A few ideas for weather.

[Sammys Stuffs]

This is a crosspost from the discord suggestions channel that I made a few days ago around midnight. Figured I'd send it here to see if it garners any thoughts:

I've seen weather floated around conceptually but every time I see them it's the simple idea of "some wind would be nice." With very little further elaboration. That's fine, but I think it would be constructive to fully break down what weather could and should be in kerbal space program.

Firstly, players would need a way to account for the weather system. Random and unpredictable challenges should be left as a fail state for players who haven't properly planned for the mission they are currently sending out. For this I suggest two parts that would be categorized as science parts.

These parts are the orbital weather platform and surface weather station. The orbital weather platform is a simple small part. I'm imagining something similar to the orbital survey part from T4 with some minor tweaks. It can survey weather for the next three days on the planet it's orbiting, but only scans the surface in a 30 degree cone beneath itself. This means that if you have a high enough probe it can scan up to half of the planetary surface. But never more. This would encourage players to learn orbital synchronicity and to have 2:1 probe networks set up on planets that they are trying to land on. And would give a decent foresight into what the landing zone would look like ahead of the player landing.

Meanwhile the ground weather station would be a larger part, akin to the manned orbital survey station but designed for a ground base. It has two modes. One mode has it being operated by two kerbals, whereas the other mode has it being operated by an AI that consumes 10EC/S doing so it would cover a smaller surface area (around 50km radius?) But be much more accurate and expand out to a week in the future for its weather predictions. this ground station part would flesh out early game outposts before you really get into the bigger colonies

Secondly: What would weather mean? Sure there's the obvious. The minor annoying spurts of soft winds on Duna, the potential for a strong tropical billow on Laythe. But just a simple physics force being applied to a rocket is incredibly simple and not as fascinating as these planets could be. So I would like to break down some potential special weather conditions for planets.

Eve: Coastal monsoons and hail. Coastal monsoons would be a further increase wind force that is capable of lifting even small sized parts off the surface, and would cause actual significant danger regions on the planet beyond its current difficulty. Hail meanwhile would be a much more direct threat. Any exposed to the atmosphere part with an impact tolerance below a certain threshold would be pelted and eventually destroyed by shards of hail made of metal (I believe Venus rains metal? A fact check would be appreciated). This would further Eves status as the games final boss, with weather out to destroy the player. Kerbin: Light weather. To avoid being overwhelming kerbin only has light weather effects, basic wind and the occasional overcast sky that can cut down on solar panel efficiency. Duna: Dust storms. Massive clouds of dirt and loose stone that could be seen from orbit in some cases. These dust storms would range from category 1-5. Each size on the scale would decrease the usability of solar panels by increasing percentages (-10% at level 1. Up to no functionality at all at level 5). Level 5 storms would be exceedingly rare. This would make duna slightly more hostile against solar reliant probes and would increase the value of batteries. Laythe: Tropical winds and electrical storms. Tropical winds would be very short duration powerful gusts that could disorient planes and blow parachute landers off course. These would be more unpredictable than most other weather but would also be not nearly as decimating. Electrical storms. Overcast storms that cause ripples of lightning on the horizon. Due to the nature of these storms your batteries are all stuck at half their usual capacity. And the skies would darken as solar panels again decrease in effectiveness.

Sorry about the length btw. But I think its worth it as weather has so much potential beyond just "wind makes ya move a bit inconveniently." And has a lot of opportunity for furthering player expression as to how they get around these issues. Imagine a permanent Eve outpost and how it would need to be able to shutter itself to withstand hail for an extended period! Or a small battery farm on a Duna base in case they get stuck in a category 5 dust storm for a long time! Overall I think this would make for a worthwhile addition to the game without being too punishing to the unknowing new player.

Overall just a couple loose ideas to float around on how weather could work. Have a lovely life folks.