Kerbal Civ: Your opinion on interacting with the Kerbal Civilization

[JordanL]

So for obvious reasons (how unnecessary it is to core gameplay) there's currently no in game Kerbal civ outside of the KSC. There's a few mods that add new aspects of this on Kerbin being worked on, but I was curious: what would your opinions be on interacting more concretely with the Kerbal civ?

Like... if you were to build a space station that functioned as a city/hotel, being able to interact with it in a way that made it play as if there was a Kerbal civ outside of your space program.

Just an idea I've been kicking around.

[celem]

Im not much interested in mini-games that drag time off the spaceflight part of this wonderful game.

That said, once career is fleshed out with the possibilities of contracts and missions, I wouldnt mind there being some level of interaction and involvement with companies and groups representing these.

I do like the mods you mention, adding a bit of life to the homeworld was a big deal for my immersion, otherwise it feels like the kerbal race is infact limited to an unending supply of nutjobs dumb enough to let me strap boosters to them who idle away their time playing foosball in KSC till I sacrifice select them.

[The Jedi Master]

Pretty sure they would give you missions.

[CalculusWarrior]

There was a theory floating around where the majority of kerbal civilization is actually underground, with the population's every need being taken care of by robots and the kerbals we see are rebels which are pursuing their dreams by building and flying rockets.

[The Jedi Master]

There was a theory floating around where the majority of kerbal civilization is actually underground, with the population's every need being taken care of by robots and the kerbals we see are rebels which are pursuing their dreams by building and flying rockets.

Well, my dad thinks they hide underground whenever a rocket is launching...

[Tank Buddy]

I always imagined a Career mode that would cue a newspaper and show you the headline "Kerbal Lands on Mun", etc., and completing milestone missions (Leaving Kerbin's SOI, going to other planets) would increase public support and funds.

[Cydonian Monk]

There was a theory floating around where the majority of kerbal civilization is actually underground, with the population's every need being taken care of by robots and the kerbals we see are rebels which are pursuing their dreams by building and flying rockets.

They're just trying to get offworld to Sanctuary before the SandMan catches them....

As much as I'd like to see a thriving Kerbal civilization with every farmhouse modeled, it'd be about as useful as cities are in games like Flight Sim - not much. Sure, it'd be cool to be able to zip around buildings and whatnot (as you can do with Kerbin City), but the game is up there, on the other side of the atmosphere.

I wouldn't mind the occasional large city though, even if it's just a couple textures and some lights. Provided it doesn't murder frame rates and RAM usage of course.

And I think the idea of governments and Kerbals operating in addition or opposition to your actions would be fascinating. AI factions, launching space debris into your orbits.... Landing on the Mun before you, taunting you from the sky about that contract you just failed.....

Edited December 30, 2013 by Cydonian Monk

[JordanL]

They're just trying to get offworld to Sanctuary before the SandMan catches them....

As much as I'd like to see a thriving Kerbal civilization with every farmhouse modeled, it'd be about as useful as cities are in games like Flight Sim - not much. Sure, it'd be cool to be able to zip around buildings and whatnot (as you can do with Kerbin City), but the game is up there, on the other side of the atmosphere.

I wouldn't mind the occasional large city though, even if it's just a couple textures and some lights. Provided it doesn't murder frame rates and RAM usage of course.

And I think the idea of governments and Kerbals operating in addition or opposition to your actions would be fascinating. AI factions, launching space debris into your orbits.... Landing on the Mun before you, taunting you from the sky about that contract you just failed.....

I've been thinking about what it would be like if you could create functional space destinations that you then don't have to ferry passengers to, but which do create additional "options" for your Kerbin civ. I'm not even sure what that would look like to be honest, I'm just thinking about what it would be like if humans could launch as effortlessly and frequently as kerbals do.

[toric5]

i want a civilization mod that ads the kerbal faction!

[SirSnuggles]

This is not the Sims 4. It's not important to the game to add such a frivolous, time-consuming, & large project. It would be plenty to have them represented via reports to the KSC (i.e. newspaper headlines, gained publicity, more funding, etc.).

[DerpyWagon]

Or how about the decision to take your career into a Military (destruction) or Science (good for all kerbalkind) path? Developing missiles and what not would be fun

[Mentosmen]

I don't think we really need cities to have interaction with the kerbal civ. Like celem said, this is still a space-game.

But I would definately love some kind of interaction via events like newspaper articles when you land on the moon for example, that would already add alot.

[Alguien]

As much as I'd like to see a thriving Kerbal civilization with every farmhouse modeled, it'd be about as useful as cities are in games like Flight Sim - not much.

flight sims usually dont have economic and reputation mechanics, while KSP is suppose to have them in the future, and "landing" rockets against cities would (or should) affect them

unless of course Squad decides is too complicated for they target audience and then run with the whole theory about sub-keranean civilization

Edited December 30, 2013 by Alguien

[Bobnova]

I look forward to career mode having politics and money, that'll make things significantly harder, and deeper.

Maybe a sandbox mode, a science-only mode, and a science+money+politics mode.

[FlamedSteak]

Seems exceptionally out of scope of the game to me.

[JordanL]

Hmmm, people seem to envision this as something much more complex than I do. I'm not even certain that any modeling is necessary, but once money and reputation are figured, what if you built a space station with permanent habitation orbiting Kerbin, and occasionally you'd need to run a rescue/repair/resupply mission to it or the hundreds of civilian Kerbals (that some invisible private company ferried up) would be in trouble?

Or, extending it into the resources that they have canned, what if a permanent habitation orbiting other planets unlocked certain types of experiments and materials? Once you put it there, the logistics of the operation are mostly handled in the background without "screen time", but you can interact with it to add new depth or complexity to the game if you want.

[Mitchz95]

Hmmm, people seem to envision this as something much more complex than I do. I'm not even certain that any modeling is necessary, but once money and reputation are figured, what if you built a space station with permanent habitation orbiting Kerbin, and occasionally you'd need to run a rescue/repair/resupply mission to it or the hundreds of civilian Kerbals (that some invisible private company ferried up) would be in trouble?

Or, extending it into the resources that they have canned, what if a permanent habitation orbiting other planets unlocked certain types of experiments and materials? Once you put it there, the logistics of the operation are mostly handled in the background without "screen time", but you can interact with it to add new depth or complexity to the game if you want.

I think Squad is planning something like this already. They call them "contracts", and they'd be completely optional missions that add some scope to the space program.

[towermaster2]

I think that there is a large strategic value with civilizations and Organisations that will heavily benefit if implemented correctly. I think that at the beginning you should have the option of two types of space agency, Public (Higher funding, no tourism possibilities, no loans, fewer Corporate contracts exchange for more financial security,higher science grants, no Stock exchange possibilitie, Govermental compeditors and Less expensive astronauts ) or Private (Less funding ,Tourism possibilites, Loans, more Corporate contracts, less financial security, lower science grants, the Stock exchange, corporate competitors, and More expensive astronauts).The Organisations and Civilization interaction will be vastly important to the program because often programs will attempt to out-compete others. and a 'Space Race' may occur with the winner receiving a hefty reputation bonus. Sorry for the lost post, but what do you guys thing about the ideas?

[spectrhz]

Well, that's not even close to what I got into this game for, so it would be a feature untouched by me.

[Savage117]

I have to disagree with the "Space is where it's at and nothing else matters" crowd. If that was the case then we might as well shrink Kerbin down to a Minmus sized body with just enough space for the KSC. Some people want details, they want a living breathing planet, not a big wet rock with a launching platform. I personally would be happy with a purely visual representation of Kerbin civilization, like Flight Sim, it doesn’t need to be complex, add little things to that like mention of certain parts of the globe in contracts and other parts of career mode and it would give a little life to this this big wet rock the Kerbals call home. Perhaps put visual representations of certain Kerbal companies around Kerbin, just buildings with a big company name on the side, show the player where these rocket parts are coming from.

I agree that a mini game of sorts would be out of scope, I would love to see it, but it's just a dream. But a visual aspect that helps create a bit of immersion, I feel, is needed.

[FlamedSteak]

I'd love to see kerbal newspapers for major milestones (first spacewalk/orbit/landing etc) and city lights, but I worry actual buildings themselves will be more of an overhead (to both FPS and development) than they're worth. Maybe just a texture map to mark a city or something equally undemanding on hardware would satisfy.

[TheDoppleganger]

I think they should keep it simpler, and allow you to spend $ on lobbying the Kerbal government for bigger objectives with bigger payouts and a funding multiplier for mission completion. Additional contracts with Kerbal Konglomerates to put satellites in geo-synch orbit over certain areas, and stuff like that would be cool though.

A better reputation = cheaper lobbying and a funding bonus for mission completion.

[Geschosskopf]

Like... if you were to build a space station that functioned as a city/hotel, being able to interact with it in a way that made it play as if there was a Kerbal civ outside of your space program.

I would like to see something like in the "X Universe" games. That is, while you're flying 1 ship, all your other ships are flying autonomously (within parameters you set) in the background. Thus, you could build science bases with several landers attached and while you're building a new base somewhere else, this 1st base would be sending its landers to all the biomes at the 1st planet, refueling them, and sending them elsewhere. And meanwhile, you'd have tankers bringing more fuel to the base.

[peadar1987]

Perhaps it could be done like terrain scatters. Instead of just adding trees or rocks, it could add small villages, Kerbals herding kows, etc. Maybe biome dependent. And throw in a few more easter eggs to add a bit of life to the planet.

It's something that could conceivably be crowdsourced as well. I don't think it's too hard for Squad to incorporate mods into the stock game, so the community could easily put together 100+ interesting locations for us to visit.

[InterCity]

Well having a kerbal congress who would shorten my funds and force me not to build unnecessarily wasteful vehicles may be funny... unless you are WhackJob