Increased depth in commsnet system for late game gameplay.

[Strawberry]

Currently. for most casual players relays are pretty useless, generally for probe synergy you can just time your landings, and for manned missions standard antennas work better. For interstellar unmanned travel however, requiring a constant commsnet connection with the same style of parts as ksp1 seems cruel. Some sort of AI part that allows you to ignore radio connection for control seems inevitable, however this part could easily make the previous commsnet system nearly useless. Like in ksp1, in ksp2 a communications connection to an area with r&d capabilities should be required to gain research points, however with an AI module, any vehicle attached to it doesnt need a connection to a base to be controlled, you just cant process data without one. New very large relay antenna types to handle sending data across interstellar space seems fitting here too.  For these interstellar antennas, they should all have relay capabilities and they should also not be able to be put onto "small" ships due to there large size. There's a catch with AI modules though, with the possible exception of late game these things are large and power hungry, larger then mark 3 parts. This means that AI modules will only really practically fit on large ships. This means that landing on planets with AI modules on board is difficult and impractical. AI modules do have a saving grace however, any probe with a commsnet connection to an AI module doesn't need connection to a base to be controlled. This means that probes can link up to a mother ship with an AI module on it in order to be able to be controllable. This introduces a new element of gameplay, and also encourages reusable relay satellites to be attached to your remote mothership in order for your probe to have full communications coverage. Eventually, once you get a colony set up, they can set up communications that allow you to go back to smaller and simpler antenna sizes again for that system.  

Edited July 22, 2022 by Strawberry