Militarization of KSP

[Halo_003]

I think stock weapons is innocent enough. If you don't want them, don't use them. I don't complain like hell about all the jet engines and parts just because I only use rockets 99% of the time. 

I would rather see factions like you would have in Civ 5, so maybe a competing space agency or two, so that you could have a race to the Mun, compete for launch contracts, etc.

[Just Jim]

Why does everything have to be about war and killing and violence?  Isn't there enough hate and war and killing in the world already?  Both the real and gaming world.  You can't get away from it, everything is about who can kill who the fastest, or most gruesomely.....

Can't this one game stay innocent? 

Edited January 29, 2016 by Just Jim

[kmMango]

Should weapons be stock? No, we've already got plenty of other ways to kill Kerbals. Including building missiles.

There used to be a Macey Dean inspired "Naval Battle Club" thread. The ships were all stock, and they made some pretty incredible things. From what I saw of it, a lot of the participants just wanted to test their engineering. The explosions were somewhat of a side effect.

After a while, I think most people who play KSP start trying things the game wasn't built for, just to see how far they can push it. For some, that means building propeller aircraft, or giant amphibious jet rovers, or creating a warp drive out of landing legs, batteries and girders. For others, it means mods.

And for some, it means building a 100 ton armored behemoth that can fly to Jool and launch Separatron-propelled I-beams at other ships.

I'll admit that I have had the urge to blow things up. I installed BD Armory and felt a bit guilty, until I started dodging missiles. Mods can be fun.    

[loch.ness]

For myself the closest I'll ever get to full on milatarizing my KSP saves is relicas of Military craft.

 

I've got an idea I might try over the next few months of creating a Mission report starting from the end of Kerbin's WWI equivalent and going into the space race and cold war (kerbalizing history up through Apollo 11 and then diverging into a increasingly Kerbal alternate timeline).  For that I am thinking of trying to make old-style News-Reel cinematics to go with the text part of the story.

 

For that I've made WWII-ish planes which have RCS, Vernor, or LOX engines up front to simulate the guns on the fighter.  (Jeb's uses RCS so that I can capture the "puff puff" as the gun-shot effect.  I might go so far as to stage an explosion in the distance so that it looks like he shot something.

 

In space itself I find that I lack the interest to intentionally blow up anything I've built and taken the time to get to another place.  When it blows up unintentionally it can be very fun.  Space is dangerous enough for me without needing to add more.  So my personal limit is "military aesthetics"

 

[Death Engineering]

I have no issue with the militarization, but KSP is not exactly optimized for it.  Isn't there more better-suited games for that with better graphics/framerates?

[billbobjebkirk]

29 minutes ago, Death Engineering said:

I have no issue with the militarization, but KSP is not exactly optimized for it.  Isn't there more better-suited games for that with better graphics/framerates?

Not with the kind of gameplay that KSP offers.

[Spartwo]

15 hours ago, kmMango said:

Should weapons be stock? No, we've already got plenty of other ways to kill Kerbals. Including building missiles.

There used to be a Macey Dean inspired "Naval Battle Club" thread. The ships were all stock, and they made some pretty incredible things. From what I saw of it, a lot of the participants just wanted to test their engineering. The explosions were somewhat of a side effect.

After a while, I think most people who play KSP start trying things the game wasn't built for, just to see how far they can push it. For some, that means building propeller aircraft, or giant amphibious jet rovers, or creating a warp drive out of landing legs, batteries and girders. For others, it means mods.

And for some, it means building a 100 ton armored behemoth that can fly to Jool and launch Separatron-propelled I-beams at other ships.

I'll admit that I have had the urge to blow things up. I installed BD Armory and felt a bit guilty, until I started dodging missiles. Mods can be fun.    

What do you mean *used* to be?

[Andem]

KSP is about science, exploration, and wacky physics. If you want to build a space empire like the first order, go ahead. Sure, It's fun to do, sure, I do it, but I have one military save and 37 non-military saves.

 

Also, come on. The Kethane Station and Spiritwolf are freaking amazing. You are a liar if you say you didn't enjoy them.

 

--EDIT--

@Just Jim is exactly right. I can't pretend to know what combat is like, but I have talked with soldiers with PTSD (I'm a psychologist) and it's unbelievable. I even have a friend who fixed tanks in Iraq. He was only in active combat twice, but we went to a bar at some point, and he dissapeared. I was freaking out, and I eventually found him out back having a panic attack. So basically, It's something that should be acknowledged, but not poked fun at.

Edited January 29, 2016 by Andem

[Dr.K Kerbal]

On 8/6/2015 at 0:32 PM, FleshJeb said:

Not my preferred mode of play, but some days I just want to watch the world burn. ;-)

What KSP really needs is Hippie Mode.

Whats hipple mods?

[almagnus1]

IMO, weapons feels out of place in stock; however, I'm fine with mods like BD Armory that add in that mechanic.

Explosions in stock are usually the result of not doing something right (ie: RUD), or just being careless (as is the case with the MANY separators I've exploded).

[kmMango]

On January 29, 2016 at 3:23 PM, Spartwo said:

What do you mean *used* to be?

Wait, it's still around?

[Kerbal007]

If I wanted to see war I would watch CNN. 

This game should be kept light hearted and for all ages. If you wish to weapon it, use a mod.

[Curveball Anders]

4 hours ago, Kerbal007 said:

If I wanted to see war I would watch CNN. 

This game should be kept light hearted and for all ages. If you wish to weapon it, use a mod.

This echoes my view exactly.

If weapons and warfare was added to stock I'd actually consider erasing one my most loved games.

[Pixel Kola]

IMHO if they did a Kerbal Dept of Defense Program it would outsell KSP by 3 fold. Developing drones for different purposes (speed, up time, range, etc...), Spy satellites with varying purposes (spying, weather, taking out enemy satellites, etc..) that you can actually spy on your enemy with, Missiles (DUH!) of differing purpose (dumb bombs, altitude triggers, ballistic, conventional and nuclear warheads, cruise missiles, ground-to-air, air-to-ground, air-to-air, Maverick/Hellfire style TV guided.. etc.. ). Develop aircraft for different purposes (transport both heavy and light, bombers, fighters, helos).. All of this while having competition and enemy nations, trying to sell to governments. KSP could be integrated by making it a solar system-wide conflict so you would have to deliver supplies to other bodies.. I would start a kickstarter for this to be a standalone.

 

I know there are some mods that give KSP a flavor of this and there are also those who would abhor the idea of violence... but doesn't that sound like where KSP should really go? I would drop $60 in a heartbeat if the game above existed within the realm of Kerbals.

Edited February 2, 2016 by Pixel Kola

[Choctofliatrio2.0]

I dabbled in stock weaponry, building boats and putting them just off the KSC, then attempting to sink them. It was fun, but got boring really fast (Took several attempts and a long time to get each ship into the water), so I stopped.

[Wallygator]

Since the globe has been enjoying nearly a generation of "everlasting war" it's not difficult to understand that an entire generation has been "gifted" with a sense of "war as entertainment" seeing as it's glorified in the media so much, so often and so well. 

This does not mean KSP has to share a common denominator. 

You can weaponise just about anything these days and even more likely get a government contract to do it. So... I say, "Just say no" to a weaponized KSP, and together strive for a peaceful Kerbin as an example for the real world.

PS> YMMV and you can do what you want with your own save, no one is tracking what you do.  Oh, sorry... Yes they are. 

[Spartwo]

I've started building militarily as a precaution for MP. If you think it will be safe on any pubic server then you are a very trusting person, Likely to have your mun base destroyed, but trusting. I never really enjoyed fighting and much preferred building. Someone who enjoys the suffering of others pulls up in a crude ship, big problems for 57% of people, barely one at all for someone prepared. Hell, I'm currently downsizing military activities because the range of craft are leftovers from when I couldn't build very versatile craft. Now I can trim defensive measures down to enough craft to count on one hand.

[kmMango]

On February 2, 2016 at 4:02 PM, Spartwo said:

I've started building militarily as a precaution for MP. If you think it will be safe on any pubic server then you are a very trusting person, Likely to have your mun base destroyed, but trusting. I never really enjoyed fighting and much preferred building. Someone who enjoys the suffering of others pulls up in a crude ship, big problems for 57% of people, barely one at all for someone prepared. Hell, I'm currently downsizing military activities because the range of craft are leftovers from when I couldn't build very versatile craft. Now I can trim defensive measures down to enough craft to count on one hand.

No, no, no. If you're going to get revenge in a game as big as KSP, you've gotta be more creative. What fun is just blowing them up? 

My strategy would be simple:

1. Find your opponent's ship.

2. Obtain asteroid.

3. Claw asteroid with a sufficiently beefy spacecraft.

4. Shift asteroid's orbit onto an intercept trajectory.

5. Wait

6. Laugh maniacally as the product of your opponent's labors, the ship they spent so much time creating, is vaporized in an instant by a lump of rock traveling at orbital velocities, leaving nothing but a cloud of debris expanding in all directions.

The best part is, you can always claim it was an accident and the asteroid just spawned in that orbit.

Alternatively, just fly up to their ship and attach a Kraken Drive to it, then watch as they get ejected from the solar system at light speed.

[Eldrad_Ulthran]

I am opposed to destruction of Kerbals in every way. I enjoy decommission of unmanned or evacuated ships the destructive way but I hate killing those joyous little green Men. That is why most of my first flights are unmanned. I am not telling you how to play your game, but I cried when Jeb hit Laythe at 600m/s.

Thank you,

Owen Maley

Edited July 17, 2016 by Eldrad_Ulthran

[Rocket In My Pocket]

I've built all sorts of stock weapons to varying degrees of success, and it's great fun! (I never kill Kerbals, I just use the KSC for target practice and then revert after.)

I've no use for BD Armory, I enjoy the engineering aspect of trying to make a weapon out of parts that weren't intended to be used as such.

That said, do I want some sort of MP mode where you "fight" each other? Absolutely not.

[pandaman]

Like RIMP said above.  It can be fun creating stuff and launching it at the island airfield or KSC as a bit of light relief from more 'serious' stuff.

But stock weaponisation? No, absolutely not.   As and when multi player becomes a stock thing then no doubt players will have fun doing such things, which is fine, but to include dedicated weapon parts etc in the stock game would not be right or appropriate.