Things That Would Be Great in KSP2 Before and After 1.0

[AstralMinerNCC1701]

Note: I am aware that there is a section in the KSP  discord for these things but there were so many things that I just wanted to compile them all in one easy format. I love the game and I hope it keeps improving and growing over the years but these are things I really think would make a lot of sense before the full release and after the full release. Enjoy!

 

Before Full Release

1. More Part Sizes

In KSP2 there are set sizes but I feel that, especially with the landing legs, the sizes jump forward a bit.

Here I put together the sizes and a good progression "chart" showing how much the landing legs jump forward and the sizes new landing legs could be:

Something similar happens with the nuclear engines in which there isn't a medium nuclear engine:

I feel like midway sizes would make sense as right now crafts have to be either pretty complex, small, or very large.

2. Pre-Colony/Interstellar Parts

As of the making of this, we currently know that we will be able to pretty much go straight to making colonies and getting huge engines for interstellar travel but in the sense of realism that wont really happen in real life.  In this case I feel like adding more station parts like the "Hitchhiker" and "Wayfarer" would make sense as space agencies would first launch physical station parts before resorting to building on site. With this I also think the medium sized landing legs or even station legs would come in handy.

In regards to pre-interstellar, I am referring to "smaller" relatively lower-tech interstellar propulsion methods such as laser/solar sails.

3. VTOL Spaceplane Engines

This ones was pretty difficult to place before or after 1.0 but after thinking about it I feel like VTOL engines, while being pretty advanced would be VERY useful when exploring exoplanets. During my time playing with KSP1 mods, I played with interstellar travel mods and a mod called OPT which added VTOL engines. It made life SO much easier when exploring new planets with atmospheres as it was very helpful in landing on rough terrain in which there is no runway. While VTOL engines are pretty hard to configure for the mass of the vessel I think it might be around the difficulty level of someone who has reached the interstellar level.

This would be very helpful in situations where building colonies is not suitable or too expensive, or you just want to explore the planet as landing a plane the conventional way is a pain.

 

After Full Release

These are things that would make sense to be EVENTUALLY added into the game.

1. Optical Telescopes

In KSP1, there was a science part which was an infrared telescope and when I first found the piece, I thought I could use it to take pictures of planets but was instead disappointed when I realized that it was only scanning for asteroids. I am suggesting a part that is able to zoom into stars, planets, and exoplanets in order to take cool pictures much like the Hubble or James Webb.

2. Deployable Science/EVA Construction

This has already been added to KSP1 so not much explanation is needed but it is something I loved and something I miss from the first game.

3. Robotics

Not much need be said other than it is VERY useful for compacting large satellites and payloads in order to avoid wonky fairings.

4. More Rover Parts

I'm glad and satisfied with the current rover parts but I feel like there could be more for larger mining expeditions or faster travel.

5. More Exotic Systems

We currently have Kerbol, Debdeb is upcoming, and two others are unconfirmed.(Not named in order to avoid spoilers) While these seem to have normal stars, having an "endgame" level star system with a more exotic star seems like a logical choice to keep players engaged with the game. It would be awesome to have this/these star system(s) have binary stars, a brown dwarf, a black hole, or a neutron star/pulsar as its center.

 

Conclusion

These are just a few things that I feel like the game would benefit from having but in no manner will I be annoyed or angry if they are not added. I am aware of the difficulty game development is and how stressful it can be to make promises and have to keep them. As evident from the images above(which I hope work), there are mods in KSP1 that already add these things in and if you want to use these they are: "Interstellar Extended" by FreeThinker, "Kcalbeloh System Planet Pack" by Jason Kerman, and "OPT Spaceplane Continued" by JadeOfMaar.  I would love to hear feedback on this and I hope you have a nice day!

[Infinite Aerospace]

Agreed on most points except for timeframe. Honestly most of that was KSP1 features, even if just in a basic sense. You'd kinda expect the 'bigger, better' sequel to kinda have that but stepped up.

 

Half of the problem with engines is right now each engine is restricted to just one form factor, there's no 'alternate' packaging to which I find incredibly surprising given Chris (Adderly) direct involvement. His ReStock mod and Near Future mods set the standard of KSP part modding.

[DylanSP]

You have my support for all these ideas! Especially adding more rover parts.

[Strawberry]

Btw both more telescopes and medium sized nuclear engine (NERVUS) are planned

[gluckez]

nice ideas.
I also have one, but way way way down in the future when everything is released:
functional dyson spheres.

And about the robotics, I think that should be in the base game though, it would be super useful
for building colonies and space stations, but also to fit larger rovers in a fairing if you can fold in the wheels.

[PicoSpace]

I think its fair to say people expect (nay DEMAND) that KSP2 = KSP1 + Fixes you'd see in popular mods. Nertea's lastest AMA referenced the Avatar command SSTO which is very much like OPT so there is hope they will include such features and craft in KSP2 so we can launcg BIG SSTO and have VTOL options which I think are nessary for cargo pick-up & drop-offs when you collect resources from various outposts to return to your colonies for rocket construction etc.

Note on Deployable Science / EVA Constuction - I expect they will be different with colonies coming, but I expect some science will be "continous" although I hope all science has a time aspect like you see in Kerbalism, it makes more sense (although taking a temperature reading for 5 minutes was a bit silly).

Edited August 18, 2023 by PicoSpace

[Anduin1357]

It sure would be nice if they did some low hanging fruit like give us multiple configurations of parts without changing the look of the part, which would let them increase variety without too much effort.