What are you looking forward to the most?

[nats]

What are you looking forward to the most in the future of KSP's development ?

- a fun poll choose one item only and expand on your answer below if required. I know - its very difficult only picking one!

Edited May 9, 2013 by nats

[Tw1]

I'm looking forward for more science things, and stuff to discover, and explore.

Detailed geology to investigate, and weather would be so cool.

Edited May 9, 2013 by Tw1

[Luna Lovecraft]

I cannot wait for career mode. Having the money available to me limited sounds like a fun challenge.

[Plur303]

Better (realistic) aerodynamics will change everything. I'm afraid that real aerodynamics will be too difficult for most people and that the devs are going to keep the game EZ mode to avoid pissing people off.

If aerodynamics were realistic making huge asparagus staged rockets with 12 columns of tanks will be a terrible idea. The frontal area of that rocket would be horribly inefficient. The way aerodynamics are currently calculated adding nosecones to your rockets actually hurts their performance because of the added weight. They offer no aerodynamic benefit.

Reentry heat completely changes the game. I've messed around with the deadly reentry heat mod and while it is fun it needs a lot of optimization. But it's a fun preview of things that might come in the future.

I would really like the intake air resource for jet engines to be redone. The way most people build spaceplanes right now is beyond silly. They just stick intake after intake after intake on the aircraft until it can fly to 30,000 meters or more and reach what are essentially orbital speeds on jets alone. This simply isn't realistic. The SR-71 is the fastest jet engined aircraft ever and it only flew to about 24,000 meters and only about 1,000 meters/second.

And lets not forget the totally goofy physics involved with control surfaces. You can fly as fast as a SR-71 in a glider... The glider in this picture took off from the ground and never had an engine. That is 100% glider power.

So in short I think aerodynamics are totally broken and goofy in this game and desperately need to be remodeled.

Edited May 9, 2013 by Plur303

[Spleenslitta]

I can't get motivated to play for long sessions without career mode. I actually need it.

[Tristavius]

Resources.

Currently I've been to a lot of places and built a lot of cool stuff, but at some stage it starts to feel like other than having a look around, there's no actual reason to go anywhere. A base is fun to build but then it does what... pretty much nothing. Other than fuel supply, most bases are non functional really. Resource gathering will add a serious reason to actually construct bases, supply chains and to survey planets and should hopefully add a whole host of technical and logistical challenges to the game.

Kethane is quite cool, but does feel a little too easy... finding Kethane is easy and even a tiny craft can be self fuel sufficient using it. The behemoth of a resource system the developers are adding probably won't make life any easier except in the very long run, but rather add some challenges worth getting your teeth into.

[Plur303]

Resources.

Currently I've been to a lot of places and built a lot of cool stuff, but at some stage it starts to feel like other than having a look around, there's no actual reason to go anywhere. A base is fun to build but then it does what... pretty much nothing. Other than fuel supply, most bases are non functional really. Resource gathering will add a serious reason to actually construct bases, supply chains and to survey planets and should hopefully add a whole host of technical and logistical challenges to the game.

Kethane is quite cool, but does feel a little too easy... finding Kethane is easy and even a tiny craft can be self fuel sufficient using it. The behemoth of a resource system the developers are adding probably won't make life any easier except in the very long run, but rather add some challenges worth getting your teeth into.

I'm hoping that career mode will add a tech tree you unlock by investing money in research and mining materials. For instance, maybe you can't build nuclear engines or RTGs until you have mined some blutonium and brought it back to Kerbin.

[Juanfro]

I can't vote

But I would like to have some offbase buiding to make some awesome refueling stations.

[macegee]

True Player vs Environment. Space, first of all, is a place where you need to survive to be able to do science and other stuff. Reentry heat, atmospheric effects, realistic aerodynamics, solar winds and radiation, asteroid fields and micrometeorites. Many ways to die, many thing to account for, more functional and diverse gameplay.

[Uncle Mort]

Definitely resources and mining. As Tristavius wrote, we need a reason to go out there and, by adding the necessity to get resources to sustain your space program, we get that reason.

[Procyon]

all the above really.

[SpaceshipFood]

Better speed optimisation, My game is so slow lol

[Murchadh]

I chose the discovery option but it hardly matters since any improvement to this already awesome game is good for me. Just a note on aerodynamics. With the physics as it currently stands it is VERY difficult building 'proper' rockets, i.e. Tall, multi-staged ones ala Saturn V, so unless some changes are made to the attachment physics, aerodynamics is a no go for me since right now asparagus rockets are the only viable way to create very large rockets.

[Tex_NL]

Since I can only choose 1 option I opt not to vote. I am looking for pretty much all of the above.

But one of them stands out a bit more then all the others: resource mining. I look forward to that with both anticipation and fear. Anticipation speaks for itself, it finally gives you a reason to actually go somewhere. But I truly fear it could possibly ruin the entire concept of KSP and turn it into a glorified gather-refine-build-gather-refine-build RTS. And be honest; the entire RTS concept had it's glory days in the mid 90's with Dune 2, Warcraft 1 & 2 and the first Command & Conquer. So I ay to Squad: Please, please, PLEASE don't turn this awesome game into yet another RTS!

Edited May 9, 2013 by Tex_NL

[Tw1]

I agree. I'm less exited about resources, (not that I'm not at all), but I worry if that's the only complex activity to do when landed, the game may end up a space mining sim.

As I babbled on about in another thread, resources are products of a planet's natural history, and that's what I'm more interested in finding out.

Edited May 9, 2013 by Tw1

[Atanar]

You forced me to decide between career and observatory while they belong together. Career then.

[Jon Tash]

I am really looking forward to the Better Aerodynamics, it's a game changing thing and because I like to build all kind of crafts (Rockets, Planes, Spaceplanes, SSTOs and whatnot) this is something I've been waiting since C7 was part of the Squad Dev Team.

[UAL002]

I'm looking forward to long term when all of these features are fully implemented and this truly becomes a full on space program simulator and sandbox.

[lazarus1024]

I am torn. I am really looking forward to it all.

I think I'll probably tend to play in sandbox mode primarily, so I am looking forward to resources/real bases more than probably anything. That said, since it doesn't even exist yet, I am also really looking forward to career mode as a totally new way to play. To lump in with that research would/will be really cool as well.

If career mode is more of a "sandbox with objectives and costs + research" than honestly I'll probably play career mode the most.

Hopefully career mode won't simply be "play a mission", but is basically sandbox mode where you HAVE to pay for the parts for the ships you launch, you need to complete missions/do research to unlock new parts, you need to complete missions or do something in addition to missions to earn money for parts (maybe you have a certain income per day/week/month/year and that income goes up as you complete missions or something). It would be kind of like sandbox with defined goals and costs/research incoporated.

[Scotius]

Flying, discovery, mining - okay, thats some pretty noble goals. But first, someone has to fly the ship, make the discovery and use the resources. It all starts with little, green guys So, kerbonaut training is the thing i chose to vote on. Currently Bill, Bob and Jeb are known to everyone - they are icons of space program, and rightly so. But the rest? They are literally "the other guys" - we talk about them only if one has unique name, or survived a huge disaster. With personal stats and training allowing to customise them even further, every single kerbonaut will be distinct and important. And will add another major layer of management of hum...errr, kerbal resources to the game.

[Oggula]

Don't really care about mining when I can land on Laythe, Vall, Bop, Pol, Dres, Duna and Ike all in one trip. If anything the game is too easy already- it needs re-balancing with career restrictions

[Exal]

Definitely resources, I don't know what kind of resources will be available but it will give you more stuff to do and a reason to do it. My second choice would have been repairing items and off base construction.

[nats]

Since I can only choose 1 option I opt not to vote. I am looking for pretty much all of the above.

But one of them stands out a bit more then all the others: resource mining. I look forward to that with both anticipation and fear. Anticipation speaks for itself, it finally gives you a reason to actually go somewhere. But I truly fear it could possibly ruin the entire concept of KSP and turn it into a glorified gather-refine-build-gather-refine-build RTS. And be honest; the entire RTS concept had it's glory days in the mid 90's with Dune 2, Warcraft 1 & 2 and the first Command & Conquer. So I ay to Squad: Please, please, PLEASE don't turn this awesome game into yet another RTS!

Well when the devs say resources/mining I would certainly hope they mean: the need to rotate crewmembers of space stations/bases, finding precious mineral samples to pave the way for later expeditions and bringing back those samples, doing experiements to assess whether there is life or not, finding water/ice for possible base sites, introducing oxygen/water/food requirements for ships/bases.

That kind of thing.

NOT large scale mining and resource gathering - god I would also hate that. This is why I havent bothered with that kethane mod. I do not want to see this game become a commercial mining game. It will need a lot of thought and careful planning to do it right and keep it within the framework already set up of semi-realistic spaceflight program management, exploration, space survival and adventuring. NASA don't mine their own resources they buy them in from other firms.

Edited May 9, 2013 by nats

[Custard Donut (In Space)]

Ah this was a very hard question to answer

I'd love each and every one of these but if i must choose one then i'd go with "Better aerodynamics / weather / damage effects / re-entry heat"

Basically because i've recently done a lot of tinkering with space-planes, and despite mostly failing i've found it to be very interesting.

I also badly want to see some cities on Kerbin.

[HGGundamReviews]

Given planets like Duna, and Tylo I would love to have Terraforming put in the game at some point. Tylo having a near kerbin mass and gravity would be a real challenge as it has no atmosphere to begin with. So total planetary reconstruction would be needed. Using the "Waste" gasses from resource gathering and refining to build a base atmosphere of Co2 with some other things tossed in, bring water in from cometary masses, then dumping algae into the lakes and oceans you create... it would be a crap ton of long term work but I would enjoy the hell out of that.