R&D Map View and Maneuver Node

[mushroomman]

I'm not sure whether or not this is planned, but personally I think that you should truly start from the bottom. The map view and maneuver nodes shound't be available in the very beginning. I figure that the map view would be achievable quite quickly, and the maneuver nodes not far after that. It'd be kind of like the early days before they added them. It was very difficult to just get into orbit in those days and that's how I feel that the early game should be like with R&D

[maltesh]

As someone else who was there in those early days, and wrote a program to provide proto-map screen information before there was one, I disagree.

All the math that goes into producing something like the map screen was developed by the 17th and 18th centuries. A civilization that can't produce something like that for its astronauts, even if represented by moving markers or pins on a paper map, and a room full of mathmeticians using mechanical calculators, would not be a civilization that knows enough about orbital mechanics to reliably go places in space.

[mushroomman]

As someone else who was there in those early days, and wrote a program to provide proto-map screen information before there was one, I disagree.

All the math that goes into producing something like the map screen was developed by the 17th and 18th centuries. A civilization that can't produce something like that for its astronauts, even if represented by moving markers or pins on a paper map, and a room full of mathmeticians using mechanical calculators, would not be a civilization that knows enough about orbital mechanics to reliably go places in space.

I guess that's true. It just provides a bit more of a challenge and a more realistic rate of development. I mean, we weren't doing Moon fly-byes in 1957.

[Levelord]

I guess that's true. It just provides a bit more of a challenge and a more realistic rate of development. I mean, we weren't doing Moon fly-byes in 1957.

I'm sure you can think of a different way of making the game challenging without breaking the immersion of having flight data.

I have to agree that a race that cannot project it's flight data wouldn't be knowledgeable enough to be space-faring in the first place.

[boomerdog2000]

I guess that's true. It just provides a bit more of a challenge and a more realistic rate of development. I mean, we weren't doing Moon fly-byes in 1957.

We weren't doing them because it was incredibly expensive and everything had to be planned out and go exactly according to plan. KSP adopts a more "What do I want to do today? Mun sounds good, lets go there" feel. If your mission fails you go oh well, I'll send up a rescue ship later. NASA had to avoid that completely.