Automated Resupply Missions that Record and Repeat the Results from Your Best "Milestone Mission"

[Spartan Hoplite]

When doing a resupply mission, instead of just saying you've done it so now forget about it, make it so it always follows a "milestone mission."

This would allow for these gameplay features:

1. Make repetitive missions as optional as the player wants, as planned by the developers

2. A way to set a cost to each automated mission so that they aren't simply ignored

3. Incentivize efficiency and creativity for all skill levels

4. Introduce almost endless compelling yet optional challenges for players of all skill levels, increasing replayability of KSP2.

The uniqueness of each location would determine how fun optimizing these missions would be. They would be optional regardless, so it can't hurt the game for anyone, only improve it.

Edited July 13, 2021 by Spartan Hoplite

[softweir]

This is something I had been considering; I like that you have put it more succinctly than I could!

[shdwlrd]

Overall what you're describing is the hope for the automated supply missions. 

[pandaman]

Rather than taking the 'best' would it not make more sense to take the average as a representation for automated reruns?  Or to simplify it maybe just take the best and worst and split the difference?

 

[PlutoISaPlanet]

It will be interesting to see how this is implemented in the game.

[MKI]

I personally would like the game to "forget about it" and let the game more or less take care of it. 

There's a lot to explore, delivering snacks to my base on Duna manually to shave off a few days of travel time isn't really high on the list.

A feature like this would be nice, it just needs to be communicated clearly to the player thats how it works. 

 

 

[Spartan Hoplite]

On 7/17/2021 at 2:26 PM, pandaman said:

Rather than taking the 'best' would it not make more sense to take the average as a representation for automated reruns?  Or to simplify it maybe just take the best and worst and split the difference?

While I'm not sure why it would make sense to have an average, this did remind me that transfer windows are a thing. This automated system would have to keep track of the relative locations of the celestial bodies that the resupply mission travels between. If the time between the transfer windows are too long, then the resupply ship needs to be larger or there need to be more missions with less efficient transfers.

[pandaman]

9 hours ago, Spartan Hoplite said:

While I'm not sure why it would make sense to have an average, ...

Simply because I am assuming that using  a 'typical' set of values, not 'the best ever achieved',  is a better approximation of the time and fuel used.

A lap record is exactly that, the best so far,  it is not typical of the nornal lap time.  So assuming everyone autonatically always laps in that time each time a new record is set is  plainly inaccurate.

Using the 'best' may be the most suitable from a gameplay aspect for KSP though.

[FlywheelsGroove]

My understanding is you have to fly the resupply mission once, then you can ask the game to re do what you just did every so often. If you want a faster or more efficient resupply, you have to do it that way first, so the game can "record" it and re do it that way in the future.

[Pthigrivi]

Id think the best way would be to allow a player to save any transfer they’ve completed that begins at one base or station and returns or arrives at another base or station. The player could then schedule to repeat any saved transfer they like during windows with equal or lesser dV. The transfers would then take as long to complete as the saved mission. This seems to offer the most flexibility with the least fuss.  

Edited July 27, 2021 by Pthigrivi

[darthgently]

Resupplies to/from orbit between the surface of the body orbited can be handled in a simple way.  Resupplies to and from low orbit of a body and low orbits of a moon could also be handled in a fairly simple way pinned to a multiple of the optimal transfer schedule.  Resupplies involving interplanetary transfers would be more involved and could be pinned to a multiple of the optimal Hohmann transfer window schedule.  Finally, a Resupply Chain could be defined by the player involving one or more of the previous types bundled into a chain.  I like the idea of first having to fly a resupply mission before it can be automated, but given the feedback I got when I posted about the same idea as this thread I suppose this could be a choice in the Difficulty Settings.