[suggestion?] idea for "hard mode"

[blurrr 2]

In the future, many "big" difficulty-enhancing updates are going to be to Kerbal Space program. As is, the game has a very steep learning curve, and this curve is getting steeper. The tech tree next update is a good step to reduce the initial amount of parts game presents, but added complexity that does not relate to parts continues to grow.

My suggestion is to have difficulty levels, a beginner's mode (or sandbox mode, or experimentation mode, or something) and expert mode.

Beginner's mode will be much like the game is now.

Expert mode should include several more interesting, challenging aspects of space flight that would scare beginning players off. Here is a partial list of ideas which when added, should go under the umbrella of hard mode:

- deadly reentry heat and corresponding heat shields

- line of communication and time lag to control unmanned probes

- life support systems

- only data viewable has to be from point of view of a kerbal, or from camera data that a kerbal has access to

- make reaction wheels no longer part of command pods, and make reaction wheels only work for the axis on which they are placed

Cheats should definitely be left in hard mode, even if they break the realism. No one has to use cheats if they want to. Maybe cheats should only be available in a "planning mode". But a non-cheat mode would require disabled editing of config files, which would be hard to implement. :/

I'm not quite sure how these difficulty levels should relate to career mode and the tech tree. Right now, I'm leaning towards them being a separate category chosen at the initialization of a new campaign.

In sandbox, difficulty should obviously be malleable, since sandbox mode is supposed to be unlimited. Having options (as in "leave reentry heat on but turn off life support") for sandbox mode would be good as well.

Tell me what you think about this.

TL;DR difficult aspects of the game should be optional in order to help new players

[fatfluffycat]

They said No to other game modes

[boomerdog2000]

On the subject of reaction wheels I was under the impression that a single SAS module contained all 3 directions for reaction wheels not just the direction it was oriented.

[running]

For hard mode:

- Do not allow the removal of debris from the command centre.

- Do not allow revert to launch or VAB

- Auto save and no save/reload (so if you screw up, there is no undo.)

[Rage097]

For hard mode:

- Do not allow the removal of debris from the command centre.

- Do not allow revert to launch or VAB

- Auto save and no save/reload (so if you screw up, there is no undo.)

Counter points:

-Lag. By keeping Debris around, you cause more FPS issues if you are within their vicinity

-This is as simple as not clicking the button

-Auto save is useful for say, when your game crashes or sticky-keys causes a crash, you can go to before the unintended accident happened.