What happened to The Barn?

[razark]

I remember someone once posted an early NASA photo and it kinda looked like a barn...

Early rocket launches != Mercury level space capsules.

Barn goes well with whole "found by the side of the road" thing

Sadly, yes. But that is just another argument against it.

[moogoob]

Let me just say this: if the barn were in, I would probably actually play career.

[Whackjob]

What I need is a mod that lets me build just in a giant open field. No structures, no walls. Nothing to get in my way. With a free camera not bound to a vertical axis. Let me roam. Let me build.

There's so much I could do, that I currently can not.

[Robotengineer]

What I need is a mod that lets me build just in a giant open field. No structures, no walls. Nothing to get in my way. With a free camera not bound to a vertical axis. Let me roam. Let me build.

There's so much I could do, that I currently can not.

Your CPU begs to differ.

[Moesly_Armlis]

What I need is a mod that lets me build just in a giant open field. No structures, no walls. Nothing to get in my way. With a free camera not bound to a vertical axis. Let me roam. Let me build.

I am currently building on the Vehicle Assembly Lawn and loving it.

The fresh air coming from that gentle sea breeze.

Gazing through the canopy at the stars at night while I haul a 36 tonne booster stack to the VAL for attachment.

My First Rocket To Orbit Built By Bill

Seriously the idea of building outside the VAB/SPH should be expanded on. A surface area with some basic tools for construction and later with upgrades.

Rocket Building Ranch With A Barn

Edited August 12, 2015 by MoeslyArmlis

[JetJaguar]

I think it's rather that people want a barn.

Timber makes sense for the main building, you don't see too many metal barns at least not where I've been.

I think the hard thing to get right with tier 0 - and for that matter all the tiers - is the other facilities. VAB is easy, it's the biggest thing at the space centre. Launchpad and runway are trivial. SPH is pretty easy, just make something that looks like an aircraft hangar. Tracking station isn't too hard, though I might complement the telescope with a tall mast carrying some radio antennae, along the lines of a typical ham radio setup like http://www.ko4bb.com/ham_radio/Pumkin_Tower-2.jpg

But distinguishing R&D, Mission Control, the Astronaut complex, and the Admin Building, that's where the designers need to do their work. Some very rough ideas from myself:

Mission Control - The only "fortified" building, clearly protected from explosions so controllers could be there during launches.

R&D - I think the best thing would be some sort of obvious testing equipment outside. Not sure what, a rocket sled track might do the trick. And perhaps it would be better if R&D had the telescope (the higher levels do) and the tracking station was just a few radio masts?

Astronaut Complex - If this were the *only* facility using caravans, instead of them being all over the place, it might stand out more as the place people live. And maybe have a ping-pong table outside. Do Kerbals play ping pong?

Admin Building - I'm kinda stumped.

You probably have seen metal barns but didn't recognize them as such, since they usually don't look traditionally barn-ish. They're working buildings so they aren't fancy, usually just big rectangular buildings with a rolling garage door on one end.

Anyway, I like the idea of a tier 0, and I think tier 0 buildings should mostly be prefab metal structures that are built on the cheap but new, not run-down. Building off of some of your ideas, my suggestions:

VAB - metal barn.

SPH - Quonset hut with a windsock out front.

Admin building - The kind of portable office trailer that you see at construction sites.

Astronaut complex - Shiny aluminum Airstream-type trailers. What's the maximum number of astronauts the tier can hold? That's how many trailers there should be. Make it something like a caravan park, with a volleyball court, charcoal grills, and such.

Mission control - Cinder block building with the wall facing the launchpad protected by a layer of sandbags.

Tracking station - A prefab metal building with radio antennas outside.

R&D - A rectangular concrete pad surrounded by a few metal buildings: a small garage and one or two offices. The pad would have some experimental equipment on it, like pressure tanks, engine stands, things like that.

[Broax]

I agree that kerbals are very capable of wonderful executed things. But the problem (for me) is that very little things have a "proper" start. I am for Tier 0 building because it follows the players progression. When a player starts KSP it's first rockets ARE little more then a few rolls of duct tape and a couple of pipes. Only after a good couple of hours can a player build competent rockets. And a good VAB progression accompanies it.

Who would fund the KSP if they never reached space? Tier 0 is that first step... Then things evolve, kerbals become more competent, funding starts rolling in and new and shinny buildings are built.

For example. I just started my own small business. It's a small and ugly little place I hesitate calling a "factory". When the health inspectors came here some aspects had them rolling their eyes. But it's ok with them 'cause they know I follow all the major guidelines, there's no huge safety risk as I go to great lengths to assure the quality and safety of my products. On the other hand I mill grain using a hand drill... The designers still have failed to give me the files I need to print vinils to put on the windows so everything is still covered with old newspapers. If I'm ever to become successful I'll find this lovely. Sometimes I dream when I am able to look back and see how far I've come from a small spot downtown where I work by myself to, hopefully, a big factory floor with dozens of employees working happily!

This is what I feel the barn can do. As you land on Dres with your fancy landers, bases and stations you can look back and remember when you started on that old, beat down barn barely making it to space. I guess you an argue that you can still have that feeling with the current tiers but IMHO a barn is much more fitting for this "start" feeling.

Also, as it's a tier 0 (zero) upgrading it could be really cheap. The barn could be just the building where you do the first "tutorial" attempts and as soon as you got to space some wealthy kerbal could fund the building of a more suited space center.

For me the barn is just that... The very start of a major endeavor. The pinnacle of kerbal entrepreneurship! We may not have the best tools, funding or facilties but we'll try to go to space anyway! Not because it's easy but because it's hard! Why? Because it's the kerbal way!

[Sharpy]

My personal opinion? Leave stock as it is. But it would be awesome if someone wrote a mod that expands the tech tree towards the left. Start with buildings two levels below what we have. Make the current initial node, with Flea and MK1 pod to be a highly desirable achievement requiring a good several hours of gameplay.

Think of the earlier techs:

springy elements, allowing for catapults.

Single explosion boosters - just explosive charges under simple seats.

A cart of pillows as a landing safety device.

Bottle rockets

Remote tech in form of lengths of string that "stage" the unkerbed "probes" at various altitudes.

Kites

Big kites.

Huge kites. (of course as SPH structures)

Gliders.

Big slings.

Balloons. (No, not the weather balloons. Just a bunch of party balloons.)

A stick with a nail and bags of sand(for altitude control with said balloons).

And of course at least two levels of facility upgrades below current initial.

[Goddess Bhavani]

@Sharpy, you will love this mod then:

Bargain Rocket Parts

It does not have a cart of pillows, but it sure does have styrofoam cups and strings for antenna