Hazardous planet surfaces

[ARPOLLO]

I have an idea to make landing on planets more interesting/challenging:

Right now you can land on any planet, anywhere, the only things you need to take into account is water, steep surfaces, and Jool.

I'd like more landings to go horribly wrong...

What if there where planets with quicksand? seemingly land-able, but when you land, your ship is slowly pulled into the surface. This quicksand could have a different color or texture to indicate where you can land.

Also, lava lakes, forests (?), atmosphere so thick that you cant see a thing, thick gas plumes, etc...

When expending the game, implementing inter-galactic travel, creating new solar systems that still offer variety and a challenge will be easier and players will have more drive too see what each planet has to offer.

any thoughts?

[lajoswinkler]

If spacecrafts float in water, they won't sink in quicksand. Sinking in quicksand is a myth. Animals die because they get trapped and either get eaten or dehydrate to death.

I agree there should be hazards on some planetary bodies. Lava on Moho comes to mind.

Eve should get thick, low visibility atmosphere.

[nholzric]

Quicksand? Lava lakes? You forgot to add R.O.U.S.

The last thing KSP needs is more (nearly) arbitrary disasters. I think the challenge is already sufficiently embodied in building and flying a rocket without extra things contrived to go wrong. To add more content and challenge the devs are adding more things to do not making things that can be done more difficult.

[Andon]

Quicksand? Lava lakes? You forgot to add R.O.U.S.

ROUSes? I don't think they exist.

The only thing I'd really like to see (Soon at least) is temperature having an effect on things. Take Venus for example - Things don't last long on the surface because it's just straight-up ridiculously HOT and breaks things fairly quickly.

[Themohawkninja]

Well, some time ago one of the devs mentioned that one of the bodies (I think Eeloo) was to have cryovolcanos, so perhaps the snow from those could reduce the efficiency of solar panels to simulate snow piling up on them.

Also, the super-thick atmosphere you speak of will probably exist on Eve once clouds are put in, at least that's what I hope.

[KN_Namida]

Looking at the in-game planetary system, I can make some assumptions based on the already existing planets and moons:

Moho will probably stay the same, and I'm happy that way. Being a Mercury analog, it just needs to be small and roasted. No need for lava on moho, plus it'd be a bit unrealistic.

Eve... Now I'd like to see my engines overheat while burning in Eve's atmosphere, being way hotter than Kerbin's one.

Duna. If Squad ever adds atmospheric wheater, I'd love to see sand storms on Duna from time to time. Reduced visibility and the wind makes your ship tilt sideways, it would be realistic and cool =)

Laythe and Eeloo are the only other bodies where I could see natural threats actually being implemented (if they don't add other bodies, that is): Layhte was to become a more vulcanically active moon, more like Io, but still keeping its oceans and oxygen-rich atmosphere. While Eeloo was to have cryo-vulcanism, with powerful gaysers that would knock your ship off the ground if you were to land too close to one. Don't know if we'll ever see that though, those were Novasilisko's ideas, I'll just keep my fingers crossed in the hope that someday I'll see something of what I listed here...

[CaptRobau]

I wouldn't mind terrain features that added some more life and diversity to the static planets we have now. If some of them can tear up your ship if you're not careful then I don't mind it all. It shouldn't be too ubiquitous though. Don't want a lava planet with only one tiny island in the middle. But cryo volcanos on Eeloo or a primordial lava-strewn planet close to Kerbol sounds just about right.

[Commissioner Tadpole]

Well, some time ago one of the devs mentioned that one of the bodies (I think Eeloo) was to have cryovolcanos, so perhaps the snow from those could reduce the efficiency of solar panels to simulate snow piling up on them.

It was Laythe and Eeloo.

And an atmosphere so thick it'd block your view might heavily impact performance for lower-end computers.

[technicalfool]

It was Laythe and Eeloo.

And an atmosphere so thick it'd block your view might heavily impact performance for lower-end computers.

Not so much. In fact distance fogging is famously used to disguise a small view distance in order to reduce the amount of graphical processing required. How to weld that into a system where you can see volumetric fog while above the atmosphere might be a different matter (maybe borrow some code from the functions they use for the atmospheric glow?), but for being in the fog itself, the game could just use a distance fog with a progressively reducing distance as you get lower.

Edited January 16, 2014 by technicalfool

[Daddy Cecil]

I personally think Laythe's surface would be more like a sandy slush. Mun could have regolith that you slightly sink into, and Eve have the thick fog. Eeloo and Laythe could both have vulcanism, and, of course, the long awaited re-entry heat.

[zavdan62]

boom go's the tnt we need the devs to see this so much fun and happiness we come to me when this is added to the game and the 64bit thing to!

[Raven.]

I think Eeloo is planned to have geysers and Laythe is planned to have active volcanoes.

[aeTIos]

Geysers would be cool, think of them as a natural mass relay...

[Keymaster89]

what about tall beautiful crystal formations, 10km canyons, multicolor rings of asteroids around the planet, strong magnetic field that disrupt electrical components and probe cores, permanent monsoons, aurora waves, swamps, jungles, deserts, metallic ground, meteor strikes, corrosive soil or atmosphere that won't let u stay for long, Kessler syndrome (might be really hard to get near XD), strange lake with interesting purple glowing water, intense radioactivity that allow only probe to land, citys on kerbin, gigant volcanos, really high temperatures, fog, glittering rain, asteroid fields and comets...

Any of this encounters may be nullified or explored or reduced with new components, like EM shilded cockpit for safely navigate EMP, mounted drill to extract crystals or metal soil, or radars for 0m visibility situations, and lasers to burn/deviate incoming little asteroids...

Just an idea dump, but there are so much possibilitys... hope that the solar system will be really richer in the future, sterile single biome planets are kinda boring... manage to get to them and land on them is fun, but ones there they don't offer much as now... u could land anywhere else on that planet and have always the same result... it's like a big spot, ones reached, job done, checked, next.

Edited January 16, 2014 by Keymaster89

[Philoman]

I like the win-win with the reduced visibilty in dense atmospheres. I wouldn't mind getting it implemented just for the visual and challenging aspect, but if it's possible to reduce the stress to the computer at the same time, then I'm sold

[Dooz]

Laythe is a volcanic place because i saw a volcano island i want lava pools on laythe..

[MC.STEEL]

Geysers would be cool, think of them as a natural mass relay...

Danny 2462 pretty much

or caves with interesting formations easter eggs and treire own science biome

[coolitic]

Isn't this on the already suggested/do not suggest list? They are already going to implement this later.

[Dunbaratu]

Dangerous surfaces are a cool idea, but just remember to request *deterministic* dangers. Nothing with random die rolls, or ablative hit point damage, or "chance of failure" or anything like that is allowed in the game, and that's for good reasons.

Lava, for example, should be implemented as "any part that touches it melts and disappears, period, with the possible exception of specifically designed special lava probe parts - they dissappear after x seconds of touching it, which is enough time to learn some lava science first."

Quicksand should just be treated as a very viscous water - works like regular water but with higher drag and higher density values.

There could be low friction surfaces that affect rover tires.

But what there shouldn't be is cases like "for each second exposed to this stuff there is a 0.01% chance of death. If you're fast you might be lucky enough to get in and out and survive."

The key factor is the repeatability of play. If you give it all the exact same inputs with the exact same starting conditions, the same result should happen.

[jwenting]

classify thread #452345789562 "make things harder for beginners because we don't want people to get better than us"

[Wahgineer]

I did hear that GP2 would have the cryotechtonic Eeloo as a moon, a special moon with a loosely packed surface (i.e.: weak gravity and a rough surface), another moon with an atmosphere so thin that most mountain ranges would poke above it, another moon with rings (GP2 is planned to have rings, too), and another moon that spun so fast it was actually more elliptical than spherical. GP3 is/was rumored to not really be a gas giant, but a massive Terran (earth/soil/rocky) planet with an immensely thick atmosphere and super high gravity.

[tetryds]

I belive that how KSP handles water should be changed to allow flowing rivers and waterfalls

This is also what active volcanoes require.

There are very soft programming solutions for that kind of feature, and it would deffinitelly look great.

[peadar1987]

classify thread #452345789562 "make things harder for beginners because we don't want people to get better than us"

Beginners don't often land on Laythe and Eeloo

[Nobody]

I can see environmental hazards on the surfaces as long as it isn't random. Parts would need ratings on how long they could withstand exposure to said environment and have durability that would degrade until it breaks.

There would also need to be multiple versions of most parts for different environments. This would increase the value of probes since a disposable probe would tell you temp, pressure, and corrosive compounds in the environment so you can avoid sending parts on a lander that would melt, crush, or be dissolved if you took to long.

[tetryds]

I can see environmental hazards on the surfaces as long as it isn't random. Parts would need ratings on how long they could withstand exposure to said environment and have durability that would degrade until it breaks.

There would also need to be multiple versions of most parts for different environments. This would increase the value of probes since a disposable probe would tell you temp, pressure, and corrosive compounds in the environment so you can avoid sending parts on a lander that would melt, crush, or be dissolved if you took to long.

With tweakables, we could add settings like increase heat or corrosion resistance, which would have its cost.

And that would also be something we could be abble to unlock on the tech tree, like developing a 5% more heat resistance material etc.

Without really changing how the part looks (a small texture change wouldnt be bad though).