If you could redesign/improve the Kerbol System, what would you do?

[Renegrade]

I'd personally like to see a proper Pluto-analog. Eeloo is way too close* (6.3 Kerbin AU vs 39.5 Earth AU semi-major axis) and lacks Pluto's small moons/large rocks collection. So, let's throw Eeloo into a much larger orbit, give it some friends, and make us some serious deep space / New Horizons-type fun.

(I'd also like to see more/better details of the existing planets too, plus some fixes, like eliminating the invisible walls on Pol and gaps in the meshes of all worlds..)

* - Eeloo tickles Jool's orbit, which is a fair approximation of Jupiter's orbit - Pluto dances around Neptune.

[SpaceplaneAddict]

Make it simple enough for a complete newb to make their own planet.

[RA3236]

Make it simple enough for a complete newb to make their own planet.

You are smart. Rep.

[Interplanet Janet]

I just realized that this was the first post here in a while. Anyway, here's my list.

Everything will be upscaled by 6.4x, besides Tylo, which will only be done so by 3.2x to be more moon-sized, and the smallest bodies, which have their masses accordingly decreased by 6.4x.

New bodies:

Adam (AH-dum), a moon of Eve. In relation to Eve, its size is beaten only by Mun and Ike, being about a seventh the size. It was responsible for the capture of Gilly, and later its ejection.

Cain (KEIN), Abel (EI-buhl), and Seth (SETH) orbit in Eve's L4, L5, and L3 points, respectively, forming an equilateral triangle (or a kite, if the Eve system is included). All are asteroids in the size range of Bop or Gilly.

Popo (POH-poh), the Phobos analog. Orbits in a 4:3 resonance with Ike. Very surprising that it hasn't been slingshotted out of the system or impacted the planet. Though it is destined to do that. Don't think it's not!

Didi (DEE-dee), the Deimos analog. Orbits in a 3:4 resonance with Ike. Same with Po, but it's destined to instead spiral out of the system because it is out of synchronous orbit range.

Usta (UH-stuh), the Vesta analog. Half the size of Dres, and only a quarter of the mass. A little bit inward, and in a milder orbit than Dres, having a lower inclination and eccentricity. Using a gravity assist to get to Usta will pretty much be pointless.

Qlass (KLASS), the Pallas analog. A little bit larger than Usta, but certainly less massive. It is outward from Dres, and in a highly-inclined orbit. Getting to it will therefore be a challenge unless you burn WAAAAAY downward or get a plane change from Jool.

Enjin (ehn-JIHN), the 2P/Enkce analog. It is a small comet between the orbits of Kerbin and Jool with low inclination.
Animal (AH-nih-mul), the Amalthea analog. Orbiting within Jool's system of tenuous rings, it acts as a shepherd. It orbits slightly above synchronous orbit radius, so don't worry about it impacting Jool anytime soon.

Klip (KLIHP), the Callisto analog. It is close to forming a 1:2:4:8 resonance with Laythe, Vall, and Tylo, but not exactly there yet. It is about the same size as Moho, and is nearly pitch-black with white pock-marks.

Saan (SAUN), the Saturn analog. It is a gas giant planet with a large system of rings, and moons. It is also 1 1/2 times larger than Jool, but only has 2/3 of its mass. Also, it has a stable 2:5 resonance with Jool, keeping their orbits stable enough to not crash into one another.

Dora (DOOR-ruh), the Pan analog. It is a ring shepherd like Animal, responsible for the Enjin gap in the rings. It orbits a bit lower than synchronous orbit, and is destined to, if not becoming a ring itself, impact the surface of the planet. It is half the size of Gilly.

Etreum (et-ROOM), the Mimas analog. Though it does have significant craters, one really pops out; Bill Crater, which is 1/3 of the size of the moon itself. It is slightly egg-shaped because of tidal forces.

Kiwi (KEE-wee), the Rhea analog. It's not really that interesting, besides being green and looking like a kiwifruit.

Blank (BLAHNK), the Iapetus analog. The name is nonindicative, being a very interesting moon in contrast to Kiwi. It has a white area and a black area, arranged like a baseball, and on an inclined orbit. It also has a ridge around the edge that makes it look lens-shaped in a way.

Pebble (PEHB-buhl), the Phoebe analog. Orbiting four times as far away as Blank, it is a very dark, small object orbiting retrograde around Saan, or in the opposing direction of its rotation. It has deep holes in it and looks a bit like moldy Swiss cheese. It also was responsible for one of Saan's largest rings, the Pebble ring. Creative, right?

Khan (KAUN), the 95P/Chiron analog. It orbits once every two Saan makes, and sweeps from Saan to Onaut. It even has its own ring system!

Hal (HAHL), the 1P/Halley analog. It orbits retrograde around the Sun, and stretches all the way from Eve's orbit to where Naal would be. It is also very inclined, meaning Jool will be needed to take you to that inclined an orbit.

Onaut (OH-naut), the Uranus analog. It is a reddish planet that rotates in the opposite way most other planets do, also known as retrograde rotation. It also has a system of rings. I wonder why Kerbals find the name so hilarious.

Pynk (PIHNK) and Floid (FLOID) are moons around Uranus that are nearly co-orbital. Pynk comes very close to Floid very often, which, if they were N-body physics, would make them co-orbital moons.

Andy (AHN-dee), the Miranda analog. Its surface is varied and has the most varied terrain in the system. Everything on this moon will be dangerous, although its gravity is comically low.

Oobo (OO-boh), the Oberon analog. It is very recognizable and has a crater that looks like it snowed there. It is about the size of Kiwi.

Kymm (KYME) is a farway satellite from Onaut. It has a large enough SOI to potentially possess a moon of its own. And what do you know, it does!

Taplop (TAHP-lohp) is a subsattelite, uniquely the only one in the system. It is also far enough away from Kymm to be not in subsynchronous orbit. It is also small, about twice the size of Gilly.

Naal (NAHL), the Neptune analog. It is the furthest planet from the sun, and is sort of orange in coloration. It is smaller, yet more massive, than Onaut, and the densest of the giant planets. It has a tenuous ring system.

Mallam (muhl-AHM), the Proteus analog. It's...eh...different. Slightly larger than Etreum, but not spherical at all.

Spheer (SPHEER), the Triton analog. It is a cryovolcanic moon that orbits retrograde in relation to Naal. It is about as large as Mun, but not in relation to Naal. It will soon break up into a Saan-like ring.

Ferram (FEHR-ruhm), the Nereid analog. Its orbit is inclined and eccentric, taking nearly a Kerbin year just to revolve around Naal. It's icy and a little bit larger than Mallam. It is also a sphere!

Paki (PAH-kee), the Pluto analog. It orbits twice for every time Naal orbits thrice. It is smaller than Spheer, but not by much. It is tannish and has some captured asteroids.

Kamra (KAHM-ruh), the Charon analog. Its gravity is enough to throw the center of mass of Paki-Kamra outside of Paki. It's half the size, quarter the mass of Paki, and the two are mutually tidally locked.

Hamma (HAU-muh), the Haumea analog. It rotates quickly enough to stretch itself into a triaxial ellipsoid. Landing at the poles would be easier than on its two ends. It orbits the sun once for ever time Naal does twice.

Muckmak (MUHK-mahk), the Makemake analog. It is a reddish object that is in a near-circular orbit around the Sun past Neptune. It has a very dark moon orbiting it.

Mam (MAHM), the MK2 analog. It orbits not that far out from Muckmak, and is a dark, small object.

Rise (RIZE), the Eris analog. It is a whitish object that is very far away, and inclined more than Qlass is. It is further out than all but two objects, and lacks any worthwhile moons. It is slightly larger than Paki.

Thro (THROW), the Sedna analog. It has an orbit that is far past Naal, something that wouldn't have happened if it was scattered by Naal. It is kind of a pinkish color, and has a tiny moon.

Tahs (TAHS) is Thro's moon. It is a small, Bop-sized moon of Thro orbiting just away from ejection from Thro's gravity; its orbit comes very close, then very far away, from Thro. Just like Thro itself. But how did Thro get out there?

Z (ZEHD, ZEE), the Planet Nine analog. A so-called Super-Kerbin, covered completely in ice.

Changes to existing bodies:

Gilly is now a Kerbin outer-grazer, and an Eve inner-grazer.

Jool has a tenuous ring system.

Bop and Pol have been moved out, Pol of which is retrograde.

Eeloo is changed to be an Enceladus analog, and has a tenuous atmosphere as a result. It also has cryovolcanoes.

The KSC has been moved upward in latitude.

Edited May 16, 2016 by Interplanet Janet

[pandaman]

I would be tempted to scale up the current planetary system a bit, but only to about 2x or 3x what it is now.  I like the idea of a reduced scale system and planets for game play reasons, but that bit extra scale would add a bit more 'realism' without going too far.

More places of interest to visit, but more of a geographical/geological nature than anomalies.

More planets and moons (of course).

[Codraroll]

I'm going to evoke the wrath and ire of the forum, and say "screw the realism, I want places to see". For all my intents and purposes, the planets are realistic enough, but they're quite monotonous, in a "seen-it-once-seen-it-all" kind of way. Let's strive for some places you'd seek out, true landmarks on the various bodies. Easter eggs kind of fulfill this purpose already, but they're hard to find unless you know they're there. I'd like some sites to be well-defined, well-known landmarks, biomes in their own right, with contracts specifically asking you to visit them. Here's my list of suggestions:

 - A giant, fresh crater on some body, for instance Duna. An impact on a killing-the-dinosaurs scale, fresh enough to have a pool of liquid water in the centre (as if it hit the planet mere years before Career mode starts). Give it steep edges, a smooth bottom, and make it large enough to be visible from space.

 - Put a volcano on Vall (Vallcano?). It'd be another crater-like feature, where the ice abruptly stops at a several-hundred-metres drop, giving way to a large lake of lava. Unrealistically steep edges would be welcome, for epicness' sake. Rocky beaches at the bottom of the glacial cliffs could be a high-science biome, the only place where Vall's rocky surface is actually exposed.

 - Make the Mohole an object, allowing for rockier edges to the hole. Give it its own biome. Put a giant diamond or something on the bottom.

 - Mountains of epicness, put them anywhere. Something colossal towering above the landscape around them, in a shape renminicent of organ pipes (or the tallest block of Dubai Marina). Like a cluster of kilometres-tall spears jutting out of the surface, tall enough to strike objects that would otherwise manage an orbit around the planet/moon. Landing on their tops, or flying between them at orbital speeds, would be nice challenges for experienced players.

 - Give Laythe jungles. Bury some ruins in them.

 - In lieu of jungles, I'd also like to see fjords on one of the liquid-surface planets. Very steep, very deep, bordered by very tall mountains.

 - Give Dres a crater with unusually bright spots in it. Bright enough to be visible from high orbit. The bright spots could be anything, really, but it'd be cool to see some "glass mountains" or glaciers or whatever.

 - Put in a small china tea pot orbiting Kerbol in an elliptical orbit somewhere between Kerbin and Duna. Hide it very well in the code. Hint at its existence without explicitly confirming or denying it. Make it invisible in the Tracking Station.

 - Other, miscellaneous things: Exaggerated canyons. Clusters of really big rocks. Sinkholes like Utapau in Star Wars. Sheer, vertical cliffs, possibly even with overhangs (which I believe would break the current terrain model, but oh well, this is a wish list). Really big spots of weirdly-coloured terrain (like Jupiter's Great Red Spot, only on a non-gas planet - could be algae or something). As long as it's interesting, visible from orbit, and spectacular enough to warrant a visit, I'd be all for it.

 

Also, if I was given omnipotent control of the planets, I'd find a way to put small KSC's on every one of them. Some no more than a shipyard and a launch pad, others full-fledged complexes where you could hire astronauts and pick up contracts. Just something to aim for, construct and maintain as your career progresses, so that you don't necessarily have to start every mission at the bottom of Kerbin's gravity well.

[Interplanet Janet]

Forget my older post.

I'd implement OPM, RevSS' new bodies, the Moons Of Eeloo, Duna, and Eve mods, and several of the bodies from my planned pack (Kros/Error, Naal/Hammy, Pike, Dike, Klip, Usta, and Cobb).

Edited June 13, 2016 by Interplanet Janet

[herbal space program]

1) More interesting stuff, i.e. terrain, easter eggs, artifacts,  resources, on the surfaces of the planets we already have. I like many of the suggestions for that made on this thread.

2) For Jool to be a little closer in and then to add a blue-green ringed planet a bit outside of  where Jool was, with slightly more mass than Eve, and even deeper, but colder atmosphere that contains enough oxygen to support jet engines. The rings would cause a local density-dependent chance of craft obliteration if you cross through them, and it would *just* be possible to construct an SSTO that could make orbit. The surface would have ISRU resources for making fuel.

3) Comets! Orbiting in all sorts of different solar planes, with valuable resources to harvest.

 

 

 

 

[herbal space program]

On ‎10‎/‎25‎/‎2015 at 11:58 PM, SpaceplaneAddict said:

Make it simple enough for a complete newb to make their own planet.

That's totally brilliant! If you introduced a user-friendly, SimCity-style planetary terrain editor to the game, you could  solve the difficult problem of implementing interstellar travel, because the planets in new star systems could be  crowd-sourced. If such an editor were introduced in the game  and a "submit design" option created, there is no doubt (knowing this community) that a plethora of awesome planets would come out of the woodwork in no time. These could be randomly added to new star systems that the KSP player might ultimately reach, creating a different experience every time. If multiplayer is implemented, each planet, regardless of where it might be located in each respective player's universe, could be a unitary entity where MMP-type interactions could take place. more elaborate terrain and other features on these planets could also be crowd-sourced, and for individual players the campaign mode might place certain key things to find on those planets randomly for each different career game. I think that type of vision could really be a good way forward for KSP.

[FirstSecondThird]

1. Add tilt to Kerbin's axis, for seasons, so to speak.

2. Add precipitation through a system like scatterer and snow and crap depending on Kerbin's orbit around Kerbol.

[OrbitalBuzzsaw]

1 - Get rid of Dres. Because it already doesn't exist! #DresIsALie!!!!

2 - Add OPM to stock

3 - Slight thicker atom on Duna, w/ some O², like about 25-26KM on Kerbin, and small lakes at lowest altitude.

4 - Minmus orbit is less inclined

5 - 6th moon of Jool, as big as Mun, thin atmo (like stock Duna), but ice like Eeloo, with tiny lakes. Called something involving ice and/or flying

6 - Patches of grass, and small TREES! around that lake on Laythe.

[SorryDave]

I would add more biomes to all the planets so I could farm science for funds for a long time after I unlocked the tech tree.

[SpaceplaneAddict]

13 hours ago, OrbitalBuzzsaw said:

 

1 - Get rid of Dres. Because it already doesn't exist! #DresIsALie!!!!

 

y u do dis man. i thot we wer frens...

*Determination.

[Brofessional]

On 10/17/2015 at 11:10 PM, Pthigrivi said:

Moho should be really hot with parts right on the verge of overheating without radiators.

In earlier versions of the game Moho had a thin and extremely hot atmosphere.  There was no re-entry heat back then, but engines would still overheat.  

Landing on Moho was really challenging because parachutes weren't enough to land, and engines would overheat in seconds.  The planet was also darker colored and had a huge dormant volcano.

 

[cubinator]

13 hours ago, OrbitalBuzzsaw said:

1 - Get rid of Dres. Because it already doesn't exist! #DresIsALie!!!!

 

2 minutes ago, SpaceplaneAddict said:

y u do dis man. i thot we wer frens...

*Determination.

I think my solution would help both sides of this silly argument:

Make Dres an actual dwarf planet. Now, let me explain, because that sounds kind of mean to Dres. It's not.

What I would do is add several small (Mun-sized or smaller) bodies in the same region as Dres, but in different, crossing orbits. Then add random asteroids (up to several km wide instead of tiny ones like those we have now). That would make the region a proper asteroid belt, and give it many interesting places to explore. Perhaps I'd add rings to one of the small bodies as well.

 

I'd also give Eve a couple of large-ish moons (smaller than Mun but larger than Minmus) in a resonance, and a purplish set of rings.

[kBob]

I'd add:

  Rama so I could rendezvous with it.

  More moons.

  Planets especially a few very far Pluto types.

 City night lights just for the pleasure of planet gazing on the dark sides (but be able to turn them off when I don't want the light pollution).

[Matuchkin]

I would add more asteroids!

Hmm... could be made more kerbally...

I'd add more 'steroids!

Uhh, not what I meant. Let's move the apostrophe.

I'd add more 'roids!

Sounds out of place. Let's move the apostrophe again.

I'd add more 'sters'!

What the...

[Gojira1000]

Interesting/varied planetary geology so once you've landed you have stuff to go see/do.

Everything else, there's a mod for that.

 

[SpaceplaneAddict]

36 minutes ago, cubinator said:

 

I think my solution would help both sides of this silly argument:

Make Dres an actual dwarf planet. Now, let me explain, because that sounds kind of mean to Dres. It's not.

What I would do is add several small (Mun-sized or smaller) bodies in the same region as Dres, but in different, crossing orbits. Then add random asteroids (up to several km wide instead of tiny ones like those we have now). That would make the region a proper asteroid belt, and give it many interesting places to explore. Perhaps I'd add rings to one of the small bodies as well.

 

I'd also give Eve a couple of large-ish moons (smaller than Mun but larger than Minmus) in a resonance, and a purplish set of rings.

Agred. Supported.

*Determination.

[Rdivine]

On 5/15/2016 at 6:46 AM, Codraroll said:

 - Put in a small china tea pot orbiting Kerbol in an elliptical orbit somewhere between Kerbin and Duna. Hide it very well in the code. Hint at its existence without explicitly confirming or denying it. Make it invisible in the Tracking Station.

I like it. Maybe squad will implement it and we will never notice  

[Delfinus]

2 minutes ago, Rdivine said:

I like it. Maybe squad will implement it and we will never notice  

What if they already have? Well... time to go search all of Interplanetary space between Duna and Kerbin.

Anyway, If I could modify the Kerbol System I'd replace Dres with a Gas Giant, remove most of the inclination of it's orbit, and give the Gas Giant rings, Dres as it's moon, 2 small asteroid moons, one within it's rings and one orbiting beyond Dres, aswell as an atmosphere similar to the one for the original Gas Giant 2 concept:

                                                                                                                  

[Hans Dorn]

+1 on adding some green stuff to Laythe. Maybe in weird shapes, to make it look alien.

Edited June 4, 2016 by Hans Dorn

[KerikBalm]

1 hour ago, Hans Dorn said:

+1 on adding some green stuff to Laythe. Maybe in weird shapes, to make it look alien.

Photosynthesis would be so weak out at laythe... why would it have to be green anyway?

 

16 hours ago, OrbitalBuzzsaw said:

1 - Get rid of Dres. Because it already doesn't exist! #DresIsALie!!!!

2 - Add OPM to stock

3 - Slight thicker atom on Duna, w/ some O², like about 25-26KM on Kerbin, and small lakes at lowest altitude.

4 - Minmus orbit is less inclined

5 - 6th moon of Jool, as big as Mun, thin atmo (like stock Duna), but ice like Eeloo, with tiny lakes. Called something involving ice and/or flying

6 - Patches of grass, and small TREES! around that lake on Laythe.

#1 - please don;t start that again... I'd say add a few more bodies there of lesser mass (gilly/ pol/minmus like) as Pallas and Vesta analogues

#2 - mostly agree... though I'd tweak some things in OPM. Slate is too similar to Tylo. I would make it more like a mars analogue (more so than duna).. I'm talking 0.4 G's and an atmospheric density = to 1% of kerbin's. Some of the other moons seem proportionately too big.. but whatever..

#3 -

a) Thicker, to be like 25-26 km on kerbin? 25km on kerbin has a pressure of 0.01... 0 meters on Duna has a pressure of 0.067. And thats with a MW of 42, compared to Kerbin's 28... Duna's atmosphere at its lowest point is roughly 10x denser than kerbin's atmosphere at 25-26 km...

b)You can mod that, I did

And a variation with deeper water... and less putrid green-ish water

 

 

 

#4 - No, why?

#5 - Umm, seems a bit redundant ... and very implausible. What would be the heat source? are these methane/ethane lakes? why not a thicker atmosphere.... liquids and thin atmospheres don't go together. Atmospheres and small sizes also don't go together... especially if its warm enough for liquid water

#6 - umm no, as above, and also... "that lake"? what are you talking about... it would be fairly easy to add a greenish hue to the surface of laythe though... like I did for a mars analogue

(a slighly earlier version before I made the water "bluer"

Edited June 4, 2016 by KerikBalm

[herbal space program]

3 hours ago, Brofessional said:

The planet was also darker colored and had a huge dormant volcano

 

Ayep, that looks like a volcano to me alright. No mystery why they got rid of that

[pandaman]

3 hours ago, herbal space program said:

Ayep, that looks like a volcano to me alright. No mystery why they got rid of that

That's just just what I thought too