The Storyline Mystery

[Mister Dilsby]

28 minutes ago, Curveball Anders said:

The issue for me is that whatever story that is pushed as 'canon' has to be full of real data while still fluffy enough not to cause problems with the users own views (a job that ranges from 'very hard' to 'impossible').

Yep. I have a whole thread devoted to my own story's canon, and I can barely keep up! How tough would it be to have a backstory that didn't cause problems with the hive-of-users headcanon, which is constantly evolving as the game and its modifications are updated?

49 minutes ago, KSK said:

 A Quest for the Monoliths (going to other worlds for Science!) sounds like something that Kerbfleet would get up to, amongst its many other adventures. 

Hm. Hmmmm! And I likely would be telling a story like that right now, if only Squad had thought to put a monolith (or several billion of them) in the Jool system. But hey, we never did explain where the "other" North Pole saucer came from, or how the Kerbulans acquired their advanced tech after Wernher's defection... stay tuned!  

[Curveball Anders]

I have to admit.

"The rapidly dwindling population of survivors managed to launch numerous monoliths across the system, in hopes of seeding intelligent life.

Their plan failed. They made Kerbals."

 

It's so Pratchett/Adams/Gaiman that I'll keep that as gospel in my world.

 

[adsii1970]

15 minutes ago, Kuzzter said:

Yep. I have a whole thread devoted to my own story's canon, and I can barely keep up! How tough would it be to have a backstory that didn't cause problems with the hive-of-users headcanon, which is constantly evolving as the game and its modifications are updated?

Hm. Hmmmm! And I likely would be telling a story like that right now, if only Squad had thought to put a monolith (or several billion of them) in the Jool system. But hey, we never did explain where the "other" North Pole saucer came from, or how the Kerbulans acquired their advanced tech after Wernher's defection... stay tuned!  

And this is the beauty of KSP not having an official canon. It doesn't need one and I, for one, would love to see it never adopt one. For example, in mine, the saucer north of the arctic circle will be explained in due time (and I believe the story line will be mind-blowing or maybe mind-numbing if it flops  ). In Kerny's journal, I drop bread crumbs about the past of Kerbin, about his thoughts of various things, such as history, Kerbal customs, etc.

I think what would be interesting is maybe a thread or wiki of story authors to map out their "canon of Kerbin"...

[Jhawk1099]

On 8/20/2016 at 8:39 PM, AyeLmao said:

One theory i have heard is that the kerbals wear space suits all the time even on their home planet because the Radiation is higher then normal, so they live under ground.

*than

[KSK]

5 hours ago, adsii1970 said:

And this is the beauty of KSP not having an official canon. It doesn't need one and I, for one, would love to see it never adopt one. For example, in mine, the saucer north of the arctic circle will be explained in due time (and I believe the story line will be mind-blowing or maybe mind-numbing if it flops  ). In Kerny's journal, I drop bread crumbs about the past of Kerbin, about his thoughts of various things, such as history, Kerbal customs, etc.

I think what would be interesting is maybe a thread or wiki of story authors to map out their "canon of Kerbin"...

I'd be up for that if folks didn't mind me cribbing chunks of my fanfic and reposting them in a different thread.  

And yeah, that Eve example sounds like classic Fan Dumb.

[Just Jim]

5 hours ago, Kuzzter said:

But hey, we never did explain where the "other" North Pole saucer came from, or how the Kerbulans acquired their advanced tech after Wernher's defection... stay tuned!  

WOOHOO!!!  Sound like more backstories!!!

5 hours ago, adsii1970 said:

I think what would be interesting is maybe a thread or wiki of story authors to map out their "canon of Kerbin"...

I hadn't really thought about this... hmmmmm.... 

Emiko canon #1:  A kraken can put your brain in a pod.  

[KerbMav]

My problem might be living with different canons in my head should I start reading more fanfic.

[KSK]

9 hours ago, KerbMav said:

My problem might be living with different canons in my head should I start reading more fanfic.

Yeah - got to be careful of loose cannons...

I'll show myself out.

[nascarlaser1]

I wish they would add this. Then, people who have a hard time coming up with ideas for a make believe story line (like me) could have an optional one to do.

[GarrisonChisholm]

On 8/22/2016 at 3:47 PM, Kuzzter said:

Pffft, speak for yourself. No so-called "storyline" can't hold me! FREEEEDOM!!!!  

But seriously, I love that things like the monoliths, saucer, and Easter eggs all exist without any "stock" explanation. Each player, whether telling a public story or not, is responsible for tying all the strings together. Or, not--it doesn't have to make sense at all!

For me, all of us "tying those strings" evokes the image of early humans trying to explain the strange artifacts of their world--the objects of the 'firmament', the sun and moon, the planets, the tides... there are probably hundreds, or thousands, of independently generated and self-consistent philosophies to explain it all. Those stories, and the more rigorous scientific models that followed them, are the basis of our shared culture.

I have to agree with you Kuzzter.  I am actually looking forward to what story I might need to craft in my head to make sense of these senseless things when I stumble across them. - however, to this point I have Not, because I refuse to go "looking" for something that should be found by utter accident.  If no device or contract (I don't think I've DL'd those mods) will find it for me, then the only anomaly I am going to know about is the monolith by the space center.  "Hm, a monolith from our ancient fore-bearers it must be.  Ah well, there's nothing spooky about it, its just archeology."  A place for Gene and Bill to stroll over to on their lunch break and coffee.

I made a special flight to see the pyramids, I figured something that significant would be known the world over, and wonders are to be seen.  But I have not stumbled across a single other anything, ...and I just can't wait to very organically one day discover that I need a far greater tale to tell my Kerbal's story than the world first expected. 

[Sharpy]

Personally, I'd find it fascinating if they added a fourth game mode: "Story". Similar to Career, but you get a special customer, whose 'contracts' get... creative - not randomly generated, but a special pre-made set, that builds the storyline and uncovers new mysteries. Unlike Career, the game would have a set goal (if unknown until late in.)

End game mission would be "deorbit a class E asteroid onto [location]"...

[Corw]

I can't put my finger on it, but from what I've seen and read the "story" was Nova Silisko's private agenda and never "official" plan.

[Curveball Anders]

7 minutes ago, Corw said:

I can't put my finger on it, but from what I've seen and read the "story" was Nova Silisko's private agenda and never "official" plan.

The difference between 'private agenda' and 'official plan' isn't very big in a small indie studio

 

[samstarman5]

31 minutes ago, Corw said:

I can't put my finger on it, but from what I've seen and read the "story" was Nova Silisko's private agenda and never "official" plan.

He did state most of it was kept to himself.

I don't know if it is still in the planning book, but it was once stated that it was planned that the planets would need to be discovered first and not seen right off in the map view.  Whether that would require a space telescope or just time for the KSC to find each was never said, but it was a feature that does tie in with Nova's musings, and one I kinda hoped would happen.  Rather like a fog-of-war kinda thing.

At this point it seems likely to be a forgotten plan, which might be just as well.

[Superfluous J]

20 minutes ago, samstarman5 said:

He did state most of it was kept to himself.

I don't know if it is still in the planning book, but it was once stated that it was planned that the planets would need to be discovered first and not seen right off in the map view.  Whether that would require a space telescope or just time for the KSC to find each was never said, but it was a feature that does tie in with Nova's musings, and one I kinda hoped would happen.  Rather like a fog-of-war kinda thing.

At this point it seems likely to be a forgotten plan, which might be just as well.

The problem is it's not that reasonable to think Kerbals knew about all the planets - except maybe poor little Eeloo - long before they discovered spaceflight. They probably didn't know about Gilly, Pol, and Bop either but still.

What I'd like for "fog of war" would be unknown surfaces.

And when you do know the surfaces, for them to be more varied than they are now.

Actually woudln't that be an awesome update? You think everything's normal until you reach a planet for the first time, and start realizing that the normal typical map of Duna was just what they could see from Kerbin, and the ground below your craft is as varied and intriguing as Mars...

[samstarman5]

On 8/27/2016 at 4:00 AM, 5thHorseman said:

The problem is it's not that reasonable to think Kerbals knew about all the planets - except maybe poor little Eeloo - long before they discovered spaceflight. They probably didn't know about Gilly, Pol, and Bop either but still.

What I'd like for "fog of war" would be unknown surfaces.

And when you do know the surfaces, for them to be more varied than they are now.

Actually woudln't that be an awesome update? You think everything's normal until you reach a planet for the first time, and start realizing that the normal typical map of Duna was just what they could see from Kerbin, and the ground below your craft is as varied and intriguing as Mars...

Say kerbal telescope technology is sub-par for reasons of they just can't make a good mirror, so they have to actually get close to the worlds to see what they really are.  That does make sense.

Relevant Fun Fact: You can actually see Uranus(the planet) in the night sky without a telescope under the right conditions.  It just wasn't seen as one until the 1700's mostly due to it not travelling as quickly across the night sky as the ones we knew from antiquity.

[Space20]

Maybe the kerbals have gone from Mars in the Sol/Sun solar system to the kerbol solar system and repopulated on a similiar-to-earth planet which had the capability of getting life on it and the rest discovered a virus on Duna that infected them and they set off a war for Kerbin.

 

But as we know, thats just a theory submerged in one million other theories.

[Nuclearsheep]

Personally, i think that the kerbals and the irkens are related. Same skin color, shape, and fear of liquid water (they wear their space suits even when swimming).