Doctor Kerbal's Suggestions on KSP2

[Dr. Kerbal]

Okay. Okay. There's been a whole lot of discussion about what KSP2 should look like. However before I go any further, this is a casual post and not a formal one. This post does not have any interaction or endorsement from the developers from Kerbal Space Program 2. I was not given information from them. This is just what I THINK should be KSP2. It's okay if others disagree. I believe in opinions. 

 

A lot of talk has been about how the other planets and star systems should show up. In my personal opinion I think all the exoplanets, star systems, and planets should show in sandbox and science mode. This just makes sense from the stance of the original game. However, career mode is almost like a story. So it does make sense for other stars and exoplanets to pop up after certain events, contracts, upgrades, or time. I mean, it took us a while to find the first exoplanet. 

 

The technology tree has some disputes too though. People are suggesting that the techtree shouldn't show. And it should be like before in KSP BETA. I sorta agree with this but I am in between. I personally liked the tech tree now in KSP. You can see which nodes unlock certain parts. For me this sets a goal for me to aim at but I'm not sure. 

 

Some forum users suggest not bringing some parts from KSp to KSP2. Now, I don't understand why. But I really don't want to have a say in this. I'm not the smartest of people. I'm not a futurist, physicists, or anything that knows about space parts that well. So I won't dig too much into it. Lets just say I’m not known for knowing these things. 

 

Now I like this part. Some people suggest some mods of KSP would be implemented in KSP2. Now there are some mods that deserve to be in KSP2. Like Kerbal Alarm clock. I hear it's very useful and I have tried it. But I personally think that some mods deserve and not to deserve to be implemented into KSP2. 

 

The cheat menu of KSP lacks some features. For KSP2 I hope they add some more cheat options. I think all the cheats from KSP should be in KSP2 but some others should be added. Like hyperedit or some sort of system that can change the date of the clock. I think those would be useful. I think those should be added. 

 

Should star systems be brighter than background stars in KSP2? I think yes! But not a lot. Just a tiny bit. Why? Well. They are stars after all and stars blamed together in the night sky in the real world. And from tur space realism stars would be a bit brighter if they were closer to us. That's not true. I just think that. I know some stars are brighter and Alpha Centauri is closer but Sirius is brighter and farther.  

 

Planet shine! Should planets glimmer and should stars fade once planets go in front of them? I don't know. I'm not sure if players would notice the difference. For me I wasn't able to tell. But for those who like details, I think this is a great feature if it's toggled in the settings. 

 

Should KSP2 music be copyrighted? No! I don't think KSP2 music should be copyrighted. It just makes videos of it look awful and kinda boring. Especially in livestreams. I've seen other games do this and the title just goes down.

 

How should colonies work. I don't know. I'm not a futurist or colonist. 

 

And those are my suggestions for KSP2! If you disagree with me that's fine. Lets just not bring up any fight in this thread. You can agree or disagree. Your choice. I might add more But for now. By. These are my suggestions for Kerbal Space Program 2.

[Guest]

23 minutes ago, Dr. Kerbal said:

. In my personal opinion I think all the exoplanets, star systems, and planets should show in sandbox and science mode. This just makes sense from the stance of the original game. However, career mode is almost like a story. So it does make sense for other stars and exoplanets to pop up after certain events, contracts, upgrades, or time. I mean, it took us a while to find the first exoplanet. 

They haven't confirmed that there is a sandbox mode, and there certainly won't be a science or career mode as we know them. 

I agree that it makes sense for the systems to show up in sandbox mode, if there is one. There's just one catch: it's the kind of thing that might be considered a spoiler, and they might not want to give players all the secrets from the get-go. So they might not have a sandbox mode at all, or if they do, they might only make the extrasolar systems visible after you've discovered them in adventure mode (or installed a very small mod that unlocks them for you). 

I would certainly hope that you need to work to discover the systems in adventure mode. There's just tons of good gameplay potential there.

27 minutes ago, Dr. Kerbal said:

The technology tree has some disputes too though. People are suggesting that the techtree shouldn't show. And it should be like before in KSP BETA. I sorta agree with this but I am in between. I personally liked the tech tree now in KSP. You can see which nodes unlock certain parts. For me this sets a goal for me to aim at but I'm not sure. 

I expect there will be a tech tree, but I hope it's much more interestingly integrated into the game systems than in KSP1. Buying nodes with "Science" or "Funds" just isn't that much fun. I would also hope that the tech tree makes more sense from a verisimilitude point of view, without compromising gameplay.

My hope is that KSP2 will be a whole new game rather than just KSP1 with a fresh coat of paint, interstellar missions, and some wrinkles smoothed out. Yes, about kerbals flying rockets with realistic-ish physics and orbital mechanics, and yes to the space Legos thing... but pretty much everything else can and should be reimagined.

[shdwlrd]

1 hour ago, Dr. Kerbal said:

Some forum users suggest not bringing some parts from KSp to KSP2. Now, I don't understand why. But I really don't want to have a say in this. I'm not the smartest of people. I'm not a futurist, physicists, or anything that knows about space parts that well. So I won't dig too much into it. Lets just say I’m not known for knowing these things

KSP has a large parts catalog. With how KSP handles fuel related parts now, there's a ton of redundant parts in the catalog. With the confirmation of multiple fuel types and many more sizes planned for fuel parts, the number of redundant parts grows quite a bit. It would make sense to remove as much redundancy as possible. It would also make sense not to port over the parts that are rarely or never used. 

With KSP2 porting over parts from KSP1 and creating new parts, the parts catalog management would have a goal of being as small as possible while giving the player as much possibilities to build what they want as possible.

Edited May 11, 2021 by shdwlrd

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Dr. Kerbal said:

A lot of talk has been about how the other planets and star systems should show up. In my personal opinion I think all the exoplanets, star systems, and planets should show in sandbox and science mode. This just makes sense from the stance of the original game. However, career mode is almost like a story. So it does make sense for other stars and exoplanets to pop up after certain events, contracts, upgrades, or time. I mean, it took us a while to find the first exoplanet. 

I sincerely hope we're past different progression modes, KSP1 is split in science and career because it was released over time and they were forced to keep legacy gamemodes. I hope the new progression mode (that they categorically refused to call either "career" or "science") is developed in one piece and the whole game is balanced around it.

On the other end of things I still have my doubts about what sandbox is supposed to be and what the community expect it to be. The question is not as simple as one may think, it's simple in KSP1, as you can't build infrastructure and everything you ever launch comes from a single site. Saying everything launched at KSC is free is sandbox for KSP1 but it's already a big limit of what sandbox mean if we're talking about KSP2.

If you think about how science becomes sandbox as soon as you finish the tech tree you can start to see what the risk may be for KSP2 sandbox, as soon as the game brings you to leave "the well" and start build infrastructure to travel the system and other systems after that the game, even if you remove tech unlocks and currency, basically becomes a easy version of progression mode.

I see 2 potential paths for KSP2 sandbox, in one they may go with the "full cheat mode", prominent debug menu, all tech and limits waived and all colony buildings free of costs, requirements, and environmental problems. Basically Minecraft's creative mode.

The other is KSP1 sandbox, literally, the same level of tech plus some minor additions, bases and stations but not colonies and only the Kerbol system. That at the start at least, it then gets filled with content you unlock in progression mode with an optional "cheat debug mode" that gives you the other option I said in some menù clearly labeled as a cheat/debug mode. 

 

 

[PlutoISaPlanet]

I only play sandbox because I do not like ksp2's progression.

[shdwlrd]

@Master39 There's a third option. The sandbox mode is more like a simulator mode in their progression mode. You can test to you hearts content but what's available to use is directly influenced by how far you made it through the progression. No achievements or unlocks can happen while in this mode, but any craft made can be directly transferred to your progression game and used immediately.

[Wubslin]

4 hours ago, Dr. Kerbal said:

Okay. Okay. There's been a whole lot of discussion about what KSP2 should look like. However before I go any further, this is a casual post and not a formal one. This post does not have any interaction or endorsement from the developers from Kerbal Space Program 2. I was not given information from them. This is just what I THINK should be KSP2. It's okay if others disagree. I believe in opinions. 

My my. Titling suggestion threads in the third person, are we? Fancy. No lol, but I do love these when they come along.

4 hours ago, Dr. Kerbal said:

The technology tree has some disputes too though. People are suggesting that the techtree shouldn't show. And it should be like before in KSP BETA. I sorta agree with this but I am in between. I personally liked the tech tree now in KSP. You can see which nodes unlock certain parts. For me this sets a goal for me to aim at but I'm not sure. 

To me the only question is not the "up and down" organization of the tree i.e. which branches relate to what, but the "left and right" parts of the tree. That is, since the KSP 2 tech tree is going to be vastly advanced in excess of what was available in KSP 1, are they still going to include all of the parts present in 1? Are they going to condense the "KSP 1" phase of the tree into fewer unlockable nodes? Are they going to truncate the beginning entirely and just start you off with more parts? I can't see needing to plow through that entire thing just to get the first metallic Hydrogen engine. That would be too unfriendly to players.

4 hours ago, Dr. Kerbal said:

Some forum users suggest not bringing some parts from KSp to KSP2. Now, I don't understand why. But I really don't want to have a say in this. I'm not the smartest of people. I'm not a futurist, physicists, or anything that knows about space parts that well. So I won't dig too much into it. Lets just say I’m not known for knowing these things. 

It's not about technology or futurism. It's about having lots of experience in KSP 1 and being liquided at a bunch of inconveniences that crop up. Loads of stuff don't deserve to make it into KSP 2. The whole engine plate/decoupler business? Chuck it in the garbage. The maximum wing panel size being tiny can go, too. Ladders suck royally and need a rework. If you're worried about functional parts like monoprop engines or other specialty items going, I can't say much aside from the fact that there was a Gameinformer interview and there was a quote saying there were so many more parts in the sequel that the VAB menu had to be reworked.

4 hours ago, Dr. Kerbal said:

Now I like this part. Some people suggest some mods of KSP would be implemented in KSP2. Now there are some mods that deserve to be in KSP2. Like Kerbal Alarm clock. I hear it's very useful and I have tried it. But I personally think that some mods deserve and not to deserve to be implemented into KSP2. 

KSP 2 is going to have better navigational features. Let's not hold our breath waiting to hear what those are.

4 hours ago, Dr. Kerbal said:

Planet shine! Should planets glimmer and should stars fade once planets go in front of them? I don't know. I'm not sure if players would notice the difference. For me I wasn't able to tell. But for those who like details, I think this is a great feature if it's toggled in the settings. 

They've been showing off stock planet shine in the promotional material.

4 hours ago, Dr. Kerbal said:

Should KSP2 music be copyrighted? No! I don't think KSP2 music should be copyrighted. It just makes videos of it look awful and kinda boring. Especially in livestreams. I've seen other games do this and the title just goes down.

You do know there's going to be an original score, right? It'll be the intellectual property of Intercept but it won't get you dinged on a stream like if Roundabout popped up on Los Santos Rock Radio or something. If you  play KSP 2 then you're going to hear the KSP 2 OST. Everyone knows KSP 1 was lacking in the music department. I've had it disabled for so long that watching a video on youtube where someone hasn't turned it off takes me back. Oh, those dulcet tones of Kevin MacLeod's royalty-free xylophones...

1 hour ago, Master39 said:

I sincerely hope we're past different progression modes, KSP1 is split in science and career because it was released over time and they were forced to keep legacy gamemodes. I hope the new progression mode (that they categorically refused to call either "career" or "science") is developed in one piece and the whole game is balanced around it.

On the other end of things I still have my doubts about what sandbox is supposed to be and what the community expect it to be. The question is not as simple as one may think, it's simple in KSP1, as you can't build infrastructure and everything you ever launch comes from a single site. Saying everything launched at KSC is free is sandbox for KSP1 but it's already a big limit of what sandbox mean if we're talking about KSP2.

If you think about how science becomes sandbox as soon as you finish the tech tree you can start to see what the risk may be for KSP2 sandbox, as soon as the game brings you to leave "the well" and start build infrastructure to travel the system and other systems after that the game, even if you remove tech unlocks and currency, basically becomes a easy version of progression mode.

I see 2 potential paths for KSP2 sandbox, in one they may go with the "full cheat mode", prominent debug menu, all tech and limits waived and all colony buildings free of costs, requirements, and environmental problems. Basically Minecraft's creative mode.

The other is KSP1 sandbox, literally, the same level of tech plus some minor additions, bases and stations but not colonies and only the Kerbol system. That at the start at least, it then gets filled with content you unlock in progression mode with an optional "cheat debug mode" that gives you the other option I said in some menù clearly labeled as a cheat/debug mode. 

 

 

I don't think there's any danger of other gamemodes (read: THE other gamemode) in KSP 2 becoming identical to sandbox. Namely, it seems that you're going to need physical resources to build structures and vehicles which aren't simply "credits". So I think that a sandbox mode will not only see free reign of the initial VAB, but also the cost of building everything would be reduced to zero resources. When you're playing adventure mode in KSP 2 the only way you should be remotely approaching this whole "never wanting for resources" thing is when you're really, really late game. Like, 100+ nuclear salt water ferries doing automated runs from an asteroid mine every synod to your main orbital shipyard level of late game. Or whatever the equivalent to that is as actually implemented. The difference between sandbox and any other mode is thinking to yourself "I want to build a 200 meter long colony ship to go to this other star system!" and then not having to grind for resources to make the parts.

Anyway I have nothing else constructive to add, but this does seem to be a suggestion thread so have an MS Paint concept doodle I made for a radiator part ages ago! Now this would be cool to see in the game. Who knows, maybe I'll get into modding in order to make it a reality...

[Dr. Kerbal]

I like how people are tearing apart my letter. Its kinda relaxing. 

Edited May 11, 2021 by Dr. Kerbal
I am a strange and weird person.

[Wubslin]

2 hours ago, Dr. Kerbal said:

I like how people are tearing apart my letter. Its kinda relaxing. 

I'm not trying to tear anything apart, just reply to the parts I have either a good idea about what's going to be in the game or do know some solid information on. Sorry if it came across that way.

[Dr. Kerbal]

4 hours ago, Wubslin said:

I'm not trying to tear anything apart, just reply to the parts I have either a good idea about what's going to be in the game or do know some solid information on. Sorry if it came across that way.

That's what I like. Thank you.   Its put me at ease. 

[Maria Sirona]

I agree completely, except on the cheat part.