KSP1's envisioned story in KSP2 (Speculation)

[Cyne]

Context

NovaSilisko (iirc) originally came up with an idea for a *storyline* of sorts which never made it into KSP1, it's here in this pastebin https://pastebin.com/3vvjushy (Pastebin copy/pasted below)

Spoiler

The "plan", for a narrative loosely connecting easter eggs, as was originally imagined by me, was that a long, long time ago, a precursor civilization to the Kerbals had lived in the same solar system. This is evidenced by the face on Duna, the SSTV signal, Vallhenge, the Monoliths, etc.
 
Their home planet, however, was lost due to a severe miscalculation of the parameters of their interstellar travel system (maybe the player could've gotten their hands on the tech, but that's a bit of a lame way to acquire interstellar travel, being forced to jump through a bunch of hoops and calculate a bunch of stuff...), which resulted in the whole planet being placed in an extremely distant orbit around the sun, where it quickly froze and died. The rapidly dwindling population of survivors managed to launch numerous monoliths across the system, in hopes of seeding intelligent life.
 
Their plan failed. They made Kerbals.
 
This planet would not be visible in the map view, or discoverable through any telescope. To find it would require the player to locate several SSTV signals (these and the monuments were the equivalent of what flags are today for Kerbals - a "look, we were here") around the system. Each signal would normally contain a complete list of orbital parameters for the home planet, but over millions of years of degradation, only a snippet would remain.
 
Once the orbital elements of the planet had been found after decoding and analyzing enough signals, its current position could be calculated with reasonable accuracy, and a mission sent out. Once found, the planet would reveal itself as just a bit smaller than Kerbin, covered in frozen cities, abandoned monuments, oceans frozen solid, and an atmosphere long lost to the depths of space. This far out, the sun might even not light up the world too much, leaving it in a perpetual state of twilight. A very, very, very unusual and alien world.
 
On the subject of the first SSTV signal - it depicts four precursor critters standing by their monument, their home planet, and the symbol of the planet's world government, a universal sign of peace and exploration. A number would have been added later on, as Duna's contribution to the orbital solution.
 
Of course, this whole "plan" never really left my head, apart from a few brief teasings that I had a plan! I believe this is the first time I've ever really talked about the full extent of the ideas for a sort of narrative behind the easter eggs (although IIRC I may have touched upon it in past forum posts, like the idea of the monoliths failing and creating kerbals instead of proper intelligent life). Maybe one day I'll resurrect this plan, maybe as part of Alternis, or even in a different game. 
 
Time will tell.
 

There's a few traces of it in KSP1, it's how we have the SSTV signal on duna

Spoiler

Duna SSTV signal

Quote

On the subject of the first SSTV signal - it depicts four precursor critters standing by their monument, their home planet, and the symbol of the planet's world government, a universal sign of peace and exploration. A number would have been added later on, as Duna's contribution to the orbital solution.

^ From the pastebin

Here's the interesting part - How does this relate to KSP2?
Let's start simple

• From the pastebin, we know that some form of precursor civilisation would have existed before the Kerbals that we know and love
• We also know that they're *Significantly* more advanced then kerbals, knowing how to go interstellar (with more advanced systems then kerbals... they teleported their entire planet, lmao)

So far the most well known artefact that's in KSP2 and KSP1 is the mun arch  (Extended details in spoiler)

Spoiler

(I don't have any screenshots of my own yet)

The Munarch shows the seven planets of the kerbol system, and it's almost certainly a stargate from speculation (No idea what else it could be)

There's also the Minmus monument - This one's rather interesting, more about it later

Spoiler

The "Precursor" in the middle seems to symbolise Kerbin, with the two circles "orbiting" it symbolising the Mun and Minmus - Something more?

I'm not sure about what else is in KSP2 avaliable right now, but there's been glitches leading people to discover more then they're supposed to (Below)

Spoiler

Credits Bill Kerman#5051

What I can figure out from the image is the Duna face and a tree with a crown on it

 

There's also more models of anomalies in the game files, @Kerman Von Kerman's thread documents them very well (do read, its very good )

Linking ksp1 with ksp2 (speculation)

From here on is pure speculation!

With what little we know about anomalies in ksp2, I personally feel like ksp1s planned storyline is going to be in or at least play a part in ksp2 - The stargate seems indicative of a highly advanced civilisation (and there's anomalies all over the kerbol system). The anomalies also depict the "Precursors" and in some files a space cuthulu? kraken? is also depicted

Perhaps you can do something at anomalous sites leading you to more anomalies, eventually leading you to the hidden planet or activating the stargate

I'm not sure how exactly the Karicebo message at the end of the ksp2 videos ties into all of this, but other people on this forum have speculated on it. What can be sure is that the second kerbal depicted in it shows the precursors though, the same ones on the monuments.

Or they're just there for fun (doesn't seem like it though, LOREEEEEEEE)

I don't know enough yet to make a conclusion lmao, I really don't know what to write here 

Spoiler

 

Further Reading

Spoiler

 

Thanks for listening to my manical ranting 

Edited February 28, 2023 by Cyne
clarification

[TheOtherDave]

Wait, there’s a story in KSP 1?

[Chilkoot]

Just now, TheOtherDave said:

Wait, there’s a story in KSP 1?

It never made the final cut.

[RocketRockington]

I really hope this is not the case.  I liked KSPs treatment of space exploration - that it was mostly to go out and do science (and crash spaceships).   It felt like going to space for the right reasons, the best ones, rather than to hunt aliens.

Sure there were Easter eggs that pointed to aliens in KSP, but that's all they were.  Easter eggs like big head mode in an FPS don't spoil my immersion, they're just a goofy little thing you can do on the side.

But if the KSP2 story mode - which is the mode I likely would have gravitated toward since I preferred career to sandbox - is about finding alien artifacts like some goofy science fiction scavenger hunt - well, count me out of that.  Though I suspect you're onto something, this isn't a dig at you, and feel free to enjoy that idea if it's your thing.

 Guess I'll not only be waiting for modders to fix the bugs, the physics, and the UI, but also add a new game mode.

[Gargamel]

2 hours ago, TheOtherDave said:

Wait, there’s a story in KSP 1?

No. 
 

They considered it, but it never got included. There’s a couple things that hint at a story, but there is no official canon.    

[KSK]

My own view on Easter eggs is basically 'go big or go home'. Either include them as part of a discoverable backstory for the game or get rid of them.  Having a bunch of pop-culture references scattered around the Kerbol system for no apparent reason just spoils the immersion.

My view only. YMMV.