Idea: Habitation Modules as Life Support

[Waxing_Kibbous]

The concept is pretty simple- life support would be in the form of habitation modules that require only electricity. An example of balance would be: 1 day without power (in any module, command pod, lander can, or habitat) equals Kerbal death (or MIA, or USI-LS tourist mode), 1 week without a adequately powered habitat module would equal the same fate. The habitat modules act as long term life support and living space for Kerbals, if you want to get into the imaginary details one could say that the units break down Kerbal Krap, hair, and skin cells into their base atoms and reassemble them into tasty hot chicken wings and sauerkraut pierogis. The overall benefit is that it would simply add an element of LS along with the idea of a proper living space for our intrepid Kerbonauts.

An example of possible units:

1.25m- single and double habitats (inline and/or radial attachable)

2.5m- 3 and 4 kerbal habitats (hitch-hiker can can be used for the 4 kerbal unit)

Bonus 3.75m- 6 kerbal habitat

So 3, maybe 4 new units + the coding end.

I have a bit of Blender experience (but am a bit rusty, it's been a few years), and if anyone with some modding chops thinks this is a cool idea and wants to give it a shot I can chip in with modelling and texturing, but I'll need some initial guidance on the technical requirements (poly counts/mesh standards, UV layouts, etc.) at first.

Edited December 25, 2015 by Waxing_Kibbous

[Jimbodiah]

Electricity has never been a concern for me, never really ran out unless using KSPI/NFProp, but shutting down the engine and having a small solar panel somewhere always gets you back up and running in a few seconds.

If you run out of electricity, you will be stranded, and thus will run out of other LifeSupport resources as you can no longer recycle them. So basically it is already built into the current LS systems. This means a rescue mission if you've not taken precautions by adding a small solar panel/battery.

However: I could imagine a "LS" system like you described, but more on the physical side of Kerbals: a nice Hab to stretch legs, and a gym section to keep the body fit on long trips. Cx Station parts already has all these items for building stations, just no functions to them. Say on trips over 2 weeks you would need a decent hab space and some other sections just to keep fit/sane. Imagine getting stuck in a Mk1 capsule for your entire trip to Eeloo...

Edited December 26, 2015 by Jimbodiah

[Nightside]

The Snacks mod is a fun alternative to the more realistic life support mods. The only way to add more resources for a longer journey is to add more hab modules. This ends up simulating the need for more living space on extended missions.

[RoverDude]

One thing I am adding to USI-LS (in addition to some interesting recycler options) is to make hab space a thing, with a direct impact on mission duration (i.e. no more living in a tin can for 20 years).

[almagnus1]

32 minutes ago, RoverDude said:

One thing I am adding to USI-LS (in addition to some interesting recycler options) is to make hab space a thing, with a direct impact on mission duration (i.e. no more living in a tin can for 20 years).

Only if you give us hamster wheels as exercise modules =P

[Waxing_Kibbous]

35 minutes ago, RoverDude said:

One thing I am adding to USI-LS (in addition to some interesting recycler options) is to make hab space a thing, with a direct impact on mission duration (i.e. no more living in a tin can for 20 years).

I look forward to it- the idea of designated living space seems both interesting and humane

[tater]

1 hour ago, RoverDude said:

One thing I am adding to USI-LS (in addition to some interesting recycler options) is to make hab space a thing, with a direct impact on mission duration (i.e. no more living in a tin can for 20 years).

It might be nice if you borrowed one point from OP's idea, that hab modules need to be out of EC for some extended period of time (in USILS) before the kerbals raid the supplies. I've had some difficult to reproduce issues with time compression and USILS, and I presume it is EC checking (I can't make it happen, however, just that it sometimes seems to happen at really high TC).