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Monolith Expansion for KSP 2

KSPACE

By KSPACE
in Prelaunch KSP2 Discussion

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KSPACE

KSPACE

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In the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, Monoliths are found on the Earth, buried in the Moon, and in orbit around Jupiter. We've already had monoliths on planetary surfaces, but we haven't had them buried underneath the surface or in orbit around planets. For KSP 2, the monolith hunt could be expanded by adding interstellar Monoliths that aliens would have placed to tell when the Kerbals had gotten advanced enough to go into different star systems.

A monolith would be required to increase the Kerbals technology further and further, the first letting them get off Kerbin after a plane flight from the KSC. The second would give Kerbals the technology to get them from Kerbin to the Kerbol system using chemical rockets. The third monolith would give them efficient rockets and interstellar tech. And finally, the fourth, if returned from an alien world back to Kerbin, would count as beating the game.

Not only is this a great way to add a 'Campaign' to the game, it also allows speedrunning that isn't based on just a tech tree or a Eve mission. 

Edited by KSPACE
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Gargamel

Gargamel

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2 minutes ago, KSPACE said:

A monolith could be used to increase the Kerbals technology further and further,

This is already a thing in KSP.   Just find the Green Monolith on each body and reaching it during EVA will unlock one more node in the tech tree. 

Because this is a thing in KSP1, I have a feeling it might intentionally get left out in KSP2.    "We already did that, no need to do it again".

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15 minutes ago, KSPACE said:

the idea is that certain tech cannot be unlocked until a kerbal has touched each monolith or a monolith has been returned to Kerbin.

Unless the tech is actually just a fancy "alien" reskin or alternative model for some part I would say nope to that.

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The monoliths where also remains of the civilization beforehand in the planned storymode. Signs of the past, but of course, storymode was never made.

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12 minutes ago, Gargamel said:

Yeah...  There's green monoliths.   It's one of those things that nobody knows about, until they hear about it on the forums, and go "what?"  :D.

I knew they existed but I never knew what they did wow!

Infact here is one for anyone curious what they look like

screenshot491.png

Edited by Guest
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KSPACE

KSPACE

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3 hours ago, Master39 said:

Unless the tech is actually just a fancy "alien" reskin or alternative model for some part I would say nope to that.

Of course, this would be a optional setting for campaign-style gamemodes

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KSPACE

KSPACE

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I also want to mention that this would be the high-tier tech, like metallic hydrogen engines and antimatter storage (assuming that's a thing). The monoliths would also not be too hard to find anyways, always on or around the same celestial objects and easily detectable. I was thinking on Kerbin, buried under Minmus, and in as a Trojan of Vall (the idea being that Vall is tidally locked so that Vallhenge always points to where the monolith was left). Just an idea.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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2 hours ago, KSPACE said:

I also want to mention that this would be the high-tier tech, like metallic hydrogen engines and antimatter storage (assuming that's a thing). The monoliths would also not be too hard to find anyways, always on or around the same celestial objects and easily detectable. I was thinking on Kerbin, buried under Minmus, and in as a Trojan of Vall (the idea being that Vall is tidally locked so that Vallhenge always points to where the monolith was left). Just an idea.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Your idea is a choke point on the game that anyone has to go through in the same way at every run to advance, that's is just not good design for a game like KSP.

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Acid_Burn9

Acid_Burn9

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6 hours ago, KSPACE said:

In the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, Monoliths are found on the Earth, buried in the Moon, and in orbit around Jupiter. We've already had monoliths on planetary surfaces, but we haven't had them buried underneath the surface or in orbit around planets. For KSP 2, the monolith hunt could be expanded by adding interstellar Monoliths that aliens would have placed to tell when the Kerbals had gotten advanced enough to go into different star systems.

A monolith would be required to increase the Kerbals technology further and further, the first letting them get off Kerbin after a plane flight from the KSC. The second would give Kerbals the technology to get them from Kerbin to the Kerbol system using chemical rockets. The third monolith would give them efficient rockets and interstellar tech. And finally, the fourth, if returned from an alien world back to Kerbin, would count as beating the game.

Not only is this a great way to add a 'Campaign' to the game, it also allows speedrunning that isn't based on just a tech tree or a Eve mission. 

There is no place for magic in KSP2. End of discussion.

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11 minutes ago, Acid_Burn9 said:

There is no place for magic in KSP2. End of discussion.

Agreed. Plenty of this nonsense in "No Man's Sky", no need for it here.

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Clamp-o-Tron

Clamp-o-Tron

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17 minutes ago, Acid_Burn9 said:

There is no place for magic in KSP2. End of discussion.

 

4 minutes ago, Jack Wolfe said:

Agreed. Plenty of this nonsense in "No Man's Sky", no need for it here.

I second this. I actively avoid monoliths and other anomalies when I play just so I don't accidentally get some alien tech without working for it, or see an out of universe LM!

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theJesuit

theJesuit

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45 minutes ago, Acid_Burn9 said:

There is no place for magic in KSP2. End of discussion.

 

32 minutes ago, Jack Wolfe said:

Agreed. Plenty of this nonsense in "No Man's Sky", no need for it here.

I'll refer you both to what Arthur C. Clarke  had to say on the matter, his "Third Law:

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

7 hours ago, Master39 said:

Unless the tech is actually just a fancy "alien" reskin or alternative model for some part I would say nope to that.

I wonder if there it opens up the cheapest available node.  If so, there could be nodes which have no prerequisites, but are very cheap, which only contain upgrades, such as all engines increase thrust, solar cells increase efficiency etc.  This would fit well with "alien" takes on tech, rather introduce magic.

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20 minutes ago, theJesuit said:

I wonder if there it opens up the cheapest available node.  If so, there could be nodes which have no prerequisites, but are very cheap, which only contain upgrades, such as all engines increase thrust, solar cells increase efficiency etc.  This would fit well with "alien" takes on tech, rather introduce magic.

Honestly my idea was for it to unlock the most useless and skippable set of parts I could think of. KSP is all about the player choosing how to build their own space program and forcing people to pass through a choke point is just bad design in every conceivable way.
It's a good easter egg, let's keep it one and not turn it into forced grind that has to be done in the same way every time you start a fresh save.

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pandaman

pandaman

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I would not be surprised  if there is an equivalent  to the Monoliths, but I hope any 'magic bonus' they may give is not too much, and not the only way to unlock certain tech. 

One thing I like about the Green Monoliths is their randomised locations, there aren't any spoilers in the forums that point to the locations, you have to detect and locate them.  I originally  tracked down all the original anomalies by getting  the locations  from a forum thread (before Kerbnet) and had great fun doing it, but I much prefer finding them myself by using the stock scanning tools.

Edited by pandaman
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1 hour ago, theJesuit said:

I'll refer you both to what Arthur C. Clarke  had to say on the matter, his "Third Law:

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

If this were to lead to a proper investigation of the perceived "magical" technology to gain clearer understanding of it and perhaps make use of it in the broader context of the story, then I can see it being useful. I'll refer you to Mr. Clarke's considerable body of work on the concept, both fiction and nonfiction.

As a compulsory, one-off game gimmick? No thanks.

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theJesuit

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10 hours ago, Master39 said:

Honestly my idea was for it to unlock the most useless and skippable set of parts I could think of. KSP is all about the player choosing how to build their own space program and forcing people to pass through a choke point is just bad design in every conceivable way.
It's a good easter egg, let's keep it one and not turn it into forced grind that has to be done in the same way every time you start a fresh save.

That's what Im saying.  If green monliths grant a technode,  make it a technode that only improves stats slightly but has no new parts.  Like a oh,  aliens before us used this alloy, not the one we've been using.  Fancy that!  And we have a .5% decress in mass on our engines.  Thanks aliens!

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Acid_Burn9

Acid_Burn9

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16 hours ago, theJesuit said:

I'll refer you both to what Arthur C. Clarke  had to say on the matter, his "Third Law:

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

I'll refer you to what KSP 2 devs had to say on that matter, their "PC Gamer interview:

https://www.pcgamer.com/kerbal-space-program-2-interview/

"We made a document very early in the project that was like, here's the things we don't do in Kerbal Space Program. We don't do warp gates, we don't do warp drive, we don't do magic technology. And we've really been in close contact with a number of subject matter experts in propulsion, and in astronomy, to make sure that the things we're adding to this game are rooted in real science." 

Stop trying to use the quote, you don't even understand, to justify adding some nonsense to the game, that in its core is built around real science.

Edited by Acid_Burn9
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Acid_Burn9

Acid_Burn9

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16 hours ago, theJesuit said:

there could be nodes which have no prerequisites, but are very cheap, which only contain upgrades, such as all engines increase thrust, solar cells increase efficiency etc.  This would fit well with "alien" takes on tech, rather introduce magic.

The thing you just described is literally magic. "Oh hey i just collected this rock in the middle of nowhere and now my every engine pulled 30 more ISP out of its ass for no god damn reason." Seriously dude?

Edited by Acid_Burn9
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