Big Rockets

[CommanderLOL]

While I am toiling away in school, bored, I began to think of different designs for ships. I then thought about the FTL system and when it becomes part of the game. (which it will eventually no matter how long it will take) Will there be ships that can hold 100 or 200 Kerbalians as you go to a different system? Maybe you could either colonize or build a giant space station. The awesome ship design I thought of that would go perfect with the FTL system was the Spirit of Fire, from Halo (My opinion only). What ideas can you guys think of.

Edited October 12, 2012 by sal_vager
Changed font

[Qumefox]

Um, what's up with the font? Looks like your yelling.

And I think there is a LONG way to go before they should even remotely think about adding other solar systems to the game. a) they haven't even finished filling out the current one. docking and IVA hasn't even been fully (officially) implemented yet. c) neither has a lot of other infrastructure needed to accomplish such a task. d) KSP is a physics simulator.. FTL currently has pretty much zero basis in physics.

[Nibb31]

I think that FTL travel and colonization should be pretty much beyond the scope of KSP as a game. KSP is about building and flying rockets in a realistic physics newtonian physics environment. Basic interstellar travel would pretty much be an endgame goal. Once you've mastered interstellar flight, you don't have much else to prove. You've pretty much finished the game and you are entering into the realm of sci-fi. Now, sci-fi is cool, but it's not what KSP is all about and it would be a totally different game.

[sal_vager]

Except Nibb, that FTL is a goal of Squad and an engine exists.

There will be other systems eventually, with new exciting challenges, and the FTL system will be a very manual thing, not easy to use.

Of course, this is late game stuff, and subject to change, but it is something to look forwards to

[Nibb31]

I'm aware that Harvester mentioned it once, but when you are developing a game, there are many ideas that are introduced, discussed, tried, and abandoned. Many ideas sound good at first, but can be dropped because it turns out that they do not fit well in the gameplay.

I believe that developing FTL travel would be pretty much the end of the space program. It means that you have a level of technology where you are no longer building and flying rockets. At that level of technology, there is no more challenge in spaceflight and newtonian physics, since you are effectively bending relativity. It becomes a science fiction game about colonization and managing resources or whatever. It is no longer KSP.

[mr_cookie]

People thought that space travel was not possible back then... Same goes for FTL now, sci-fi is what propels us to reach farther into science my saying is " Anything is possible if you believe" So maybe in the future this game would be viewed very possible, and that is all i have to say...

[sal_vager]

I guess it depends on how it eventually works, both in KSP and in reality.

A technology that would replace rockets would be no fun, and may also be beyond physics on the scale of small craft, any such FTL system may well be extremely unwieldy or even by necessity a stationary device in relation to the rocket, unable to travel within its own warp bubble.

Basically, all those games that have jumpgates might have gotten it right all along.

What this might mean for KSP is this, all our learned skills at orbiting would still be necessary, and not only would we have to build/move the gate out to the edge of the system for safety, we'd have to rendezvous with it.

Also, if such gates were highly directional, each gate could only send you to a system currently within its arc/range, these limitations placed on such a late game tech would retain a lot of the fun of having to plan your journey, it would not be a magic, do everything device, we'd have to work at it to get anywhere.

[CoDominium]

Just because you have an FTL technology do not you mean you finished with rockets or you can magically wave your hand and dispense with physics. I mean yes Squad could do that, but there is so many possibilities for an FTL drive that would require everything you've done in KSP beforehand. What if the FTL drive uses a wormhole outside the kerbal solar system you have to travel too? Or maybe it could work like Larry Niven's hyper drive, which requires the ship to outside of the sun's gravity well to operate. Maybe the Kerbals discover an alien artifact in the edge of the solar system they have to get to in order to use. There are so many options and ideas for a FTL travel that if squad does decide to implement it they can make it work with the game, at least I think they could. But I agree this would be a long ways off.

[CommanderLOL]

you can change the font you know.

[sal_vager]

If it's that big a deal, I'll change it, (cracks knuckles) now lets see if I remember how to do this.....

[samstarman5]

One should consider and read up on all the theories put out towards FTL travel before really giving an affirmative statement on how hard or easy it can be. Isaac Asimov details hyperspace travel quite well in his fiction and nonfiction writings, and many in the science field find it to be a quite solid theory. While it doesn't have the same mechanics, George Lucas put it to use in his movies, and stated quite clearly in the first movie made that it wasn't just a flick of the wrist thing.

KSP has been about learning from the ground up about rocketry and aerospace mechanics. I believe FTL travel will come with its own challenges, and quite possibly present some more with what opens up. Thinking going to an extra-solar planet is the endgame shows you don't know scifi or today's real astronomy all too well.