical, allowing larger bases with decreased lag. Besides that, if you flipped a rover, and broke a wheel off, but it was not destroyed, it would be possible to reattach it. Because the limit in build distance between the storage and the building site, it might mean the player would end up building cargo transports and transfer the cargo between a docking port somewhat like fuel transfers. I'd also argue that kerbals should have a single inventory slot for one part. Perhaps limited to under a certain mass. Thoughts?

Speaking of this, I had the same idea myself but was unable to locate the model or texture files in game. Any idea how to get at them?

Speaking of this, I had the a similar idea myself but was unable to locate the model or texture files the the directory. Any idea how to get at them?

Personally I found that once I could leave the orbit of kerbin I was able to get about 1000 science per mission. It was too easy. admittedly reaching the Mun was troubling though. I'd have to say rather than make it easier, simply give us more things to do. if we are forced to spend more time on the early game, that's fine, as long as the options are diverse.

Yeah I was thinking of that as well. I'm not totally sure how radio waves work but it'd be a great game mechanic.

I hope you realize we didn't discover Mars because of Hubble. Mars was discovered thousands of years ago. Pluto was discovered in 1930. So I imagine if we're going for the 1970s nasa parallel I'd say all the planets and most of the moons would be known. I'd also like to note that the details of planets reference them in kerbal mythology. However there is still a use for a telescope. Something that always bothered me was that I could zoom out on a planet and see nearly all it's detail. I think this should be impossible until it has been properly viewed by a high power telescope or visited by a ship or probe.

I agree with all this. Being able to use data as data or unloading science projects and putting them in a storage pod would be wonderful. I really want a harddrive pod.

I was interested right up until you said that breaking the "rules" meant that you get nothing and the mission auto aborts. That is not fun. It's games like that which make people ragequit. KSP is about exploring potential and trying to do the most and go the farthest. Putting arbitrary rules on things is really bad.

Greetings folks. Here's my thoughts on how the game is progressing and how it might go. Science The addition of science has changed the dynamic and put us in for the long haul to get farther out into the kerbol system. It's not enough to just know how to make a good rocket. I found myself following NASA's mission history rather closely. There was a lot of science to gather from the Mun and plenty of reason to find a way to get there and back. My problem with science is right now. 1: Once you visit a place, you milk it dry and never need return. 2: There is no reason to send more than one of everything on a one way trip, and since probes cannot preform a number of tasks that kerbals can, landers start to look exactly the same. I'd like to suggest a way that science might work better. Probes can preform simple tasks. They get one large payout for each new data. If it is not new they get nothing. The logic being: they are limited in what they can preform but can last indefinitely. Kerbals however, gather science continuously at a much slower rate. The value of this being that making a giant science station would have a point. This is hard of course because of Time Warp. Now we get to a sticking point, and I'd have to say it's time to add life-support. Giving the the kerbs limited time to preform a mission brings in many real world problems with space travel and in a lot of ways exactly the step we want to improve on the immersion and mission complexity. Life Support This would mean that ships and stations would need to have enough air and food stores to keep them going. Often requiring restocks. Docking missions now becoming paramount. With the upcoming addition of money, and skills, I imagine kerbalnauts will become something much more valuable and necessary steps be taken to keep them alive and get them back after a mission. Of course as the tech tree grows, you'll see larger life-support pods, more efficiency, hibernation chambers for long trips, and large sub-sustainable life support which require massive energy, harvest resources and/or man power. I'd also go so far as suggesting that kerbs have a life span. That would suggest that if you could keep them alive forever they would eventually die of old age. (or have children?) Science Devices Ideally, as the game progresses we will see variations of the existing modules so we can build different ships from them the same way that there is more than one battery. In addition to this I might suggest things like, a robot arm, so surface samples might be gathered without a kerbal in the lander, or large or small drills for getting under the surface for further examination of a planets surface. Perhaps a water sampler that could be dropped in one of the few planets with with standing water or ice. Com Systems We've seen now that coms are very useful and I like the way they work. I noticed though that the step between the first battery and the first solar panel is very small. Ideally there would be a point when sending data was possible but extremely delicate. Additionally it might be interesting if each com was given a minimum range. This would mean that getting data back from Duna or Laythe might require a network of relay satellites. I don't know the exact details of radio waves. However my understanding is they continue going forever if now blocked or bounced away. Because space is space I'd say it'd be more likely that the message would travel fine. The only issue might be distortion. If my suggested change to Science was done, this might be measured in 1 point per minute for distorted signal or 5 per minute for a clear signal. It also might be fun if you had to point your coms at target to send and receive. Money Since we've made the leap from sandbox game to more of a goal oriented game I think it's important to discuss what money will change and how it is rewarded differently. Obviously science often has real world application and is worth money and will likely be added as well too. However there are other things which are worth money which might be important. Initially I imagine it'd be possible to fail a new game if you ran out of money. However if you do the right things early I imagine a growing sustainable income. For example: mapping Kerbal or other planets via satellite. This would only require a telescopic camera part be added. This also might lead to creating a Hubble-like telescope for viewing stars and planets. Another thing might just be launching satellites to get income from say, cell phone companies for example. Additional Thoughts Landing gear spike clamps for low gravity landings would be nice. Freely attachable fuel or power (or oxygen) line via Kerbal for systems which require more power or fuel transfer without needing to directly dock. (EVAs can be fun!)