Patching over the Jool Bug...

[KerikBalm]

Jool is bugged, it has been for a long time.

Thats because it has no solid surface... not even a liquid surface.

In real life, a gas giant has a fluid mantle... not quite liquid, not quite gas, just a "supercritical fluid".

We now have better buoyancy, the ability to vary the density of liquids on different planets, the capability of building submarines, etc...

It seems like an ideal time to give Jool a low density "ocean".

A liquid surface, that most craft will continue to sink through. Of course, sinking into the abyss will still cause a kraken strike, but we could give it a deeper(transparent?) solid surface, and ensure nobody reaches it another way:

Heating.

Consider the surface of the sun, nobody will reach the surface of the sun and experience a similar bug because of the intense heat.

Likewise the interior of a gas giant is extremely hot.

I propose we give Jool a low density ocean that gets really hot about 1km deep.

People can splash down at Jool without any Kraken summon. Some may even be able to achieve buoyancy like a hypothetical ballon in Jupiter's atmosphere.

Those that go deeper have their craft overheat, and explode as normal without encountering the Jool Kraken.

I suppose another option would be pressure bars, like temperature bars... which may be a good thing since now many are playing Kerbal Sub program (and ideally: Exo-Kerbin Sub Program on Laythe and Eve).

Giving parts a different "crush depth" could be interesting. like a Mk1 pod crushes at a deeper depth (be it in Kerbin's oceans, eve's oceans, or Jools fluid mantle) than a mk1 lander can.

What say you?

Yes to a Jool ocean?

No?

[nikokespprfan]

Very interesting idea.

Plus, you can be splashed down at Jool, and thus achieve a permanent base there (Image getting a contract asking for that.)

+1 for me.

[Whirligig Girl]

Very interesting idea.

Plus, you can be splashed down at Jool, and thus achieve a permanent base there (Image getting a contract asking for that.)

+1 for me.

IRL you can not reach positive buoyancy in a gas giant. By the point the air is liquid, the air on top of you is so heavy you get crushed into a much denser and thus less buoyant object.

I'd rather have a totally new a separate system for handling gas giants that makes them go all the way down until you reach the core. You'd never actually be able to reach the core, but you know, at least it would be an authentic gas giant.

The OP's suggestion is about right.

[jwbrase]

By the time you reach the liquid phase in a gas giant's atmosphere, you've already reached deadly temperatures. Also, I believe gas giant interiors are also [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercritical_fluid"]supercritical[/URL] at depth. So forget having an ocean, just have atmospheric temperature get into the thousands and tens of thousands of Kelvin as you go down, so that all Jool entry vehicles disintegrate from overheating before reaching bug depth.

[KerikBalm]

Yes, it would be a supercritical fluid, not a liquid.
And yes, given that its mostly helium and hydrogen, it would be very very hard to get positive buoyancy.
You'd be very very very deep before there's enough other elements and its dense enough that a hydrogrn filled envelope would give you enough buoyancy to float...

But this is KSP, and I'm trying to think of a way to cover over the random explosions...

Maybe they should just make the atmosphere get even denser, but also make it so hot that you'll never survive to depths where the kraken strikes