My thoughts on KSP money

[pa1983]

Pa1983, you said something that I interpreted as saying it would be possible to lose the game. By this I interpreted it to mean that you would have to start a new game (hence the unlocking tech tree all over again). I guess the tech tree could be global and not tied to any save game. Not sure I'd like that though.

Well they could simply offer difficulty settings just like Open Transport Tycoon will. If you want IDKFA setting then fine as long as its optional and we who like the challenge to play a game and not know that the game cant be lost because its so scripted and fixed just to sell it because everyone needs to feel like a winner to buy it.

I find it more fun to play a game over with everything reseted. That way its easier to try new approaches from previous experience and see if that works better.

[KASASpace]

I think that their should be a sort of research that you can do on the ground. That is funded. Like an R&D budget, which over time converts the budget to science points, but it takes a loooooooonng time. As well as determining the efficiency of the science gathered in a mission, the higher the science budget, the more science, to a degree.

Well, and maybe something like this:

1. You go to R&D building

2. Scientists notice something cool or an improvement to parts that can be made

3. You go to the gov building to get a preliminary budget for "proof-of-concepts"

4. If proven, full funding is given

5. If not, then it will be harder later, so, you need a decent science budget for upgraded parts. (IE better Isp for LV-909, fuel capacity upgrade for fuel tanks, etc)

6. If something "cool" is discovered you do similar thing, requiring a decent science budget, and then missions to go to the new place or the place already known about are funded. Like, if an astronomer discovered another gas-planet, and you wanted to go there with a budget of well over a few millions kerbbucks, you go to said planet and get a reward, a bigger budget for exploration.

Edited January 8, 2014 by KASASpace

[VenganzaD]

Diverging from the topic as all ways... The Kerbal currency should be called Kesos.

[guest91111]

There should also be an option for random requests

[Stephanie the Viking]

Personally I'd like to see a reward system based purely on this kind of structure.

It is rough and probably has holes in but makes the most sense when applied to the existing game.

It involves spending money to build rockets, and being paid for specific experiments or actions.

By this one's estimation, one would have to be really very bad at the game to end up with not enough cash to build a five-part rocket and get a kerbal to somewhere alive.

Mission Board:

Ten random missions, of which any number can be accepted at any time - on completion of a mission, all unchosen missions are replaced with new random missions (one of which must always be a task on the surface of kerbin)

1: Mission type: take special part (science lab, hitchhiker pod etc) to, land on, bring back, observe X from orbit etc.

2: Chosen Planet/moon: xxx

3: Biome: (if applicable)

4: Type of retreival (physical or transmitted)

5: Payment on return of results in chosen format or successful placement of chosen object in chosen place

Starting money:

1) Regarding: Cost of a simple rocket ~

_____1a) Any Unsponsored Exploration (UE) ~

_______1b) Payment for Unsponsored Exploration (may be repeated, diminishes and has a lower limit that is always

__________(cost of rocket used +1 [hundred?] )

__________[ensures it is impossible to lose the game for lack of funds even if Science reward has become zero for a particular investigation])

__________1c) Also takes into account the possibility of recovering purchased rocket parts and players attempting to keep discarded rocket parts intact for reuse)

_____________1d) Payment for UE are linked explicitly to science point reward system for any investigation/result/sample/observation that is not sponsored at the moment of science point payment.

Moderate money:

2) Regarding: Cost of a better rocket (probes, simple space stations and celestial bodies in proximity to Kerbin)~

_____2a) Payment for Sponsored Exploration (SE) (terrestrial and orbital observations; [anything close to, high over, upper/lower atmosphere etc]) ~

_______2b) May be repeated for full payment as many times as an official job is undertaken,

___________even if science has become zero [any experiment done on the sortie which is not part of the job is also paid as a UE])

More money:

3) Regarding: Cost of an advanced rocket (landers, advanced stations with advanced experiments which can ONLY be used on them,

___________also anything regarding celestial bodies which are distant from Kerbin) ~

_____3a) Sponsored Exploration including recovery of samples and other ground-based experiments from bodies near Kerbin [anything that is "on the surface of..." is viable, as is planting of flags]

_________3b) Can also encompass particular orbital observations of distant planets without landing,

____________may or may not stipulate the use of a science lab to transmit data in certain jobs

____________NB this implies the need for permanent stations near planets, so that when a job comes up that requires a particular station, it can be reused for the purpose or expanded with new experiments as they become available

____________3c) May be repeated for full payment as many times as an official job is undertaken,

_________even if science has become zero [any experiment done on the sortie which is not part of the job is also paid as a UE])

Money varies:

4) Regarding: Recovery operations (recovery of Kerbals, stranded spaceships

_____[possible inclusion of job-inspired artifacts on surfaces of planets or even in space]) ~

_____4a) Payment for Recovery Operations (RO) can exist for any spacecraft which has a docking port AND fuel tanks AND engines

________OR any live Kerbal who is not on surface of Kerbin OR in a spacecraft in contact with Kerbin's surface

_______4b) Failure of recovery operation (no docking port AND no remaining fuel / Kerbal dead/ mission critical part [engine] destroyed etc)

__________4c) can and will include objects and ships that have been placed by the player - if mission A was to place a Science Station NAME on Mun, and the station has necessary parts [engine, fuel, docking port], that same station can crop up in mission B: "Retrieve Science Station NAME and bring back to Kerbin intact"

Large amounts of cash:

5) Regarding: Several specialized rockets

_____5a) Special missions including several player-defined parts, inevitable docking and refuelling, construction in zero-g to complete task etc

________5b) Payment for SE

___________5c) Includes landing on distant planets and physically bringing data back and/or carrying out operations on their surfaces

***IMPORTANT***

Each mission must have a unique goal.

*Wishes she wasn't working on university projects in Unity and could dig into KSP,

_________________but is resisting the urge at present*

Edited January 11, 2014 by Stephanie the Viking
Extra information added