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

[theJesuit]

My 0.2Funds... with some new thoughts after reading excellent ideas from others.

Looking at this there are a few things.  Would I go for diversity, or real solar system equivalent?

Here is my diversity stock option:

Moho, slow down rotation, make its day half its year.

Eve, remove oceans. Turn up heating below datum so that craft really need radiators. 

Gilly, send to Duna with a very low orbit like Phobos.  Low inclination and eccentricity.

Kerbin, move KSC to 6 degree for the Mün.  Move alternative launch site to the equator.  Alter space high and low to give a little more science.

Mün, correct all mentions in game to correct spelling.  Alter to a 6 degree inclination, move out to take 2 days to reach.  Alter Science to be higher to compensate for Minmus not being present.

Minmus, move to Eeloo as a Charon equivalent.

Duna, keep as is, but now has two moons.

Ike, slight inclination and eccintricity like Gilly used to have at Eve adjust Science modifier to compensate.

Put in the Asteroid Day mod, as the asteroid travels across multiple orbits.

Dres, as is.

Jool, as is, with fewer moons, Tylo, Val and Bop

Gas Planet 2 with Laythe and Pol. Could be a tinted Jool with rings?

Laythe, moved to GP2 but as a Titan equivalent.  Unbreathable atmosphere.  Tinted clouds.  Sits outside rings. Smaller.

Poll, moved to GP2  as well. Inside rings.

Eeloo, as is, but has Minmus moon

 

Another possibility is to have Jool with oniy 2 moons, and for Bop to be a trojan. Eve is moved to be a Uranus/Neptune equivalent.

[Iapetus7342]

Just read through the new posts. So here's my take on the Kerbol system, but better. (Sorry for the wall of text)

Global fixes: Add EVE, AVP and Scatterer. Add medium orbit science logs. Incorporate magnetic fields. Move planets closer to Kerbol. Add asteroid belt and Kuiper belt analogs.

Kerbol: Rescale to be 10x smaller than our sun. Rename to Kerbol since ingame it's referred to as The Sun. Give it a whiter texture. Analogs for Vulcan, Saturn, Neptune, Haumea, Eris and Sedna.

Veles: Vulcan analog. Size range between rescaled Eve and Duna. Tidally locked to Kerbol. Orbits 3 times for every orbit of Moho (29 day orbit). Very black. Day side is a massive ocean of lava.

Moho: Make it "Awesome like the stories (Add lava oceans)". Spin down rotation to be 2 days per orbit. Add the Croissant rock structure from KSP2. General terrain improvements (Excluding the Mohole, it gets to stay).

Eve: Comically thick cloud layers. Less Explodium, maybe convert some to be crystallised Explodium. Make it's atmosphere's color somewhere between it's current appearance and Venus. Give it a second moon. Fix the biomes. Rescale so it's 10x smaller than Venus. Tidally lock.

Gilly: Perfectly fine, could do with a color revamp to make it look more like a captured Atira asteroid.

Eras: Eve's new moon, basically a Deimos analog. Bluish in color with large crystals on the surface.

Kerbin: Add rings. Terrain revamp. Expand KSC. Add more launch sites than KSC, Inland KSC, Woomera and Dessert. Add 3rd moon in new ring system. Spin down to rotate once per 7 hours. More life. Add visible cities that lower reputation and give you fines if you hit them.

Moons of Kerbin:

Spoiler

Karen: Shepherd moon of Kerbin's rings. Grey. Shape is a mix between a piece of raviolli and an egg.

The Mün: Add mares so it looks more like the Moon. Smol ice caps at the poles. Move out a bit to accomodate Kerbol's smaller size.

Minmus: Shrink to ~30km. Increase eccentricity to further imply it was a captured comet. Add a comet tail. Add smol atmosphere.

Duna: Recolor to be more butterscotch than red. Smaller ice caps. Dust storms.

Ike: Embrace the Duna-Ike binary idea by making Ike bigger. Make the hemisphere facing Duna more butterscotch in color. Craters galore.

Dres: Add rings to be more like it's KSP2 appearance. Make it look a bit more like Ceres.

Jool: Make it's green color more pale. Add small rings. Add Callisto, Amalthea and Metis analog. Add global Metallic Hydrogen ocean at "Sea Level". Reduce Killsphere height to -1250m to compensate. Spin up to rotate once per 3.14 hours.

Moons of Jool:

Spoiler

Mera: Metis analog. Actively crumbling like a cookie because of it's distance to Jool. Closest moon of Jool.

Laythe: Reduce size and mass a tiny bit. Make terrain more yellow to make it more of a Io analog. Moar volcanoes. Fix that weird atmospheric gradent (The thicker atmosphere at 47-50km is not supposed to happen).

Arak: Amalthea analog. Submoon of Laythe. SUPER red.

Vall: Perfectly fine, but could do with a smaller size and a subsurface ocean that peeks out in places.

Tylo: Rescale it to be 80% of Kerbin's radius. Color revamp to make it look more like Ganymede. Move out so it doesn't interfere with Vall, Laythe and Arak. Spin up to rotate once every 2.8 hours or so to compensate for the smaller radius.

Carra: Callisto analog. Orbits in a 2:3 resonance with Tylo. Tiny rings.

Bop: Perfectly fine but could do with a downscale to 10-20km.

Pol: Also perfectly fine.

Servan: Saturn analog. Pale red color like Sarnus. Rather large rings. Rotates once per 2.41 hours.

Moons of Servan:

Spoiler

Mirma: Mimas analog. Massive crater taking up 1/3 of it's surface. Comically large shepherd moon. Slightly egg-shaped.

Reha: Rhea and Enceladus analog. Small ring system stolen from some of Servan's ring matter. Jets of water at the south pole. Also a shepherd moon.

Teta: Titan analog. Purple, like, VERY purple. Oceans and atmosphere are made of Ammonia and Oxygen with small amounts of Nitrogen. Atmosphere size and density is 0.8x that of Kerbin's.

Ianos: Iapetus and Tethys analog. Half of the surface is white, the other half is yellow and black. Large crater on the trailing side of the northern hemisphere.

Naitha: Neptune analog. Massive storm like the Great Red Spot. Pink color.

Moons of Naitha:

Spoiler

Tikor: Triton analog. Has a small atmosphere capable of sustaining clouds. Retrograde and eccentric orbit.

Prota: Proteus and Miranda analog. Extremely chaotic surface.

Titas: Titania and Oberon analog. Highest mountains in the Kerbol system, although none are at the equator.

Mamerr: Makemake analog. Red color. Has a small submoon.

MB: Mamerr's moon. MK2 analog. Subtle red color.

Hamaer: Haumea analog. Dust cloud around it. Spins once per 27 minutes.

He'kia: Hiʻiaka analog. Looks like a dog treat.

Efan: Eris/Planet 9 analog. Large enough to be it's own planet.

Moons of Efan:

Spoiler

Eeloo: Charon analog. Now has brown spots at its poles.

Nanea: Namaka analog. How it got out here is a mystery.

Dayer: Dactyl analog. Smallest moon in the whole Kerbol system.

Sora: Sedna analog. No moons.

[RoninFrog]

The only change I'd make would be to make Dres orbit the other way around.  It would provide the planet with a unique challenge that it otherwise lacks.

[dandoesstuff]

12 hours ago, RoninFrog said:

The only change I'd make would be to make Dres orbit the other way around.  It would provide the planet with a unique challenge that it otherwise lacks.

now no one will want to go to dres!! uninteresting AND hard to get to, lol

[Eclipse 32]

i'd make gilly worth existing.

[KerikBalm]

On 9/22/2024 at 4:34 PM, Iapetus7342 said:

Global fixes: Add EVE, AVP and Scatterer.

+1

On 9/22/2024 at 4:34 PM, Iapetus7342 said:

Add medium orbit science logs.

So, just more science to grind? Pass

On 9/22/2024 at 4:34 PM, Iapetus7342 said:

Incorporate magnetic fields.

In what way?

On 9/22/2024 at 4:34 PM, Iapetus7342 said:

Move planets closer to Kerbol.

Why? This is a no for me

On 9/22/2024 at 4:34 PM, Iapetus7342 said:

Add asteroid belt and Kuiper belt analogs.

+1

On 9/22/2024 at 4:34 PM, Iapetus7342 said:

Kerbol: Rescale to be 10x smaller than our sun.

Agreed, it's what I do

On 9/22/2024 at 4:34 PM, Iapetus7342 said:

Analogs for Vulcan, Saturn, Neptune, Haumea, Eris and Sedna.

Vulcan?! An analogue for something that doesn't exist?

Hamuea and Eris may be a bit redundant, perhaps Sedna too.

On 9/22/2024 at 4:34 PM, Iapetus7342 said:

Moho: Make it "Awesome like the stories (Add lava oceans)". Spin down rotation to be 2 days per orbit. Add the Croissant rock structure from KSP2. General terrain improvements (Excluding the Mohole, it gets to stay).

No to lava oceans, not sure about the croissant, don't have ksp2

On 9/22/2024 at 4:34 PM, Iapetus7342 said:

Eve: Comically thick cloud layers. Less Explodium, maybe convert some to be crystallised Explodium. Make it's atmosphere's color somewhere between it's current appearance and Venus. Give it a second moon. Fix the biomes. Rescale so it's 10x smaller than Venus. Tidally lock.

Not tidally locked, spin it so slow that the sun goes "backwards".

No moons at all (I moved Gilly to Duna)

On 9/22/2024 at 4:34 PM, Iapetus7342 said:

Kerbin: Add rings.

No

On 9/22/2024 at 4:34 PM, Iapetus7342 said:

Add more launch sites than KSC, Inland KSC, Woomera and Dessert.

There are more, they have to be "discovered" to use them.

On 9/22/2024 at 4:34 PM, Iapetus7342 said:

Add 3rd moon in new ring system

No

On 9/22/2024 at 4:34 PM, Iapetus7342 said:

More life. Add visible cities that lower reputation and give you fines if you hit them.

Yes to visible cities, not sure about rep hits

On 9/22/2024 at 4:34 PM, Iapetus7342 said:

Ike: Embrace the Duna-Ike binary idea by making Ike bigger.

No, patched conics ate terrible at handling binary systems, it gets worse the closer they are in size

On 9/22/2024 at 4:34 PM, Iapetus7342 said:

...

Might address the rest later, no time now

[Iapetus7342]

@KerikBalm the reason for my changes is to both make Kerbol more sensible (rescale, moving planets inward), but also more fantastical (Vulcan analogue, rings, binaries)

[Mr. Kerbin]

8 hours ago, KerikBalm said:

Vulcan?! An analogue for something that doesn't exist?

Hey, it’s a fun idea.

I made one myself! (Beyond Jool-Close Encounters)

[Eclipse 32]

i'd add class omega comets. i.e. interstellar duna sized monstrosities. and take all planets off the rails, so you could go full Wandering Earth and instead of flying a ship to Eeloo you could just fly the planet there.

[Eclipse 32]

i wonder what would happen if you smashed the mun into kerbin...

i'd also make it so if you kinda have to intercept the astroids on a collision course(i.e. make it so that if one hits it makes a new crater... at the remains of the KSC)

and implement the infinite discoveries mod that makes procedural generated star systems, kinda like minecraft makes proceduraly generated chunks.

and add "anti-asteroids" that are just asteroids... made of antimatter. as well as a new part for diverting them. "magnetic claw", anyone?

not sorry that i'm churning out this stuff, this is why i like that i have ADHD

[Eclipse 32]

i'd also move Lathe to KSO(Kerbostationary Orbit) just to have it make a bit more sense, and rearrange the rest of the kerbin system to compensate.

[Mr. Kerbin]

On 12/25/2024 at 8:33 AM, Eclipse 32 said:

i'd also move Lathe to KSO(Kerbostationary Orbit) just to have it make a bit more sense, and rearrange the rest of the kerbin system to compensate.

YESSS (or maybe a Trojan?)

[Eclipse 32]

i'd add other dimensions that you can enter if you activate the Vallhenge(like in the @Matt Lowne movie where they- nope not gonna spoil it for those who haven't watched it). one of the dimensions is here.

[FTLparachute]

Alright, time to dump this.

One thing I'd have liked to see is proper natural hazards in the system, so these will be in, though as italics as they are quite tall orders

The Sun

-Rename Kerbol

-Revamp, similar to Better Kerbol

-Solar flares

-Rework surface

Moho

-Change rotation, add axial tilt

-More snake-like lava fissures, subtle but can be found at surface

Eve

-Fully shrouded in clouds

-Revamp of Olympus, sits above thickest cloud layer, but has fissures - push on craft, making it hard to land

-Working wind and hurricanes, possibly some lava flows from areas

-Retrograde rotation

Gilly

-More rubble-pile esque appearance

-Grey a bit - there's no very small grey body

-Tilt to properly lock to Eve

Kerbin

-Mild wind, gets worse at higher lats, occasional hurricane at tropics (delayed from game start to protect KSC), tides

-Reinstate Smiley Faults (idk if they're still there

-Make KSC2 unlockable

-Arekeibo Space Telescope, discoverable in Badlands. Unlocking decreases science lost when transmitting.

Mun

-Higher contrast between mare and rock - not as light as actual Mun

-Reposition Mun arches to make more sense

Minmus

-Tenuous atmosphere in flats

-Improve texture to look more icy instead of dyed snow

-Small craters in highland regions, with geysers

Slight, 10-15 degree obliquity. Introduces player to tilt

Duna

-Terrain overhaul. Proper canyons, and mountains, maybe a mesa or two. Should be actually interesting to go there other than 'hey its like marse'

-Exaggerate the SSTV Hill

-Proper dust storms. Visible from orbit to warn new players, but devastating if unprepared. Should punish improper construction instead of creating more tedious busy work.

-Knock Duna/Ike on its side, so there isn't an eclipse every other day - Keeps Kerbin - Mun unique

Ike

-Give craters - it's far too smooth, and there's plenty of ejecta on the surface

-One largeish crater locked to Duna. Cracks emanating from the centre, with green light and gas faintly visible.

Dres

-Do what KSP2 did. Dres looks much better in that, one of the few things they did right. Maybe kill the ridge though.

Jool

-Gas torus for Laythe and Vall.

-Oblate, slightly (this could cause many problems though)

Laythe

-Main reason I wanted to do weather. Tides cause massive swells. Hurricanes very frequent. Very turbulent tradewinds. And maybe a volcano or too - ejects some ash into space, purely visual unless on volcano, where it destroys you.

-Small colonies of plants near the coasts - petunias, obviously.

Vall

-Make much whiter - reflects far too little light as of now.

-Subsurface flooded tunnels, entrances in lowlands.

-0.5ATM atmosphere at sea level, should be present in lower basins, but nonexistent 3-4km up.

Tylo

-Equatorial ridge, minus where the big craters are.

-Add some yellow and green to make it look prettier.

-Put Mare in the big craters.

Bop

-KSP2 Terrain with KSP's colours.

-Violent earthquakes, centered around the Dead Kraken.

Pol

-Make the terrain much more jagged.

-Higher gravity

Eeloo

-Since Eeloo was planned to be a part of GP2, it's not a very good Plutoid analogue in texture. I will consider it like this for the reason that if ever this went ahead, Eeloo would be orbiting which ever ringed planet beginning with Sar- you wish. 

-KSP2 texture, with big geysers in canyons.

Overall changes

-Advanced orbital indicators, such as displaying SOIs, integrating PlanetInfoPlus, removing cloud layers (after scans) and toggling orientation (ecliptic, inclination of target, body obliquity etc).

-Scanning tech overhaul, allows global maps to be produced, can be toggled onto planet itself (see BiomesVisible cheat).

-Science overhaul (too much to put here lol).

-Proper eclipses, i.e turning Mun red during eclipse.

-Scatterer, volumetrics, and others in game.

-EVA telescopes. Novelty, but it's my kind of thing.

-Retexture anomalies. If I could 3d model and knew how to mod them in properly I would - they desperately needed an overhaul.

That's my ramble.

[Lisias]

Axial tillts and, so, seasons.

Adding seasons on Kerbin and other bodies will not add any significant challenge, but will make things look more relatable to reality - having longer days on summer and shorter on winter will incentive the user to plan the missions in time more carefully and better introduce the concept for  Opportunity Windows.

For example, a South Pole expedition should be planned happen on South Hemisphere Summer or you will need bring more fuel for electricity and warming.

Edited Saturday at 09:15 AM by Lisias
tyops. as usulla.

[FTLparachute]

4 hours ago, Lisias said:

Adding seasons on Kerbin.

I do like the idea of seasons on Kerbin, but I do think that Kerbin having 0 obliquity (and the mun not being inclined) is important for the early game - makes it much less frustrating for newer players. Making the orbits a little more eccentric is probably a good idea, but that would result in global seasons.

[Lisias]

3 hours ago, FTLparachute said:

I do like the idea of seasons on Kerbin, but I do think that Kerbin having 0 obliquity (and the mun not being inclined) is important for the early game - makes it much less frustrating for newer players. 

Not a problem if the moon is equaly inclined so it's orbit would match the Kerbin's equator.

Remember, positions in space are relative. What matters is the Mun attitude and position related to Kerbin, not Kerbol.

Edited Saturday at 03:42 PM by Lisias
Hate posting on mobiles

[DennisB]

I'd like to have tilted axis of at least some celestial bodies. Not all, to have different difficulty levels. And I'd like to have wind in the atmospheres, to make things interesting.

Another thing, maybe as a difficulty setting, would be less precise course projections. It could be exact at easy level, but with an error band on hard level, which increases as further into the future you predict your trajectory. Maybe it could be dependent on the level of the tracking station. Similar to this, the kerbals could have problems with pointing exactly to the desired vector, depending on experience level, and the probe cores depending on tech level.

Edited Saturday at 04:30 PM by DennisB

[FTLparachute]

1 hour ago, Lisias said:

Not a problem if the moon is equally inclined so it's orbit would match the Kerbin's equator.

I know. The problem still is Kerbin's rotation is inclined relative to the ecliptic, which is realistic but makes interplanetary more frustrating though.

I have warmed up to the idea, as long as it's a small tilt (5-7 degrees maybe)

36 minutes ago, DennisB said:

Maybe it could be dependent on the level of the tracking station.

Probably the best way to do that, with Lv3 eliminating that entirely, Lv2 breaking down past Kerbin SOI and Lv1 as normal.

[Mr. Kerbin]

Now I think about it, maybe it’s a good thing we never got an official GP2. 

If GP2 had existed, there would be no OPM. Or at least no Sarnus. No Kerbol Origins. No planet factory.

And definitely  no Beyond Jool or Kerbol etc.

Think about how many good mods were made!

Anyway, here’s what I’d want to do.

Give Eve a second moon, and rings. That’s it, here.

Make Minmus retrograde and obviously captured. (Odd orbit.)

Dres oblate and rings. Improved texture.

Laythe could be more icy. (Large poles, like Duna.)

And Eeloo a really thin atmosphere.

Edited Saturday at 05:23 PM by Mr. Kerbin

[Lisias]

2 hours ago, FTLparachute said:

I know. The problem still is Kerbin's rotation is inclined relative to the ecliptic, which is realistic but makes interplanetary more frustrating though.

This is the reason God created difficulty levels!

[FTLparachute]

44 minutes ago, Lisias said:

This is the reason God created difficulty levels!

Yeah, I'm somewhat conflicted on it though. I personally think that if they gave Kerbin obliquity, they should at least teach the player about launch windows - makes it less frustrating over trial and erroring how to launch from the KSC. (if you can't tell, i have little experience with launching off tilted worlds)

[spaghetti kerman]

> jool ring

> eve recolor

> smaller icecaps on duna

> ike escorted to eeloo

> gilly and bop moved to duna

> slight atmosphere on eeloo