New gamemode: space center vs space center.

[Garrett Kerman]

with the planned addition of multiplayer, I think this could be a fun idea. Two space centers battle for the ultimate glory of conquering space, and with each mission accomplished, reputation is earned. It would work like a career mode game except without funds. You can't really "Win" the game, but you can have more rep or more science then the other player. 

Features:

Reworked reputation system that gives you rep for accomplishing major missions or landmark events (or just doing cool plane tricks )

Sabotage other players missions (at a cost of some of your reputation).

Reworked contracts, using reputation instead of funds. (Contracts reward more funds for accomplishments than just doing them alone)

Two equatorial space centers, exactly opposite of each other.

 

Will you battle over the stars or work together to reach them? You decide!

(The only flaw I can think of is that the two players must be on together or have equal time limits, to prevent one guy from getting an advantage over another)

[Wjolcz]

I'd rather have a cooperative Mission Control multiplayer than a thing that works similar to DMP.

Warping and syncing is really problematic to deal with and can cause time paradoxes.

[tater]

A multiplayer variant that would be sort of like this would be a "Space Race" mode. 

Career basically as it is (or with a budget system, instead), but both players start with the same restrictions. No reverts, no quick saves, dead crew are dead. It would not be real time, but a sort of turn-based system where the game periodically syncs events between the players. Ie: it does a sync, and both players are then aware of all the achievements of the other player up until the last day they have in common. Craft you have in space will also be synced. 

 

[severedsolo]

4 hours ago, tater said:

It does a sync, and both players are then aware of all the achievements of the other player up until the last day they have in common. Craft you have in space will also be synced. 
 

That's a really good idea. I realise this is basically what you just said but - perhaps the game could sync whoever is farther behind (in terms of days) to that day in the more advanced players save. So, if Player 1 landed on Mun on Day 10, when Player 2 gets there, they also see "player 1 landed on Mun"

It could also work for "pass the save" type thing, players can pass the save once a week, and play their own space program to catch up with the other player.

Perhaps on a certain day (for simplicity, we'll say Day 100) the game ends, and whoever has achieved the most wins.

[ZooNamedGames]

9 hours ago, tater said:

A multiplayer variant that would be sort of like this would be a "Space Race" mode. 

Career basically as it is (or with a budget system, instead), but both players start with the same restrictions. No reverts, no quick saves, dead crew are dead. It would not be real time, but a sort of turn-based system where the game periodically syncs events between the players. Ie: it does a sync, and both players are then aware of all the achievements of the other player up until the last day they have in common. Craft you have in space will also be synced. 

 

Here's an easy fix for "turns", use Kerbal Construction Time. When you have nothing more you can do and your left waiting then it's the other player's turn.

[Codraroll]

Wouldn't there then evolve a metagame of harvesting Science off KSC the quickest, to unlock parts you can do fun things with? People would work out an optimal path through the tech tree to get the most useable parts quicker. In a game with as few strategical decisions as KSP, everything but the flying would quickly delve into "execute the optimal maneuver the fastest".

Also, contracts would be a bit of a wrench in the machinery. Some player could be lucky and get a contract with a high advance early on, allowing him to upgrade his facilities quickly and then skip around the system collecting achievements while other players struggle to lay down the money for a launchpad upgrade or something.

 

Just pointing it out, though. If KSP added competitive multiplayer, I wouldn't complain. I'd just choose not to play it. But it seems evident that there are some challenges to overcome before competitive multiplayer can thrive.