So, my 4-year old son has been watching me play KSP, and...

[capi3101]

...he's started asking about where some of these other planets are in the Kerbal system. You know, ones that don't exist in the game anywhere but he insists are out there.

I figured I share the names and basic characteristics with you guys, in case any of you ever happens to come across any of them.

Let's see...first, there's Arde (ar-DEE) and Binbin. Binbin is yellow and Arde is red. There is some confusion as to which one is supposed to be the planet and which is the moon. Then again, he thinks Ike is a planet. It's somewhere past the orbit of Eeloo

Then there's Orkinee. It's way far away. Seriously. Like, I drew the rest of the system for him with straight lines between the orbital lanes; Orkinee was past the orbit of Binbin and the line was very long and not straight. So I guess it's seriously far away...

There's another planet called Arkin. It's black. That's all I know. He doesn't talk about that one much. Your guess is as good as mine whether or not it has anything to do with Alan Arkin...

Anyway, y'all be on the look out for those.

(Just thought I'd share that with y'all. Mainly in case the developers are looking for names for any up and coming spheres in the Kerbol system).

[eskimo]

Imagination is freakin awesome. and I wouldn't mind seeing any of these in the game. I've got a four year old myself, and in our early days we had some...... issues with the spacebar. We now have a standard procedure for separation of stages, it doesn't happen without a countdown, which he loves. He always asks me when we're gonna play the "Green-guy-game"

[Flixxbeatz]

Redbull gives you wings.

Imagination gives you wings, control surfaces, and rocket propulsion.

[Scotius]

Good to hear there is another generation of space-freaks in training Who knows? Maybe with a bit of luck, one day he might be able to fly to Mars for real?

[Kerbface]

That's really cool. Imagination is such a great thing. How cool would it be if they actually put one or more of these planets in, or something similar, really far out, but left it uncharted until you became close enough to detect it in some way. It'd be so amazing to be the first player to find it.

[loppnessmonsta]

You, sir, win an internet for your example of excellent parenting. Lucky for you, KSP is cheaper than Legos! My parents weren't so lucky.

[Scotius]

At one occasion devs mentioned that in career mode we will have to detect planets on our own. Maybe gravioli detectors could be used for this? We would have to scan the sky, and increase in amount of detected gravioli would indicate that something is there. Then we would have to aim a telescope in this direction. Spotting new body would give us rough estimates of its size and distance from Kerbin - enough to send a probe.

[M5000]

At one occasion devs mentioned that in career mode we will have to detect planets on our own. Maybe gravioli detectors could be used for this? We would have to scan the sky, and increase in amount of detected gravioli would indicate that something is there. Then we would have to aim a telescope in this direction. Spotting new body would give us rough estimates of its size and distance from Kerbin - enough to send a probe.

If only that could work... Unfortunately, with the game's current gravitation model, only the gravity from one body at a time is simulated, so you wouldn't be able to detect gravity from another planet unless you had another variable that appeared like gravity but was more like a "Distance to a planet that is not your current planet of influence meter" or something. I dunno.

[reptile2001]

This is GREAT. You have my utmost respect for encouraging your child's imagination. Here's hoping I run across Arkin at some point in my travels!

[8bitbeard]

That is awesome. My own son is four also, and KSP has sparked his imagination pretty hard too. I let him change the stages on my mark.

"Free... Two... One... Uh-nition!.... BLAST OFF! We going to space!"

[Frankiebolo]

If I had KSP back in my 7-8 years old-times, I would have been completely fascinated by it. My parents didn't bother too much following my interest,it was difficult for them to even match my knowledge about kid-related science (you know for sure, Dinosaurs, air models, telescopes, all that kind off "kiddish" scientific stuff), so they didn't even tried to give me more imputs to stimulate my curiosity. I'm impressed by your parenting skillz and I'm looking forward to do the same when it will be the right time. Keep your son in touch with space related, since he could be going there sometime in the future!

[iDan122]

I was brought up with Legos an at the time I was crazy about building spaceships. Thanks to it I am more than an average kid right now. Now KSP is ideal for me: it explains such complicated things in such an easy to understand way. If you want a smart kid: make him interested in KSP as early as possible. Squad devs are genious people...

[NeoMorph]

*Kerbals in Black knock down capi3101's front door.

KIB1: "WHO TOLD YOU ABOUT BINBIN... AND WHO LEAKED OUT THAT ARKIN IS IS NOW BLACK... IT WAS AN ACCIDENT... JEB ACCIDENTALLY IGNITED THE ATMOSPHERE OF ARKIN WHICH CAUSED IT TO GO A BIT... ERR... BLACK"

KIB2: "We wasn't supposed to mention what happened to Arkin..."

KIB1: "THIS KID MUST HAVE INFORMATION EXTRACTING POWERS... QUICK, EVERYONE PUT ON YOUR TINFOIL HELMETS. THIS KID HAS MIND RAYS!!!!!!!"

KIB3: "Darn it... One's forgot to take his pills again... Quick, two... Kaser him before he goes meltdown on us again!"

KIB1: "YOU, SIR, WILL NOT EXTRACT INFORMAT... *PZZZZZT*ARGLEBARGLEFLURRRRRRB..." mommy!"

KIB2: "Sorry to bother you sir... Please forget we were even here."

*Two and Three bundle One into the car boot and drive away*

[Murchadh]

Good story that made me chuckle and brought back a memory of my own. It's not about KSP but . . . When Fallout 3 was released I got the collector's edition with the bobblehead that had "Vault-Tec" written on the base. He identified the game through the bobblehead (didn't even know it was called Fallout) and used to come up to me, place the bobblehead in front me and ask,"Daddy let's play Vault-Tec . . . but you play the night". Guess the dark scared him. I am happy to report that he has since moved on to KSP.

[Holo]

How far away is Arkin? Is it further than Binbin?

[engraverwilliam]

My four year old when I play:

Look at the driver dad its easier

Are you going to wabble into space?

Did you pass the mun again?

Go to the other Mars daddy.

you blew up again! Why do you want it to blow up daddy?

can I press the spacebar?

(While I am in the restroom I hear) I hit space bar daddy! Don't worry though you still have plenty of fuel! (this right after I got into orbit)

those are just SOME of the funny things he says when i play

[Camelotking524]

My 4 year old daughter loves this game. So I decided to get her the entire set of Imaginext Space toys. Now I want to mod them into the game.

[Conarr]

They asked my 6 year old son to write about something for school and he wrote, "My daddy blows up rockits"

[Xellith]

I put these pictures together for you and your kid. (well I needed to learn how to shop a little more anyhow lol and yes yes I know that they could prolly be better. Bite me lol)

Edited April 29, 2013 by Xellith

[Spartwo]

arkin sounds as interesting as moho i`m guessing perpetual night would be involved.

[llamatoes]

Agreed, I wish I had KSP when I was a youngling, it would have been really fun.

[loppnessmonsta]

Akin would be interesting to see. Easiest way I could see to do that is to first have it be a dark material, and then have its orbit situated just right so that it sits forever in Jool's shadow or something.

Of course, then you'd have to keep Kerb Diesel from getting stranded there.

[Tw1]

I've been hoping for Antikerb, same orbit as the Kerbin but on the opposite side of the sun, so it's hard to spot.

I like this kid's imagination. Maybe the one where he was confused which was the planet, and which was the moon, is actually a double planet system...

I like the look of Binbin, and how they both have similarish textures. That could lead to some fun speculations..

I wonder if it would be possible to have them close enough to share atmospheres...

Edited April 30, 2013 by Tw1

[Deadpangod3]

They'd pull each other in, and guess what happens, kaboom...

[Tw1]

They'd pull each other in, and guess what happens, kaboom...

Not if they both had lowish gravity and orbited each other really, really fast....

Bob: Ahh, I feel sick. I feel so dizzy..

Bill: Bob, we told you not to look at the stars!