Painting the map!

[Luis]

I think the problem with using having the map mode initially just show a smooth sphere, is that map mode isn't actually a separate map at all. It's just a zoomed out view of the real world with some extra labels on it. The planet meshes are all predefined and it would be no simple task to replace it on the fly.

[technicalfool]

Which is why time-based experiments fail.

As opposed to "oh look, another Minmus landing. But this time with an extra instrument!"

[Zuni]

This feature would be fabulous. Everybody bump this thread so that Squad pays attention!

[Whirligig Girl]

Shameless Self Bump. Mostly because this is relevant and I don't want this thread locked just because someone else necroes this.

[Whirligig Girl]

^ Again this. I may do this every time I link this thread from another Dev thread. Also, I'm rewriting a bit of it.

The war against necroes is kind of confusing. In some cases, it makes sense to reboot a thread if it is a good idea, or if you don't want to have to re-write a new thread [/meta]

[Tw1]

I think the problem with using having the map mode initially just show a smooth sphere, is that map mode isn't actually a separate map at all. It's just a zoomed out view of the real world with some extra labels on it. The planet meshes are all predefined and it would be no simple task to replace it on the fly.

Not quite- If you watch as you zoom in and out, you can see parts of the visible mesh change. Perhaps the way they could interact with the science point

system could be similar to the way ScanSat plugin does now- Data gets collected, then the science point dialogue box is triggered when you press a button called "Analyse data", or something like that.

Rather than actively changing the mech visible in the map as you go, changes could only be applied after to transmit- this lets it interact with the science point thing- points are unlocked every 10% or so, and saves the computer from having to constantly update the map in real time.

I'd like the cameras to work like windows- you can look through them, and f1 takes photos. Except you can press buttons to trigger views in other wavelengths. Cameras might be better working like the "paint it on" system, rather than taking individual snaps. They'll provide records of things like colour, heat signatures, etc. More complex things like glints, and polarization could be left to the flavour texts.

Edited June 4, 2014 by Tw1

[Ferroflame]

I really hope this is implemented soon. This is what space exploration is all about!

[Josson K.]

This is an excellent suggestion. I'll just add my voice in favour.

[Capt Snuggler]

i totally agree... so much that i made a similarly themed thread a while back. (its in my signature).

as long as something like this is implemented ill be happy.

[regex]

As long as I can just go somewhere with Kerbals, look out the window, and find a place to land, I'm fine with all this sugar. The moment you take away the greatest paradigm of this game, over-eager Kerbals, you ruin it. This is why I have such a problem with any sort of gameplay that encourages or requires you to "send probes first"; this game isn't about some carefully-designed twelve-step NASA plan, it's about Kerbals who just do things because "look, another planet!"

[Josson K.]

As long as I can just go somewhere with Kerbals, look out the window, and find a place to land, I'm fine with all this sugar.

I don't think anyone would want to prevent this. I think the idea is not to 'hide' the planets but to add a sense of mystery to them by providing no other information than its orbit. To me taking Kerbals out into the void, not knowing what to expect once I arrive at a previously unkown Planet would be fun. Of course once you come in proximity or even into orbit, the planet would be unlocked like it is now.

[RiggerLee]

I've thinking about ways that this could be useful. So for a while I was trying to do a land and return from Eve. On one of my early attempts I was just able to capture but I was trying to save the fuel on my drop ship for return. I was in a very elliptical orbit but didn't want to spend the fuel to circularize down to a nice low orbit. In any case I was planning my landing from a high apogee and the planet was turning under me and I couldn't see the dark side. Lot's of water. You'd have the same problem on a straight in approach. It would have been nice to be able to see at least a rough out line of the far side map. Mapping data from my earlier probes would have been nice. In the real world I'd expect to plan a landing like this in the blind.

I also floated the idea in another thread about being able to see relative positions of your target as you hover your mouse along your planed orbit for a transfer. It would be nice to be able to do the same thing in the local sphere of influence. As you get closer to the planet hover your mouse over a point on your path and see where the map of the planet will be when you get there. In an approach from a high orbit or straight in it would be nice to be able to plan your landing point. And with topo data it would also allow you to aim for a landing altitude.

It would also be nice if It could take drag into consideration when plotting your orbit in map mode. Pressure data from the surface might be used to unlock this ability on a planet. Again it would let you plan a more accurate landing. All of this suddenly becomes much more important if you play with the time delay mod. I just down loaded it and find it to be fun but hard.

Lee

[Everten P.]

"Why aren't we funding this!?"

The maps should be topographical.

And the 10 science/ year I could see being abused so maybe make it have a higher rate but cost money to keep using also mits should mean something like command capsule should have a stat like mits available and kilomits and megamits while capsules should be upgradeable to hold more data, or have dedicated modules to holding data that can be recovered if the craft is destroyed. Also maybe have abort functions like "transfer all data to" or "delete all data from"

Edited July 3, 2014 by Everten P.