Why Is Kerbin So Unpopulated?

[Overland]

On kerbin..undead zombies are quite different from the human variety in that they dont snack on brains but rather noses of the living..and are born from the dust bag of a vacuum cleaner when static electricity takes hold on a tuesday

The population packed and ran .

Chaos without order..

They moved to duna and were promptly vaporised by the native lifeforms.. Monsterous kypods.. That oddly later discovered although an impressive machine of war.. They required water to cool thier reactors..

Sadly they overloaded.. Exploded with the force of 10,000 atom bombs for 30 seconds

Thereby ending all life on duna..

While the native kerbin zombies simply ran out of noses too eat.. Reduced to dust and became the grey mountains near KSC...

Kerbin is a dead world.. Duna is much like its sunburnt sister planet

Its a very sad story

[Kerbart]

On 5/20/2013 at 2:36 AM, irichey25 said:

Ever sense I was playing the demo of KSP, I was questioning my self all ways before launch and when I was in orbit "Why is this place so quiet and unpopulated??".

You're joking right? That green stuff around the KSC? That's not grass... Them are densily packed Kerbals!

This is why they care less about safety. Or don't mind being "confined" in a Mk I cockpit for 8 years on a one-way trip to Eeloo. Because compared to being packed together with 75 other Kerbals per square meter on the Kerbin surface, it's roomy!

[Nicole]

In my own mind I have envisioned the Kerbals as mole-people, with vast, interesting settlements all around the planet under the surface, and complex networks deep into the planet, like the Locust Horde from Gears of War. They only come out at night in order to stare with wonder at the distance objects and lights because they are prone to sunburn. Then I can look down on from space and land on Kerbin, while still seeing it as an interesting and abundant planet. This of course means that all the Kerbals involved in the space program are extra brave, they fly to space where other Kerbals do not even know the surface of their own planet. Also the thread has been bumped from 2013, don't know if that's frowned upon here like it is elsewhere.

Edited March 10, 2016 by Nicole

[Curveball Anders]

The lack of backstory in a single player game is the foundation of writing your own.

Or ignore it all together.

[Triop]

My 5 cents...

All Kerbals are in space or dead (died trying), thus the only thing remaining on the planet is the spacestation...

Edited March 10, 2016 by Triop

[Spaceception]

[PanzerAce]

I imagine that they know EXACTLY who's in charge of their space program. And so their entire society moved underground for safety...

[RocketBlam]

I always assumed that Kerbals all lived underground, and their only above-ground facility was the spaceport.

[kotomikun]

On 5/20/2013 at 0:20 AM, TwoHedWlf said:

It's not unpopulated. The Kerbal is a single hive mind of sentient moss that covers most of the planet's surface. The "Kerman" are a fruiting body of this moss that that is mobile in order to spread the hive mind. These mobile fruit have an irresistable urge to travel as far as possible before dying. Hence their space program and complete lack of sense of self preservation. When they die they explode in a puff of spores(similar to a puffball mushroom). You can see this if you drop one from a ship or run into a surface hard enough. They explode in a puff.

Only the BadS variety is fertilized, and has no fear of death, since they'll still spread the species when they die. The others have a minimal danger instinct, but still feel compelled to deliver spores to as many locations as possible. So they take cans of  "Mystery Goo"--which they think is some sort of magic science chemical--wherever they go, accidentally dumping spores in every potential environment. (That's why they call science regions "biomes" even when they harbor no life--they will soon, maybe!) In this way, the moss spreads itself to places that can be reached safely, and to places that can't.

[ThatGuyWithALongUsername]

5 hours ago, RocketBlam said:

I always assumed that Kerbals all lived underground, and their only above-ground facility was the spaceport.

Technically that is the official explanation. Someone asked this question on a squadcast a long time ago (before maxmaps left), and the answer was he "assumed they lived underground". I think it was one of the ones with Kasper on, but I don't remember.

[Octa]

Before the player takes over control of KSC when starting a new game, the Kerbals messed around for themselves and blewed everything up besides the Space Center.

 

Edit: Ever wondered why the game always starts at Year 1, Day 1? We use BC and AD to number our years. For the Kerbals, the player helping them to get into space with more or less better guidance and skills than they have themselves means a new era of space exploration has begun. Hopefully, proceeding in space exploration doesn't come with extinction from now on.

Edited March 11, 2016 by Octa

[Rocket In My Pocket]

It's all in your head. Kerbals are clearly too stupid and reckless to even start a space program.

You obviously play as a deranged Kerbal who blew himself up in his own back yard trying to make a rocket out of tin cans and explosives.

The entire game is a fever dream as you lay dying in a hospitable, there are no cities in your coma version of Kerbin because your mind is consumed with getting to space.

[Fearless Son]

On 5/20/2013 at 0:20 AM, TwoHedWlf said:

It's not unpopulated. The Kerbal is a single hive mind of sentient moss that covers most of the planet's surface. The "Kerman" are a fruiting body of this moss that that is mobile in order to spread the hive mind. These mobile fruit have an irresistable urge to travel as far as possible before dying. Hence their space program and complete lack of sense of self preservation. When they die they explode in a puff of spores(similar to a puffball mushroom). You can see this if you drop one from a ship or run into a surface hard enough. They explode in a puff.

Waitaminute, that reminds me of something...

[KSP Bro AE]

Yes, totally should be stuff like that. Maybe Kerbalkind is an experiment to see progress of evolution of a species or something.

On 5/20/2013 at 7:32 AM, astocky said:

Can you imagine what Jeb would do with a spaceplane and the Sydney Harbour bridge

yes. I can.

[John FX]

The planet is dying (maybe the moss is getting dry). Only you, the person in charge of the space program, can save the remaining kerbals. It is suspected that a habitable moon exists around Jool although this is pure speculation at the moment.

With the few remaining kerbals huddled in the astronaut complex you must rebuild the tech needed to establish a base offworld where kerbalkind can once again flourish, live long, and prosper.

[Francois424]

I always roleplay it as Kerbal being a sub-terranean species...
They don't mind cramped spaces or lack of sunlight, as long as there is eat.  
Also explains why they are also very good processing ore into fuel that would make humans jealous.

But the mushroom / spore idea is pretty cool as well.

Edited March 11, 2016 by Francois424

[sumghai]

Personally, I subscribe to the notion that there are above-ground cities and towns on Kerbin, but that they're not shown in-game because:

A) The devs haven't implemented them yet

B) They're not relevant to the space program

[Delfinus]

3 minutes ago, sumghai said:

Personally, I subscribe to the notion that there are above-ground cities and towns on Kerbin, but that they're not shown in-game because:

A) The devs haven't implemented them yet

B) They're not relevant to the space program

This, Kerbals have cities and stuff just the way we do, they're just not in the game due to gameplay reasons, this is Kerbal SPACE Program, not Kerbal City Program.

[Tex]

3 hours ago, DolphinDude3 said:

 this is Kerbal SPACE Program, not Kerbal City Program.

This should be the next big step; allowing you to run a career game of the whole planet instead of just the space program Cx

[HoloYolo]

On 3/11/2016 at 2:58 PM, John FX said:

The planet is dying (maybe the moss is getting dry). Only you, the person in charge of the space program, can save the remaining kerbals. It is suspected that a habitable moon exists around Jool although this is pure speculation at the moment.

With the few remaining kerbals huddled in the astronaut complex you must rebuild the tech needed to establish a base offworld where kerbalkind can once again flourish, live long, and prosper.

That sounds oddly like Interstellar's plot.

[StarStreak2109]

On 20.5.2013 at 4:32 PM, astocky said:

Can you imagine what Jeb would do with a spaceplane and the Sydney Harbour bridge

Even though that's Vancouver, but yeah!!!

[John FX]

7 hours ago, HoloYolo said:

That sounds oddly like Interstellar's plot.

I honestly didn`t think of that until you said it. It was just some rubbish I thought of on the spot which I suppose gives us insight into the script room for interstellar...