Will there be exotic stuff in the future?

[Baleur]

Such as, sci-fi nerd droolmaterial.

Neutron stars, Pulsars (obviously with a visible lighthouse pulse flashing a nearby planet, for the coolness, perhaps disrupting RCS or SAS with each sweep),

Black holes (which could manipulate the time acceleration as you make a slingshot, making the universe & planetary orbits speed up as you get closer to the black hole, while your ship remains "in normal time".)

And i frankly can't wait for other star systems, with binary & trinary systems (pretty please?! binary systems are after all the most common, more so than single stars) and vastly different star scales.

*imagines landing on a distant rocky hell hole with a red giant covering half the sky at sunrise*

I suppose my question is, how varied and exotic will the universe be? Somewhat as varied as in real life, or will it take more of an "easy & safe" route to keep most systems fairly similar?

[malcheus]

I expect modders will be able to make everything you describe, come the final version.

[Accelerando]

Disrupting RCS or SAS with each sweep would mean disrupting them anywhere from once every two seconds to once every few milliseconds. This would be extremely annoying, not to mention that there's really not much reason to go to a pulsar or a neutron star since the regular X-rays alone and potentially the terrifyingly powerful magnetic field, at a trillion times more powerful than Jupiter's, would quickly fry any spaceborne systems that could be disabled by the star's pulses.

Considering that nobody has gone to other solar systems yet, and that our "local bubble" of near-space IRL is fairly calm and peaceful, it may make sense to have familiar-ish systems near to Kerbol and exotic stuff beginning a bit further out. Binary and trinary systems are quite common IRL, though, so I might expect a fair number of them if other star systems are ever implemented.

[eljaydub]

I've only heard the distant rumble of possible FTL in the FAR future of development.

Side note: a radiation damage/ shielding system would be a neat mod.

[Tauge]

Considering that nobody has gone to other solar systems yet, and that our "local bubble" of near-space IRL is fairly calm and peaceful, it may make sense to have familiar-ish systems near to Kerbol and exotic stuff beginning a bit further out. Binary and trinary systems are quite common IRL, though, so I might expect a fair number of them if other star systems are ever implemented.

In addition, there are many who think that we only exist BECAUSE this is a fairly quiet section of the galaxy. Imagine how hard it would be for life to exist if you had a gamma ray burst every few thousand years, or other such craziness that the universe can throw out, much less how hard it would be for it to evolve to the complexity required for a species to achieve spaceflight.

[BahbGTR]

I think accurately simulating a binary or trinary system would be very difficult (look up the n-body problem on Wikipedia, majorly complicated issue). It's probably why each body has a sphere of influence rather than having your rocket under the influence of the Mun/Minmus and Kerbin at the same time. To have it work at all you would almost have to one "star" object that looked like three separate stars to the player. Then all of the planets would orbit this object, rather than the center of mass the two to three stars would make in real life. It would look kind of like a binary/trinary system but wouldn't work like one.

It would be cool though to have the planet/moon/whatever you are standing on get ejected from a solar system due to a chaotic orbit.

[eljaydub]

I think accurately simulating a binary or trinary system would be very difficult (look up the n-body problem on Wikipedia, majorly complicated issue). It's probably why each body has a sphere of influence rather than having your rocket under the influence of the Mun/Minmus and Kerbin at the same time. To have it work at all you would almost have to one "star" object that looked like three separate stars to the player. Then all of the planets would orbit this object, rather than the center of mass the two to three stars would make in real life. It would look kind of like a binary/trinary system but wouldn't work like one.

It would be cool though to have the planet/moon/whatever you are standing on get ejected from a solar system due to a chaotic orbit.

That's exactly why there's SOIs. They didn't want the engine to deal with the n-body problem for performance reasons. I can only imagine how it would try to deal with binary or trinary stars. My best guess is that it would make the space kraken look like nothing. Space Cthulu?

[nhnifong]

In addition, there are many who think that we only exist BECAUSE this is a fairly quiet section of the galaxy. Imagine how hard it would be for life to exist if you had a gamma ray burst every few thousand years, or other such craziness that the universe can throw out, much less how hard it would be for it to evolve to the complexity required for a species to achieve spaceflight.

IMO, as soon as darwinian evolution get's started, space-faring intelligence is inevitable.

[shadowfax]

Not if all life on the planet gets wiped out by a cosmic event while the most advanced species is still in the stone age. . .

[Baleur]

In addition, there are many who think that we only exist BECAUSE this is a fairly quiet section of the galaxy. Imagine how hard it would be for life to exist if you had a gamma ray burst every few thousand years, or other such craziness that the universe can throw out, much less how hard it would be for it to evolve to the complexity required for a species to achieve spaceflight.

The gamma ray burst would have to be aimed specifically at the planet or sun, for it to actually eradicate life.

You could have dozens of gamma ray bursters surrounding your solar system and still have life evolve and thrive, just by not being cosmically unlucky enough to be hit by them in the 0.1 degree of the sky they affect or whatever it is.

Heck you could even live in a galaxy where the central core is a massive active quasar, as long as it ain't aimed at your star system (in which case it's called a blazar).

Also consider that our only example is our own planet.. Perhaps we don't exist BECAUSE it is a quiet section of the galaxy, perhaps our lucky existance simply means we can have the luxury of sitting here thinking about it in the first place? In a sense, it is quiet Because we exist, so far, we don't exist because it's quiet.

As for how to do binary systems in KSP, i don't think it would have to be that hard. Think simple.

1 invisible object in the assumed centre of mass for both stars. Acting as the sun as in the Kerbal system now.

2 "planets" with the mesh and glow of stars orbiting in excentric orbits around this invisible centre of mass.

Their orbits overlapping like a figure 8, but timed so they never intersect (star A is at the periapsis when star B is at the apoapsis)

Other actual planets simply orbit around the invisible centre of mass as well, far enough out to never get too close to the star so your ship won't be affected by it while near the planet (like Kerbal is now, quite far from the sun).

It's really quite simple, if you think about it in pure gameplay design terms, faking reality, rather than obsessing over n-physics that will never work with the Unity engine.

The end result is the same, a binary star system that works and behaves as you'd expect with a common centre of mass, where your ship gets captured by either star as it flies close, just as it would if you fly close to a planet or moon in the Kerbal system.

Edited August 25, 2012 by Baleur

[cardgame]

If there is ever to be any DLC/expansions for this game (I'm almost positive there won't be) new star systems with such exoticisms would certainly fit the bill.

[samstarman5]

Considering there is nothing promised or forecasted by Squad as far as interstellar travel or objects, I wouldn't hold my breath for objects like pulsars or such. It is quite possible KSP will just feature travel within the Kerbol system and that will be it. True, there is a working warp drive but, if it is implemented, it may very well be for making interplanetary travel faster, such as how travel is handled in-system in Eve Online.

SAS is expected to be removed when kerbal AI is implemented to take over the chores of flying the craft. The features we get from that may very well make Mechjeb redundant.

I honestly don't know how big KSP is expected to go before release. One may wonder if Squad even knows. But in either case, anything interstellar is going to be a long ways down the road, and should therefore just be shelved for now. Over-speculation on such things can damage your perception of the game. Feel free to peruse ideas in fan fiction, asking what would Jeb do if he suddenly found himself in another solar system. I would enjoy such fare.

[wooaa]

i hope they dont take out the SAS. there is somthing in real life that is similar to it. it is called a Control moment gyroscope.

[crekit]

well, our gyroscopes can't create rotational inertia from nothing tho. They just store it and stuff. Our current SAS is -magical-