ADD WEATHER!

[Consumedgrub2]

Maybe add some storms on any gas planets and on normal terrestrial planets? Feel free to discuss below about this, I want to hear other opinions too!

[Philae_Rosetta2021]

I would like to see this as an option, but I would understand that it might not make it: most players find flying hard enough without having gale-force winds and thunderstorms to deal with.

However, I wish there could be a tab which allows you to switch it on for planets with an atmosphere, as it would make it rather interesting...

[Jack Mcslay]

It might be fine if it's constant, like if Jool gets biomes where each location gets a different weather pattern similar to Jupiter today with it's multi century-long storms, but if you could randomly arrive at a sandstorm on Duna that makes landing inviable it would be more a frustration than an interesting gameplay mechanic.

I'd rather leave it to scenario challenges if it's to be implemented.

[linuxgurugamer]

Let's not.  Too much to fo already, not enough time 

[Minmus Taster]

How about they exclude wind and just put in rain?

Harmless rain, just a cool effect.

[TLTay]

Realistic weather is an eventual must, especially for other planets. Area around KSC should have no wind, to a light breeze always. If wind has to be contended with on a real-world version of a planet like that, it should be in the game as well. After 10 years, I look forward to new challenges in KSP. I want weather diversity.

[Azimech]

I agree. Imagine a planet where cloud cover is such that you can't use solar panels. At least you could build a wind turbine, which is a challenge in itself to maintain and control.

Also ... sail a ship to conserve energy on Laythe.

And let's face it ... flying an airplane above Kerbin is way too easy. Easy for me to say having used flight sims since 1983. So that's why it should be optional.

[Bej Kerman]

4 hours ago, Azimech said:

flying an airplane above Kerbin is way too easy. Easy for me to say having used flight sims since 1983. So that's why it should be optional.

As someone who isn't as good with flight, I still think aerodynamics should be realistic and that there should be turbulence. Flying is too easy.

[mcwaffles2003]

I would like to see weather enter the game at some point, but not necessarily at launch as I know this could be a very tall order. I think new players will find a lot of difficulty with the game as rocket science is already hard and this just adds a lot more to worry about. That said, this could be mitigated by allowing Kerbin to have perfect weather and many other bodies simply have no atmospheres. I think adding weather could offer a lot to the game. Landing on planets with dense atmospheres and high winds could offer engineering challenges for us pushing players to create unique designs intended to weather such storms (pun intended). I think the practice of seeing challenges presented by natural environments and overcoming the difficulties they offer by using creative design and forethought are core to the philosophy of both the game and real space engineering (i.e. the Mars drone Ingenuity).

In short, I too would like to see weather enter the game eventually, but I understand why it may not be pushed for as a launch feature.

[Admiral Fluffy]

Rain on Laythe and Kerbin, and any other worlds with water. That is all I ask.

(Cheats option to change weather would be nice too)

[Dientus]

I remember a lot of viewpoints on this subject in original KSP. Some for and some against. I am still of the mindset that weather would be interesting and challenging, but I feel several things should come with it.

 

Toggleable - prefer degrees of effect. A range of 5 at the most. Maybe start default at low/no affects to craft and launches. How would you feel if you started KSP with no knowledge at all and lost 3 craft in a row due to what appeared to you to be random events? Rocketry is hard enough on its own for laymen no need to alienate everyone and make the game even more niche.

 

Real Instruments - if the amount of ionized particles increase, a low pressure system is nearby, or the wind is too high for launch, I want the ability to be able to know this from instruments on the ground, in the air, and in space. If it's to simulate real weather, then let's do it and not randomized variables. (Consider accuracy and availability dependant on tech)

 

KerbNet weather maps - since we will likely still have a form of KerbNet, add the ability to track these systems at work and make viable future predictions.  (Consider accuracy and availability dependant on tech)

 

This old KSP thread may have good ideas to build off of.

 

[darthgently]

On 7/7/2021 at 11:34 PM, TLTay said:

Realistic weather is an eventual must, especially for other planets. Area around KSC should have no wind, to a light breeze always. If wind has to be contended with on a real-world version of a planet like that, it should be in the game as well. After 10 years, I look forward to new challenges in KSP. I want weather diversity.

Maybe a weather difficulty setting along with the other difficulty settings could be included and the weather could get heavier as a career game progressed.  More importantly, KSP should monitor physics load and simplify the weather modeling (less detailed, but same difficulty maybe) as physics load goes up.

[Bej Kerman]

1 hour ago, darthgently said:

and the weather could get heavier as a career game progressed

It would be weird for a planets' properties to be affected by how far the player has gone. Heavier rockets usually have less problems with aerodynamics, so I say weather should be random and not based on progress.

[Consumedgrub2]

I like these Ideas! Maybe they could make a setting that changes the difficulty / weather randomness just like the re-entry difficulty you see when you go to make a new game in the first game. And if it really makes the game just that harder for people, then at least a visual effect that does not effect any craft in any way would be nice.

[Space Kerbalisation Tech]

If weather includes clouds, then I’m in! I have been waiting for ages for ksp to add clouds&other visual effects (such as city lights) into the game. I know there are mods that can do weather and clouds, such as EVE and KWP, but it will definitely be nice to see them added into ksp2

[pandaman]

I like the idea of weather.  It could also help diversify the different planets and moons a little more too.

However if it's poorly implemented then it can all too easily become 'random failure' by another name which I personally don't want.

If I know I'm flying into a storm, and know there is a risk, then that's the gamble I choose take.   Even if the actual occurrence of a problem is randomised for gameplay reasons, it'still a known risk.  If I suddenly get hit by lightning or hurricane level winds on a calm, clear day, that just sucks and puts me off playing.

[Vanamonde]

Some off-topic and cranky posts have been removed. Keep it polite, please. 

[Kapitalizing Every Word]

Weather effects have In my opinion to be toggleable AND a separate option to toggle if they affect aerodynamics and stuff like that but I would LOVE lighting strikes on eve

[Defenestrator47]

I would love weather, but I understand others might not want to deal with it.  So I'd like to see it be able to opt in and out, and maybe a slider for severity of wind effects.  Also lightning strikes.

[Nirgal]

Adding rain wouldn't necessarily need to change gameplay and would look beautiful

[pquade]

On 7/6/2021 at 10:44 PM, Consumedgrub2 said:

Maybe add some storms on any gas planets and on normal terrestrial planets? Feel free to discuss below about this, I want to hear other opinions too!

Because, you know, every space agency loves waiting on weather to F-up their launch opportunities.

;)

[peridoot]

i would very much like storms on kerbin because then i can actualy USE my storm chasing vehicles. AND we can do Mars Hozion style launch delays

[herbal space program]

I think actual, dynamical storms would be just too difficult to model reasonably, let alone navigate through, so they're probably out. Clouds however should be comparatively easy, as should static and locally flat wind fields. I do think the latter would definitely add something to gameplay at least for me, and could be integrated into the standard career difficulty scale or toggleable/nerfable in other modes.  Moreover, I think of at least visually modeling clouds and rain on planets with atmospheres as kind of an essential aesthetic upgrade for the game as it transitions from indiehood to a major studio release.

Edited August 12, 2021 by herbal space program

[herbal space program]

On 7/10/2021 at 1:22 AM, Azimech said:

I agree. Imagine a planet where cloud cover is such that you can't use solar panels. At least you could build a wind turbine, which is a challenge in itself to maintain and control.

Also ... sail a ship to conserve energy on Laythe.
 

Having the ability to make wind turbines and sailing ships would be awesome! It would be fairly easy to model a global prevailing wind pattern that includes equatorial doldrums, low-latitude trade winds, and mid-latitude westerlies.  To make it more interesting, within a given physics bubble the speed and direction of these could perhaps change fairly slowly and within certain constraints that depend on the location.  In such a scheme the equatorial KSC launch site would also naturally have very little or no wind, although for rocket launches and the typical wind speeds that I would envisage, I don't think they'd represent much of a problem anyway.

Edited August 12, 2021 by herbal space program

[OHara]

For anyone who hasn't seen in, there was a preview of clouds (link) for KSP 2 (a serious preview, not just the April fool's joke).

I also like the idea of wind to enable windmills, sailboats, and to make airplane and parachute landings more interesting.

KSP does not have any random events (for the most part) and that seems to fit KSP being a game that rewards planning.  So maybe should be predictable, such as winds that come up in the afternoon, but are calm every night and every morning.  Then if weather does affect a launch to rendezvous with an orbiting station, it could make an interesting choice between flying through the weather, or waiting and then doing the required orbital maneuvers to meet the station.

Earlier discussions of weather in KSP 2 (link link link link)