What to do on planets

[Liowen]

Well I was interested in this post until everyone started bringing up resources for 9 billionth time. Seriously after almost 3 weeks of bringing it up in unrelated threads is kind of mood killer.

As to what I do on planets I land on, I have fun knowing I got there in the first place and try to it better than the first time.

[TicTacToe!]

I try to do everything possible BEFORE actually landing on the planet/moon. Impactors, orbits, mapping, and then slowly build up the complexity until I'm landing bases and huge lab-rovers. If you go and kill all the complexity of different missions all in one, that's what saps the fun, IMHO.

[Soda Popinski]

Sometimes the journey itself is the reward. Why climb a mountain?

I like this game to play engineer. Science is my day job. And unlike real life, we don't learn anything from KSP science. It doesn't tell us anything about the of Kerbin, or the effects of runaway greenhouse gasses, or not enough.

[Cashen]

I'm an engineer so for me, building new, different and better craft is one of the main reasons I play. Mods help with playability, like Kethane. I'm not particularly interested in their hamfisted attempt at science, or even in career mode. Like Minecraft I very much enjoy the pointless sandbox where I get to decide what the goals are. That style of game isn't for everyone.

[BubbaWilkins]

Well the problem is the same as it has always been. You land on a planet, and then you leave after a few minutes because your goal is accomplished. The hope was that science would change this but it hasn't, because everything you need to do is right there. Just click on a few modules, collect the science and leave.

What is needed is something that motivates exploration. So instead of just exiting the land and then clicking on the kerbal, here's an idea for how sample return could be made more interesting.

Instead of being able to collect samples from the same dirt you landed on, wherever you landed, you would need to find samples in specific locations (collectibles). There may be any number of these on a planet.

Their locations are not known from the offset, you must find them. This means you will need the ability to scan from orbit (making use of probes) and then collect then on the surface (making use of rovers).

This would test multiple skills, like:

Knowing how to get into an orbit to scan the surface of a planet adequately:

The ability to land close to your target, and the ability to land in general.

The foresight to include a rover in the mission design.

You then get to rove around to acquire the sample.

Not sure I understand how this is any different than what we have now. Granted, there is no stock surveying...but both Kethane and Scansat provide that functionality. Once you know where the Biomes are, you have to land in different places which is no different than what you suggest.

Personally, I would like to see both these mods functionality rolled into the game.

I want to be able to put satallites in orbit to help me define the boimes, which would lead to a report or possible mission objective to reach said biomes.

I want long term space stations and orbital construction arrays.

I want comet and asteroid catching.

I want to be able to ferry raw materials between planets, stations, asteroids, etc and then use them to build crafts there.

[Superfluous J]

I did return Kethane to Kerbin orbit to power SSTOs. If I use science labs within Kerbin SOI, I'm creating the same network to shuffle science around that I used to shuffle Kethane around. Kethane is a resource that makes life easier by providing fuel, science is a resource that makes life easier by providing parts. You don't have to mine Kethane to perform interplanetary missions; you don't have to have a fully unlocked tree, either.

Oh, I've done that plenty of times. What I've never done is LAND kethane (or any Kethane products) on Kerbin. Like you would do science.

And I've made it to plenty of planets without Kethane and without a full (or even particularly filled) tech tree. Kethane makes it easier once my initial investment pays off, which is how video games work.

[Commissioner Tadpole]

The lack of much to do is the main reason I've been feeling dull whenever I play KSP. I may install Kethane or another mod to give me something to do.

[Arran]

TBH without the Kethane mod, i prolly would have not as much fun with KSP as i have now..

its for me the reason to land on planets, setup an distribution system for it. and go from there, for more exploration on the planet, and venture deeper into the system..

The ditching of resources as planned feature, did not compute for me.. IMHO Harvesters first biggest mistake, or he has to got some brilliant plan up his sleeve to replace it we havent heared of yet.

[Col_Jessep]

The ditching of resources as planned feature, did not compute for me..

The way I understood it was that the devs didn't like the complex system they set up for resources. Understandable if you ask me. The great thing about Kethane is that it is one resource that allows you to produce all types of fuel, meaning one refinery can service all vehicles you dock to it. But I think the whole system would be less fun if you had to transport different types of fuel from all over the solar system just to refuel one ship. There is a break-even point where it is less hassle to send a refueler with everything you need from Kerbin and if your resource system is too complex you will probably hardly use it.

I think most of us can easily lift a 100+ ton payload into LKO, right? Dock a couple of those together and you have a really large refueling station that you can send anywhere you like with a couple of NERVAs. There is your break-even point. A resource system has to be less hassle than this or more fun or ideally both. It works for Kethane because you can put a drill and small refinery on a vehicle and refuel it completely on a Kethane deposit. As long as you manage to land on a Kethane deposit you can land on Tylo with a small craft and refuel it to get back into orbit after a short wait. The whole thing would fall apart (imo) if you would have to find different drilling spots for liquid fuel, oxidizer and Blutonium. Then there is the Zero Bypass Turbine which opens up new options for everybody who wants to fly in Duna's or Eve's atmo. Awesome idea right there!

The devs canned their resource system because it sucked compared to Kethane. And rightfully so.

[KittyProgram]

Well I was interested in this post until everyone started bringing up resources for 9 billionth time. Seriously after almost 3 weeks of bringing it up in unrelated threads is kind of mood killer.

As to what I do on planets I land on, I have fun knowing I got there in the first place and try to it better than the first time.

I do this also. Resources has most likely been postponed till .25 or something.

[BubbaWilkins]

The lack of much to do is the main reason I've been feeling dull whenever I play KSP. I may install Kethane or another mod to give me something to do.

Have you visited every anomoly on every planet/moon?

How about 100% completed all possible science? (no just unlocking the full tree)

Seems there is plenty to do beyond just getting from point A to point B.

[Don Quixote]

For me, the main motivation to visit planets is sightseeing - i.e. visiting various landmarks. Now, that's easily accomplished, just land there, take a few screenshots and leave. What has made things much more exciting is using a rocket-powered rover that allows me to reach multiple locations, even distant ones, in a single mission. A regular rover can do this as well, but it can take hours if your target location is more than a few dozen km from your landing site. With a flying rover you can get nearly anywhere in no time at all, and of course flying is a lot more exciting than just driving there. And since Kerbals + Rocket-powered rovers = accidents, I also enjoy staging rescue missions if Jeb crashes his rover (again).

Another thing that has made landings more entertaining is setting myself certain engineering goals. For example, one such goal was to have an emergency ascent vehicle, i.e. a device that allows the crew to reach orbit even if the main lander should fail for some reason. Inspired by the Lunar escape system, this has resulted in the creation of the VSPEV (Very Silly Planetary Escape Vehicle), as seen in the picture below on the left. Flying it is not merely dangerous, but in most cases suicidal, and, needless to say, a lot of fun!

[Eadrom]

Set up science equipment for long-term monitoring of the environment. Many kinds of equipment to set up, connect, put RTG fuel into, retrieve, test, etc... all for fun science points.

Run hoses from one vehicle to another close-by vehicle for refueling.

Pick up rocks...have cool pictures of the rocks generated so I can see them to look for certain kinds...oh, and generate a file that I can send to Shapeways so they can print it out and send it to me.

Set up equipment for extracting useful resources from the atmosphere, oceans, and ground.

First person EVA view, and cameras my first person view kerbal can use to take images that later generations of morons can call fakes.

Kerbal Attachment System (KAS) and KSP Interstellar (KSPI) are two mods that might increase your enjoyment. They add things that you are looking for like running fuel lines and long term science labs and mining resources.