Colonies strongly imply life support is coming... right?

[cephalo]

What's the point of a colony if Kerbals are just over there doing and needing nothing? There's gotta be an official  life support system right?

[razark]

They can be mining and processing ore, converting it to parts, and using parts to construct ships.

It doesn't necessitate life support.

[Wheehaw Kerman]

I think so.  Some of the colonies we’ve seen hav obvious greenhouses, full of what are probably Kabbages.

[pandaman]

I'm guessing that colonies will need some form of LS or food production  mechanism even if a very simple abstract system.

[Chilkoot]

Life support was confirmed - for colonies at least - very early on.  Whether it will be in the final release and what form it will take is still unknown.  Still, smart money currently says, "yes."

[silent_prtoagonist]

Keep in mind that if we're ultimately supposed to have multiple colonies spread across multiple solar systems--and use high time warp to travel between those systems--then the colonies will need to require basically no babysitting to keep them alive, or it will become a micromanagement nightmare. 

Probably a simple system like: You need 1 greenhouse per x Kerbals, which just sit there and do their job, and you need y water per greenhouse per munth, which can be found locally or shipped in with automated shipments. 

[cephalo]

Kabbages is fine. All you need really. Abstracting away pilot needs entirely is ok for round trips, but living on an alien world permanently requires more fictional input I think.

[silent_prtoagonist]

Alternatively, cut out the middle man kabbage. Make Kerbal photosynthesis canon: They can survive on just light, but they need extra calories (in the form of snacks) for more strenuous activity, like piloting spaceships or constructing new colony modules. 

[Jarin]

Tutorials mention bringing snacks for long trips?

[Chilkoot]

8 hours ago, silent_prtoagonist said:

Probably a simple system like: You need 1 greenhouse per x Kerbals, which just sit there and do their job, and you need y water per greenhouse per munth, which can be found locally or shipped in with automated shipments. 

Nate didn't give specifics, but he alluded to the spirit of what you're suggesting here, i.e. life support matters, but colonies won't require *babysitting/micromanagement.

3 hours ago, Jarin said:

Tutorials mention bringing snacks for long trips?

The word "snacks" has come up so many times in Dev interviews it would be surprising if they aren't canon by the time 1.0 lands.

Edited March 11, 2023 by Chilkoot

[RocketRockington]

I'd guess it's probably a passive life support system, like many colony games do.  Eg: you need this many farms, this many hab modules, to support this many Kerbals.  Not moving food and oxygen around.  

[Strawberry]

In the past the devs have mentioned that they intend life support for colonies to where the colony will run with less food but not as well. This was mentioned like 3 years ago so take it with a grain of salt. There has been no comments to my knowledge on if life support for ships is ever planned to be implemented.

[RaBDawG]

13 hours ago, cephalo said:

What's the point of a colony if Kerbals are just over there doing and needing nothing? There's gotta be an official  life support system right?

Who cares.  By the time that actual makes it into the game you’re probably going to be on life support yourself.  

[Uuky]

If they do a life support, it'll be surely very similar to USI-LS.

 

 

Edited March 11, 2023 by Uuky

[Cailean_556]

I don't think colonies strongly implies life support, but I would be very surprised if we didn't get some sort of life support system at some point (Colonies would make sense, so players grow accustomed to it before Interstellar travel becomes a thing) - even something as simple as a part you place on a vessel that requires power to operate.

My hunch is we may need to meet a number of criteria for "life support". With the rotating sections we've seen in some of the trailers, I think artifical gravity will be one criteria, oxygen may be another and finally, probably something to do with "snacks". That or the rotating section is just a cool looking high-capacity Kerbal storage and I'm looking too deeply into things. Hopefully the former though.

If they don't include something, I think it will be a missed opportunity. Yes, some modder will add it but, while modders are supported and encouraged by the dev team, this is something that should be in the base game in some simple form - allow the modders to go overboard with it, just get something dealing with basic life support functions in the base game for them to expand on if they choose to.

It would have to be optional, as some people wouldn't like life support with any serious consequences. However there was some disucssion a while back on the Discord that Life Support would be added however it wouldn't have "serious consequences" (i.e. your Kerbals wouldn't die, they'd just be less effective without it) - however there were no sources cited during that discussion so "grain of salt" with that.

[kerbiloid]

Colonialism is about resources. Life support is a Kerbals' problem.

BadS ones should have a pith helmet. And a KAS-powered whip.

Edited March 12, 2023 by kerbiloid

[Periple]

I think there’s an indirect feature already in v0.1 that suggests LS is in the design. I could be reading too much into it though!

The RTG’s output declines over time. It takes years but it does! You can no longer stick one on and have it work forever as you time warp through decades. The nuclear engines also (slowly!) consume uranium over time.

This indicates that they’re thinking about gameplay around things that degrade or consume resources over time. Life support could be one such system! I’m very curious to see what else is there as we get to see more stuff about colonies and eventually interstellar!

[Fullmetal Analyst]

3 hours ago, Periple said:

The nuclear engines also (slowly!) consume uranium over time.

the nuclear engines dont even have an uranium resource, how exactly are they consuming uranium???

[MarcAbaddon]

I think Periple was talking about the nuclear reactor, not the nuclear engines.

I just hope there's an easy way to supply your stations with replacement uranium.

Not sure how I feel about the RTG decay myself - of course, it's realistic that it degrades over time, but the same is true for pretty much any part, including especially also batteries and solar panels (especially on bodies with atmosphere). So just doing it for RTGs seems a bit inconsistent? Not that I want to replace my satellites all the time anyway.

[Periple]

1 hour ago, MarcAbaddon said:

I think Periple was talking about the nuclear reactor, not the nuclear engines.

Yes, sorry! I was careless

1 hour ago, MarcAbaddon said:

So just doing it for RTGs seems a bit inconsistent?

I agree! That's why I think it's very likely there are other similar mechanics coming – and life support is a similar mechanic in my opinion!

[cocoscacao]

I think I've heard somewhere (been trying to dig out the video, if it actually exists) that colonies will have reproduction feature. If supplied properly, and living conditions are good, new Kerbals will start appearing in it. Please let me know if I'm mad or not.

I'm also curious if there will be more professions, and what they might be.

Edit:

Regarding colony population: link

Edited March 13, 2023 by cocoscacao

[Nase]

I figure those huge colony buildings have to have _some_ function beyond just aesthetics, but my guess was that there will be some sort of population/worker requirement for resource gathering and refinement machines to run. This would also lend purpose to colony ships that can haul large numbers of Kerbals from Kerbin, perhaps until the colony is "self-sustaining."

9 minutes ago, cocoscacao said:

I think I've heard somewhere (been trying to dig out the video, if it actually exists) that colonies will have reproduction feature. If supplied properly, and living conditions are good, new Kerbals will start appearing in it. Please let me know if I'm mad or not.

I'm also curious if there will be more professions, and what they might be.

Haven't seen that myself, but that sounds like a great way to implement it - it would be there as an important mechanic to manage while you're developing a colony, but doesn't punish you if you "abandon" the colony to pay attention elsewhere for any amount of time.

[Chilkoot]

18 minutes ago, cocoscacao said:

I think I've heard somewhere (been trying to dig out the video, if it actually exists) that colonies will have reproduction feature. If supplied properly, and living conditions are good, new Kerbals will start appearing in it. Please let me know if I'm mad or not.

I'm also curious if there will be more professions, and what they might be.

Edit:

Regarding colony population: link

Can't believe this is from 3 1/2 years ago.  Man, so much has transpired between then and now.

[cocoscacao]

I can't find the damned thing, but here's another one hinting that I'm not yet eligible for brain medication. Nate says "...and then later, as the population  of the colony grows..."
colony grows

I recommend watching the whole section.

[Astro648]

IIRC colonies will have basic life support - if the kerbals are happy, they output more resources and make more of themselves, if there is something wrong then they will be less productive