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Showing results for tags 'gameplay currency science reputation'.
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One of the annoyances (to me) of KSP's career mode is the three currencies - Science, reputation and money. Most especially annoying is the artificial link between scientific discovery and technological Research and Development! In The Real World, it is social and political enthusiasm for space exploration that opens the purse-strings for tech development and rocket building. This arbitrary clutch of currencies has helped drive me away from career mode. (The use of a tech tree is the other gameplay mechanism that has put me off career mode, but that's another suggestion I am cogitating.) The multiple-currency model is one much-used in many games, but I feel it isn't a natural fit for KSP. I would like to propose an alternative, single currency: Enthusiasm. Kerbals are profoundly enthusiastic! They make rockets because of enthusiasm, they go up in rockets because of enthusiasm, and they create new technologies because of enthusiasm. One can easily imagine that a population of Kerbals would become increasingly enthusiastic about spaceflight every time they learn of new rocketry achievements, new scientific discoveries and the creation of new colonies; and that enthusiasm would drive them to produce the means to advance the spaceflight industry. So: as a game-play currency Enthusiasm would be earned by: Rocketry achievements such as first Kerbal into space, first Kerbal into orbit etc Scientific discovery, whether made on the ground, in flight or in space Getting Kerbals back to Kerbin (or a colony with space for them to reside) safe and sound Even bigger, badder explosion with no loss of life would add some Enthusiasm to the pot (To earn Enthusiasm an explosion would have to be even bigger than the last Enthusiasm-earning explosion - you have to break the record every time.) It's OK to lose a new, bigger rocket, so long as your Launch Escape System has worked. Social achievements such as creating habitation for Kerbals off-world Enthusiasm would diminish through: Building rockets - it's back-breaking work! Researching technology - it's mind-numbing! Deaths Enthusiasm could be represented as a simple number, but I like the idea that it could additionally be represented as a graphic displaying a number of emojis of Kerbals who are emotionally invested in space exploration, with varying degrees of interest, enthusiasm and excitement. It could be described as the results of a continuous opinion-poll of the Kerbal population. I feel that this mechanism is a natural fit for the game and would reinforce one of the standout aspects of the game: the personalities of the Kerbals.