I love stock KSP, but there's obviously a lot of room for improvement. While mods do a great job of improving KSP, there's still some desires of mine that I've never seen addressed. I might as well share these ideas. These aren't requests, but just for discussion.
Super fast interplanetary travel. I recently read a sci-fi novel (2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson, if you're curious), and in it humanity uses super efficient and powerful means of propulsion to cross the entire solar system in just weeks. They do this by continuously burning their engines as they travel to their destination. I'd love to see something like this in KSP, because not only does it make interplanetary missions almost as easy as travelling to the Mun or Minmus, you can leave for your destination at any time you want (no waiting or the launch window).
Automated space exploration and construction. Launching every individual spacecraft you'll ever need and managing them yourself gets old. One idea I've had is to automate the process. By giving orders to the space center and off-world construction sites (orbital docks, surface colonies), they can build and launch spacecraft on a given schedule. For example, suppose you want a huge colony ship to be constructed and launched out to Laythe every time the Kerbin-Jool launch window arrives. Tell your colony to build the specified craft and send it into orbit, and soon enough it'll be on its way without you ever lifting a finger. Once it lands it can then do whatever you want it to.
Politics and conflict. For decades you've maintained colonies around the solar system. However, your colonists and their offspring have grown tired of your control. They break away and start exploring space on their own. Now there's another space agency in the solar system, which will manage their own spacecraft and missions, and the connection between you and them is crucial. You can maintain a positive interaction with other agencies by trading resources between colonies, working together on join space missions, and sharing technologies with your partners. You can cooperate with old governments on Kerbin or new ones around the system, all with unique personalities and benefits. Or you could have it all once again by launching warships to take your colonies back by force.
Surface and space events. First, let's discuss how to make planet and moon surfaces more interesting. Each world can have their own unique environment; for example, hurricanes and winds on Eve, sandstorms on Duna, quakes on Minmus, geysers on Vall, etc. All would have the potential to harm your mission, but also could return a huge science boost. Then there's space: Eve, Kerbin, and Jool would be surrounded by deadly bands of radiation; CMEs and other solar storms from the Sun; micro-asteroids (a warning would be given, of course). Again, running into them could make or break a mission.
What do you guys think? Any criticisms? Additions?
Sorry if any of these ideas are commonly suggested and/or already are mods; I've been away from KSP for over a year, and thus haven't checked out the modding scene in a while.