Different vairants of colony parts depending on planet climate and location?

[Kosmix1]

If there is gonna be colony building then it would be really cool to have different sorts of colony variants depending if there is breathable air, vacuum, underwater or flying in the air.

Of course i wouldnt expect all of this to be immediately implemented during the launch, but it would be cool to have it as an update later on. 

[Dientus]

This makes sense but how would it be implemented? I wished we knew more about the mining and part production process. Depending on complexity, or type etc, it could lead to parts unable to be made at one colony that's needed for another. While I myself kind of like the thought, to inspire those pre-programmed??? flight paths they're talking about and encourage intercolonial trading, it seems this may be another one of those slippery slope situations to where it could be overdone.

 

[Nirgal]

Agree 100%, supposing the 'standard' colony habitat module comes with full life support.. We probably won't need that in places like Laythe, meaning they could be lighter for transport / construction materials. 

Extreme environments such as Eve or the lava areas of Rask and Rusk would require some serious construction, and it would be cool to have different space suits to match. Whether this would be a technology that requires research, or simply a cosmetic feature I'm not sure yet.

[Jack Mcslay]

I think this will be dealt with the same philosophy as the rest of the game, as in you're supposed to design your ships and buildings accordingly to the environment, so that specialized cooling, pressurization, energy generation is left to the player, so that if something fails it's your fault.

[Truebadour]

I don't think there will different parts adapted for each environment. If my habitat dome is "Eve grade", then it's good enough for Pol. However the player will most likely have to adapt and make choices regarding the environment he's building in: Should I go nuclear or solar on Eeloo? Should I bring more radiators on Moho? Should I build a vertical base on Tylo or go for a more "grounded" design?

Hopefully the new base editing system will allow us to adapt in case of a bad design choice. The developpers have been clear about wanting us to be creative, so I imagine the new base building system is more complicated, but also more forgiving.

Edited May 8, 2021 by Truebadour

[pandaman]

Nice idea, but I don't think different buiiding variants for different environments will happen.

If it is done anything like in KSP1 each 'building' will effectively be a part of the  overall structure, a bit like large versions of the ISRU converters.  So we add on the bits we need (radiators etc) to enable them to work in the environment we place them in where needed

Not to mention the additional design work involved, 

[Starman4308]

If anything, I'd maybe go for per-body skins for the same sets of buildings. Colder worlds, some insulation is evident. Laythe and Kerbin could use hard angles where most worlds would require rounded buildings built as pressure vessels. Airless worlds, you see some Whipple shielding for MMOD protection. Hot worlds, the non-radiator surfaces are uniformly white to reflect as much heat as possible.

That would, of course, mean a lot of work by the art team, and I wouldn't necessarily expect it, though "we did a big art pass on all the planets" suggests the art team might have time for little touches like that.

[pandaman]

Another aspect to consider is that, from a gameplay perspective, parts etc benefit from being easily recognisable and identifiable.

If the visual differences/adaptations of any one 'part' or 'building' vary too much it could be a little confusing.  And, if not properly implemented, make building type A on Duna look like building type B on Laythe for example.