A planet impact event?

[Talavar]

    While we all know that KSP is about exploration and the gathering of "magic science", there's always been something that kept me going back to the mods section, and that was the lack of something to do that "really mattered". I did, of course have tons of fun playing KSP, regardless. However, there was always something that I felt was missing to make it feel complete. So to that end, I've thought of an interesting Idea to give everyone a sense of urgency, and extra excitement in the game. This is just an idea, and I know not everyone would agree with it, However, It could easily be made optional when starting a new game.

      In the original KSP, there's not much you could do to the base game without messing up the "flow" of the game, but in KSP2 we know we're going to be traveling to other star systems.. this gives a unique chance to showcase some other interesting things that perhaps others haven't thought of.. This could be in the form of "Timed catastrophes"... For instance:

   If we are discovering other star systems in the game, we could find exotic planets (as is planned) and some really cool places to land... But what if one of those planets was in danger of being destroyed?  A comet flying around that star system could be set to collide with one of the planets after a set amount of time... The only way to actually get to play on this world (perpetually) would be to actually divert the comet... Now I'm not talking about something tiny.. I'm talking about something a mile across. With the new game engine rebuild, we now have the ability to thrust during timewarp, and thrust on non-focused ships. Hence you could put some ion thrusters on there, and let it do it's thing to get it moved out of the way of the planet, hence saving a part of the game that you wouldn't have otherwise, if you simply leave it collide. It could then leave behind something (within the reasonable realms of programming possibility) where the collision took place, that you could do science on. (planetary debris?) This way it's not a total waste either way.  

  This event needs to be set at a reasonable time from the start of the game so we don't have to go into total panic mode, trying to unlock everything at light speed, but it does stick as a thorn in the back of your mind, and give you something to aim for, other than just collecting science so you can go other places and collect more science, to do the same thing over and over. Just one event like this could really spice up the game, at-least for me. However, if you don't like the idea of one of your planents blowing up, simply un-tic the box for the comet in your game settings when setting up the game.

  Something like this would be relatively easy to set up, so I think it should be a thing. We could even have more than one event like this. We could have a super dense one that takes 1,000,000 DV to move. (to move this one, you WOULD have to go into panic mode)

  What do you guys think?   Comments? suggestions?

   

Edited September 22, 2019 by Talavar

[Kernel Kraken]

This is actually a cool idea. The main reason I never played Career mode is the lack of... Kinda rewarding your accomplishments? 'Good job, you crashed on the moon, have fun with this wheezely jet!' Imagine if the reward for something was a whole new freaking planet! I fully endorse this idea, get a move on T2!

[Rejected Spawn]

I'll admit this idea is interesting and well worth at least considering, though you'd really need something a lot bigger than a meek "mile" to pose a realistic threat to anything the size of a planet. For the sake of keeping things on a reasonable scale, at most any incoming really big asteroid could maybe melt the crust on a planet that already has enough residual heat that there is lava under the surface... I'm certainly not sufficiently familiar with the scale of any of this to start throwing numbers around, what I can figure out is that the asteroid needs to be of colossal size but that makes it impossible to divert unless done a very long time before the impact and that doesn't fit well with having it already in motion around the same sun as the target planet. The most reasonable thing I can think of would be that after a century (or something like that) on Kerbin this asteroid will pass by (way outside Eeloo) with great speed and be on a collision course with a planet orbiting another sun; players would have enough time to just barely push it off course if they quickly manage to catch up. Rather than have it go on some crazy trajectory if redirected it would be safer to just have it hit the sun - the target planet could just happen to be in the way if nothing alters its course.

The reason the asteroid wouldn't be possible to keep as a trophy regardless of outcome would be that it is literally something that is supposed to kill a planet; either every planet in the game would have to be built to show the results of an impact of that magnitude so it doesn't matter where the players sends the asteroid - or the asteroid is too massive to control beyond choosing between an impact on that lone planet or safely hitting the sun right behind it.

Certainly would be fun to see some truly big asteroids in general though, preferrably with enough geometry to be anything worth exploring up close (finding some neat crystal formations in a hollow would be epic) and an overall mass that makes them the ultimate trophies to put in orbit around whichever planet our little doofuses happen to make their home. Would make fine backdrops for stations too, anchoring an orbital shipyard to a glimmering giant rock would make it a real sight to visit instead of a mere stepping stone to other areas. Honestly there are few things as majestic as coming in to dock on something colossal, I learned that when I made a 30m wide orbital refueling station and sent a drone to switch out a detachable tank cluster... was the most memorable moment I've ever had with the game, even beat the classic "your first successful Mun landing" (seems like nobody ever feels anything tops that) by a slim margin. Ugh it still sends a shiver when I recall the suspense of slowly floating towards the station that covered the entire screen...

[Talavar]

22 hours ago, Rejected Spawn said:

I'll admit this idea is interesting and well worth at least considering, though you'd really need something a lot bigger than a meek "mile" to pose a realistic threat to anything the size of a planet. For the sake of keeping things on a reasonable scale, at most any incoming really big asteroid could maybe melt the crust on a planet that already has enough residual heat that there is lava under the surface... I'm certainly not sufficiently familiar with the scale of any of this to start throwing numbers around, what I can figure out is that the asteroid needs to be of colossal size but that makes it impossible to divert unless done a very long time before the impact and that doesn't fit well with having it already in motion around the same sun as the target planet. The most reasonable thing I can think of would be that after a century (or something like that) on Kerbin this asteroid will pass by (way outside Eeloo) with great speed and be on a collision course with a planet orbiting another sun; players would have enough time to just barely push it off course if they quickly manage to catch up. Rather than have it go on some crazy trajectory if redirected it would be safer to just have it hit the sun - the target planet could just happen to be in the way if nothing alters its course.

The reason the asteroid wouldn't be possible to keep as a trophy regardless of outcome would be that it is literally something that is supposed to kill a planet; either every planet in the game would have to be built to show the results of an impact of that magnitude so it doesn't matter where the players sends the asteroid - or the asteroid is too massive to control beyond choosing between an impact on that lone planet or safely hitting the sun right behind it.

Certainly would be fun to see some truly big asteroids in general though, preferrably with enough geometry to be anything worth exploring up close (finding some neat crystal formations in a hollow would be epic) and an overall mass that makes them the ultimate trophies to put in orbit around whichever planet our little doofuses happen to make their home. Would make fine backdrops for stations too, anchoring an orbital shipyard to a glimmering giant rock would make it a real sight to visit instead of a mere stepping stone to other areas. Honestly there are few things as majestic as coming in to dock on something colossal, I learned that when I made a 30m wide orbital refueling station and sent a drone to switch out a detachable tank cluster... was the most memorable moment I've ever had with the game, even beat the classic "your first successful Mun landing" (seems like nobody ever feels anything tops that) by a slim margin. Ugh it still sends a shiver when I recall the suspense of slowly floating towards the station that covered the entire screen...

  It would definitely make it way more interesting if detail was put into it. And yes you have the right idea, The asteroid would have to be on a trajectory either into the sun, or clear out of the game.. Of-course you'd have the the ensuing "Everyone try to put it into solar capture" forum post, which I'm sure we'd see some VERY inventive attempts. lol (Edit) came up with better implementation.. see below.

Edited September 22, 2019 by Talavar

[DStaal]

As for the 'mile across being to small to actually do anything' - that does depend on what it's going to hit.  (And speed of course - but trying to intercept something with relativistic velocities wouldn't be much of a fun challenge for most...)  Kerbin, yeah that's not going to do much.  Gily however it might be a serious impact - and if there were something smaller...

[IncongruousGoat]

I don't like this proposal, for a number of reasons. From the top:

1. It's an actual, concrete, "go do this specific thing or Bad Stuff will happen" in-game goal. For me, one of the biggest appeals of KSP is that it doesn't ever say "you have to go to x". Even career mode, with its seemingly rigid contract structure, turns out to be quite flexible once you learn to ignore the contracts until they happen to line up with whatever you'd be doing anyways. This breaks that sandbox promise of never railroading your actions.

2. It's mean to new players. Asteroid redirect missions are a non-trivial undertaking even with near-future tech, and making someone new to the franchise (now that KSP is an actual franchise) have to undertake such a mission makes the already brutal difficulty curve even worse.

3. I just don't like asteroid redirect missions. This kind of ties back to point 1 - making the player fly a mission they end up enjoying is one thing. But making a player fly a mission they won't enjoy and wouldn't have done if the game hadn't made them? That makes the game, a thing that's supposed to be fun, not fun.

 

Also, as a side note, you may want to consider changing the topic title. The current one says nothing useful about the contents of the thread, thus failing to serve the purpose of a title. It's as if you named a book "I Think This Book Is Really Good; You Should Read It". The title may be accurate, but it's uninformative for the reader.

[Talavar]

40 minutes ago, DStaal said:

As for the 'mile across being to small to actually do anything' - that does depend on what it's going to hit.  (And speed of course - but trying to intercept something with relativistic velocities wouldn't be much of a fun challenge for most...)  Kerbin, yeah that's not going to do much.  Gily however it might be a serious impact - and if there were something smaller...

 Honestly, now that I think about it, being that it's a game, I guess it really wouldn't matter how big it is, as long as it's gigantic compared to the approaching ship. to give it that "OMG IT"S HUGE ™ " feeling. 

6 minutes ago, IncongruousGoat said:

I don't like this proposal, for a number of reasons. From the top:

1. It's an actual, concrete, "go do this specific thing or Bad Stuff will happen" in-game goal. For me, one of the biggest appeals of KSP is that it doesn't ever say "you have to go to x". Even career mode, with its seemingly rigid contract structure, turns out to be quite flexible once you learn to ignore the contracts until they happen to line up with whatever you'd be doing anyways. This breaks that sandbox promise of never railroading your actions.

2. It's mean to new players. Asteroid redirect missions are a non-trivial undertaking even with near-future tech, and making someone new to the franchise (now that KSP is an actual franchise) have to undertake such a mission makes the already brutal difficulty curve even worse.

3. I just don't like asteroid redirect missions. This kind of ties back to point 1 - making the player fly a mission they end up enjoying is one thing. But making a player fly a mission they won't enjoy and wouldn't have done if the game hadn't made them? That makes the game, a thing that's supposed to be fun, not fun.

 

Also, as a side note, you may want to consider changing the topic title. The current one says nothing useful about the contents of the thread, thus failing to serve the purpose of a title. It's as if you named a book "I Think This Book Is Really Good; You Should Read It". The title may be accurate, but it's uninformative for the reader.

 Yes for some it would feel that way, but as I said in my original post, it could be a simple checkbox when starting a new game "Do you want cataclysm turned on" If not, It would simply remove said comet, or simply move it to a different trajectory, and you wouldn't have to deal with it. Hence we all win.

Edited September 22, 2019 by Talavar

[IncongruousGoat]

16 minutes ago, Talavar said:

Yes for some it would feel that way, but as I said, it could be a simple checkbox when starting a new game "Do you want cataclysm turned on" If not, It would simply remove said comet, and you wouldn't have to deal with it. Hence we all win.

Making it toggle-able addresses points 2 and 3, but it doesn't do anything about point 1. It's still a fixed mission marring the otherwise open sandbox. Giving us a toggle is the equivalent of throwing a tarp over an ugly, rusted old car. The car is still there (and shouldn't be), even if you can't see it because it's under a tarp. I'm not trying to argue that I wouldn't want it in my game - I'm arguing that it shouldn't be in anyone's game by default, because fixed goals are not what KSP is about.

It's great material for a mod, though.

Edited September 22, 2019 by IncongruousGoat
Turning an assertion into a firm opinion

[Talavar]

8 minutes ago, IncongruousGoat said:

Making it toggle-able addresses points 2 and 3, but it doesn't do anything about point 1. It's still a fixed mission marring the otherwise open sandbox. Giving us a toggle is the equivalent of throwing a tarp over an ugly, rusted old car. The car is still there (and shouldn't be), even if you can't see it because it's under a tarp. I'm not trying to argue that I wouldn't want it in my game - I'm arguing that it shouldn't be in anyone's game by default, because fixed goals are not what KSP is about. Period.

It's great material for a mod, though.

So even if you don't have to use it, you still don't want it, just because you don't want it there, even though it wouldn't be there for you...  Also, collisions aren't outside the scope of what happens in space. and it's only one planet out of many star systems that we're going to have... I dunno man, but that sounds a bit "selfish" to me.. Just saying.. If you don't like them, simply untick the box.

Edited September 22, 2019 by Talavar

[IncongruousGoat]

1 minute ago, Talavar said:

So even if you don't have to use it, you still don't want it, just because you don't want it there, even though it wouldn't be there for you...  Also, collisions aren't outside the scope of what happens in space. and it's only one planet out of many star systems that we're going to have... I dunno man, but that sounds a bit "selfish" to me.. Just saying.

Maybe. But a feature like this would be a hard no-sell for me (as in, it would be reason enough for me not to buy KSP 2), and so I argue against it. KSP has been a big part of making me the person I am today. As such, I have strong opinions about it, and one of those opinions is that the open nature of the sandbox is sacrosanct. The game should not ever tell you what to do, even if that particular feature is behind a toggle.

It's why I said it would make an excellent mod. I'm not against people putting it in their game if they want to - I just don't want it in the copy of KSP2 that ends up on my hard drive. Actually, it probably should be made into a mod. There's clearly demand, and this is the kind of thing that mods are for - stuff that doesn't belong in the stock game for one reason or another, but that a subset of players want.

[Drakenred65]

Given that the moon was apparently impacted by a 1000 km object that may have basically just shed rock onto the surface in a long sequence of surprisingly gentile impacts....yes plural....you have a really rediculous range of possibility’s out there.

[Incarnation of Chaos]

The planets, moons etc. are on rails and unaffected by anything that could potentially change their velocity; with the current way KSP and KSP2 is structured what you want isn't impossible per se but you're going to need some pretty interesting implmentation to accomplish it without interrupting gameplay.

[Rejected Spawn]

6 hours ago, IncongruousGoat said:

Maybe. But a feature like this would be a hard no-sell for me (as in, it would be reason enough for me not to buy KSP 2), and so I argue against it. KSP has been a big part of making me the person I am today. As such, I have strong opinions about it, and one of those opinions is that the open nature of the sandbox is sacrosanct. The game should not ever tell you what to do, even if that particular feature is behind a toggle.

It's why I said it would make an excellent mod. I'm not against people putting it in their game if they want to - I just don't want it in the copy of KSP2 that ends up on my hard drive. Actually, it probably should be made into a mod. There's clearly demand, and this is the kind of thing that mods are for - stuff that doesn't belong in the stock game for one reason or another, but that a subset of players want.

If we're going to be adults and not sugarcoat this I have no choice but to call your opinion very self centered and extreme. When developers make the call if something is better off as a mod or as core content (aside development cost) they have to look at what it adds to the experience and what it alters or removes from the experience, taking a stance that even if it's completely optional you still say it ruins the game for you is flat out unreasonable (like suddenly refusing to shop at a grocery store because they start selling one additional type of potatoes) and doesn't give your input in a discussion like this any significant weight. Rather than threaten refusal to buy the game if you don't get your way over a detail almost nobody would even bother including in their overall summary of the game it would be a lot more constructive to just point out that it could be its own game mode and not even appear as a toggle for whatever mode you'd be playing.

With that established I hereby propose a new game mode; Asteroid Swarm - a mode that not only includes just that one giant asteroid but actually several of them spaced far apart in time. This makes it far more viable to also have some bonus ones that are too small to be expected to cause visible damage to any planet or moon they potentially hit, which means they can be captured and kept as ultimate trophies by the player without the extra workload of adding "impacted" models for all the planets just in case some player hits them. They'd still be far bigger than any asteroids in "Sandbox" or "Progression" and on trajectories that could threaten stuff in places the player is most likely to go, however making this swarm endless would turn it into a babysitting task so after some time it'd have to end properly and let the player know that the danger has finally passed. This entire game mode would add at least one type of long sought after "story", it gives ample reason for the Kerbals to actually go places which would really be a selling point to a chunk of players who don't like not having clear goals.

[DStaal]

10 hours ago, Talavar said:

 Honestly, now that I think about it, being that it's a game, I guess it really wouldn't matter how big it is, as long as it's gigantic compared to the approaching ship. to give it that "OMG IT"S HUGE ™ " feeling. 

If we don't care about the exact size - The mod ART scales up asteroids to a semi-realistic scale (about 10x, IIRC) for the Kerbal system, and I've once had one auto-generate that was on an impact path to Kerbin.  Would a semi-static 'event' that made one of those easy to find be enough?

(I actually tried and failed to deflect it...)

[Talavar]

7 hours ago, Rejected Spawn said:

 "it gives ample reason for the Kerbals to actually go places"

That's exactly what I mean as well.. We need reasons to do things. NOt just "get science to get bigger engines, so you can go get more science to get bigger engines, etc." The novelty of building space stations around Jool, for basically no reason  loses it's flare REALLY fast. There has to be something that extends gameplay beyond getting science, and money. Once you have all the parts the game feels basically over, because from that point on, it's just repeating the same missions. Sure you can have fun building ridiculously large contraptions with your huge bank, but it ends there. There's no reason for the huge contraptions. Now "Imagine if there was a reason"

  As for the timed Asteroid swarm, I LOVE IT. I've been thinking how it could be done, and I think the following would be pretty good for everyone.
it could actually be a triggered event..using the observatory, you look for Impacting asteroids on another body (takes 100,000$ (or some high number)funding in career mode).. The observatory finds one, and gives impact date Data, And a random GIGANTIC class (Class K? lol)  then it adds it to the star map.  You have X time (would be set to something over 100 years or more depending on what planet is used) It gives inclination data, and how many orbits it will make before it actually hits. A planetary explosion could literally be used on any planet. You cause a severe light burst, then remove the planet, and leave behind a replacement model that's basically destroyed. or just a debris field (would have to think on this one)... Anyway, you pay the fee, and from that point on, it's up to you on what happens.. Sick of Dres always hanging around doing nothing? Let it be destroyed, and then go check out the mini dust nebula that was left behind in the collusion. lol

  quick and dirty, here's the setup. It would orbit a while having near misses for many orbits until one eventually lines up.

 
 This could be used on any planets orbit, so we'd never know what's coming when we pay that fee, and would add to the excitement.
  Anyway this would also appease people with opinions such as " IncongruousGoat " As it's not a "tick" button at setup, but rather something you can start at any time (IF) you want to. Or they could make it both.. SO you never know when something might show up!
 

Edited September 22, 2019 by Talavar

[Talavar]

4 hours ago, DStaal said:

If we don't care about the exact size - The mod ART scales up asteroids to a semi-realistic scale (about 10x, IIRC) for the Kerbal system, and I've once had one auto-generate that was on an impact path to Kerbin.  Would a semi-static 'event' that made one of those easy to find be enough?

(I actually tried and failed to deflect it...)

 See above bud, I think I figured it out.

 

11 hours ago, Incarnation of Chaos said:

The planets, moons etc. are on rails and unaffected by anything that could potentially change their velocity; with the current way KSP and KSP2 is structured what you want isn't impossible per se but you're going to need some pretty interesting implmentation to accomplish it without interrupting gameplay.

Not at all.. already figured it out.. See above.

[Drakenred65]

Ok enough with the mutual pettynes guys. There developing KSP2 Not US2 KERBAL edition .

[Talavar]

53 minutes ago, [email protected] said:

Ok enough with the mutual pettynes guys. There developing KSP2 Not US2 KERBAL edition .

     This comment seems pretty ironic. We're discussing something. If you don't like it, you can see yourself out.

Edited September 22, 2019 by Talavar

[IncongruousGoat]

7 hours ago, Rejected Spawn said:

If we're going to be adults and not sugarcoat this I have no choice but to call your opinion very self centered and extreme. When developers make the call if something is better off as a mod or as core content (aside development cost) they have to look at what it adds to the experience and what it alters or removes from the experience, taking a stance that even if it's completely optional you still say it ruins the game for you is flat out unreasonable (like suddenly refusing to shop at a grocery store because they start selling one additional type of potatoes) and doesn't give your input in a discussion like this any significant weight. Rather than threaten refusal to buy the game if you don't get your way over a detail almost nobody would even bother including in their overall summary of the game it would be a lot more constructive to just point out that it could be its own game mode and not even appear as a toggle for whatever mode you'd be playing.

Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry; I took this way too personally.

I still don't like it, but I think I can live with it being a toggle, or a game mode, or similar.

Edited September 22, 2019 by IncongruousGoat

[Talavar]

3 minutes ago, IncongruousGoat said:

Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry; I took this way too personally.

I still don't like it, but I think I can live with it being a toggle, or a game mode, or similar.

  This just shows me your a fine person, open to opinions. There's always middle ground. "Good on ya, mate!"

[Drakenred65]

20 minutes ago, Talavar said:

     Comment seems pretty ironic. We're discussing something. If you don't like it, you can see yourself out.

 

[Drakenred65]

Ok first off, there developing in Unity. That by itself imposes limitations in what you can do. Seriously I doubt you could model a synestia type planetary system event as anything other than a heavily scripted giant “part mod” that spawns a “planet” never mind that toroidal gas cloud is , a crazy plasma atmosphere with wind shear that is measured in terms of orbital velocity,  and planetary shrapnel that ranges in size from micrometer to hundreds of kilometers, never mind the computational modeling to simulate that things crazy gravity,  never mind the computational workload imposed by a Theia type impactor, or the moonlet “snowfall” roche dismantling model implied by some of the more recent theory’s about The 1000km moonlet *, the problem being the need to spawn a variety of models in the hundred or even literal thousands because that ironically would be unrealistically low.

 

* in some theory’s that moonlet was at least partly soft captured by Roche limit triggered dismantlement. Basicaly some material gets torn off, some gets deposited on the moon, the rest flung away from the earth 

[Talavar]

1 hour ago, [email protected] said:

Ok first off, there developing in Unity. That by itself imposes limitations in what you can do. Seriously I doubt you could model a synestia type planetary system event as anything other than a heavily scripted giant “part mod” that spawns a “planet” never mind that toroidal gas cloud is , a crazy plasma atmosphere with wind shear that is measured in terms of orbital velocity,  and planetary shrapnel that ranges in size from micrometer to hundreds of kilometers, never mind the computational modeling to simulate that things crazy gravity,  never mind the computational workload imposed by a Theia type impactor, or the moonlet “snowfall” roche dismantling model implied by some of the more recent theory’s about The 1000km moonlet *, the problem being the need to spawn a variety of models in the hundred or even literal thousands because that ironically would be unrealistically low.

 

* in some theory’s that moonlet was at least partly soft captured by Roche limit triggered dismantlement. Basicaly some material gets torn off, some gets deposited on the moon, the rest flung away from the earth 

 Whoa champ, You're blowing the scope of this way out of proportion.  Simply remove said planet when it hits.. play a large explosion animation.. all vessles/bases on the planet, or in low orbit, are removed/destroyed.. remove gravity well.. replace with relatively sized nebulous effect. That's all that needs to be done.  nobody is suggesting that we have thousands of debris particles, or impact calculations for some giant dramatic effect. lol.. Maybe a few large "rock" pieces could be left behind (if so desired while programming depending on the amount of work they decide to put in) which could even be represented by typical in game asteroids flying off in random directions, but that's really all that would be required. It's just a game, not a BBC featured presentation on "The Dangerous Universe" lol.. While I'd love to find a game like that, I'm just talking about what's in the realm of current reasonable possibilities.

Edited September 22, 2019 by Talavar

[Incarnation of Chaos]

4 hours ago, Talavar said:

 Whoa champ, You're blowing the scope of this way out of proportion.  Simply remove said planet when it hits.. play a large explosion animation.. all vessles/bases on the planet, or in low orbit, are removed/destroyed.. remove gravity well.. replace with relatively sized nebulous effect. That's all that needs to be done.  nobody is suggesting that we have thousands of debris particles, or impact calculations for some giant dramatic effect. lol.. Maybe a few large "rock" pieces could be left behind (if so desired while programming depending on the amount of work they decide to put in) which could even be represented by typical in game asteroids flying off in random directions, but that's really all that would be required. It's just a game, not a BBC featured presentation on "The Dangerous Universe" lol.. While I'd love to find a game like that, I'm just talking about what's in the realm of current reasonable possibilities.

That sounds really simple on paper; but once you actually get down to how it would actually be implemented along with the fact most games don't enjoy large core elements being hotswapped while running you realize this is no small feat. Since this is something we want the player to be able to see; meaning within seconds the game has to call whatever function manages this. We can't do anything while the system is on rails; so we have to take it off rails. Then identify and de-spawn all bases,ships etc. since we don't want all the additional load from those being destroyed; then swap in a explosion animation and play it. Then gradually have a nebula/debris field swap in after the explosion; then update and place it back on rails. ALSO any ships that were launched from this planet/it's facilities will need to be updated; as they have information based on that location. This is going to cause anything but the most stout setups to crumble under IO; if not crashing the game entirely.

You could solve this by making a "Cut scene" with pre-rendered footage play while all of this happens in the background until it completes; but i do think this is all a bit much to be spending actual development time on and i would much rather see the KSP2 developers hammering out the core systems with the attention they deserve so people can mod this in later if they desire.

[Talavar]

5 hours ago, Incarnation of Chaos said:

That sounds really simple on paper; but once you actually get down to how it would actually be implemented along with the fact most games don't enjoy large core elements being hotswapped while running you realize this is no small feat. Since this is something we want the player to be able to see; meaning within seconds the game has to call whatever function manages this. We can't do anything while the system is on rails; so we have to take it off rails. Then identify and de-spawn all bases,ships etc. since we don't want all the additional load from those being destroyed; then swap in a explosion animation and play it. Then gradually have a nebula/debris field swap in after the explosion; then update and place it back on rails. ALSO any ships that were launched from this planet/it's facilities will need to be updated; as they have information based on that location. This is going to cause anything but the most stout setups to crumble under IO; if not crashing the game entirely.

You could solve this by making a "Cut scene" with pre-rendered footage play while all of this happens in the background until it completes; but i do think this is all a bit much to be spending actual development time on and i would much rather see the KSP2 developers hammering out the core systems with the attention they deserve so people can mod this in later if they desire.

An explosion effect on any scale is something that can be preloaded, and relatively small in file size stretched on sheet to make it look more massive than it is, with smaller masks for detail depending on LOD. I do understand the recalculation of orbits that you're talking about once the gravity well is gone, but i believe it would be doable, however. This was already accomplished in ksp1 by a mod about 4-5 years ago that I used (which I was going to link but it seems to have been lost in time), except that he didn't implement an explosion, or a left-over nebulous effect. He just deleted all assets, and the gravity well (i believe he just set gravity to 0 for the rail) on impact, and it was instantaneous There was a small pause during the craft orbit updates, but it was barely noticeable (and I was using an AMD 8800k). If it was implemented now, a preloaded explosion effect would play, and the nebula effect could be preloaded as well, (as were all assets in KSP1) and basically hidden, and simply swapped with the planet when it was time. The gravity well would simply be released or zero'd out. The scope of this is relatively small.. It would be nice to see it done by the team themselves, so it would have a professional look, actually have an effect, and be part of the coding itself. Quite frankly with a whole team, with the small amount involved, this could probably be accomplished in a day or two. (or just one night by one dude with a large pot of coffee.. :D)
  (Edit) I couldn't find that mod, but I did manage to find another one that accomplished the same thing, only in the form of a bomb that you sent at the planet rather than an asteroid.. Sadly it broke after he "updated" it a second time, then It seems he lost interest.. lol.

 

Edited September 23, 2019 by Talavar